Catching Up - May - Gold Country Car Rally

Back to catching up on our doings earlier in the year.

The forth weekend of May always heralds the Gold Country Car Rally that the Bathurst Historic Car Club hosts.  After quite a few years of taking a back seat on this one we were a bit more involved this time.

The weather during autumn was absolutely glorious this year, even a bit warmer than usual.........until the weekend of the rally.  This was our 21st rally and we have only had bleak weather once before.  The one and only time, in 2000, we took the rally to Black Springs.......behind Oberon .......... a really cold area in winter.........it snowed!!!  In May!!!  We thought everyone would hate us and never come back again, but we were wrong.  They loved it.  Many had never seen snow falling. Phew!

This year the weather wasn't much better, being cold with scatty showers all day.  We had a regroup at Blayney at about 11am and it was a whole 3 degrees C!

Do you notice anything different about the car above? Yep, this A Model Ford Speedster has no roof!  A father and daughter team travelled in it.  They won the "Hard Luck" trophy for their stamina travelling in the open.

Despite the weather, everyone really enjoyed the route through the scenic countryside.  Occasionally the sun came out bathing the landscape in that glorious after rain light.  Also, the paddocks were just getting a nice tinge of green after the first, late, autumn rains.  You will have to picture this yourself, as, being in the car, I didn't get a chance to take photos along the way, like in the sidecar. (Mick was organising the corner marshalls, so the car it had to be this time.)

This year we had the best lunch time venue, considering the bleak weather.  It was the Neville Siding.  This is a spot sometimes used for sewing retreats.

 

It has accommodation in railway carriages and a great central building with lots of room to sit and most importantly, was nice and toasty and warm.  They fed us hearty home made soup, steak sandwiches and cakes, and plenty for seconds for those with a large appetite. I admit to a second helping of soup, it was so good. The lunch certainly made up for the cold weather outside.

There was a great variety of cars entered.

On the Sunday we host a morning tea for everyone before they head off to their respective homes.

Have you ever seen so much food.  After putting out an appeal to club members to bring along a little more than last year, they certainly excelled themselves.  Most entrants were able to take a plate with them to eat on the way home.

On top of that, we had a cake to celebrate the milestone event.

We had our Club Life Members do the honours of cutting the cake, which was a nice touch.

After everyone had headed on their way the boys came in to do the final cleanup.  Mick is showing that he certainly knows how to handle a vacuum.  Good lad that he is.

It was a really successful rally this year, despite, or maybe because of the weather.  Here's hoping there are many more to come.