| page 1 of 3 |  |
This year's event was hosted by the Vics starting on November 8th and for some finishing on the 13th, whilst others dragged it for a few more days. Wednesday saw four Vettes, a Dodge and a Toyota cross the border after a leisurely lunch at Renmark. Our first stop was at the City Gate Motel for 2 nights in Mildura, where we were looked after by Sue and her dad with a fantastic meal and some complimentary wines for our meet and greet. We were joined by a couple of cars from New South Wales and a couple of Vics and Hans and Val arrived in the convertible. The C8's now made up the majority.
Thursday was a leisurely start with a short cruise across the border to Wenworth for morning tea at the club. This was followed by a run out to a very small school Ellerslie in the middle of know where, with a total of about 14 students and 4 staff, Fiona one of the staff was part of the run in their C8. The kids had no idea we were coming, as they weren't allowed out of the grounds, we smuggled a couple of cars into the grounds for a hands-on experience they will never forget. From here it was off to the Trentham Winery via some nice twisty back rounds for lunch on the banks of the Murray River. After some free time, we all made the walk down from the motel to the riverbank to board our paddle steamer dinner cruise up river aboard the PS Rothbury.
Friday saw a modest start time after breakfast at the motel, a couple of cars left the group and made their way home and one stayed on due to a lack of air conditioning. We set off for Echuca via Lake Boga where we had lunch and then stopped in at the Catalina Flying boat museum where these machines were serviced during WW2. Nature intervened and a bush fire blocked out direct path to Echuca the main party were diverted via back roads, whist the Dodge ran the gauntlet through the flames. We stayed at the Sportslander Motor Inn at Moama across the river from Echuca, where we were joined by the main contingent of Vics with you guessed it more C8's. A casual BBQ dinner was had in the outdoor entertaining area with plenty of refreshments.
Saturday saw many of us explore the historic port of Echuca and another paddle steamer cruise aboard the PS Canberra, followed by lunch at the Echuca Hotel where we had been allowed to put the cars on display. After lunch it was a small drive out to the Great Aussie Beer Shed, where the owner Neil talked up a storm about his collections of everything beer related. Cans, bottles, coasters taps and many other artifacts.
Sunday saw a cruise around the back roads of Echuca to visit the silo art trail, one stop got the bush telegraph operating overtime with the locals coming out to see the Vettes. Lunch was at a local winery/distillery. Back at the motel an impromptu C8 car wash popped up with the Pres washing the C8 Convertible. That evening we took advantage of a courtesy bus out to the Moama RSL for dinner, where we promptly made ourselves at home and rearranged to table to our own need.
Monday saw the usual farewells whilst three intrepid vehicles, the Dodge, the C4 ZR-1 and the C6 ZO6 headed off to the beginning of the great ocean road and Warrnambool for another couple of nights. The maritime museum was visited along with Granny's Grave and trip to the local water falls, which took a bit of finding!.
Then there were two the Dodge and the ZR-1 continued onto Mount Gambier for a couple of days and then home via the Coorong. Thanks to AJ and Mark for coordinating the trip it was a great adventure. Write Up by Neil Bailey. Photos by Neil & Peter.
