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Area Contact
- Martin Chapman - 02 9579 5101 / 0402 271 096
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The weather forecast was going to be hot. The venue was the Newington Armory at Homebush Bay on the banks of the Parramatta River. Just down the road was the site of the 2000 Olympic Games
The area has been transformed from an armory to a very nice park with lots of activities for all ages. The local authority has spent a lot of money installing children swing sets etc. as well as fountains and water jets and in the coming months there are plans for installing a water slide.
Arriving at the busy car park, I could see some of our members had already arrived. Graeme & Sue with their Red Van, Terry & Fay were there with their red 4 Door 1000, Andrew & Ann in their cream original MM1000 and Rod & Marilyn and Brian & Debbie had arrived in their modern cars. I too had come to the park in my modern car, after failing to get my Morris back on the road after an extended break, the back brake cylinders that I had order having gone missing in the mail.
Ken in his silver van had also made an appearance earlier, but could not stay due to family commitments. Rex & Mary, whom we have not seen for a while at an outing, arrived next in their orange Series II Morrie. Then came the contingent from our Wollongong regional group, Peter & Ros in their Blue 1000, John & Mary Borg in their blue 1000 and Pat & Rose and George & June in their Modern cars. A little while later Craig arrived in his original cream MM 1000 and soon after Les also arrived.
Once we knew that no more would arrive we discussed the process of judging. We had never had such few Minors to judge, for an Anniversary Day so there would be not much competition. The trophies were divided up into two classes, Modified & Standard. We had trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each class. We also had and Overall Best Car & Runner-up Best Car.
Due to the numbers to be judged it was decided that 3rd place for Modified and the Runner-up Best Car trophies would not be awarded. From the number of cars to be judged & the number of trophies on offer, it looked like everyone who entered would get some sort of trophy.
The cars were judged on 3 areas, Engine Bay, Interior & Exterior, with points awarded out of 25 for the condition and cleanliness of these areas. Points are also added to the final score based on attendance at official outings and meetings.
Once the cars had been judged it was time to relax and have a drink and chat. Just nearby there was some water jet issuing from the pavement, and the children from other parties around us enjoyed running through them and being thoroughly soaked.
The site contains a lot of history from its previous use as an Amory. As part of this activity, a small narrow gauge railway was installed to carry armaments around the site to storage bunkers. This train has now been restored for visitors to ride on to explore the park. The Wollongong contingent decided to explore this facility before lunch. Arriving back they advised us that it was well worth a visit.
Lunch was once again catered by the Club. It consisted of cold deli meats & BBQ chicken, a variety of salads and finished off with a Birthday Cake (in technicolour). We all sang Happy Birthday to the Club for its 33 years.
The trophies were then awarded to the following winners
Standard Class
1st – Peter & Ros Mc Gibbon – Range Blue 1957 - 4 Door 1000
2nd – Rex & Mary Peters – Orange – 1953 – 4 Door – Ser II
3rd – Andrew & Ann Gittins – English Grey – 1960 – 4 Door 1000
Modified Class
1st - Terry & Fay Cullen – Monza Red – 1959 – 4 Door - 1000
2nd – John & Mary Borg – Blue – 1957 – 2 Door - 1000
Overall Best Car - Terry & Fay Cullen
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The day was a fine spring day, with a nice clear blue sky. It was perfect for a day in the Blue Mountains
The meeting spot for this outing was Maccas on the M4 west-bound at Eastern Creek
On departure there was only 3 cars, two moderns. These were owned by Brian & Debbie Condon & the other by myself with my sister Marion who was coming to see the mountains. We also had the Club trailer behind containing the BBQ facilities for later in the day. The sole Morrie was brought along by Graeme & Sue Gould, with their red panel van.
We had been advised that we were to pick up two more Morries along the way.
As we approached the lower parts of the Mountains we spotted the first of the additional Morries; this was Peter and Ross McGibbon In their blue 1000, all the way from Wollongong, Along with them were Ian & Denise Hatton in their metallic blue panel van. After stopping to say “hello”, Ian, living in the area, gave us a little history lesson & explained where the route of the original railway line up the Mountains passed us on the side of the Highway. We were now due to pick up our final Morrie members Andrew & Ann Gittins. After a quick phone call to see where they were waiting, we pressed on up the road to meet them.
Taking the scenic route around the back of Katoomba, we passed glorious views out to the sharp abutment that makes the Blue Mountains a world renowned place. After about a 15 minute drive from the Highway, we reached our first destination; Scenic World. Scenic World is a complex containing various rides via cable car or railway.
Parking the cars, we headed into Scenic World to see what was on offer. Marion & I decided to take the “Scenic Cableway” with a combined ticket for the “Scenic Railway”. The cableway would take us from the complex to the valley floor amongst the tall trees and semi-rainforest plants. Alighting from the cable car, we followed a well signposted bush path, stopping at the entrance of the disused shale oil mine. Walking a bit further on, we arrived at the Scenic Railway, our route back up to the top. The Scenic Railway takes the route of the old mining cars and is now considered to be the steepest Passenger railway in the world, with the maximum gradient of 52 degrees.
While we were enjoying nature, many of the others decided the café looked better and enjoyed some refreshments.
Once all back together again we got back into our cars and headed down the road, to the picnic area for a BBQ lunch.
Lunch, supplied by the Club, was sausages, fresh bread rolls and salad. For dessert, chocolate brownie was also thoroughly enjoyed. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying the wonderful weather and company discussing past & future events, before packing up and returning home.
For more information on Scenic World, go to www.scenicworld.com.au
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The Morris Owners Club Hunter Region were invited to join us on this outing to club member Gordon Cooper’s Duck Hollow boutique winery and homestead accommodation at Pokolbin in the beautiful Hunter Valley.
Only three cars met at Thornleigh Maccas - with one lonely Morris, that of Ian and Denise Hatton. The moderns contained Martin & Marion Chapman, and Rod & Marilyn Tobin who were in their two week old BMW. We felt quite sorry for them having to travel all that way in a second class vehicle. At 9:15 they proceeded up
the F3 towards Newcastle, with Bob Gilliland’s yellow van joining in at Ourimbah, as he had stayed in Gosford overnight.
The four cars continued in file arriving at Duck Hollow to find the Hunter Region group had al- ready arrived and settled in. Not long after, we were joined by Steve & Carol Wilson in their Morrie with Carol’s brother and his wife, and later by the Whales with their daughter, and quite a bit
later by the birthday boy, Graeme Gould with Sue, in their red van. The day had started with some rain in Sydney, but turned into a beautiful sunny, but cool, winter’s day at Pokolbin.
After a peek at Gordon’s rare Bristol in the ga- rage, it was into the home-made meat loaf and breads already prepared by Gordon, washed down by some of his Duck Hollow wines and soft drinks. Meanwhile, Rod “Luigi” Tobin had set to preparing our pizzas for Gordon to pop in the wood-fired pizza oven, which also gave a little warmth under the pergola. The pizzas, accompanied by garden salad, were brilliant - with thanks and compliments to our host and chefs.
In all there were 9 Morris Minors, 3 Minis and an Oxford, with several moderns. It was good to meet up with some other proud Morris owners and we all agreed there should be more joint events of this type.
The prospects for our annual June long weekend gathering at Kempsey were looking good; even though we had had a lot of rain previously, the ground was now starting to dry out. We were expecting 20 people to stay over, including our- selves and Jim (Rhonda’s Dad). But we thought we might be a bit short on the number of Morris Minors attending.
Our activities for the weekend were different to previous years. Friday saw most of the travellers arrive, with Colin organising caravans, motor home and campers to their respective sites. Problem one raised its head: Denis & Betty Jackson’s motorhome sank down quite a bit when they tried to level it. More timber under the back wheel fixed it, but it was a sign of things to come. Friday evening we had the usual BBQ in the car port area, which was temporarily enclosed and, with the wood fire, it provided a snug environment.
Saturday was a lay day with people free to go off and explore, tourist maps provided, or they could stay around and review the current array of cars stored around the shed and the work in progress. Les Whale was active with engine & gearbox out of the white car, and Bob Gilliland had a starter motor problem, which required some cannibalising to rectify. During the course of the day we had lots of local Morris Mi- nor owners pop in with their cars, with 15 Morries in total, most staying for lunch.
Late arrivals getting onto dark were David & Kerry Edwards in their traveller who were planning on camping, but as the rain had started to fall, some room was made for them in the house.
Dinner was an in house affair or rather in the car port with Rhonda cooking roast dinner for 24 people. White table cloths seemed to have a fascination for Betty & Denis, who went into a wedding theme, creating a veil and then later a garter was found for her to wear. Peter McGibbon took the opportunity to present Col & Patricia Stuart with their
real twenty year badges, a carry-over from the Wollongong Club. The whole evening was ac- companied by the sound of rain on the roof, which made a pleasant background noise.
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