21st February 2010 - Tweed Heads Hinterland ...
I had been looking forward to this run for a little while for a couple of reasons. Firstly I have seen
a little bit of the Tweed Valley and really wanted to see some more and secondly I had heard great things
about the Tumbulgum Pub. I was not disappointed on either account.
I had put the run up on
GMH-Torana.com.au and had thrown the invite out to the forum members there to join us. A couple did
which was great and gave me a chance to catch up with them IRL (in real life.. for the non-nerds out
there). Paul (Pallbag) was in town for the weekend so he joined us in the red rally striped Commodore
and Steve (mumstaxi) brought his family out for the day in one of my favourite cars, his RB30 turbo UC.
Needless to say when he popped the bonnet at the BP Servo he attracted a bit of attention.
We had a fair gathering at the first meeting point in Yatala and had a few more to pick up in Nerang.
Thanks to google maps (or my map reading skills) we drove past the Nerang crew so they had a bit of a
mission to catch up. The run took us from Nerang out towards Murwillumbah along a nice twisty road that
didn't seem to have much traffic at all. I was expecting suicide jockeys at every corner but I think I
only saw one or two bikes the whole day. As I was leading the run in the Echo I soon left everyone for
dead as I power slided through hairpin turns and nudged 200mph on the straights. I was going so fast I
actually dried the road out for the cars behind, maybe that was helped by the heat from the twin GT-40's
I had installed that morning.. *And then he wakes up*
Actually I was leading the run in the Echo and was doing my best to go slow so we could all stay
together. The Gold Coast crew got held up behind some slower cars and it wasn't until we almost got to
Murwillumbah that they caught up.
I don't know if anyone else on the run managed to get any
photos but the scenery along the route was awesome. At one point we came over the crest of hill and were
greeted by a vista of a rocky outcrop shrouded in mist among lush green vegetation. It really was
spectacular but unfortunately there was nowhere to pull over and appreciate it.
It only rained only once for about five minutes which didn't cause any dramas except for Mike who was
behind me. His windscreen wipers failed so he was left to rely on following my tail lights. Luckily I
didn't drive over a cliff or anything as he would have blindly followed.
Once we had all
caught up we took a short cut through the cane fields near Tumbulgum and I swear that some farmer had
decided to burn his cane right where we were parked. As we were leaving there was an almighty plume of
smoke rising from the cane and as I didn't see anything (promise) I can only assume it was a cane
burning. After this unusual occurrence we headed off to the pub and thanks to google maps we took a
wrong turn and ended up on a no through road. No dramas though, a quick u-turn out the front of some
farmers garage sale and we were back on track.
We got to Tumbulgum and the town was packed.
We couldn't find a spot to park the cars anywhere near the pub and had to park them about a block away.
This was the only downside to the day but lucky the cars were still there when we returned to them and
the walk took us past a few nice beasts along the way. The atmosphere at the pub was pleasant and the
view over the water was quite relaxing. We took up a large chunk of the beer garden and everyone kept
occupied with eating and chatting to each other. A few cold ales didn't go astray either.
After lunch we decided to gather the cars in one spot for a few photos so we cruised up the road a bit
to a rest area and after navigating foot deep puddles the cars were lined up. We had to wait for the
rest of the group to arrive due to an immobiliser going the extra mile and blowing a fuse rendering
Marks car totally immobilised for a short period of time. Once everyone caught up photos were taken
and we bailed fairly quickly. No one mentioned that the rest area bordered a swamp and the swarm of
mozzies that attacked us was obscene. I have never seen so many mozzies before and I hope I never do
again.
The run home went smoothly with no break downs or incidents and all in all it was a
great run. The roads were good, the food was good, the attendance was good and the company was great.
We will definitely be doing this run again perhaps with a slight deviation for lunch due to parking
issue in Tumbulgum.
Thanks to all who attended as listed below.
Cheers, Tony
Attendees - Mark and Jake, Emma, Rob, Alyssa and Hannah, Shellie, Jody and Zakk, Paul, Steve and
family, Colin, Janice and Emma, Glenn and Juanita, Mike, Paul, Ray, Kev, John and family, Darren, Ross
and family and myself.
