Similarly, Jim & Nina, for our meet in Glen Innes . . .

There is a great bookshop in the centre of the Glen's main street - The Book Market at 245 Grey Street - where we will mooch around mid morning Saturday pending catchup via mobile phone for coffee with you prior to our majestic Grand Tour to Tenterfield . . . for lunch.

I'm basing this on Tamworth to Glen is 200Km; about 2hrs. Glen Innes to Tenterfield is 95Km; about 1hr. So . . . if we meet about 10:30am; have coffee and hit Tenterfield by 12:30; book in; do lunch and catch up with Paul. OK? . . . or amend and advise.

Best wishes to all for a safe and enjoyable drive,

Ken

 

Sounds good Ken.....I'll text you as we get closer.

 

OK guys, I put the forum banner in the post to Paul today.
Should be delivered Wednesday, no signature required so you won't miss the delivery.

Paul,I think the whole point of the last visit was to drop off the banner and grease your IRS. So it has made the trip to Sunny Coast and back again already. (scotch & cuban's made me forget to leave it with you)

See you all Sunday, we are aiming to arrive in Tenterfield around 11.30.

 

Great support Clarke. It's a long drive just for lunch but the company when you get there will be worth it. :-)

 

Thank you Clarke.

I am picking up a nice bottle of 12 years aged Single Malt Japanese Whiskey on the way home from Singas...I may need some assistance at some point or another.



See you 12pm for lunch on Sunday!

 

That sounds awfully like an invite for an afternoon at a beach bar, bbq at Ling Resort then retiring for a couple whiskeys on the front porch....count me in!

 

Epic road trip coming up!

 

Hi Folks . . .

Update for Jim & Nina in waterlogged Sydney, now leaving for their halfway stop in Tamworth . . . warm and sunny up here; no risk of flooding; so Jim has had to pack away his V12 Jag powered Zodiac and come by XJ6 instead.

My daughter Megs was also concerned about storms and floods . . . reports that Coffs Harbour is considering a name change . . . to Atlantis! After a week of rain, she is relieved to be able to change out of her wetsuit.

Can't speak for the Downs country or SEQ generally . . . I know some of you have had untold buckets of rain also. However, let me assure everyone that the ridge country essentially from the border through Armidale to around Tamworth is bathed in sunshine after the rains of some days ago . . . nights can be cool, even cold . . . but if places like Armidale, Glen Innes or Tenterfield are ever flooded, then Sydney and Brisbane will be 1000m under water!

So . . . "Saddle Up"; bring on the much awaited Tenterfield weekend . . . enjoy some Grand Touring through our wondrous "big sky" country . . . and soak up some of our FREE border sunshine! We wish everyone safe and comfortable driving and look forward to renewing and making new friendships.

Cheers,

Ken

 

Thanks for the weather update Ken. We'll be coming regardless of the weather. I think our Jags would relish a little 'English weather' anyway. I have included a photo (relic from the past) of my wife Lois and me with two of our children and our MK2 the last time we drove on a JDCQ MkII register run to Tenterfield in 1979. The company, the wine and the fireplaces were warm then. I wonder if it has changed much. Looking forward to meeting our forum friends.

 

What a great family pic, Doug. Gosh . . . I'm told you haven't changed a bit. Here's mine from '71 on the day that our #1 son turned from "crawler" into "toddler" . . . and very quickly, started his pattern of becoming a "runner". This year, he turns 46.

Cheers,

Ken

 

Love the photos guys...you gents have had Jags for a long time.....I hope I can look back in many years to come and see a few more under my belt too!

James see you at 8am Moby Vics
Doug see you at 9am Henderson Rd

The rest of the gang will see at 6pm at the Commercial Boutique unless we get a txt for an arvo meetup.

See you all then!

 

Hi Paul. We are planning to meet Jim & Nina in Glen Innes for mid morning coffee, then hit Tenterfield for book-in and lunch. Will txt you then as I'm sure we'll be DESPERATELY thirsty and keen to catch up Sat arvo.

Cheers,

Ken

 

You have been misinformed Ken. The hairline has well receded since I had kids. :-)

 

We made it for Sunday lunch in Tenterfield a little late forgetting the time change crossing into NSW. At least we made it for a short catch up before everyone had to head home.

Nice to see you all again and to finally meet Jim & Nina (Daf11e), looking forward seeing pictures of the rest of the weekend.

Thank you all for the big effort of organising and travelling hundreds of KM's to catch up. Next time we will be in for the weekend, sometimes work has to come first.

 

Thanks Clarke it was great putting faces to names...a great weekend !
And thanks for your efforts just popping down for lunch and finally meeting up.
Ps. Also Doctor Phill !

 

Well what an epic weekend! Thanks to each and everyone for putting in the effort!

Finally I have a chance to post these pics...so here goes....the weekend adventures in pictures starting from QLD:

On the Road and out of the city still in Queensland on our way:


First stop: Warrick


The Motley crew with Warrick Town Hall in the Background
Lois, James, Doug and my father Jim:


Back on the Road, this pic at Stanthorpe. You see the darndest things along side the road. A giant apple, a Dinosaur, a Jet Aircraft and even a Pyramid ....but I'll get to that:


Next stop...Wallangara to check out an old Train Station but to our surprise they had a live working Steam Train about to depart! Very cool:




We waited for the train to depart:


And then it was back on the road to out destination. The Stannum Mansion at Tenterfield:



After check in we were all quite thirsty...so it was time for some pre dinner amber fluid followed by a pretty fancy dinner and meeting some of the NSW members for the first time. Finally...faces to names!


The next day it was time to meet up at the old Tenterfield Railway Museum:
From left to right, paulyling,34by151,dea.cea1959 and ozxj

The famous Cat_as_Trophy!

And Ken's other beast driven by his Daughter Megan:




Heaps of very cool rolling stock inside. We got to walk out onto the tracks and have a decent look:





Lastly it was time to head back into the main part of town as we all went and had a look around at various little tourist spots on our own. 12pm and it was time for lunch at the Tavern and to meet up with Clarke, Dr Phil and their better halves as they came down to see us just for lunch. What an effort!


Sorry Clarke...I pinched some of your photos from FB!

Clarke (o1xjr), James (34by151), Ken (Cat_as_trophy), Jim (Daf11e), Doug (ozxj), Dave (dea.cea1959) and myself:




What a legendary turn out....but it wasn't over yet. As we parted ways us from QLD had one more mission...to find this bizare Pyramid James (34by151) had spotted on the way in. And find it we did!





What a great weekend! Thanks for everybody again for putting in the effort to come and meet up. Lets do it again real soon!

 

Great pics, glad the weather came good for you

 

Not sure how long the Ballandean Pyramid has been there, but I have found posts about it dating back to 2010.
God knows how many times I have driven the New England Highway in the last 25 years with the whole family in the car and none of us spotted it.

Makes me wonder if there has been tree clearing done between the highway and the pyramid in the last year or so since I was last driving that road on a regular basis.

I usually don't miss much in our travels and can't believe it wasn't spotted some time in the last 7 years as it was easy to see this trip.

 

I found a page that claims it was built in 2006

Granite Belt pyramid sells at auction

More details on the wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballandean_Pyramid

Cheers
34by151

 

Great photos. Good to put faces to names from the other side of the World.

Graham