Run to Qld Auto Museum Hampton – Sunday 12th October
By Maggie Goodfellow, Photos by Gloria Wade
Emails were sent out, numbers of participants estimated, and approx twenty two Lotus Club Queensland members assembled at the Caltex service station on 12th October at the rather unreasonable (for a Sunday) time of 8:15am for a planned 8:45am day run start.
Ken and Marg Philp had obviously spent some considerable time planning the event, with a handout of over a dozen pages of maps, instructions and emergency phone numbers to ensure that there would be no stragglers or lost souls on the day.
The turn out at the Caltex start was impressive – with a range of cars from all Lotus eras: early Elans of the Brays, Wilsons and Vyvyan Black; Elises of Barry McInnes, Goodfellows, Uphams and Wades; the new Europa of the Philps; Dick Reynolds in his Caterham and assorted other welcome members and friends – Tony and Lisa Galletly in their MX5, Greg Jorgensen in a Toyota FT86, Richard Wade in his BMW and Eddie Hussam and friend in an MG.
After a thorough briefing the convoy set off with firm instructions to wait at turnings to ensure that the car behind could see where to go (this worked until Mike and I lost followers Tony and Lisa Galletly as they opted to divert from the chosen route to relive past memories of a long lost picnic spot).
On all good day runs the focus has to be both great roads and great food, and the chosen coffee stop at Esk was a winner – many a member was seen munching large sausage rolls or yummy scones while enjoying a good coffee. At this point the Barrams arrived to join us, and thereby swelling the Elise contingent.
The route chosen by Ken was fantastic, being mainly non-highway. The majority of roads were well maintained, driving enjoyable with lots of lovely winding stretches and hilly terrain, and the scenery was great – a bonus being that the sun shone for nearly all the day – Queensland at its best.
The focus of the run was to reach the Queensland Auto Museum at Hampton near Toowoomba high up on the dividing range. It was a bit of a shock to find that the last half kilometre to the museum was over dirt roads (not something that Peter and Norma Upham normally tackle). However we all rose to the challenge and arrived safely to enjoy a fantastic lunch and a tour of the museum hosted by Kerry (husband Roy was away scouting for new exhibits around Australia). This museum has an amazing array of both cars and memorabilia and kept both the car buffs and historic magazine addicts enthralled. A knowledge of the history of Holdens was a must as virtually every model made was exhibited (and member John Barram was impressively able to enlighten Kerry on the exact engine type for particular early Holdens!).
After a long and leisurely lunch and tour of the museum and surrounding gardens, the group gradually dispersed and headed back home.
Many thanks to both Kerry at the museum and especially to Ken Philp for organising a very enjoyable day run – and as always, many thanks to Gloria Wade for taking the great photos.
