Rathdowney Day Run
Rathdowney Day Run – Sunday 24th March
Story by Maggie Goodfellow
The first run under the auspices of our new social secretary Clive Wade showed his true colours – in fact very colourful A3 maps of where we were all meant to be going. What organisation, what precision, what enterprise – we were all bowled over! Also thanks to John Barram for the arduous job of pre-testing the road conditions.
The assembly point was at Peak Crossing (vaguely in the direction of Warwick from Brisbane) at 9:30 for a 9:45 start. Well, some had turned up at the allotted time, but others tended to drift in, some were diverted by a local produce stall so had to do u-turns to buy tomatoes etc. We were all distracted by the sight of the Ferrari club passing by – obviously also out on a day run – and so we finally managed to proceed at about 10am.
There was a very nice varied collection of vehicles – 2 x S1 Elise of the John and Penny Barram and new owners the Jeffs, 2 x S2 Elise of Russ and Leigh Carter, and Peter and Norma Upham, the Philps in their new Europa, the well used M100 of the Goodfellows, equally well used and as always immaculate Elan of Greg and Chris Bray, Steve Lennox in his original Europa (together with minor starter motor hiccups) and a couple of non-Loti – Mal and Chris Kelson in their daughter’s Toyota 86, Clive and son Richard in Richards BMW (where was the Elise!!??) and friends of Mike and Maggie’s Adrian and Joan Bulcock in a new Porsche Boxster Spyder out on its first real run.
We all set off towards Boonah through countryside which was amazingly green and lush after such a long wet summer. Fairly soon after we set off, we saw Bob Butfield in his original red Elan roaring down the road in the opposite direction! We never did manage to find out where he went but I believe he did try to find us in Boonah and then gave up the struggle. In fact we never stopped in Boonah but carried on to Maroon Dam and the scenic café for a welcome coffee break.
On the way we met the Aston Martin club coming the other way – wow what a line up of vehicles there, ranging from probably the sixties to very recent models. It was obviously THE day for car runs.
The road from Maroon to Rathdowney was the most scenic part of the trip – lots of bends with a few really tight corners and narrow sections (some single lane). The creeks were running, the trees were green, the sun was shining (well most of the time) so what more could you ask for? A good lunch, which we all indulged in at the Rathdowney Hotel (obviously the landlord makes all of his money on a Sunday as the place was packed with bikies and car nuts). The service was amazingly efficient and the outdoor eating area cool and breezy, so an ideal lunch break.
But now the storm clouds were beginning to gather, so most of the party headed straight back to home (mostly Brisbane) but some hardy chaps ventured further into the hills never to be seen again.
Altogether an excellent day run – well done Clive and John but sorry no one had the foresight to take any photos for this article!
