Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
stanthorpe-banner

Stanthorpe Murder Mystery Tour

Friday 23 August started out like any normal South East Qld day.

Story by Rob Preslmaier, photos by Gloria Wade.

The day was sunny and a tad cool in the morning, but by 0900 it had started to warm up was looking normally wonderful. The ladies and gentlemen of the Lotus Car Club gathered in the bucolic location of Marburg in their generally charming contrivances, gossiping gaily about the upcoming weekend. It all seemed so normal. But everything was about to change. Within 5 minutes of departure the motor vehicle of Nigel and Allison suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure that could have ended badly. Coincidence? Read on!

As Nigel and Allison retreated home with their Lotus on a flatbed to fetch another vehicle for the purposes of bravely rejoining us, the remainder were left to proceed to the morning tea destination (Allora) still in a state of blissful ignorance. The route was devious and tortuous, and good fun was had in the Lotus with the Main Range and eventually Allora attained in good time. Ultimately Stanthorpe was reached and everything was well with all.

The dinner at the fine Italian dining establishment of Anna’s, an iconic Stanthorpe family restaurant, was tasty and enjoyable. I can say that the pasta meals and roast vegetables drizzled in oil were wonderful. But was the experience lulling attendees into a false sense of security?

Saturday morning another member of the Club simply disappeared! One minute Vyvyan (with the two vs and ys, which annoy people who enjoy traditional vowels), resplendent with beard and traditional English driving cap, was with us, the next he was gone. Vanished! Car and all.

Was there a murderer in our midst? What was driving this strange chain of events? Read on or go and make yourself a cup of coffee and get on with your day’s activities.

Saturday was an unusual day also in that, for a driving weekend, there was no need to actually drive a car. A bus magically appeared and it was all aboard and off to visit the wineries. Before lunch the tour visited Summit Estate Wines for a well-informed, sit down wine tasting to delight the oenologists amongst the group, and Stanthorpe Cheese, where there were many tasty cheeses and sausages on offer.

Lunch was taken at the delightful Blue Pot Pantry where there were also varied home-made jams and chutneys available. The freedom of being able to enjoy a wine or other drink with your meal and not have to worry about spearing the Lotus into the wilderness has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

After lunch the magic bus took us to the Golden Grove and Ballandean Estate wineries, where more oenophiles were amused, entertained and encouraged to part from their hard earned, and finally to the Heavenly Chocolate shop to sample some delicious chocolates and to watch the antics of the rooster and his harem.

Later that evening the magic bus returned and picked us all up from the motel and transported us to the Granite Belt Brewery where there was much jovial conversation, sampling of beers, ciders and wines, and eating of delicious food. Late in the evening the charity raffle was decided. Lucky ticket holders received one of four bottles of very old port generously donated by Daryl Wilson. Given that these bottles had sat unattended for many decades they were in surprisingly good nick. Recipients were somewhat rudely required to open and partly drain their bottles into the glasses of the assembled masses. Satisfied patrons stumbled out into the cold night air for a comfortable bus ride back to the motel and a good night’s sleep.

The next morning Peter Watters and Stephen Tancred from the Stanthorpe Rotary Club joined us for breakfast at the motel where they were presented with $750 collected by Steve Lennox and Daryl Wilson levying various and generally spurious $5 fines for infractions of the Lotus Car Club Behaviour Code (no-one told me that wearing a hoodie in a cold location was an finable offence!).

While it was obvious from the sight of the arid state of the countryside and empty dams that Stanthorpe is in drought, the anecdotal evidence provided by Peter from the Rotary Club provided further evidence that the funds collected on this run will be put to much needed use.

But I digress from the mystery! In the same manner that you, dear reader, have forgotten about the sorry state of affairs (where was poor Vyvyan?) behind this tale of wine tasting and charitable works, tour attendees had forgotten about the potential murderer lurking in the shadows! Ken Philp watched the sun rise on an otherwise lovely Sunday morning feeling very unwell as he had spent an awful night creating multi-media Jackson Pollocks in his motel bathroom. Was Ken the victim of foul play? Had some mysterious malefactor slipped a toxin into the meal of our event organiser? Was Ken the intended target and the others merely cunning distractions? Did the events described above actually happen or is it just simply the demented ramblings of a brain addled Lotus driver? To find out you will have to come on the next Lotus long weekend. To those of you that missed out or could not attend please consider coming along on the next one. They are a lot of fun and exceedingly well organised.

By no means an anticlimax to the events of Friday and Saturday, the troupe of Lotus departed Stanthorpe for lunch at Mt Alford via Spring Creek Rd (a great road, pity they couldn’t afford to make it wide enough for two cars) and morning tea (melting moments yum!) at the Spring Creek Café.

All up a great weekend. Thanks to Ken Philp, Daryl Wilson and Craig Wilson for organising the event. A ‘great job’ to Steve Lennox and Daryl for organising the charity run. And thanks to everyone that came along and enjoyed the weekend, and put their hands in their pockets for a good cause (especially Craig and Caroline for throwing in a little extra cash and Daryl again for contributing his dad’s port for the raffle).

On a final note, Ken would love to hear from people with ideas as to where we should run future long weekend events. He can be contacted at kphilp2007@gmail.com.

IMG_1797
IMG_1805
Whered-They-Get-To
IMG_1801
IMG_1800
IMG_1816
IMG_1817
IMG_1809
Mt-Alford-area_GW
Lotus-visiting-the-brewery_GW
Granite-Belt-Brewery_GW
Penny-Robyn-Carolyn_GW
Ballandean-wine-lesson_GW
Ballandean-Adopt-a-Vine_GW
MG_4426_GW
Chris-Moir_GW
Daryl-Colin-Ken-Glen_GW
Golden-Grove-Estate_GW
At-the-Golden-Grove_GW
Maryanne-Steve_GW

[Show slideshow]
1 2 ►
Mo­tor­sport revs up help dur­ing drought Targa Great Barrier Reef 2019

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

gold-rush-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

leyburn-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Leyburn 2022

Random images

george-anita concours-16 Clive-inspecting-Lotus-12 Jenny-Murphy 20131005_175500 Socialising-at-Samford sam-on-track MG_7635 9.--Holden-vs-Lotus Ormiston-19 derriere-to-die-for Greg-and-Colin 14.Lotus-red 10.Sandy-Mike MG_8898 MotoK IMG_0023 IMG_4285 Daryl Wilson 1998 Caterham Super 7 - 1 IMG_2232-2 Jason Photo-28-11-20-8-09-33-pm IMG_3381 The-awards-and-prizes Martin-OBrien-chased-by-Clive-Wade-photo-by-Trapnell-Creations 20180916_072259 Lloyd Jones 1969 Lotus Europa - 3 Pat-Richards gw_Lotus reflections Breakfast at Blacksmith Specialty Coffee Welcome mat _MG_9159 as Smart Object-1 Lotus-Lites two-extra-seats dtc-16 Phil Hart main-1 MG_4798 IMG_3641 IMG_0029 IMG_7387 GIC2 Mar-main-73 Mountain-Cafe-at-OReillys Geoff-watching-his-fuel-disappear-into-Clives-car- IMG_4440 P1060083 P1080266 IMG_0008 Marchelli Bianci Elan S1 IMG_0408 IMG_0361 img_1124 119_1974_IMG lw01mg2 IMG_7071 IMG_6546 image_186 image_003 lot_019 IMG_3277 IMG_8027 11_Interior_of_Maiala_Rainforest_Teahouse P1060566 077_77 Club_Lotus_Dec_08_011 IMG_8047 n751569074_589940_6390 P1050423 IMG_8885 Looking-good-Drew-Dundas Loitering-Lotuses_gw 73-03-Riana-JG-2 Andrew-Row-trying-hard-to-keep-up the doctors are in Alan-Telfers-1971-Brabham-BT36-2 vyv-photo-6 Ferrari-F40 LCQ-members-learning-the-art-of-distilling Shane and Jen Quinn and Co Old girl among the young'uns IMG_8884 Gideon-2 Team-Lotus Drivers Briefing main-1 Barry-Mather The Loxtons Europa Ballandean-Adopt-a-Vine_GW P1020919 Eddie-Lankhorst-and-Elisa-with-his-Ruby Joe IMG_9115 IMAG6029 main-46 Winner Patrick IMAG6117 Ashton-accepting-the-Interstate-Challenge-Trophy

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios