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 Justin-SamMike_GW The-tasting-table_GW LeighCarolyn-Craig-wine-tasting_GW Ready-for-Dinner_GW John-Penny-with-Red_GW Summit-Estate_GW Summit-Tasting-Room_GW Organisers-Margi-Ken_GW Rob-blending-his-wines_GW
[Show thumbnails]
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

121_2137_IMG IMGP3506 btiu-19 btiu-13 MG_9493 2.Mick-Rob-Clive-John 17.Carsten-Dianna-Concours-winners MG_8804 Class_Winner IMG_4280 121_2183_IMG lunchtime-discussion 121_2125_IMG IMG_4379 IMG_4428 image_187 image_167 IMG_6556 IMG_7485 IMG_0971 119_1975_IMG yellow-torque ICC-Dick Stephen-Susan IMG_0474-3 Group-7.1-Craig-Chalmers-leads-Steve-Lennox-in-the-Europa-S-lineup-A-Stevens IMG_2461 Daryl Wilson 1998 Caterham Super 7 - 1 IMG_1974 gw_Rob & Matt French and English alliance IMG_0308 IMG_0447 _MG_9186 as Smart Object-1 MG-8170 IMG-0161 Ormiston-19 Matt & Sally Dick-Reynolds-Caterham IMG_4894 meeting-still-underway P1010424 GIC16-NSW-heading-to-the-finish main-4 Greg-Brays-Elan-climbing-up-the-mountain Deck-the-Hall-with-Panettones- Cats-at-the-ready Derek-and-his-340R IMG_8930 John,-Jason-and-Clive-having-a-cuppa-in-the-Lotus-Hilton main-42 Jan-main-12 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0048 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0039 lec_0176 1425988397_f9c9688ccc_m_1 IMG_0326 IMG_0098 IMG_0137 Mighty Bambino and friends IMG_5641 IMG_8918 IMG_8885 IMG_3669 IMG_7858 IMG_2592 1938_SS_Jaguar_100_Accessories P1060248 P1060231 Boys_and_their_toys_in_the_shed image_200 Winner_Rus_Leigh_s_Carlton IMGP7328 P6220134 Cane_field_Moderns MG_4785 IMG_0546 IMG_0527 P9180022c1 D74_9579_full John-Lundgrens-Seven-1 20200314_151052 phil-hart-admires-the-exige The-Testarossa main-7 The-Lotus-line-up-GPitt Elan-row 720kg img_2031 Ballandean-wine-lesson_GW _MG_9650 as Smart Object-1 IMG_0057 parked-at-the-classic Gallery peter-2 rob-stevens-elise IMGP8491 Winner Zaid Railway-Museum-Tools Alvis

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