Steve had called me about a month prior to the Nats, asking why I had not submitted an entry form. I replied that I had no FB or EK to take, and if I was to go, we needed a car that could be fitted with a baby seat. Steve replied that he had such a car, a Twilight Turquoise FB, in which an infant Jessica Jackson used to be ferried around in.
I spent Thursday afternoon installing the baby seat and packing. Friday morning we headed off at 8.30am. Five minutes later, the FB suddenly died on West Botany St. Half an hour later it mysteriously started first turn. Suspecting a vapour lock confounded by my silly mistake of putting some E10 in the tank the night before, we got into Pheasants Nest servo at 10.05am to rendezvous with the NSW Club convoy. To our surprise, the club was still there, and we managed to get them to hang around so we could have breakfast. Of course, Kenny Ross then turned up in the Jackson Family Standard Wagon.
The NSW Convoy now consisted of us, Graham (EKSoftTop) in his grey EK, new Club members Stu & Rachel in their blue kustom EK, Frank in his beautiful Strata Blue EK and Kenny in the Standard Wagon. After putting in some high octane, we set off for our next stop – Goulburn. Apart from a slight miss, the FB ran fine as that E10 worked its way out. After a big sleep, Henry decided to wake up when we got to Goulburn, blissfully unaware of our earlier escapades.
The Convoy parked at Goulburn:
Victoria chatting with an 8 months pregnant Rachel:
Lunch was at Yass a couple of hours later, then we started on the much anticipated Burley Griffin Way, enroute to Narrandera via Harden, Junee, Cootamundra, Coolamon, Galmain and Grong Grong.
We stopped to fill up at Cootamundra, at a BP servo run by a F O R D fanatic. A couple of locals came up to us who knew all about the Nationals at Narrandera.
Stu fills up his kustom:
We bid farewell to the convoy at this stage, confident the FB would get us there OK. Vic had some urgent work emails to attend to and we would have held everyone up. Henry also needed a pitstop. At 6.55pm, we finally made it to the Narrandera Club Motor Inn.
We then headed off to the Ex Service Men’s Club and we were invited to join the friendly Queensland Club table, dining with Tim (SunnyTim), Richard & Kate (r&kfb) and Theo (thropzed). Didn’t take long for Kate to be cuddling little Henry, much to Richard’s chagrin.
Next morning was sign in at Narrandera Park:
During a one block trip to the Narrandera main street, the FB decided to break down well and truly. SunnyTim and fellow QLD Club member Brett came to the rescue with a replacement dizzy cap and rotor button as the FB’s dizzy cap was completely shot. Tim and Brett adjusted the timing and the FB was running way better than it had so far. Unfortunately, SunnyTim put our battery into his car, which resulted in an electrical fire. This stopped Tim from going on the run to the Lilly Pilly winery. We offered a lift, but at his insistence, Tim stayed to repair his FB.
We got to the Lilly Pilly Winery in Leeton just as the rest of the Nationals attendees were about to leave. But I think it was Trev’s wife whom offered to take this lovely family shot of us with the FB.
We grabbed a couple of bottles of Sav Blanc for us, one for Steve Jackson and one as a big thankyou to SunnyTim for saving our Nationals. We then headed into Leeton for lunch, parking alongside another Twilight Turquoise FB. Kenny Ross was very happy to see that we were mobile again. I also ran into my old work buddy Samprinci, his partner and their beautiful FB ute.
After lunch we headed back into Narrandera, following Cootamundra resident Mr Frost in his FB which he has owned from new. Victoria then spied a sign for the lavender farm and we went there, only to run into NSW Club member Dave Flanagan and partner in their 186 powered Twilight Turquoise EK.
The next day was the ShowNShine, with all FB drivers having to be at Narrandera Park by 8am. The cars at the Motor Club Inn were covered in snow like frost. Kate showed us what a Medicare card is really useful for.
I parked the FB on the oval, careful not to run over the cricket pitch. There it stayed until 3pm. Vic took Henry for a walk around town whilst Stewart (Parisian62), Rob (fb crusin) and I went for a spin in Thommo’s old skool FB.
Dawn the next morning, it was time to head home. Given the FB was running beautifully, we decided to make our own way back via the Burley Griffin Way.
Driving along we waved to Steve Jackson, Ken Bailey and co, who were ferrying cars to minifb’s place in Junee. We stopped in Junee for fuel and Cootamundra for a delicious roast pork lunch. Next fuel stop was Yass, then we stopped for a leg stretch in Gouburn, where I took this pic of the FB, Vic & Henry.
We got into Bowral at around 4.30pm, visiting Hamish on the way to my parent’s place, where he took this pic:
Mum cooked us a beautiful roast chicken dinner, and Dad told us the holiday traffic was so bad on the F5 that it had come to a standstill all the way from Liverpool to Campbelltown. We had anticipated this, so the night before we booked into the Fountaindale Grand Manor in nearby Robertson for the night. It’s a really grand old mansion where I fell asleep in front of the huge roaring open fires. Our room was fortunately above these fires and was kept warm all during the night.
Early next morning I took this shot of the FB out the front of the Manor.
Driving very carefully down Jamberoo Pass, we made our way at a very casual pace to Wollongong, where we parked at City Beach, not far from the Lighthouse.
Henry, pictured here with his bear, which he won in the National’s Kiddie Raffle on Saturday night, really loved to sleep in the FB. This is how he was when we got to Wollongong:
We ate at the nearby Levendi café, having a 2 person seafood feast, then we strolled along the beach to North Beach, just chilling out. Around 3pm we jumped back in the FB and took the highway back to Sandringham before nightfall. I snapped the FB after we had unpacked all out luggage.
Victoria, Henry and I had a great Nationals, courtesy of the generosity of Steve Jackson and his family. Thankyou Steve for the privilege and experience of driving the Twilight Turquoise FB. A very big thankyou too, to SunnyTim and Brett for getting us mobile in Narrandera. A big thankyou to Kenny Ross too for bee-lining me at the ShowNShine with a guard peak patch panel.
It was great to catch up with some well known faces, such as Stewart (Parisian62), Matt (Brown Bear) and the usual NSW Club crew; some old NSW club members from back in the day (such as Egg Nogg and rustydungers), and meeting some forum members for the first time, such as Dave (Dakam), Gaz (V8EK4Us), Jeff (Thommo), Rob (fb crusin), Richard & Kate (r&kFB), Theo (thropzed), Terry (FB MAD) and Tim (SunnyTim).
We cannot wait for Sawtell 2011 and the 50th Anniversary EK celebrations, hopefully in our own EK!
Cheers,
Andrew, Victoria and Henry.
