Renmark 2016 - Day 1

[Blacky]

Just got back from the Friday night meet and greet , and free nibbles - great idea SA Club !!!

We got into Adelaide on Monday and spent the first half of the week winery bashing and visiting antique shops as usual - gotta keep the better half happy !



Ended up on some dirt roads - got 3 more dents/paint cracks



Went and picked up the marinised grey I bought on Epay - the best part is it takes up half the tray so it will save me a fortune on wine purchases !!



Wednesday we headed off to Mildura to catch up with Gaz and Sue - went through Renmark on the way and it was looking pretty bloody ordinary , luckily it was only Wednesday, weather is looking great for the weekend !!!



On the way to Gazzas , good to see the General was smart enough in 1960 to build an ashtray that fits an IPhone in it perfectly for navigation duties !!!



Wednesday night dinner was pretty bloody flash



then it was shed time in the bar - and what a bar !!!



Then today the Melbournians arrived and off to Renmark we went -

[WesternWagon]

Great pics keep em coming.

PS Blacky shutdown is fun

[NoMAD]

nice pics mate... cheers for keeping us informed

cheers
Nathan

[mph]

Cool pics mate,
cars look good, that fb wagons a beauty.

[Devilrod]

I see you have a spare motor for the trip home.....

Thanks for the pics Blacky.

[Mick Jagger]

awesome
apart from the tucker...
that 5th photo inspired me

[Blacky]

Good to hear Mick - now get out into the shed and finish your car !!!
Now that my computer woes are fixed and I have bit of spare time (more on that later) heres some more pics........

Saturday morning sign on , bit of a sore head but nothing too serious



The three W.A. cars all got there OK -


After a feed of bacon and egg rolls we were off on a short cruise to Berri -
Main street of Berri looking very stylish


Then off again to a park for a bloody good lunch , kudos to the SA for the food all weekend actually , was all good - only complaint was there were no breakfast beers







Aarons wagon is outstanding , some really clever touches on this car - and the FJ he is working on now is something else !!!!



Then it was time for the Saturday night dinner and bench racing session

bought heaps of raffle tickets and didn't win a bloody thing this year - the photos of the ute were taken by the SA club during the day then printed off and stuck on a wall at the reception centre for the entrants to take - clever idea !!


All entrants received a gift box of locally made or sourced goodies -



The beer demolition table were doing quite well ....

[Blacky]

Sunday morning and the weather was perfect , bit cold but not a cloud to be seen - I just realised I only took one picture all day , of my favourite wagon !



SunnyTim and I had important business to discuss , so we adjourned across the road to the conference room - AKA the sports bar of the Renmark Hotel


Sunday night was the usual presentation night and farewells , then the obligatory afterparty

Mick picked up longest distance REALLY travelled



Monday morning was a bit chilly -



but we chiselled the ice off and got on our way , home was 2780kms away, and Mick wanted to be home by Wednesday night.

Monday arvo the ute turned over to zero - probably for the second time -


Made it to Kimba ,


We made it to Minnipa and stayed in a great old country pub , big fire , big feed , a few beers - all good


Tuesday we needed to make some miles , we still had nearly 2100 to go - off at daybreak , brekky at Ceduna and off across the paddock we go



Lunch at Nullarbor roadhouse


We hit the WA border at about 4pm SA time , we wanted to get to Caiguna so hammer down...

fuel was a bit pricey, was around this all the way across from Nullarbor to Balladonia



Got to Caiguna at around 7pm , the last 2 hours in the dark dodging 'roos - not the most relaxing drive !!!

Mick , Dave and Cindy took off from Caiguna at 4am to get back to Perth , Trev , Karen , Shahni and I left at the far more civilised (and lighter ) time of 7 , and all was going well until .......


I shit a wheel bearing and the whole show came to a grinding halt just out of Balladonia managed to limp into Balladonia and I am writing this blurb sitting in the bar waiting on a mate from Kalgoorlie to come down with a car trailer and rescue me .....

My ever faithful wife immediately jumped ship and got on the piss in the back of Trevors car with Karen....




to be continued ...........

[John]

Shit, no good mate. Any room on the back seat to hit the piss while waiting?

[Rusty EK]

Thanks for the pics and the write up , sounds like you had a good time up until the wheel bearing .

[60Special]

No room for Blacky, Shahni abandoned him and we hightailed it to the big smoke (Kalgoorlie).
We might see him tonight.

[Devilrod]

Always enjoy your road trip posts Blacky. Waiting to see how it ends now! Oooow the suspense...

[the rocket]

Doesn't seem normal if someone dosn't have trouble. love the story, thanks for sharing.

[WesternWagon]

Bugga

[In the Shed]

Onya Blacky,
Thanks for the pics, some nice cars there. Bummer about the wheel bearing


Regards
Stephen