We've finally gotten around to firming up a few more arrangements for the runs at the Round Up.
Whilst we have a few other activities in the pipeline, the heart of this event are the runs. Our focus is to show our attendees some of the local scenery and more interesting roads, whilst also giving opportunities before/after the runs and at the frequent rest stops for old friends to catch up and others to get to know each other.
So, the updated program looks like this:
Wednesday 31 Oct,
Thursday 1 Nov Casual organised runs including some reasonable gravel roads. The goal here is to see some of the beautiful back country scenery and travel on some interesting roads that are best done with local guides, but we definitely want to steer clear of any "Moke busting" tracks. The roads may be rougher than some participants are used to, but will be tackled at a sensible pace so that everyone gets back in one piece.
Wednesday will be a run around the Echo Hills, Weabonga, Limbri area which will probably only mean anything to people who know the area. Unlike most of the other runs, we never touched on this area at the last Round Up. There are no major townships along most of this route, so attendees will need to bring a picnic lunch and we will be stopping at the Dungowan Hotel on the way back for afternoon refreshments.
On the Thursday we will be doing a similar run to last year's early run where we did some interesting steep windy gravel roads for a couple of hours in the morning finishing up at the Bendemeer Hotel for lunch. Don't be put off by the fact that it's a pub (although I know some won't be
). It has a family oriented outside dining area with a large park like area running down to the local river and plenty of room for the kids to run around. Most of the people who did the run last time weren't "pub people" and included MoeMoke with his young family, but everyone loved the place. The hardest part was getting everyone to leave
.
After lunch we have another scenic route home mapped out which also incorporates some gravel roads. For those who have had enough of driving the back roads by then, it's an easy all bitumen 30 minute run back to Moke Central down the highway and we'll be happy to point you in the right direction.
Bendemeer is on the New England Highway north of Tamworth and we have deliberately chosen it as the lunch venue to allow those who may be arriving late on Thursday to have lunch with us and/or jump in on the afternoon run. Times will be advised soon, but we plan on being there for a couple of hours.
Friday 2 Nov As there will be a reasonable percentage of the attendees in attendance by this stage, and even more arriving throughout the day, we will be ramping it up a notch
We'll be aiming to leave Moke Central by 9.30am heading for Quirindi, which will get us there by 10.30 - 11.00ish at Moke convoy pace.
Some of last year's attendees may be thinking "but we did that last year". True, but we are mixing it up a little bit this time.
First stop will be "Bob's Shed" - no, not just my mate Bob's garage before anyone asks
. It's a car collector's private collection which he has recently opened to the public. He has concentrated on Holdens and has an amazing Peter Brock room, but also has a few other marques and even a bike (no Mokes unfortunately though
).
He also has an excellent couple of rooms set up with historical displays. One is set up as an old time general store, with more original stock on the shelves than most stores ever had I think. Many of the cans and bottles are still unopened with their 100 year old contents intact. Definitely a trip down memory lane for some of the older participants. The other room is set up as an old time bar, with a great collection of old bar related items - so it's not all about the cars for those partners who were worried. The owners are very friendly and love to chat about their displays
Entry Fee of $6 per person will be payable on the day and is
not included in the registration fee. Children are technically half price, but on the two occassions I've been there they've let my teenagers in for free. Entry fee includes a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate, but you will need to bring your own snacks if you want food.
At 1.00pm we will be heading over to the Rural Heritage Village which is only 5 minutes away. They have a cafe there if people want to buy lunch, or alternatively you can bring your own and there is plenty of room to sit and eat it.
This is a Rural Museum as the name suggests, but is set on several acres of land and also includes a miniature ride on train track run by volunteers. We have organised the volunteers to have someone there on the day to run the trains for us. It was popular last time with big and little kids alike
.........
We'll then do a pretty casual drive back to Tamworth with a break half way at the Werris Creek Railway Monument Park and historic railway station.
Again, the benefit of us spending so much time in Quirindi is that those who are planning on travelling to the Round Up on Friday and arriving in the morning or early afternoon can meet up with us there and join in. Quirindi is approx 65km south west of Tamworth. I can provide directions to these stopovers to anyone who plans on meeting us there - they are honestly very easy to find.
Saturday 3 Nov The Main event!
An all day run to Nundle, Sheba Dams, Hanging Rock and return late afternoon. You will need to be at Moke Central reasonably early in the morning if you are to catch the start of this run. If that's not possible, we can of course give you directions/a map to meet up with us along the way.
More details to come here soon
Sunday 4 Nov We had originally planned on some localised smaller runs as we assumed most people would be heading home, but it appears that a lot of people are interested in spending most or all of the day at the Round Up, so we've lifted our game a little
To help out those unlucky folk who have to be on the road after lunch, we have arranged for a morning run out to Lake Keepit, which is about 45 min west of Tamworth on the Gunnedah Rd. We plan to stop there for an early lunch (Take away shop and gas BBQ facilities available).
After lunch, the unlucky ones can head back to Moke Central very easily via the main Gunnedah-Tamworth road.
The rest of us will be heading out to Mt Borah, which is west of Manilla - approx an hours drive from Lake Keepit. This is a mountain on private property which is used for paragliding competitions - including the National Championships. We are very privileged to be allowed up here thanks to KMC knowing the property owner personally. Access is normally only granted to competing paragliding clubs on competition days.
Access to the top is via a steep dirt track, so probably not one for the bitumen Mokes, but although this is a private track, it is maintained in fairly good condition due to regular paragliding traffic - still a steep dirt track though and care needs to be exercised.
KMC took a very small group up there last time on the Monday when most people were on their way home. The track had been closed the day before due to wet weather, but still the Mokes had no problem getting up there. KMC, Julie (of Julie and Vern fame
), Smokey and Yellow Devil were the only ones who got to try it out from memory.
It's about an hour or so back to Tamworth from Mt Borah, but presuming people will want to stop for a drink and a snack at Manilla on the way home, two hours would probably be a better estimate. Including time spent up on the mountain, this will not exactly make it an early day, but it's not too hard for people to make their own way back to Tamworth if they need to head off earlier (we will provide maps).
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A final note is that as you may have noticed, every day other than Saturday has a significant gravel road component. Whilst we appreciate this doesn't suit everyone, we looked at the various all bitumen routes available, and they just don't compare to the dirt roads we've chosen in our opinions, so we've made the call to make it a largely dirt road event. We're sure that those who don't do dirt roads in their Mokes will find a seat with someone and can keep their Moke for the Saturday run and running around town. Then again, it may tempt some to test out some new frontiers
Unfortunately, by their very nature a lot of these roads are difficult or impossible to get through in the wet. We do have alternate plans available if there happens to be a lot of rain at the time, however that seems pretty unlikey as I write this a little more than aweek out from the event. It is extremely dry in the region at the moment with no rain to speak of for many weeks now, and the forecast is for more of the same. Dust looks like being more of problem than mud
Still looking for registrations, so if this has got you all excited and you haven't registered yet, please send it in.
Newie
Topic: Draft schedule of events for the Round Up (Read 2237 times)