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FWDQ Corroboree - Pomona - 3 - 5 May 2008
Participants: Rod and Mary Metcalfe (Trip
Leaders) All in the company of over 200 members from clubs all around Queensland. What a weekend. Arriving at Pomona around 20:30 on Friday evening the place was already filling rapidly. Most of our club contingent was already set up, such are the joys of retirement. The first thing I noticed was the organisation for check-in. Marshalls directed people where to park, then into the registration area where the whole process of checking off names, getting receipts, goodies, identity stickers and sign up for a Saturday trip took only a couple of minutes. The Landcruiser Club had surely spent lots of time and effort to get this right. The Goodies Bag. What’s a Corroboree without a bag full of give-aways. There were the usual hats, stickers, pamphlets etc, but the item that intrigued me most: condoms. Now I confess to being bemused and confused about this particular goody. Was it a none too subtle hint toward practicing safe socialising at the weekend. But after some thought I realised that they are applicable to four wheel drivers. Every driver will vouch for the benefits of good rubber, and an aggressive tread gets you much, much further. I hope mine are A/T’s. One member who shall remain nameless told me his bag had a full year’s supply and he was happy to receive both of them. Good luck when the rubber hits the road. Events. A full program of events spanned the entire weekend. These included winery tours, Inter-club Trophy Competition, entertainment, 4WD Association meeting. One stand out feature of the organisation was the Event Guide contained in the goody bag. Every event was listed with it location and start time. Every trip had its start time, duration, destination, grade, assembly lane, radio channel and what to bring listed. Made it really easy to know where to be and when. Trips. For many the trips are the heart of the weekend, and again the Landcruiser Club did not disappoint. A total of 36 trips to 9 different destinations were put on. They were the usual mix of social/easy, moderate and hard. There was one extreme trip that even Errol did not attempt, and that was the Mount Cooroora Morning Challenge, so steep you had to leave vehicles behind and walk. Of the trips in vehicles, many of us did the three moderate/hard rated trips to No Stops Hill, Gentle Annie, 300 Million Lane. All good trips. Reports from others were all positive about the trips they undertook. Entertainment. Saturday night “Highway One” put on a very professional performance for over three hours. They were mainly Rock’n’Roll with many 50s and 60s standards. Yes there is music that is not called “Country”, or “Western”. On Sunday “The Band O Coots” strutted their stuff. Mainly C&W (can’t bring myself to say the words) and some bush ballads. Again, quite entertaining and gave good value. Inter-Club Trophy. “We Are the Champions”. Just ask Eric Newmann who sang it loud, flat (slightly), and often on Saturday night. There was Bocce and a Tug of War as well as some brain-straining trivia questions. Gwen Davis scooted from camp to camp looking for answers and all methods of investigation were employed including searching through a second hand book about Australian Prime Ministers in the local Life Line store. But we won the tug of war. Garry Broadhurst, Steve Baldwin, Steve Fleming and Rod Metcalfe all did the club proud as they heaved the opposition across the line. Collectively they should now be known as the Anchor Men. Garry Broadhurst should be going to Beijing for the 100 metre dash. On Saturday night when it was announced we had won the trophy Garry made the dash to centre stage in record breaking time. His boots were just about smoking as he skidded to a halt in front of the MC. The trophy is in the very safe hands of Eric Newmann. Eric allowed some of us to hold the trophy but only very briefly, and after washing our hands. Come Monday most packed up and departed. The R&R (Rich and Retired) group of course stayed on for a day or several longer. I was undecided, so rang Mary Metcalf an hour after she and Rod had left. They were stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Bribie turnoff, and were going to the servo for dinner. So I joined the R&R for dinner at Kin Kin pub. When we got back to Pomona around 8:30 pm, Mary had sent me a text to say the traffic had cleared by the time they got back on the road. It’s great getting personalised traffic reports, thanks Mary. There was hardly any traffic for my trip home. Summary. A great weekend. Thanks to Toyota Landcruiser Club for some terrific organisation. Thanks also to Rod and Mary for organising the trip for our Club members. And of course, a big thank you to all those members from all clubs for supporting the event. Warning. The 2010 Corroboree is being combined with the National Gathering. The Toyota Club have set the bar very high, and 2010 will have roughly twice the number in attendance. It won’t happen without YOUR support and effort. A last word. 2010 Corroboree + National Gathering = Corrobering Gathoboree Conagath. Take your pick, but be there, it’s sure to be a lot of fun. Alan Hughston Back to Top
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