UPCOMING EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
Mid 911 Christmas Lunch @ The Point, Albert Park - 29 Nov 09 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Warrnambool Tour - Jul 09 - Image Gallery
Story - Trevor Leavesley
July the 18th at last, dawn had arrived on the day of the much anticipated run to Warrnambool. After the build-up that the Warrnambool Crew had given us on the previous Mid 911 run, we could not wait! Paula and I were ready to go for the 7.00am Queenscliffe ferry, until we realized we didn’t have to meet until 10.00 am. After a now more relaxed breakfast we were off, eventually arriving ahead of schedule in Moriac, just west of Geelong.
On a cool and damp winter morning the cars began to arrive and eventually assembled before us were; Ted Brotchie’s Boxster; thirteen 911s, including three 993s, a 996, our 997 and Ron Wisharts’s Hyundai, (of which more later). We were then joined by the three 911s of Peter Johnson, Graeme Aberline and John Reeves, our organizing crew from Warrnambool. After very welcome cups of hot coffee, we joined Peter for his briefing on the highlights to come. There appeared to be general relief when Peter indicated that all rooms were full at the Salvation Army Citadel, his promised accommodation for our stay in Warrnambool!
We were soon in our cars and ready to go, when it was realized the bright yellow, left hand drive, ex Japanese racing 911 of new members’ Rohan and Dominique Little, had refused to start. With a hearty push from several enthusiastic members, it readily jumped into life and we were all away, heading west for adventures new.
With Peter leading, the cars were all line astern heading for Deans Marsh on what appeared to be virtually deserted roads. Through Deans Marsh and across the Birregurra Road, the spaces separating the cars grew until from our point of view there were just the three cars following Peter, with nobody visible astern. This writer was in the fourth car and after a sharp right turn Paula, who was navigating, thought we were on the wrong road. “How could that be I disparaged, Peter the organizer is the leading car!!” It wasn’t long before we all came to a shuddering halt. After some discussion (Peter and Jenny had been talking about last night’s TV, or something), we turned round and went back to find the rest of the ‘fleet’ had turned left correctly onto the Old Yea road and we were now the ‘tail-end Charlies’.
After driving through Gellibrand and through the occasional mists we found we were on the very twisty and very appropriately named Charley’s Creek Road on our way to Lavers Hill. We then proceeded through Ferguson until we arrived a little behind schedule, at the Otway Fly Tree Top walk, a well known tourist attraction in the area. The majority of members felt in need of exercise and went off to enjoy this beautiful and relaxing walk. A few stragglers, including this writer, found the open fire in the café just a little too much of an attraction!
It takes a good hour to enjoy the walk hence we were really ready for some lunch when we regrouped in our cars. As it happened, we only had a 15 minute drive to Lavers Hill, where we all had a very satisfying and hearty lunch at the Blackwood Gully restaurant.
After lunch the original plan was to go to the Bay of Martyrs to view the Apostles, but as we were running a little late and the traffic in what is a popular tourist area was rather slow, it was decided to give this a miss. We headed down from Lavers Hill, which was its usual damp and misty self, towards the Great Ocean Road and Port Campbell.
This road is normally a great driver’s road with its twists and turns, but we were often held up by tourists more interested in the view than looking where they were going. There were still many nice sections to drive and it was from this point on that I repeatedly noticed in my rear view mirror, a white Hyundai that obviously thought it was a Porsche, because it stayed with the group no matter what, how and where we went. I had only briefly met Ron at morning coffee and no idea until we stopped later in the day, that it was him. Quite amazing handling and breaking from what is a family car!
Through Port Campbell, where we were smilingly waved through by a friendly policeman conducting .05 checks! We continued onto and through Peterborough, driving on good roads and in beautiful and surprisingly flat countryside towards Warrnambool. Before going into town the whole ‘fleet’ went to Logan’s Beach, hoping to see some whales. Peter Johnson, who had been remarkably accurate about the clearing weather and blue skies, said there would be whales and there they were. In fact an avid and patient older whalewatcher, who had been there most of the day said we had just missed seeing eight of them just off from the beach. We actually saw at least three whales and claims that there were two more to the west were soon discounted, when through binoculars ‘they’ were seen to be waves breaking on a broken reef!
Time flies when you are having fun and so it was that about an hour later we headed off to the Olde Maritime Inn, where we had accommodation in Warrnambool. Rooms had been previously organized by ‘the Crew’ and we were soon parked up, ready to relax and enjoy ourselves. Clair and Peter Cromie did a great job using the wing of their car as an improvised table to serve cheese, biscuits and wine to the congregation and this was much appreciated by all. We took time out to look at Rohan’s 2.7 ex-racing car, the girls were aghast and sympathetic for his wife Dominique, as inside it had just the two seats, still absolutely bare paint for racing, but luckily a heater had been added for the winter run!
A quick shower, change and into the bar for pre-dinner drinks, then across the road to Pippies Restaurant, which is situated in the historic Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village. A great evening was had by all, beautiful food and copious supplies of various liquids throughout the evening. A bottle of wine and a cake with lit candles were then presented to a very surprised Henri Telkes in honour of his birthday.
The Warrnambool Crew had previously and ingeniously put together a series of mainly pictorial conundrums/puzzles for us to solve during the meal. This was intended to be competition between the occupants of each car versus the other cars, but of course it rapidly became group versus group and then, as we were on two or three large tables, table versus table. Needless to say we all finished up with the correct answers! In a bid to resolve the situation, the Crew’s Muriel Aberline, who was question master for the evening, gave the prize to the most original, but incorrect answer to one of the questions. This went to Neville Sampson for his answer of ‘Mae West’ to a picture question which showed four large capital ‘D’s and within each ‘D’ there was an individual letter of the word ‘West’. (See note below for the correct answer.)
Muriel then announced that placed under one of our chairs there would be a prize winning sticker. Everybody immediately leapt up to check their chair and with furniture going everywhere there appeared to be no winner. Until Gabby Clair, who was still sitting, was eventually persuaded to have a look under hers and she found that she was indeed, the winner of a large jar of local honey. After what had been a big day we all retired for a good night’s sleep.
Up early for breakfast on a cold and miserable winter morning, the crews in many layers of clothing, except for Ron Wishart who didn’t seem to notice the weather, we all assembled with our cars in the Flagstaff Hill car park, where we were visited by a photographer from the ‘Warrnambool Standard’ newspaper. He seemed to take innumerable shots of us, one of which was later published in the ‘Standard’ that week.
This was followed by a briefing from Peter Johnson, who again stated that he had been in touch with ‘his’ weather Gods and confirmed that it would become a clear and pleasant day. We then set off on what turned out to be a short drive to the Hopkins Falls, which are to be found on the Hopkins River, just outside of Warrnambool. Although not too high, they are spectacularly wide with seemingly abundant amounts of water (for Victoria!) flowing over the edge. Very picturesque, especially as we were able to view and photograph them from both the top and bottom levels of the river.
The group then re-gathered, (without Roy & Kerryn Witherington, who had succumbed to the ‘potential attractions’ of a warming local Spa!) and set off on a meandering, but really interesting driver’s road back towards the Great Ocean Road. Proceeding via Cobden and Simpson, we bypassed Port Campbell, stopping for morning tea and the other attractions offered by the Apostle Whey Cheese Company. This company’s products can really be recommended and whilst we all received a cheese of our own choosing as part of our package, many of our party splashed out to purchase a wide range of their products.
After morning tea, the weather had indeed cleared and under a blue sky we continued down the Great Ocean Road through Princetown, Lavers Hill and Apollo Bay, which amazingly was not too crowded with tourist traffic. There was the odd hold up as we all became separated on the road, but the resulting overall driving experience was very enjoyable indeed. We all came back together on the final approaches to Lorne, where we gathered for our last meal of the Run, which was to be lunch on the beach at the ‘B’ Bar & Grill. Jackets and sweaters came off as we walked to the restaurant under a rapidly warming sun and Peter was again complimented on his choice of weather for the week-end. A delightful meal was served to all as we swapped stories on what had been a wonderful Run. As a finale, Peter rose again, looking for answers to a sheet of conundrum/puzzles that were included in the original Driving Notes that we had been given at the start of the Run. Everybody it seemed had left their Notes in their cars, so it became a memory exercise. With sincere thanks to my wife Paula, who had spent some time working out the answers, we were fortunate enough to win the prize of another large jar of local honey.
Sincere thanks were given by all to the Warrnambool Crew for their tireless efforts in organizing and running what was a great week-end.
Note - The correct answer to the conundrum was ‘West Indies’ (West in ‘D’s !!)
Mid 911 North East Vic Tour - May 09 - Image Gallery
Story – Trevor Leavesley
At this time of year, the weather in Northern Victoria can be absolutely glorious, 18 – 22 degrees C, light breezes, cloudless blue sky, beautiful ! It was on just such a day that we gathered for the start of the Mid-911 Register Tour of the North-East. The day to be precise was Friday, May 29th and we had all assembled for lunch at the Sam Miranda Winery in the village of Oxley. Seven 911s and one each, 930, 964, Boxster, Cayman and our 997 C4S. We didn’t have a full complement at that time, as we were still to be joined by two more 911s, another 964, a Boxster and a 996 later in the tour, making 16 Porsches in all.
Paula and I had come up on the Thursday evening to make it easier for us to be on time for the Friday lunch and of course being nearest to the venue, we were late! We drove into the Sam Miranda drive and the cars were all lined up before us and they looked magnificent. We felt a little trepidatious walking into the winery, as we were aware we would not know many members, but our concerns were soon allayed when we met Peter Cromie, the Register Captain who immediately made us feel at home and introduced us to all the other members present. We then had a great lunch, thanks to the winery and its very efficient and sociable staff.
Greg and Andrea Keen, our organizers and the Tour leaders for the week-end, gave each car a well put together package of notes and driving information, followed by a brief summary of what we were likely to be in for, during the week-end. Greg then directed us onto our first driving leg for the afternoon. This writer has a small holiday home in the Mt. Beauty area and for over 20 years a regular visitor to the region. I obviously thought I had some knowledge of the roads. Well, within 5 kms we were in an area and on roads never seen before and they were magnificent. There was very little traffic, sweeping bends, great road surfaces and whilst a little narrow at times, roads that were wonderful to drive on. With enthusiastic and spirited driving we were soon in Beechworth, where we stopped for a short browse around its many craft, knick knack and antique shops. Beechworth features in much of Victoria’s early history, including of course the adventures of Ned Kelly. In more recent times it has been well known for its high security gaol, which has now closed and for its famous bakery, which is still very much open. After being joined by Wayne and Lindsay St Baker in their Boxster , we were soon off again on the next leg through Yackandandah and onto Boyntons Winery in Eurobin, where we had some excellent tastings, particularly their beers. The day’s final stage was a short trip, via Porepunkah to complete our journey to Bright where we were soon comfortably ensconced in our rooms in the Riverbank Park Motel. After a quick change and freshen up we were on our way with a short walk to the Bright Brewery, where we received generous tasting samples of the various beers they produced and a very educational presentation and discussion on the whys and wherefores of making beer, as if we needed a reason! We then crossed the street to enjoy a beautiful dinner at Lawlers Hut, highly recommended.
Saturday we awoke early to another fine day and the glorious staccato sounds of Peter Johnson’s 911, (who needs an alarm?). Rumour has it that he was getting in early to pick up votes for the Sweetest Exhaust Award ! When we rushed out we were all surprised to find several mms. of ice all over the cars. We were even more surprised, when after washing the cars down with warm water they promptly refroze, it was -1 degree.
As the sun began to peep through and after the cars had warmed up, we all proceeded to drive to the Riverdeck Restaurant in Bright for our breakfast, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We were also joined for breakfast by Anthony Wight in his 911 Targa. Promptly at 9.30 we assembled for what was called a ‘Tour’ in the driving notes, through the Tawonga Gap to Mt. Beauty and then up to Bogong Village, (which is halfway to Falls Creek), where we had a short break to regroup and also to form a celebratory guard of honour for the eventual arrival of our Register Leader! We then drove back to Mt Beauty for a much needed breather with coffee and cakes at the Zest Café. Well, if that was a tour we didn’t get to see much scenery, driving absolutely fantastic twisty roads for approximately 70 kms. Amazingly the road was virtually deserted, except for the odd large truck working on the new hydro-electric scheme. Wonderful !
Upon leaving Mt. Beauty we made our way down through the beautiful Kiewa Valley and then back over the hills through Happy Valley and on past Myrtleford for our lunch stop at the Gapsted Winery, where we were joined by Graham and Yannick Anderson in their 964. We were now a full complement of 16 cars and after a pleasant and very tasty lunch, punctuated by mirthful tales of our adventures on the morning’s ‘tour’, we were then allowed the rest of the afternoon off, to explore at our leisure many of the other attractions available in the region.
Drinks and dinner were arranged for 6.30 at the Sole e Luna restaurant, which was situated virtually opposite the Bright Brewery, where it was noticed certain members of our group had gathered for an encore tasting session. Following a superb dinner and some excellent Italian wine, the presentation for the Sweetest Exhaust Award was made to, would you believe, Peter and Jenny Johnson. (The early bird does catch the worm it seems!) and Barry and Andrea Fitzgerald won the Best Presented Car Award, with their beautiful black 930. Peter then hilariously regaled us with his plans for the forthcoming Mid 911 drive around Warrnambool in July. We can’t wait to sample the delights of the Salvation Army Citadel and the glorious meals from Subway!
Sunday started with an excellent breakfast provided by our motel and following another session of de-icing and warming the cars, we were set to go on the planned Scavenger Hunt. There was some hesitation about who should go first on the Hunt and unfortunately this writer’s car was nearest the Motel entrance, so off we went.
Greg and Andrea had put together a really interesting course that wended its way through Bright, Porepunkah and then Myrtleford and on to Lake Buffalo, where we stopped for ‘Coffee on the Go’ which was brewed and very efficiently served by Greg’s parents, Kath and Harvey. We were the first car to arrive for coffee, although we were very quickly followed by Gary and Esthers 911 that had started fifth, which was a worry and then the others straggled in at various intervals.
There was much hilarity and discussion about the various clues and what should have been the correct course. Comment must be made about Lake Buffalo, which was only about a quarter full and by the grass on its banks it showed that it had been like that for a long time. Hopefully we will get a wet Winter, although thankfully not on this day of the N.E. Tour.
After coffee we pressed on for the second section of the Hunt which meandered back from Lake Buffalo to Myrtleford and then backwards and forwards across the Snow Road, finishing at Milawa Mustards in Milawa. As some of the roads were very minor and some had no signs, it was a little more difficult on this section and easy to get lost. Overall a great Scavenger Hunt!
From Milawa we returned to Oxley for our final lunch at the King River Café and the remaining presentations. Thankfully it was just an excellent soup with mixed sandwiches. I don’t think any of us could manage a full lunch after being fed and wined so well over the whole week-end.
During lunch the remaining awards were assessed and presentations made. The Macgyver Award was deservedly won by Adrienne Shaw, who unbelievably produced a windscreen seal from her bag that she had had for 10 years, when Will Darvall picked up a crack in his Cayman’s windscreen. The Get Lost Award appeared to be a close fight between Peter & Clair Cromie and Wayne & Lindsay St Baker, but after careful recounting it was easily won by Peter & Clair. This writer aided by some magnificent navigation and clue hunting by my wife Paula, won the Scavenger Hunt and Clair Cromie won the raffle.
Sincere thanks from all the participants must go to Greg and Andrea, for putting on such a great week-end for everyone. Everything went well, the driving and roads were superb, the food ample and delicious, the weather amazing and there were no breakdowns or serious problems with the cars. We can only look forward to the next driving adventure.
Mid 911 Macedon Run - Oct '08 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Rutherglen Weekend - June '08 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Mini Tassie Tour - Apr '08 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Flowerdale Run - Mar '07 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Mangalore Airport - April '07 - Image Gallery
Mid 911 Technical Afternoon at Weissach Sport - Jul '07 - Image Gallery