MINI COOPER REGISTER AUSTRALIA Inc

OUR SECOND RUN – SUNDAY DECEMBER 16, 2007

The second of our Mini Cooper Register Run was just as successful as the first with 4 of the old stalwarts showing, plus 4 new attendees. The cars were immaculate and well represented the ethos of our newly registered Club and they were:

2 x Mk 1 Cooper S Tony Formosa, John Heselwood

2 x Mk 2 Cooper S Brian Hey, Bob Ward and John Stratton

1 x Cooper Andrew Bell

1 x Mayfair Denis and Ruth Volter ( sorry Ruth, we’ll make sure next time more girls come )

Duly armed, we received the road briefing from Tony and commenced our run once again in to a challenging hinterland road with some great Mini bends and curves – pity about being caught behind the slow ( and smelly) cattle truck, but we quickly blew him away on an overtaking lane uphill and recommenced our journey in convoy, fetching up at the Bearded Dragon Hotel at Tamborine Village for smoko.

Some enjoyed the coffee and sticky buns at the Tavern while others squatted beneath overhanging palms outside and enjoyed the quiet country ambience on a typical Australian pre Christmas 30 Deg Celsius day. ( In other words, we were all watching our temperature gauges ). Smoko over, we duly departed led by the intrepid team of Vasco de Ward and Magellan Stratton to take the road to our next destination of Canungra for a walk round this sleepy "bottom of the mountain" town nestling in the Lost World foothills.

Somebody didn’t get their signals right as the lead team paced themselves to the driver behind in the rear vision mirror, and with Tony falling further and further behind, we came off our 100 kph target down to about 80, only to see in our mirror a huge line of traffic behind John at tail end charlie. Next minute we were being tail gated by Tony to speed up – well we never! We then pulled up next to the Canungra Pub nestled in a little side street and managed to fill up 3 parking bays with the 6 cars much to the delight of the town and a busload of camera snappy Japanese.

John’s and my ears were still ringing as we entered the cool of the Pub for a sherbert to the cries of consternation from the others about the "old girls" leading the parade. Making a command decision, John and I quickly appointed Tony as the lead driver for the next stage so we could enjoy tail gating him.

Planning heads quickly got together over the lunch venue, and instead of proceeding to St Bernard’s Pub at Tamborine, we elected to remain ensconced in the Canungra Pub and enjoy the aircon and other delights. A short walk round the town was then enjoyed and you could see from its country charm that is was a stop over for every manner of motorised conveyance enjoying the many sidewalk cafes and crafts stores.

Lunch called at 12 noon and the eight of us selected a table right near the kitchen exit so we could grab anything that came out of the door, and ordered a variety of wood fired pizzas and salads. I know being in the country represents good value for money, but I was surprised at the size of the pizzas at $15 , and there was no big, medium or small. This thing on our plate was HUGE as we tried making a good job of the meal. Everyone failed as our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, so short of having a siesta straight away through over indulgence, we decided to continue the last stage of the journey up the mountain to Tamborine.

As previously stated, Tony was elected to lead, but we never saw him most of the time, defying his hard won reputation in the old club as a solidly slow leader, as he blew gravel round the bends teetering on the edge of the abyss as he dared us to follow. Only 2 of us were able to follow and so we made the green light at the one lane passing strip half way up the mountain with just the side of the car wheels showing over the drop below. The others weren’t so lucky and hit the red light with elevated temperature gauges while they waited for the next green and a catch up with the others waiting patiently ( for some but not the little guy in the lead) just ahead at the top of the mountain.

Once collected, we gathered at the hang gliding run off point and enjoyed the magnificent vistas to the west from such a high vantage point, and the beautiful crisp mountain air.

We said our Christmas cheer and then returned to our cars for a split off in every direction to take our travellers home to kith and kin and the preparations for a wonderful Aussie Christmas.

Well done everyone and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Keep your eyes open for a newsletter, an Events Calendar and website, possibly a Magazine as we consolidate our new Club.

Until then.

Bob Ward