2019 grab an opal tour.

[reddo]

couple of pix retrieved from my phone...

late arvo first day at Murrurundi.... got cold as soon as the shiney thing went behind the mountains..

Lightning ridge.jpg (42.65 KiB) Viewed 5416 times

A few of the happy hour groupies enjoying the late arvo entertainment in Lightning ridge CVP..

While we where at the ridge i got an interesting phone call... it was from a lady that use to live over our back fence when i was 7 years old her dad bought a shiney new sunny. I use to get in trouble for hitting a six stitcher cricket ball over the fence and hitting the van on the roof.
Years later... it got sold to people who lived in the same street as Trish and i bought our first house... although i cant remember ever seeing it there?/. Those people sold it to a bloke in lightning ridge.... Hence the phone call from the lady the use to live over our back fence. We have kept in touch for all those years. When she found out i was staying at the ridge and .... just had to ring and ask me/ us to keep an eye open for dads old van... and.. we ( steve.. humpty ) found it.. a lot sadder than it was when it was new and .. originaly green.
Al Pym and i went and asked the owner if he would sell it.. ??.. Answer was no. so we made an offer and he is considering it.. im not gunna hold my breath... but happy to have reported back to the lady that we had found dads van after about 58 years.... and posted off some photos to her.

[philmac]

hey reddo good to see your back ,mine keeps coming up j peg error you had this problem before didnt you ?
if so how did you solve it

[reddo]

Hi Phill...
Those photos where on my phone. I usually have issues trying to load any more than 3 photos at a time on each post from my camera... message comes up ... something about files being too big to load any more on the same post. me being the non electronic nerd , i dont know how to shrink image sizes .. so i just settle on the 3 pix each time.
Sorry i cant help...
Here is a pix of "Tubbys" 1935 Federal truck that we looked at at Narrabri.. not on my phone ... but was sent to me. along with a video of the Bren gun carrier doing a u turn on the front lawn at Narrabri..... by "Jenny and Dave"... Thanks guys

federal truck.jpeg

(111.45 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I do have a few more pix of Burren Junction late arvo... I tried to get all artistic and catch late arvo light across the campsite.. but the phone just wasnt interested in playing the game..
So its back to you ... or maybe Humpty...i seen him on a few occassions with a big fancy camera hanging around his neck.??

[philmac]

Back in !

[reddo]

Just spent 2 hours going through dozens of Photo folders ... and Bingo... found al;l the pix from the 2019 Grab an Opal Tour.
Dont know how they ended up.. where they ended up... but ..... like the Pharohs tomb... they have been unearthed..!!!

So.. i will feed you 3 per post...
Starting at Murrurundi and fizzing out at Burren Junction 'cause i forgot to take the charger / cable for the camera..

Al and Gabbie arriving at Murru

First of many happy hours

Lined up at Werries Creek while we went and checked out the railway museum

More later... thats if the album doesnt decide to run and hide again....
Reddo

[reddo]

Day two we headed over to Qurindi and on to the railway museum.. then on through Tamworth to a little place called Kootingal about 10 mins north of Tamworth on the New England Hwy.
The van park wasnt anything all that flash .. but the managers where really pleased to see us roll in with the old cars and vans..
got t meet a few of the permanents that live at the park.. all with their own stories of old cars they have owned over the years .. and the usual questions about the vans...

Had a bit of a giggle when he was telling us where our sites where.." I have set aside that grassed area over there near the big tree.. just park anywhere and any way that suits you best".. so we did.. the end result looked like a demolition derby ..

And so.. as the sunset slowly in the west.. happy hour number 2 kicked in...

A big cook up in the camp kitchen .. a few more beers then off to bed.....

Reddo

[reddo]

Day 3 ... Kootingal to Inverell..
Up and about early... hook up and let the cars get warmed up ready for the big climb up Moonbi Range...
A steep climb that is tackled in 2 stages ..
Thankfully all made it up without any boil overs or breakdowns..

On into Uralla with Al and Gabbie leading the way.. We had only just hit the outskirts of town and Al swings left into a side street where we meet "Charlie" the proprietor of "The Wrench King".. a workshop done up as an old Golden Fleece Servo... A great collection of old servo and motoring stuff. We are allowed to wonder around the shed and check things out.. ask questions.. Here is a few happy snaps..

Charlie mentioned he has a vintage van and a few other "treasures" down in a storage shed , along with a few other cars in the yard.. so off we went for a walk down to the side street and around into the shed..

More in next post..
Reddo

[reddo]

Charlies other shed held a few interesting items...

Nice little van that may have started life as a Supalite and had a few updates over the years..

Old Chev...

and a tidy 5 window coupe...
Lotsa other "stuff" lying around the yard.. old Jag, EK ute, Fordson van..

We set off for Inverell from here.. or at least i thought that was where Al was taking us ... until we drove passed the Bundarra turn off and pulled up in front of some old sheds...

more soon....

[reddo]

A few door knocks and the owner "John" appeared at the door... shortly after a few of the other doors where opened and we where off on another shed tour..
John is a rod builder .. so no vintage vans here .. but a good collection of completed and partly built rods and custom cars...

lotsa bits n pieces to keep us occupied for an hour or so..

John also has a small shop on the corner of the building with antiques etc.. so the woman where happy scratching around in there for a while..

By now it was late morning , so we headed back down into town ad parked in a side street , wandered over and hit the local pie shop for some belly fillers, Phill suggested we should go over to the pub for a bite.. sign in the window said.. "Roast of the Day.. Cold Beer !!" .
After we had filled tummys and tanks we headed off to Inverell via Bundarra .. an easy run with hardly any traffic.. good not to be hunted along by semi trailers like out on the Hwy.
Rolled into Inverell caravan Park mid arvo and set up camp.. The Strugglebrooks took off down to the camp kitchen to prepare our "promised" Friday night fare of Pumpkin Soup. in the mean time a steady roll up of participants had gathered beside my van for happy hour. It was getting late and the sun was dropping fast ... we where concerned where Cath and Rob .. as well as Steve and Julie where?/.. They where going to catch hold of the tour tail here .. and as yet we hadnt heard from them??.. A quick phone call confirmed they where about 10 k's out of town dodging roos at 1oo kph .. and would be here shortly. .. They arrived safely and that made a total of 8 vans on the tour.

A heart meal was had in the camp kitchen.. a mild night and a bit of Telly to see who had been voted in as the new " Head Muppet of OZ".
After this disappointment it was off to bed for me..... Tomorrow is a relax day .. time to check out the local sites in and around Inverell,,, , maybe do a bit of washing and top up the tucker box...

Reddo

[reddo]

Inverell... a lay day..
sightseeing..
So i piled into Humptys Landcruiser and headed off with Pete to the motor museum.. what a surprise packet that plac3e is.. lots of rare cars , trucks, buses , bikes etc..
Spent a few hours checking it all out..

..

Lotsa bikes too....