2009 Sawtell Winter Break

VW Winter Break at Sawtell 2009

18-19 August 2009

VW Winter Break at Sawtell report

The third biannual VW Winter Break was held recently at Sawtell and after three tries we finally cracked it for some of that famous North Coast weather.

Friday saw most of the attendees arrive with many new faces and cars. After a few plates of prawns and beer it was time to talk about our various trips up, down and across to arrive safely at Sawtell.

It seems Leigh and Belinda had the most trouble on the trip up with a slipping rotor button in their immaculate 1977 Deluxe microbus, I felt partly to blame as I sold the offending part to Leigh many years ago.

Friday night saw a large group of us make the short walk into town for an excellent Indian meal in the main street of Sawtell.

Saturday morning a few of us went to have a go at the Go Karts at Raleigh, the same track where the racing is held during the VW Spectacular at Valla every second year. Last time we tried this it was pouring rain, this time the track was dry and it didn’t take long for some spectacular driving feats to occur on this twisting circuit. After racing we all had a good laugh about each other’s driving skills and compared bruises.

After the adrenalin rush at the Go Kart track it was off to Bellingen for some retail therapy at the markets and to join up with the rest of the VW crowd. We hung around Bellingen for a while then did a run up to Dorrigo to go to the Rain Forest centre, what a beautiful spot and it was even warm for Dorrigo, then it was back down the mountain to enjoy a few more plates of prawns and few beers.
Sunday we were greeted by another beautiful day, all the VWs assembled on the Village Green at the Caravan Park. In total we had about 50 cars lined up and we had peer judging for the first time. We collected a gold coin donation to enter which was donated to a local charity.

The winners were,
Best Beetle, Ray Pleydon
Best Kombi, Judy Pattison
Best Type 3, P Newstead
Best water cooled, Gavin Harwood

One of the many high lights of the day was seeing Ray Vanderkly’s Fridolin Post Office van which he has been restoring for many years, this was its first outing and you couldn’t wipe the smile of his face all day, it was deservedly the centre of attention for much of the day.

I had to leave Sunday afternoon to get my son back in time to begin his HSC trials on Monday, but from all reports many more plates of prawns and a few drinks were consumed.

I would like to thank all that attended and helped make this a successful weekend away, in particular Ray Vanderkly our local club member who does all of the work to get this event happening and Shirley Pleydon for her help with the car show entries on Sunday.

Steve Carter

 

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