| Canberra Classic Postmortem
From the nice smooth roads of Canberra .......
 Pic by 2bob
to the windy roads of a lush mountain rainforest ........
the 'Canberra Classic' sponsored by ACT's MINI Dealer, Rolfe Classic had it all. Put 23 MINI's, 43 owners and friends from Canberra and Sydney together, throw in some mountain roads, fine food and an occasional sip of fabulous wine from sponsor, Heritage Fine Wines and you have a recipe for a weekend of MINI fun.
Even without our usual, Photo Reccy Sheets, printed with great care by MINI owner and Club printer Darryl Sheather (Sheather Bros), to show us the way, due to a 'courier malfunction', we still managed to find some of the most exciting MINI roads on the southern tablelands. Apart from missing a turnoff on the first leg (sorry guys) we found our way around pretty well and made all destinations in relatively good time. There was a hiccup in Nowra when a Double B Semi Trailer had decided to flip it's rear trailer in the middle of a round a bout however a quick call to Trudy, our luncheon host at Corrigan's Cove Restaurant in Batehaven had the Chef turning off the stoves for about half an hour so that the meals would be just right when we arrived. Click Here to view the MINI Drive sheet for the weekend.
Our official start point saw us at 'The Cottage' in Berrima where owner Jan Weekes managed to feed some famished MINI owners hungry after their initial 1st legs from Sydney and Canberra.
From here we headed up to Cambewarra Lookout where on a clear day it is said you can see the southern coastline for 135klms. Our visit had some light cloud however the view was still majestic and the drive through the forest magnificant.
 Pic by Dooks
Batemans Bay and Corrigans Cove Restaurant were our next destination where we were greeted by Mark Kolher from the local independant newspaper Bay Post. Bay Post had already tipped the locals that we were passing through the holiday haven of Batemans Bay in their Friday Edition.
Corrigan's is not normally opened for lunch, however owner Trudy went out of her way to make all our owners welcome and offered a special prize of one nights stay at 'Corrigans Cove Resort' for two in our lunch draw. Daniel 'MINI2_COOPER' Fife had the winning number for this fabulous prize. City Clinic provided a couple of prizes, a Polar Heart Rate Monitor and one of their new products from their Body Bolster division, a 'FitBall Exercise DVD'. Heritage Fine Wines provided some of their fantastic wines to sip over lunch and with the outlook over the pool and park areas across the road you couldn't help but relax and enjoy the afternoon with the second leg of our journey now complete.
From Batemans Bay we headed up the mountain to Braidwood for a stop at the Famous Model Car Shop where I managed to buy the only 1/18 scale MCS left. It is CR/W and whilst it's one of my favourite colour combinations, a quick call to Wayne Green in Sydney, painter/polisher extroadinaire and the model will be BRG/BRG by next weekend in time for the Cronulla Car Show (Sun March 7) where Wayne will be showcasing his talents with a polishing rag.
The Blue Team made a quick exit to Canberra to get their group photo task done before sunset while the rest of us made a compulsorary pitstop at Braidwood's Lolly Shop where we enjoyed some of their delicious icecream and an afternoon coffee before saying goodbye to some of the Sydney owners who were not staying in Canberra for the weekend. Marc ubought'a'what Van Heemst, a MINI2.com regular from Sydney and Peta stayed on a little longer and followed us up to the turnoff to Goulburn where we all hooted our fairwells in unison and continued onto Canberra via Bungendore.
 Blue Team Pic by Dave
After checking in at the Canberra Hyatt Hotel and a quick shower to refresh us after covering about 550 k's since leaving home this morning, we met up with some of the ACT contingent in the garden and enjoyed a refreshing brew before heading in to the Prominade Restaurant for the Seafood Buffet. We were joined here by Stephen Littlehales, Manager, Rolfe Classic MINI and friend Maria Beitl. Barbara Skewes, wife of Gary, alter ego 'Harry Morant' on MINI2 was the lucky winner of the BMW Precision Timing Watch sponsored by MINI Clubs and Karen Cording took the nights main prize sponsored by MINI Australia and Rolfe Classic MINI; the use of a MINI Cabrio for a weekend once released to the dealers. Dean (dsc68) and Karen will also be invited for a special showing of the Cabrio at Sydney Motor Show in October.
After an enjoyable meal some of us moved back to the garden for a nightcap and post mortems on the days activities and to talk about what we had planned for Sunday while Alan Earnshaw, KMS Haircare wandered around the hotel looking for his reading glasses. It hadn't been Alan's day, a busted runflat after hitting a huge pothole coming down the mountain and the loss of some expensive reading glasses was hitting the wallet pretty hard. What he didn't expect was the 'non assist' from MINI Assist over a potentially dangerous problem with a Run Flat tyre. We'll leave that story for another time and Alan did finally get home however not without some genuine concerns over whether the drive back to Sydney would end in tears. Hotel staff finally found his reading glasses and Alan Irwin from MINI Garage Sydney, who had also joined us for the weekend, organised a new Run Flat to be fitted Monday.
8.30am Sunday saw the Green Team meeting in the hotel carpark after a hearty breakfast. The Greens had organised to take their group task photo at some of Canberra's well known landmarks before heading back to the Hotel for the Sunday briefing and to hook with another contingent of ACT owners.
 Green Team Pic in front of Parliment House
After a quick briefing we headed for our first stop, a refuel and fluids check at BP Kingston then it was off to the Car Lovers Car Wash at Fyshwyck for a quick MINI tub before heading to the Wood Works Gallery at Bungendore.
Artistic Director and founder, David MacLaren, opened the Gallery in 1983. David moved to Bungendore from New York because he believed the village setting best represented his woodcraft and it was where he wanted to live and work. "If we represent the best possible woodcraft in the best possible way, then people will seek us out. And they have", says David. A visit here if you are in the area is a must. David's timeless furniture and decorative pieces are an asset to any home or office. After walking the gallery you can finish off with a light meal and or coffee in Gallery's Cafe.
Our leaders today were Gary 'Harry Morant' Skewes and Dean 'dsc68' Cording and after our tour of the Gallery and a coffee we were off to Goulburn before heading up the freeway to the Bundanoon turnoff for another leg of windy MINI roads on the way to our luncheon destination, The Briars at Bowral. I was relegated to rear convoy duties which gave me a great opportunity to witness the oohs and aahs from the locals as we moved through Goulburn's and then Moss Vale's long main streets. With a bag of MINI goodies including MINI stickers and Tattooes supplied by MINI Australia, we proceeded to hand them out to kids at pedestrian crossings and parks as the convoy snaked it's way through the towns.
It's amazing how kids get so excited about the MINI. Interbrand.com rated MINI 3rd ahead of Coca Cola in it's recently conducted poll of most favoured international brands. Pretty impressive considering the brand was only really ressurected a few years ago. A bit off topic, (sorry swamos) but it may explain the popularity of our pride and joys amongst the general population.
On arrival at The Briars we were met by the Red Bull Girls in the 'WINGS' MINI. A couple of Red Bulls and we were ready to tackle our next task .. lunch for a very hungry and road weary lot of MINI owners and partners.
Lunch at The Briars is always a great way to spend a weekend afternoon and our host Melania East didn't dissappoint. After a hearty meal, a couple of light ales it was time for another lucky draw for some great wines, again provided by our sponsor Heritage Fine Wines and the KMS Haircare carry bag full of goodies provided by Alan Earnshaw on behalf of KMS. You will have to forgive me here, I can't remember all the winning recipients of some of the draws we had over the weekend however, Tim 'IML337' Stevens was one lucky wine winner and our soon to be accepted to the MINI fold Daniel 'MINI2_COOPER' Fife was the big winner taking out both the KMS and Corrigan's Cove overnight Stay awards. Daniel is expecting delivery of his new MINI this month and came along on the weekend as navigator for one of our newer members Thomson ' Dooks' Kiang.
 Pic by Dooks
After our final briefing for the weekend it was time for the last leg of our MINI Adventure, home for some much needed rest. We fairwelled the ACT contingent and headed off to one of the narrowest and twisty bits of bituman road which would take us from Robertson down the mountain to Jambaroo and then onto the southern freeway to Sydney. After winding down the mountain we pulled up for our final goodbyes and then proceeded to head home via Woollongong in the weekend South Coast traffic.  Not a fitting end to a great weekend however it gave us plenty of time to reflect on our two days of MINI fun. 
To our drive sponsors: Rolfe Classic MINI Garage, Heritage Fine Wines, KMS Haircare, Hyatt Hotel Canberra, MINI Australia, Sheather Bros Commercial Printers, City Clinic, BP Australia and to ACT chapter organiser, Gary 'Harry Morant' Skewes thank you all for your fantastic contributions to the weekend.
Congratulations again to Karen Cording for her big win in the main draw, a new MINI Cabrio for a weekend when it releases later this year or early next. A long wait however well worth it I'm sure.
To all who attended; thank you for your unwavering support and a special welcome to the many first timers. We look forward to seeing you all again on our next MINI Adventure: "The Hunter Connection" in April. Details soon.
For a complete Photo Expose of the weekend, with contributions from various owners, visit the Clubs Gallery/The Canberra Classic. You can also submit your pics from this MINI Adventure or other MINI related topics by clicking here.
Regards to all
Brad Robinson.
Last edited by MINI.CLUBS; Mar 10th, 2004 at 10:51 PM.
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Mar 1st, 2004, 05:31 AM
And it's only been running for a couple of months .... I'll have to get a bigger server 
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