Mid-week Lunch Run – Araluen Hotel - 25 May 2022

On Wednesday 25 May, nine club members met at the Spotlight car park at Queanbeyan: Mike Ford (green TR3),  Ian & Melanie Chapman, (blue TR4), Trevor & Betsy Lloyd (white 2500), Rick & Dianne Wade (green Stag) and Chris Doble & Jan Tink (white Ford XY GT).

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We then proceeded to Bungendore, where Anthony Ockwell and Mark Penglase (red TR4) joined the convoy. Our destination was Araluen, which is about 130 km from Canberra towards Moruya. Whilst very cold at dawn it turned into a bright sunny, sometimes cloudy, but beautiful day for travelling.

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We had a bit of excitement on the way, between Bungendore and Braidwood. Ian stopped his car on the side of the highway because he heard an unusual noise that he described as a stick hitting the car. After walking around the car. Ian lifted the bonnet and we looked for anything clanging above the engine noise.  We pushed and pulled things including the front suspension looking for possible problems.  We did hear something fall to the ground. After pushing the car backwards a few metres, we found a nut and spring washer in the dirt. The next trick was to find where it came from. It turned out that the alternator pulley was no longer secured. How fortunate  was Ian that he did not continue driving just that little bit further prior to stopping as this could have been a catastrophic failure requiring a tow job. Anthony bolted the truant nut back on with his SAE, metric, Whitworth spanner and we continued onto our lunch destination.

The narrow road between Braidwood and Araluen is still quite rough in places with numerous pot holes in the bitumen. Mike reminded me that the last time he went with the club on this road it cost him a windscreen. There were road works in progress, but there are obviously a lot more required. We did pass a temporary road sign that stated the road is impassable to Moruya, an indication that some of the washaways we traversed might be worse further along.

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The meals at the pub were very good and the day spent  with friends was quite relaxing. We did discuss the upcoming Bermagui trip and of course had differing views on the election campaigns and result.

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At about 3 o'clock after taking photos of the cars lined up in front of the  pub we returned home after an enjoyable day.

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By Chris Doble

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