HOG Vic 06

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Victorian State HOG Rally 2006 - Mildura

Ably hosted by the Mallee Chapter and this year located at Mildura on the banks of the mighty Murray River, the “Rally in the Mallee” proved to be a winner. Just arriving in Mildura after the run across the Hay Plains is a real pleasure on it’s own, and one that I reckon is mostly lost on tin-top drivers, the sudden change from a long flat road with its dust and constant hot cross winds, to, greenery everywhere and a quick temperature drop, is a visual and physical experience that you simply cannot get whilst cooped up in an air-conditioned car, combine that with the thick lush grass in the camping areas at Irymple Community Leisure Centre, and the dirt cheap grog prices in a huge air-conditioned basketball hall set out with tables and chairs for us, well, I don’t reckon you could get off to a better start for a rally.

Late Friday afternoon saw Kaz and myself settled in, and with the Red Cliffs Lions Club serving up huge hamburgers and sandwiches at very affordable prices, “Blown Seal” the live band playing plus the Irymple Football Club manning the bar, there was no reason to even consider having to go into town for the evening, so we just kicked back, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves prior to hitting the sack for the night.

Saturday morning had the Lions Club busy cooking breakfast, and, after another good feed, it was time to muster for the ride out to Wentworth in NSW where the Darling river converges with the Murray, and the start of the Thunder Ride back into Mildura, Kaz had opted to go check out the bike shops whilst I was on the ride, and was waiting to get a couple of pics when we arrived back at a beautiful park in the centre of town, the official welcome and a Show and Shine had been arranged there, in order to give the public a close up chance to see the bikes, this was because the gymkhana and other events back at the rally site were closed to the public.

The gymkhana only consisted of a couple of events for the first day, which was a blessing in disguise, as, a predicted extremely hot change in the weather had just arrived, so with the events for the afternoon over it was back into the hall for an all you could eat meal that came as part of the rally cost, the mob doing the catering for this were so well organised that it only took about 20 minutes for the entire 500 or so people there to be served and sat back down tucking into a damn good feed. The band for the night was ‘Rhythm Rats” and were joined for a few numbers by a bloke called Darren from the Adelaide Chapter who can really pump the notes out of his harmonica, fortunately the earlier heat died down a bit so after a pleasant night of chatting with friends we hit the sack and were able to get a good nights kip.

Sunday dawned with a brilliant red sunrise, but you could tell straight away it was going to be another hot day, which was a bloody shame because it put a lot of people off going on the planned scenic rides, Kaz and I did go on one but it was so bloody hot that it spoiled the tour, so we lobbed back early to the rally site in time for the wine tastings set up by some local wineries, and to listen to “Blues Addiction” who were the band that was playing in the afternoon. This passed a couple of relaxing hours as we waited for the second half of the gymkhana events.

These consisted of a grape crushing contest, which saw quite a few laughs as the contestants stomped their way around the containers in circles to see who could get the most juice extracted in the two minute limit. Needless to say it degenerated into a free for all with buckets of juice and crushed grapes being tipped over the judges and thrown into the crowd after the results had been finalised, which in the end was probably just as well, because I really don’t think that it would have turned out to be a particularly good vintage.

Next on the agenda was the bucking bull, and with two members from each chapter contesting for points awarded for staying on the longest, it was an entertaining way to round off the day prior to having the evening meal, this was once again, a good feed with no long queues, the band for the night, “Dutch Courage” then fired up for a while prior to a huge raffle draw, and for once, after years of losing tickets, we finally jagged a prize, presentations followed and then the closing ceremony rounded off the night for us and we headed back to the tent for an early night and to prepare for the ride home.

Apart from the weather being so bloody hot on Sunday, which was of course totally out of the hands of the organisers, I really don’t reckon I could fault the rally. The Mallee Chapter managed to get all the essential ingredients right, including the price, and with Quick Fix Harley keeping their workshop open for as long as necessary over the weekend it certainly made it more than worthwhile attending.

Congratulations and well done.

- Crusty & Kaz