Pearlbrook 06

Home Discussion Forum Calendar of Events Past Rallies and Gatherings Links Cla$$ifieds Rules Awards Jokes Hefalump Biker Friendly Places Contact Us Odds & ends Sign Guestbook View Guestbook Friends of the 'cats Sound & Video Clips Recipes Body Art Wildcat Tats View Old Guestbook Hatched Matched & Dispatched ABZ of RoadKill Superbike Racing Tell it how it is! Emails and Press Releases About Us

VVMC Thunder West 2006

Numbers were down a bit on previous years, probably due in no small part to it raining on the coast, however the weather was near perfect at Pearlbrook, so a lot of people missed one hell of a good time relaxing in the company of good people with only one thing on their minds, and that thing is of course, to party until you drop.

I had arrived Saturday morning at about 10 am, after a quiet ride up and a nice light mist to cool things down from Scone through to the rally site, so with the tent erected, the gear stowed, and up at the clubhouse saying a few g’days, all without having raising a sweat, things were certainly looking good. A couple of very tidy Z 900’s caught my attention in the show and shine, so it was off to take a couple of pics of them and the rest of some very classy bikes submitted by the entrants.

One new feature at the site that is a godsend for the show and shine as well as the campers, is, that replacing the dirt road with all its dust problems is a newly tarred section that runs from the entry bunker, past the clubhouse and up the hill at the back, it definitely made for a huge difference this year.

After a stroll round the campsite, and a walk up the hill to the entrance to take a few more pics, it was back to the clubhouse to kick back for a while to listen to “Brian McVernon” pound out his own inimitable style of musical entertainment that is always appreciated by the Pearlbrook crowd. A good number of stall holders were in attendance, so if it was biker related or food, and you needed it, there was not very much that you could not buy right there on the spot, the resident tattooist was flat out keeping up with the demand, and I would be very surprised if he got much more than a couple of minutes break here and there, let alone any sleep, for the entire time that he was there inking some very classy new and cover-up work,

About mid afternoon saw the burnout comp get under way, with it’s usual crowd pleasing display of smoke and sound of motors running flat out, and then of course, the resultant rush to bar afterwards to wash down the taste of burnt rubber.

Late afternoon saw the “V-Dubs” take to the stage to continue the entertainment, and then during a break, it was time for the presentation of the trophies and the raffle-draw for a couple of large hand built model bikes and grog packs. Munzie was the guest emcee for this, and he proceeded to rip the piss out of everybody and all and sundry, much to the amusement of the crowd, after about a dozen redraws for the second model bike, he told the crowd if no one claimed it he was giving it to the young lad who was holding the raffle ticket draw bucket, needless to say the young bloke had a huge grin on his face and a big round of applause from the crowd, when he won it without even having bought a ticket. The same problem occurred with the grog packs, and after a few draws with no winners the young bloke might have been forgiven for thinking, if it goes the way it did before, that, he could be in for a very interesting show and tell at school the next day, when he showed the teacher the bike and hangover that he got at Pearlbrook. The problem of no winners was solved by Munzie telling the lad to chuck the prizes into the crowd, which he then did, a couple of lucky punters caught them in their hands, but one bloke who must have been looking the other way at the time was probably very surprised when about four kilos of grog landed in his lap, I reckon he might then have been sculling them pretty well straight away, in order to dull the pain in his nether regions. Finally, a very knackered and puffing bloke who must have run from bloody near the far end of the property after he hearing his number called, arrived only just in the nick of time, to claim the last grog pack, before it too got chucked into the crowd.

The wet T-shirt comp, with Munzie at the helm, started the adult entertainment and had the crowd in stitches again, following that up, were the “Retro Rockets’ who took to the stage for a session until it was time for a couple of very lovely ladies to entertain the crowd with a different interpretation of what you can do with musical accompaniment. With the “Retro Rockets” back on stage, Saturday night became Sunday morning, and at about 2.00am I hit the sack along with all but the hard core party goers, of who quite a few, made it through until a bit after dawn when the smell of bacon and eggs for breakfast floated down from the clubhouse, to rouse the rest of us up from out of the tents for a feed, and then to break camp for the ride home.

With a hell of a lot of work being done by the Club members, and a lot of the money from the rallies, getting ploughed back into the rally site to make it even better for us, it’s been an ongoing top effort by the VVMC NSW Chapter and well worthy of continued support by all rally goers. Congratulation and thanks VVMC. Well done.

- Crusty

It's the little things that count and I fully agree with Crusty that it's nice to see the improvements. Carpet over the gravel in front of the stage was greatly appreciated as were the thunderboxes out in the camping area. As I rode to Pearlbrook I passed the First Fleet Park at Wallabadah and shade sails set like the sails of a ship that looked terrific. Riders passing through Muswellbrook would appreciate the trees planted there to honour our vets. Here's a thought, hopefully taken as constructive and not as criticism. Can be hot as hell and then some there and shade and seating is always at a premium. Maybe a combination of sails done in shapes significant to Vietnam Vets and trees planted in numbers or formations with the same in mind?

Again, thanks VVMC for yet another good one!

- Duds

Thanks to Shadow from IBF www.independentbikers.com for a few of the pics too. Cheers mate!