Some of the pics on this page have been crunched to allow the page to open quicker,

Scootaville NSW 2024.

On Thursday the 21st November 2024, 20 men and women set out from the Hawkesbury Showground at Clarendon, opposite RAAF Base Richmond and headed off for a 15 day journey which would take then to and overnight (sometimes 2 or more) in the following towns, Singleton, Mudgee, Dubbo, Parkes, Wagga, Queanbeyan, Bathurst and finally back to Clarendon.

This year we were not able to attract vehicle sponsorship and were forced to hire a Toyota Coaster bus and small 3 tonne truck from Avis in Brisbane which we drove from Brisbane to Clarendon, setting out on Sunday the 15th Nov. then driving the route and finally heading back to Brisbane, arriving on Friday the 6th Dec. A lot of miles.

We also had to pay to use the facilities at 2 towns. Expenses were high, we need to work on that.

The participants from Qld rode the bus down to NSW with their gear following in the small truck. We picked up a few people along the way and overnighted at Taree that night, after stopping at Coffs Harbour for lunch and a nature stop.

The All Seasons Country Lodge in Taree, although not a fancy motel, it was clean, comfy and reasonably priced.

That night we dined at Sailos club, on the Manning River in Taree.

We had a healthy breakfast at Maccas in Taree next morning and finally arrived at Clarendon after stopping to call in and see John Broughton who is convalescing after losing a toe.

John has been suffering from Diabetics for some time, probably as a result of his McWilly’s Crème Sherry days back in the late 60’s. Recently he injured one of his toes which refused to mend, he suffered it for some time until there was no alternative but to lose it. 

John rolled out the coffee pot for us, after which we emptied his biscuit cupboard, checked out the house plumbing, wished he was fit enough to join us, said our good-byes and mounted our bus with Pattie Bradford at the helm and headed for the final leg down to Clarendon.

The Hawkesbury Showground Trust had allocated us the huge Philip Charley Pavilion in which to spend the next 3 nights. This was perfect, there was room for all of us as well as for our vehicles and scooters, we could spread out and if there happened to be a nightly baritone amongst us, he/she could be sent to the bakka Bourke.

Interior of the huge pavilion.

On arrival, Kiwi’s small truck was unloaded, people selected their spot, bed spaces were set up and in an hour or so, it looked as if we’d been there for weeks.

That night, as we were all a bit jaded after our lengthy bus trip, we decided to dine at the Clarendon hotel which someone had very conveniently placed just a short walk up the road from the showground. Food was great.

Many years ago another hotel stood here. That hotel was officially called The Aerodrome Hotel but was known affectionally simply as Mah’s. It was a great favourite of the blokes and blokettes from the Base across the road and many a Wednesday afternoon sporty was spent there. Unfortunately it burnt down in 1980’s

Tuesday 17th Nov was a Lay-day, a day for those already there to have a look around, a day for others to arrive, a day for some of the newbies to blend in and get to know how we did things – an easy day. We made the most of it.

The average age of our group this trip was 69 years. We figured this was getting up a bit and we thought it would be a smart idea to be prepared just in case one of us should have a bit of a turn. Well before we’d left, we approached our local Ambulance Station to see if we could borrow one of their AEDs but as they are all allocated to specific vehicles we were out of luck. We were told if we were to get one, to get the Philips HeartStart HS1 model as it is the easiest to use. 

We checked them out and found they cost $1,750 – which we couldn’t spare, so we submitted a claim for a cash grant to DVA. People too often most unfairly poo poo DVA saying it doesn’t do enough to help Vets – we have consistently found the complete opposite. We submitted our claim which in no time was approved enabling us to get our own AED. This little device will now accompany us on all outings – hopefully we will never need to use it.

My Ambo mates had told me it was a very easy machine to use, you just opened it and it spoke to you, giving step by step instructions. That’s all well and good but we find it’s better to be shown rather than being told, so we approached the St John Ambulance people based on the Showground and asked if they could come over to our pavilion and show us all how to properly use it.

Only too eager to help, Ambo Dennis came straight across and spent at least 30 mins with us giving us the good oil on the little machine.  The more I meet them the more I’m convinced most people are just nice.

Next day was set aside to get the scooters. We’d arranged to hire them from Scootering, a hire firm that is in Lewisham, not far from Sydney city on Parramatta Rd and about 55 km from where we were staying – so it was up early, grab the bone dome, jacket, hi-vis and gloves, hop onto Pattie’s bus and head off.

Lewisham is a busy part of town with narrow streets and Pattie had a job finding somewhere to park the Tojo, but park it she did, we got off, were allocated a scooter, then with Pattie and the Toje acting as a “Follow me jeep”, Wal Shakoff, on his turbo-charged black beauty took the lead and we headed for home.

Traffic in Sydney is a bit busier than anywhere else in the civilised world and it took us an hour or so to cover the 55km but cover it we did, all arriving safe and sound back at our overnighter early in the afternoon. See HERE.

That night we were treated to a meal in the wonderful old Officers’ Mess at RAAF Richmond.

The 87-year-old mess closed its doors from 2022 to 2024, undergoing a two-and-half year refurbishment to remediate rainwater damage and preserve the building’s rich history. At a total cost of $19m, there were significant repairs made to the roof and balconies to prevent water entering the building, including guttering and drainage work to allow water to effectively drain.

The interior of the building was affected by mould, which required cleaning of the whole building and refurbishment of the accommodation areas. Being a heritage building, structural defects were also encountered during the project including concrete cancer. Lintels and slabs were replaced under the ground-floor bathrooms as part of the remediation process.

The Mess, which is set on wonderfully cultured grounds, has 88 short stay accommodation rooms, 20 amenities blocks and a fully refurbished commercial kitchen and although the old building has some magnificent amenities, sadly its glory days are gone.

These days Mess life is not as vibrant as it once was. The live-in culture is no more, Service life is now more aligned to civvy life. Unless on an away job, men and women do their day’s work on base but at knock off it’s into the car and out the gate. The days of knock off and down to the boozer for a few drinks and to talk about the day no longer exist. Times have changed.

The close camaraderie that once existed in all Messes, Officer’s, Sergeant’s and Airman’s, has gone and although it seems foreign to a lot of us it seems to work. When the chips are down, our ADF certainly punches above its weight.

Here are some of the amenities – some of these pics will bring back happy memories for those that lived there in the 60’s early 70's.

The Boozer.

Billiards room.

Media room.

Next morning, Thursday the 21st Nov, it was time to pack up the digs, load Kiwi’s truck with all the gear, mount the little Hondas and head for Singleton.

This leg was to take us “up the Putty Road” a section of road that over the years has become widely thought of as a very difficult road, one that has to be driven with a great degree of care. We’ve been driving it since 1966 and although it does have its share of bends with lots of ups and downs, we’ve always found it an interesting drive, with loads to see and provided you drive to conditions, never found it all that bad.

The Clarendon to Singleton leg is only 175km long, a short run, so we decided to have a few photo stops along the way.

About 25km up the road, just before Colo sits the Colo Bra tree. Originally established as a sign of support to women suffering from breast cancer, it now seems to be more of a curiosity than a cause. On close inspection it seems there hasn’t been a deposit for some time as the bras adorning the tree have been suffering the weather for some time. We stopped – we took pics.

Our next stop was at the Grey Gum Café, another 65 km further up the road from the tree of bras. These days the Grey Gum Cafe is normally open only on Fridays 10am - 3pm and Weekends and public holiday Mondays 8am - 4pm as weekday traffic has not resumed since the Covid outbreak.

We contacted the lovely Kim, owner of the café and told her we would be coming past on a Thursday and was there a chance we could get a coffee.

When we explained we were on a charity ride to benefit Legacy and homeless Vets, she immediately offered to open for us. We stopped, had a good look around, enjoyed a break and left refreshed for the road ahead.  Whenever you’re on that road, if the Café’s open, call in and say hello.

We had one stop that wasn’t planned. Not far from the Tin Man, Keith Porter was pulling off the road to adjust his helmet when he hit loose gravel and his scooter bucked, tossed him off then bit his leg.

The first aid box was whipped out, his leg was bandaged as well as we could, the ambos were called and very soon Keith was on the way to Singleton’s hospital under blue and red lights where 11 stitches were put in his leg to plug the hole and stop bits from falling out. He was returned to us later that day and with his leg all bandaged up he was able to milk it for a while and not do an aweful lot but eventually the sympathy wore off and before long he was back on normal duties.

Our next programmed stop was at the Bulga Tavern, a few km out from Singleton, where we were to meet Kerry Solman. Kerry is the President of the Singleton Classic Motor Cycle Club and he'd arranged to meet us at the Tavern for lunch with a few of his members then lead us into town. Keith put paid to that – when his gyros toppled and he fell off his scooter, he delayed us for at least an hour.

We did get a message to Kerry who was kind enough to hang around at the Tavern until we arrived and then he and his group led us into Singleton on their vintage bikes.

We did miss out on lunch though.

Kerry and his group then made a substantial donation towards our cause, as did the Ulysses Motor Cycle Group of which he is also a member – we thank them very much.

With Kerry's proper bikes out front, we made our way towards Army’s Lone Pine Barracks, just a few km out of Singleton, as Army had graciously agreed to put up with us for the night. We must say that Army has been very supportive of us over the years and we are indeed most grateful for it. Actually, we must acknowledge the fantastic support we receive from all sections of the ADF, without which we would be hard pressed to organise the event.

Please - long may it continue.

Surprise night!

That evening Michael Titow, Operations Manager at the Singleton Diggers Club, had several wonderful surprises planned for us. That night the Club was going to raffle 101 Christmas hams after which it was going to donate the proceeds to us.

We arrived at the Club about 5.30pm, where we were joined by Mayor Sue Moore, one lovely surprise, followed shortly afterwards by another, Michael had arranged to “shout” us dinner as well, and what a lovely meal it was.

Michael had also arranged a “private” car park area for our trusty bus, which was really appreciated as when we got there, there wasn’t room to park a Goggo.  

The word had definitely spread throughout the Singleton area that the Club was raffling 101 hams as huge numbers had turned up expecting to win one. We were given a private area where we could watch what was going on and also hope to win but alas we eventually left the Club ham-less.

Above:  Neil Snudden, (centre) President of the Radschool Association Inc, accepting the wonderful donation from the Club.

After the raffle had been run and won, experters Dave Pedler and Ros Curran decided it was time to give lessons on how to do the Nutbush. Mayor Sue Moore (left) wasn’t going to miss out on this, she and a few others were quick to hit the floor and get lessons from the pros. 

Click HERE to see it.

It’s a pity they pulled the music so early as people were starting to join in.

But what a great night it was.

Next morning we said good-bye to our very comfortable digs at Lone Pine and headed for our next stop, the small primary school at Sandy Hollow – about 100km from Singleton.

Our accommodation blocks at Lone Pine.

The school itself was originally built in 1877, but 15km up the road at the tiny settlement of Giants Creek. It was closed in 1881 due to low attendance. In 1913 it was rebuilt as the old one had deteriorated then in 1970, it was closed again and rebuilt in Sandy Hollow where it is today.

Sandy Hollow is a small township of 188 people. The little school that services it has a pupil count of between 20 - 25 students, all of different ages, all happy little kids like most country kids are.

The fireys also turned up with one of their big red trucks and were an instant hit with the kids allowing them to shoot a huge steam of water at anyone silly enough to get in the way.    See HERE.

Then it was time to leave, we said our Thank-yous to Jane and the kids, climbed aboard the little Hondas and headed for our next stop, Merriwa, a mere 35km up the road.

Merriwa has an excellent pie shop – so it was a compulsory stop. They sold a few that day.

Apart from having a pie shop, Merriwa is also known for some interesting tourist attractions. One that is definitely worth a look is The Hut. The Hut, situated in the main street, opposite the pie shop, apart from being the Tourist Centre, is also a retail outlet where you can purchase local products. Manned by volunteers, it also has displays of antique machinery and a very interesting shearing display.

Merriwa also has an RSL Club - with a bit of history.  Click HERE

Another interesting attraction, one that is very hard to miss, is the Merriwa Silo Art. Silos like this are dotted all across the Australian countryside and you have to wonder at the talent of the artists who are able to paint them.

Click the pic to read info on the silos.

After we’d pied, touristed and visited the small room, it was back on the Hondas and back on the road for the 120km run to Mudgee. Jackie Perring, an ex-Navy lady and a member of the Never Late Fe-mail Postie Bike Club in Mudgee had offered to meet us at Mudgee airport with a few of her friends with their Postie Bikes and to escort us into town.

We met up, had a short break, introduced each other then with the Postie Bikes out front, it was back into the saddle and off to the showground, where we were to spend the night.

Click the pic below - might take a few seconds to load.

Once again this local Council was very supportive of our cause and made available a large pavilion with toilet and shower facilities for our use. The pavilion was huge and the nightly baritone was given a far corner in which to bunk down.

Bill Burns, who wears two hats in Mudgee, RSL Sub-Branch and also Lions, had offered to put on a barbecue dinner for us at the  showground. We didn't have to think about that for too long - and accepted his generous offer instantly. Bill arranged for several of his hard working Lionesses and a mere male to don the aprons, grab the tongs and front the barbecue and before long we were being served up a delightful meal.

Bill, with coke in hand, with his helpers. Thanks to them all for the wonderful meal.

Next morning it was up early, ready for our run across to Dubbo. This was a short leg, only 140km, but we’d planned a few stops.  First up was the Honey Haven, only a short 5 km from Mudgee.

Mudgee’s Honey Haven is one of Mudgee’s premier tourist attractions. First opened about 40 years ago it is well known for its huge variety of honey products, especially its honey ice cream and honey mead. The Vikings called mead the Honeymoon drink, believing mead to be an aphrodisiac. Whatever the myth, it tastes great.

After we’d demolished a number of honey ice-creams, we set sail for the historic town of Gulgong, a further 30km up the road. Gulgong is famous for featuring on the original $10 note and of being where the famous poet Henry Lawson spent his childhood.

It is also home of the oldest still operating Opera House in the Southern Hemisphere, the Prince of Wales Opera House, operating since 1871 and where the great Dame Nellie Melba once performed. There are around 130 National Trust-listed buildings in the town, many still adorned with wide verandas and iron lacework.

Today its population is only 2680, but when Gold fever struck the region in 1870, when payable gold was found at nearby Red Hill, 20,000 people flocked to the area. Prior to that, Gulgong was just a sheep run, a large property for raising sheep.

We had a look at the old gold mine on Red Hill – the brown iron pyramid behind the scooters represents the total amount of gold that was extracted from the mine between 1870 and 1940. In 2016  dollars it was worth nearly $950million. See HERE.

In the late 1800s Gulgong was one of the richest gold areas in New South Wales.

After Gulgong, it was off to Wellington, a further 75km west along the Mitchell Hwy where the local Legacy Club and Stephen Hodge, manager of the Soldiers’ Memorial Club had very generously arranged lunch for us. We appreciated their generosity very much.

Gary Francis, who lives in the area, turned up to greet us, driving his immaculate 70 year old Austin Healy 100/4.  Alyn “Hawk-eye” Hawkes didn’t need to be asked twice if he’d like a rip around the block.

After a wonderful lunch, it was back into the saddle for the final 40km up to Dubbo. Dubbo was to be our first 2 night stay and we were all looking forward to it.

We pulled into the Dubbo showgrounds where this time we had to pay for the use of the facilities.

We were even charged for the electricity we used.

Having completed 4 Scootaville events, in both Qld and NSW, and raised a bunch of money for Legacy, we have found the degree of generosity offered by organisations, social clubs, governing entities etc to vary considerably.  Small entities were always the most generous and although we have no right to expect to be treated differently to anyone else, it was always the small bodies which appreciated what we were trying to achieve and who offered to help.

The showground  “hangar” we were allowed to use was, once again, huge!. We could have parked a couple of C-17s in there and still had room. Our baritone was dispatched to a far corner and we all slept well.

Next day, Sunday, was a freebie, some did their washing, some rested, some went for a walk, some went to the RSL Club for a refresher, some caught Pattie’s bus into town and did the tour of the old Dubbo Gaol.

Believe it or not, this is a real pic, taken in the Dubbo RSL Club and not paint-shopped in any way. Must have been one helluva joke!

Here's another one to prove it wasn't a fluke.

But!

The Old Dubbo Gaol which is now a heritage-listed site, is a museum and tourist attraction. It was designed by the NSW Colonial Architect's Office and building commenced on the site of the original courthouse in 1847. It was continuously upgraded until 1945.

When closed, the Government of New South Wales planned its demolition and replacement with a multi-storey office block. Protests led by the then Dubbo City Council and local historical society led to those plans being dropped. In 1973 the building was transferred from the NSW Department for Corrections to the city council, with the intention of restoration and creation of a tourist attraction.]

It is believed to have been officially opened in 1887 however many of the buildings were already in existence by that time.

The structure inside the gaol wall included the main male cell block with 12 ordinary cells and specialised cells comprising two solitary confinement cells, a padded cell and a condemned cell. The female section comprised two cells, a bathroom and exercise yard, an infirmary and kitchen block, as well as a library.

There was also two store rooms and two offices, two remand yards adjacent to a debtors exercise yard and an early toilet block, laundry building with toilets and fenced exercise yards and a sanitary disposal facility.

Life was hard.

Closed as a gaol in 1966, the complex re-opened as a tourist attraction in 1974.

Ian “Bestie” Aves asking for some 6 inch nails and a big hammer, hoping to keep Jilly O’Toole on ice for a while.

That night, after our busy day, we decided to “stay home” and cook for ourselves. Some time ago, on one of the Qld events, we’d been treated to some of the best tasting hamburgers we’d ever eaten.  Johnno “buckets” Saunders, an ex-RAAF cook, had whipped them up for us and we’d pirated his recipe.  We had some gift vouchers given to us by Woolworths, one of our sponsors, so it was into town, buy up the necessary bits, mix them all up in a large bowl and then bung them onto the barby.

They were pretty good but not as good as the originals - probably missing the master's touch.

Next morning, which was a Monday, we packed up, loaded Kiwi’s truck, those that weren’t riding got aboard Pattie’s bus, the rest cranked up their scooters and we set forth for Parkes, a short 135km south down the Newell Hwy.

First stop was to see the old Peak Hill Gold Mine, about half way between Dubbo and Parkes.

There have been two attempts to extract gold from this hill. The first operated between 1893 and 1917 and produced about 60,000 ounces from 500,000 tonnes of rock (Remember Gulgong produced 555,000 oz). The initial attempt was done as a shaft mine with the shaft reaching a depth of more than 200 metres.

The second attempt was done by Alkane Resources Ltd using the open cut method and which recovered 145,000 ounces from 4.9 million tonnes of rock. This attempt operated between 1996 and 2002 with the mine being decommissioned in 2006.

Today the old workings are a must see where you can spend at least an hour checking out both the historical works and the more recent open cut mines. There are many easy to follow self-guided walking paths with plenty to read signs along the way.

Peak Hill is a small town with a population of 770 people but it has a most welcoming RSL Club. As we’ve continuously found over the years, it’s the small establishments that are the most charitable. When learnt who we were and what we were doing, this small RSL welcomed us with open arms providing us with a much appreciated morning tea.

We thank them very much for their generosity.

Some of the troops, in the shade out the front of the RSL, getting ready for the next leg of the journey.

Peak Hill also has the distinction of having the first public wheat silo built in Australia. Built in 1918 after government surveys indicated the district had great potential as a wheat-producing region, a single bin silo was built but a 2 year drought meant the silo was not filled until 1920.

We intended to spend 2 nights in Parkes as it has a lot to offer.  One attraction, which is a must see, is the CSIRO Observatory which is about 25km north of Parkes township. As we were going past, we weren’t going to miss this opportunity.

The Observatory comprises the 64 metre wide Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. The 64 m dish was one of the first large movable dishes in the world and one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia." ..

It was included on the Australian National Heritage List on 10 August 2020.

The Telescope, which was completed in 1961, was the brainchild of E. G. "Taffy" Bowen, chief of the CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory. During the Second World War, he had worked on radar development in the United States and had made connections in its scientific community. Calling on this old boy network, he persuaded two philanthropic organisations, the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation, to fund half the cost of the telescope. It was this recognition and key financial support from the United States that persuaded Australian prime minister, Robert Menzies, to agree to fund the rest of the project.

The Parkes site was chosen in 1956, as it was accessible, but far enough from Sydney to have clear skies and be isolated from radio frequency interference. It continues to be upgraded and as of 2018 is 10,000 times more sensitive than its initial configuration.

We arrived, pulled up, parked the scooters and went exploring.

With the CSIRO café closed for renovations and with the Dish tour under our belts, it was time to complete the final 25km to our overnighter at the Parkes Showground.

Unfortunately when we arrived there was some confusion as there had been the usual staffing changes, some details hadn’t been passed down the line and Council was unaware of our coming. We soon sorted that out and before long we were given the room below which is part of the ancient grandstand.  Radtechitis to the rescue!

We did some re-arranging of the furniture and before long had it looking like below. Temps in Parkes at that time were in the 30’s and without fans in the ceiling it was a bit warm so a few took a trip into town to Discount Dave’s, possibly the biggest and best dollar shop in the whole universe and returned with a bunch of portable fans.

Bliss.

Parkes was a two night stay as the Parkes to Wagga leg was a long one, 300km, we needed a breather to be ready for it.

On our free day, we had arranged with the Parkes Services Club to have the RAAF hot air balloon flying at the showground and taking primary school kids for a flight. Unfortunately, the RAAF was unable to provide the balloon so we had to shelve those plans.

That didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy a meal and a coldie or two at the Club – which of course we did.

Parkes is also well known as the home of the annual Elvis Festival which is held every year in the second week in January, coinciding with Elvis Presley's birthday.  Recognised as one of the top three Festivals and Events in Australia, the Festival attracts 25,000 fans with a global reach of 1.874 billion.

There is an Elvis Museum at the information centre as well as a vintage car museum, both of which got a bit of attention.

Next morning it was up early, breakfast, pack up, load the truck and off. We had a 300km trip to look forward to with a few interesting spots at which to stop along the way.

First stop was the lovely town of Forbes, only 35 km down the Newell Hwy.

Forbes, which is situated on the Lachlan River and which is known for its wonderful old grand heritage buildings, was founded in 1817.  Initially a small settlement the population boomed to in excess of 30,000 when gold was found in 1861.

Forbes is also known as being associated with legendary bushranger Ben Hall. One of Australia's most notorious bushrangers, Ben Hall's three year bushranging career began in 1862. He was linked with hundreds of robberies including the heist of an escort coach at Eugowra Rocks east of Forbes, reportedly carrying 14,000 pounds worth of gold and money. Hall's career came to an end at Billabong Creek near Forbes in 1865 when he was shot down by a police party. He was buried at Forbes Cemetery, two days before his 28th birthday.

Next stop was West Wyalong, the township that is a few km west of the smaller township of Wyalong. West Wyalong has a great bakery which sells great pies – we had to stop.

It also used to feature a DC3 in the Lions Park – but it’s now gone, possibly to get a spruce up as last time we saw it, age hadn’t done it any favours.

After we left the bakery, we needed to refuel the scooters before heading to our next stop, the Licorice and Chocolate Factory in Junee – another 125km down Goldfields Way. Our little Hondas only had a 5 litre tank which would normally be good for 200km but as they were driven as flat as a tack, we never got that out of them. We carried two 20litre drums of fuel in reserve and we only used them a couple of times as normally fuel wasn’t a problem. There are at least 5 million petrol stations in outback NSW.

We got to Junee mid afternoon and planned to stop for at least an hour.

Built in 1935 but abandoned in the late 1960,s the old flour mill stood vacant for 30 years until bought by organic wheat farmer Neil Druce. As flour is one of the main ingredients in licorice, Neil had a dream of creating a licorice factory in the mil. People thought he was mad.

At first things didn’t go too well, the initial licorice he made wasn’t the best but by 2003 he’d perfected it and then decided to add chocolate. That's when the tourists really started liking Junee.

Nowadays the factory produces licorice and chocolate five days a week, employing over 60 locals.

We stopped, we sampled, we bought, we coffeed – we loved it.

With our bags full of healthy produce from the old mill, we set off for the short 35km run down to Wagga where we’d stay for 2 nights.

The Wagga Council had generously allowed us the use of the Kyeamba Smith Hall on the showground. This hall was opened back in 1927.

During WW2, from June 1940 until February 1941, the Wagga Show-ground was used as a temporary camp for RAAF recruits. Two exhibition Halls on the Showground, the Hammond Hall and the Kyeamba Smith Hall were converted into sleeping quarters and the sheep pavilion was converted into a dining room. Eventually about 1,000 recruits were stationed at the camp. We moved in with room to spare.

Wagga is a big city – with nearly 70,000 people calling it home. It is a growing city with the population expected to breach 80,000 in about another 20 years.

It is the locality of two major ADF Bases, with the RAAF to the east at Forest Hill and Army to the south west at Kapooka. Both are major training Bases and both inject huge finances to the town each fortnight.

On the Thursday, which was our free day, we had arranged to visit the RAAF base and to have lunch in the Airman’s mess.

After we had a look through the museum in the old guard room at the front gate, checked out the aircraft on display followed by a great windscreen tour of the Base, we filed into the Airman's Mess for lunch. As usual, food was great.

Being a training base, most people live on so the Messes are used to their fullest. It was great to see – just like it used to be.

These days RAAF recruits complete their full training at Wagga as RTU was moved to Wagga from Edinburgh some years ago. Rookies complete their 9 weeks of training, then move a few metres to another accommodation block and start their trade or admin training which can take some months, depending on the course. Radio training has also been moved from Laverton to Wagga and is now called Avionics. 

Looks like Radtechitis is a thing of the past.

Wagga is now a tri-service training base, Army and Navy now send their future aircraft maintenance persons to Wagga where they are taught the basics after which they return to their own Bases for specialist training on their particular aircraft.

Remember these?

We left the Base early afternoon to return to the showground and on the way I asked to return via the civvy section of the airfield. Back in 1972, I did my training at what was once the Airways Ops building at Wagga airport. Back then we occupied the left hand end of the building with the DCA radio techs and their equipment at the right hand end. Pilot briefing was conducted in the centre.

All gone.

That night Legacy Wagga had offered to provide dinner for our group.

Legacy Wagga occupies a beautiful old home on Tompson St  which they opened up for us and went out of their way to provide us with a memorable evening.

After drinks, it was out to the back room where a five-star “banquet” had been prepared. We couldn’t believe it, there was no talking for a while, everyone just sat and enjoyed the wonderful meal.  We thank them very much.

After dinner and a few more drinks, it was time for the customary photo, we formed up out the front of the building with one of our scooters, had the pic taken then said our good-byes and headed back to our digs to get ready for the big trip down to Queanbeyan tomorrow where we were to stay 3 nights.

Thanks Legacy - it was most enjoyable.

The trip to Queanbeyan was another long one - 250km, but we’d planned a few stops and we’d need fuel somewhere down the line, so it was up early and on the road.

First stop was Gundagai, on the Hume Hwy, 90 km from Wagga.

On 28 November 1932 the Australian prime minister Joseph Lyons unveiled the statue of the Dog on the Tuckerbox, five miles from Gundagai, NSW. As the town’s “pioneer memorial” the statue become a popular tourist stop, helped considerably by its location on the Hume Highway roughly half-way between Sydney and Melbourne. It was arguably the twentieth century’s most successful purpose-built tourist attraction in Australia, at least until Coffs Harbour’s Big Banana of 1964. For tourists journeying between Australia’s two largest cities, it became a standard stop, a conversation piece, and the subject of a million tourist snapshots. Yet its meaning was always—arguably intentionally—clouded in obscurity.

You can see the truth HERE.

We, or course, also stopped for a photo.

We’d been lucky for most of the trip, most days were fine, plenty of sun, but from Forbes the weather had started to turn bad and the riders needed to Glad Wrap up in order to keep dry.

Next stop was to be at Bob Richardson’s picturesque Argyle Park Alpaca raising property at Bowning, not far from Yass. 

Bob had an exciting career in the Air Force, with over 5000 hours in his log book on 25 different RAAF, Army and foreign military aircraft.  He retired in 2003 with the rank of Air Vice Marshall.  See HERE.

We had hoped to have an outdoor lunch amongst the Alpacas but Mother Nature had other ideas. Bob had set up everything on the lawn in front of his home but the rain sent us packing into one of his sheds.

Some weeks prior to setting off on the NSW trip and knowing General Sir Peter Cosgrove was very heavily involved with Legacy, and knowing that everyone in our group thought very highly of him, we thought it would be nice if we could meet up with Sir Peter somewhere down the line and spend some time with him.

We rang his office in Sydney and after we explained who we were and what we would love to happen and when his office checked to see when and if it could happen, we found he had a few spare days in his busy schedule and could spend a few days with us, starting with lunch at Bob Richardson’s place in Bowning. Would that be ok we were asked, you bet it would be we answered.

Sir Peter arrived with his lovely wife Lynne and very soon both were mixing with the group as though they had been with us for years. Wonderful people.

It was finally time to leave Bob and his wonderful little Alpacas and to complete the final leg of our journey, down to the showground at Queanbeyan.

Queanbeyan Showgrounds – our home for the next 3 nights.

Once again, the very generous Queanbeyan Council had allowed us the use of one of their large rooms in which to overnight. This room was contained under the showgrounds’ grandstand, had toilets and showers and a wonderful kitchen in which our resident cook, Sue Trimmer, prepared breakfast for us each morning.

There was also plenty of room for our resident musos to strum away on their trusty ukuleles, much to the delight of our trusty scooters.

Next morning, a Saturday, we had arranged with the Air Force for them to fly their hot-air balloon from the Patrick White Lawns in front of the National Library. The balloon would have been tethered and taken small kids for a ride up to about 20 ft then back down again but sadly it didn’t happen. Everyone turned up except for the ACT bureaucracy whose sole job was to open the gate to allow the Air Force to set up.  After wasting time at the gate for at least an hour and after trying to contact someone with keys, we gave up. 

That night the very generous Queanbeyan Leagues Club had offered to hold a bunch of meat raffles and donate the proceeds to us. The Club would supply the meat, raffle books, the PA system, instructions on how to do it then let us loose.

We needed someone to be the drawer of lucky numbers and to announce the winners over the Club’s PA. Lucky for us, Dave Pedler put his hand up and did one helluva job, but being a Radtech one wouldn’t expect anything else.

Sunday was to be a big day. Allan George had organised a tour of the Australian War Memorial (AWM) for us after which three of us would lay wreaths at the Last Post Ceremony.

L-R:  Allan George, Jillian O’Toole, Neil Snudden.

Because of the size of our party, we were split into two groups for the tour, each group led by a volunteer guide - both of whom had served in the RAAF. Our thanks to them. Sir Peter Cosgrove had agreed to meet us and spend some time with each group. His and the volunteer guides' knowledge of the Memorial was amazing, they were able to describe every exhibit in complete detail.  

L-R:  David Freeman, Nicola Donnelly (AWM Supervisor), Craig Meaghan AM, Greg Hood AO.

After the Wreath Ceremony, we lined up in front of the AWM for the customary photo. This will be a keeper.

Trev Benneworth and Neil Snudden, resting on the Radschool Memorial at the rear of the grove. Click HERE to read the inscription.

We left the Grove and headed for Goulburn, a short trip of only 90km, travelling on the divided Federal Highway, and passing the ever changing Lake George.

We continued further onto Goulburn to the Goulburn Workers Club which had generously agreed to provide us with morning tea. We had approached the other Club in Goulburn, one that suggests it is military associated but putting on coffee and biscuits for a group of ex-Service men and women who were collecting for Legacy and homeless Vets was just all too hard for them – so we rang the Workers Club which readily agreed.

From Goulburn we left the Hume Hwy and headed off towards Crookwell, on Crookwell Rd. There are several ways to get to Bathurst from Goulburn, we thought we’d go via Crookwell as it too has a very generous Services Club and this way would take us past the delightful little primary school at Binda.

Crookwell Services Club.

Lunching in the very generous Services Club in Crookwell.  We find generally, not always, the smaller Clubs are people Clubs, whereas the bigger ones are commercial enterprises - makes a difference.

We arrived at the small Binda school at about 2.00pm which would give us an hour as school finished for the day at 3.00pm. Diane Hickey, the school principal welcomed us and had the delightful little kids lined up to say hello.

We got together under a shelter at the back of the school, bought a few of the scooters in and the kids had a great old time starting and stopping them, revving the cob-webs out of them and of course, blowing the horn. The little ones loved it – as did a few of the bigger ones – see HERE.

We asked the Binda Rural Fire Station if they could spare a truck for an hour, bring it to the school and let the kids have a look over it and have a go with the hose. For the kids! – of course they could.  Kids being kids, they of course had to squirt someone – so we copped it.

Then unfortunately, 3.00pm came around far too quickly, the school bus arrived and it was time for the kids to head home. We thanked principal Diane for allowing us the opportunity of spending some time with the kids, we donned the jackets and helmets for the umteenth time and headed for Bathurst, 125km of hilly and windy road.

Tuena NSW is an historic gold mining village located 60km north of Crookwell and 88km south of Bathurst. It was built after gold was discovered in 1851. Shortly thereafter in 1852, as the population rapidly increased, the first post office was established and many stores and hotels sprung up. In 1859 Tuena was officially named a town.

Jenelle Parsons owns the Tuena General Store, her family has owned and run the store since 1886 – a whopping 139 years – and our Crookwell local was spot on, Jenelle’s Paddle Pops were the best.

Thanks again to Tracey Seaman for allowing us the use of the wonderful CEC English Pavilion in which to overnight. This building was built in 1886.

A major renovation programme was instigated in 1987, mainly to halt perceived structural movement. This included steel bracing, a new concrete floor and relining the walls with the present boarding.

The troops on the circuit with Wal Shakoff on his supercharged black beauty way out in front.

That night we dined at the recently refurbished Oxford Hotel with plans to come back in 2026

The factory initially manufactured SMLE III rifles (and Pattern 1907 bayonets) for the Australian military during World War I. During World War II, production expanded to include Vickers machine guns, Bren guns and, postwar, branched out into sporting goods including civilian firearms and golf clubs, tools, sewing machines, (from the mid-1950s) the F1 submachine gun, general purpose infantry rifle prototypes, general purpose machine guns and similar products.

Thanks again to Bruce Hutton, GM of Thales Lithgow, for arranging the tour for us - it was super interesting.

After Lithgow, our final stop before home was to be Katoomba. We planned to lunch at the RSL then do the tourist bit, check out the 3 sisters then the Skyway and Train of Terror at Scenic World.  A tall order - we fitted it all in, but only just.

We lined the scooters up for a photo of possibly one of the most photographed spots in all of Australia, at the 3 sisters. Wal with his Black Beauty on the left.

What it's all about.

We left Katoomba for the downhill run to Clarendon, a 90km run which would take us along the Great Western Hwy to Springwood, then down Hawkesbury/Springwood Rds through Agnes Banks to Richmond, then past the Base to the Showground.

Richmond Town Park.

Altogether a great 18 days. Unfortunately we didn't raise a lot of money, our costs were far too high but it was our first trip into NSW, we made a lot of contacts and we're confident that in 2026 when we do it all again we'll be able to make up for the meagre financial results this trip.