The Gathering 2 – 5 June 2017 Geraldton
The Gathering is the WA 4 Wheel Drive Association gathering of all 4WD clubs in WA. This is the second time it has been held and this years’ gathering was held at Chapman Valley, hosted by the Geraldton 4WD club. There was 15 clubs represented with over 100 cars with people in swags, tents, campervans and caravans. The sight was amazing.
Friday we left Waikiki at 10am taking our time to travel to Geraldton, we were held up at Dongara with the Booze Bus, finally arriving at Chapman Valley Showgrounds at 4pm. We set up camp, and that evening wandered around talking to other 4 WD clubs, finishing up with the Land rover club at the camp fire.
Saturday morning was cold and clear and more cars and vans were still rolling up. During Saturday several gazebos were erected, ready for the evening but the winds blew one of them up on to the roof and needed to be rescued.
Saturday afternoon a delegates meeting was held the key points being (see separate post on this)
- Affiliation and Insurance, Trips sheets, Changes to the WA4WDA constitution, De fibulators, Karaja Park, Money held by the Association, Community Newspaper article.
Saturday evening the Mini Olympics were held, 10 teams of 6 people in each team. There was car and chain race, fishing with snorkel and googles, hobby horse racing, water squirting of cans and pancake tossing. Our team (comprised of WPC, Mitsubishi, and Perth 4WD) which we were on came last but there were lots of laughs. Afterwards there was a singer and campfire talk.
Sunday morning was trips day run by Geraldton 4WD club. There were 5 trips in total each having up to 15 cars starting at 8am. We took the 3rd trip which was a non 4wd trip going to Chapman Valley spy base, Korjarena, Stone Church, Ellendale pool, Windfarm, Greenough hamlet for lunch, lookout Sydney Memorial, Foreshore and the Greenough river mouth. Our guide Tony, from Geraldton 4WD club was very information on the history of Geraldton and the surrounding area.
We arrived back at camp at 4:30pm just enough time to grab a shower and some tea before the quiz night. For this there were 13 tables of 8. Our team (comprising of WPC and Land cruiser clubs) came 9th. The questions were of 4WD nature, general knowledge and Geraldton regional area. Lots of laughs and cheating, plenty of prizes. Again afterwards the camp fire.
Monday was the last day and at 7am was a communal breakfast of egg and bacon roll, coffee and a bush poet entertained us all. Some poems were true and others stretched the truth.
We left Chapman Valley at 10am with a short detour to New Norcia arriving back at Waikiki at 6:30pm.
Next year the gathering will be held at Kalgoorlie on the same weekend and the following year at Karratha during the school holiday (info to be confirmed)
Photos soon
