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The Australian Lambretta Jamboree (East Coast) 2023 - Wisemans Ferry, NSW

2/4/2023

10th - 13th March 2023

It started for many a fair few days before the weekend as Lambrettas and riders were prepping and travelling to Wisemans Ferry, NSW and the Del Rio Resort, with people and scooters travelling from Queensland, Victoria, NSW, Canberra and even jetting in from as far as Sweden!
The excitement was building and after a hectic few years of Covid and floods, the weekend was now on!
Top marks for LCoA committee member Sean Heffernan for pulling it off and serving up not only a top venue and event, but also a top bit of tucker!

Friday
We hit the campsite around 3.30pm on the Friday after a fairly short ride from Sydney (in comparison to many) but first we stopped off to check how the beer tasted this side of Sydney and met fellow scooterists at the Wisemans Inn; all seemed well, so had another.
Then across on the ferry and we checked in to the Del Rio campground. Bags were dumped and we headed to the ‘Ski Lodge’ a big hut with a decent kitchen, plenty of seats and a boat ramp right through the middle of it. This was to be the HQ for the weekend, many laughs and meals were served up here.
The blue smoke was building and the tuneful rattle of 2 stokes was ringing as more arrived and the other residents could sense something big was happening, the Jambo had begun…
First night was some essential lubrication and then up turned Mr Paella, with a chicken or veggie option cooked on the big paella pans, the aroma was filling the HQ, and was a superb rally meal.
The scoots sat happy outside and being far away from the rest of the campsite down a longish riverside lane, we were happy to meet, greet, refresh, get the tunes going, get into the weekend and begin the big fat quiz, who won..., no idea, but we now know the air speed velocity of an unladen European swallow!
Thanks to Neville Cope for some Lammy-tastic questions in the first half too!

Saturday
Next morning the bacon fest started, with alternative options to cater for various dietary and religious requirements, a perfect start to the day. The sun shone bright across the river, the wakeboarders and skiers zoomed past, and the scooters were ready for the Saturday ride out, an easy, shorter ride down some slightly sketchy road for the first half, but much improved on the second half, taking in a few more ferry trips, (this ferry lark was going to lose its appeal by the end of the weekend), but made for a great photo opportunity as the lady operator grabbed one of our cameras and ran up to the control room with it!
After the ride out was a little more refreshments, then time to play silly buggers and test our skills on the Gymkhana course set up by Sean and Sandy, there was laughter, greats skills, some spills and some downright grit and determination to get this course nailed!
We had winners and some couldn’t stop riding, but next up it was over to the Show n Shine for the big line up and the photo. 37 scoots were at the Show n Shine and what a fantastic sight to see them all; with the wonderful sun kissed hills and river as a backdrop.

It was hard to judge as all scooters were all top notch in their own way and some serious love and money and had to gone in to many of them, but pen went to paper and the stubs were dropped in the collection box, it was over to Rappers and John to count them all up and prizes were to follow at the evening presentation, but first, there was a matter of some damn fine souvlaki and a few cold ones to polish it off..
The winners went like this:

Best Series 1 - Leon Melis
Best Series 2 - Mohammad
Best Series 3 - Stephen Syms
Best Custom - Christopher Maloney
Best Rat - Jak
Best In Show - Mark Ladyman
Gymkhana Winner – Wan

Top marks to every scooter present, but these shone out and got the scores needed!
A little more fun, cold ones and general silliness and it was off to bed, a little later for some.

Sunday
Sunday was a slower start and after more bacon and eggs on the BBQ, it was decision time, the longer planned ride was scrapped due to a pending rain cloud and many opted for the shorter ride, via a cool local custom car show where we took the scoots to display, then to the lovely Settlers Arms for lunch. Some had to head back home and some took it easy around the private pool, which became the Sunday evening location for the ‘remainers’ with another crack at the souvlaki cooked by the Barry’s and matched with tunes by Terry Barry, as the sun went down across the hills and water a bit more bunkum was spoken and a fairly sensibly bedtime before the Monday morning departure.

Monday
Not much to say other than it was pissing down, a few went to the café, while a few had more bacon!
But all had smiles!

Until next time comrades….
Steve

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West Coast Lambretta Jamboree, 2023 - Kerem Camp, Bullsbrook 20- 22 Jan 2023

25/1/2023

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Friday
It was always going to be a hot weekend, with temperatures expected in the high 30
degrees and perhaps hitting the 40’s.
Despite this we had a great turnout of roughly 15 scoots meeting up at ‘The Pipers’ Scottish pub in Currambine, for a ‘full Scottish breakfast’, it was a great feed, and I guess I ate black pudding and haggis amongst other things but I couldn’t tell you what was what.
Steve Leech organized a conga line of shopping trolleys to buy the beer for the
weekend from Dan Murphy’s
Then it was off to the camp….. except for the fella who seemed to have snapped his
layshaft, so that went in the van.
With the hot weather, a few riders were nursing their carbs somewhat but everyone
made it to the camp fine.
It was fantastic to have three young lads with us- Steve’s son, Alfie, Dean’s son Max
and his mate Adam, who held an impromptu game of beer pong.
After settling in to the accommodation, people settled in for a drink, with some
taking advantage of the pool.
Dinner for the night was curries cooked by Dean which went down well. Then it was
all about drinking too much.

Saturday
Saturday we were treated to a full English breakfast, then we set up for the
gymkhana, whilst Steve and others went into to town for more beer and a few other
things.
Dougie McLean was losing gearbox oil at an alarming rate, through a stripped stud.
When Steve got back from the bottle shop, he pulled out an arc welder from his van
and tacked a nut on to the stud so we could back it out and replace it.
The gymkhana was a blast, with the young lads, Max and Adam, wiping the floor
with us old fucks, it would have been embarrassing, if these kids weren’t the
future….
After packing up the gymkhana and having some lunch, it was all about trying to
keep cool, and drinking, so we hit the pool.
Later Cheffy John, Steve and others made us all homemade pizzas.

Sunday
Sunday was all about bacon sangers, packing up, taking some photos, and making
sure we left the place in a good state. Steve had a word to us all about next year and
whether we wanted to book again at Kerem Adventure Camp, when, and how to
improve numbers, and everyone had the opportunity to contribute to the
conversation.
Huge thanks to Steve Leech, for organizing the event, Dean Hilditch and Terry
Winters for support, Cheffy John for his mastery in the kitchen and telling me how to
cut vegetables, and all those that helped, with washing up and leaving the site in as
good a condition that we found it in.

Looking forward to next year.

Max

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Lambretta Club of Australia, Bunbury WA, Overnighter 23-24 May 2021

12/7/2021

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Well, we always knew it was going to be a wet weekend, and everybody turned up in appropriate armoured riding gear and wet weather gear.

The northern mob had a trouble free and dry ride down to Mandurah, where they met up with the southern mob for a late breakfast at Friar Tucks, some of us may have even had a pint. Steve Leech (WA state rep. and organiser of the weekend) had incorporated the breakfast into the total price for the weekend. It looked like we had a healthy eighteen Lambrettas out for the weekend despite the weather

Next stop was Settlers Roadhouse on the Forrest Hwy about 50k’s out of Bunbury, for everyone to top up their tanks.

I was driving this weekend and was at the back letting the scoots get out in front of me.

It all happened very quickly, there was one of our support vans blocking the inside lane with its hazard lights on and one of our riders in Hi-Vis waving cars into the outside lane. Once I got past I could see that one of ours was lying on the road.

Mark Dearman and John Stacey, had pulled out into the inside lane together, with Mark on the inside, and John on the outside, at the same time another car had pulled into the outside lane, leaving a 4WD travelling at 110kmh with nowhere to go…

The 4WD hit John on his right side and sent John and his scoot up in the air and then spinning down the road.

As tragic as the accident was, the way Club members reacted was first class. The support vehicle blocking the lane and protecting John, riders waving vehicles into the outside lane, John Senior on the phone to the ambos, Mark Dearman and Phil Synott looking after John, telling him to just stay down and not remove his helmet in case of back or neck injury, and generally staying chatting to him keeping him calm, and even the rest of the mob for realising there was nothing more that they could do and moving onto Bunbury.

John was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital, and is recovering well. He has a nasty break to his upper arm and has lost the top of one of his thumbs, from the knuckle, it was found in his glove, and unfortunately could not be reattached.

The rest of the ride to Bunbury was uneventful, though Des’ and Mark’s scoots ended up in the trailer, with electrical issues.

The Rose Hotel in Bunbury is our usual haunt, and typically they tolerate us having a session in the car park next to our scoots but because of the weather, everyone got out of their wet clothes and met in the public bar, for a few pints, before heading out for dinner.

The following morning, we found a local café for some brekky, Steve Leech handed out our t-shirts, and everyone got ready for another wet ride, home this time.

On the way home Russ Edwards lost his spark and was on the trailer, and later, both Tommy Bosson and Al Taylor dropped their scoots at different times hitting oily patches in the road, though not at speed, and apart from some bumps and bruises, and some nice paintwork which will need repairing, they are OK.

These events, even just an overnighter, take some organising, and are not easy to cancel, despite inclement weather. Huge thanks to Steve Leech for organising the event, and especially the WA LCOA crew, who are ready to ride with their mates at any opportunity.

When I hear comments like ‘this is the best Club in WA’, it makes it all worthwhile.

Cheers Max