Well, let me tell ya straight up, this is one to forget! The run there that is, not the company, it was great!

Meeting at Koshigaya Park, Steve and Barb turn up with trailer in tow for our bbq and Brandy (their Kombi) is splattering and spluttering and then just stalls.....then no start??? Whats going on??? Steve begins his usual routine (sorry Steve). He tugs and pulls leads....scratches his head....then loosens the dizzy....gives that a turn to the left and right....scratches his head....we are in trouble here! He tells us it was going great until he came around that corner down there and now it's not even starting.....GREAT!!!!

As we say our hellos to Murray and Vicki in the T3 Dual Cab ( they had their own troubles with both the Oval and the Kombi having flat batteries), Bill, Rachel, Lilly and Georgia in the Ghia, Pod in his Kombi, we sit there whilst Steve fiddles. I look at Murray and say, "Mate we need to get this thing going because it looks like we are in for a long day"...and  we were. I rolled up my sleeves and asked Steve to slow down as we checked spark at the coil. I then removed the rotor button and gave it a quick rub over with emery paper. As Leanne cranked it over I got a huge zap from the dizzy as we noticed #3 lead was hanging there off the plug cover...."that could be the problem" says Steve. Brandy then fires up and is running with a shudder. The timing is way out by now and good old Steve twists the dizzy trying to "hear" it run smoother. That will have to do...at least its running, lets get going its now 11.05am.

Leanne and I jump in the Oval and with Steve leading, we are on the road. Our journey soon comes to a halt as we try and climb a hill with Steve pulling over. We all get out and he tells us that its "pinging " its head off. Another quick fiddle of the dizzy by Steve to try and get the timing right, we are off again. This time I pull out to lead and Murray follows as we roar up the big hill outside of Bowral and we lose Steve and Barb. This is not good as we pull over with Pod on the side in a breakdown phone area with cars and semis flying by at pace. We wait a while trying to call Barb's mobile...no good! Then up comes Bill, Rach and the girls after stopping with Steve and Barb to report that the Kombi just lost all power and wont start. CRAP!!!! As we wait, I decide to take a walk back along the side of the highway to see if I can get to them, only to be stopped by the bridge and no side access to walk on. By this time Murray has joined me. We can see their Kombi but not much action happening.

We get back to the rest of the group and I decide to drive on, chuck a u-turn and go back to see if I can help. Leanne jumped in the Dual Cab and then they all left for Berrima because sitting there was not  a good idea, too dangerous. I got back to poor old Steve and Barb and the look of utter dejection on Barbie's face was gut wrenching. I sat down on the ground with Steve at the back of the Bus and we went through things again. He had swapped over leads trying desperately to find the fault. In the process he had not fitted one of the leads correctly and wondered why it wouldn't start. I felt so sorry for our old mate at this point and said to him, "Steve, this will get it going when we put this on so when she fires up just take off and I will catch up ok." It started and they were off and I gave chase. We rolled into Berrima to find the gang waiting at the park with Amy, Big Kev & Maddie who had arrived much earlier in both their Kombi Oscar and the Beetle Eeyore.

Upon arriving, Steve's Kombi again just stalls. Luckily off the road enough for us to unpack the bbq and get into the reason we were there....a good old fashioned Club barby in the park. After over 2 hours to get there...I was starving. Big Kev did what he does best and cooked for us all as Steve first of all knocked over the jar of coffee then spilt the milk...everywhere. Poor bloke was still flustered and Barb told him so and asked him to relax and calm down. As Bill and I checked out some very nice old vintage cars parked all around the park and chatted to a really old bloke about his trips he has done to Cape York when he was a young fella in these cars (bloody amazing old guy) I started to relax myself...a bit. With lunch done and dusted, the ladies cleaned up as we men took another look at Brandy. We found the dizzy to be loose again, not tightened up properly. Steve cant take a trick here!

The ladies decided to take a walk to the shops (after all that's what we all went there for after not having enough time to do that last time) and the blokes packed up the bbq gear and we then met up with them in the sauce and lolly shop. As Steve wandered off to try and find Barb, he came back by himself but this time had an ice cream in his hand. Now we all know that he cannot lick and walk at the same time right. What made it even more scarier was that he was standing at the door step of a very expensive antique store. I yelled out to him, "Steve...don't move ok!" After avoiding a major catastrophe, Leanne and I, Murray and Vicki along with Steve and his poor suffering wife all had coffee before walking back to the cars, once again missing out on checking out ALL the other speciality shops.

It's now 3.15pm & I want to get home to watch the footy. Great Club members Amy & Kev have hooked up the trailer to their Kombi to relieve Steve and Barb of any more stress on the run home (they took it up and over the main hills then Steve hooked it back up). Leanne and I in Olly then took off after saying our goodbyes and tailed the Flemings outta there as we put the boot in. Once again my awesome Oval got us home in under an hour....it hammered!!!! I got him in the garage and then noticed one of the white walls on the front was all but off. It was one of those days hey. One we do not want to go through again but with the way we all stop and help each other out....never leaving a Club member behind...it makes it a little more tolerable.

Until next time, choose to cruise, stop, cruise, stop & cruise!

Dave