This first international event to be hosted by the Maserati Owners Club of Australia was planned and organized by its President John Gove and his wife Judy, both familiar friendly faces in our UK club. Teams from nine overseas countries joined a strong group of Australian club members taking part.
The 6-day tour which began at Torquay, 75 minutes south of Melbourne, took us to Sydney via Bendigo, Albury and Canberra, covering many miles of coastal roads, steep mountain passes, luscious forests and epic-scale flat lands, with stops at a number of characterful townships en route.
Our first two nights were spent at the luxurious RACV Torquay resort on the Great Ocean Road, a hotel memorable for its spacious bedrooms with breathtaking ocean views. From there we made our way north, staying at a different hotel each night before rising to a crescendo at the 5-star Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, where our room overlooked the world famous Opera House and the magnificent Harbour Bridge.
This was a non-competitive event designed to showcase aspects of Australian life and culture as well as some stunning road routes – two highlights being a section of the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Apollo Bay on Day 2 and a spectacular drive through the Snowy Mountains from Albury to Canberra on Day 5. Along the way, some of us were lucky enough to see a kangaroo, wallaby or koala bear – whether alive or dead or just on a road sign!
Food and wine were plentiful and of a very high standard throughout the tour in a variety of truly inspired venues, including one breakfast on a sheep farm, a lunch in the former gaol at Castlemaine, and of course the lavish gala dinner at Sydney’s iconic opera house.
And the cars? Well sadly, the consignment of classics that had been shipped from UK specially for the event was detained by Australian Border Force. A sorry and complicated story that saw six of the most rare and beautiful Maseratis in the world being sent back to UK without even turning a wheel on Australian soil. This was preferable to the fate worse than death that would otherwise have befallen them i.e. the cars being subjected to invasive and expensive inspections for asbestos, in line with Australia’s zero-tolerance regulations. Five of Stephen Dowling’s cars were affected including Kermit, the glorious green 1972 Ghibli SS, which Roger & I were due to drive, as well as the 1972 red Indy belonging to Michael Roberts.
However, being seasoned Maseratisti, this bitter disappointment was soon turned into a fun opportunity to make new friends through car sharing, whilst Roger and I completed the tour in a Hyundai van (white of course), laden with the suitcases of the carless and others with boot-space envy. No worries, mate. You get to see more, high up.
Fortunately, most other overseas participants had arranged to hire new models, be it a Levante, Ghibli, Quattroporte or Gran Cabrio, from Maserati Australia, joint sponsors of the event. And a strong contingent of Australian club members provided the eye candy for the impressive line up of cars in front of the Sydney Opera House on the final night. John Gove’s 1964 bright yellow Mistral Spyder was continuously resplendent in the Australian sunshine.
At the gala dinner, praise was heaped on the heroic organisers John & Judy and their fantastic supporters Angela & Graeme, Maureen & Geoff, for all their inspiration, hard work and dedication to this really enjoyable and special event. The evening ended with a rousing chorus of patriotic Australian songs including a very loud rendition of Waltzing Mathilda!
A full write-up will appear in the summer issue of Trident. Meanwhile, on behalf of us poms, profuse thanks and congratulations to all you Ozzies for giving us some great experiences in your vast and wonderful country. See ya later!