Australia 2004: Second Annual HU Travellers Meeting
Ulmarra NSW, Australia, October 1-3, 2004
The Plan
Rally Location - Where was it?
2005 Meeting information here
The Plan
The general plan is simple. Show up Friday or Saturday, have a beer, tell some lies, have another beer, eat at a reasonable hour, then slide shows are planned.
2004 speakers:
- Ken and Carol Duval, Australia, and RTW - on Asia
- Kerstin Gäckle and Volker Aldinger, Germany, around the world
2nd Annual Australian Horizons Unlimited Traveller's Meeting Report
by Ken and Carol Duval, lead organisers
"The Commercial Hotel Ulmarra NSW was once again the venue for the 2nd Horizons Unlimited Traveller's Meeting. The 1st meeting was a particularly damp affair, but a change of dates to October saw brilliant weather for the complete event.
Travellers began arriving on Friday with Mark Hosking from Ballarat heading the list of helpers. Mark took care of pre-registrations this year. Many thanks Mark. A dozen or more early arrivers enjoyed exchanging travel stories. Leading story teller was Alec Simpson who has had his recent Europe, Russian and Central Asia tour published in Two Wheels magazine.
The Group gathered in the covered beer garden around 3pm where discussions ranged from bike suitability to carnets, politics, safety after 9/11 and difficulties experienced by various travellers due to the Iraqi war. Contributions from recent overlanders included our six German guests, and from Australia, Niva Williams, who rode a BMW F650 Dakar from India to Europe, Dave Sawtell who rode a Triumph Tiger through Iceland, Europe, Russia and Japan, Alec Simpson who travelled through Europe to Russia and Central Asia on a BMW R80G/S (great bike but we are biased!).
Future overlanders included Wendy Gill and Andrew Owens on BMW F650GS and F650 Dakar, who recently completed a round Australia trip with Wendy's father, Eric, on an F650 Dakar. (Wendy and Andrew are currently in South East Asia.) Their journey is a direct result of the 1st HU meeting where Wendy's apprehension to motorcycle travel was converted to 'I can do this'. As a new rider and bike owner she is now heading overland to the UK under the watchful eye of Andrew! Steve and Genelle Baldwin riding a BMW R1150 Adventurer are hoping to ship their bike to the UK and ride overland back to Australia. Since the meeting their horizons have grown to possibly include Russia. There were probably more budding overlanders there that we cannot recall, our appologies.
A break for a BBQ dinner preceded our slide show. Carol and I kicked off proceedings with our slide show of Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. Kerstin and Volker were next with their photos of Europe, Russia, South East Asia and Australia. Unfortunately Alec Simpsons photo file was to large for the laptop so we have seconded him to appear next year to relay his journey through Russia.
It was a great night with plenty of laughs, exchanges of knowledge and experiences with like minded people.
A special thanks go to all our helpers.
Ron and Judy Durkin for supplying the laptop and expertise to work it.
Sam Gowland for ogranizing the data projector.
Mark Hosking for organizing the pre-registrations.
Bob and Sandra Farrell for carrying all the gear down to Ulmarra. Bob and Sandra are bicycle riders we met in Ireland in 1998 who we have recently converted from pedal-power to horsepower via a BMW R100RT. After the weekend Bob was contemplating the attributes of a G/S!!
Considering the short lead time for preparation (6 weeks) we feel the event was a success and everyone had a great time.
Ken and Carol Duval"
I think the weekend was an outstanding success!
MANY thanks go to Ken and Carol, who stepped up when needed and made it happen!2005 Meeting
If you can take the lead for next year, it would be much appreciated! Lots of people each with one small task makes it easy to get the meeting going, so please let me know if you can help with a particular task. The meeting doesn't have to be in Ulmarra, the location is flexible - reasonably easy for most Aussies to get to, good riding in the area, good campground and a place for slide shows and food is all we need.
Thanks, Grant
The Meeting location, the Commercial Hotel, Ulmarra, and attendees
Bikes
more bikes...
and still more bikes...
Camping area behind the hotel
Erik Gill and Andrew Owens
Jeff Wan Wan?
Judy and Ron Durkin
Kai and Ulrike, Germany
Ken Mateit and Mark Odgaard
Photo display
Volker, Ulrike, Kai, Kerstin
Australia 2004 Travellers Meeting Poster (high quality .pdf - 878kb)
The Rally Location
The Commercial Hotel, (Ulmarra pub) 12 kms from Grafton, NSW, on the Clarence river
The Commercial Hotel, Ulmarra
Getting There - GPS, Maps
GPS location: 29° 37' South 153° 02' East
Mapblast.com map. Zoom in for more detail.
if you have any links or details or better maps for the area for the area please let us know
Frank Warner sent us some links to great info on Ulmarra from Walkabout.com, and the pub we're going to be at. Also Government of Australia, Ulmarra info here.
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