Wed, 7th October, 2015 Mt Panorama Volunteers Campground, Bathurst

Cooled off to 12 degrees in the van this morning. Clear sky again. Hope it last for the weekend. 9am and the wind has increased and it has warmed up a lot.

Leanne and Rick dropped us off so we can collect our truck then they went back and picked up Lou and Ian so we could all watch the Transporters and Drivers Parade. The trees were in full pink bloom around the park.

We stood diagonally across from the Knickerbocker Pub where we hope to have lunch.

William Street was lined with people.

Leanne was filming it for her grandson. The drivers’ kids had a ball making the air horns sound.

I was so busy telling her the drivers’ names that I only got one photo – David Reynolds and Dean Canto. Also a lot of the drivers were inside cars which makes it hard to see them.

This is the 17 replica we saw the other day.

The Police have two fancy cars to zoom around in. A bright yellow McLaren and an Astin Martin – poor them!!

Made our way into the Knickerbocker Pub and managed to find a table. Had a great lunch. Tried to take photos of the aerial shots of Mt Panorama track but the reflections were making it hard.

There was also one of 2007 winners Craig and Jamie.

Headed back across the park past everyone lining up for the autograph session.

We walked behind it and ran into all the drivers. Red Bull team had just sat down.

Scott McLaughlin was busy on his phone.

Watched the presentation to last year’s winners, Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris, of their star which will go into the pavement on the other side of the park with all the other winners. I took photos of them last year.

Got a photo of Marcus Ambrose which was why we decided to come back again to Bathurst to see him race again. We followed SBR back then and watched him race in 2003 when we were here with Dan and Jon.

Got the best icecreams from Annie’s. We remembered it from last year and as it has warmed up a lot we decided to treat ourselves. I had a honeycomb one – yum.

All the gardens looked beautiful – the Council certainly works hard to make Bathurst beautiful for this week.

Back to the track and a nasty looking cloud is heading our way. Looks a lot like the one that dropped hail on us last year.

Lots of wind but luckily it passed over with no problems. Later we had a visit from FA-18 doing a practice run. They are something else.

Up to the boys camp and Steve gave Louis some instructions on making a cappuccino. Brian put a machine in for the trip. He got the hang of it after a few goes!! Jon rang for a chat.

Headed back to the meeting room as Steve had a meeting with the Carpark Co-ordinator and Leanne & Rick had to do their induction. I cooked up a stew in the Ecopot. The temperature has dropped a lot – back into jeans and jumpers. We checked out the Welcome BBQ and got our back of Darrell Lea yummies.

Carried dinner up to the boys’ camp. They got the heater out so they could huddled around it. Fozzie rang for a chat – missing being with us!!

After a cuppa we headed back to the van as Steve has 6am start and we are 7am.