MG Motoring 2018 May 2018 - opt | Page 22

MG Car Club of South Australia MG National Meeting Ulverstone, Tasmania From..Chris & Wes Bray T he 2018 National Meeting was held in Tasmania during Easter. Getting to Melbourne In order to get to Tasmania, the South Australian delegation had to drive to Melbourne. Some decided to tow their MG’s but most drove. There was very little drama reported apart from a one kilometre piece of road just before Hor- sham. Roadworks and the presence of heavy rain had turned the driving sur- face into mud, some of which hitched a ride on the cars. Once in Melbourne everyone found Sta- tion Pier with a minimum of fuss and loaded their cars onto the Spirit of Tas- mania. Some decided to have a day- light crossing of Bass Strait, others booked a cabin for a night crossing. Most found their cars were parked on level 1 or level 2 of the Spirit of Tasma- nia. There was much discussion about how you disembark from this position without following the instruction “Do not over rev your engines”. Settling into Ulverstone 20 Most of the South Australians decided to stay at Willaway Apartments in Ulver- stone. This was a pleasant twenty- minute drive from the ferry terminal at Devonport. Some decided to go touring before the National Meeting and arrived at Ulverstone after their sight-seeing. Murray Stephenson arrived with his car on a trailer having experienced engine difficulties during the trip from Adelaide. A Victorian MG owner kindly provided assistance. Karen Stephenson and Ian Curwen-Walker took the fast route, fly- ing ADL-MEL-Launceston and hiring a car for the weekend (a good move con- sidering Murray’s car problems). Good Friday – Registration Registration was held at the Ulverstone Sports Centre. This was easy to find. We were told to drive to the main bridge across the River Leven and look on your right for a large building. These instruc- tions worked. As tends to be common at National Meetings there was a lot of noise as friendships from previous National Meet- ings were renewed. There were long