2009 Annual Lunch Run
From Leigh & Chris Richter and Lawrie & Lyn Foody
The annual lunch run this year was to the Belair Country Club on Sunday 21st June. The weather was fine and by 9.00am there were 126 enthusiastic MG tragics, some with tops down rearing to go. This year we started at the Arkaba shopping centre again but there was a long run out through the Barossa and a short run through Meadows.  Morning tea stops had been arranged at the Lyndoch and Meadows bakeries respectively.  Both runs were popular with the short run having just a few more in the field.
The long run went east up the Greenhill Rd  to Balhannah. Then through Woodside,
Mt Torrens, on the Tungkilo road to Mt Pleasant. Then to the Barossa via Eden Valley , Springton and Angaston. Through the Barossa Valley  via Nuriootpa , Tanunda  and stopping at Lyndoch for morning tea. The return journey was via Williamstown, Gumeracha, Lobethal, Woodside. Balhannah, Bridgewater, Aldgate and on to the Belair Country Club. 
The short run went south up the Belair Road past Windy Point to Blackwood, Clarendon, Kangarilla and along the Range Road to The Range before returning to Meadows via Kuitpo Forrest for morning tea at the Bakery. The return journey was via Echunga, Mylor and Aldgate where both runs joined up to do the final leg to the Belair Country Club.
We very much enjoyed the park like atmosphere at the lunch venue with panoramic views of the golf course and the National Park. The lunch was excellent value with a choice of 5 main courses 2 sweets and tea and coffee provided, all for $25.00.
President Wayne thanked Lawrie Lyn Chris and I for organising this years event and invited us to do it again next year but if there is someone out there who would like to be involved please feel free to let us know. It really is a lot of fun.
We were very lucky with the weather again this year as Saturday was a wet miserable sort of a day but Sunday was fine and sunny.  It is fair to say the long run was a little too long and will need to be shortened by at least a ½ hour.
With 79 entrants last year and 126 this year we more than pleased with the attendance and we would like some feed back on why it was more popular this year.
Was it the choice of the 2 runs?
Was it that the lunch venue was close to Adelaide?
Let us have your thoughts when you see us about.
To be with so many people out enjoying their MGs and in the company of other MG owners is a great way to spend a Sunday. I don’t know which sound brings more joy. The resonance of the exhausts of a squadron of MGs cruising through the hills or a room full of MG enthusiasts talking and laughing at the end of a run in the country side.

Annual Lunch Run 2009
We arrived at the Arkaba Hotel on a perfect crisp winter morning, not a cloud in the sky, but well with us well rugged up, and even the top up!
After a quick look at the two routes offered, the shorter one for ‘older drivers and older cars’ indeed! We of course chose the longer run, after all there was one older car than ours, Chris Kinney’s ’48 TC.
After a  quick chat to some other ‘T’ type owners, mostly TD’s, we rallied up a few more of the hearty for the longer run.
Oh, and Jeanette agreed that her hat might stay on with the top down, less than one minute later, done!
(MGB owners are welcome to witness this amazing feat performed on a 60 year old car.)
The drive up through Greenhill Road to Uraidla found us on our own, the quicker MGB and the ‘newies’  left us behind, as we did with the TD group.
Through one on the windier tight corners Jeanette commented that some idiot was trying to pass us “Don’t worry” I said “It’s the rear of the TC going quicker than the front!”
We caught up with the TF (newie)and the B, only to be left behind again,  I could only watch as the many went by at Mount Pleasant while Jeanette took her first ‘Pitstop’ (I think she said ‘Pit’)
Onward we charged, reining in a few that had previously passed us, “Why does the speedo show 70 mph?  Jeanette asked  (yes, the speedo is in front of the passenger, I get to see the tacho) “ Don’t worry, speedo’s aren’t always accurate” I reasoned  “They read slow”
The countryside was green and lush, not that you see much driving a TC.
This is what driving an MG is all about, wind in our hair, sun shining, the crispy air of a winter’s morning, the clatter of the mighty 1250cc (sounding like the semi-final of the rural ladies knitting competition) motor, the 54.5 throbbing horsepower unleashed.
Any the question “It smells great, have you got something in it to make it go faster?”  The answer is ‘no’ I put a small amount of Castrol R in the tank, it doesn’t go faster, it only smells faster. (If you remember the smell at Rowley Park Speedway you’ll understand)
Turing left just before Nuriootpa we sighted an RBT bus to the right, flashing lights, and a few hapless customers, of course, MG owners DON’T drink before noon.
On to our morning tea stop at Lyndoch, coffee and scrumptious  country delights. Liz’s peppermint tea served with milk and sugar, well, maybe the country  folk didn’t get it quite right. 
Now, 1 hour and 5 minutes to get to Belair. Ha!, easy, we have a 1949 TC, OK we were 15 minutes late, but what a wonderful setting and company, more so the company, and the camaraderie that exists within our club. What more could one ask for!
We can’t wait for the next outing. Don, Jeanette and Monteverdi. (the green TC)