Page 26 - RidingOn Winter2022

On Monday, 4 April I rode off for Warwick. Less than 20 to Queen Mary Falls which was great and rode out to Leslie
km away, I came across a huge queue of trucks and cars Dam with a Ulyssean staying at the same pub as me. I also
stationary on the highway as it was closed due to flooding. spent a few days volunteering on site which also let me meet
I spoke to a truck driver in the queue (there were no lots of fellow Ulysseans.
meaningful signs) who said that I might be able to get
through via Freestone, so I tried it. Despite several shallow On Sunday morning, I left early and had a good ride down
water crossings over floodways, I got through and checked the New England. I avoided the Putty Road in case of
into my hotel. I rode down to the rally site gate and was flooding and spent the night with friends in Sydney. I then
advised that it probably wouldn’t open until the following continued south via Cooma and Cann River to Sale to arrive
morning. No problem for me, but quite agitating for the in time for a grandson’s birthday.
people who had planned to stay on site and were queuing in
the hope that things would change. Some retreated to hotels Cheers
and hundreds more couldn’t even get to Warwick that day. John Cook #5048 DM51
A brief overview of the organisers’ challenges. Things had Melbourne
been set up over the weekend including the big marquee.
Some volunteers had already set up camp on site over the
weekend. That all went under water and people in tents
woke and had to wade out! The marquee had its “skirts”
lifted for drying purposes but couldn’t be used all week!
Tent city went under water and had to be moved to higher
(uneven) ground as did the campers and tent sites. On
Monday morning, most roads into Warwick were closed due
to flooding just to compound the problems. Quite a few
“campers” stayed at my hotel that night. I do know some
members actually “got in” on Monday afternoon and were
able to erect their tents on higher ground. On top of that,
the “rally merchandise” was held up as trucks couldn’t get
through. I was able to check in on the Tuesday. New venues
had to be found for all the meetings and the Saturday night
dinner etc. From memory, the merchandise became available
late on the Friday afternoon. Even the Grand Parade start
point had to be re-evaluated as it was originally to start from
a low point near the river. In the end, the “Grand Parade”
was quite impressive.

The amount of adaptation and good spirit shown was very
impressive. Well done to all involved.
The week disappeared in a blur for me, I was busy meeting
and catching with Ulysseans and simply enjoying the
camaraderie. I did the recommended “self guided” ride out

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