A road trip is the ultimate weekend escape. I had a five-year rugby reunion on in Bathurst, NSW, and what better way to get out there than in a pimping Winnebago.
The six berth campervan, or as the boys referred to it – the Millennium Falcon – was the perfect transport for what would be a cracking weekend. The excitement was electric when the boys saw the beast.
It was surprisingly easy to drive. First impressions, I thought you’d either need a heavy vehicle license or in fact be Chewbacca himself. It was my job to pilot the Falcon over the mountains and I was happy to take the reins.
Bathurst is about 200km west of Sydney. It’s claim to fame is Mount Panorama. This race track is world renowned and attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the otherwise quiet town annually. It is a must do for any car enthusiast.
I am, however, not a car enthusiast and am drawn to the town for another reason.
Bathurst is home to Australia’s most prestigious university (ahem). It truly is a uni town with a plethora of licensed premises to visit and an abundance of fun things to do. We were converging on this town for a reunion which was to turn into a messy affair.
It is hard to top the entrance of a Winnebago into a small town. This was pure style!
Once we had anchored down in Bathurst’s finest caravan park, it was time to hit the town and quench that well-earned thirst.
Tonight the boys had organised a dinner at a pub called The Church. James (publican) has done a fantastic job transferring this previous church into a funky, stylish pizza bar. It is truly the pinnacle of bars in Bathurst and well worth a visit.
The turnout of Rugby Old Boys was awesome. We had managed to get over 30 guys back for the first night. Bearing in mind the official party was the Saturday, this was a good turnout.
We ended up ripping into a few ales and after some pretty ordinary dancing it was 4am and time to retire.
As we were making our journey back to the Millennium Falcon one of the boys thought it was a good idea to play armies on a deserted school oval.
As you could imagine visibility was at a minimum and this was an extremely silly idea. Fantastic idea at the time though!
Moving quickly, in formation, across this misty wet field the inevitable happened.
One of the guys (Westy) didn’t see a ditch and went down. This of course created pandemonium within the ranks as the shout went out… “I’m hit!”
We doubled back and provided covering fire. In our inebriated state this seemed the right thing to do. It turned out that Westy needed more than a make believe medic and soon the call went out to the Bathurst ambulance.
On arrival the ambo’s confirmed that Westy had in fact sustained a compound fracture of the tibia (lower leg).
As you could imagine, Armies was called off, much to my dismay. The Germans had snatched victory; on a field of battle in Bathurst which I am sure they were, and still are, unaware.
The Millennium Falcon won plenty of friends that weekend and truly did make the trip one of the most enjoyable, comfortable weekends this little traveller has ever been on. I would highly recommend getting a few mates together, pitching in and hiring one of these campers for a weekend away in style.
