What a glorious day we were given to hold our Observation Run, a cool crisp morning under a cloudless sky.

 The roofs were off and after a quick coffee and a briefing about where we were heading and the general gist of collecting items along the way, we were off.  A big thanks to Perry and Michelle for going Tail-end Charlie for us, as Sally and I headed off to check any questions that may have changed and set up for morning tea.

Well all good plans are susceptible to minor changes, and Kev and Denise Silk made one of their own.  Their detour rendered 20 questions obsolete and took them on a side trip through Mt Tamborine, while the rest of us headed off via Canungra.

 However, fortune smiled upon them and after a short delay they found their  way to our morning tea stop at Beechmont- (small amounts of smoke appeared to be wafting from the ears of both participants, but no permanent damage seemed to be apparent)

It was at this point that Sally and I noticed a lot of collaboration being the norm, and after several attempts to end the hijinks ( which included outright theft), decided to forgo the banning of said perpetrators.  There wouldn’t have been anyone left in the competition!!!

Pete Turner was doing his best to spread false information, so we figured, “what the heck!”

Once everyone had finished with the nose bag, we all left in some sort of orderly fashion, only this time we couldn’t seem to shake the two Tailgaters we seemed to have gathered.

 Yes, Kev wasn’t going to get lost again and Dave and Barb had all but given up the chase, due mainly to some marital bliss problems over directions and driving ability.

After a short, but rapid trip to Natural Bridge [for you Sonja], we regrouped once more and had a little breather ready for the last section to Murwillumbah for lunch.

This was a steady trip and everyone got a chance to admire the beautiful countryside, and we didn’t lose a single soul.  Phewww!

Once again we sat down to a slap-up counter lunch at the Imperial Hotel, where we were joined by Bryan Wharton, who drove down late to join us.  Nice one Bryan, that’s dedication.

Sally counted the items to be collected and was rewarded with a nice piece of road kill in a plastic bag as a Bonus item. Thanks Pete!

Thanks to Dave Kelly and Keith Hoskings at this point for helping to correlate the points for the run so we could give the winners their highly-prized and much sort after trophies.

The winners were :

General Knowledge questions:- Dave & Barb Kelly.

Gathered items:- John & Susie Weitenberg.

Best score of the 40 questions:-Perry & Michelle McAdams.

Runner-up :- The Pool family.

OVERALL WINNERS (Total of all the above categories):- Pete and Ali Turner.

Bonus Prizes were awarded to:-

Kev & Denise Silk – Most likely to get lost!

Glenys & Mike – Hardest writing to read!

Ian & Lynelle Moss – Trouble reading Google Maps!

Brett & Nadine Hoskins – First at the wrong end!

A great day was enjoyed by all and more of this type of run will definitely be on the calendar.

Ernie & Sally