Australian Austin Champ Camp 2000 Glenburn
At the home of Malcolm and Kerri Hayes with Kids Joanna Amanda and Robert
Click on the thumbnails to see the large versions
In the weeks leading up to the camp the weather was predictably
warm and sunny, actually its been a bit of a drought and being
farmers we really need the rain... not this weekend I prayed,
the grass can wait 3 days. Final preparations were made and on
Friday the first of the champs began to arrive, Ken and Joy Silver
all the way over on the ferry from Tasmania,
in making this
journey Ken was awarded the prize for traveling th furthest in
a champ to be here. It was a 1999 Beltring tape kindly donated
by Gus Gowers, author of the Champ Enigma. More early birds arrived
during the afternoon and evening. The rain started soon after
dark and we made the best of the conditions, sitting around in
one of my sheds, specially cleared out for the event.
At about 10.30 pm we heard the roar of the Turbo Charged
Caterpillar powered bus belonging to Russell Altmann, complete
with triaxel trailer carrying 2 champs. 
Saturday dawned foggy and cold, but the forecast was for a
find warm day.
More champs arrived during the morning and by 10 am most had arrived.
There was much champ chat and an inspection of my many sheds!
some even have champs hanging from the roof! 
By 11.15 we were all keen to head of on our champ drive, this
has become a bit of a tradition at the champ camp, the organising
family takes the group on a tour of the local area, roads should
be 4x4 but not so rough that the champs will be damaged, but rough
enough to leave the family cars behind. Kerri and I had decided
on a trip to the small town of Yea where we work. On the way to
Yea we went through the old Railway Tunnel 
that
has been opened as a tourist attraction. We parked the 16 champs
on the tour in the main street of Yea, much to the surprise of
the passing townsfolk and tourists. Lunch was purchased at the
local shop, and word also got out that there was a local junk
shop. As usual Russell found this place first. Tom and Kris Carpenter
visiting from Hawaii and driving WN1-15870, my Australian champ,
were almost last in to search the shop. Imagine our surprise when
Tom came out triumphantly waving a pyrene fire extinguisher that
fitted neatly into the empty rack in the champ! His luggage must
have been really heavy as he also took home a Shovel bought for
$10 at a army surplus shop.
From Yea we went through some private land belonging to local
land owner Greg Graham [thanks heaps Greg] His track leads up
to the top of the Yea Range and Junction Hill, the views were
spectacular and I will never forget the sight of looking down
on the switchback track as we lead the way, and seeing a dozen
champs scrambling up behind us. 
We followed the top of the
range for several kilometers until we met the main road. then
it was back to Glenburn along the sealed roads. We parked on the
grass of our front paddock and took a group champ picture. 
20
champs were present along with over 50 proud owners and friends
After a short break for a coffee/beer/wine it was back to school for us. Local Champ mechanic and long time enthusiast Bill Millar had kindly agreed to give us a lecture about the things we should look out for when rebuilding a differential. Bill, a metallurgist by trade, also passed on details of some of the faults in design that causes diffs to fail. These faults and the modifications made in Australia to solve them will be covered in a later article.
Our evening meal was a BBQ prepared by the Yea Butchers, cooked by Martin Dasler and an army of keen helpers. My wife Kerri had made Pavlova for desert and this was quickly devoured. Harry Bowers built a great bonfire and the Kids cooked marshmellows for us. We sat around the fire and talked till after 1am and then dragged ourselves off to bed.
It rained heavily over night- and Martin Dasler woke up smiling, he knew what was ahead!! For Sunday those of us who had decided that the champs were all just a bit to clean were heading off into the forest in search of Tree ferns for scenery and mud for playing in. I have covered all these tracks many times on my Mountain Bike and in the champ, but never so soon after an inch of rain.
Mud,
oh boy I think it will be still there next year. We had a wonderful
time slipping and sliding, just sometimes Bill's words from the
night before's talk rang in my ears, " never spin one wheel
for very long, you will damage the diff if it is still original."
Argh what to do, if I don't spin the wheels I will slide back
down the hill!!
We
found one side track that was quite steep and I took WN1 15870
up it twice and took 10 years rubber of the tires! We returned
home with big smiles on our faces and mud mud everywhere. note
- took me 5 hours to wash it for the ANZAC day parade the next
weekend.
After lunch it was time for most people to head off, Russell and Rose Altmann and children stayed and helped me put various cars and champs back into sheds which was great...
Thanks to all for coming it was fantastic to see so many champs together... 20 must be a long time since that happened, maybe in the UK in August at the next gathering of the Austin Champ Register UK branch!
Click on the links below for more pictures. note I still have some to link - Im sorry they are not all done yet....PS If you were here and have any great shots I could use please post me a copy..
The
4 Pictures on the left are from Wally Bowers.--- thanks Wally
Description
of Condition Numbers:
1 Restored, Running in original
condition 2 Under restoration or to be restored 3 Salvable 4 Fit for spares 5 Broken up
6 Modified
7 No
trace since sold.
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