Australia Day Cruise 2008
 On another sunny summers day, the two cruises rumbled through the scenic Dandenong Ranges arriving at Como Gardens in The Basin. This property is famous for its great gardens as well as being the home to some fabulous pre war cars. The picnic chairs & tables were soon out and set up in the shade provided by the trees. Our host, George Hertel had opened his 'living' museum (living because every car is fully operational and driven regularly) for inspection, along with lots of car related memorabilia. As if he doesn't have enough toy's to play with, there's also the scale train that runs around the gardens that carried kids, big & little.
In accordance with an Australian picnic, there has to be a few games and the horse shoe throw, lifter & fan belt toss got kids doing things that they don't get to do too often. Smiling winners carried some prizes back to the respective family picnic tables. We also had a very excited winner of trivia questions that entrants had completed during the cruise. Then we drew a few door prizes and sent more goodies back to the picnic tables.
George kindly offered to provide a guided tour of his museum and entertained the crowd of enthusiasts with stories about each car, even starting a few up. What does a 1927 Bugatti race car that's worth more than all the houses in your street sound like? Great!
After thanking George for allowing us to visit his property for our annual picnic, and wrapping up another very enjoyable picnic cruise, around 20 cars filed out for the cruise to the Vic. State Hot Rod Show back in the city. We enjoyed reserved parking on arrival thanks to the VHRA. The show lived up to its reputation as one of the great events on the Australian car enthusiasts calendar.
So, another Australia Day picnic cruise had come & gone. Thanks to Ron & Cheryl Mills for putting the day together for us, George Hertel for hosting us, and the VHRA for the support of the cruise to the Hot Rod Show. Thanks to all those that came along.
As a result of our efforts on the day, the Knox SES & St Johns Ambulance both received cheques for $250 to help continue their community work.
Here are a few photos.
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