Event date: Wednesday, 17-21 March 2023
With a click of your fingers here we are at the BMW Clubs Australia Nationals 2023; hosted by BMW Club Gold Coast in sunny Coolangatta.
My trip begun really smoothly as I was met by Paul Holliday at checkin and given VIP treatment and given express walk through security as he works at the airport. We sat down and had a great chat before he sent me off at the gate.
Wow, Gold Coast weather was hot and humid; after checking in to my hotel room at the mantra resort and having a rest, it was time to catch up with everyone at the Meet and Greet party, which was conveniently held at the Horizon function room inside the Twin Towns clubs hotel complex in which both the Mantra and Sebel hotels were situated. This was the accomodation all of us attending the nationals were given special rates for.
It was great to catch up with a few familiar faces I'd met last year at the Canberra nationals and also nice to meet some new people from other BMW clubs from around Australia. We were served a nice selection of cocktail food snacks, as well as some alcoholic beverages.
Saturday was the Show & Shine at Queen Elizabeth Park not too far from the hotel. Ann and Rob from Queensland were nice enough to offer me a ride in their M2 to the show. It was a very sunny and warm day for it. There was a great showing of cars3 from old to new; M2 to M3; Z cars to M5 cars. My highlight was definitely the handful of E36’s.
NSW police also had one of their BMW highway patrol cars come down and the officer driving it took the time to chat to us.
It was lunchtime by the time the show and shine finished; Rob and Ann invited me to join them, so off we went to Club Tweed for a meal with a few others.
In the evening we were picked up by bus and taken to Currumbin Beach surf club for a buffet meal, I reckon dessert was the best part
On Sunday a few of us decided to be a bit of a rebel and go on our own drive and visit a gin distillery. I was passenger with Ian from the Gold Coast BMW club in his beautiful E24 635CSI. His car just glided across the road; no squeaks, rattles or clunky noises a older car normally makes. Husk Distillery was about 25 minutes from the hotel, but we took a bit of a scenic route, so we took a little longer to get there, but when you're travelling in such a nice car, especially when it's a BMW, time doesn't matter!
Along on our trip was Rainer, Phillip and Leonie, who are also from the Gold Coast BMW club. Husk Distillery was a trendy, upmarket place that was also a nice stop for us to enjoy a lunch meal. We then started slowly making our way back towards Tweed Heads (where the hotel is). Ian was kind enough to let me drive his E24. What a treat that was! It may be an older car, but it drove so smoothly; not a squeak or any other sound to be heard that older cars make. It was such a beautiful ride, I really enjoyed driving it. We stopped long the way for gelato and enjoyed a nice scenic drive along the twisty roads.
A bit of a rest was next before we got glammed up again for the Presentation/farewell dinner back in the Horizon room at the Mantra. Today was like a meat free day for me because at lunch I had fish and now for dinner I was given a nice mushroom risotto for entree and if I remember correctly; mains was a fish dish as well!
The awards for the show and shine were also presented; it brought a smile to my face seeing so many E36's receiving awards, I counted at least half a dozen! and the people's choice award going to Rod Campbell and his E9 3.0 CS Alpina B2 Replica and Ian Farrell's E24 635CSI ( the very car I had the privilege of riding in that day!).
Another important part of tonights proceedings was passing the 'baton' (the flag of the BMW Nationals) to the next host club for 2025 and that was our club, BMWDCM! after seeing Jo's presentation for BMW Driver's Club Melbourne's 2025 Nationals I'm super excited and can't wait. Now that I've also made more new friends in the clubs Australia community, I look forward to seeing them all in 2 years time.
But Nationals Gold Coast 2023 has been a lot of fun with many memories made, Congratulations to Sandra and Roger Way from BMW Club Gold Coast with assistance from Garry and BMW Club Queensland on putting on such a fabulous 2023 nationals. All your hard work has really paid off.
Tim Oh | Member #538
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
