Lake Ainsworth Recreational Park at Lennox Head on the far north coast of NSW was the venue for the running of this year’s National Rally, it was an ideal location for us riders from inland as it has a choice of routes to get there and they vary to suit most tastes, I opted to wear a bit of tread off the sides of my tyres by doing the final leg from Armidale to Grafton via Ebor and can recommend that road if you don’t mind it being a bit rough in places.

Upon arrival it was obvious that a lot of improvements to the facilities had occurred since I was there a few years ago for a NSW State Rally and to be honest I could not fault the location, plus, for the first time in quite a few Nationals the food was pretty good. It would seem that finally HOG are managing to somewhat get back on the right track with what the Aussie members expect from a rally, and not just continually dishing up what the American side of it think we should have for our own good. I will make the comment though, that, although the security ensured that no one going in through the main gate was not registered, there was no checking when you rode out, that the bike you were on was actually yours, I would personally like to see more closer scrutiny with regards to whether the owner was in fact on the departing bike, and whilst I think that hiring security is ok, they need to be made more aware that these rallies are a veritable smorgasbord for thieving bastards especially in light of the number of bikes that were stolen from the surrounding areas during the weekend, and, that they really do need to implement a thief-proof checking out system.

That said, the weekend went really well with plenty to do and good company to do it in, and as the photos will show, all the usual rally events were there to either watch or participate in, also the guided rides took in a good variety of destinations and included one to Nimbin that would have been a bit of a blast from the past to a few of the riders, and no doubt contributed to the mode of dress that some chose for the evenings Disco/Soul Karaoke entertainment.

The surrounding towns made every effort to make us feel welcome and the very low profile police presence certainly helped in making it a very relaxing weekend just doing what comes naturally to bikers.

Sadly though, this rally saw the announcement during the Flag Parade from a Shepparton member that their chapter no longer exists, this of course means that the Victorian State Rally is now a nonevent and brings into question the ease at which a dealer, with full support from HOG International via an apparently inflexible constitution, can, at the stroke of a pen, or as in this case an email, bring to a complete close the years of hard work involving Chapter members who are ultimately the very people that HOG International are lauding from rally stages every time they get a chance to hog (pardon the pun) the spotlight.