The 50th Anniversary Land-Rover Gathering was held in Cooma (April 10-11-12 1998) to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Land-Rover shown (April 1948).

For us it was a relatively small weekend trip, but for many people travelling from Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland it was a long journey. One fellow camper from W.A. had a fuel budget of $1200... and this expense pales when compared to the visitors from England and New Zealand. As an extreme example, we met Leon Zwetsloot, a Kiwi, who had attended the 50th Event in New Zealand, was enjoying the Australian 50th Event before getting back onboard Trans-Landy Airways to attend the British 50th Event... All things considered Kodak and Oil company shares should've risen appreciably!

We arrived home with many many memories... the parade, the people, 600+ LRO at the Gala Dinner, 530 Landys (of all varieties and ages) at the refridgerated photo-in-a-paddock event, and heaps of conversations/meetings.

We spent time spreading the word about The Registry of Ex-Military Land-Rovers and photographing ex-military Series 2A, 3, 110's, 101's and the Lightweight. An Army LRPV 6x6 and 6x6 "Bus" was also part of the display. The Land-Rover Road Show was in full flight too. It's not to be missed when it comes to your area.

Congratulations to the 50th organisers and special guests and also the Cooma Hot Bake Shop! The Showground conference facility was terrific, capable of seating 600+ LRO to dinner (unfortunately the dinner was sold out and some 100+ people missed out). It is set amongst poplar trees and grass. The town was full of autumn colours and very pretty. Land Rover Owner Magazine "guru" James Taylor was in attendance and much appreciated by "Landy loonies" for all his conversations etc and by "locals" because it rained a bit and was overcast (first for a long time) and it was quickly assumed he had brought along the pommy weather.

Also - wait for it- Castrol had no mechanical troubles once again. It seems long trips are OK with Castrol, but he becomes easily bored and irritable on local work. Reminds me of the dog. Hmmm.

A special hello to the LRO's we met there; I managed to meet with 9 'net' people out of 10. Who did we miss? Lloyd Allison -saw the kids and the Landy but Lloyd must have been at one of the engagement parties or something! (What about all the LROCV Committee pairing off like that?)

The judges Official "Best Series 2A" Award went to Tom Spring and his son from Mudgee NSW. They restored a 1971 2A LWB Cab/Utility to virtual showroom standard. The Official "Best Ex-Military Style" Land-Rover went to Stephen Stansfield's Norma Jean - the restored Vietnam Ambulance. The best 110 went to Robert Barker's Perentie G.S.

Our personal choice for "Meritorious Service Award" went to the Series One that was straight off the job; it is still in service on a sheep station (no pension plan in sight - 45+ years old). Cooma is a Merino centre after all... Kit on board included all the gear necessary for cleaning "fly blown" sheep (4 stroke shears), dog clips and sundries. This one and another, Shake, Rattle, Roll, had character to spare. Unluckily I did not manage to find that legendary Series One restoration whose Desperate Dan owner knocked up a replacement chassis made out of Aussie hardwood...

Our personal "Best Land-Rover Award" went to a local ex-Army Series 2A SWB that didn't even make it out of the Cooma mechanic's shed. It was made the same week as 'Castrol' and was in very original condition; we found it on Monday afternoon while on an excursion to the Cooma Landy shed/mechanic/wrecker. (Castrol needed a new interior mirror due to metal fatigue after one of our twin monkeys tried swinging off it).

All in all, Cooma was a wonderful Landy event on a scale we (and most LRO) had never experienced before. When looking down the Series Alleys, and during the Parade, it was a boggler to imagine all the thousands of man-hours on display at the 50th Anniversary, and at the same time a tad sentimental to reflect that the bulk of Series vehicles on parade "represented" 2 or 3 donor examples a little less lucky...