The 2026 OzHPV Rally was held in Chiltern, Victoria, with 5 in attendance, Struan Little, Duncan McDonald, William Reid, Dome Deli and myself, Steve Nurse.
Brian Franki was on his way to the rally when his car struck a kangaroo and he was forced to drive home at a slow pace.
Dome had bought a recumbent bike which he didn’t ride, but besides that, it was an all – trike event. All were tadpole trikes (Struan’s with electric assist) except for my leaning delta trike.
Duncan was the first to arrive on his trike tour from Crookwell about 430km away, and Domes and I met him at the Chiltern Memorial Hall which was our home for the next few days.
After a bakery lunch we bushbashed our way a few k’s up the road to the main Chiltern Barnawartha Road and popped out just past the Chiltern Motor Museum run by Gordon Stevens. It is about six k’s out of town, halfway to Barnawartha.
Gordon has amassed a huge array of motoring memorabilia including cars, trucks, motorbikes. engine assisted bicycles, petrol bowsers, oil cans, oil bottles, oil drums, matches, stationary engines, general antiques and posters, all housed in sheds and containers next to his house.
He’s the grandfather of the current Chiltern garage proprietor – this garage is itself a minor museum and oil is in their blood! It was through a sign in the town garage window that we found out about the museum.
Late in the afternoon, Struan and William arrived and after a nice pub meal we settled in for the night. I ad-libbed a bit and slept on a row of chairs with a cushion borrowed from a couch in the foyer. This was comfortable but the cushion was moulting small black bits of its plastic outer which ended up in my hair, on my chest, on the seats and on the floor. Not the best choice and I stopped using it as soon as I could!
The next day all of us except for William (he didn’t feel very fit and had radiator problems to fix) rode to Rutherglen via another bush track and an abandoned gold mining area.
We saw a kangaroo, numerous birds, echidnas and had puddles covering the whole track to contend with as well as severe up- and down- hills..
Coming in to Rutherglen a mob of about five hundred motorcyclists were passing through. Fortunately they did not all descend on the bakery at the same time as us!
After lunch Dome led us first to Wahgunyah along the rail trail, then to Corowa in New South Wales and on to the Corowa motor museum.
This was well organized and Rob met us at the door and guided us around. The museum houses cars owned by Corowa car club members. Rob owned and had worked on five of the Datsuns in the museum himself, and knew the history of most of the cars on display.
Mercifully we rode straight back to Chiltern via the quickest route. After resting at the hall for a while we went to the sports bar for a pizza dinner. The feature event at the bar was the Hawthorn / Brisbane Lions match and for some reason the pub was all decked out in Brisbane Lions colours. The game was playing on the big screen in the next room and there was shouting as one or other side kicked a goal. We left right near the end of the last quarter. Apparently the game had a very exciting last few minutes with cans and bottles thrown at the umpires, but at that stage we were wandering down the street and chatting on our way back to the hall.
On the Sunday of the rally we had a shorter ride taking the direct route to Barnawartha and dropping William and Struan at the Chilton Motoring Museum on the way – they hadn’t seen it the first time around. This gave Domes, Duncan and I plenty of time to explore Barnawartha and see the well-appointed football oval, historic buildings and park areas. Struan caught up with us a bit later and we took an indirect route back to Chiltern, coming in on the Howlong road and seeing the library and more historic buildings.
We stop for lunch at the bakery and Chiltern was really buzzing on the fine Sunday afternoon. Two op shops were open, so was the Atheneum Museum and Star Theatre. As well there was live music coming from one of the cafe courtyards. We skipped most of those attractions and retired to the hall for a quiet afternoon.
Domes had been filming with his 360 degree camera for most of the rally and he organised for some filming of trike riding around the hall, with the camera placed centrally and trikes buzzing all around: that was fun.
All too soon it was time for me to pack up to catch the train, and the others saw me off. It was a short ride to the station, and on the way we stopped at the childhood home of authoress Henry Handel Richardson which is preserved by the National Trust and sits in an idyllic lakeside garden.
We chatted for a while to a local lady who was walking her dog and discussed the benefits of tadpole trikes and electric assisted bikes. It was a great weekend with plenty of catching up, riding and recumbent bike talk.
Thanks to everyone who came and especially to Domes for the organizing. For me it was a great trip. I had been through Chiltern several times on OzHPV and Audax bike rides but had never been based there and this was a great chance to see more of its museums, cafs and shops.
As well I was able to test my trike and body over rougher terrain and longer distances than usual and catch up with old mates.
See you at the OzHPV Challenge in a few weeks time!
Links: Steve’s bikes blog and Chiltern: https://modularbikes.blogspot.com/search?q=chiltern
Chiltern Motor Museum: https://www.indigoshire.vic.gov.au/Community-Directory/Chiltern-Motor-Museum-1
Corowa Motor Museum: https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/the-murray/corowa/attractions/maxs-motor-museum
