ANCSR 2025 in Mudgee – Classic Scooters, Friends, and One Very Tired Liver
The October long weekend had been circled on our calendar for months — the Australian National Classic Scooter Rally (ANCSR) in Mudgee. Every year, the rally draws a devoted mix of riders from all over the country, descending on a new town to celebrate our shared obsession with vintage scooters. This would be the first national Steve and I had decided to join in quite a few years. Mudgee, with its vineyards, country pubs, and rolling hills, and only 272 kms from Sydney, promised the perfect setting for a long weekend of riding, laughter, and maybe a few too many drinks.
But of course, getting there was always half the adventure.
The Scenic (and Accidental) Route
Around 10am we set off from Sydney, Steve riding his trusty Jet200 and me driving his car packed with parts orders for other rally attendees, plus our luggage, my helmet, and enough coffee and snacks to survive a zombie apocalypse. Steve left a little before me as he needed to stop for fuel; I’d waited 10 minutes before leaving promising I’d catch up to him before too long.
Unfortunately I had not factored in the long weekend double demerit points slowing all the traffic down on top of catching countless red traffic lights heading out of Sydney. About 45 minutes later and surprised I hadn’t seen him, I took the Richmond Rd exit off the M7, heading towards North Richmond and the Bells Line of Road, and turned on my Life 360 app to see how far ahead Steve was. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me as I discovered he was quite a significant distance from me – going in the wrong direction, heading south and still on the M7. I pulled over and immediately tried to call him, knowing that couldn’t answer while riding, but hoping he might feel his phone vibrating and stop. It worked and pretty soon we were having a shouting match down the phone. Turned out he hadn’t seen the exit and it was my fault for not catching him up earlier and overtaking him to lead the correct way. He claimed he had no idea where he was and could see no way of turning around to cross the motorway and come back towards me as the M7 was full of traffic and roadworks. The weather was heating up, with an abnormally hot October day in the high 20’s in store for us, and, though normally mild-mannered and patient, I could feel my own temperature rapidly rising too. Safe to say I could almost feel steam coming out of my ears, knowing how much time this was going to set us back. I couldn’t believe he’d missed the exit, which was well signposted and considering the time I’d spent patiently explaining the map route before we left that morning. In a rare moment of assertiveness, I instructed Steve to find a way to exit off the motorway, get under some shade and wait for me to come to him, noting my Life 360 app could direct me to him, and which told me he was 33 minutes away. I spent the next half an hour weaving through heavy traffic, cursing and trying not to speed through the roadworks zones mindful of the double demerit points in place. A speeding ticket was all I needed to top this off!
When I eventually found Steve (in Liverpool, no less) he was slightly sheepish, gratefully accepted some water I had with me, and dutifully followed me as I found a new route to Mudgee, this one via the M4 and Blue Mountains. Thankfully, the traffic eased up once we got on the M4 heading towards the Mountains, but not the wind, which I could see in my rear vision mirror was blowing Steve about, pushing him sideways across the lane.
Unfortunately, as we wove up the Great Western Highway through the Blue Mountains and approached Katoomba, we found some more roadworks causing a long snake of traffic, with my GPS indicating a delay of around 25 minutes. Steve came up next to my window at some traffic lights and I told him to go ahead and lane split to get through the traffic and to wait for me at the other side of the roadworks. At one point, Google Maps cheerfully informed me that we were “just 2 hours and 20 minutes” away — which was the same estimate it had given me two hours earlier. By now we were both getting fed up and felt like turning around and going back home but we were too invested, having come this far.
By the time we finally crested the Blue Mountains and started winding towards Lithgow, the heat eased thanks to the Mountain air and altitude. Though the winds were still strong, especially the last hour or so, heading closer to Mudgee. I silently thanked the fact I was in the car, instead of on my own scooter which I’d originally planned on riding – I’m not sure I could have handled those winds. At one point Steve had to pull over for a 5 minute rest, as his constant fighting against the headwind was taking its toll.
What was meant to be a four-hour journey had turned into a six and a half-hour odyssey of winding in and out of traffic, and a great deal of frustration and cursing. At least the scenery was spectacular, especially the last part approaching Mudgee past the lake, as the views of rolling green hills appeared. Plus, Steve’s Jet200 ran well – I clocked him going between 110-120 kmph at one stage on some of the last straights before Mudgee. Thankfully my GPS app was alerting me to speed traps, although nearly missed one, which fortunately, I saw in enough time to ease my ‘lead foot’ off the accelerator.
Finally, late in the afternoon, we arrived in Mudgee, just in time to check into our motel, park up for the night, find our room and dump our bags. Once Steve was satisfied his scooter was safe, he wanted to wind down and freshen up, while I opted to head straight to the pub a couple of blocks away for the official Friday night welcome drinks. On foot of course – I’d been sitting way too long and needed to stretch my legs.
Friday night reunion
The first night of any rally is always a buzz, as moods and energy are high. It’s a reunion as familiar faces appear — some we haven’t seen since the last rally, others perhaps for years. The meet and greet at the Court House Hotel from 3-6pm – a cute, local pub less than 10 minutes walk from our digs, was packed with scooterists in the rear, beer garden. After I collected our rally packs I spent around an hour enjoying a refreshing cider and catching up with friends and some of the Mille crew, hearing about the endurance of their two day 1000 km ride around the local countryside a couple of days earlier. Then I walked back to Steve at our motel and we headed around the corner to an Indian Restaurant to meet up with friends, Ian & Julie from Qld, for what we hoped would be a tasty curry. The curry unfortunately turned out to be a little disappointing, but at least the company was great.
Friday night’s rally entertainment was scheduled to start from 7pm at Club Mudgee. After our curry, and a quick detour via the nearby Irish pub, we eventually made it to Club Mudgee around 8pm, timing our entry to the function area in the middle of the speeches and announcements. Seeing no available seats for our group, we quickly headed straight back out to the adjacent sports bar and parked ourselves there for a few drinks. Once the speeches and a special video screening finished, the DJ’s ‘Primative Sounds’ from Brisbane started playing, and the noise level inside increased rapidly. Steve and I ended up staying in the sports bar enjoying laughter, greetings, glasses clinking, and the steady hum of stories being retold for the tenth time. There’s something incredibly comforting about it all. You might only see these people once or twice a year, some once every few years, but the camaraderie picks up instantly, like no time has passed at all.
We caught up with old and new mates, swapped stories of breakdowns, rebuilds, near-misses and other rallies. The night stretched on, and as the drinks flowed, our long journey earlier that day faded into distant memory.
Saturday: Rideout, Show ’n Shine and Mudgee magic
Saturday morning came around sooner than expected — or maybe it was just that my head was still somewhere between the pub and the pillow. There’s nothing like the sound of classic two-strokes firing up in the crisp country air to wake you up. Goodness knows where the two Vespas parked outside our room were going that early!
While the rally ride-outs are a highlight for some, Steve and I opted to hang around town in the morning. Steve’s car was still loaded with parts orders and by 9am we had a couple of mates, Mark and Chris, drop by to pick up theirs. Then they hang around by our motel room for a while chatting, and annoying one of the guests in an adjacent room with a demonstration of Mark’s new toy – a tyre inflator of all things, bought off Temu, while Steve and I bragged about our new toy, a travel coffee maker bought from Officeworks for $39. Don’t knock it, it meant Steve’s mood for the day was set on the right side with no hunting for coffee which he would inevitably complain was shite.
After some mid morning breaky at a cafe around the corner ‘Outside the Square’ we set off in the car to Rylstone to join the dozens of vintage scooters which had been on the ride-out through Mudgee’s nearby country backroads — the kind of sight that makes locals stop and wave, and even the most jaded riders grin like kids again. The Lionhearts, who had organised the rally, had mapped out a scenic loop through the surrounding hills, with a strategic stop for lunch at Rylstone, to visit the local Motorcycle gift shop ‘Tanks and Tailpipes’ and of course, for a few chats and photos. Steve and I timed it perfectly, arriving while they were all parked up along the main street, and we hang around for a while catching up with a few people we hadn’t seen the night before. Well, I was chatting. Steve seemed to have a steady stream of people quizzing him about parts and how to tweak their scooters to make them run better. As everyone set off back to town, so did we, following them in the car, admiring the canola fields of gold along the way.
In the afternoon we had the Show ‘n Shine at Mudgee Train Station from 2.30pm to 5pm. I picked up Steve’s Jet from the motel and I rode it over to the Station while Steve drove so people could collect some more parts orders. Rows of scooters lined the car park area, each one a reflection of its owner’s personality — from perfectly restored classics to quirky custom builds and rusty rat-rods. There’s something special about seeing so much history in one place: the craftsmanship, the stories, the shared passion that keeps these old machines alive.
As I parked up Steve’s Jet in the line-up with the other classic scooters, an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me, asking about the Jet, how old it was, how fast it goes, is it a 2 stroke or 4 stroke, etc. He told me he was a local and had ridden his scooter 25 kms to see our event. At that point I turned around and saw he had parked his scooter, a newish auto, next to the Jet, right in the middle of all the other classic scooters lined up. I hoped he would not leave it there for long but after half an hour I noticed it still parked there so in my kindest voice, I politely asked him if he would mind parking it somewhere else, perhaps at the end, as these were all classic scooters as part of an organised classic event and a ‘Show’n’Shine’ display. He didn’t understand why I’d asked such a thing and got stroppy with me, complaining to other people nearby about being asked to move. The fact is, he wasn’t part of the rally, he didn’t buy a rally ticket, and didn’t have a classic scooter. While public are always welcomed to come and admire the spectacle of all the classic scooters, their auto scooters aren’t. I thought I’d tried to do the right thing being polite, where others among us might have been a lot more rude. Anyway, I brushed off his reaction, he eventually moved his scooter, and I spent the next hour or so catching up with other like-minded people, checking out the huge line up of classic scooters, enjoying some breezy shade out of the hot sun, and selling some of the new Lambretta Club Australia enamel pin badges I’d organised just in time for the rally. There was a great turn out, around 150 attendees, and others tinkered with their scooters, swapped parts, or just sat around on the grass nearby, chatting and soaking it all in.
Saturday Night Entertainment
If Friday night was a warm-up, Saturday night was definitely the main event.
First we had the Lambretta Club of Australia’s AGM from 5pm at Club Mudgee. This was a formal but relatively short meeting for members only, and included dinner (delicious pizzas) and drinks, sponsored by the Lambretta Club. At the end of the meeting there was a bit more mingling before heading downstairs to join the other rally attendees.
Back in ANCSR function room the evening entertainment included DJ’s, awards from the Show ‘n Shine and a 6 piece ska band from Sydney, The Upbeat Ambassadors. It was another evening of great company, music and plenty of laughter. Steve spent most of the evening in the adjacent sports bar chatting, in between watching the Wallabies getting beaten by the All Blacks in the final Bledisloe match. I spent the night drinking G&Ts, enjoying the music and some dancing. Fair to say, most of us didn’t want the night to end. After the music stopped and lights came on around midnight, a few of us continued drinking in the Club bars, until they closed at 1am, while a handful of others found another open pub nearby and partied on until 3am. The jokes got funnier (or at least louder), more stories were retold, and new and old friendships were cemented in that easy, timeless way that only happens after many drinks. As the night came to a close sometime after 1am and Steve and I finally stumbled back to our motel conveniently located next to the Club’s carpark, the stars over Mudgee were bright enough to light the way — or maybe that was just blurry, wishful thinking.
Sunday: Slow starts, another ride out and last laughs
Sunday mornings at a rally are always a little quieter. You can tell who’s been up late by the sunglasses at breakfast. Steve and I headed around to a different cafe in Church Street, called ‘Dancing Goat’, where the smell of bacon and coffee filled the air, and the odd scooter zipped past. After a bacon and egg roll and cool, fresh fruit juice, very welcome after the copious amounts of alcohol we’d consumed the night before, we headed over to the Mudgee Train Station for 10.30am to watch the start of the second ride-out. For those feeling inclined, another 110 km ride was organised, winding up past a mountainous backdrop to the old gold-mining town of Gulgong. There, a stop was planned for lunch, with time for a visit to the Pioneers Museum, before heading down to Robert Stein winery for a final stop at 2.30pm to view their motorcycle museum, and enjoy an afternoon hangout and chat on the grassy area they’d set aside for us.
During the morning, some opted to hang around Mudgee instead of doing the ride out — including Steve and myself. We joined the Millers to venture over to Mudgee’s Sunday market. We wandered through, exploring a few stalls, bumping into Sean and Terry, and, squeezing in some tastings of various local produces such as pomegranate syrups and Capertee gin.
After our browse at the markets, we dropped the Millers back where they were staying and stopped in for a quick look at their lovely apartment. Then we headed back to our motel over lunchtime for a brief rest. We didn’t stay long, and ended up meeting up with some of the others who had stayed in town to pack up their vans for an early start the next morning, as we needed to drop off the remaining parts with them so they could pack them in for their return journey.
At 2pm we jumped in the car again, picked up the Millers and drove up to Robert Stein winery to meet up with the riders. Now, scooterists and wine tastings might sound like a dangerous combination, but somehow it worked. Robert Stein’s cellar door welcomed us with open arms, offering an array of wines and soft drinks as well as an onsite food van selling seafood, like salt’n pepper squid, and hot chips. We browsed the small motorcycle museum, remarking at their interesting collection, then enjoyed a couple of beverages, snacks and banter under the shade of the gazebo they’d put up on the grassy area out back. After an hour or so chilling, the group started to break up and leave — a blur of dust from the vineyard’s unsealed road, and the unmistakable smell of two-stroke oil drifting across the vines.
Later on Sunday afternoon I took a little stroll around town, admiring some of the buildings and browsing some store windows. It was nice to enjoy a brief moment of peace and quiet before another evening of sensory overload.
In the evening we were back at Club Mudgee for a final night of entertainment by the DJ’s, and raffles prizes drawn. Steve and I didn’t win anything in the rally pack raffle ticket draw, but Steve had generously bought $50 of raffle tickets for the Starlight Foundation charity and he lucked out winning the prize which was a gorgeous Biltwell helmet in candy red. Shame it was a bit too small for his head but great score for me 🙂
By 10pm, the scooterists began to thin out as most planned an early start to head home the next morning and were not willing to risk an inevitable encounter with an RBT, judging by the countless ones we had seen around town the last two days. There were hugs, handshakes, promises to catch up again soon — and plenty of jokes about needing a liver detox before the next rally.
Monday: The road home
Thankfully, the trip back home was far less eventful than the drive up. Setting off at 8am, I led the way in the car with Steve following on his scooter behind me. Apart from one RBT stop on the outskirts of Mudgee, the trip was smooth and uneventful. The roads were relatively clear of traffic so we kept a good pace obeying speed limits, in between the fuel stops every 100kms, the weather was great and scenery stunning, and our heads were full of replayed highlights from the weekend.
Door to door our trip was less than 4 hours; amazing the difference when you go the correct route. As we rolled back into our driveway in Sydney, a little tired, and still grinning, I realised just how much these weekends mean.
They’re not just about scooters — they’re about connection, community, and the simple joy of being part of something that brings people together. The long drives, the late nights, the laughter, and even the sore heads — they’re all part of it.
When we finally unpacked at home, I poured a big glass of water (no more alcohol, thank you very much) and collapsed on the couch. My liver definitely needed a break — but I felt happy and content.
Mudgee, you were magic. And well done to The Lionhearts club for a fantastic event. See you all at the next one!