Boxster & Cayman Apollo Bay Run

We gathered at BP Avalon on a very sunny and warm day of 24C for our briefing from Ken with particular note to changes in our route due to deteriorated road conditions. This proved to be sage advice as roads post the lunch stop including the return journey were punctuated with many “rough road” and “roadworks” signs with reduced speed limits yet no evidence of any such works!

New members introduced included; Barbara Mohren with her 986 Silver Boxster owned for the past 24 years, Paul Benson, Silver 987 Cayman S and Alan and Rebecca Booth in a 986 Seal Grey Boxster S that we later learnt was a great “Barn” find having only 79,000 kms on the clock.

As volunteers were thin on the ground to write this report Harriet kindly drew my name, so here goes.

A total of 28 members in 15 cars participated. A great day for the 9 Boxsters (plus Kon Gogos in his Cabriolet) in the group to go topless, however a generous dose of sunscreen was required as temperatures would climb to 30c by the time we made it to the lunch break. The 5 Cayman drivers looked cool cocooned in their air conditioned cabs.

We set out in a nice convoy joining the highway in heavy traffic until we peeled off some 13kms later. The traffic lights over the freeway divided the group and that was the last we saw of them being one of 2 cars left to find our way. All went well until missing the Granite Road turn but as we thought we had Ken and Harriet behind us all would be well. Realising our mistake we retraced our steps and made the turn to discover new member Paul Benson without navigator was following us!

After getting back on track, we enjoyed the windy sections Ken had chosen coupled with some spirited driving we managed to catch the main group again with Paul still in tow. We did encounter Barbara coming from a mysterious direction to our left on the way but at least we all got there.

Our route took us via such places as Anakie, Maude, Bannockburn (sadly no stop to enjoy the wineries), then on to Teasdale and Shelford before entering Beeac for our lunch stop.

The Farmers Arms Hotel publican Ean McDowell hosted a tour of his eclectic car collection with explanations of how he managed to acquire same. In particular was his “weekend trip” from Malaysia to Spain to purchase a Ferrari ASA!

Lunch was duly served and stories of car acquisitions, upgrades etc swapped with new members Alan and Rebecca on their first PCV run in their 986 Boxster.

With lunch done around 3pm, those returning to Melbourne departed with a small group making their own way to Apollo Bay. We took Ken’s tip of going via Gellibrand but then made a choice to proceed via Beech Forrest. Big mistake! Very narrow road and so had to drive cautiously the entire way however this was offset by the beautiful nature that even the driver could take in for a change.

Arrived at Apollo Bay 3:45 pm to slightly cooler 23C, clear skies and calm ocean views. The group reconvened at the Apollo Bay Hotel at 6pm where we were joined by Mark Behan who will be taking over the mantle from Ken as Register Captain and his wife Sylvia. Whilst only 8 members joined for the dinner, it gave all of the opportunity to get to know each other and share the passion and many Porsche experiences.

A big thank you to Ken and Harriet for all their hard work on yet another smooth event that I’m sure all enjoyed.

Sunday 11th December, 2022