Mum called me on Thursday to let me know that the club's Big Weekend Out was being held this weekend. I drove around to get the newsletter, opened my bank statement, and discovered that I actually had some money. Friday came around, and I decided to get my radiator repaired. This involved installing a drain plug, repairing the hose nipple for the recovery system, and repairing the crack at the top. In order to save on labour costs, I decided to remove and reinstall the radiator myself. Somewhat predictably, doing this disturbed the seal on the thermostat housing, and caused it to start leaking. The radiator guy cautioned me to check the fluid level after I got home and add water if required. On Saturday morning, Kelly and I got up, booked a motel unit, packed our gear, and put everything into the Mini. I checked the radiator, topped up the oil, and we were off. We exited town over the "five humps" along Kelvin Grove Road, in order to avoid the roadworks at Whakarongo. We eventually arrived at Pahiatua, and proceeded toward Eketahuna, looking for the Weir farm. When we had travelled for some way without seeing any signs related to the event, I asked Kelly to find the newsletter and read the name of the turnoff we were looking for. Just after we had passed the turnoff for Mangamaire, Kelly informed me that we needed to turn off at Mangamaire. Once we were on the right road and had passed the school, I started measuring 4km on the Mini's odometer, as per the instructions. This happened to take us past a large paddock with a few cars in it, but since none of them were Minis, the decision was made to keep going. After passing over 3 one-laned bridges and starting up a hill, we had travelled our 4km, but had not encountered a farm. So, we found a spot to pull over, and I gave Shayne a call. Turned around, back on track, we again found the paddock. Since there was still nothing resembling a signpost, I decided to provide one by parking my Mini at the gate. Later in the morning, the Motorkhanas started. Since Tim’s Morrie had broken down, I was reassigned to Darren's yellow Mini. I had a lot of fun, and seemed to get quite good at using the handbrake. Driving the yellow Mini back from the last Motorkhana, I found a ditch (or it found me), and the sump temporarily became a plough, slicing out a clump of dirt the size of a tissue box! We then convoyed to the Rankin farm. Unfortunately, about half way along the main road, I noticed something was wrong with my Mini – the temperature gauge was off the scale! We pulled over, stopped the car, and it wasn't long before another club member stopped to help us. Popped the hood, steam everywhere! Bugger! I forgot to get that thermostat gasket fixed. Fortunately, Tim had space on his trailer, due to the Morrie falling off it back at the paddock. Just enough space for a Mini, in fact. Back at Rankin farm, Tim and Lis offered us a ride to our motel, since they were heading into Pahiatua to do some shopping. Unfortunately, they didn't know at the time that we were staying in Woodville, since the Brown Trout in Pahiatua was full. Sunday morning, and we were up and waiting for Tim to taxi us back to Weir farm for the day's events. Darren was first out on the day, and I was to be second in the famed yellow Mini. I waited around for my turn, and soon enough I was out there queueing at the start line. Soon enough, I was at the start line and I was off! I was having fun with the handbrake, and was going beautifully, albeit a little off the race line, until I got through to the third or fourth gate. I handbraked left around the corner a little off the race line, slid around the right-hand bend even more off the race line, and tried to regain control and point the Mini in the direction of the gate. Too late! The tyres found some grip, and I headed straight into the ditch! I restarted the car and made a futile effort to reverse. Then, unsure what to do, I waited in the car for about three minutes for assistance. Finally out of the ditch, I carefully completed the course, flying across the finish line with a time of six minutes something. The yellow Mini was off again with Paul in the driver's seat, and I found myself watching the racing while awaiting my next turn, when what do I see? Oh! That's Hawkes Bay Minis trying to make it up the hill to the finish line, in their orange RW drive, entitled "The Shiter"! Third, or was that fourth, time lucky! I was off again, still zig-zagging all over the race line, but careful to miss the ditch this time! The third run found me spinning around 180° and stalling the car. After lunch, and I found myself demolishing a tree stump (fortunately not rooted to the ground), and just managing to avoid the gate past that ditch. Final run, I demolished the tree stump (again!), clipped the gate, slid sideways into a rut, and just managed to not flip the car. After the day's racing, we headed back to the Rankin farm, had a cuppa, and eventually headed for home. Since Tim still had to get the Morrie home, my Mini had to spend the night at Rankin farm again. Most of Monday was then spent retrieving my Mini from Pahiatua.