Dice on Ice

If you surf back to the posts "Ice Road Truckers, Almost" or "Spinning Wheels", you'll see pictures of Brian out on the lake in front of Bondi Village in his truck.

In those posts, I referred to an activity that used to take place on the Lake of Bays back in the 1950's. It was a Car Rally, called Dice on Ice, and it involved racing around Islands and other natural obstacles.

Everyone would then park, and gather together for refreshments and camaraderie.


I found these photos in our Tapley Archives -- taken in the 1950's, showing Bondi in the background, and the latest models in automobiles out on the bay.


Not to mention Rosemary Tapley, with Mandy the cat. Evidently a forerunner for Achmed, the current cat with a penchant for going for car rides, Mandy was driving about on the lake with all the racers.

There is no notation on the photographs about how well the cat did behind the wheel, sadly.

I remember my parents telling us that once, when the Rally was over, everyone parked and came to the farmhouse for warm drinks. Someone looked out the window and noticed that the cars -- all carefully parked close together in the middle of the bay -- were causing the ice to dip down under their collective weight. There was a small moment of panic while everyone raced to 'start their engines' and spread the cars out over a much wider area.