It's not very often you find a Sydneysider aboard a tractor but at the weekend's Trundle Back In Time there were three.
Matt Vella and his 11-year-old son Jason, and Chris Axiak and Rebekah Hartley made the 500km trek from their homes in Sydney with their tractors on the back of a truck to attend the event at the Trundle Showground.
Matt was showcasing his 1960s Fiat 900 tractor and Fiat 411R, and Chris his 1947 Ansaldo track crawler.
It was the first time they've been to Trundle but not the first show they've experienced in country NSW.
While also hearing it from a mate in Dubbo, the group found out about Trundle Back In Time on Facebook and wanted to come along.
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They weren't disappointed, Matt and Chris saying how much they enjoyed being there.
"We've been to a few shows in the country," Matt said.
"When you're in the antique machinery circle you come to know what's on and where."
"There's more and more happening out in these country towns," Chris said he noticed.
The group also paraded their tractors in Trundle Back In Time's first precious parade at 2pm on Saturday.
While not the location you'd expect a tractor owner to come from, Matt parks his tractors in his Sydney neighbourhood.
"The street loves him!" Chris laughed.
Matt's main collection consists of Howard rotary hoes and Howard tractors but he bought the Fiat 411R for nostalgic reasons.
It's the tractor he learnt to drive on when he was a child, growing up in a small market garden in western Sydney.
When he finally found one similar to the one at home, he travelled 11 hours to Brisbane to collect it in the interest of teaching his children to drive it and join in at the shows with tractor pulling.
His Fiat 900 was bought as a project and was eventually fixed up and ready to be taken to shows.
"I have always had a big interest in old machinery and tractors since I was a kid and, similar to Matt, was brought up around them my whole life," Chris said.
"After attending a couple local events my interest grew and still continues to grow in collecting old antique machinery, ploughs and tractors.
"And by all means my favourite would have to be old crawlers."
Chris and Matt do a couple trips a year to different events, some even up to 11 hours away.
The pair is part of the Sydney Antique Machinery Club where they share their hobby with many other club members.
