Hi Guys
Well i guess ya figured out by now that me n the chipster managed to escape cretenville on the early hours of Monday morning.
But lets go back to the start
of my trip.
Left home 12.30pm Friday and stayed here that night..
Goulborn dust bowl.. Spent the late arvo pelting stubbies at the crows pooing on my tarp
.. they wouldnt move, so i rolled the car forward so they pooed on the fobbergross... ;D much happier now.
Got up saturday early and motored on down to the border by around 11 ish. too hot and too early in the day to stop so kept going.
Pulled in for fuel at Benalla.... I musta looked a bit ill.
'cause this mob pulled up.....
They rendered "thirst aid" on me and poor old Harry HR Yoot. Feelin much betta now, thank you. Rolled in to the Kaybees about 5.00. quick tour of the facilitys and down to the air cond local for tea. Chippy Dave caught up with us late saturday arvo and we all enjoyed a BBQ and a few beers before hittin the old fart sack.... Big day tomorrow.
4 vans set sail and got across to Geelong by daylight Monday morning. Caught up with Al and Di homemade 1954 who had battery trouble the night before at Colac. Chippy got them started with a battery pack and we pushed onwards.
I got separated from the rest and ended up in Portland for more gas. Got tackled by a bloke at the servo who told me to follow him around to his place.. he has old vans
....
and so he does....
He is doing a great job on the old holdfast which i think may well be a Hawthorn.
No further hold ups i caught up with the crew at MT G.
1002 MILES at a cost of $211.81
KB3 showed me the fine art of deckchair testing.....
Gotcha Dale ;D ;D ;D
About 4.00pm i got a call from Will.. he wanted to see me straight away. so i grabbed a beer or 3 and headed down to his camp.....
well bugger me...
.
50 people all standin around singing happy birthday. A card signed by everyone and best of all a VB stubby carton cake with the numbers "5" and "4" candles burning on top.... never did quite figure out what that meant
.
Chippy and i where invited to stay for Dinner which was great... thanks Will and Lynn...... A few rouwdy revellers partied on until midnight and ensured that i had a birthday to remember... vintage deck chair judging .. just one of the party events
Lotsa cool vans
Didnt do a lot of sightseeing.. Local brake yobbos stung me $180 to change to front brake hoses and replace the brake fluid.... pity .. all i wanted was a set of new brake pads installed
I went back the next day. Bought brake pads, pistons and a set of overhaul seal kits. Took me and Col just under 1 hour to fix it that morning.
That night was the Tacky and Tasteless ball... and believe me we certainly lived up to the name.Headed down to Macs pub in a mini bus.. another brilliant night hosted by Will and Lynn. Without an organised event like this the van park wouold have stayed fragmented and we would not have had a chance to catch everyone to say 'Gday... Thanks again will and Lynn. Your efforts where greatly recieved by all who went.About 60 smilin faces all being just plain silly... even the bar staff had a giggle.
Memorys that willl stay with me for ever.
Next day i was up for 2 new back tyres... Kaching.. another $300. While the tyre service where fiddling with the ute. I jumped in with the Kaybees and went van hunting up Pemola direction in the purple 55 Chev pick up.. plenty of tin vans and we finally come across a sad Rowvan at a little whistle stop halfway back to MT Gambier.
A few of us had organised dinner down in the Camp Kitchen on wednesday night so i spread the word about the infamous trophy presentation . Lotsa fun had by all. Congrats to those that had thier name drawn from the hat. A few trophys are heading west.
I think Melanco won the best alloy van, Jailbar Juice got "fullest and foulest", I got worse reverser ( 6 stabs to get the sunliner and ute out of Kaybees drive in the pitch dark)........Happy hour dragged on tilll late and my head hit the wall.. the door.. the floor.. then the pillow about 12.30...zzzzzzzzzz
I got evicted from the sunliner on Thursday...... No pyrotechnics Earlee.. just a quiet hand over to its new owner.. Hillbilly.....he shpould be getting close to home as i type.
Spent Thursday night in my 2 man Canvasavan.. outta bed early friday, wave hooray and i head off to look at big pointy rocks along the great ocean road..
Musta been a real glarey day cause just about everybody else but me that waz lookin at the rocks had "squinty eyes"
Found and old wobbly FJ and an old wobbly 1936 caravan in the carpark at the Bay of Islands.... Cobber and Yvonne where also on the tourist trail. The plan was for me to spend the night at Apollo Bay.. what a beautiful part of Australia...except for the crowd.. the place was full of elephant jockeys and others from all walks of life
No room for this little blaqck duck and his 2 man canvasavan. Plan "B" turn left and head up into the Otaways to a little place called Forrest... $5 for a camp site.
Bloody thieves stole the wheels of the canvasavan over night.
Drove up to Tocumwal on saturday. stayed a a nice van park called Boomerang Park. Lotsa vans but no people.....
all at the picnic races. I headed for the twin palms pub to wash down the horse flys and budgies. Hmmmmmmm place has a man proof fence around it with only one entrance
Just managed to order a schooner and BANG 6 bus loads of drunks pull up out the front..... hairy arsed kids flat out being able to stand up drunk, pensioners done up to the 9's... and
:oChickybabes... dozens and dozens of gorgeous chicks ... ( pause here while i pinch myself) yup.. wide awake now
;D
2 beers, lead to 4.. lead to 6..... STOP.. reality check.. the place is getting rowdy and rough...... time to waddle back to the van park and cook tea before the crowd get back there.
Cool night breeze helped me along. Had a great feed with a few good lookin touristy types. a few more beers and off to bed.. big day tomorrow .
Up before dawn to find a tawny frogmouth sitting on my tailgate. I boiled the billy and he stayed for a cuppa.
Onwards ever upwards. Narrandera... plenty of Hot rods zinging around the streets
... across througha little place called Matong.. The best antique shop i had been in on the entire trip.... not a repro in sight. .. Coolomon, Junee, Gundagai ...pulled up for fuel... some silly bugger had left his dog behind.....
aaaah well at least he has plenty of water and a tucker box to keep himself fed.
Hit Sydney about 4.00pm goin great. Stop for gas for the last time... click, click, click.. the imobiliser had imobilised itself. Rang the NRMA . while i waited i fiddled.. they arrived just as i sorted out the relay terminal had come adrift.. next minute... zoom, zoom, zoom.. Up the F3 waving to the south bound traffic that was at a standstill back past the Hawksbury bridge.......suckers... wound the ute up to 70MPH for the home stretch.....
Home about 6.00pm
1048 miles on the return trip at a cost of $231
Not much difference than the trip down.. almost identical in fact..... I think the reason for this is i sat on 55 to 60mph on the way down with the van on. I snuck up to 70mph for most of the long hauls off the main hwys on the way home.
A great trip . Great times spent with my extended family...... Thanks for the company.
Special thanks to the Kaybees for the hospitality
and Will and Lynn for the Birthday Party on Monday night and the brilliant night at the pub.. it was every bit as good as Morgan 2006... except we had to pay for the late night
drinks this year.
Reddo
......we broadbanders take these things for granted sometimes , hey?. 
......................here's an installment. 
.................starting with one just for you 
.. they wouldnt move, so i rolled the car forward so they pooed on the fobbergross... ;D much happier now.
