Since I was liberated (made redundant) from Masterfoods in early July (YAY!!!) I've been planning to take a road trip by myself, in my Cooper - a getaway where I could spend some time just having fun. I've been working a lot and haven't had a chance, until now....

The Sydney Ausmini people (Brad AKA 13sec) organised a Dyno day for 10th September, so I set that as my goal, I wanted to tour around NSW, hopefully get as far up as Port MacQuarie, and then get to Sydney in time to go to the Dyno day, and have a night out with my mate Paul....

In the week leading up to it, I had the Cooper's head reconditioned, and I put new rubbers in the front suspension, along with sorting out some other jobs. As you can see from the photos below, he was sitting very high at the front with the new rubbers, and looked a bit funny, the weight in the back didn't help. It rained on my last night away, I guess the rain let the rubbers squirm around and seat properly, the front dropped nicely - had I known that I would have found a water crossing to go through in my travels! I had a front-end alignment done the day before I planned to leave, I had a suspicion that one of my wheels was buckled, so I wanted to sort that out too. I ended up ordering new tyres, and got them fitted on tuesday morning to my chrome S rims, as 2 of the original rims were buckled, and the tyres were out of round... everything was done and I was ready to go!

I took a bunch of pictures, lots of them are of the same thing, but slightly different, click on the thumbnails to get a bigger view

Day 1 (Tuesday 6th September 2005) - Wodonga to Dubbo to stay with my big sister Miranda

I left Wodonga around 2pm, meaning I would be late getting to Dubbo, 8pm if the trip went well. Miranda wasn't going to be there until 5:30 anyway, but I had hoped to get there by 6pm. As it got dark, I tried to take some mirrored sunset photos, but as you can see, the windscreen bugs spoiled it a bit!

The drive up was basically uneventful, I decided to go to "The Dish" at Parkes, as I approached the carpark in the dark, a Kangaroo hopped out of the bushes and down the road in front of me, I followed it and tried to take a few pictures, they didn't turn out very well.

I took a few pictures of the dish with my Cooper, using the night time setting on the camera to try and get some more colour out of the lights, some of them turned out well. While I was there, the dish actually moved a couple of times, that was pretty impressive, slow, but impressive.

Miranda and I went to find a hamburger or something for tea, but couldn't find anywhere open, other than the usual fast food places, we decided to have pizza.... Miranda wanted to drive the Cooper, so she hooned about while heap of local commodore-boys in the main street watched.

Day 2 - Dubbo to Coonabarabran

Took some photos of Miranda's bunnies in the morning, very sadly, the white one, Flopsy died last week, and not as a result of my visit

My mate Ivan had told me about a national park worth seeing at Coonabarabran, and there was an observatory. I was keen on going to an observatory because Mars is in a great position for viewing. Miranda had a heap of tourist brochures for Coonabarabran, including observatory details. I called the SkyWatch observatory to see if I was going to be able to have a look at Mars, I spoke with a nice guy called Gary who said Mars wouldn't rise until 11:15pm, but if I came at 10:30 he'd show me some other stuff in the night sky. Miranda decided to come too, she had taken the day off work.

We convoyed to Coonabarabran, half way there we stopped for fuel and I took a picture of the Cooper reflected in the hubcaps of a truck - always wanted to get one of those pictures.

In Coona, we went into the first caravan park we came to. The site fee was only $13 - bargain! we left the Cooper in the camping ground and went to the Warrambungal National Park, about 40k's out of Dubbo, it was really nice, with lots of very impressive rocky outcrops formed by prehistoric volcanoes. The most famous one is called the Breadknife, it wasn't that impressive, but generally they all looked great. We went to the visitors centre and found out about a walk we could do, 3.6km to Fan's Horizon, which was a great lookout over the mountains and valleys, took some great pictures. From the lookout you can see the ANU observatory on top of one of the mountains. We were exhausted, and spent at least 1/2 an hour resting and taking pictures before we walked down. Our calves were like jelly by the time we got back to Mirandas Subaru.

We went back to town and set up the tents,

I wanted to go to the bowls club for dinner, which turned out to be a great choice - the food was really good, and it was a very classic country place. There were a few old ladies walking around wearing 50's dance dresses, and after a while they started square dancing, which was really funny, there were some younger people with them who looked a little embarassed when we were watching. I'm a fan of Mick Molloy's movie Crackerjack, and got the idea that I should have a Shandy (50/50 beer & lemonade) - I ordered Miranda a lite beer, and asked for a Shandy - the bartender asked if I wanted New or VB, I asked for New and he pulled it straight from the tap - Shandy on Tap!! classic! only at a bowls club...

The food was great - I had a T-Bone, Miranda had crumbed lamb cutlets. We tried to find something else to do, the only activity was at a debutante ball rehearsal - we had a stickybeak and the lady organising chatted to us, she was really nice, and agreed that there was nothing to do - not even Bingo, it was on Thursdays at lunch time... bugger... we had some dessert (fried ice cream for me, Lychees for Miranda) and then went back to the caravan park and lit a fire.

We took the Cooper to the observatory, and met Gary, $15 each and we were there about 90 minutes, we looked at all sorts of things in the sky, various clusters of stars, galaxies etc. eventually Mars rose, it looked great. Gary said he could make out the polar caps, I couldn't tell, but I've read it takes some practise. We could definitely see dark spots etc. It was about the size of an average size mole on your arm. The big telescope was a bit blurry, but he had a smaller one that was great. He also let me control the dome. Gary had a green laser pointer, which casts an amazing light beam - I've seen them advertised on the internet, gotta get one. I took a few pictures of Mars through the telescope, didn't turn out that well, but doesn't matter.

Day 3 - Coonabarabran to Newcastle

Miranda and I slept in a bit, had some breakfast, packed up and went in to town to a hidden away cafe she knew, it was called Woop Woop, and had a great atmosphere. I bet most of the residents don't know it's there, it's down an alley way, behind a dress shop - definitely didn't fit with the rest we'd seen of Coona. I checked my map and headed out of town at about 12pm, the wrong way! I was meant to go to Berrima, but I went to Baradine instead - 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Miranda had warned me the night before that you don't go to Baradine if you're a greenie, it's a logging town and has basically shut down now.

It was a nice road, there was a small town half way there where I found where all the Niki's went, they all vanished after they were released in the late 80's, but someone got them... I got in to Baradine, found a signpost that seemed very out of place for where I wanted to go, I went to the local pub to ask for directions, they said "go back to Coona", I said "I just came from there", they told me how badly I'd screwed up.... I had a beer and chatted for a bit, then went back to Coona - 95k's return visit to Baradine for a beer. Miranda was just leaving the servo as I pulled in.

Left there and headed for Berrima, after turning onto the Berrima road, I found a couple of P platers who were being a bit silly, a WB ute, and a Daewoo. The Daewoo was going slow, but the ute wanted to go a bit faster, slower than me though. He didn't like it when I passed him, so tailgated and then passed me, and slowed down again, I got sick of it and passed him again, but he sped up - he couldn't outsprint the Cooper though, and got left behind after a few corners, then he vanished completely.

I startled a group of 4 Rainbow Lorikeets which all flew across my path, one of them got turned into a cloud of feathers - sorry about that...

Berrima's main road is called Kerr Drive, had to take a photo of that... and I swerved around a great big bearded dragon that was sunning itself off the road, I chased it and took some pictures
uneventful otherwise until I hit the traffic heading in to Newcastle. At one point I smiled and waved at a couple of lady cops in a 4wd police ute, and got some embarassed grins in return - the younger one was cute... there was a mitsubishi with it's back window completely covered in stickers too - that's gotta be illegal
I got in to Newcastle and stopped in the main street at 5:30, I had a wander around Frontline Hobbies and then went to look for a caravan park - I drove around until 7:30, there wasn't a caravan park anywhere other than waaay down the coast. I got back into the city centre and gave up searching. I parked near the train station cos I thought there might be some brochures for hostels or something - didn't find any. Across the road from the train station was a very inviting looking pub. I went in there, ordered a T-Bone and a beer and sat down in a comfy chair. I was stuffed...

The guy sitting opposite me looked as worn out as I did, he said "are you in the competition as well", gesturing to the front of the bar. They were having a Karaoke competition. He said it was the semi-finals, he didn't even remember singing the first time, but they called him and said he had to come and sing again, so he was there with his girlfriend. His name was Scott, his girlfriend was Sarah. In between me eating and Scott killing the odd cockroach that was scuttling about, I told them how I had no where to stay, Scott said I should just pitch my tent in the park, I said "yeah, that'd be cool, I'll just park my mini next to it", turns out he works for a BMW dealer, and sells the BMW mini - we talked about how crap they are and how the 3 year old ones are starting to rattle really badly etc. After a few drinks, and after he'd sung, we went for a walk cos he wanted to see my Cooper, on the way back I spotted a sign pointing to the YHA, I went back and found it, no-one answered the phone number, but I found that one of the front windows was open, it was a bedroom window, there were people asleep, but there were empty beds.... a plan was hatched. The pub closed about midnight, Scott sang 'Try a little tenderness' and 'Kiss' and was great, he got into the finals.

The wierdest thing though was that his last name is Herdman, very unusual name which happens to be my mum's middle name, which has been passed down her mother's family line for 500 odd years, Scott's last name had originated about 500 years ago - we've gotta find out if we're related.

Day 4 - Newcastle to Sydney (Makka's place)

I didn't sleep much that night, my 3 room mates were snorers, I got up about 6, had a shower, went for a bit of a walk and then had breakfast about 6:45. I chatted with a really nice bloke about how nice it was to have a low pressure job, without stress and where you could take time out. I also went to the internet cafe across the road and retrieved my messages from Makka on Ausmini giving me his address and phone number because he'd offered me his couch for the night. I'd also tee'd up with Brad (13sec) for him to give my Cooper a buff and polish on Friday afternoon.

I left Newcastle, and when I got to the Gosford exit, I decided I should visit my first manager and good friend Ian Farmer, who'd also been made redundant. The family and I had spent a lot of time with his family when we lived up that way for a little while, so I couldn't go past without stopping by. Ian was home, and his wife Tanya was too. I drove in, and saw a really wierd looking Commodore ute, which I think was a cut down station wagon, and there was a family of baby ducks that the traffic had stopped to let cross the road - very cute. Ian and Tanya were looking great, they also have a really really nice new house that they've built. Great to see them.

Left there around 11am, drove in to Sydney, I really like the road down from Terrigal, through the huge cuttings...

Going through the traffic in Sydney, it was getting really hot, the Cooper was complaining a little, and getting to about 2/3 on the temp guage which is hot for it, the guage sits on C when I'm in open traffic. I was glad when I got to Brad's house a bit after 1:30 and I could have a rest... Josh from Ausmini was there, I'd met him and Brad at Wakefield park in February. Brad did the exterior of Josh's car, and Josh got him to wash the motor and under the bonnet too - big mistake, the car wouldn't run, it had bad spark, and it took a while to dry it out. Eventually Josh took the distributor cap off and cleaned the water out of it - and put it back on with the one screw and one cable tie - dodgy! Brad was hungry, and busy buffing my Cooper, so the only car left to take to buy some lunch was his Starlet rocket. He said he'd let Josh take it to the shops, but didn't want it sitting in the carpark unsupervised. Easy I said, I'll go too and wait with the car! settled, I drove it first - F&$K MY DOG WHAT A CAR! so very scary and so very thrilling all in one - going through the gears, as soon as it hits 3000rpm the right-front tyre lights up and drags the car to the right, change gear and it dives to the left, I dragged a few cars from the lights and was laughing my head off. Subway was shut, so Josh drove back to Brad's house, he scared the crap out of me, I'm a sensible driver, I didn't know the car so I took it fairly easy, Josh went a bit too far a couple of times, we didn't have a near miss, but my heart was going 200bpm and we were headed for the back of a truck, stopped cars, etc. etc. Brad had finished my Cooper when we got back, food-less, he drove us to McDonalds, much more controlled driving style, me and Josh were flooring it and fighting the wheelspin, Brad was better at it... Brad did a great job on my Cooper, I stayed at Brad's house a bit longer, Dean (Baracade) arrived with his Starlet car, unfinished and on a trailer, that car is going to be insanely fast and sooo hard to handle.

Eventually I got away from there and went to Makka's house, Makka was at his mates across the road when I pulled up, he invited me in, and I enjoyed their hospitaility for a short while until Ben (Ausminis4u) arrived with Makka's wife Tracey. Ben's girlfriend Amy was there too. We stuffed around for a while, Tracey and Makka had to go out, and one of Makka's mates needed some help, so I thought it was best if I went back to Brad's house, I got some tea and went back to Brad's, they were playing playstation, then we played poker and I left about 10pm. Makka was working on his clubman with Ben, Amy and Tracey were inside, I floated around, chatted to Tracey for a while, then stayed in the garage till about 1am. I filed and adjusted my points too, seemed to run a bit better, but had a bit of trouble the next day.

Day 5 - Dyno Day

We left early, and got to the Dyno place about 8:30, everyone else was there, a great turnout. Pretty soon the cars started going on the rollers, and I worked out who was who and introduced myself to Gafmo, JAM, Chong, CZerial, Betty, Kazjim, Grub etc. etc., all the guys off the forum who I'd chatted with or had contact with - everyone was great to talk to, made it a really great day. When I had my turn to go on the rollers, I let the Cooper idle for ages before it, and as soon as it got on, one of the plugs had fouled. Graham Russell came to the rescue with another one, I swapped the dud out and had another go, but it'd only pull 45hp, and was breaking down at 4500rpm. The dyno guy broke my tail light lense, and offered to pay me back for one, I asked if he'd let me have another go on the rollers instead. After I played with the ignition a bit, I went for a drive and fiddled around, I'd given up when GR came and asked me about the plug and points gap, he helped me get them right and I took it back on for the last run of the day - 51.9hp, I'd hoped for 55, but he's not pefect yet.

I headed for the city at about 3:30, I could have taken a direct route to Newtown where my mate from Uni lived, but thought I'd go over the bridge and along George st. I got to Paul's and his girlfriend Kate's place about 5. Paul had left already, but Kate had waited for me, I had a shower, and we went shopping for a new shirt for me cos I didn't have anything with a collar, and I didn't like any of Paul's shirts. The guy running JayJays was closing up when we walked past, I got him to open up again and I bought a cool new shirt. Then we got a taxi to the Czech restaurant in Kings Cross we were having dinner at, Paul said everyone raves about it - the food was amazing, I had a sliced beef entree, and these amazing pork ribs that I had to eat with my fingers - it took me ages to eat them, there was 5 sets of ribs, each as big as the fingers on my hand, fantastic. We left the restaurant after a shot of a Czech spirit called Becherovka - we had that mainly because I wanted to meet the incredibly hot bartender... walked past a couple of non-descript terrace houses with red lights out the front, I went in to one just see what it was like inside - I was told there was a full house and to come back in half an hour - hahaha!!

We went to a bar/dance club and had some drinks and boogied for a bit, after a while when we were just sitting in some stools, a group of very petite, short and quite cute girls came and sat near us, being my usually friendly and intoxicated self, I said 'hi' and started chatting with them, turned out they were cheerleaders for the North Queensland Cowboys NRL team, who I'd never heard of - I asked them if it was really what it's like in "Bring It On" (love that movie), 2 of the girls were snooty, but one was friendly. I asked if they get thrown up in the air, they pointed to one girl who does, and soon she came and sat down, so I talked to her. While we were talking she complained about having sore feet, so I said "give them here" and gave her a foot massage, which she loved - her friends wanted to go and dance, but she wanted to stay and have her feet massaged and chat to me! She started showing me pictures of her and her buddies doing cheerleader stuff on her phone, so I showed her pictures of my mini on my phone - She ignored my pictures, so I ignored hers HAHA! She was a really nice girl though, I gave her a hug before we left, while we were waiting for a taxi she was wandering around looking for her friends - poor thing...

We left there some time after 3:30, caught a taxi back to Paul's place, but got the taxi driver to stop by some bars and bottle shops looking for something to take home - no luck. Paul and his cousin and her husband started singing and playing music, so I listened to some disco in my mini, and tried to stay awake before flaking at maybe 4:30-5am

Day 6 - late start - Sydney to Bathurst

I woke up at about 12:30 on Sunday, we stuffed around and then went out for breakfast. Paul and Kate took us to a cafe near their house where we had a huge breakfast. I left their place about 3pm, headed for Bathurst. I went searching for some fuel that I needed badly, you'd think there would be a million stations around, but I had a bugger of a time finding a BP. I saw an industrial yard of some kind on fire - was a hell of a blaze, a fire truck was headed for it when I'd gone a bit further along the freeway.

It took a while to get out of Sydney, and was dark by the time I got to the other side of the blue mountains, it was rainy too... It's funny how minis passing them, going up hills, in the rain, brings out the inferiority complex of FPV ute drivers, you'd think they'd just get over it, but still, one guy didn't like it. He slowed down going up the hill, my Cooper is great on hills, never loses speed at all, so I just cruised past him, then on the way back down the hill he passed me, then slowed down - we were back to single lanes so I sat behind him all the way in to Bathurst. I checked out a couple of hotels before finding a cheap one, got some Chinese food, put the heater on and had a quiet night watching TV and went to sleep early.

Day 7 - Bathurst, Cowra and home

I got up about 8, packed up and had breakfast, then went to find the track. I went the wrong way, and then eventually found it, I did a lap, then went to the dipper to take some photos. I put my camera on the concrete barrier and set the auto timer, rushed back and hopped in the Cooper - the photos turned out really well. I did another lap and then left Bathurst.

I left Bathurst (again) and got to Cowra at 2:30 or 3pm, I wanted to see the Japanese garden they have there. Cowra housed 2000 Japanese POW's in the second world war, and is the site of the only land battle on Australian soil in WW2. A large number of them broke out on what was basically a suicide mission, 1/3 of them were killed, 1/3 injured and the rest captured after a few days. The battle and years after grew a strong bond between the Japanese and the people of Cowra, and the city of Cowra decided to build a Japanese garden to commemorate, they hired a world renowned Japanese garden designer to come and build it for them, and it is really lovely, different in many ways to the gardens I've been to in Japan, as it is much more open and they have used gum trees as a very striking contrast to the more subtle japanese trees and plants, it was beautiful. Very cold though! I left Cowra at 4, and came straight home, walking in the door at 8pm, tired, and happy to see the family again after a really fun week!