Janet left GC on the Monday to fly to Melbourne to spend
time with her friends, and after dropping Trooper with Annie (his “godmother”
!!) on the Sunshine Coast on the Tuesday, I eventually hit the road south in Troopie on
Wednesday 13th.
I overnighted beside the road in Bulahdelah,
a delightful free camp site beside a river that I have used before. Next morning, with only 250 kms to go into
Sydney, I had a leisurely breakfast and pack up, and eventually got into Lane
Cove camp site, right in the heart of Sydney, at about 3 pm. I LOVE the final 50 kms into Sydney, through
the dramatic cuttings and down through the picturesque waters of the
Hawkesbury. But once you hit the city, I
swear those lanes on the road get about 30% narrower as well as 100% busier
! Always quite traumatic – For this old
fart, anyway !!
At Mackie’s it was SO reminiscent of a Tut Towers car
park in Scotland, with Lotus’ everywhere, even if a few less cars !! After a quick coffee and greeting all the
additional faces, we gathered outside and eventually set off. Great run to start with – But then we hit
some unexpected dirt roads !!
Hmmmmm. No problem for me – For
once I as in the right car, and while the Lotus’ all slowed down, I was able to
keep going at exactly the same speed as on the black top, and soon caught them
all up !! Fortunately it wasn’t too
dusty or too rough, and we eventually arrived at Braidwood for lunch. Good lunch, but the pub is obviously used to
all sorts of clientele, as can be seen from some of the pics !! From there we set off to Thredbo, and after
a great start – We suddenly hit more dirt roads !! Hmmmmm again.
This time they were very dusty, and became quite rough, and what’s more,
they went on for 40 or 50 kms – Maybe more !!
I was at the back and tried to keep some 4 WD’s behind me so they
wouldn’t create even more dust trying to overtake everyone, especially poor old
Scuffers in the open 340R, but eventually had to let them by. These were NOT Elise friendly roads, and
tempers were being sorely tested, as well as several cars suffering quite badly
from gravel rash –
Especially the 340 R and a couple of the lower cars. Suffice it to say, we eventually got
through, and stopped in Cooma to recover and refuel – But by now the rain
clouds were threatening – Even worse news for Scuffers who had no roof !!
Soon we were all together and having a beer, it was great
to catch up with so many very good friends – For some of us from further afield
it is always special as we do not get the opportunity to meet up very
often. We had dinner in the Lodge, and
played pool and certain other games involving trying to get coins held between
ones “upper legs” (for want of a decent way of putting it !) into a glass on
the floor !! I think the photos explain
it quite clearly !! Eventually we all
went off to bed exhausted, but looking forward to finer weather in the morning
for a drive in the mountains surrounding Thredbo.
The next morning it was time to head home – And of course
the weather was absolutely gorgeous !
Pics are here. https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0055BrisbaneToThredbo?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKDlpKh1Jiwfw#
The Lane Cove campsite is always gorgeous – Right there
in a national park even though it is in Sydney, and wild life abounds –
kookaburras eating out of your hand,
possums running around, scrub turkeys, and
lots of lorikeets and other bird life. I
went for a bike ride around the National Park for a while, before I got
chatting to a young Canadian couple from Quebec who had just arrived in
Australia that afternoon ! So I tried to
give them some helpful hints – I have already forgotten their names (Jac ?
M….? Note to self “WRITE THINGS DOWN”
!!!!), but hope they will give me a call when they come through Surfers so I
can show them around and find out how they are getting on. Call me, guys !! Then Phil Easterbrook came over to pick up an Elise undertray I
had, and we demolished a few beers before I had to turn in ready for an early
start in the morning to meet up with the other Elise guys for the weekend.
All packed and left the camp site by 7 am – And promptly
got lost !!! Luckily Tom Tom rescued me
and made it to the meeting point – A bakery in Marrickville - in time, and
after a quick coffee and ham & cheese croissant (yum !), we set off through
Sydney towards Bowral to meet up with the Mackies and others. After the obligatory wrong way and 10 Elises
all going twice round a roundabout (why does that ALWAYS happen on Elise runs
??!!!), we then had a lovely gallop across some dramatic NSW countryside and
twisties through the hills, to Bowral.
Troopy is NOT good in the turns – But can keep up on the straights
!! Nothing like turbocharged,
intercooled, V8 grunt – Even if it is diesel
and Troopy weighs some 2500 kgs !!
The final run from Cooma to Thredbo was at least on black
top, but it started raining as we climbed up the hills after Jindabyne, and we
eventually arrived at the lodge in Thredbo with several people licking their wounds. Of course, some others were clever enough to
come on the (boring !) main roads all the way, so had nice clean cars, and were
well ensconced in the bar having a beer by the time we arrived !!
Next morning was a bit of a disaster for me – I woke up
with a serious muscle spasm pinching my sciatic nerve ! I couldn’t walk, sit down, put my shoes or
socks on – I was in agony !! I certainly
couldn’t sit in a car, let alone a Lotus !
So when everyone set off for a day’s driving in the hills, I stayed
behind, swallowed Ibuprofen like sweeties, and then managed to arrange a massage
in Thredbo village with Tineke, the local Masseuse. By the time I saw her, my ibuprofen had
kicked in and I was doing a bit better, but Tineke then proceeded to give me a
horrendous work out on the massage table to try and get me moving again. And she was successful !! Brutal, but successful !! And G-O-O-O-D !! By the time all the drivers got back to the
lodge that evening, I was feeling better, while they were exhausted, but happy,
after a great day – With no dirt roads !!
After a few drinks in the Lodge, we all set off for
dinner at Knickerbockers, a local restaurant in the village just 5 minutes walk
down the hill. A very pleasant social
evening, a few speeches and prizes handed out by Ashton, a delicious meal and
some great wine – How much better can a weekend get ? Afterwards everyone wandered back to the
lodge and most were pretty soon in bed pushing out the ZZZZZZZZZZ’s !!
While those who had to get back to work got packed up,
and after long farewells (and promises to meet up again soon) drove off down
the road, about 10 of us who were in less of a hurry decided to take advantage
of the weather and ride the chair lift up to the top of the mountain. So off we went – And Winno wore his squirrel
suite in case he found a suitable precipice to jump off !! It was
beautiful up on the top, not really
cold at all, and we ended up walking aways up the Kosciuszko trail – it would
be a beautiful day hike to do fully some time.
We stopped after about one kilometre, at a bridge over a little creek,
took a photo, and turned back – Some people had a lot of miles to do to get
home. After a brief frolic on top of a
boulder – From which (for some unknown reason) Winno refused to activate his
squirrel suite and fly off into the valley, we descended to the valley in a
more leisurely fashion on the chairlift, and packed up to leave.
The end of a great weekend in the mountains. But my journey was to continue
further………………….
Pics are here. https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0055BrisbaneToThredbo?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKDlpKh1Jiwfw#
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