Ok - I finally get around to showing off my recent achievement. My lovely girlfriend had some time ago bought me a voucher for a spin in a real V8 race car!
And I got a my picture taken to help remember the experience when I one day get old and forgetful…
And part of the package was getting a video of me doing it! While I started off slow it is a challenge to make sure you don’t do a simple mistake that takes the car off the track…
To start off the morning for this particular day - one of our mates needed help getting home from a wild night before. He had trouble starting his VW Beetle as it’s engine had flooded. We attempted to push start it but ran out of energy. So I volunteered my trusty little Toyota Echo to pull start it!
We managed to get it going and he was on his way.
Anyways, on with the drive….
For this trip we went to Namadgi National Park for a hiking trip (we kinda need some exercise!). We got to a particular location where we had a pretty good view of hills, trees, grass and other natural stuff.
We saw a number of kangaroos relaxing under some shady trees.
Our hiking destination involved traveling to some rock where the anchient native aboriginals were creative.
Had a bit of a snack while simultaneously fighting off some vicious huge flies - the kind that are a bit too big to fit up your nose yet the little buggers still try to get up there!
After getting back to the car we drove a bit further along to find some old hut of historical importance. Apparently some old guy used to live there.
Inside it had some old reading material - probably used to plug up the windy gaps in the wood.
The news section was a bit out of date though.
And to top it off - some random video footage from the day…
After the last drama of my friend losing his car off a cliff - He tried to invest in a Toyota Hilux but due to circumstances the local car dealer said no. So what does he end up with? Another Yaris!
So we decided to break it in by doing another Sunday drive but to avoid a repeat of history we chose to go to somewhere other than Bulls Head where he lost the last one.
So we head to Wee Jasper instead!
According to my friend the road there was supposed to be all sealed.
In which it was to a small degree. But the majority of the roads were dirt! We eventually got to the Wee Jasper Picnic and Campsite area with a warm welcome.
Had some lunch and enjoyed the fresh air.
According to the map we thought heading along further to Tumut was going to be smoother, but the roads were much the same - rough and dusty!
On the bright side we got to see a lot of good scenery.
The cars got a bit dirty - this time it’s dust instead of mud.
When we finally got to Tumut we saw how some country town businesses try to attract the city folk.
And to top it off - like the first Sunday drive I took some video footage of the experience. The crazy voices you hear are another friend and I saying random stuff into the 2-way walkie talkies to our friend in the Yaris. Half the day’s entertainment was moo-ing like cows through the walkie talkies throughout the day.
An old home video I made for a school project. Featuring my friend Paul Treseder and myself. The original video is a bit beat up and quality is starting to suffer so I thought it be time to preserve it into a digital format.
I think this video was rather impressive for the limited resources I had to make it with. A borrowed video camera, VCR, props were my own toy collection and mum’s car.
And the screen titles were done using an old 286 Computer!!!
Using just our basic small hatchbacks A friend and I decided to go for a drive
Blue car: Toyota Echo 3dr Automatic
Red car: Toyota Yaris 3dr Manual
At first we started on paved roads…
To a place where roads were not paved and mobile phone reception cuts out…
It rained a bit so my mate’s car got a little dirty…
And so did my car! I think I lived up to my online nickname from online games as “Mudslinger”
Found a place to have lunch.
Drove further into the countryside to find a place of historical value - apparently an old hut used to be here until the major Canberra bush fires - a new hut is built in it’s place. Apparently it also houses an old iron stove that used to be in the Prime Minister’s Lodge from the old ancient early days.
And then we drove back home….. The youtube footage is the bits and pieces of the trip.Overall, I think we did something cool - we took plain simple two-wheel drive cars to places where a lot of yuppie 4WD owners would be afraid to take their own big beefy machines to! Seriously - how many 4WD’s actually ever get to see this kind of action? The statistics aren’t good, most 4WD’s spend their life picking up the kids from school. Apart from being able to carry multiple people - not that many get to do the things they were designed for (like towing big trailers and caravans, battling muddy or rough road surfaces, etc…).