Aussie Winter Drive June 2010

[amibuggnu]

It's the first weekend of winter and Matt & I decided to catch up for a drive along the rural Snowy Mountains Highway before the snowfalls set in.

After a very foggy, two-hour, early morning drive from Capital City down to Jindabyne I found Matt waiting for me at the pre-determined meet point. We headed off westwards to explore some of the little towns and villages spread along the length of our route, in amongst the rivers, lakes, valleys and wide open countryside that make up the area.

Shortly thereafter the sun came out, and we stopped to take in the view.

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No traffic, blue skies, everybody wins.

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Along the way we stopped to take in the remnants and displays telling of the region's history, and that in the years following the 1850s goldrush this place (Kiandra) had a population upwards of 10,000 people. The whole area gets blanketed in snow during winter, and life here in the 19th century was very very tough.

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Fortunately Matt and I have cars.

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And they eat up these roads.

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Yippee ki yay!

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-Ellis.

[chevale]

Excellent photos, as usual!

[johnfive30]

Nice sixes, probably not too many of these down under.
Looks like you had fun. Thanks for showing us views of Australia not often seen in the US. Incidentally, the landscape looks similar to the high plateau of eastern Oregon state.

[Flash635]

Wot? No dead wombats?

Too early in the season?

[Sixdown]

Those remind me of the years that I lived in Canberra. I loved driving out to Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains. Great photos!

[Roku35]

Looks like a very nice time out there on the roads. I would give anything (well almost anything) to have nice empty roads like that to take a cruise...Even if I went country side on Oahu, I wouldn't be able to get a clean scenic picture with no other cars in it. Plus, I wouldn't leave my 6er unattended on the roads either. Hawaii has some of the worst drivers in the world too! (According to most studies).

Hawaii's traffic is one of the worst in the World and we have less than a million people on our island. Very poorly planned roadway system. I'm stuck in 3rd 80% of the time (with no traffic). On weekdays, my gals stay indoors away from the stop and go all day long.

I'm sooo jealous.

[JRanmann]

Hey Bug, as always you put on a great, great visual show! Thanks!
(Have you ever thought of a career as a film Director?)

Just a thought!

Cheers!

Ran

[amibuggnu]

Excellent photos, as usual!
Thank you. It was a bloody nice day for a drive with a lot of great roads and scenery to enjoy, but I tried to keep two hands on the wheel most of the time.


Nice sixes, probably not too many of these down under.
Looks like you had fun. Thanks for showing us views of Australia not often seen in the US. Incidentally, the landscape looks similar to the high plateau of eastern Oregon state.
It's interesting to hear that the area looks similar to Oregon. There seem to be a lot of similarities in the countrysides of North America and Australia.

I like seeing photos of Sixers from around the world too. Its great to see the different environments and climates we all live in, and seeing all the places where these cars live.


Wot? No dead wombats?

Too early in the season?
It's wombat season all year round Flash, you know that!

I saw about six dead kangaroos on the side of the Monaro Hwy on the way down to Jindabyne, and one sturdy-looking but still deceased wombat. Many sections of the Snowy Mtns Hwy had large piles of horse shit on the road's edge courtesy of the Snowy's wild brumbies. Groups of them all shit in the same spot - very tidy, but very big piles.


Those remind me of the years that I lived in Canberra. I loved driving out to Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains. Great photos!
Canberra hey? When was that? Whenever it was, I shouldn't think the place has changed much!


Looks like a very nice time out there on the roads. I would give anything (well almost anything) to have nice empty roads like that to take a cruise...Even if I went country side on Oahu, I wouldn't be able to get a clean scenic picture with no other cars in it. Plus, I wouldn't leave my 6er unattended on the roads either. Hawaii has some of the worst drivers in the world too! (According to most studies).

Hawaii's traffic is one of the worst in the World and we have less than a million people on our island. Very poorly planned roadway system. I'm stuck in 3rd 80% of the time (with no traffic). On weekdays, my gals stay indoors away from the stop and go all day long.

I'm sooo jealous.
My mates in Sydney say similar things, and I really appreciate having these sorts of driving roads so close to home. There are empty country roads all over the place where I live, so I reckon it's a good place to have an enjoyable car.

These particular roads are pretty impressive because they're such good quality. When the snow season commences (ie. next weekend) the place gets hammered with people, cars and traffic because it's the only route to the snowfields. As most of it is two-way, single lane road its good that the road surface is so tidy, but there are certain sections where its surprising to think that it's actually part of a national highway.


Hey Bug, as always you put on a great, great visual show! Thanks!
(Have you ever thought of a career as a film Director?)

Just a thought!

Cheers!

Ran
Better a director than an actor I think.

-Ellis.

[Sixdown]

Canberra hey? When was that? Whenever it was, I shouldn't think the place has changed much!

I was there in the 90s for a few years and I'll back for a month in a couple of weeks. Not looking forward to the flight! And Canberra I assume hasn't changed, just as it never really has.

[jbd5015]

awesome roads ellis!

ive heard that the eastern coast of australia and the western coast of the US are pretty similar, basically mirror images about the equator.

i guess ill have to do some traveling and verify all that information for us. first up, a trip back down under!!

-Jeff

[Shipper]

Wonderful photos mate. We need to do a run around some snow to get the white field photos. Car still looks great!!

[Flash635]

>>It's wombat season all year round Flashhttp://konac.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif
(http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1471118#), you know that<<

I hadn't seen a wombat in the wild 'til I drove to the Snowies, then I saw about 50 of them all on their backs at the side of the road.
I thought they must travel or something at that time of the year. They were all small ones.

That looks like a really nice drive, what are the cops like?

[amibuggnu]

I was there in the 90s for a few years and I'll back for a month in a couple of weeks. Not looking forward to the flight! And Canberra I assume hasn't changed, just as it never really has.
In the scheme of things I doubt the place has changed much since the 90s, though there has been a fair bit of construction & development in the city in the last 7 or 8 years or so. It'd be interesting to see what changes you can notice. Look us up when you get here!


awesome roads ellis!
ive heard that the eastern coast of australia and the western coast of the US are pretty similar, basically mirror images about the equator.
i guess ill have to do some traveling and verify all that information for us. first up, a trip back down under!!
-Jeff
That's right Jeff, has it been nearly two years since you were here!? I've got a widescreen LCD TV now, we could watch Die Hard again!


Wonderful photos mate. We need to do a run around some snow to get the white field photos. Car still looks great!!
Very true, that's one weather extreme we're yet to experience in our E24 Down Under club. How's Gertie's heater? Is she still an off-road vehicle?

>>It's wombat season all year round Flashhttp://konac.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif
(http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1471118#), you know that<<

I hadn't seen a wombat in the wild 'til I drove to the Snowies, then I saw about 50 of them all on their backs at the side of the road.
I thought they must travel or something at that time of the year. They were all small ones.

That looks like a really nice drive, what are the cops like?
I saw one cop travelling in the opposite direction as I made my way down to Cooma early that morning while it was still dark and very foggy, but other than that we saw no police the entire day.
I think its a different story once the snow season commences. There's a pretty strong highway patrol presence all around Cooma, Jindabyne and the roads leading to the snowfields due to the high volume of traffic the area experiences.

[Shipper]

Very true, that's one weather extreme we're yet to experience in our E24 Down Under club. How's Gertie's heater? Is she still an off-road vehicle?


I've got Gertie on a 4 day drive this weekend for the Big Wagga Wagga Historic Car Club Bash. Last year there was 160 plus cars. I get to go to these things as Gertie is 33 years old! My parents are taking their 1949 1.5ltr Riely down with them so it should be fun.

Gertie needs a lot of work. Really all of the following which will see her off road for some time after this trip.

1. Front disk replacement. Under hard braking the irregular surface is pumping air into my lines.
2. Bleed front brakes.
3. New centre console fan. I replaced the one under the wipers but the one with the bearing gone is actually in the centre console under the stereo. So I'll replace that in the dash swap.
4. Dash swap. Bought a near new unmarked dash from Peter Simms.
5. Springs. Still waiting to go in from Daniel. I've had these since last year as well.
6. Shocks. Just some koni will do to suit the springs.
7. Front spoiler. Peter Simms made me an M6 spoiler. Will put it on after the car is lowered but will get to the painters in the next 8 weeks.
8. Bushes.... just bought from Pelican.
9. Valve stem seals..... just bought from Pelican.
10. Dogleg 1 to 1 box........ Greg and I have two so I'll put 1 in.
11. LSD.... still waiting on two from England. Theres another story..... paid in December last year and STILL waiting.
12. Engine build. I have the spare running M30B32 engine on the engine stand now. Was about to order the turbo kit but the Aussie Dollar droped 10% so I'll wait. Plenty to do before the engine. I'm pretty sure it's the valve stem seals causing the smoke and oil consumption so I'll get those done. The best I'll do this year is brake the engine down and send off the block.
11. fixing the electrics. The earth (ground for you Americans?) is really bad and more than likely the cause of my rich running as it can confuse the eCU. Need toget that fixed.
12. Fix the handbrake which has never worked.


So plenty to do. Actually..... way too much to do. Still.... it is Gertie after all!!!

Rosie and I may hit Canberra mid winter for a sight see. I'll let you know if we are heading down and we can do dinner. Mayhaps Paul is feeling keen for a cruise as well.

Josh

[amibuggnu]

She'll be worth it when its all done mate, and seeing as you've got access to all the resources to do this kind of thing I say good onya.

The handbrake in my old Moneybags Green 633 was only ever decorative, as were the reverse lights, I wouldn't worry about fixing that up mate.

I had a good chat with Peter Simms the other week when I was at the Motorkhana with Paul. Peter was there with his son, who was having a go at the courses in a white 535is. Despite my encouragement Peter chose not to have a go himself. I even offered him my car to have a fang but he politely declined. It would have been good to see him give it a burl given the amount of driving he's done over the years.

But yes, let me know when you're in Capital City. Rug up warm before you get here. And make sure you take some pics of this Wagga bash.

-Ellis.

[jbd5015]

Still seems like i got back a few months ago sometimes. Cant believe its been two years almost.

Did you ever finally get moneybags to a new owner?

-Jeff

[amibuggnu]

Still seems like i got back a few months ago sometimes. Cant believe its been two years almost.
Did you ever finally get moneybags to a new owner?
-Jeff
Yes mate, the green car is gone. It was around April 09 when the year-long transaction was finally completed. Sold it to a local bloke but I've not seen the car since.