G'day all.  From an Aussie zooker to many others - I though i'd post up a recent mission of mine.  Not one to do things in halves I packed my bags in Brisbane Australia and set of for Perth - 4000kms as the crow flies, or 6500kms as my journey would take me.

Here's the basic route, firstly a map of Oz



And the route in more detail - Google maps will only let me put in so many way points so not 100% accurate.




I've posted this on other Aussie sites, so I hope you can understand the lingo... if not, find an online dictionary!  I can't be bothered un-slanging things for easier understanding  

OK, so here it goes:


Last day at work... a last pic with the A Team




I also worked in a recording studio complex for many years, and was a big part of my life... but time to say goodbye




Main studio + recording the band Skyway.  Ben (Skyway's drummer) behind the desk for a sneaky pic




Best mate of 25 years and his tattoo shop, Kjell the tattooist is another good mate of mine - adios amigos


Hot chicks tattoo too, and they're good - to look at and at tattooing


Hanging with our most successful band - Amity Affliction... they sold 100,000 records in Aus which is as many as you can sell these days on our shores... you can only be so big in Aus before you have to head overseas to make real $$$.


Inspiration from my mate Gav's travels, stickers of many outback outposts


The tech setup in the zook to stop this city boy going mad.


Getting a buddy to help me out with the timing belt before I set off






The chariot, my beloved little zook




I'll post up pics as I get the time, but gimmie a chance to sort through a few and i'll post up a reply

OK, pics of day 1 on the road.

This is the fun run from the Gold Coast to a national park near Wauchope.  I had a headwind the whole way, combined with the new roofracks 90kph is good speed.  I have nasty pinging for the first time ever, but no idea what from... i'm guessing the dizzy cap, seems a little worn even though only 6 months old - too new to replace.

The eagle overlooking Coolangatta


Snapper Rocks, my old home


Crossing the border - farewell Queensland, hello New South Wales


Weather holding out... for now


Byron Bay + lighthouse


East as bro


Lighthouse and cliffs




These are the roads i'm chasing, a little more off the beaten track


Lennox Head - most towns along northern NSW coast all have the same vibe.


Spewing I didn't catch any hang gliders today


Miles and miles and miles of sugar cane as far as the eye can see, we're in the sub-tropics.


Flood level indicators - I wonder how high it got a couple months back when we got washed off the map in Brisbane?  Evidence down the road of massive recent water damage


Sting - LPG has jumped up to 80c in rural areas... I was complaining about 63c!


Long spells on the GPS, but nothing compared to what's coming - 142 K's until the next turn


Chewing up a few km's


Sugar cane country dissipates into cattle country


Sourced a new bonnet from fellow zooker Luke from Wauchope... my old one flew open at highway speed a few months before... a nice fright that was.


Fits like a charm




Was a good day but I couldn't put the pedal to the metal - headwinds, constant highway roadworks, and heavy plant slowed me down on all the roads.  I missed my planned stay at Forster by nightfall - so I camped off a National Park fire trail 1/2 hour outta Wauchope.  Note to self - buy a heap of mosquito coils... I was eaten alive!

I ended up passing up most photo opportunities to try and shave off as many K's as possible... taking too many pics was slowing me down.

A great start to the trip though.

Day 2

What a buzz     

All I can say is everybody must drive Putty Rd around Sydney once in their lives.  Simply the greatest driving road i've ever come across... hundreds of tight turns, hairpins, massive altitude changes, amazing views (you can see Sydney near the top) - a bike rider's paradise... I was still having a blast even though a fully laden zook on M/T's isn't exactly the ideal weapon of choice on the road.

Day started off wet, was dry for the best bit, and then got wet again as night fell.

Sunrise at Port Macquarie... how did those two zooks get down there?  I wanted to go say g'day


Forget roos, what the fug does a full grown deer do to a zook?


Timber is getting taller, and the temperature is dropping every time I stop


Forster for brekky


View from the cafe


I know the last two towns, otherwise all new to me... chewing up more K's


I saw some sweet new jets fly over low in Jarvis Bay, and heading around Sydney I saw these old beasts - I think they're Corsairs, but not 100% sure


No idea what this one is?  I'll say a Boomerang - an Aussie relic from WWII.


An open cut mine near the start of Putty Rd.... huge, scale is hard to represent, although you can just see the top of a massive dredger thing.


Awesome - nearing the hills, interesting landscapes, and a break from coastal driving


On the other side of this bridge starts Putty Rd.... driver's heaven


Understatement - it took me 2 - 3 hours to cross the pass. 


Not supposed to stop on this road, but I couldn't help myself.  Every corner is a postcard


Some strange religious denomination's monastery , I can't blame them for the location


A million tracks to investigate... I tried this easy one to get to a telecom tower


Photo not quite translating - it was range of hills in front of range of hills x 10... each time getting a little bluer as they fade into the horizon.  Amazing view.


Another random scene, and a view to Sydney from the hills not quite picked up in this photo




Until next installment peeps

Day 3. The 'Gong to Bonang

Very impressed with my overnight stay at Wollongong, it's very liveable and the setting is gorgeous.  But, I got a long drive ahead and time to hit the toe.

I seem to have a pinging issue, so i swapped out the dizzy cap and rotor button. It fixed the low RPM hesitation, but now I think the LPG quality is to blame, or maybe i'm running a little lean at top speed...  I have a ghost in the system after years of good runnin'.


Just south of the 'Gong. God's country, very beautiful


Complete vista's are hard to capture... this kinda/not really shows what I was seeing. Each valley seems more beautiful than the last. Just south of the 'Gong again.


Cloud capped peaks, narrow country lanes.... it's a good day for driving


Ulladulla harbour. Pretty place, but too much of a retirement village for me. Didn't see a soul under 50.


Bega Valley. Hard to tell but musta been massive floods recently - broken/sideways trees, debris and mud everywhere in the lowlands


Chewing up more K's, passing through more unknown towns.


Grey nomads... hard to make decent progress from A to B when you got caravans travelling at 60kph on 100kph roads. I left the coast roads and headed for the hills to get away from them around Bega... great decision.


If you can't tell I love these ramshackle huts in the middle of nowhere. Paradise is pretty easy if you're not a high maintenance person.


View from the drivers seat, just so pretty, everywhere I go.


Trees are getting taller again... weather getting colder again.  A view through the windscreen.


Windy roads... must be heading toward the foothills of the snowy mountains.


More K's, more unknown towns


Snowy Mountain Hwy. Fantastic road, amazing views, go Zook, you're made for this


Getting higher - ferns now making an appearance, letting me know the tropics are looong gone.


Record rainfalls recently = massive landslides, but cleared up enough to pass. So green and lush otherwise.


Nature is wonderful. Having an awesome time bumbling along these roads, so many photo opportunities driven straight past, once in a while you gotta stop and capture a memory.


A random lookout on the Snowy Mountain Hwy... Bega valley in the background


Another wonderful drive - the start of the Monaro highway


The bush and rainforest give way to these stunning high plains


Once again - amazing scenery everywhere.


Another view from the road.


Rip, rip, woodchip. I think this is plantation pine, not wild wood.  Wouldn't want to tangle with this truck on the way down the mountain - definitely more than the legal 62.5 tonne of load there.


Bombola.  LPG 92c?  The most i've ever paid, and shit LPG... but the last fuel stop until Victoria... just hope I can make it, considering the goat track route i've chosen through the hills


Wish I had polarised windscreen tint... hard to see anything with the setting sun and no sun visors


The going gets rough from here on in. Letting down the tyre pressure to suit the tracks


Still airing out.  Damn i'm having fun, and my great little car is unstoppable.


Welcome to Victoria, the hard way. I thought i's seen a few windy roads in my travels so far... I ain't seen nothin yet


Finally got the tent out on the banks of Delegate river in Bonang. Let's go camping!!


This is the life, you can have your TV, i'll have my reality any day of the week.


Stream trails!!! A novelty for this tropical Queenslander


Fire - just the ticket for a night in the mountains


To Be Continued...

Keep 'em coming, really enjoying your trip, you lucky vagabond!

Day 4 - Bonang to Yarram


An EPIC day.  The Mackillop pass was the best way to start a driving day, and the best off-road track of the trip so far... challenging, fun, hair-raising, gob smacking.   It's in alpine Victoria, it's damn cold, but the snow is gone until winter rolls around again.  I'll stop blabbing and start the pics rolling


Misty morning - like every other up here probably. If you ever wondered - yes, a cow's moo does echo. I reckon these were the loudest cows in the country! Not a car passed by all night from the nearby highway (haha, more like a windy laneway)


Fog, cold, farmlands, sun, a new day of fun and exploration.


We live in a beautiful country


Buchan... the GPS was saying it's an 11 hr drive due to the dirt tracks and rough terrain, I got about 5 hours of LPG if i'm flat out.  Screw it, you live once, let's give it a go.


Wash me? Never!!! Roller painted army green never looked tougher!


View from the pilot's seat. Already had a few roos and emus at close quarters... hard to spot through the mist


Yes, Graveyard Creek.  I've seen 4 or 5 flat wombats now since the 'Gong.


All I need is a horse, an Akubra and a whip. Hi ho silver, and away.  Screw that - I already ride a billy goat


Early morning headed toward MacKillops bridge. Misty mountains, cold river streams, narrow rocky billy goat tracks. All the ingredients for an amazing day's drive


Looking down one of the 1000 valleys.


I love this pic, but the driving really steps up from here. A fleeting lapse in concentration could most definitely be the end of me.


Old Joe... how the hell did old Joe make it to this middle of nowhere place?


A better bit of road. Just when you think it can't get prettier, each corner throws a new surprise


MacKillops bridge.... and I though getting here was the hard part. Old mother nature really turns up the heat after this.  A wee zook at bridge's end


Walking like an Egyptian, 1000m in the sky


Another pretty valley


Another pretty valley (is that an echo?)


I did not see another car on this leg of the trip. The Buchan-Bruthen is a must do for any 4x4 enthusiast. Only an idiot like me attempts it by himself


My car is about two bums wide, this is a four bum wide track... would be very hairy in a Landcruiser or Landrover.


Don't look down! One foot right = a nasty way to die. Constant perilous cliffs are part of the Buchan-Bruthen Rd parcel i'm afraid.


Yessir - in the alpines. Thank god I left the snow at home - it's cold enough already.


Another moment of "surely it can't get better than this?"


You can see the cutting i'll follow to get to the top on the opposing mountain side... already been driving since Bonang for a few hours at this point, never seems to end.  Yay!!!


Yet another stunning Snowy Mountains vista.


Into the great unknown.


Time for a quick stop, on a mountain top


Sitting on top of the world


I need a panorama camera for this, but you get the idea


Bitumen!!! FInally, after many stressful hours of "will I make it?"


My camera died at a vital time - 1/2 hour outside Buchan you can see 10's of kilometres of tall timber burnt into matchsticks from the big fires a few years back.  This controlled burning in the distance reminded me of the fact


Burnt trees - not as imposing as the fire damage previously mentioned, but still... not a place you'd like to be if a bushfire is sweeping through


Say that fast five times in a row.


Getting some spares in Bairnsdale.


Getting into a familiar neck of the woods. Ye old homeland


WTF? We got some strange animals in Oz, no idea what these signs are warning of


Pic of picture taking device


Radioactive Man has seen more of Australia than many



And I ended the day in Yarram where the extended family lives.  Big meals, hearty laughs... good to be back.

The US west coast also has a Pacific (Coast) Highway 1 !

Day 5 - Yarram to Melbourne

My old stomping rounds, just as I remember them... only everything is 10 x smaller when you remember them as a child.  A great revisit.


Thoughtful aunty left this out for me to start the day - a map of my upcoming travels overseen by a thai figurine... interesting    


I thought an Army Unimog was the toughest 4x4, I reckon these agricultural toys would shame them in the tough terrain


Hmmm... a place like this would be the perfect digs for a recording studio.

Every country town has a Digger's war memorial.


Yarram is a pretty typical Gippsland country town


Aunty and cussies - posting this only coz I like haircut lady's face, it makes me laugh.


Port Albert... where's the sand?  Pretty little place


Once again, pretty countryside and easy driving. I know this neck of the woods


Typical Gippsland. Cattle country - grazing and dairy


The rolling hills of middle Gippsland. Wind turbines are a new addition since my last visit.


Bass shire regional compass


Father?


Just another Gippsland road


A familiar bunch of towns.


Yet another car shop visit... Leongatha, a place I spent 5 years


Shock - I've used 6 litres used since leaving Brissy, and i've clocked 2200K's... ~1/3 of the way. Time to stock up.


Alright - time to get off the main drag to Melbourne. Back to the coast roads again.


Somewhere before Cape Patterson


Another nice view


Driving roads like these are a joy... even if 90kph is your top speed


Rocky beaches somewhere


Sandy beaches elsewhere


A lookout near Phillip Island


Drove over to the island, roads were blocked with the friday city traffic all headed to the same location for the weekend... a whole bunch of cool race cars on trailers going past (race track on the island)... gave up on camping on the peninsula at this point, time to head to Melbourne to catch up with mates.


First traffic i've encountered for a while, boo.... welcome to greater Melbourne


Friday night traffic is a quintessential Melbourne experience, takes forever to get nowhere.



Time for beers with old mates, and a night in a warm bed... what more can I ask for?

Phew - I need a break 

I'll post some more tomorrow

Did you stop by an see 90 mile beach when you were in Bairnsdale?

I lived there for a few months, went to the beach and dug pippies (little clams)
out of the sand, they tasted good that night, a little crunchy tho, we didn't wait
for them to clean out.

Me mate Robert Matia and I had some good times, he still lives in Queensland as
far as I know, Bahrs Scrub is where his family was from

Wild

EXCELLENT PHOTO TRIP LOG!!

I photo log many of my Adventures to show others; they say they are not as free as I am to do WHAT I WANT!!
Jobs, families, self made commitment restrictions.......Oh, I never have TIME TO DO THOSE THINGS!!

"I am NEVER LOST!! ........Unless I have Fallen off this Planet......I am EXPLORING!!!

CAPT

That is a great story! Thanks for sharing..

-Eric

Awesome adventure!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!

Zig

You ain't seen nothing yet - I'm only a 3rd of the way through!!   I just ain't had the time to post em all up... all my pics are too much for a single page unless you have a super fast connection.

Yeah Wildgoody, been to 90 mile beach before - I used to go fishing and camping there with the dad.  You can have the pipi's, they're OK, but I like fish and not much else from the sea

I stayed in Melbourne for a few days to catch up with mates and as a mid-way break in the trip.  Probably the most boring pics of the lot so far, and my camera stopped working apart from a few shots from saturday morning.  I used to live here too so just ran around the old haunts to see what's changed.

Melbourne City on a lovely Autumn day.


Luna Park in St Kilda - an amusement park... maybe at it's peak in the 1950s.  You can see the wooden roller coaster running around the park face.


St Kilda is a pretty place, give up on the palm trees though, it ain't that warm around here


The Espy - best pub in Oz.  Every local band worth it's salt has played here.


I like heritage stuff like this, makes for interesting walking around.  You don't get this type of stuff in less established towns.


For real?  Horse and carriage in the city?  Probably the best way to see it all, and gotta be a cheaper registration.


LPG heaven.  55c is unheard of, almost 40c cheaper than what i've paid in the sticks.


Funky old tram - the newer ones look shit.


Autumn in suburban Carlton


Another typical street scene



So that was Melbourne... a bit of a downer from the rest of my trip.  I gave my mates two months notice I was coming and the best they could organise was beers and football in front of the TV... boring!!! So I pretty much buggered off and left them to go see what I could, hook up with an ex gf, eat like a king in some of the awesome restaurants, find a few guitar shops, and check out spunky chicks along the fashion strips... damn Melbourne chicks are hot.

Anyway - onto the credit card now, free money has all but run out, and the bet is yet to come.  Stay tuned, got some awesome pics to sort through, just need the time to post 'em up.

More pics of the spunky chicks!