They're Changing Guards at Buckingham Palace...

Having crashed out last night, we were up early for our first day in London. We went first to Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue, repeating our first visit to London 35 years ago. After that we walk across to the Albert Memorial opposite the Royal Albert Hall. From there we wandered into Knightsbridge, past Harrods and then caught a Tube to Oxford Circus.

Our hotel in  Paddington

 

 Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens

The Albert Memorial

The objective here was to get an O2 SIM for the mobile phone and visit the Kathmandu shop to buy some things here considerably cheaper here than back home. Mission accomplished, we made our way to Piccadilly Circus and on to St James Park. Crossing The Mall, we realised from all the flags that there was a high-profiled American tourist named Barack in town.

 Looking down The Mall to Buckingham Palace

We strolled through St James Park to join the crowd outside Buckingham Palace for while (we didn't actually see the Changing of the Guards because that happened before we got there). We then made our way back through Hyde Park to our hotel in Paddington for a well earned rest.

Guards on duty at Buckingham Palace

London - We're Here!

After 3 or 4 laps around east London at 10,000 feet, we made into Heathrow about 45 minutes late. There was a big crowd at Immigration but it didn't take that long all things considered. Collected our bags, straight out through Customs and onto the Heathrow Express for a 15 minute non-stop train to Paddington. From there it was only a short walk to the Tudor Court Hotel where we will be staying for the next four nights. 

The Tudor Court is one of the many old private hotels that are all over London. We picked this one because of its proximity to Paddington Station and because it had reasonable reviews on TripAdvisor. We have a nice little first floor en-suite room at the back (which means that there is no view but also no street noise) and on first impressions, it lives up to its reviews.
 

It is getting near 6.30 pm local time so it is time we went and got some dinner before we crash...

Cooling Our Heels in Changi Airport

It was a pleasant overnight flight to Singapore. The economy class seats on the Boeing 777 were quite comfortable and the service was excellent. We have been here in Changi Airport for about an hour and have another couple to go before we take off again.

The place is huge - makes Tullamarine look more like a country airport. It is also first class in terms of quality and upkeep. Altogether, a nice place to have to wait.

London, here we come!

Our bags are checked, we have passed through Immigration and are sitting in Gate Lounge 14 waiting to board Singapore Airlines SQ218 for a 5 minutes past Midnight departure to Singapore. We will have about 3 hours on the ground there before boarding SQ308 through to London where we will arrive mid-afternoon, a little over 24 hours after leaving Melbourne.

Short But Sweet Saturday Arvo Run!

For something different, the May MX-5 Club run was organised for Saturday afternoon. So just after lunch, over 30 MX-5 assembled outside Woodland Park in Strathmore for our run to Woodend. The weather was quite overcast and cool so only the mad and the brave had their tops down - we were one of them. Our route took us out past Tullamarine Airport and onto the nice little twisty Wildwood Road that drops down off the basalt plain to cross Deep Creek and then climb out again. From there our convoy hit the Lancefield road and headed north.

Past Clarkefield, we turned left and headed off through Riddells Creek to New Gisborne. Here we turned north again to avoid the Calder Highway. Using the back roads, we eventually joined the Mount Macedon road at the bottom of the Mount Macedon village. After a brief stop to regroup, we set off in convoy up and over the mountain. A procession of over 30 MX-5s certainly turned a few heads. Today we bypassed the Memorial Cross so I guess we will just have to go back another time by ourselves for that (and to do a longer run that is in the MX-5 book). 

MX-5s as far as the eye can see in Mount Macedon village

(Ours is the third one from this end)

Over the top, we wound our way down into Woodend for afternoon tea. By now it had got quite cold so it was very pleasant sitting inside a bakery enjoying a pie (a late lunch really). By 4.00 pm it was time to go because the shops were wanting to close. While most people headed home down the Calder Highway, we put our top up and went across country to Wallan and then home through Whittlesea.

Another pleasant day out with the MX-5 Club but it was a bit cold. I guess we will have to find something else to do over the next couple of months. Stay tuned...

A Drive on the Wild Side

20 Roads for 20 Years - Drive No. 7

The weather forecast for ANZAC Day was for a fine sunny day. With winter getting nearer, this meant it may be the last opportunity for a run in the MX-5 with the roof down. So where to go? Another run from the Mazda MX-5 Club book beckoned. This time we chose Warburton to Healesville via Reefton Spur and Black Spur.

Despite the encouraging forecast, we set off in slightly foggy conditions. We made our way out through Warrandyte and Wonga Park to Coldstream where we picked up Kilara Road through to the Warburton Highway at Seville East. I discovered this road earlier in April when I was a Checkpoint Coordinator for the Oxfam Trailwalker. As we approached Warburton the fog was clearing and the sun was breaking through so it was looking like the forecast was going to be right after all.

The original plan had been to have some morning tea in Warburton and have a look around the shops (if they were open). We hadn't planned for the ANZAC Ceremony to be still under way which, we presume, was the reason why we were detoured around the back streets of town. So instead, we went for another run up Donna Buang. On the Club run last month, we didn't manage a spirited run up the mountain and this time we did no better - really a bit too much to expect otherwise really on an Easter / ANZAC Day weekend. Anyway, the drive to the top was worthwhile. The air was still clear and the views were fantastic with the Yarra Valley still filled with the low cloud we had driven out under.

Looking down the Yarra Valley towards the Dandenongs

Making our way back down off Donna Buang, we stopped off for a temperate rain forest walk at Cement Creek before arriving in Warburton to start the run from the book. We headed on further east towards Upper Yarra Dam to Reefton where we turned off and started climbing the Spur. It was a twisty, winding climb up into the mountains just suited to roaring along in an MX-5 with the roof down. We had left everyone else behind so we had the road to ourselves making it a very pleasant drive. The only downside is that the "fun police" had recently come along and put an 80 km/h speed limit over the whole length of the road. OK, so you can't do 80 along a lot of the road but why can't we be left to work it out for ourselves...

 Today it is left to Marysville

The climb up the Spur ends when you join the Marysville to Woods Point road. It has been a long time since I have been to Woods Point but that will have to wait for another day. For now it was a left turn and off towards Marysville for a late lunch - made even later by a detour to Lake Mountain on the way. Marysville is slowly recovering from the fires but it still has a long way to go. Quite a few new buildings and lots of still vacant land. At least it was busy with lots of visitors so the local businesses will have a chance of surviving.

After lunch it was off to the Maroondah Highway for the climb over the Black Spur. Being the end of a holiday weekend, then traffic was quite heavy so it was a nose-to-tail procession up and over the top. At least we did it in a little style by being in an impromptu mini-convoy of two MX-5's. Getting through Healesville can be bad at times and today we were stop-start for at least 2 km before we got to the first traffic lights (and the ice-cream shop). From Healesville we were able to leave the worst of the traffic behind by heading home through Yarra Glen and Kangaroo Ground. 

Another great day out and another great drive from the MX-5 book. Only another 16 or so to go...

Another Day in Paradise

20 Roads for 20 Years - Drive No. 16

To celebrate its 20th Anniversary, the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria published 20 Roads for 20 Years, a book that describes twenty of the best MX-5 drives in Victoria and Tasmania. With two of the drives describing how to do "quick laps" around Winton and Phillip Island race tracks and another two in Tasmania, I think it is fair to say that in time we should complete 16 of the drives and perhaps 18 with a little planning.

With a forecast of a fine day and nothing particularly urgent to do for clients, it was a good opportunity to try one of the drives from the book. We selected number 16, a run around the the heartland of the Mornington Peninsula. The staring point in the book is Frankston so we started with a drive (top down of course) through Reseach and Warrandyte to Ringwood where we joined Eastlink through to the other end. From Frankston we headed out along the Nepean Highway, up Olivers Hill and into Mornington for some "retail therapy" for the navigator - another pair of shoes - and morning tea.

We set off from Mornington along the coast on the Esplanade to Mount Martha and Safety Beach. As you arrive at Safety Beach, you have the unique experience of driving under Port Phillip Bay (to be more precise, under the canal entrance to the Matha Cove Marina project). Presumably, the road was put under the canal so there would be no height limits on boats using the marina.

At the south end of Safety Beach, most people would turn right and head for Dromana. Our route was different and took us left as we headed for the hills and the heartland of the Peninsula. We didn't get all that far however before we came to our first departure from our intended route for the day. Dunns Creek Road, described as a "wind in the hair experience", was closed and we had to detour through Red Hill. We got ourselves back on track, or so we thought, as we soon found ourselves on a dirt road. This is most uncharacteristic for anything the MX-5 club does. In my defense, the drives in the book are not "run notes" and sometimes it is difficult to work out the intended route between two landmarks.

After driving in a couple of rather large circles along some rather pleasant MX-5 roads, we managed to work where the book had intended us to go and decided that, in the end, we had covered most of the route as it was intended to be be. We then left Red Hill and Main Ridge behind and drove down to Flinders for lunch. We stopped at the Flinders Bakehouse Cafe for a pie with salad and chips. The salad was nice but my pie was dried out because it has been kept in the warmer for too long. Yes, it was late when we stopped for lunch but that is no excuse for serving up poor quality food. Definitely be eating somewhere else the next time we are in Flinders.

Following lunch we did the grand tour of Flinders (it doesn't take long) before heading back out along the Boneo Road. At Cape Schanck we made an unplanned detour to the cape and the lighthouse.

 Looking over Bushrangers Bay back towards Flinders

 Cape Schanck Lighthouse

As it was getting on in the afternoon, we only walked part of the way out to the cape itself before jumping back in the car and picking up the drive again. As we approached Rosebud, we turned onto Browns Road and headed back towards Main Ridge where we picked up Purves Road to the top of Arthurs Seat. The run down to Dromana is tight and twisty and a bit of fun but, to be honest, not all that good as an MX-5 road because it is too tight and slow - maybe it would be better in the uphill direction.

Dromana marked the end of the published drive so we made our way onto the Moorooduc Highway, past Frankston and onto Eastlink, this time going all the way and through the tunnel, and then home. It was a really pleasant day out along some roads you wouldn't normally take so we are looking forward to trying some more drives from the book.

An "American" Lunch

It had been a while since we had all got together for lunch and the School Holidays are an ideal time as we can arrange things for a weekday. With Ann and Darrell coming from Beaufort, Fay from Geelong and Anita and I from Eltham, we usually choose somewhere in the Central West region. Today, our destination was the American Hotel in Creswick.

Normally we would start with a run around the Ring Road to the Western Highway but today, for something different, we drove through Melbourne. There was actually a reason for doing this - I had to drop a data projector off at the Assetic office in Victoria Street. With that little task completed, it was off past the Vic Market and the <insert current sponsor's name here> Stadium, over the Westgate Bridge and on to the Ring Road heading in the other direction towards the Western Highway. Traffic was chaotic with trucks everywhere - it really makes you appreciate living in Eltham.

The weather was overcast with the occasional patch of drizzle so the roof stayed up on the MX-5 for the cruise along the Western Highway to Wallace. Here we dropped off the highway and went cross-country to Creswick and the American Hotel. The hotel was pretty much what you would expect for a country pub on a weekday - not very busy with a reasonable range of meals on offer at reasonable prices. While the food was quite good and the kitchen service efficient, front-of-house was a different story. You couldn't describe it as Service with a Smile. It wasn't that terrible that you would say "never eat there again" but poor enough to say "try somewhere else next time". Mind you, that could be a bit difficult in Creswick as the Yanks are doing better that the Poms - the British Hotel was closed and boarded up.

After our unhurried lunch we took a stroll around town. It didn't take all that long as Creswick is now more a dormitory suburb of Ballarat than it is a historic village. It was now getting on in the afternoon so it was time to start heading home. With the Ring Road likely to be a "car park" by the time we got there, we left on the road to Daylesford on a cross-country route home. Although it was still overcast, the risk of rain seemed to have eased so we set off with the roof down. That lasted until Trentham East where, with threatening clouds and having survived one patch of rain, we decided to stop pushing our luck. It was just a well we did as we drove to some heavy rain five minutes later.

Our cross-country route took us onwards through Woodend and Romsey to Wallan where we joined the Northern Highway. Instead of continuing on to join the Hume Highway, this time we kept going east to Epping Road. A continuation of High Street that comes out through Preston, we headed down Epping Road as far as Wollert. Here we turned onto Bridge Inn Road and drove across through Mernda to Doreen and then turned down through Plenty and home. Less stressful that the Ring Road but still quite busy with all of the urban development that has happened around Mernda and Doreen (and is still going on...)

Oxfam Trailwalker 2011

Teams of four, one hundred kilometres, under forty-eight hours...

No, I didn't walk it ... but I was one of over a thousand volunteers needed to make the event a success. This was my seventh year volunteering for this event and over that time I have seen it grow from around 250 teams to the 750 teams that it is now.

Friday I was Assistant Checkpoint Coordinator for Checkpoint 4 at Olinda for the opening shift. This checkpoint is 45 km from the start and the first team, travelling under the strange name of "Phil lost his insulin pen", came through in about 4 hours and 45 minutes. This was a very quick time and although it looked like a new record was possible, the team eventually finished in 11 hours and 42 minutes. The surprise was Yelttum Maet who started with the second group of teams 90 minutes later. Their elapsed time to Checkpoint 4 was only 4 hours and 15 minutes and they finished first in a new record time of 10 hours and 23 minutes. 

My shift at the checkpoint was rather uneventful. Almost all the volunteers at the were corporate volunteers from the law firm Middletons. They were a good crew who were committed to making the day work (I have seen corporate volunteers in the past that didn't really care). Mel, who was coordinating the Middletons crew, was also the Checkpoint Coordinator. She wasn't really comfortable in the role because she had only been Parking Coordinator before. In the end I really ran the Checkpoint while Mel ran the parking so everything worked out well in the end.

Saturday I was Checkpoint Coordinator for Checkpoint 6 at Worri Yallock for the closing shift. As the weather had been good, the teams had been making good progress so I didn't expect there would be too many teams to deal with. So after a very pleasant drive along a nice MX-5 road (Kilara Road) through Gruyere, I arrived to find that all teams had arrived at Checkpoint 6. On checking we found that we only had three teams at the checkpoint (two were still there even though they had been checked out). They were all on their way by 4:30, more that 5 hours before the checkpoint was due to close, so it was time to start packing up. We were all done by about 7 and after we got the Sweep Team on their way by 8, it was time to go home.

So that is it, Trailwalker is over for another year for me. I really enjoy helping making a great event happen and I will be back again next year ... volunteering of course.

A Day Out to Timboon & Port Campbell with the MX-5 Club

To cater for the interests of its members outside of Melbourne, the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria has two regional groups: the Ballarat & Western District Chapter and the North-eastern Victoria Chapter. Today we joined the Ballarat & Western District Chapter on their run to Timboon and Port Campbell.

With the meeting time of 9.15 am outside Sebastopol Secondary College, an early start was required. So under overcast skies that were threatening drizzle, we left home at 7.15 and headed off with the top up to the Ring Road. The traffic was quite light at that time of the morning so we had no trouble picking our way through all the road works that now stretch from Sydney Road to the Western Highway interchange. If the Ring Road was quiet, the Western Highway was even quieter. We arrived on the outskirts of Ballarat with plenty of time and that let us top up with petrol (Ballarat prices hadn't jumped up when they did in Melbourne), some supplies from Baker's Delight and a warming hot chocolate from that place I love to hate, McDonalds.

Eventually all the starters drifted in making a nice little line-up of 8 MX-5's outside the school. It was a typically brisk Ballarat morning so when we set off, only one brave soul have put their top down (surprisingly, it wasn't us). We headed west along the Glenelg Highway to Scarsdale where we turned south. Onwards through Cape Clear, across the Woady Yaloak River at Pitfield and then onto the Lismore road to our first destination, the Wallinduc CFA shed to meet up with 2 more MX-5's. Although it was still very overcast, it had warmed up enough for most of us to put their tops down. Of course those with their removable hard-tops on their NB model MX-5's couldn't unless they were prepared to leave them behind because their hard-tops don't fold away like they do on the NC model that we have.

The line-up of MX-5's at Wallinduc CFA

(ours is in the back row beside the shed)

After some morning tea, the convoy of 10 took off heading south on the Berrybank road. We crossed over the Hamilton Highway and the Adelaide rail line at Berrybank and continued south to Foxhow where we then turned south-west towards Camperdown. After passing between Lake Gnarpurt on our right and Lake Corangamite on our left, we turned left onto the Leslie Manor Road and then right onto the Pomborneit-Foxhow Road to head down between the dry-stone paddock walls to the Princes Highway at Pomborneit. Here was our meeting point for the 4 cars that had come straight out from Geelong. We could have gone straight there instead of going to Ballarat but by starting at Ballarat we got to drive through areas where we haven't been before.

Now a convoy of 14, we headed west along the Princes Highway to Weerite where we turned off to take a drive around Lake Purrumbete. We returned to the highway and headed towards Camperdown. On the edge of town, we took the road to the Mt Leura Lookout. Perched on the top of an extinct volcano, the views are fantastic and are well worth the short detour. Fourteen MX-5's filling the car park looked pretty good too...

Fourteen MX-5's fill the Mt Leura Lookout car park

After a brief look around, we vacated the car park and wound our way down the hill. Cutting though the back streets of Camperdown, we made our way to the Cobden road and turned south and on to Lake Bullen Merri nearby for a toilet stop. We arrived to find a triathlon in its finishing stage and quite a few of us took the opportunity to buy a sausage or a hamburger from the Lions Club stall. We didn't get to see Camperdown so the town will have to wait for another day.

After that brief stop, it was back to the Cobden road to continue south. We skirted the edge of Cobden, leaving town by the Port Campbell road. At Scotts Creek we turned onto the Timboon road to head into there for lunch. We stopped at a park on the site of the closed railway branch line from Camperdown. It is one of the few now-closed lines that I could have travelled on but didn't because I didn't take the opportunity when I had it. No point worrying about that now but it does prove that you shouldn't let opportunities pass you by because there may not be "a next time".

Except for the mozzies, the company at lunch was very pleasant. As we were now running nearly an hour late, we didn't stay long in Timboon and headed off to Port Campbell for an ice-cream stop. My choice was Lime & Coconut - an interesting and very different flavour. We had time for a quick look around the town before heading east along the Great Ocean Road. We didn't stop for the remaining 8 or 9 Twelve Apostles, partly because we didn't have time but also you wouldn't really want to because of the crowds. Definitely a place for a mid-week visit.

The roads from Camperdown onwards had been really great MX-5 roads and now they were getting even better. We were fortunate with the traffic on the Great Ocean Road and most of us got a good run with no one holding us up. At Lavers Hill, the Great Ocean Road turns right but we kept going straight ahead to Beech Forest. After passing through Beech Forest, we plunged into the forest on an incredible piece of road. With a flora and fauna reserve on one side of us and state forest on the other, we twisted our way through the tall timbers and tree ferns. Described in the run notes as "all corners and no straight parts for approx. 12 km", this is a perfect piece of MX-5 road. The 20 km/h speed limit over the first half was a bit of a joke (probably there because of the timber trucks that we didn't see) but the 40km/h speed limit for the rest of it wasn't too far from the mark (well, maybe it was a bit slow for MX-5's). A truly spectacular piece of road and definitely worth the journey.

All good things come to an end and, in this case, the end was the Forrest - Apollo Bay road. Here we turned left and headed into Forrest for an afternoon tea stop. It was getting late so we said farewell and left in a convoy of 2 with one of the Geelong cars. We made our way through Barwon Downs and onto Cape Otway Road. We cut up to join the Princes Highway at Winchelsea where it became a straight forward run home. With Geelong now bypassed and the Ring Road to get us around Melbourne, visiting the south west of Victoria is easily done.

All up, the day was 11 hours and 635 km long. A big day out and great one. The Ballarat & Western District Chapter of the MX-5 Club are a great group of people and we looking forward to going with them again one day.

MX-5 Club's President's Run to Donna Buang

Mazda MX-5's are a special car and so it is not surprising that there is an owner's club. We joined the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria at the beginning of the year and today we went on the our first outing with them. The idea of driving around in a convoy of MX-5's didn't necessarily appeal but the prospect of opening up a new social circle meant that it was worth a try.

Today's run was the annual President's Run and the destination was Donna Buang. The starting point was the car park of the Manningham Council offices in Doncaster. By kick off time there were 42 MX-5's of various models and colours. It was a lovely sunny day so "tops down" was most definitely the only way to go. Off we went down Doncaster Road to Blackburn Road and then into Andersons Creek Road. Not surprisingly, with all the traffic lights we were now starting to get rather spread out. The obvious challenge with planning a run is to choose a big enough, easily found car park on the edge of Melbourne - Manningham Council wasn't the best choice...

Anyway, back to the drive. We made our way to Warrandyte, over the Yarra River and on towards Kangaroo Ground. Somehow a group of about 10 cars managed to get in front of the lead car. We were second car in our pack and when the leading car was looking rather lost at Kangaroo Ground trying to get to the Yarra Glen Road, we took over. After all we were in our "own backyard" and I didn't need map to tell me how to get there.

One of the "rules" of driving in convoy is to wait when we make turns to make sure the car following has made the turn too. Thinking we were still some way behind to car in front, we set off towards Yarra Glen in order to catch up. After a while I began to suspect that we had somehow got in front so a call to the President was in order. "I think we have got in front of you" I said ... "No, that couldn't have happened" ... "Are you sure?" I said ... "Yes, where are you?" ... "A fair way along the Eltham - Yarra Glen Road" I said ... "So are we, you must be behind us" ... and then the phone dropped out. Not convinced, we kept on towards Yarra Glen, mostly because there was nowhere for 10 cars to pull over.

Winding down the hill into Yarra Glen it was time to try the phones again. "Are you in Yarra Glen yet?" I said ... "No, we are still on our way" ... "Well, we are! I will pull the group over to wait for you" I said ... After about 5 minutes the President breezed past to take up his rightful position at the head of the convoy. We headed out of Yarra Glen on the Yea road as far as the top of the Great Dividing Range. There we turned right to head off through Toolangi and down the Myers Creek Road - a Club favourite - to Healesville for morning tea.

After an ice cream for morning tea, it was time to press on towards Donna Buang. Although the route was originally planned to go via Don Road, this was changed to Dalry Road to avoid 4 km of dirt road. So, with a little difficulty, the convoy of 42 MX-5's picked its way through the heart of Healesville on a sunny Sunday morning. Not the most easily done but we manged without causing too much chaos. Once clear of Healesville, we headed down the Worri Yallock road and then via Dalry Road to join Don Road at Don Vally. Turning right, it was a pleasant drive down the valley to join the Warburton Highway at Launching Place. A left turn had us heading through Warburton with all the "Sunday drivers" on our way to Donna Buang. We haven't been to Warburton for a long time so it is another place to go back to one day.

It would have been nice to say we had a spirited run up Donna Buang but alas, a Toyota Corolla put an end to that - you shouldn't expect anything else on a Sunday... The Summit car park was full so it was back down to the lower car park for a picnic lunch. Lunch was the end of the arrangements for the day so people started drifting off making their own way home. Like a number of others, we first of all went back to the Summit and climbed the look-out tower. After a look around, it was time to choose how to get home. Although unmade, Healesville road off Donna Buang beckoned. If it was sealed it would have been a perfect MX-5 road - driving through a forest withs lots of twists and turns. However, with no spare tyre and only a puncture repair kit (standard for the NC model), dirt roads are something driven with great care.

Eventually the road reached a T-intersection with Don Road where it was time for another decision. We went left and along the 4 km of dirt road that had been in the original plan. It was a well made, smooth road that was easy to drive but it would have been intolerable for those at the back of a 42 car convoy. We made our way back onto the Warburton Highway at Worri Yallock and headed to Lilydale. Even though it was still quite early in the afternoon, Lilydale was congested so an early turn saw us going around the back of Lilydale and Chirnside Park. From there we made our way home through Wonga Park, Warrandyte and Research, thus making the day a rather lopsided figure of 8.

It was a really great day out and a great introduction to the MX-5 Club. Driving in convoy wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and the people are great to mix with. Some more club runs are definitely on the agenda...

Home Again

It wasn't a long visit to Oberon this time. Finished what needed to be done by lunchtime so we hit the road a little after 12.30pm. The weather was much better today, gone was the low cloud, drizzle and rain. The cross-country run across to the Great Western Highway was a pleasant drive with very little traffic to deal with.

After climbing up the Blue Mountains, it was time to look for lunch. There weren't too many options for a quick lunch at Mount Victoria so it was on to Blackheath for chicken and chips. After lunch it was back on the road, picking our way across the top of the range and the road works where they are progressively widening and duplicating the highway. Yes, the work needs to be done but unfortunately the whole area is losing the character it had years ago as a result.

Filled up the Subaru at Springwood before finally dropping off the range and onto the M4 heading towards Sydney. From the M4 it was onto the M7 and then M5 heading towards Sydney airport. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of traffic yet on the M5 so it was a quick run through the tunnel to the Airport exit. Returned the hire car with plenty of time to spare for catching Virgin's 4.45pm flight to Melbourne. The Subaru was OK to drive and was well appointed but it didn't excite me - it was just a car (or should I say a truck).

The flight to Melbourne was 20 minutes late boarding. It seems that with Sydney Airport, it is no longer a question of "Were you late?" but "How late were you?". Anyway, the flight home and the taxi ride that followed were uneventful, bringing to a close a couple of days working on-site with Oberon Council.

Oberon ... Eventually

I am in Oberon NSW today where I am doing some work for Oberon Council. This is my third visit here and every trip has not been without its dramas. This trip I flew up in the morning instead of the night before. So it was up at 5.00am to be ready for a taxi to Tullamarine airport at 5.45. I got to the airport without much trouble and then things started to go downhill.

All flights into Sydney were delayed. My 7.15 flight had been put back to a 7.58 departure. We eventually got away a few minutes after the revised time. Once we were in the air we confidently advised that the expected flying time was 1 hour and 5 minutes, about 20 minutes faster than scheduled. That seemed too good to be true and it was. By the time we were over Canberra we were advised that we going into a holding pattern due to congestion at Sydney. It was 10.00am by the time we were inside the terminal, 1 hour and 20 minutes late.

On my previous visits to Oberon I have flown on to Bathurst but this time I hired car and drove. I had booked a full sized car and was allocated a Subaru Outback AWD. Compared with the MX-5 at home, this thing is like a truck - big, sitting up high and sluggish. After working out the controls, especially the button operated electric parking brake, we hit the road. Left Sydney on the M5, M7 and then the M4 to Penrith and the foot of the Blue Mountains. Climbing up the range, the overcast weather deteriorated into drizzle and rain. Coupled with roadworks, this resulted in slow trip to a lunch stop in Hazelbrook. 

After lunch it was back on then road, through Katoomba and Mount Victoria before dropping off the west side of the Blue Mountains. At Hartley it was time to leave the Great Western Highway and head off cross-country to Oberon. Finally arrived a little after 2.30 in then afternoon. Hopefully the trip home tomorrow will go better.

Maryborough by train

Yesterday I took the opportunity to travel by train to Maryborough in central Victoria. Maryborough has been without a passenger train service since the 1990's when the Vinelander stopped running to Mildura. Last year a day-return service to Melbourne was re-instituted. However with only train from Melbourne to Maryborough in the afternoon and the only train back to Melbourne in the morning, going there from Melbourne is not particularly practical.

The AREA, one of the many rail organisations I belong to, solved the problem by arranging a special trip there. We traveled in a 6-car VLocity set (Two 3-car sets coupled) on the V/Line 4.05pm service from Spencer Street (they call it Southern Cross these days but it is such a stupid name). It was a slow run out through North Melbourne and Sunshine before we headed off at a brisk pace on the old Western line in rather miserable weather. With intermediate stops only at Bacchus Marsh and Ballan, it was a quick trip to Ballarat where we left the rear 3-car set behind.

Although capable of traveling at up to 160 km/h, north of Ballarat the speeds were miserably slow. Paranoia about unprotected level crossings apparently. We actually stopped approaching one level crossing. At the moment there is only one station between Ballarat and Maryborough and that is Creswick where a few people go off. A new platform is being constructed at Clunes.

After a leisurely ride through the countryside, we arrived at Maryborough a few minutes late. Maryborough station is an imposing edifice on the edge of town. Mark Twain is said to have described the station as a "railway station with a town attached". It is well worth a visit but for now it is advisable to wait until the building restoration works are complete.

The problem of "no train to Melbourne tonight" was solved by the AREA chartering a bus to take us all across the Castlemaine on the Bendigo line. With a little time in hand, we took the tourist route out of Maryborough by driving down the main street. It is a pleasant looking country town. Well worth a return visit by car for a mid-week lunch.

On arrival in Castlemaine it was off to the shops for some dinner. Although there are lots of cafes in town, very few were open for dinner. The fish & chip shop was really busy so it was off to Subway for me. I am glad I did, it took some people over half an hour to get their fish & chips. Although Castlemaine has the reputation as a tourist destination, I liked the look of Maryborough better.

After dinner was eaten, it was time to stroll down to Castlemaine station. There aren't many choices of trains to Melbourne but the majority choice was for the 8.35pm "empty cars". Normally this train travels back to Melbourne from Bendigo without passenger or stopping anywhere. However,because you can when you know who to ask, the AREA organised for this train to stop especially to pick us up and take us to Melbourne. We arrived back at Spencer Street in our 4-car VLocity (Two 2-car sets coupled) a little after 10.00pm where we all said farewell and made our respective ways home.

Country train travel is always enjoyable and this little trip was no exception.

Welcome to my Random Travel Blog

Everyone else in the family has a blog, even the dog, so I guess it is about time I started one too. My blog will cover my random travels for work and pleasure around Australia and the world when I get there.

Read on if you are interested.