Thread: Border Raid ala Mexicana - The Rover-less Road Trip.

On Friday night, I was to fly down to Melbourne to pick up a new ute for my mum. Being the good boy that I am, I rocked up at the airport in plenty of time, only to be told by the nice Tiger Tamers at the airline by the same name, that the big kitty was having "engineering problems".

So I toddled over to the Jetstar desk - no flights.

Over to Virgin Blue - a big queue. After a fair wait I got to the counter. "Bitten by the Tiger" was all I said. They had a flight leaving at the same time, so I handed over more money than I could get back from Tiger and made a run for the gate.

I made my flight and got to Melbourne in good time, with lighter pockets.

The guy selling me the car kindly met me at the airport, and got his missus to come and get him later. We did the deal in the carpark, and all checked out. I drove out the boom gates in the new beast.

A 2005 Mitsubishi Triton GLS...



I drove it out onto the Freeway...


...and turned into the nearest pub.

Waiting there for me were some friendly AULROvians. Kyle (alien d2) and family, Mick (Mick_Marsh) and later, Peter (Signal1). We had a good yarn and a few drinks. The schnitzel really hit the spot too - I was famished!

The AULRO courier service was had at work too and some items bound for Sydney were handed over.



Great to meet you all!

After a bit more of a chat in the carpark, I made a run for the border - cautious that I was in Victoria, the state that books everyone for speeding including their senior police...

I stopped for fuel - and found out that I had a 150L Petrol tank.


I found a nice truck rest area just south of Seymour and had a night's kip in the back seat. No, it wasn't comfortable. I have slept on worse though...



I awoke to a crisp, beautiful morning.



In the daylight I noticed evidence of bushfires having ripped through fairly recently...



On the road - plenty more ahead of me. 100kms down, 800kms to go!



I pulled in to Seymour for breakfast at the local bakery. $3 bought me a freshly baked cheese roll and a bottle of water. Try that in Sydney!

Mist on the side of the road:


I had planned on visiting the RAAC museum at Puckapunyal, but the sign wasn't clear as to wether on this particular day it opened at 10am, or not at all. Since it was currently 7am I decided not to bother waiting around to find out, and hit the road again. Just to prove I went there though...



Up the road () I pulled in at Holbrook. I was considering a detour to Junee to visit the chocolate factory but decided it was too out of my way for this trip. I went to the Woolpack Inn Museum instead. Very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone.



I was getting hungry so I had brunch at the Submarine cafe. The steak sandwich was good, but at $9 - a rip off.

I sent Mrs Shonky an SMS saying I was on a Submarine. She thought I was being silly...

HMAS Otway:


Theres a car, for my ma, and it has come very far, along the road to... Gunda...gai! Yes - lame. But hey I was bored and so made up alternative lyrics to "Road to Gundagai"... Many of them were not forum friendly.



Many hours later, I decided to take a self portrait to capture the mood.



It got a bit warm along the way... Fortunately the aircon works well!



...as do the windscreen wipers. The pic doesn't do it justice - this was up there with some of the worst rain I have driven through!



I stopped in on Dmmos (Dave) at Sutton Forrest to say G'Day and check out his landy. I forgot to take pics though.

Hit the road again, the highway patrol were out in force. I made good time on cruise control and got home safe and sound.



I got out, and felt quite okay! It didn't feel like I had just done that much driving. Very happy with our Triton.


I was craving butter chicken though... maybe it was because I ran out of variations on "Road to Gundagai", so I started ruining other Australian folk songs...

Give me a home among the bodi trees, where I can make curries... a dog or two and we'll make a stew...

Nice work mate! You made what could otherwise be a mundane trip very entertaining...for you and everyone else! The only way it could be a better story would have been if you were in a landy or in a landcruiser that broke down...but then again that would have sucked for you. LOL

Thanks for sharing...

Angus