We rejoin Tom as he makes his way across the Nullabor, heading for Adelaide.
But first, let’s hear from John Neskudla, who put the following entry in the NCRS WA Facebook page –
A humdinger of a drive up to Lancelin yesterday with awesome blue sun and sky shine to boot (I was looking at the sky and sunshine in my mirror!!). Tom Marco Polo Mr America arrived around 1830hrs (for clock challenged, the big hand on 6 and little a poofteenth past 6 or a poofteenth to the 7). Tom has only had one problem with smokey while driving his thousands of kms from Sydney via Darwin and The Alice and that was at 149kms/hr 60kms North of Lancelin.. They crushed his car and then snapped his legs off and beat him with them, only joking, honest injun!! With my flu/cold/full snotbox I hunkered down in my very nice indeed cabin (even Grizzly Adams would have liked it, no not our Grizzly, the other one). Tom has so far had a great adventure and is looking forward to meeting more Corvette guys at the BP in Baldivas later today. We will leave Lancelin at 0800hrs (big hand on…). Tom is not as ugly as Gary C but better looking than Terry. He talks funny, like Richard G. Jennifer told Peter G to slow down, again. Adios Amigos
When a Yank says he is coming, you better hang onto your hats because he really means it (ask the Japanese or the Germans!!). Tom Pinard meant what he said when he landed in Sydney “I’m gonna blast around this country like an SR71 Blackbird doing Mach 3 on greased rails!!” Tom stuck to his guns and drove into Lancelin Wednesday evening as he said he would. Not a bad effort considering that in the morning he had left from Karratha!! Add to this the previous 14 days were spent getting from Sydney and you can see that Tom was built for highway blasting!! He travelled so far so quickly, stopping for fuel and sleep only that when he lobbed on us in Lancelin, his first question to us was “Am, folks, what country am I actually in??” On Thursday morning, Mick Delich turned up to say hello to this modern-day “Tom Terrific” (look it up) before Peter G and Jennifer and I convoyed Tom down the Indian Ocean Drive and onto the Freeway at Romeo Road, through Perth and onto the BP at Baldivas where the WA Chapter of the NCRS had organised a few Corvettes to welcome this speed bullet as he whizzed by. Those who can say they saw him in Perth are, Patrick Hehir, Terry Martin, Colin Morris and the Morris Mafia, Peter G, Jennifer G, Willie Underwood and l. Unless mass delusion caused by Teemany Martoonies could be manifest, we actually saw him!! Tom ran into our local “Smokeys” somewhere North of Lancelin because, as he says, “It was instant capture, I did not even have time to back off below the speed of sound and they had me!” After taking photos of the Western Australian NCRS Banner and his club banner, “PALM SPRINGS CORVETTE CLUB” and with the SR71 refuelled and dripping all over the tarmac (like they dided!!), Tom pulled on his “G” suit again and disappeared over the horizon with a nice wing-tip dip goodbye. Those who experienced that are still wondering if it really happened or not. As we drove our 1942 Curtis P40 Warhawks back to their hangers, we all hoped that one day we could slide into the seat of an SR71 and blast off into the unknown like Tom!! Adios Amigos!!
WEEK 4 : COMING FULL CIRCLE AROUND OZ
But the late afternoon was positive as I put together the changes to my romp around Australia…. Changing reservations so that my Perth area meeting with Corvette Mates is a day early, my time with Pat and Liz in Bridgetown is better and then all the work that Mark Andre is doing down in the South of Australia will have a day extra as I come across the “Barren” (I think that is what they call it) and get back to civilization and the major population centres of Australia.
Darwin is a great city/community… lots of nice folks and it is very clean, productive and is certainly worthy of one of the bright spots in my drive. I will be off in the morning at dawn, down south for a few hundred Klicks then a big right turn to the WEST and Broome, then the west coast.
Into Adelaide I came on Father’s Day Sunday, through this wonderful mid-sized city with huge coastal suburbs that provide this area to have the largest Corvette Club in Australia… over 200 members. It was to Stu and Ruth van Doorn’s home for the evening, what wonderful hosts for this weary traveler… and after a great dinner, wonderful home cooking, and great conversations into the evening…. You know us Corvette people…. It was into the bedroom, work on sending email for the first time in over a week, then bed time…..
The next morning (Sun 4th), we had the chance to show off the South Australia Corvette Banner and with Katherine and Jim joining the garage event, we joined our banners Palm Springs and South Australia…… A great evening and morning before Tom had to get on the road into the state of Victoria and Geelong…… more Corvette Club activity…..
That night we headed out for a great casual dinner at one of their favourite dining spots, fine Italian dishes, including pizza (but they had a special tonight, Mexican Beef and Beans —-mmmmm, couldn’t pass it up)…. here is that special dish, certainly on the menu just for my visit…. pretty darn good too, just spicy enough, well put together……
Betty and Mark Andre’ ….. couldn’t have done it without them …. and after Betty retired for a well-earned rest from hosting this old guy, Mark and I discussed GM… he was a long term Engineering Program Manager here for General Motors Australia… before they pulled the plug!
And of course, have to throw in a picture (s) of yours truly at the beginning of the longest straight highway…… my “nephew-in-law” Tobin, and his Tesla could have really had a time on this one…..
Hi Tobin,
Actually saw one contraption with a charging unit…. I think it had a diesel engine hooked up to it!! No Tesla’s out on the road in rural Australia…. Have seen a few in the cities, urban areas. Most everything beyond the city limits (big city limits) has two jerry cans on the back of the vehicles, everyone carries spare fuel and extra spare tires (they even – I didn’t get a picture of it, darn – sell a rig that mounts on the back of a car with a spare tire and jerry can holder.’
Tom
PS…. But Australians (government and intellectuals) are bound and determined they will have everything powered by wind and solar in a few years… one discussion on their public radio the other day was advocating the way they will do it is with siesta living….. powering down the economy and lifestyle in certain times of the lack of power day…. Doing away with A/C, things at night…..
Last Week…. I can feel the cool breezes of Rancho Mirage
Great day relaxing with my host and hostess, Mark and Betty Andre, joined during the day with Peter Scholer… we enjoyed a breakfast at a sea-side bistro and then toured the Geelong area including a stop at Peter’s spread that included a garage tour of his classic Corvettes…. Some very nice C-1’s and a C2…..
After getting back from Peter’s garage, and checking out the beautiful “Surf Coast” in Victoria (the name of the their Corvette Club), the guys lent a hand cleaning out my “rig,” taking some of the camping materials off my hands and Peter graciously lifted up the “jerry can” to empty out the diesel that I had been carrying around Australia for three weeks in case I ran out (never did). My tired old arms appreciated Peter’s lift….
On the morning of Wednesday 6th, I guided Tom out to the Geelong/Melbourme freeway, pointing him North towards Sydney. We figured Tom should stay in Goulburn on Wednesday night and make a leisurely run into Sydney on Thursday morning. (Mark)
I’m here in Goulburn, not as small a town as I thought but that’s alright, have bought a nice room across from a restaurant, so my car is down for the evening, still in one piece. Now for a relaxing evening, and tomorrow…..
Twenty-five days later, back into Sydney I came this morning, setting my Google maps to a city park out in the suburbs, zeroing in on a meeting with Warwick Williams, key member of the NSW Corvettes Unlimited club (NSW is New South Wales for you USA’rs). Around Australia I had been in touch with their club president, Jeff Wilson, and because it was a work day, he wasn’t able to make the meeting, but Warwick (a great family name) did and what an enjoyable couple hours it turned out to be.
One thing you see over here is a great mix of younger and older Corvettes. You have to understand that Corvettes “down under” cost a LOT of money….. And you just don’t go down to the Chevy dealer and pick out the colour you want and drive it away…..
These days, Corvettes over 25 years old, in most Australian states, can be registered on a “Club Permit” whilst retaining their Left Hand Drive configuration. (Mark)
For a guy, or gal to pony up the funds and then get a Corvette down under, it is a very big deal. Warwick (the original spelling, he says, is Warrewyk) found his ’81 in Golden, Colorado and then got it shipped to Australia. Then the painstaking process of converting it to RHD (right hand drive) – no easy feat (that dash looks like it came from the factory but it was totally rebuilt in a shop down here). There are many different outfits that do the RHD conversions, some better than others. His story on getting it done was great to hear and speaks of the Corvette mystique ….
These Corvette Clubs down under have a number of get togethers through the year, and may have a benefit from my NCCC (USA national organization) experience…
I have talked with a number of the folks down here and am planning to send NCCC materials back this way in the coming months, possibly of benefit to these spread out Corvette Clubs (remember my earlier comments about it being closer to travel into outer space than travel between some of these communities over here).
And after our get together with the banner, exchanging club stuff, it was off, for me, to do one last fill up of the tank, find my hotel and auger in for the evening before flying home on Friday morning, September 8th (Australia date and time). I have to get a “shout out” to the staff at Ibis Sydney Airport Hotel, who have been just great getting me all set up to slide over to the airport about four blocks away and get on that American Airlines 777 for the ride home. The Reception staff has been great, getting my boarding passes printed out and the bar and wait staff in the dining room were super.
Then it was up before the crack of dawn, over to the airport, turn in the faithful car… very comfortable, a lot better than what would have been the RAV-4 for 26 days…. And other than the bad fuel episode, and the flat tire….. the Mitsubishi fired up and just drove me around Australia, no questions asked.
It was a trudge to get to the terminal, but then I had an hour wait in emptiness before all the passengers started showing up. Once clearing customs, airport security, it was a few gifts at the Duty Free shops then that dreaded 17 hours in the air….. words can’t describe it… those who have done it understand…. It just has to be done.
By the way, over a “latte” (Cafe Latte – big down here…. Almost all coffees are made with an Italian espresso machine, one at a time), Warwick mentioned his time at the Corvette Monterey Gala in 2002…. “WHAT!” I said, I was there with the “Romp Round California” gang…. Well, Warwick was there to MC events and hob-nob with the Corvette greats at the time. We had a good conversation about Monterey – it was a very big deal.
Should add here that NSW Corvettes Unlimited have about 100 members here in the Sydney area and put on a variety of Corvette events and activities and have a super social calendar. President Jeff also drives an ’81.
A light dinner (healthy) was my last meal here in Australia, with my traditional “Pinard”…….
Now if my alarm goes off at 6 a.m., Hazel calls me from USA at 6 a.m., I am out of “Down Under,” most appreciative of the wonderful friendships made here and most of all the overwhelming kindnesses that were displayed peoples all around the over 9000 kilometers I traveled in my close to four weeks of traveling around this wonderful country.
In the next episode, Tom is back home in California and does some reminiscing about his time in (Down Under) Australia.
(To be continued!!)