I'm of to oz

[v8ade]

In 3 weeks I'm of to oz do a bit of a tour Cairns to Ayres rock then down to Adelaide collect a car and then a drive along the great ocean road up through Sydney Brisbane etc back to Cairns.
I'm hoping to see a bit of old classic British tin and some old Ozy Holden's etc. and will take pics were possible
I'm also going to the Summer nats in Canberra to see some big burnouts.
Any good ideas for museums or car related places worth visiting over there would be appreciated

[phil73]

Great drive on the gor. When I was in NSW and Vic in the 1990s the roads were full of good tin and loads of my old Hq Monaro. Back in the new century and all bland stuff. But I have to say the Aussies with their tough certification for modded cars make for some fine workmanship.

[devilishdesigner]

That's a LONG drive to be doing in 3 weeks!

[notsoswift]

He is doing it "in" 3 weeks time, not over 3 weeks, since summer nats in Jan,

Do a lap of Bathurst
Birdwood Museum in SA
There is a huge cruise hat goes down in SA over Christmas, Jaf's I think it is called, if that is in your time line, but then it could be a push for the GOR and back up to Canberra. You could do it easy if you drive like an Australian, but you may want to take more time.

[waveman1500]

It's worth going to the drags if the timing fits in right, either in the city or the country. You'll get lots of classic Aussie cars at either.

The Holden factory in Elizabeth is worth a look if you can get in, but they don't normally do tours for the general public. You could try your luck and send them an email anyway though!

The Great Ocean Road is good, but beware of the caravans choking up the roads on weekends!

[dodgerover]

When you head towards Ayers Rock take the Plenty highway after Mount Isa if its been graded recently it cuts off about 500 km (from memory) of boring drive - its dirt and likely to be corogated in places, stop off for a beer at the pub in Urandangi, you can go Fossicking in Gemtree if thats your thing too, it'll also give you a chance to see the real heart of Aus. Theres a couple of places to camp along the way and the pub had fuel and (i think) the Gemtree camp ground also.

Play identify the film sets in and around Coober Pedy - but don't even think about camping there its way way too hot....

Have a look at the Philip Island circuit too when you've done the Great Ocean Road

Ayers rock is a long bloody way from anywhere - don't count on being able to make it through on the dirt roads around their either, check at the road houses for up to date info.

[g111mds]

sounds like a great trip - enjoy! we were there last year and drove the coastal route from Sydney to Melbourne.

[v8ade]

Plan is fly to cairns 4 days on the reef then fly to Alice springs coach it out to Ayres rock for 2 days then back to Alice to catch the Ghann railway all the way down to Adelaide.
Here we pick up an Holden cruze to travel the coast road all the way around the Great ocean road back up to Cairns 6800 miles all in for the whole trip , were stopping at Philip Island, Wollongong,and Sydney for the new year then to Canberra for the nationals then Brisbane and a few other places in between 4 1/2 weeks all together so I'm hoping for a few good photo opportunities of some good old classic British and Australian cars as well as some big engine utes

[devilishdesigner]

Depending on your dates/tastes I would Highly recommend Kustom Nats over Summernats (same weekend, but at Phillip Island) check out some photos here: crcooperphotography.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/kustom-nationals-2013/

Make sure you head up from Melbourne to Sydney via the Princes Highway rather than the Hume, well worth the extra few hours driving, some lovely roads and beautiful beaches along the way.

[waveman1500]

I would upgrade the Cruze to an SV6 Commodore, it would be a crying shame to do the Great Ocean Road in a Cruze. If you're a Ford man then go for a Falcon XR6.

[timmy201]

There is a good museum in Bathurst
nmrm.com.au/

Lindsay Fox (Linfox trucking owner) has a good collection in Melbourne CBD
www.foxcollection.org.au/

I'd recommend stopping at Kiama/Gerringong instead of Wollongong though.. (I work in Wollongong and live near Kiama)

[jader1973]

Nov 19, 2013 1:28:32 GMT waveman1500 said:

I would upgrade the Cruze to an SV6 Commodore, it would be a crying shame to do the Great Ocean Road in a Cruze. If you're a Ford man then go for a Falcon XR6.

I'd recommend upgrading too. The Cruze is a good car but given the km you're doing a Commodore would be a nicer place to be. Aircon on a Commy is better for a start. Also bear in mind just because it says Cruze you may not get one. Last time my parents were here the booking said Cruze but they ended up with a Mitsubishi Lancer.

If you're in Melbourne before the 13th of Dec, or after the 20th of Jan then the Holden HQ has a small gallery of concept cars and a shop selling merchandise that is open on week days. Efijy lives there most of the time. Ask nicely and they might let you take a photo or two.

Give yourself plenty of time: Brisbane to Cairns is a 20 hour drive for example, and try not to drive after dark. Roos and wombats are not things you want to encounter, and even main roads aren't that busy so they are a common sight (or a least pieces of them are).

Another tip, if you're driving along and a semi/ B double comes up behind you let them past as soon as you can - they will sit on your bumper and stress you out otherwise.

Which brings me on to.....Aussie drivers are pretty poor. Tailgating is normal - they aren't being aggressive, just stupid. For example you can be doing the limit on a dead straight, virtually deserted road, and some halfwit doing 10km/h over the limit will catch up to you and sit THREE FEET from your back bumper for mile after mile after mile.

Queenslanders are the worst - they all sit 5km/h below the limit for some reason.

And don't speed - the cops really don't like it and they hide in all sorts of obscure places, even in the middle of nowhere.

[notsoswift]

And our camera's are hidden
A good mate of mine left $2800 poorer after only a couple of weeks. We worked out if he had of been local he would have lost his license 6 times!
Worst bit is he was just home and getting back into normal life and they started coming in the mail... and another, and another

[jader1973]

Nov 19, 2013 20:08:00 GMT notsoswift said:

And our camera's are hidden
A good mate of mine left $2800 poorer after only a couple of weeks. We worked out if he had of been local he would have lost his license 6 times!
Worst bit is he was just home and getting back into normal life and they started coming in the mail... and another, and another

Good point!

Beware of any modern SUV/estate parked at the side of the road. Chances are it will be a speed camera.

[waveman1500]

Nov 20, 2013 0:46:51 GMT jader1973 said:

Good point!

Beware of any modern SUV/estate parked at the side of the road. Chances are it will be a speed camera.

In SA they are mostly Camrys (front bumper mounted cameras) or dual-cab utes with canopies (tripod cameras).

Also beware that motorbike cops will often sit on the side of the road with their radar guns.

[vitesseefi]

And they can be 100s of ks from ANYWHERE....... guess how I know that....

Nick

[bumberding]

Don't expect to see many interesting things on the road, unfortunately 90% of Australians think putting some chrome alloys and a stupid exhaust on some horrific V6 is modifying! The best bit is when they pull off from the lights and you can hear a mile off that its a poorly old V6 AUTO! HAHA.

Only time I see interesting things is on the weekend if there happens to be a show or meet on. Oh and the only English ting you'll see is the odd die hard Land Rover fan. Everyone drivers Toyota's or Nissan's!

[jader1973]

You see more classics at weekends because of the club rego scheme which gives a reduced fee but restricts use to 90 days a year.

As for British stuff, I see quite a few classics - most of which are actually Australian because they were built here. I found out yesterday that they assembled MGBs here between 1963 and 1972. Even Mercedes assembled locally at one point.

[waveman1500]

Yes, the tariffs on imported cars used to be huge, which caused all manner of cars to be assembled here. Ford, Holden, Chevrolet, Buick, Chrysler, Dodge, International Harvester, Bedford, Morris, Austin, Wolseley, Leyland, Triumph, Standard Vanguard, Rambler, Hillman, Humber, Singer, Simca, Renault, Peugeot, Mercedes, Toyota, Mitusbishi, Datsun and Nissan, Volkswagen, Volvo and more!

Some of the cars were just assembled from Completely-Knocked-Down (CKD) kits, but a lot of them had huge amounts of local content, including locally pressed panels and locally made engines. In the mid 1960s, Volkswagen Australia had 95% local content and even developed it's own model, the Country Buggy. Ford, Holden, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and British Leyland/BMC all had full local manufacturing operations.

[dapper]

Plenty to see here. Just come in from a walk round the block having seen a BMC Farina of some description

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/120155/melbourne-metal

You'll not be disappointed round these parts