Victorian Great Ocean Road run to Apollo Bay - Pics p.3 #39 onwards

[MickyD]

two things:

1st: if anyone has a spare UHF radio they can bring along, can I borrow it for the day???

2nd: this is potentially fairly important (from the citylink website)
If you are planning to travel this Saturday night, 5 June, please be aware that the Burnley Tunnel and the Domain Tunnel will be closed. The Burnley Tunnel will be closed from 12 midnight Saturday until 6am the following morning. The Domain tunnel will be closed from 11pm Saturday until 9am the next day.

[Todd!]

Micky D,

At that time in the morning on a Sunday, is Citylink worth it anyway??

I can lend you a small Uniden unit.... Otherwise they are <$99 at Smith for the same or cheaper for other brands.

Todd

[Todd!]

It censored our mate Richard!! Hehe!!

Todd

PS - Dont forget your CAMERAS!!!

[MickyD]

camera charging.... check
memory card cleard.... check
car cleaned, waxed and vacuumed.... check
alarm clock set for 6am (eek!)..... check

see you all tomorrow!

[Todd!]

^--^--^--^

Yeah, what he said!! - cept my alarm clock is set for 5:45!! Cause I'm starting in Melbourne!!

Weather forcast - not raining!! WooHoo

Catch you bright and early!!

Todd

[MickyD]

I live in seaford so it'll take me close to an hour to get to the Westgate, especially with a stop to fill up on the way (I can only use BP and Caltex with the fuel cards I've got)

[MickyD]

IDV10310

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT - BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY
VICTORIAN REGIONAL OFFICE
P.O. Box 1636M Melbourne Vic 3001 http://www.bom.gov.au

State Forecast
Issued at 1620 on Saturday the 5th of June 2004

Warnings
Nil.

Weather Pattern
A high pressure system over southern New South Wales will drift eastwards
reaching the Tasman Sea by Monday. A series of weakening cold fronts will move
from the Bight towards Tasmania on Monday and Tuesday but a stronger cold front
will move through Victoria on Wednesday.

Victoria
Tonight and Sunday: Fine apart from morning fog and frost in the north and east
and patchy rain developing in the far southwest later. Cool with increasing
cloud and light northerly winds freshening in western and central areas.

[Todd!]

What a day!!

I had such a good drive today....

The roads were perfect for Minis!!

Thanks to Gripper, Samu, mini_bm, Steve, Lousie and Aaron for their company. A great time was had by all!! (AND MickyD!!)

I wish I had a shot of Aaron's face as he had his JCW very very sideways coming out of Wye River!! (highlighting the benefit of knowing how to drive!!)

Keep posted for some possible "calendar-worthy" shots from the crew!!

Thanks for the info from Bill about the CAI's - this has made my decision much easier.

The fingermarks in the dashboard from my dad will be a reminder of the event for a long time to come!! Hope to do it again some time!!

If the Mini NSW crew runs are half as cool as Bill was describing, Im there!!
(He tells me to bring a bucket and sponge!?! )

Todd

[Todd!]

Thanks again to MickyD for the Cooper signature sticker also!!


Todd

[Todd!]

More photos....

Todd

[Todd!]

Scotty, wait til you see Mickyd's shots!!
(I'm happy cause most of his really good ones have my car in them!!!)
Todd

[mini_bm]

Agreed! What a great day!

I'm sure all involved had a great day on some of the country's best roads.

Many thanks must go to Todd for organising the day and the itinerary. I'm sure all would agree. Thanks Todd. It was great to see some new faces on the drive.

Please keep an eye out for some great photos to come.

However there was one HUGE disappointment. I am sure I'm not alone in thinking this! From the feedback we have had received from the mini2 website, we were expecting quite a few minis to attend the drive. The day started with only 5 minis leaving our designated Melbourne start point(thanks again todd for coming up to melbourne to meet us), and then a stop in Geelong to pick up another 3 minis.

After another stop at the tourist gates of the Great Ocean Road and then driving through Lorne, we reached the outskirts of Apollo Bay. To my surprise, and the others in our group, we see a large convoy of minis leaving Apollo Bay and heading back towards Melbourne. Firstly I thought, this cant be! From an event that was meant to bring mini drivers together, it seems to have divided them.

*** dreams of attending a drive day in nsw ***

*** wakes up ***

I can go on, and I know I should, but I wont.

For everyone who attended, thanks again. I really did enjoy myself today. Will post some photos soon.

Bill

[MickyD]

Was a FANTASTIC day... I'll echo Bill's comments about the splintering groups, or whatever is going on. It seems a bit peculiar to me.

I'm just uploading small versions of a selection of the pictures to my website, I'll post a link in a few minutes.

[Todd!]

Thanks Bill!!

I appreciate the kind words...

I was disappointed in the actions of some of the others on Mini2, after they previously posted confirming departure time, etc... We waited in the cold for 20 minutes for them, as did the guys in Geelong for us.

Dont PM me telling me you will catch up, only to do a 'no show' at the departure point, only to be seen down the road, returning...

It was certainly disappointing for all of us to drive past these people that we had waited for earlier.

I dont understand why they ran parallel / identical runs....

If you were worried about police, etc... contact us all!! We had no issue with police all day, we observed the speed limits on most occasions, had a range of driver ability and speed ,and still had a fabulous day.

A number of people stated today, that Mini2 would bring the owners together, and not end up 2 Mini runs.... Any one else want to comment??

Todd

[MickyD]

PHOTOS ARE UP!
(only small versions, I'm on dialup at the moment)

http://mpd.smugmug.com/gallery/133712