Road Trip - Day of the Volkswagen 2010
A few months ago I decided I wasn't going to miss another DOVW as I had only heard good things. The time approached rapidly, and before I knew it, it was 6:45am on Friday the 19th of November and I was being picked up by Steve Muller in the Kombi Rescue T5. After fuelling at the servo up the road and catching up with Ian and Adrian in the just completed Marcia June splitty panel, we headed off.
The Marcia June bus was a great looking rat style splitty panel and had just been registered the day beforehand. If anything was going to go wrong, it would no doubt happen somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne, but I was confident that the collective experience of Steve and Adrian Muller and token Canadian (and gun mechanic) Ian would be enough to resolve all but the most serious issue on the roadside.
First stop was at Benalla where Steve had organised to look at a few cars for Jason Adams (also on Volks Culture). Its always good to put a face to a name and Jason showed us a few cars and showed us his rapidly growing Tee shirt and sticker business.
After leaving Benalla, we headed for Shepparton where we were meeting up with Don Kendall, clipper bus and Kombi enthusiast where we'd be staying the night. Don was real gentleman and extended us every hospitality. We arrived at Don's workshop late in the afternoon.
He runs DSK, a waste management business, and there Ian, Steve and Adrian proceeded to raise the front of the splitty a few inches as it was scrubbing the tyres out every time you hit a bump. It easily went up with a forklift providing upward motivation in this case.
It was here than Ian fell in love with clippers, vowing that he would buy one as soon as he got back home in Saskatoon (Canada).
Saturday after having breakfast in a church converted to a modern cafe, we kept moving and headed for Melbourne. I had the opportunity to drive the MJ Splitty from here, and it was a ball. This bus is running all the gear and handled and performed effortlessly. The sound was just fantastic. Listen out for that in a future video I will produce of the event. Put it this way, I think we got more looks that an Audio R8 that we were travelling alongside in suburban Melbourne. Awesome!
Arriving in town early afternoon, we decided on lunch at Stephanie Alexander's Richmond Hill Cafe. Again, MJ got loads of attention cruising up Bridge Road. We coincidently pulled up outside Muller's Factory Outlet - cheap arse suits and the like. Food was great with Adrian in fine form complaining about the f"ing prices.
We were staying at The Bruce County Motor Inn, at Glen Waverley, and we decided to catch up in their bar for a drink before heading to "On Top" for a pre DOVW party. Warning, find out how much beer costs before you order it. We had ordered two rounds of HoeGaarden (Ian and I) before being told it was $17 per shot! Yikes! Worst thing was after two, we were just stupid enough to order a third round. Oh well.
Party at "On Top" was a blast. Lots of guys I hadn't caught up with for ages, cool rides, cheap beer and good food - but beware the "Three Wise Men", Jim, Jack and Jonnie. Thanks to the owners for showing us all a great time.
Following day, we headed for the show. It was at the racecourse in Yarra Glen, a very picturesque region of the Yarra Valley, one of Victoria's premier wine regions. Weather was perfect, cars were just great. Quite a few that really stood out from the crowd. Check out Adam's album for the best of them.
Highlights of the show for me were the arrival of Tony Anstee's rat rod drag dual cab split and getting up close to the amazing Type 3's of Volkommen Art.
I shot a fair amount of HD video (what you see here is from my mobile phone), so look out for a video of the event when I have time to edit it.
We left at around 2pm and dropped in at the Chateu Yering winery on the way back. As usual, we made a big impact pulling into a place where everyone is dressed in their Sunday best in a rat splitty.
From here I drove MJ back to the Hume Highway through Yea and some twisty turny roads that really brought out the best in split and driver. It occurred to me later why it was so much fun. The fact is when you are cocooned by air conditioned comfort, low noise and easy steering, you are distanced from the connection that occurs between the road, the location, the machine and you, the driver. Driving that ratty split panel with engine blaring, hot air (and the occasional insect) blasting through the quarter windows, the smell of petrol, rust and sweat in your nose, the feeling of hitting every apex, good friends by your side and the thought that you are one of only a minority experiencing this seat of the pants motoring any more was the real highlight of the entire trip for me. Lady luck was looking down on me this time.
We decided to break the trip back up with a stop at Holbrook, arriving there just before 6pm. Waiting for us were Tony (Pommy cock) and Andrew Dodd. We stayed in the 50s style Skye Motel, an old but tidy place on the main drag through town. Dinner at the local RSL/ghost town and a few games of pool finished the day off nicely.
Final day and as we left, Dutchy caught up with us driving the Noyes Bros splitty single cab. Coffee was total crapola in Holbrook so we decided to stop off in Gundagai at Maccas for at least a consistently average brew. While inside we were approached by a lady with a T4 camper who asked Steve to look at her bonnet catch (lucky Steve!). Coincidently she had a dog called Kombi. This sort of thing only happens on a Kombi cruise!
After there we headed for Greg Mackie's house. Greg is an absolute veteran Volks enthusiast having raced and restored Volkswagen's for decades. He is currently about to complete the complete restoration of a 1959 Cooper race car and has another garage full of very cool "toys" including a Porsche GT3, hand built Porsche 550 Spyder (replica) and a number of Beetle race cars to name just a few.
We left Greg's for the uneventful but fun run back to Sydney. What can I say? Great trip, great friends, great weather, great cars, great, great, GREAT TRIP!
Add a Comment
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Comment by Ash on November 30, 2010 at 7:28 -
Cheers Doc. We had a ball. Good to see you too.
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Comment by Beerdoc on November 27, 2010 at 8:53 -
GReat pics and vids good too see you guys
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Comment by Burly Burlile on November 24, 2010 at 4:36 -
Looks like it was a great road trip............
Burly
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Comment by KOM123 on November 23, 2010 at 10:33 -
One year I'll make it...
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Comment by Greg Christie on November 23, 2010 at 7:10 -
Sounds like it was an epic road trip!
© 2012 Created by Ash.
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