Day Off!

Today was our official day of rest. The mechanics were ballistically busy, fixing cars, cleaning engine components, repairing wear and tear. One team even managed to do an entire engine removal and installation as the road challenges our elderly steeds. Big round of applause to the tireless efforts of the three mechanic teams, they work constantly, behind the scenes and are incredible for on road service. Just about every car that has had issues is in fine working order. They are super guys.

Today was stinking hot, it was steady on 34 for most of the day so indoor venues were a sought after retreat. Many people explored the town and took tours of the surrounding mines and opal fields.

The evening culminated in a 'mini Olympics' hosted by Josh and Candice, our esCarpade directors. It was a night of high spirits, lively banter, cross dressing Karaoke and wig wearing dance floor action

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Lorne Station

We had a great experience at Lorne Station, a gathering place on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge, where we were able to enjoy an open air dinner amongst the mines and scrub of the areaBelow is a touch of the Gold Coast in Lightning Ridge. They also have a nice, big, green car. I'm not sure what the correlation is between Gold Coast and green cars, but I'm ok with it all anyway.
Highlight of the evening was perhaps when one of our entertainer's donned an American Indian headdress and sang Apache.
Some more esCarpadians...
The crew amongst the trees...

Our hosts were amazing putting on a lavish spread and then following this up with our own personal music concert complemented by open pit fires.

It sure was convivial!

Burren Junction - Collarenebri - Lightning Ridge

That's Barney Rubble in the background just catching up on some news via his hi-tech stone phone. Foreground is one of our favourite entrants from the TWODOGZ team.

Big Sky country out this way. Yup. A yawning landscape of dry, flat farmland and parched, rocky expanses became the backdrop for this afternoon's driving adventure. Long, straights of ochre sand and compacted clay were under wheel as we zoomed through back country on our way to Lightning Ridge.

The journey brought us to the tiny township of Collarenebri (population just shy of 500 people) where a fuel stop created mild panic and general mayhem for the service station employees. Kids swarmed the cars as the towns first ever traffic jam continued.
Meanwhile the long road and the team of esCarpadians were stirring up dust clouds that blanketed us as we snapped pictures en-route. Trevor, the ace photographer, caught the action from a variety of angles while I assisted on the road-side pics for maximum sweat, sun stroke and dustiness. Pictures were taken from the lips of an empty dam, the only elevation in the broad horizons.

We struck Lightning Ridge's broad streets and opal mined landscape in the early afternoon before retiring to our various hotels.

Chaos Corners

Instruction 71 on our course guide proved a little taxing for some. It was a switch back corner, and though pretty much blind, was clearly marked on our directions. About 50% of the cars completely missed the corner, with most overshooting then turning back. However 4 cars disappeared totally, mysteriously reappearing at another check point. It was a dusty spot to watch the classic stuff ups, but worth every hilarious moment.

Coonamble continues

The heat was prickly this morning. Dry, baking, sweat beading under hats and shirts, sunshine for miles and clear weather for our day of driving ahead. Smith Park played host to our morning check-in and Coonamble Rotary Club fed and watered us. Generous spirits and generous serves of bacon and eggs from Rotary Coonamble fortified us for our dusty drive to Burren Junction and they even tipped in a cash donation on top of all their other generous contributions. True to the spirit of a country town several of the local businesses of Coonamble also donated money and the local auto-electrician provided services and parts to many of the cars.

The road today was dusty. Really dusty. A brown fog featured for most of the morning as we weaved our way through Pilliga State Forest. The route this morning was particularly challenging with switch back corners* and obstacles on the road. Scenic, picturesque forest vistas framed the sandy route until we burst out and through Gwebegar and Pilliga townships.

We motored into Burren Junction for a school visit and lunch. Mid-harvest, one of the busiest times of year for the tiny town, the people of Burren Junction were warm and welcoming despite the season, and lunch was a marvellous buffet of cold meats and salads.

The puppets were on fire again, delighting the kiddies of Burren Junction School. Again we were blown away, the kids of Burren Junction raising money for Camp Quality and presenting the puppets with their generous donation.

It was a leisurely stop for the esCarpadians but Lightning Ridge was calling so the convoy cranked their engines and hit the road for another dusty stretch of north west NSW's finest outback roadways.

* Please see the next post for action and excitement from some of the switch back corners of this morning's route. Deviously planned by Ben our thoughtful route director.

Coonamble - Ride the Spirit (it's the town motto)

Not sure which spirit we are suggested to ride, perhaps the picture of the bull in the town logo or maybe it was a canny ploy by town officials to welcome esCarpade into town because we all know were riding the spirit of Camp Quality.

We we're greeted by kids in the streets, waving from footpaths and checkin out our cars.

A few of the lads thought it would be nice to make out behind the bonnet of the 015 BMW. Oh, hang on, they're checking something wrong with the engine.

This intrepid blogger had a quick chat on air on Coonamble Community Radio with broadcaster and journalist Emma. Nice gal doing good things in Coonamble.

Meanwhile, esCarpadians were gearing up for a night out on the turf.

It was straight to Coonamble Bowling Club for a few ends and a feed. What a great spot! A number of Coonamblens turned up to have a chat and a gawk. One of The Nuns was an excellent chaperone for some young locals.

Warrumbungles

The Warrumbungles framed most of this afternoon's drive as we weaved our way along the dusty public access roads from Binnaway to Coonamble.The route has been nicknamed 'Gridtopia' for its multitude of cattle grids, which was great for some of the esCarpadians complaining of bumnumbness, buttock paralysis, cheek flu and rearenditis. Many of the esCarpadians reckon they had a Dukes of Hazzard moment or two as they went over the cattle grid rises, but ace photographer Trevvy McTrevTrev Trevor can provide no evidence of such.
Below is an esCarpade stop, revive and survive AKA Cabanossi Stop.

Good form on the road today from the TWODOGZ team. Interesting little story here - TWODOGZ pilot, Tony, is an ex-rally driver who shared the road, way back when, with a young Craig Moffat. The TWODOGZ car also holds the title of this year's oldest car on esCarpade; it's a 1963 EJ Holden. The last sting in this bees tail is that Tony is the oldest entrant on esCarpade having clocked 72 years of age at his last checkpoint.

Here is today's esCarpade haiku:

Warrumbungles drive

Dust shrouded wacky vehicle

Coonamble final stop

Update. Our fearless leader, All Seeing All Knowing All Doing Josh, has intervened with an additional haiku:

Haikus are easy

But sometimes they dont make sense

EsCarpadian