SYDNEY CRUISE - 28/04/2002

All but NTRX met @ Sylvania and had a great run through the Royal National Park. Macquered(306 2.0)/Avi8n(205GTi) and myself led the pack through the park. At one stage, the Mi16 was getting smoky brakes due to heavy pressure being applied - must have been all that speed I was wiping off constantly!!! Not a hint of fade tho' which was good! The weekend traffic was kind and stayed away in these parts so gave us some clean roads to use. Next stop was Stanwell Park which was bathing in sunshine - what a difference 20kms make! We had a chance to get talking again and check out the respective engine bays and interiors checking out the mods and tidiness of them all. Also the 206CC roof succumb to peer-pressure and got dropped for some piccies! Plus the brakes on the Mi16 had a good chance to cool down - at least they do not squeal anymore!

Back onto the F6, we stopped at Bulli to meet with NTRX - BTW we heard him before we saw him thanks to Hi-Tech's new addition to his exhaust system!! Nice system From there it was a leisurely cruise via freeway and country roads into the base of the Cambewarra ranges, into a pretty town called Berry. A farm paddock was used for much needed 'pit-stops', I am sure we got a few funny looks! We followed a brand new yellow CV8 Monaro up onto the mountains - lucky of the colour as he pretty much showed where the road was heading! That road was interesting - mostly 2nd & 3rd gear corners with those uphill hairpins you look for through the top of the windscreen or the sunroof due to the very quick incline they take! I am sure this Monaro had traction control or at least a high resistance to applying the accelorator in the wet! I was anticipating some 'tail-wagging' from him but it did not happen We lost him at a turn off and I had to fend for the group by leaning well forward in the seat and peering through the fog! I think we had 30-50m of vision -I loved it.

We made it to Mt Cambewarra for lunch and what a view - just huge amounts of cloud! It did lift once for a view down into Nowra just to let us know what was down there. We dined with Peacocks/Kooka's and Kurrawongs who enjoyed the hamburger meat immensely. The rain returned at the right time so off we headed for the cars. NTRX had to return to Sydney so it was down to six.

We came down off the mountain like a long snake - all with the mid mounted aerials ensuring I kept track on the numbers. We had a normal trip into the valley due to a bit of holiday traffic returning to Sydney. Once we hit the huge incline onto the Fitzroy Range - the EB Falcon infront found it too difficult to go fast so those nice hairpins you can see on the maps were not approached as quick as we would have liked. The first left hand hair-pin saw this afore mentioned Falcon under-steer so badly, he locked up and crossed onto the wrong side of the road. I almost ducked up underneath him but I was not feeling that cheeky That driver I think got very scared about the lack of handling he had so he kept ever corner safe. We backed off and let him go but on corner later - we had caught him already We all tried as much as we could to have fun - that was the main thing.
The Froggies made it look so easy due to their wonderful handling capabilities (and drivers ).

We copped a bit more rain up the top of the range leading into Mittagong from where we said our good-byes. We all had a great day and pity some of you missed out, maybe next time. The Hume Hwy was pretty congested but still kept flowing well so we were home by 4pm.

So for all of you who came, sorry the digital failed so early - I got five pictures out of the battery, that's all! Time to buy a new one I think! Can't wait to see the scanned pictures in the coming weeks from the 35mm/APS film.

Well happy 'glancing' and see you next time - not too far away this time huh???????

Cheers
Stu G