Sunday 16 October 2011

esCarpade 2011 - Day 2 - Geelong-Apollo Bay-Warrnambool

Day 2 begins...  While driving into Geelong at the end of day 1, Damian noticed a slight exhaust leak noise...  First things first - time to see if it was!!


Jo has a crack at fixing it...  wrong side, Jo!!


Damian located (and fixed) the leak - the flange had rattled loose connecting the exhaust pipe to the cast iron manifold...  A few twists of the 5/8" spanner and all was fixed!!


Another car (351 perhaps?) woke to find they had a flat tyre... bugger!!


Damian and Jo went on an adventure to find a BP to fuel up.  First up, there was a BP at a street that Damian had googled, but it wasn't there.. then the GPS told them to go to another location, where there was a construction site, but no BP... third time lucky - they fueled up!!


Heading back to the breakfast venue, Damian and Jo-Anne noticed that they were turning down the same street that the hotel was on that they had stayed in!!


Driving through Geelong...


At breakfast, Damian did some running repairs to his sunnies...  noone will notice, surely?


Lining up in the car park...


The breeze was ripping through - thank goodness for the beanie knitted by Adriana's mum Pauline!!


The local Rotary club had laid on breakfast for the esCarpadians...


The Geelong waterfront and boat harbour...


Time for the cars to leave...  SPOOK looking, well, spooky!!


Filing out...


Time for Snot Rocket, Purple People Eater (808) and Booger Mobile to roll out...


Snot Rocket was blowing bubbles...


Team Afro gave Damian and Jo a teddy bear...  (Team Afro are in Snot Rocket.)


Having passed his breath test and hit the road, there were cyclists everywhere!!


Heading out of Geelong, and more cyclists...


Snot Rocket pulled up alongside, so Teddy Bear posed for a photo...


Bitumen... yay.


Smily face made a guest appearance, and Damian's guitar case was dusty!!


Driving along the waterfront...


Further...


Past a wind turbine that wasn't turning...


Along tree lined roads...


To Bells Beach!!


Damian and Jo posed for a photo...


Bells Beach...


2DOGZ turning left in front of Booger Mobile.


And onto dirt for the first time on day 2!!


Past a funky looking tree...


And long, straight dirt roads!!


And some curvy dirt roads on the top of a hill!!


The roads got a little wet and slippery...


Ten-4 (Rolls Royce) getting some assistance from Mobile Workshop 3 - this entitles them to a guest appearance on the blog, despite their pleads not to!!


Teddy Bear enjoying hanging around in Booger Mobile...


Tree lined dirt roads...


Past a dam on the top of a hill... that's something you don't see every day!!


Ho hum, another tree lined dirt road!!


And back onto bitumen...


Lots of trees... and a dirt road!!


Heading down the hill towards Apollo Bay...


Water!!


Heading along the waterfront...


Past the Great Otway National Park, which is where the morning's driving took place...


And onto the Great Ocean Road...


Lots of nice pictures...


A quick stop to snap Booger Mobile...


At the Cumberland River...


Beautiful water, but the breeze was ripping through!!


Back onto the dirt again...


Then back onto bitumen...


Heading into Apollo Bay for lunch...


Great Ocean Wines - lunch time!!


Booger Mobile parked at lunch...


Prior to lunch, Damian noticed that the engine was idling far too high, around 1500 rpm.  When he stopped for fuel, he determined that the problem was a sticky accelerator cable.  After lunch, the Mobile Workshop guys came to have a bit of a look, sprayed some slippery stuff on the cable and declared it good to go!!


However...  when they got in the car to go, Jo discovered she had lost her reading glasses!!  Damian pulled the stuff out of the car - no glasses.  He looked along where he thought the car was parked, but couldn't find them.  Jo went down to have a look along the edge of the road, and found her glasses!! 

Sadly, they had then run out of time to do the dirt stages for the afternoon session, so they headed off down the Great Ocean Road towards Warrnambool...  With an obligatory self portrait!!


Rabbits Foxes hanging on a fence... let that be a lesson for them!!


Getting overtaken by one of the Official Vehicles...


Stopping at Castle Cove for a picture - the wind was so strong, it nearly blew Damian off his feet - literally!!


See, told you it was Castle Cove!!


The view from the lookout...


And the other direction...


Looking back towards the road...


A handy reminder!!


Next stop, Gibson Steps.


More cliffs and water...


Looking towards the Twelve Apostles...


Steps...


Next stop, the Twelve Apostles...


With a self portrait to boot!!


Flash sign...


Hamming it up for the camera!!


The Twelve Apostles... this is why people drive the Great Ocean Road!!


And again...


Looking the other way...


And not so zoomed in!!


Self portrait of a wind-swept Jo and Damian!!


And back on the road, heading towards Warrnambool...


Large bales of rolled up hay... but Damian thinks they look like alien pods!!


Past Cheese World... what a shame it was closed!!


Being overtaken by 969...


At dinner, Booger Mobile and Kermit...  Kermit seems to have much more ground clearance... or maybe it's an optical illusion!!


Inside the venue, the girls check out the decorations...


Damian and Jo with a great self portrait!!


Dinner time!!


And so ended day 2.  A few minor, niggling issues with Booger Mobile.  An indication of items that need to be looked at ready for next year, but hopefully they won't cause any great issue for the remainder of this esCarpade!!

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