Pete, standing in front of his shop in Sydney. You can see his Rapier and his Falcon Ute, with his Tiger in the background.
This is part of the entourage we traveled with at the Mount Panorama Race Track in Bathurst. Pat and Kelly were "experiencing" the track when we took this picture.
Pat and Kelly, back from their tour of the racetrack in Ken Jacob's Tiger.
Behind Bette and Tom is the final downhill straightaway on this track. On raceday, many competitors are airborne after they pass under this bridge, only to come to a 30 mph 90 degree curve just below us on the track.
This is the first time on this trip that Pete ran out of gas. It happened again, twice. We've been discussing the merits of my five speed conversions since our return.
Heading out of town after our first overnight stop, we ran into this unusual steel sculpture. Rusty steel with stainless steel weld beads to create the surface graphics.
Don't know exactly why, but the group wanted to stop here, shoot some pictures, and then proceed into town for gas and breakfast.
OK, this is some of the "outback". Lots and lots of outback. A few clumps of gum trees, shrubs and hardy grass. Could be California in a few years!
We were pretty much playing Tail End Charlie for a lot of the trip. Here in the outback, roads were typically pretty straight.
This is a small part of the tailings and slag from the mining operations in Broken Hill. In the background you can see one of the smelters and one of the open pit operations they have converted to to improve safety.
This is the town of Broken Hill, taken from the top of the tailings pile south of town. We've heard since our return that the town has run out of drinking water. Not good when you're located in the outback.
One of the hulks of movie vehicles created for the Mad Max movies on display at the Mad Max Museum - out in the middle of no where. Mostly junk welded together to look menacing.
Here are the five Tigers and four wives in front of the Mad Max Museum. Notice the screen on the front of Roger's blue Tiger on the right. Good to keep the bugs off, but not so good to prevent Roo damage.
Yeah, they have lots of Kangaroos. Daytime they pretty much stay off the road. At dusk, they make driving in the outback much riskier.
Hard to actually see the Murry River in the background, but this is a shot from the Loxton Hotel through the park toward the river.
The Show & Shine in the center of downtown Loxton.
Here are the ladies of our traveling entourage back from "shopping", while the boys played with their cars.
This is one of the six Tigers we authenticated during this event. This one belongs to our newest TAC Inspector, Graham Gilbert of Victoria. Pete did his initial training and we "broke him in" at Loxton, giving him hands on TAC experience.
This is the loading end of the wood fired boiler on the side wheel river boat on the Murray River. Just walking by it you could really feel the heat, so we moved up to the second deck.
Looking down, we caught Pat, Kelly, and Pete on the bow.
Tigers at the Microbrewery on the Murray River.
Looking back from the other direction. This was a record turnout for an Australian National Event with 17 Tigers in attendance.
While waiting for the river ferry at Swans Reach, we spotted the high water marks for previous floods in this location. Way up on the pole is the 1956 flood mark. Considering the enormous size of the flood plain in this area, that was a lot of water to set that mark.
The gang and the ferry we took on the trip from Loxton to Adelaide.
Remaining part of the entourage at the entrance to the National Motor Museum located in the town of Birdwood, just outside Adelaide.
There were a lot of cars, trucks and motorcycles in the museum, but this one kinda stood out as uniquely Australian. It's a 1976 Holden (Chevy) Panel Van known as the " HX Sandman". It was created to respond to a youth trend in OZ of buying commercial vans and customizing them. Holden saw this trend and capitalized on it creating this ready-made custom van, powered by a 256 cubic inch V8 engine. I wonder what they planned on doing in the back?
This was spectacular sculpture in the Adelaide Botanical Park. It's made from upright slabs of glass mirror stock about 1/2" thick. It's hollow in the center and I saw a unique opportunity to take a photo with Pat and I on one side with Bette and Kelly on the outer. We almost look like we're standing together, but we're 30+ feet apart.
Bette has a special moment at the animal park holding a Koala Bear.
Tthe glass front of Andrew and Julie Ford's ranch house overlooking the Finness River south of Adelaide.
40 + acres of Shiraz and Cabernet grape vines on Andy's ranch.
The back side of Andy's ranch house.
The beach near Adelaide Shores Park at Glenelg. A really beautiful area.
This is about how close our cabins were to the water at Adelaide Shores Park.
Andy's Prototype Mk II Tiger. It started life as Med Blue, color code 100, but Andy prefers this bright yellow color.
One of Andy's Formula Racers, it was being re-bodied to upgraded specifications at his home in Adelaide.
One of the very rare Australian Chrysler Valiants, designed and produced to race at Bathurst. It's based on a shortened Dodge Duster A-body floor plan. In place of a V8, they used an overhead valve straight six producing over 300 horsepower.
This is the monster six cylinder engine with Webers. It was connected in its final configuration with a four speed trans and a trunk full of fuel tank, including dual inlets.
A beautiful sunset at the ranch th night before we left for Sydney.
The famous Blue Lake in Mount Gambier, South Australia. This geographic area sits on a huge limestone base and is known as the Limestone Coast. Look for wines from this area.
The night before we left, Pete, Bette and I had a final dinner at Ken and Louise's in-town home on Sydney Harbor. Absolutely spectacular setting.
The 12 Apostles located on the Shipwreck Coast west of Melbourne, Victoria, just before the rain started.
