The Side-Benefits of Insomnia
#1
Shootin' from the hip
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The Side-Benefits of Insomnia
Went to a rello rally at my Dad's place in Bundanoon on the weekend. Woke up around 5.00am Sunday morning and could not get back to sleep (must have been the port we ended up getting into!! ).
As the house was full of sleeping siblings and kids, decided to go for a walk. Damn, drizzling. Not keen on walking in the rain. Then the light bulb finally comes on! :o
Grab the keys and start up, while trying to decide where to go. Ended up heading for Penrose and points south first. Still very dark with some light drizzle off and on and rolling fog patches. Once the car was properly warmed up leant into some long flat sweepers and scared the crap out of some sleeping cows in the straights. Eyes peeled and very alert for thrill-seeking marsupials. High beam playing off the eucalypts at the roadside making it all look very spooky.
Back through Bundanoon then a blast along the Illawarra Highway through Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong. Getting light along that stretch but still only the odd car and rusty old Lancruiser around.
A side trip up Mt Gibraltar where the roads are narrow, unmarked and banked on either side. Looks like those rally roads you see in Europe. Still too much fog to appreciate the view. Sideways drifting around some of the corners, praying I don't hit any black ice and hooting with delight. It's only 6 degrees outside but I'm sweating.
Fill up and share a quick joke with the bleary-eyed servo owner. Then a run out to Robertson and back to Bundanoon along the back roads. Bucking over some of the ruts and running through the gears to redline time after time after time. Love that whistle with lift off as the rev limiter beeps in protest.
Picked up hot bread, croissants and the papers for the team and get back around 8.30 just as the early risers amongst them are surfacing. Car is ticking contentedly in the driveway, the wife is happy I've looked after everyone for breakfast and I've already had a great day and a drive to remember.
Yeah, sometimes not being able to sleep can be a real bitch!! :D :D :D
As the house was full of sleeping siblings and kids, decided to go for a walk. Damn, drizzling. Not keen on walking in the rain. Then the light bulb finally comes on! :o
Grab the keys and start up, while trying to decide where to go. Ended up heading for Penrose and points south first. Still very dark with some light drizzle off and on and rolling fog patches. Once the car was properly warmed up leant into some long flat sweepers and scared the crap out of some sleeping cows in the straights. Eyes peeled and very alert for thrill-seeking marsupials. High beam playing off the eucalypts at the roadside making it all look very spooky.
Back through Bundanoon then a blast along the Illawarra Highway through Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong. Getting light along that stretch but still only the odd car and rusty old Lancruiser around.
A side trip up Mt Gibraltar where the roads are narrow, unmarked and banked on either side. Looks like those rally roads you see in Europe. Still too much fog to appreciate the view. Sideways drifting around some of the corners, praying I don't hit any black ice and hooting with delight. It's only 6 degrees outside but I'm sweating.
Fill up and share a quick joke with the bleary-eyed servo owner. Then a run out to Robertson and back to Bundanoon along the back roads. Bucking over some of the ruts and running through the gears to redline time after time after time. Love that whistle with lift off as the rev limiter beeps in protest.
Picked up hot bread, croissants and the papers for the team and get back around 8.30 just as the early risers amongst them are surfacing. Car is ticking contentedly in the driveway, the wife is happy I've looked after everyone for breakfast and I've already had a great day and a drive to remember.
Yeah, sometimes not being able to sleep can be a real bitch!! :D :D :D
#2
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Sydney, Oz
Posts: 105
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nice work dude... sounds like a blast! :D I was in canberra over the weekend in the '8 and after taking a mate for a drive with the DSC on, and having it intervene mid correction of slide- and nearly chuck me up a gutter!... Oh noes!11one1! :p
I turned the DSC off and it was a little bit surprising lairy and sideways it gets in the wet under power at 45 km/hr in second gear... was a heap of fun though....
Rowds
I turned the DSC off and it was a little bit surprising lairy and sideways it gets in the wet under power at 45 km/hr in second gear... was a heap of fun though....
Rowds
#4
rock-->o<--hard place
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Canberra, AUSTRALIA
Posts: 3,242
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sounds fantastic, although unpredictable surfaces can be a worry. :o
I had a nice little drive late afternoon last week....the long way home (from Tuggeranong via Tharwa and Cotter, for those who know Canberra) just to blow a few cobwebs out of me and the car....
I had a nice little drive late afternoon last week....the long way home (from Tuggeranong via Tharwa and Cotter, for those who know Canberra) just to blow a few cobwebs out of me and the car....
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 624
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've been down to Canberra a couple of times since i got my 8.
Love the roads there, nothing like sydneys, nice and open, not congested and
i don't see many coppers. The roads there are perfect for a tail happy slide.
Love the roads there, nothing like sydneys, nice and open, not congested and
i don't see many coppers. The roads there are perfect for a tail happy slide.
#6
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Sydney, Oz
Posts: 105
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
nice timbo... we rally up that way semi regularly( was supposed to be last weekend but it got cancelled due to the rain causin ... and coppins crossing, uriarra and brindabella rds'are a very nice drive between stages!
#7
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Mundaring, West Australia
Posts: 459
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Revolver
Once the car was properly warmed up leant into some long flat sweepers and scared the crap out of some sleeping cows in the straights. Eyes peeled and very alert for thrill-seeking marsupials. High beam playing off the eucalypts at the roadside making it all look very spooky.
In fact it sounds almost enough fun to persuade me to get out of bed at 5 in the morning.... I do love those country drives.
We get a few of those thrill seeking marsupials in the countryside round here too. One roo jumped out of the proverbial "nowhere" into the path of an old van I had. Fortunately for both of us it hit the side of the car not the front and the only damage was a temporarily knocked out Skippy.
You get all sorts of wildlife doing the dash around here - a fox the other day (surprisingly, as it was 3 in the afternoon) and the other night a fat elderly pug suddenly waddled into the headlight beams and necessitated a quick ABS test! :D
#8
Shootin' from the hip
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I know what you mean BVD.
On our way to dinner at Sutton Forest pub on the Saturday night the first car in our little convoy had to stop sharply to avoid a rather obese wombat, which had decided to stop in the middle of the road for a ****!! :D
It was around then that I was glad I left the 8 at Dad's. That glad feeling intensified with each drink at the pub, knowing I was being chauffeured back to the old man's place. :p :D :D
On our way to dinner at Sutton Forest pub on the Saturday night the first car in our little convoy had to stop sharply to avoid a rather obese wombat, which had decided to stop in the middle of the road for a ****!! :D
It was around then that I was glad I left the 8 at Dad's. That glad feeling intensified with each drink at the pub, knowing I was being chauffeured back to the old man's place. :p :D :D
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Mundaring, West Australia
Posts: 459
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
LOL :D Nice wombat story, Revolver.
Clearly there's a marketing opportunity here for Hymee. We need a patent snowplough-like device to fit on the front when on country runs. The Hymee wombat/roo/fox/little old lady/pug swatter. Something that brushes them lightly to the verge instead of mincing them through the grille... :o
Clearly there's a marketing opportunity here for Hymee. We need a patent snowplough-like device to fit on the front when on country runs. The Hymee wombat/roo/fox/little old lady/pug swatter. Something that brushes them lightly to the verge instead of mincing them through the grille... :o
#10
i need a new photo
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,013
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Revolver,
Very nice, take a camera next time..... a month or so back my wife and kids decided we should go "horse riding". I like horses... at a distance, (I had to punch the last one I rode as it bit me, bad tempered bastard)...so i took my "horses" for a belt while they got sore ***** and wet.
Spent a similar hour belting around country roads......ain't life grand!
Very nice, take a camera next time..... a month or so back my wife and kids decided we should go "horse riding". I like horses... at a distance, (I had to punch the last one I rode as it bit me, bad tempered bastard)...so i took my "horses" for a belt while they got sore ***** and wet.
Spent a similar hour belting around country roads......ain't life grand!
#11
Shootin' from the hip
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Noted re: camera. I'm notorious for never taking photos of anything!! In fact, I don't even own a digital camera but the wife has one.
I actually like horse riding but driving is better!! :p :D
I actually like horse riding but driving is better!! :p :D