Annual Cruise Shakedown....

[Aaron]

I have the finished product, will SMS it to you (no upload here)..

Yes Kitty and I are back in Canberra - after a 9 hour drive yesterday we can report that Stinky is home safe.

Aaron's Weekend with AGT:

Friday:
Nice easy start from Canberra considering we'd all been awake for Dans arrival in the Astina a bit after Midnight (I knew it).. We got on the road about 7:30 and headed fro Cowra. I kept the pace up while the $249 GPS reiterated the directions. We stopped for Breakfast to await Chipa and Mrs Chipa, learning that they'd been tailed by the local cops for a distance set the tone of responsibility for the weekend.

Our second leg was to run pretty much from Cowra upt toe Tamworth, hopefully to meet up with Brian and Froggy, however we out-mapped ourselves and ended up doing 13km of dirt/gravel road. It was about 1500m into the 16km dirt stretch that Stinky and I chickened out and Skitz and Rupewrecht tagged along on the tarmac towards Dubbo before bolting towards Dunedoo. Eventually we rejoined Chipa and Cosmo on the Golden Highway and hit Dunedoo. We all took a splash of fuel to ensure we made Tamworth.

Passing through Gunedah we finally got mobile reception long enough for me to call Kitty, Sorta call Brian (then in Tamworth) and get 19 SMS's asking WTF were we...

From a McDinner at Tamworth we fuelled again and ran quickly towards Armidale, the $249 GPS skirting the town centre and flawlessly leading us around the perimeter of town. We made another quick stop att eh Armidale Airport servo to pick up some fresh milk and ice.

Finally we arrived at Dorrigo, after way too many hours on very rough roads, as Dans loose bonnet can attest.

I think the four cars and 6 of us showed great humor and tolerence through the day as it was far from a "easy" trip. Anyone who thinks Stinky has great suspension only needed to see Aleks and I fall out ot the car on the trip and limp about. The other give away was the drinking to numb the pain upon arrival.

Our arrival at Dorrigo was a warm welcome, and we hit the drink - Eric and Andy were dubbed "Bill and Ted" for reasons they probably can't remember but everyone had a good time until the small hours of the morning.

I then stayed up another hour tidying the cabin and programming the cruise route into the GPS

Saturday
Wake up around 8am and get up to discover that Aleks and I had pretty much cleaned up our 4 day supply of alcohol... Restocking would need to take place that afternoon when we collected Kitty.

As the rest of AGT came to life cars were worked on and the comraderie and spirit of AGT really shone.

Newman joined us and we discussed routes and cruises while waiting for the Skitz & Bourbs nut-hunt to finish. Unfortunately for Chipa the drive in had not been without cost, In the lead Aleks adn I had dodged a carcass, and the other cars had followed our veer, except for Chipa who grazed the side of a Echidna. The result was a sidewall full of spikes and a slowly deflating tyre.

Given our lateness adn the overall seediness of the group we descended Dorrigo Mountain and drove straight to Coffs Harbour's Plantation Hotel for lunch in the Beer garden.

A gentle drive out the Jetty and a walk in the blowing gale to the end for some pics and fresh air. Eventually we headed for the lookout above the airpoprt to await Kitty's flight..

It came eventually...

With Kitty in tow we met up witht he rest fo the group at Toormina Gardens where shopping for provisions had been taking place.

And thus commenced the prepartions for the Party in the Hall.

Thanks to our staggered arrival back in Dorrigo the Hall had been heated and fired up, food was ready to go out and decorations ready to go up. Thanks to participation from the group we were quickly into "party" mode and enjoying the unity of the group.

Massive thanks to Kitty for the hall idea and making sure it all happened.

Sunday:
Another cruise, but this time closer to the plan. We headed west for Waterfalls and Lookouts - before returning to Dorrigo.

Kitty wasn't too well so we trailled the pack pack stopping in town for dinner, catching up with Chicaboo, Mitch, Kaz and Bourbs .. A plan was hatched...

Returing to Camp AGT a two plans were formed, the first saw a few of us head in to Dorrigo for food, the pub was doing roaring trade and fed the hungry.

A night run down to Coffs harbour was hastily arranged and to keen ones piled into cars for a run down the mountain.

All was going well - despite the locals showing us how a Commodore can cut fully hectic skids and Rupwrechts wiring not playing ball.

A few more stops and we hit up the local carwash, taking off the grime from the earlier cruise, and left to climb the mountain.

All was going well, the Moutnain was deserted, the turbos running very well in the cool damp air and tanks tot eh v6 brake conversion a week before I was confident enough to give Stinky a decent push up the hill.

We were well past halfway up whent he temperature guage took a climb and I backed off, immediately we saw a drip in temp so we took it easy back to camp AGT, and left him idle down, and finally shut him off.

Monday:
Went out to Stinky and amidst all of the packing going on checked the oil and water. And that's where problems struck. Stinky had gotten more than a bit warm and indeed had lost a lot of coolant.

Filling him with water only made things worse as it was running out almost as fast as I filled.

To make a very long story short, Nate and Dan put in an awesome effort of getting tot he water pump inlet, and coating it with RTV sealant so it held water a lot better.

We then convoyed down to Coffs harbour and another lunch at the Planto, where we were left by the others.

Kitty and I then found accomodation basically opposite the Mazda dealer - The temporary repair was holding water but we felt it was safer to pay to get it fixed in a place we are familiar with rather than Joe-Randoms on the highway... Why Mazda? Well they were in town (meaning we could walk between hotel, town and Mazda without a car or taxi cost), those guys know BP motors, the dad of an old school friend worked there.

So on Tuesday morning I went in and told my sad tale. The Service manager and mechnic had a good look att he car, noted the same engine bay (basically smallest BA platform bay) and took on the job. They called just before lunch to say that they're got it apart, and replaced the blown gasket, and put it together.

After lunch they called to say it was together and holding water. Relief was and understatement at that point.

We picked him up not long after, and yes a stellar job had been done.

I cannot recommend Fitzroy Motors in Coffs Harbour enough, they took the time to get us back on the road, did the job right and did it fast (they've only got a small workshop, but as the only Mazda dealer around they're well trained and very well equipped) the price was also very reasonable.

Rather than do a run through the night, we stayed on in Coffs Harbour and left around 10am Wednesday.

Summary:
* Dirt roads suck when travelling A-B
* GPS (even $249 Soniq units) rocks
* Sometimes sh!t just goes wrong
* Stinky can be very economical
* AGT is a family, not just a club or website

Thank you to everyone who came, each of you made your own impacts on the weekend and I'm sure things will be even more amazing at the next one.

A.