Friday 24 October 2014

esCarpade 2014 Day 6 - Wentworth - Clare (NSW) - Hay

Waking up in Wentworth, it was day 6 - a day that would include driving for 380km between fuel stops!!


Angus having breakfast at the Wentworth Services Club.


Arty-farty flag shot...


Ben doing driver briefing...


Hitting the road on the way to Clare Public School, with a massive 8 students!!


Bitumen... nice morning!!


Onto the open road...


Pretty clouds...


Good conditions...


Cattle grid... the first of many, MANY cattle grids for the day!!


Vroom!!


Damian suggested the scenery was so similar, he could have just used the same photo over and over!!


He wouldn't have been far wrong!!


Oh look, a bend in the road!!


Going good...


Wondering where the dirt is...


Whoop there it is!!


Onto the dirt...


Great driving conditions...


Unfortunately, Team Bender's esCarpade came to a crashing halt just after instruction 11 - thankfully no one was too badly hurt...  Team Bender have uploaded a dashcam video of the crash on Facebook - very lucky all round!!


After stopping to assist, and being no longer required, Team Booger Mobile hit the track again... another cattle grid!!


And lots of straight roads...




With the occasional T intersection thrown in!!


Back to the straight roads...




Always time for a selfie!!


Grid!!


The scenery had given way to row upon row of some kind of planted crop...


And the roads were straight!!







What's that noise asked Damian?  Better stop and check...  Oh for Pete's sake... another blowout!!  (This one not quite as catastrophic!!)


Next car along happened to be one of the mechanical workshops, who figured it was quicker to use their rattle gun than for the boys to use a wheel brace!!


Packing the busted tyre into the back...


And back on the road again...












Bridge over the Darling River.


It even had a bit of water in it!!



Pooncarie... last fuel for 380km!!



After fuelling up, it was back onto the dirt again!!





The occasional oncoming car kept the boys on their toes!!


What are the odds?  Another grid!!



Past an old farm shed/house...


And another grid!!


Did they need assistance?  Nope!!  Keep on rolling!!


Back on the straight and narrow!!





Past a slow moving grader... was very hard to see from behind!!















Nothing for miles!!


Except straight roads...



And cattle grids!!




















Turtles!!  Do you need a hand?  No, apparently they had it all under control - just a comfort stop!!















Bitumen ahead!!









Turning off to the Clare Public School.


Booger Mobile parked and ready for lunch!!


Great little school...


Time to fuel up Booger Mobile...


Bloop...


Bloop!!


Empty back on the roof...


Check that back tyre...


It needed pumping...


Back on the road - heading to Hay via the bitumen due to the lack of spare tyres...









Except after a few short kilometres, the bitumen ended, and the boys wound up on dirt for about 170km!!  They might as well have done the route!!






Next turn... 48km...











Past this tyre marker...







What looked to be a giant emu on the road, but was actually a huge tumbleweed type plant...



Of course, more grids!!






And back onto bitumen!!




And wouldn't you know it?  Somehow the GPS took the boys right back onto the course, and to a fun stop!!


After the fun stops, another 38 or so km of grids and dirt roads awaited!!














Before finally being back on the bitumen!!



And entering sunny, downtown Hay!!


Damian and Angus decided replacing one of the spare tyres would be prudent before the long drive back to Brisbane (and of course, there's one day left on the course).


Crap out of the boot so the tyres can come out...


The remains of the first blown out tyre...


The tyre place had a couple of second hand tyres the right size, so Damian ensured that there would be no further tyre issues by having both blown tyres replaced... He reckons if he only had one replaced, they would have had two more punctures!!

Of course, no esCarpade is complete with out a selfie with Chris from the Clowns...


And John wanted to jump in too!!


Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Bill wanted a turn... They were laughing so much, the camera didn't focus properly!!


Dinner in Hay...


More people...


Sitting at the table...


Damian ensuring that there is more food for himself by putting everyone else off their food!!


Someone farted up on that table...


The night ended with some karaoke being sung by some of the teams (much to their surprise, having been nominated by other teams!!), then Damian and Angus headed back to their motel room.

One more day of esCarpade 2014...  If you are in Albury, the boys and the rest of the esCarpadians will be rolling in there mid-afternoon!!

1 comment:

  1. All those cattle grids and not one single photo of any cattle?

    ReplyDelete