The day has arrived!! Driving to Tamworth!!

With barely three hours sleep under his belt, Damian was up early and packing his personal gear ready for the arrival of Scottie.

Scottie was excited and unable to sleep himself, so he came down to Team Booger Mobile HQ a little earlier than he anticipated, and the boys set about packing the gear into Booger Mobile.

Here's the gear in the back of the car (the lower part of the rear seat has been removed).



And the boot is now choc full...



Time to punch in the address - Motel Grande is at Goonoo Goonoo Rd in Tamworth!! It's fun to say - Goonoo Goonoo!! The boys were later to learn that it's not pronounced the way they thought, but it's still fun to say anyway!!

Time to head out the gate - time around 6:30am. Damian took the first driving shift knowing full well that he would be battling peak hour traffic!!

And up the road they go... Thanks to Damian's beautiful wife Tricia for these two photos!!

After being in stop start traffic for what seemed like an eternity, the boys headed towards the Western Freeway.

Follow the signs to Warwick along the new section of road... easy instructions!!

Past Willowbank, where a plane seems to be just hanging around...

Continuing on towards Warwick...

Where the boys stopped to fuel up and grab a cup of coffee.

Booger Mobile had been going well, and the boys had been waving and chatting on the UHF to people on the way down. However, the coffee from Warwick was so scaldingly hot that both boys managed to burn their tongues!! The dangers of hot coffee just can't be overstated!!

Scottie took over the driving duties after the fuel stop at Warwick... As you can see, he's having a whale of a time so far!!

Damian was having fun as per usual, and in this photo, even the air freshener wanted to get in on the act!!

The photo below was meant to be of something else, but it turned out to be an awesome shot of Giggle looking out the window!!

Uh oh, it's the Police!! Was Scottie in trouble for his driving???? No... it was just stopped on the side of the road doing some paperwork (presumably after booking someone else!!)

Booger Mobile and the boys headed south into New South Wales!

Passing through Tenterfield (said g'day to the Saddler)...

And drove down a beautiful tree-lined street...

And past a large rock structure...

Scottie was making himself comfortable while behind the wheel!!

Continuing down the New England Highway... speed limit - 100, Booger Mobile's speed - 88!!

Stopping at Glen Innes, the boys decided it was time for lunch. Booger was left to stare longingly through the window at the food... Sorry Booger!!

Before heading off again, the boys took the opportunity to check that all was well under the bonnet... and it was!!

After lunch at Glen Innes, Scottie was a bit sleepy so Damian had another shift behind the wheel.

Continuing on towards Tamworth...

Past another plane in the front yard... this time at the Uralla Military Museum.

Looks like steep descent coming up - this should be good for the fuel economy!!

And down, down, downnnnnnnnnnnn...

Some time later, the boys reached the outskirts of Tamworth!!

The Golden Guitar Information Centre - this MUST be Tamworth!!

The boys arrived at the Motel Grande in the delightfully named Goonoo Goonoo Road Tamworth. They have a separate self contained unit at the rear of the complex.

A couple of times on the way down, Booger Mobile decided it wanted to play silly buggers when attempting to start (after stopping for fuel). Click click, click click... The boys suspected that there mustn't be enough power getting through to the brand spanking new starter motor.

Up with the bonnet, the boys were in luck!! The connection was an adjustable one with a bolt, rather than a crimped on connection.

Turns out that the big thick wire was actually only connected by a few strands. Time to trim the end and reconnect!!

Trimming, trimming...

And rejoined!! A test of the starter motor showed it spun much more quickly - it would appear to have corrected the problem, but only time will tell!!

Booger Mobile had a UHF radio donated by a member of the Australian Ford Forums, RedXM, who coincidentally lives in Tamworth. Even more coincidentally, his home is about 2 mins from the boys motel, so they took Booger Mobile for a spin to see him.

Scottie and RedXM with the actual red XM that he is restoring.

In another gesture of generosity, RedXM also donated some money towards the Booger Mobile fuel fund. The boys gave him a limited edition Team Booger Mobile cap!

Damian contacted Ben from esCarpade to see if there were plans afoot for dinner. Ben said that they were meeting at 7pm at the Tudor Hotel. Given that it was just before 6pm, the boys kicked back and started to sort out some pictures etc.

A short time later, Scottie realised that NSW was probably on daylight savings time... Damian phoned Ben at 6:15pm to see what the time was... the answer - 7:15pm!! Damian's reply - not on my watch it's not!!

After getting changed in double quick time, the boys headed to the Tudor Hotel (dropped off by Heather, the proprietor of the Motel Grande - side note - the service at the Motel Grande is second to none!!)

There were around 20 people there.

The boys had some dinner (steak - yum!!) and a couple of drinks... There's always time for a self portrait though.

It had been a long day, so they decided to head back to the motel and have an early night...

Scrutineering and driver training/first aid briefing on Friday!!