esCarpade 2011 - Day 1 - Bendigo-Ballarat-Geelong

Damian and Jo were up bright and early, ready to head down to Day 1 - breakfast and the grand parade in the heart of Bendigo!

Even the moon was still up...

Booger Mobile arrived to find Snot Rocket already there... good to see the Qld teams are keen!!

Classic, not plastic!!

Other teams started to roll in...

Car 47 - Lance and Michelle - good friends of Team Booger Mobile!!

Jo-Anne's name tag...  First name and car number incorrect...  close, but no cigar!!

Lining up for breakfast inside the Bendigo Town Hall.

Outside, the entrants had all arrived, as had the crowds!!

The ambos and more entrants...

Booger Mobile outside the town hall...

Clowns!!

Kylie (the puppet) inside Fred and Barney's octopus car...

The entrants roll out after breakfast...

Car Ten 4 left a little something on the ground!!

The Doctor...  The only person to have entered all 20 years of the Camp Quality Caper/esCarpade.

Entrants have fun with their smoke machines on the way out...

Great to see another shiny classic car made of metal!!

Onto the bitumen first up...

Ambos following Booger Mobile...

And onto dirt!!

Tree-lined roads...

Rickety old bridges...

Jo doing a fantastic job of navigating...

Damian driving...

Another bridge that has seen better days!!

First casualties of the day...

More bonnets up...

Past rolling fields...

Stopped waiting for a blockage to clear up the hill...

Waaaaaaaaaaay up there...

Line up...

The blockage is cleared!!

The line up can now move...  Darren paying penance to the nuns...

Is that the light at the end of the tree tunnel?

Another old bridge...

Booger Mobile being stalked by a Shark (mobile)...

Big old train bridge...

Shark Mobile turning the corner...

Lined up at another stoppage...

Through the tree archway...

Past the piles of wood...

Into the Wombat State Forest...

Heading towards Ballarat and lunch!!

Ballarat... here we come!!

Nice old building...

Booger Mobile finds a park beside Snot Rocket...

Cars lined up ready for lunch...

And the other side...

Lunch at the Comfort Inn Sovereign Hill.

Damian and Jo line up for a self portrait...

Driver briefing before the afternoon session...

Booger Mobile, Snot Rocket and Shark Mobile... three of the Qld entrants...

And the rain came down...

Driving through the streets of Ballarat...

Past a nice old church, the rain washing the dust off...

Past a large archway...

Snot Rocket turning right...

Back onto dirt, and the sun was out again...

Line up - someone's stuck in a bog hole...

Snot Rocket stopping...

Lots of others stopping also...

Shark Mobile making way for Snot Rocket to come through...

Snot Rocket again... whose blog is this anyway???

Oh, that's who is stuck...  Car 808!!  Who was driving?

Tony!!

After Tony was snatched out, Damian decided to attach the snatchy first, in case Booger Mobile was also stuck...

Entering the mud pit...

So far so good...

Slipping and sliding...

And the Kumho R700 rally tyres didn't let Booger Mobile down!!

After the mud hole, Damian and Jo stopped to help car 49, who laughed at the thought of making a special guest appearance on the blog...

It seems the Commodore scooped up a heap of mud in the bog hole, which promptly embedded itself in the radiator fins...

Good thing someone had a hose!!

The second time 49 stopped, Damian went back to give them a hand again, and ended up splattered with mud...

He was all smiles again though!!

More long, straight gravel roads...

The countryside got a little hilly...

Very pretty to look at!!

Oh dear... the Limo had broken an axle in the most catastrophic fashion... hopefully they can source a replacement and be back onboard tomorrow!!

More dirt roads...

Heading for Geelong...

Through the canyon... rock pools...

Steep winding roads...

And a causeway that would be very interesting if it was flowing!!

More rock pools...

And back to rolling farmland...

A sheep truck blocked the road...  Booger Mobile snuck past though!!

Self portraits are always fun!!

Rock walls a-plenty... must have been a lot of rocks in the paddocks!!

As they headed towards Geelong, the flags were flying...

Turning onto the highway...

Past Brisbane Ranges National Park turnoff (which the entrants drove through earlier)...

Heading towards Geelong...

 Not the airport, Geelong!!

Arriving at dinner in style...

In the Ford Stand... nice touch!!

Dinner was at Skilled Stadium, home of the Geelong Cats AFL team...

The puppeteers demonstrated this year's song...

The boys from Car 201 - good friends of Team Booger Mobile!!

The menu...

Jo-Anne and Damian with Josie, Camp Quality's new Events Manager.

Simon's speech was so good, fireworks went off!!

Jo's expert guidance for Damian reversing!!

The first day of the 2011 esCarpade had a rough start with lots of ruts and bumps on the morning section, followed by a nice muddy boghole in the afternoon... a long day, but great fun!!

Sunday should be awesome as well... stay tuned!!