esCarpade 2011 - Day -2

Day -2 of the 2011 Camp Quality esCarpade, aka Team Booger Mobile HQ to Parkes, started out at 3am this morning, with Damian making a fresh brew for himself and the members of Shark Mobile (Michael and Peter).

Booger Mobile was loaded and ready to rock and roll...

As was Shark Mobile, which had spent the night having driven down from Gympie on Tuesday evening...

All lit up ready to hit the road...

Damian looked chipper early in the morning... there was a massive drive ahead of him though - almost 1100km of driving!!

Having picked up Jo, it was time to hit the road, beating the early morning traffic...

And getting to see the sun rise...

Meeting up with Team 808 (Tony and Graham in the Purple People Eater) at the end of the Centenary Highway, Damian decided to do a quick check of the radiator hoses, since this was the first time that Booger Mobile had been driven since the coolant flush and change... No leaks!!

After giving Damian a bagging for popping the bonnet already, Michael popped his bonnet to check some stuff, giving Damian a great opportunity for a photo!!

Heading out past Amberley, there was a plane, with Shark Mobile in the background!!

It was pretty chilly, and the fog was spectacular...

But as the sun rose, the skies cleared to form a glorious day in paradise!!

Heading towards Warwick...

Up and over Cunningham's Gap - there is a large amount of road that is no longer there...

This resulted in stopping in the stop/go traffic, and giving Damian a chance to see how the thermo fan went keeping Booger Mobile cool... worked a treat!!

The road to the right of the barrier with the green mesh on top is completely GONE!!

Along the way to Warwick, Damian decided he REAAAAAAAALLY needed to stop... so he did!!  While there, Michael found a lucky four leaf clover and gave it to Damian to give to Jo...

The lovely information sign at the toilet stop...

And through Warwick and onto Goondiwindi!!

Always time for a snappy self portrait while driving!!

Check out that temperature gauge (on the right).  Hovered just on 80 for most of the day, going up to around 82-3 in the mid afternoon heat... Damian is very pleased!!

And still heading towards Goondiwindi...

Through Inglewood...

And Yelarbon...  (Damian's pretty sure he took a very similar photo on the 2010 esCarpade!!)

Only to be stopped by a stop/go chick at yet more roadworks!!  The boys took the opportunity to test out their various bells, whistles and horns!!

Woohoo!!  Offroad already!!

And a classic and two plastics lined up at the Goondiwindi BP.

The things you see out on the highway!!

Heading towards Narrabri...

Jo was trying to have a snooze without Damian taking a pic of her, so he took one anyway!!

Heading along the Newell Highway... very flat, lots of trucks!!

And lots of silos!!

This picture is just for James...

Heading towards Coonabarrabran...

Just how far is this trip?

Yay, Coonabarrabran!!

And on towards Dubbo (and then Parkes).

Stopping at Gilgandra for Damian to fuel up, he returned to the others to find Tony with the bonnet up...  Coincidentally, Tony had spent most of the day bagging Damian for driving a Ford...

Damian was asked if he had some jumper leads, which of course he did...

And the car was started... Tony showed his appreciation at appearing on the blog!!

Back on the road, Damian had a wry chuckle at karma...

And shortly afterwards, the mic on Booger Mobile's UHF radio stopped working... good times!!

Still heading towards Parkes...

Stopped at Dubbo for Shark Mobile and the Purple People Eater to fuel up...

Then on towards Parkes...

Nice action shot of Shark Mobile...

And a glorious sunset...

Are we there yet???

Magnificent...

The sun went down, and a line of trees on the hillside made for a nice photo...

Darkness descended...

And finally, they arrived in Parkes, located a motel and found some food!!

The trip from Booger Mobile HQ (Morayfield, north of Brisbane) to Parkes, NSW took around 14.5 hours, including breaks every 200-250km for Damian to refuel Booger Mobile, which has the world's smallest fuel tank!!

The Qld entrants also lost the hour crossing the border into Daylight Savings territory...

A big day driving, but satisfied both with arriving in Parkes, and the performance of Booger Mobile so far!!  (Touches wood)