Turned out to be a nice day for the goldfields run. Mick had everyone out of bed at 7am. By this time he had already cruised through most of Vic to make sure the roads are usable. No nasty surprises, odd potholes and bit of debris here and there but good conditions all round. Mick, Craig and I met up with everyone at Mt Franklin. By this time Craig was onto his 10th memory card. I'm not even sure what he looks like as he there was always a camera in his face Mt Franklin: Off to the left; Cliff casting a spell on Craig to stop him from photographing everything in sight: Mick showing us the rain-dance that caused the flash flooding on Friday: Kingy's nice pink zed: The last stop, Mt Tarrengower in Maldon: More pics in better quality still to come.......
Once again, another great cruise. Growing up in the country but now living in the city, I miss open road driving. It's great to do these cruises to to actually use your 4th and 5th gears properly! Once again Kingy, thanks for organising. A big thanks to Mick and the rest of the crew up in the Goldfields area for scoping out the route and planning such an interesting run. Big thanks to Ross from me too. I lost a cap on a manifold outlet and all I could hear on the way up was pfffffffffffffffffft (Thanks for Kingy for finding it too - it took 5 guys staring into the engine bay to find where the sound was coming from!) Ross had a spare rubber caps and a zip tie and we were all good. Nice shot of Zeds in formation on the way to Ballarat. Zeds are owned by PhilZ, DaveG and bigmax bigmax driving into what looks like some very ominous storm clouds. Turned out to be a sunny day. (Disclaimer: These photos weren't taken by me while driving. At the Todd Road Service Centre, I was fortunate enough to meet a beautiful Swedish backpacker named Inga who needed a lift to Ballarat. She had pigtails and was wearing tight denim shorts and a white singlet......but I digress. She offered to take some photos on the way up to Ballarat for me. I dropped her off before we reached McDonalds. True story. Haven't had a chance to look at my other photos yet so I will post up early this week.
Lol OMG! Love your sense of humor Cliff... pictures or "it didn't happen!!" hehehe spewing I missed this cruise, almost finished the beast! See you at the Mornington Peninsula run.
Well...for what seemed to be a cruise doomed by crap weather, it turned out to be a beautiful day with plenty of sun and blue skies The roads were pretty much normal as well, just a few potholes here and there as well as some gravel washed across some of the less used roads but no impediment for the mighty Z For the second year running, it was a very successful cruise even if it didn't make it to Bendigo because we were all to busy chatting (with me clicking away on the camera constantly ) and checking out the Z's. Next year we might try and stream line it a bit more, not to take away from people having a good yak but so we can get to the rest of the cruise so that everyone gets to checkout Bendigo and also hit the mountain pass over Mt Alexander at the very end of the cruise which is the jewel on the crown, or the King Gold Nugget you might say on the Goldfields cruise It worked out good this year though as it would have been littered with debris and huge branches from the recent storm but looking forward to getting everyone up there next year Well I better get my pics up and then get back to work, but before I do that Ill just say I wish my birthday was a couple of days ago as I would have had a ball testing out my pressie on the cruise http://www.canon.com.au/en-AU/For-You/Digital-Cameras/EOS-Digital-SLR-Cameras/450D Anyway here are the cruise pics...I hope I haven't posted to many Note: That's not my BMW in there as I caught a lift with Mick (thanks Mick, had a great day riding around and snapping photos ) Me and Mick meeting up with Ross in Castlemaine, parked in his inlaws property as you all know Ross's driveway is gone Coffee time! (Mick had been up since 5am & toured the central VIC roads to ascertain their condition for the cruise) -> Dedication :thumbup: Driving into Mt Franklin where the Melb crew would meet up with us... Ross posing for the camera at my request Melbourne crew arriving... All lined up for a shoot... Kingy's 'KINGZ' is simply amazing in it's workmanship, top marks Kingy!! (it's quite photogenic as you'll notice going through the pics ) Some close up shots of all the different Z nose badges... Cliff getting some angle shots... The crew.. The metallic on Dave's Z is so nice and deep! Intermission, advertising time... ...welcome back, enjoy the show Leaving Mt Franklin... Damn this being blurry but I thought it was still a good shot to post up... Such a blue sky with big fluffy clouds...awesome day! Kingy in hot pursuit Parked at Maldon where we stopped for lunch and a good yak, checked out the Maldon motor museum on the way back to the cars as well, quite interesting...I believe Cliff has some photos to illustrate our findings (and me pretending to be a tommy gun slinging gangsta ) Top of Mt. Tarrengower, the poppet head fire lookout. Photoshoot time Deja vu, mountain bikers again just like on the last cruise I spy with my camera eye, Mick spying on Kingy's red Z Looking out over Maldon, Mt. Alexander on the horizon... ...intermission... ...and here's the last shoot, I had everyone meticulesy line up there Zs on an angle with the wheels turned in, think it turned out well except for all the annoyed Z people behind me after getting a thousand "little bit more...more left....more right...thats it!...actually just move a tiny bit more" instructions from me Finally, just some close up pics of each car... The Goldfields crew And lastly, one quick pic of what would have been the next stop at Bendigo...under ANOTHER poppet head Cheers, Craig
Great day !!!!! Wasn't too sure initally with the South East of Melbourne still getting plenty of rain early Sunday Morning,. PhilZ rolled up to my place after having some fun dodging flooded roads on his way from Pakenham to Narre Warren. We set off to the Todd Rd meeting point and joined Cru1sr, Big Max & Glen on the start of a great day, First time I've met Kingy, Craig, Mick & Ross. and I've gotta say what a top group of guys, Could of spent days yaking to them, The real nice country folk you often hear about but never seem to meet. The cruise itself was great some stunning scenery and Maldon was a great little Historical town, (with a very good Bakery) Mt Franklin and Mt Tarrengower were also great spots and allowed us some top photo opportunities and views over the entire region. Craig was in his element doing a great job with the Camera. Really looking forward to seeing the results. Thanks for organizing a great day Kingy, and great job you've done on the Zed for your son looks tuff, Thanks also to Mick, Craig & Ross for scoping out the roads to make sure we'd get thru. again it was a real pleasure meeting all of you guys and thanks for the warm welcome. DaveG & PhilZ
great cruise thanks just like to say my son glen and i had a great time. the cruise route was tops for just a relaxing drive through some great country. it was good to get a great bunch of mature genuine guys all top blokes in my opinion together for the day. good to see dave and phils wives along for the trip. as usual you get a good deal of knowledge on these cruises from everybody that have worked on the z over the years. thank for the guys that put the day together mick kingy ross if i have missed anybody sorry. thanks also for mick who came back and had coffee with glen at i at bendigo, he probably wanted to get home to his family after a big day we enjoyed his company cheers bigmax
Impressive pics Craig, you really how to make them look professional. Looking forward to some more from Cliff as I think he was the next most frequent photographer. Looking forward to the next goldfields cruise. I have some ideas for the next route, but the stops will need to be shorter to fit it all in
Looks like I missed a good time Great shots Craig. Is it just me or does Mick look a bit like Richard gere?? lol
Excellent pics Craig, as usual. You have a real talent there Seeing your work makes me feel benarrassed about the quality of my pics, but what the hell, it's all good fun An unexpected find on the day was the Maldon Motor Museum. NOT to be confused with the Castlemaine Rod Museum Cliff will probably post some pics of the relics we found in there. I managed to get a few - Pretty sure the TT doesn't stand for Twin Turbo in this case... If only the Z32 front would lift up like this - Hmm, this pic needs some dialogue - Some pics of Craig directing the positioning our Zeds. Like an artist arranging a bowl of fruit The finished result looked very pro. But there was something quite dodgy in the foreground of this pic, I had to remove it BEFORE AFTER The fire spotter's tower at Mount Tarrengower, built in 1924. You can see some people on the stairs in the mid section, gives you an idea of the size of the tower. It was a real pleasure making new friends on the day. We all seemed to click really well. A great day, I would cheerfully do it again tomorrow
Excellent 2nd time round for the Goldfields cruise, couldnt be happier with this run even tho its still a fairly new cruise to the forum..... Great people, great cars, great weather ..... what else could you posiably want ! Big thank you to Mick for making damn sure we were all on good roads and with an interesting route aswell, as a result of Mick's dedication I've decided to take a back seat on this cruise for next year, lets face it all I did this year was post it up and take the lead from Ballarat to MtFranklin.... its obviously in very good capable hands and I'm sure Mick will only make it even more of a wonderfull cruise next year. Also thanks to the 'Bendigo crew' in general for their efforts with this cruise..... absolute pleasure working with you guys as always A kind thanks for all the praise and top photos of K1NGZ , it was touch and go as to whether I'd get it back together in time for this run and although totaly untested it all went very well for a car that hasnt been on the road for 18months to 2 years We made it home with no dramas and a very short list of must fix's..... occasional drip from the rear seal on the g/box, put steering wheel on straight , balance front wheels, put a spacer between the floorpan and the seat rails (needs to come up atleast 30mm.... very sore thighs ) & cut and polish :br: Photos to come ( of the few I took because I was so wrapped up in getting the car ready I forgot the SD card :rofl: ), thanks to Cliff I actually managed to start to understand my new Canon EOS dslr and its abilities, its going to be a steep learning curve but the first steps have now been taken. Finaly...... and most importantly The new guys Hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable day with a bunch of zed addicts, was a pleasure to meet you all and hope you join us next time. Kingy p/s I hope I dont stand on peoples toes if I borrow a few pictures for the rebuild thread on this car
Looks like you all had a great time ...I'll have to definitely come to the next one, was just a shame I was rostered on to work...I need a good 2 months notice to request days off.. Hahahah..you should see my comment in last years thread.. http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297624&highlight=goldfields&page=2
philz ::br:well what a great day it turned out to be the weather just got better and better from the time we left pakenham . met some really great people would like to thank everyone for making us feel so welcome see you all again thanks philz:br:
hey all. I'll put up some pics tonight. Sorry - Haven't been near the home computer for over a week as we're doing a computer rollout for a client in St Kilda on most nights. I promised the missus I'll be home tonight for Valentine's Day no matter what.
LOL, home for Valentines day but processing hundreds of photos No rush mate, we'll all still be here to check em out when you get time to put them up Cheers, Craig
Naaah. Went to dinner and that's about it..... Was forbidden to go on the computer that night. Haven't been home much since. Was up at Daylesford for most of yesterday - Some kind of alternative body oils and facial creams factory needs a website, email etc. Dreadlocks, barefeet and pot breath everywhere. Nice people though. Each to their own.
No shortage of people who fit that description up that way. A guy I know up there was buying a house in the area and had to get a friend to pretend to be him to visit the real estate agents because he looked like such a hippie that they would not give him the time of day. Also, he bought the house outright with cash, he is a musician and has done a reasonable number of scores for Hollywood films so it definitely does not pay to judge people too quickly in business.
