|
Sunday 17th Feb
Well it was a beautiful day for a drive, temperature in the high 20’s,
little cloud and no wind.
Most of us met at the start of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, and
headed off in convoy to Arthur’s Seat. At the top of the Seat, we met the
remaining participants- a grand total of 7 GTis, 1 Vectra, 1 Falcon and a 600cc
Fazer bike. After waiting until 10.45 for any stragglers, we headed north,
playing follow the leader. The leader promptly took a wrong turn (OK, it was
me) taking us a little further east than expected, but through some lovely
country. Eventually (after two u-turns that would have looked really funny), we
had a competent navigator take over the leadership role and guide us safely to
Lang Lang.
After a quick fuel top-up, we headed east-north-east to Poowong via
Nyora, then on to Drouin. Most of this road is small hills, so it was a good
warm-up for the things ahead.
After stopping in Drouin for a pub meal and refreshing ale (minus
Bernie who went further east), we headed north to Noojee, then west to Yarra
Junction and on to Warburton- where the fun began. Warburton to Marysville is a
fantastic windy road that you can take with ease, or go hard and push the
little pug to its limits. This is a great piece of tar to discover just how
capable the GTi (and its driver) really is, and thankfully we all got through
relatively unscathed. From Marysville, we headed south to across the Black-Spur
to Healesville where we all said our good-byes and made our own way home.
Only two minor casualties for the whole 500km trip, Tim with a damaged
tyre due to a colossal pothole just outside Noojee, and me loosing my muffler
(mainly due to manufacturing problem that left it loose and ill-fitting) about
5Km’s before Noojee.
Great fun was had by all, and a second drive is already in the works.
Richard Vines
|
