Tour participants just after visiting the sheep shearing sheds in Melville Forest, Victoria
Coonawarra/Penola to Halls Gap
After spectacular weather on our rest day in Penola/Coonawarra, Monday started overcast and cool, requiring once again overcoats and gloves in the open cars.
Scenery is reminiscent of different areas of the British Isles (except for the gum trees), with green pastures, grazing sheep and cattle, wooded areas, rolling hills, mountains in the distance, and well maintained roads, yet extremely light traffic.
Or midday stop was at a sheep station, with lunch provided immediately afterward by the Melville Forest community fire association volunteers.
This tour continues to be brilliant! The afternoon was an exhilarating, lovely drive through the foothills of the Grampian Mountains, overtaking and being overtaken by other Alvis cars, and ending up in the picturesque resort of Halls Gap, with its splendid view of kangaroos in the pasture behind the motel.
As we pass other Alvis motor cars on the side of the road, a simple thumbs up or down indicates if assistance is required or whether we motor on by.
A change in engine noise led us to discover a cracked exhaust manifold on the Boothman 1927 12/50, which has been patched to prevent further expansion. The Todd 1931 Beetleback blew a manifold to exhaust pipe gasket, and had a S.U. carb float chamber leak, both of which were quickly remedied in the motel car park. The Harvey 1951 TA21 DHC had a puncture/flat (I’m trying to use both UK/Oz and US lingo), which was also resolved.
As usual, we enjoyed a sumptuous organized dinner with speeches from Martin Boothman and Mike Hirst on the current statuses of the Alvis Owner Club and Alvis Register, respectively.
Total miles for the day: 157. Cumulative miles on the tour so far: 668
No comments:
Post a Comment