Sprite Car Club of Australia run to Tasmania, 4 - 15 November 2006
Hot sun, big winds, rain and cold temperatures.
Thirty four to 43 degrees latitude south (the roaring forties) and back.
Eleven days on the road.
Two thousand five hundred and twenty seven miles on the odometer.
Freeways, tollways, byways, one way - in every way we explored the southeast corner of Australia and with the help of the car ferry, Tasmania! Australia's island state of rugged, wild, peaceful and rustic topography - the island state where chocolate and beer are made.
All this - in Sprites and Midgets (almost 30 of them including ABP 102)!
It is approximately 1,000 miles from Sydney to Hobart of which 270 are covered in the Spirit of Tasmania, the car ferry from Melbourne on the south coast of mainland Australia, across Bass Strait to Devonport on the north coast of the island.
Not a big trip in Australian terms when you see the full map of Australia.
But it was a big trip for 30 Spridgets around 40 years old!
What follows is a selection of images of cars and people during the trip.
Here's how to pack enough stuff for two people over 11 days.....
Bruce Pearce with his MG Midget's full boot and spare tyre rack
on a temporary bootlid
Ian Gibbs showing Esme's tightly packed boot. 'Esme' is
the car that Wendy Gibbs drove in the US during the US Australia
Healey Challenge in 2005
Kitty and Peter Jackson showing the cutaway section that makes their
bugeye easier to pack....and an essential emergency item
June and Les Payne had enough room for essential supplies!
Bruce on the road to the first stop at Marulan - Bruce, Neil and I were travelling
solo as our co-pilots were flying to Tasmania where we would pick them up...
....which allowed time to document essential indicators - temp 80C,
oil pressure 77lb/sq" and revs in 4th gear, 5100.
It was along way to the overnight stop at Albury on the NSW Victorian border.
Club President's Greg and Leah Holden's bugeye had stopped about 30 minutes
out of Sydney with a big end rattle but after a lot of drama including changing an engine
but not having the correct disutributor for it they caught up to us at Albury in their
second old car, an FE Holden panel van.
In the bowels of the ferry 'Spirit of Tasmania 1' from Melbourne
on mainland Australia bound for Devonport on the north coast
of the island State, Tasmania.
Even though the trip was 'No Hoods Allowed' we relented in the interests
of marital harmony when the rain became too heavy - here between
Scottsdale and St Helens - a real Sprite road with scenery to boot. A month
after we travelled through this area it was ravaged by bushfires - see this link
for photos of the fire behind the Motel we stayed in at Scamander Beach.
It seems that most recent trips with the Sprite Car Club are followed by fire!
See this page about the 2003 Canberra fires which followed our visit to
Mt Stromlo Observatory and this link about Barrington Guest House which
the club visited on its 'Topless to Barrington' run organised by yours truly
in 2004.
Not all plain sailing though when an engine missfire that started early morning
developed into a definite stop forcing a trip on the back of a truck to Bicheno
on the east coast of Tasmania (see map). With many helpers at the friendly BP
service station we worked through fuel issues because bypassing the fuel pressure
regulator earlier in the day had 'cured' the missfire. This included competely
dismantling the Weber carburettor and blowing compressed air through it,
after replacing the fuel filter and checking fuel pressure. It became clear that
despite evidence of spark at the plugs, electrical issues were at play. After
replacing the points with a 'new' set that had been in the boot for the last 9 years
and which did not work, and the plugs with a new set also from the toolkit
we identified the condenser as the only possible culprit. Yet it had been
replaced the week before the run started as a precautionary measure!
Luckily Keith in one of the 3 cars who stayed to help had a discarded condenser
in his toolkit - and it WORKED!
At Devils Kitchen - a coastal rock formation near Port Arthur - a carpark full
of Sprites and Midgets
Neil's MKIIIA Sprite blew a head gasket so with Graham he changed it in
the main street of Huonville. A local Solicitor and classic car enthusiast
walked past and arranged for his settlements clerk who was at that moment
in Hobart to pick up from the only MG specialist the correct 1098cc
gasket - the only one in Tasmania at that moment! Roger's hospitality
extended to inviting us all back to his place at Crabtree River for a drink and
a chat...
...which we all thoroughly enjoyed in the rural setting.
After crossing the island to the West coast, seeing the Gordon River and
Macquarie Harbour we made the North West town of Stanley above. Further east
of which on the north coast was Devonport...
...where we finally made it up the gangplank onto the Ferry with Neil's
scored number 3 bore (part of the blown head gasket caused the damage)
objecting to the lengthy idling while waiting to board.
A great trip proving once again that the travelling is as much cause for
celebration as the actual destination!
Images copyright Paul Orton - please ask for permission if you would like to use them.
