Street Rodder News Issue No. 11 - October 1997
Street Rodder News Issue No. 11 - October 1997
Cyclone "Justin" kind of stuffed up our plans for our "expedition" to the Nationals. My two front American Racing wheels finally arrived on the Friday, with the idea being to fit the tyres to them on Saturday, ready for our departure for Windsor, at 7am Sunday. SATURDAY-Cairns was closed for the day, and it was sort of WINDY, which was not too much of a problem - apart from trees being blown over, and leaves and branches everywhere. Then it started to rain. 3 or 4 feet (sounds better than 1 or 1.2 metres) in a few hours.
Come Sunday, Tom was driving down from Mareeba with his family to meet Lew, me and our families. We would then drive on to Giru (south of Townsville), pick up Bob & family, and continue on. BUT - the road south to Townsville was flooded. The Gillies, Kuranda and Rex Ranges were all blocked by landslides, so we were going nowhere! Tom left Mareeba, and took the inland way to Townsville, just making it through some flooded areas. They met up with the rest of us, but we had to wait till 1.30pm for the Kuranda road to open (only 10 km from our home) before we were on our way. We made it to Innot Hot Springs (2.5 hrs) where the bridge had water flowing 1 metre over it. We drove through a couple of flooded streams, and with a guy in a 4WD towing us through one particularly fast flowing one.
Geoff & Lyn's 1940 Ford Pick-up. Flathead V8, C4, 8" diff, beam axle, Falcon discs, HQ steering box.
Fortunately the hotel at Hot Springs was on our side of the river, so we stayed there. Got up at 2am, checked the flooding (the river is right beside the hotel) and found the water gone, so we packed up, and shot thru.
We made it within 20kms of Charters Towers, where we were able to watch the water coming up the road to meet us. The Burdekin River was about 11 metres higher than normal, and was pushing the water back UP the Hahn River!! A copper turned up, and told us all to go back to Greenvale, as they did not want to have us (about 12 vehicles) stranded out there in the sticks, with no food or accommodation. A bloke in a semi was not impressed, as the road we were on was only a single lane sealed type, and he would have to back up about 3km to turn safely (this road was a 300km long, single lane, with soft edges). Anyway, we all turned round, and drove 200km back to Greenvale. Next morning, Tuesday, we should have been driving from Maryborough, Qld, to Kempsey, NSW, and here we were, only about 400 kms from home. The message came through that the road was open, but we had better hurry as more rain was on its way, as the river was on the rise again! So, away we went, on an adrenalin charged rush to get the 200 k's back to the Hahn River, before the flood waters. Two hours later, we beat the flood, and made it into Charters Towers. From there it was a case of continuous driving, with stops every two hours for fuel and water, (the flathead uses a bit - must have a hairline crack in the block). Down through Balyando, Clermont and Emerald to Rockhampton at the coast, and on to the Bruce Highway, #1. Finally about 11:30 pm and 1200 kms later, we pulled up for the night at Gin Gin.
It felt worse than it looks!
Next day we traveled 1000 km to Taree in northern NSW. Lew had carried my new wheels and tyres in his camper trailer 'till then, so we got them fitted to the pick-up on the Thursday morning. On Thursday we had only 400 or so kms to go, so it was a kind of easy drive to Windsor.
This was only the second Nationals we had been to. Far north Qld is not exactly overrun with Street Rods, so we all appreciated the spectacle of 800 in one place. Onsite camping is the only way to go. Sit back, relax and watch the scenery go by. Go for a wander, do what you want. At night watch Norm Longfield drive his "tractor" around the grounds, spitting flames from the exhausts.
Looking at all those rods together certainly reinforces the fact that we are all individuals. Every Holden/L300 front end I looked at was mounted in a manner not the same as the one before it.
I seem to have spent all my time going on about getting to Windsor, but I guess the magazines will have plenty of articles on what went on. However, the sight and sound of all that activity certainly gets the blood boiling.
The Un-Nationals are at Bunbury (WA), Easter next year, which is a long drive, but as Marlene and Ross pointed out, if we use the club subsidy, and then if those wanting to go all chip in we could fly over, rent a mini van and share accommodation. Well that's enough for now, there is the rest of the club newsletter to do.
Geoff.
