Cranbourne to Inverloch to Maffra
It’s 6:00am and we’re all gathered round at the hotel reception / pub. The hotel manager has offered to make us all coffee before we leave, which we’re only to happy to accept. Over the last 4 days, we’ve been hitting the road and driving for 1-2 hours before breakfast, although I’ve been making a cheeky coffee using coffee bags before leaving. It was nice to have a barista coffee to see us on our way.
We all headed to our cars and regrouped in the carpark. For me that means popping the bonnet, bridging the pins where the fuel pump relay normally lives in the fuse box and then shutting the bonnet and running to start the car with the key. I have to do it quite quickly to avoid flooding the engine, which will also make starting difficult. This has now become my ritual every time I arrive or leave from one of our stops. The bridge can’t stay connected even after I turn off the engine as it’s providing continuous power to the fuel pump.
We weaved our way through the Victorian countryside admiring the views and just enjoying the cars. In many ways it’s a form of mindfulness without the distractions of normal life. I often find that driving helps to clear my head and give me new perspectives on life. Today was no exception as I made some mental plans for resolving some issues in my new side business (https://equitherm.com.au).
As we approached Inverloch, Bryce was noting that he could here a sound from his right rear wheel. He thinks it could be bearings, but it’s not too bad. This issue first raised its head yesterday, but he wasn’t too concerned about it. He stopped to consider his options, at one stage considering leaving the car in Victoria to get repaired then flying back down after it’s resolved. We all gathered round to have a listen and could hear a slight squeal but nothing too concerning. Bryce did mention that it seemed to be worse when he loaded up the wheel (ie, when turning left and putting weight on the rear right wheel). We all agreed that it didn’t sound too concerning so we pushed on.
I performed my usual startup routine, but for some reason my car just would not start. I went to double check that the bridge was properly connected and discovered that I pulled one of the pins off by accident. After fixing this the car started first tick and we were off. This gave John the chance to educate us on bearings through the 2-way radio’s we’re all carrying – he’s an engineer at a bearing company, so he knows a thing or 2 about them.
Thinking back about it now, I do wonder if it actually is a bearing noise. I recall having a similar issue with my 380SEC a few years ago, where the bracket holding the hand brake was rubbing against the inside of the drum. I wonder if this could be the same issue and not bearings?
We pushed on to Maffra and visited the Gippsland Vehicle Collection. It’s a motoring museum with over 160 historic vehicles.
We spent a good hour at the museum looking at all of the displays including a 1984 Honda XR80 trail bike. This is the exact motorbike I had when I was a kid. It brought back so many memories of when my family lived on a farm for a short while and this bike was how I’d get around the property. I spent a lot of time on that bike when I was on the farm. I even recall using my dad’s tractor to clear some scrub, so that I had my own little motor cross track. Happy days for a 12 year old! I may have to buy one just like it for the nostalgia.
After the museum, we stopped by a bakery in Maffra for a quick lunch and then continue on our way.
Maffra to Orbost to Bombala
We’re all starting to feel exhausted now. It’s been a tough 4 1/2 days of early starts and many hours behind the wheel. We’ve started making more frequent stops just to be safe, stocking up on snacks and drinks as we go.
We pushed on through the long straight roads to Bombala via Orbost with lots of banter on the 2-way radios. This chit chat as well as being entertaining for us, helped to keep us awake and alert as we travelled through pine tree plantations that stretch for hundreds of kilometres.
We finally arrived at Bombala at round 6:00pm and were hoping to fill up with some fuel to be ready to hit the road in the morning. There are 2 petrol stations in Bombala – one only has diesel and the other had a single pump with “special unleaded”. We decided to hold off refuelling until morning.
Tomorrow we start to head back to Sydney via Lithgow. Today’s drive was exhausting at just over 500km, tomorrow will be over 600. I do find that when we go on these road trips, the last leg on the last day is the one that’s most exhausting.
