What if you lived in Australia?

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

At that speed?

Wow, they're tearing up the track . . . they look to be somewhere West of Lorne, if I remember it

When I drove it, it was in a very topheavy Troopy, not one to take the corners in any fashion other than very, very carefully.

Yep, that section is just out of Lorne and headed west. The section east of Lorne and headed toward Coal Mine Creek is far more fun IMO

The best time to drive down there in in the very early hours in the morning, virtually no cars and ya can see any others cars headlights headed your way earlier But also, in the wet it's even more fun when rocks come down the cliff faces and lie right in the middle of the road

There's a little known road that leads into Lorne that's even better. During the summer when it's slow and packed with tourists down there, I don't head for the Ocean Road, I drive through my hometown of Geelong on the Princes Highway and when I get just out of Winchelsea, turn left on a road that is posted Deans Marsh and Lorne. The last 10 kM before Lorne on that road is right through the Otway Ranges and windier, narrower and steep then ends right in the Lorne township. Avoids all the slow tourists and first time travelers on the road. The most fun I ever had driving there was in a mates VW Kombi camper van years ago, handled like shit, wouldn't stop and was dangerous at any speed

The worst thing about the Ocean Road are those that are to cautious and don't use the slow vehicle turn outs, those behind become impatient and take risks overtaking seen it dozens of times.

Blondifan has probably seen it and knows what I am talking about.

And just for palo That road is a World War 1 memorial built by returned soldiers

[Motorboater]

This post is the second reference to the Elkhart Lake racetrack in itt.

[Tarkus666]

http://ripbird.com/reasons-you-shoul...o-australia/2/

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

There's a little known road that leads into Lorne that's even better. During the summer when it's slow and packed with tourists down there, I don't head for the Ocean Road,

We had a great time further out, stayed in a cabin in the hills above Apollo Bay. Really a beautiful place . . . and there is a great Singapore Chinese restaurant in Apollo Bay, still remember it.

Also remember that it was out near Cape Otway that I first hit a kangaroo. . . was dusk, saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, a thump. Fortunately it seemed to bounce off the side of the car. Lotta koalas out that way too.

Speaking of Aussie beaches, I see in the news today:

Originally Posted by
Skinny dip world record smashed by 790 nude swimmers at Fremantle’s South Beach

On Sunday morning, 790 beach bums stripped off and ran into the water at Fremantle’s South Beach, breaking the previous record of 744 skinny dippers held by New Zealand.

PerthNow columnist Heidi Anderson, hit92.9’s breakfast presenter, took part in the skinny drip challenge organised by The Fig group of cafes.

“It was very nerve-racking in the lead up, but then everyone started dropping their sarongs and strangely it felt so normal because if you weren’t naked you were the odd one out,” she said.

“It was a very freeing experience. For the people that have body issues, doing something like that was really liberating. There was a lot of people who are on that journey.

“I had huge body image issues over the last few years and over the last three years I have been working on myself. This was the next step towards embracing who I am.”

{snip}

“It was like a nude community, there was people of all shapes and sizes — when we were chatting to people you didn’t know where to look,” she said.

“There was different races, skin colours and ages, from 16 up to a bloke who would have been in his late 70s. It was such a beautiful experience. I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

Ah, me, I'd "know where to look" -- shading more to the 16 and less to the 70 . . .

[blondifan]

Abbott claims "Australians are sick of being lectured to by the UN".

Either you already know that or you're deliberately ignoring things like, for example, outbreaks of tuberculosis or the riots last year when one man was murdered by guards and another lost an eye, or the entire contents of The Forgotten Children report that your government has deliberately turned into an attack on the Human Rights Commission and its head, Professor Gillian Triggs, and the way that the investigations into abuse in our detention centres have been quietly quashed while the government investigates the whistleblowers instead.

Oh, and there's the detainee who died from a cut on his foot. And the wormy bread fed to detainees on Manus Island. And the hunger strikes. And the teenage girl who jumped off a balcony in Darwin because she preferred to die than go back to Nauru, where she claims to have been raped.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/view-f...09-13zauh.html

[blondifan]

Incidently Turnbull is introducing a $900 hidden ‘NBN tax’ for new homebuyers

Whether this goes to supporting our ailing antiquated 'copper wire' broadband system, or is channelled off in some way toward metadata retention remains to be unknown.

Meanwhile Abbott has made cuts to disaster relief payments.
http://theaimn.com/abbotts-disaster-...re-a-disaster/

[effCup]

If I lived in Oz I might be rather interested in reading Don Watson's The Bush.
#1.
#2.
#3.

[forfucksake]

I've heard it said that the president of america is "the leader of the free world"
Does this mean that australia isn't part of the free world?
Because I didn't vote for him and I am pretty sure no one else in aus did either so he obviously isn't the australian leader.
Also I heard he is black so does that mean he is a crack dealer?
Because every black man I see on TV is either dealing crack or in prison for dealing crack.

[9876543210]

Motorboater,

Originally Posted by Motorboater

This post is the second reference to the Elkhart Lake racetrack in itt.

So, have you been there? Great road course. Anyone interested in road racing needs to visit the place at least once (I think its the longest road course in the US). And if you go, get a paddock pass. Seeing some of those cars up close and talking with the drivers, mechanics and engineers is just a blast.

Sometimes makes my cry for not having millions of dollars just to blow.

[9876543210]

Estreeter,

Originally Posted by Estreeter

The best time to drive down there in in the very early hours in the morning, virtually no cars and ya can see any others cars headlights headed your way earlier But also, in the wet it's even more fun when rocks come down the cliff faces and lie right in the middle of the road

The worst thing about the Ocean Road are those that are to cautious and don't use the slow vehicle turn outs, those behind become impatient and take risks overtaking seen it dozens of times.

Sssshhhhhhh, don't tell anyone I told you this. But, if you're ever in California, and have lots of money to rent a really nice car, take a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (if I remember its Hwy 1). Its been a while since I've been there but its been cut into the hills and valleys just next to the Pacific and is an absolute blast to drive at speed. But be very careful! The southern portion (roughly LA to SF) is known for it earthquakes so the road can get rough because the earth shifts so much (road crews are constantly blacktopping some areas). The area north of SF is gorgeous (especially in Oregon). But you have to be careful or you could wind up falling several hundred feet onto a beach or into the Pacific!

But if you make it? What a blast! You'll remember that drive all of your life.