WEDNESDAY – DRIVE TO JINDABYNE

Chris & Sandra O’Brien

A Bluebird Day. Not a breath of wind in Lakes Entrance with the water in Cunninghame Arm and the North Arm “pure glass” in the front of and at the rear of the Bellevue Guest House, respectively.

Half a dozen cars took off on the “Adventure Route” up through Bruthen and Buchan, then east past Buchan Station over the Buchan River and the Snowy River Flats into Orbost. The bushland was almost wiped out during the major bushfires Dec 2019 – Jan 2020. Thanks to Mother Nature the beauty of the forests is slowly coming back.

The Drive from Lakes Entrance out from the shadows of the bush through Nowa Nowa on the old Princes Highway into the sunshine past Orbost was a joy to behold, with our first stop, a coffee break at Cann River.

Once known as the Cann Valley Highway, now the Monaro Hwy from Cann River, was just “the ticket” for some enthusiastic Porsche drivers. Once over the Border into NSW the

FRIDAY – DRIVE TO CANBERRA

For those that went via the main roads from Jindabyne to Canberra it was a leisurely drive, with some committed shopping done in Cooma on the way! A small number of hardy souls headed off a little early to take advantage of the windy roads offered in the Kosciuszko National Park. Although there was a lot of low laying fog in the valleys, the road conditions were very clear, albiet a little damp and with a fair covering of leaf matter.

We picked up the Alpine Way on the way out of Jindabyne, heading down past Thredbo (no tobogganing today I’m afraid – that was so much fun the previous day) and on to Khancoban for a quick stop. We did meet up with one challenge on the way, a fallen tree that had just missed the cars ahead of us. A quick call on the radio and a rapid stop and long downhill straights mixed with sweeping bends provided magnificent views of the Great Dividing Range and “ramsheads” onto the Monaro High Plains through long sweeping high speed bends over Outskirt Creek and Saucy Creek into Bombala.

From Bombala most cars took the “Adventure Route” turning west off the Monaro Hwy at Ando past Jincumbilly to Dalgety on The Snowy River Way. The shearing sheds, tussocks, and long views over the High Plains and way over to the Crackenback Range were magnificent, past Maffra Station having traversed a long section of bitumen sealing roadworks.

Turning right at the corner in front of the Buckley’s Crossing Hotel in Dalgety, west over the historic latticed steel framed Bridge (c.1888) over the Snowy River past the fork to Jimenbuen may take your imaginings way back of what life must have been on the Monaro.

On to Boloco past the bluestone Church of England and the cemetery opposite where the headstones record the history of eight families who developed the Monaro High Plains with Beef Cattle and Sheep starting in the 1840’s through to the present day.

Past the turn-off to Paupong Station and the Boloco Woolshed and over Guises Creek we encountered the very steep winding incline up the escarpment to the top of the range where some spirited driving was exerted in cars which were just made for this section of road.

Travelling north onto the “Barry Way” (Buchan – Jindabyne) provided high-up views overlooking the blue Lake Jindabyne to our destination at Rydges Hotel, and into Jindabyne to “Nuggets Crossing” for lunch.

“You wouldn’t blame any of us (blokes or the girls) if we felt totally elated with our 330km drive over some of the best driving roads ever on a day, like today…….. would you?” soon enough all three cars had parked and were busy clearing the road (I was in such a rush to clear the road that I didn’t remember to take a photo until we were nearly finished). Luckily it wasn’t too big of a tree and a few of us could drag it off the road, afterall, there’s no room in a GT4 or a GT3 for a chain saw!

The road from Khancoban out to Kiandra on the Snowy Mountains Highway might only be 80 kilometres long, but boy it packs a punch! This was originally built as a hydro access road and goes past many storage dams and power stations, but it’s pure joy for sports car drivers. A mix of tight and sweeping corners, with stunning alpine views, high altitude grass plains and very little traffic. There were a few potholes to dodge after all the pre-Christmas rain, but it is without a doubt one of my favourite roads in Australia!

From Kiandra we had a leisurely drive to Canberra, certainly a long way to get there, but worth every minute!

SATURDAY - CANBERRA

Graeme Rissman

There was anticipation in the air when we all met for breakfast at the Hyatt Canberra.

Chatter around where everyone was going, the National Portrait Gallery, NGV, War Museum, Questacon, old or new parliament house and where the best shopping options had the room buzzing. Feedback from the group confirmed each of the venues had a good representation of PCV Members enjoying what Canberra has to offer.

Tonight’s dinner venue was the National Press Club, and the Invitation was “Dress to Impress” and “Impress” everyone did.

Meeting in the Hyatt foyer at 6.15pm there were tales around, who went where and what they saw today, and on boarding the bus the classical music being played added to the atmosphere and anticipation to the night ahead.

Drinks and lovely finger food were served upstairs at the bar and at 8pm we entered the “National Press Club” room.

Alison gave us an overview of tonight’s schedule and an update on the run the next day with PC Canberra, and introduced our guest speaker for the night Tim Shaw (an Australian radio and television presenter, actor, journalist, author and businessman).

Tim captivated the audience with his insights and stories relating to Canberra politicians and the workings of the Press Club, and there were active questions during the Q & A session.

Everyone enjoyed the lovely menu provided, some took the opportunity to get a photo at the Rostrum, at around 10.30pm we boarded the bus for the return trip to The Hyatt and recoup for another day in Canberra.

SUNDAY – LUNCH WITH PCC (from Canberra)

Joe & Debbie Weinbach

Everybody helped out when Charles Agius had some car trouble on the way to lunch.

After another magnificent Hyatt breakfast with the regular morning chit chat amongst members it was time to hit the road again. But with the heavy rain forecast and a slight route change a decision was made to head to our lunch destination in Nowra and meet up with the PCC - Porsche Club Canberra. For some of us not so early risers we left at a respectable 9am and headed towards the Hume Hwy. You still of course had the option to travel with PCC and leave at 7.45am. One brave PCV couple David & Helen, decided to go with PCC and they ended high fiving each over lunch as they realised they were the only ones who had escaped the rain.

The rest of the crew headed up the Hume leaving at 9am, on the very cold, overcast wintery day with very wet roads. Just before Eaglehawk we hit 110 speed limit (yay!) but the rain was hitting the windscreen to the point where the windscreen wipers ‘needed to be faster’ (boo!). We had a quick Coffee Stop at the BP service station in Marulan on the Hume to find out Charles and Jillian’s red Carrera had broken a belt. As the saying goes ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ well it takes an ‘army to fix a belt on a Porsche’. This was not an F1

MONDAY – DRIVE TO ALBURY

Paula Bray

Our first stop was to Harden/Murrumburrah silo mural. The mural depicted families working the land in rural Australia in the late 19th - 20th centuries, as well as people in the zealous labour of the 1858-1862 gold rush.

Pitcrew but more like bush mechanics. There was a frenzy working out who had the right tools and then it was TEAM RED CARERRA getting it back on the road. Ok sometimes you have to limp before you can run, but limping went to another breakdown another quick fix, and another break down due to a seized pulley. The only option in the end was to be saved by RACV, it became a long day for Charles and Jillian with their only option of returning to the hotel.

After the not so quick pit stop we headed off the highway through the Shoalhaven region with some extremely wet and windy downhill sections of road. If you were a passenger you could take in the beauty and lush green gorgeous views through some low cloud on the way down from the hills to Nowra. If you were driving it was all focus and not much about enjoying the scenery but steering your car safely. The rain had finally eased by the time we’d gotten to lower ground making the drive a lot more enjoyable. The gorgeous, picturesque section was followed by one of the best (?) pothole sections ever encountered, somehow, think Baghdad.

We arrived at Nowra, gorgeous destination for our lunch on the water at Ponte Dining & Bar, PCC could not believe their eyes when they met PCV, we are loud, proud and a little bit crazy, their club in comparison to ours is very small. They were gobsmacked we could get 80 people on a tour, impressed by our camaraderie, mateship, and the amazing time we were having. After a beautiful 3 course lunch with lots more chit chat we all decided to go our own way home.

Some went home the way we drove in, others took the alternative route with more open roads. But there was another small incident on our homebound travels, when Chris & Sandra’s 991 GTS suffered a damaged tyre which resulted in a slow leak. But worry not, they ended up with Garry & Lois in front and Joe & Deb behind them helping them to limp home. Finally after an epic outing we all arrived safely back at the hotel to reminisce the happenings of the day. Yep, drinks all around when after a very big day of being ‘on the road again’.

Our next stop was the water tank in Wagga Wagga. Here, the mural tells the story of the Riverina water: fresh enough to drink unfiltered.

Our final water tower was in Yerong Creek. Here we immersed ourselves in the story of local life as we gazed at the towering spectacle connecting the past, present and future of agriculture, education, Wiradjuri culture, military life, sport and transportation.

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