Disaster on the way to Dubbo

The journey out of Sydney to Dubbo required us to navigate the Blue Mountains. This area is a weekend favourite of mine and I know the roads out to these mountains well.

The three sisters is a main attraction to the Blue Mountains. This image is not from the road trip but an archive shot

Sunset at the Blue Mountains. This image is not from the road trip but an archive shot

It was a rather uneventful drive to Dubbo. All of us had seen the scenery a thousand times before. Above are some old photos of the region I have taken in the past.

Just past Lithgow we decided to take a trip to Bathurst to visit the race track. Aussies love a V8 race and Bathurst is the spiritual center for fuel junkies and speedstars. The race course is in fact a public road circuit. Once a year they hold races. The race track is called Mount Panorama.

We stopped the car on the track and I hoped out for some pictures. Now, to all the foreign readership, Aussies are opinionated buggers. A local at Bathurst was true to this fact. The fellow Australian was stupid enough to stop behind our parked car and waited to turn left! I motioned him through and then came the 'Opinion'.

The buggar said 'This is a public road and not a race track you know' as he drove by.

Rather confused, I yelled back 'Does it look like I am racing mate?' as he raced by; possibly to bury the grog for the next race. Yes, at the time I was setting up my tripod to take a photo. I was neither in my car, or lining it for a sprint around the circuit. Hell there are speed cameras on the course to stop people from menacing this 'public road'.

True fact, on a side note there was an limit imposed during the racing on how many beers you can bring in during a race. Know this, us Aussies bury our beer ahead of an event and get pissed drunk during it. Bless Mother earth for keeping the beer cold and safe.

As a local would believe, this is me racing down Mt Panorama. Can you feel the speed at 0 km/h and the engine roaring as I race down the track in my invisible car?

It is after this exchanged that I looked down and realised that I forgot a piece of my Panoramic Tripod!

%@$#$ 

Do we drive back to Sydney for the part? Or just press on...

In the end we pressed on and I had to buy a second tripod at the local camera store in Orange, New South Wales (NSW).

Dubbo itself was unremarkable. We stayed at a motel which smelt like damp carpet. Oh well, at least there is a bed, showers and a toilet for the next leg.