Torana Tassie Trip 2006

Hi I hope all you Torana loven people had a good and safe trip back to the big island, and and thankyou for a great day at simmons plains, I met some cool people talked Torana and went for a blast around the track in a rex.
Cheers Bruce

Well Gaz hasn't wasted anytime since getting back. Below is the run report that will go on the website shortly. There's a ton of pics to come too. Im very glad that Gaz kept a diary of each day cause I would have been bugged remembering everything we did. It was an action packed trip where you had trouble remembering what you did the day before.

TASMANIAN TRIP 10th OCT 2006.

Thurs 19th The day has finally arrived for our trip way down the end of the world. We arrived at the rendeview point in Yass at 10:30am to pick up the cars from Sydney. Then we proceeded off to Albury/Wodonga where we had a short break to have lunch, then we proceeded off to catch up with the rest the group that were already in Melbourne. We then boarded the boat, it was time to catch up with everyone, about 8:30pm the boat left Port Melbourne heading for Tasmania . Things were fine until about 12:30am, by this time most of us had had a few sherbets and most of us decided to head off to bed, also at this stage we were heading out through the heads, [if you have ever jumped into a waterbed drunk thats what it fely like, up and down, up and down. Thankfully I'd fallen asleep at this stage. Around 6am in the morning most of us started to stir and watch the boat dock in Devonport at 7:30am.
.After we left the boat, we were met by Brad and Eagle at Devonport in their Toranas. We left there and headed of to MacDonalds for breakfast and a chat. We then headed off to a small chocolate factory to get some snacks for us to eat on the way to Hobart. Brad from Burnie decided to give his XU1 a run, he led all the way to a little town called Campbell town. We stopped there for a snack and a bit of a look around. One thing that took our eye was the bricks on the footpath, on each individual brick had a name and crime and the conviction. It was very interesting. We said our goodbyes to Brad and Debbie and thanked them for their help. We then continued on to Hobart arriving about 1:30pm, minus a few cars we lost along the way, they went for a scenic drive elsewhere, We then proceeded on to the Cascade Brewery for a tour, getting there was fun, trying to go down one way streets . Around 6pm we headed off to tea down at Muirs Seafood Resturant. It was delicious. Around 9pm we headed back to the Fountainside Motel for some needed sleep as we didn't get much on the boat.
Sat 21st : Around 8:30am We had breakfast and then headed off to the Salamander Markets to see what treasures we could find, it was a pretty big place. At 12 O'clock we all met back at motel. The group decided to split into 2 groups, one went up to Mt Wellington to play in the snow that started to fall, they reckon it was a great view up there. The other group was picked up at the motel by Leigh in his beautiful A9X, we headed off for a cruise to Richmond to see Australia's oldest bridge,then Leigh took us up too one of the Targa stages, what a twisty little road , apparently it was one of Peter Brocks favourite parts of the rally, arrived back at 5pm, most people just did their own thing, like going to the Casino, some off to the oldest pub in Australia and have tea.
Sun 22nd : Off to the Tassie Devil Park. It was great. The little devils are so cute but you wouldn�t want to feed them as you might not have a hand left. One of the rangers there had these birds and they did some amazing tricks , but one bird that really made everyone laugh was this particular bird that took a dollar coin from people and put it in handlers pocket it was a very clever bird and then later after he had enough we would ask all the people who gave the coins to stand up one a time and hold out their hands and the bird would give them back it was great to see such an intelligent bird do this. After we left there we headed off to Port Arthur for the tour. A bit of a scary place. Some went and others decided to do their own thing.
Mon 23rd : at 9:30am we all headed off into the Chocolate factory, we enjoyed the tour and then it was off to the shop to buy our goodies. We loaded all the chocolates in the car and headed off to Queenstown and Strahan. Very picturesque view but the roads are so narrow and windy it was quite scary, some of them you could only take at about 25 to 35ks and this went on for hours ,for some coming down looking over the edge was very scary as it was along drop down,but once at the bottom it was alot better, we arrived at the Gold Rush Motor Inn at 6:30pm and then it was down to the local pub for tea, what a feed, if you want to loose weight don't eat in Tassie.
Tues 24th : In the morning one group headed off to Strahan for a fishing trip. A very unsuccessful fishing trip, between 8 of them they managed to land something the size of a goldfish. At 1pm the second group headed out fishing they managed to go one better. They caught Nemo and his friend the rock cod. Still great fun on the water anyway. Some went on the Gordon river cruise in the afternoon. Reports are it was excellent.
Wed 25th: We headed off around 9am to head to Launceston, on the way we stopped at Tulleh to have a look at some old steam trains and a antique collectables plus we located a rare charger and then the group broke up some were heading off to the Cradle Mountains to have a look, the other group headed off to Burnie to catch Gary to get a tyre fixed. Then we headed off into Launceston, the rest of the group via Cradle mountain rd, We all arrived at the Motel Balmoral of York at about the same time, once we got settled in we decided to head off down for tea.
Thurs 26th It was time for us to head of racing we said goodbye to the wives as they went shopping etc and we headed of to Symmons Plains Raceway when we arrived at the track we were disappointed as we only had half a track to race on and a 2hr waiting period but finally got on as they were upgrading for the V8's. It was on. We finally got to put the foot to the metal and go and there was some squealling of the tyres and spin outs but everyone had a lot of fun, we had 12 cars on the track and at 3pm the brakes were getting abit sorry so it was time to head back to Launceston.
Fri 27th the group split again as some had their own agenda in the morning. A group of us went to the ACL Factory where they make bearings for car's, quite an interesting tour. After lunch the group was off to Boag's Brewery for another beer and cracker session.
Sat 28th We were picked up by Brad and a few other local torana owners and the group split up again. A few decided to do the scenic route too Burnie as they took us through some beautiful countryside. After they took us to the 50's Diner. Great place. All the old Rock N Roll stuff from the days when girls on blades brought your order out on a tray to the car and the James Dean statue and all the old petrol pumps in new condition and all little memorbillia around and the food was good too, we picked up another Torana owner from there and continued on to up into the mountains where we had the most spectacular view and the snow everywhere and we played like little kids throwing snow at each other and then it was time to do some more driving. In some of the valleys it was some of the best looking farms a person could imagine. So green everywhere and the livestock was fat. We arrived in Burnie about 3pm checked into the motel the Bayside and got a rest before we were off again. Out to eat again. The torana's picked us up at the motel and took us on the ocean road to Penguin for tea , all the flowers on both sides of the street were beautiful and we went to the club for tea great meal and we pigged out as usual. Sunday morning we headed off to the Penguin markets to spend more money it was great, our cars were getting full by this stage. This afternoon we headed off to Stanley and then the Nut , We realise now why they call it the Nut. You have to be a nut to climb all the way to the top, it was the steepest climb you could imagine, but some people opted for the chairlift now we know why, the view up there was spectacular. When we came back down we all headed back to Burnie and we said our goodbyes too Brad and Debbie and all the other people and we headed back to the motel so we could rest before we went to tea again. Tasmania has some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, if it wasn't for the tassie group some of us would never have seen what we had seen, from the time we got off the boat until we got back on monday afternoon. Everyone we met with Torana's was so helpful to us every town we went trough with the cars they would either wave or thumbs up in appreciation of the good looking cars. The food here in tassie was the best [ JENNY CRAIG here we come].
Mon 30th It is now time to head to the boat but before we go everyone had a day to themselves and took advantage of the shops being open before we headed back and catch up on some of the things they didn't do. And some of us went to do some shopping and got some great bargains were had by a few people and by the time we got back to the boat everyone's cars were loaded to the MAX . Maybe I will organise another trip back in a couple of years time. We all boarded the boat about 6pm and parked our cars and then up to our rooms, then it was down to the bar for a few drinks and a final get together. I had the best time with the friendliest people you could have on a run. Thankyou too everyone for their help and I�m so glad that everyone had a great time. The highlight of Mick Z's trip was when he and his parents went to Beaconsfield where he met the 2guys from the mine and got his book and hat autographed . We woke up early to see the boat dock at the warf at 7am and then we all gathered just outside the warf parking and then headed off out of Melbourne in peak hour traffic, stopped at Mac's for breakfast and a final farewell as everyone was going a different way home and we arrived back in Canberra about 5pm. Many more reports to come and many more photo's to come in yet.
THOSE WHO ATTENDED:
GARY&SANDY HARWOOD : LX HATCH
MICK ZAWODZINSKI, RITA ZAWODZINSKI, CAS ZAWODZINSKI : MERCEDES 4 WD
STEVE & DIANA THOMPSON : LJ XU I
DANIEL THORNBURY, URSULA : LJ XU I
RONALD THORNBURY, KATHY : WRX
BRUCE & CHERYL INGRAM , MARLENE : COMMODORE
TREVOR COLLETT : COMMODORE
CHRIS POLGLASE, MALCOLM FLYNN : MAZDA Mx5
BERYL LEES, TREVOR : MITSUBISHI
GAVIN ADAMSON & KAREN : LH SLR/5000
LES WILSON DAVID BALL : LJ
GREG &JO & LACHLAN & MARGARET DE COSTA : TOYOTA HILUX

SOME OF THE TORANA'S WE MET AROUND TASSIE
LEIGH A9X
KEN TATTO LX SS
PJ WILSON LX SS
BRUCE LX SS
EAGLE LX SS
DAVID GLEESON LX SS
STEVE WILSON LJ XU I
ROB WALTERS SLR 5000
STEVE CLARIDGE SLR 5000
SHAUN DENNIS LX
MICHAEL EAGLING SLR 5000
BRAD JORDAN LJ XU !
ROGER NUTTING LJ XU I
DALE BILLING LJ XU I
RODNEY KAINE LH SLR
PLUS MANYMORE WE DIDN"T GET NAMES FOR.

Some 200 pics are now on the website and there's heaps more floating about so stay tuned. Also trying to get some of the video footage from Simmons Plains and the cruises online so keep an eye out for that.
ACT Torana Club for the early pics.