NAM Aussies (and honourary Aussies) Club!
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,748
Likes: 1
From: In my secret lair of justice somewhere among the sewers of Jacksonville Florida.
G'DAY Y'ALL (pronounced yawl) from a Southern Yankee
Would like to be a member of this little group. I only occasionally peruse NAM hence my tardiness. First visited OZ (Sydney) while aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (aircraft carrier) in 1969. It was Vietnam and I was a squid (slang for sailor) working on the flight deck during air ops. Long story short - I was enchanted with Sydney and vowed to return. Well lots of stuff (and some crap) occurred. 36 years later I take my wife of 30 years to OZ for 2 month beginning in Jan 05. First half we spent on a hotel train (the Ozback Explorer) now defunct. Went from Sydney, Blue Mountains, Melbourne, Adeliade, Coby Pedy (celebrated Australia day there) Ulurhu, Alice Springs, Darwin then flew to Cairns without having to unpack/repack everyday. Sorry to hear that the Ozback Explorer couldn't maintain that service. It was absolutely the best way to see a lot of OZ at a relaxed pace. The final month we just wandered where the winds took us. Odd ball out of the way places, flew, drove etc, these near 60 almost retirees acted like college kids again (and boy did we pay for it when we got home).
Long story shortened yet again - when retirement comes for us we're looking to retire to the Adeliade area. We live in Jacksonville Florida now (for 35 years). Yes Florida the Sunshine State so we felt like we were home when we deplaned in Cairns - same heat, same humidity oh yea thats the Sunshine State too. Also has cyclonic storms like we do (5 major hurricanes- including a brush by Katrina- in the last 2 years) nope don't want any more of those. The time we spent in Adeliade was some of the best. We're not used to being able to walk anywhere and feeling safe. But this was not just Adeliade but any city or town in OZ that we visited. To be honest, in college in the 70s (urban design) OZ as it is now is what I envisioned the US to be like as 2005 went by (boy was I wrong). So we want to retire to the Adeliade area and greet everyone with G'day Y'all since it is after all South Australia and we've picked up a definite southern twang living in the america south for so long.
Oh all MINI Ozzies are all welcome to join the madness at http://www.sunshineminis.org/ a loose association of MINI/Mini owners throughout the state of Florida if enough want an OZ forum could end up on the site. We have both a German and English forum titles. Its a blast to compare notes worldwide. My wife and I are heading up to the Tail of the Dragon next week (some of you know it by reputation and a few I see have challenged the Dragon in person - what a piece of road magic in a MINI) http://www.tailofthedragon.com take a look it is a magic place.
Damn, I've been on a soap box sorry. Hope it doesn't effect our membership among you. LEE SMITH driving minimeto an 03 cr/w MINI Cooper S
Long story shortened yet again - when retirement comes for us we're looking to retire to the Adeliade area. We live in Jacksonville Florida now (for 35 years). Yes Florida the Sunshine State so we felt like we were home when we deplaned in Cairns - same heat, same humidity oh yea thats the Sunshine State too. Also has cyclonic storms like we do (5 major hurricanes- including a brush by Katrina- in the last 2 years) nope don't want any more of those. The time we spent in Adeliade was some of the best. We're not used to being able to walk anywhere and feeling safe. But this was not just Adeliade but any city or town in OZ that we visited. To be honest, in college in the 70s (urban design) OZ as it is now is what I envisioned the US to be like as 2005 went by (boy was I wrong). So we want to retire to the Adeliade area and greet everyone with G'day Y'all since it is after all South Australia and we've picked up a definite southern twang living in the america south for so long.
Oh all MINI Ozzies are all welcome to join the madness at http://www.sunshineminis.org/ a loose association of MINI/Mini owners throughout the state of Florida if enough want an OZ forum could end up on the site. We have both a German and English forum titles. Its a blast to compare notes worldwide. My wife and I are heading up to the Tail of the Dragon next week (some of you know it by reputation and a few I see have challenged the Dragon in person - what a piece of road magic in a MINI) http://www.tailofthedragon.com take a look it is a magic place.
Damn, I've been on a soap box sorry. Hope it doesn't effect our membership among you. LEE SMITH driving minimeto an 03 cr/w MINI Cooper S
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,748
Likes: 1
From: In my secret lair of justice somewhere among the sewers of Jacksonville Florida.
Not NAM, we are a florida site www.sunshineminis.org a loose knit association similar to your new site mini-mod forums (I've joined but not yet posted)been around since late 02. We welcome MINI/Mini owners world wide to join our little slice of madness. You denizens from the land of OZ will fit right in. LEE aka minimetoo (on ssm) 
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5th Gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,099
Likes: 0
From: Canberra, Australia
Long story shortened yet again - when retirement comes for us we're looking to retire to the Adeliade area. The time we spent in Adeliade was some of the best. We're not used to being able to walk anywhere and feeling safe. But this was not just Adeliade but any city or town in OZ that we visited. To be honest, in college in the 70s (urban design) OZ as it is now is what I envisioned the US to be like as 2005 went by (boy was I wrong). So we want to retire to the Adeliade area and greet everyone with G'day Y'all since it is after all South Australia and we've picked up a definite southern twang living in the america south for so long.
Hahndorf:
By the way - I think you're number 59.
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5th Gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,099
Likes: 0
From: Canberra, Australia
You should be able to get both those in Canada...got any buddies up there that can ship it down to you?
Coordinator :: Sin City MINI Club & AMVIV
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,587
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas
Dammit! Why didn't you tell me that when I lived in Detroit and could drive across the river to Canada?
Hmmm...my sister-in-law is married to a Canadian, and they do regular trips...
Hmmm...my sister-in-law is married to a Canadian, and they do regular trips...
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,748
Likes: 1
From: In my secret lair of justice somewhere among the sewers of Jacksonville Florida.
Hahndorf:
Put some thatch on those roofs and it would look almost like the land in the Cotswolds? Pleasant place Hahndorf, got some pictures in the albums somewhere. In mid Jan05 we came careening through in 3 white Sprinter vans from Ozback.
Oh, Ozback is not gone just doing scaled back tours in NSW. Since the owner started the successful Sholangolo trains in South Africa he expected no problems. Did not know the history of railroading in OZ. What, a total of 5 major gauges and 3 narrow gauge tracks cutting up the landscape all because 2 scotsmen and one irishman hated each others guts and would not get along. Saw some old railroading film of changing trains at the NSW/VC border because the rails weren't compatible. Only worse scene I've ever seen was at the China/Russia border - the Trans-Siberian train. The cars are lifted and the boogies replaced (different gauges) takes about 12 hours to do the whole train. The train build where the boogy change occurs is heated the passenger waiting area was not. You get the picture.
The Ozback owner just could not get his train where he needed to go - vestigises of that rail gauge fiasco still haunt OZ. He had to use his mini vans far more than he wanted and on the dusty back roads to boot. Remember the drive from the railhead to Cober Pedy now that was 60 miles of bad, badass road - its a good thing that Cober Pedy was worth the trip. But he had similar problems throughout the trip. i.e. the railsiding at Canberra was 40k from the city. Too bad he couldn,t work them out having a passenger train be your hotel for a 3 week tour is great (especially covering a country as big as OZ). Unpack once and enjoy the trip. In the U.S. it would be like trying to take a perimeter train trip around the country's outer edges - impossible now by train (we have the worst passenger train service in the known universe) barely possible by car.
Yes, that is a shame. But not all is lost - last year they launched the Ghan railway - between Adelaide and Darwin: http://www.the-ghan.com.au/
I know - we rode that length of track with stops at Catherine Gourge and Kakadu (3 days) before getting to Darwin. Beautiful new level track, hard to believe the line was started in WWII and not finish until later 04. But I have since read the accounts and history (appeared in our Smithsonian magazine) and respect for traditional sites and other political wrangling involved. As an urban/regional planner I can appreciate the effort necessary to finish the Ghan line now Darwin is not cut off from the rest of OZ.
Have I convinced you that I'm any Aussie at heart yet? My desire to come to OZ dates back to the late 60's during NAM. Was set up to imigrate after my tour in the US Navy was up but a sever flight deck accident hospitalized me for over a year. then force retirement for health reasons and the dream dimmed - a met a girl........you know. Wasn't til our 30th aniversary trip to OZ in 05 that I remember those long ago dreams. Now we both see living there in our future.
Damn, I'm on my soap box again - seems the damn think is nail to my feet lately. Thanks for listening. LEE
Put some thatch on those roofs and it would look almost like the land in the Cotswolds? Pleasant place Hahndorf, got some pictures in the albums somewhere. In mid Jan05 we came careening through in 3 white Sprinter vans from Ozback.
Oh, Ozback is not gone just doing scaled back tours in NSW. Since the owner started the successful Sholangolo trains in South Africa he expected no problems. Did not know the history of railroading in OZ. What, a total of 5 major gauges and 3 narrow gauge tracks cutting up the landscape all because 2 scotsmen and one irishman hated each others guts and would not get along. Saw some old railroading film of changing trains at the NSW/VC border because the rails weren't compatible. Only worse scene I've ever seen was at the China/Russia border - the Trans-Siberian train. The cars are lifted and the boogies replaced (different gauges) takes about 12 hours to do the whole train. The train build where the boogy change occurs is heated the passenger waiting area was not. You get the picture.
The Ozback owner just could not get his train where he needed to go - vestigises of that rail gauge fiasco still haunt OZ. He had to use his mini vans far more than he wanted and on the dusty back roads to boot. Remember the drive from the railhead to Cober Pedy now that was 60 miles of bad, badass road - its a good thing that Cober Pedy was worth the trip. But he had similar problems throughout the trip. i.e. the railsiding at Canberra was 40k from the city. Too bad he couldn,t work them out having a passenger train be your hotel for a 3 week tour is great (especially covering a country as big as OZ). Unpack once and enjoy the trip. In the U.S. it would be like trying to take a perimeter train trip around the country's outer edges - impossible now by train (we have the worst passenger train service in the known universe) barely possible by car.
Yes, that is a shame. But not all is lost - last year they launched the Ghan railway - between Adelaide and Darwin: http://www.the-ghan.com.au/
I know - we rode that length of track with stops at Catherine Gourge and Kakadu (3 days) before getting to Darwin. Beautiful new level track, hard to believe the line was started in WWII and not finish until later 04. But I have since read the accounts and history (appeared in our Smithsonian magazine) and respect for traditional sites and other political wrangling involved. As an urban/regional planner I can appreciate the effort necessary to finish the Ghan line now Darwin is not cut off from the rest of OZ.
Have I convinced you that I'm any Aussie at heart yet? My desire to come to OZ dates back to the late 60's during NAM. Was set up to imigrate after my tour in the US Navy was up but a sever flight deck accident hospitalized me for over a year. then force retirement for health reasons and the dream dimmed - a met a girl........you know. Wasn't til our 30th aniversary trip to OZ in 05 that I remember those long ago dreams. Now we both see living there in our future.
Damn, I'm on my soap box again - seems the damn think is nail to my feet lately. Thanks for listening. LEE
Coordinator :: Sin City MINI Club & AMVIV
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,587
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas
Minimeto, you should do a trip. Hit qantas.com forsome good deals on flights. Last time I looked, I could get from LA to Sydney and back for about US$850 a person. And if you want to see some more of the country, the Aussie Airpass is a phenomenal deal. Not available to people IN Aus though.
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,748
Likes: 1
From: In my secret lair of justice somewhere among the sewers of Jacksonville Florida.
Minimeto, you should do a trip. Hit qantas.com forsome good deals on flights. Last time I looked, I could get from LA to Sydney and back for about US$850 a person. And if you want to see some more of the country, the Aussie Airpass is a phenomenal deal. Not available to people IN Aus though.
But yea, we're planning a return trip (or three) just no dates yet. LEE
1st Gear
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: Decatur, AL
G'day, Y'all, too :-)
I worked a project in Melbourne (stayed in Box Hill, worked in Tally Ho) in 1995. I met a fellow from Ferntree Gully name of Danny Gilliland at the Puffing Billy Railway. It was he who first introduced me to the Classic Mini, and I've been hooked ever since. Toward the end of the trip, my wife joined me, and we both took a ride with Danny. If you look at our gallery, you'll see us both in Akubras and Driz-a-bones next to one of his cars. We just got a new 06 MCS, and wanted to get the good news to him. We haven't seen nor heard from him in quite a while, so I'm wondering if someone has an email for him, or would get him to check in here if you know him?
BTW: we have a sticker on the back window with the Australian flag on it! Does that qualify us for "honourary"?
BTW: we have a sticker on the back window with the Australian flag on it! Does that qualify us for "honourary"?
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5th Gear
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,099
Likes: 0
From: Canberra, Australia
Hey!
With Victoria having about 6 million people in it, I'm not sure if I could help you.
Here's our whitepages phone direcotry
you could also try this classic mini forum: http://www.ausmini.com/
as for joining NAMAHAC - of course you can!! Looks like you're number 60
ha...puffing billy: http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/
With Victoria having about 6 million people in it, I'm not sure if I could help you.
Here's our whitepages phone direcotry
you could also try this classic mini forum: http://www.ausmini.com/
as for joining NAMAHAC - of course you can!! Looks like you're number 60
ha...puffing billy: http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/