Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 So....the wife and I decided that we had to finally get down to Tasmania. It's been on our 'list' for years...we keep going to NZ as our quick getaways, mainly because the economics of going to NZ just beat staying local every time...but this time we decided to head down south. Stardust's thread was wonderfully timely - thanks to David - your thread inspired me to just book it. I've got a few friends who've run the Targa Tassie (mainly in MINIs) and they have also provided some excellent advice. Now, my biggest down-fall here is that I failed to post each day. We were just too knackered when we got to the hotel(s). So I'm going to drop each day in here.... I write this as we sit in Hobart. Now; I've driven the Stelvio Pass, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. I've driven the Nurburgring. I've driven Vancouver Island. I've driven most of the South Island of New Zealand. And I have to say, I've never been anywhere where you can string so many kilometres of amazing road together. Imagine literally being able to drive for hours on amazing twisty roads.With no other traffic. The Right tool for the job... We originally planned to take the 964, but a leak at the oil cooler took the wind out of those sails. But we have, to be serious, a perfect option in the garage right next to the Porsche....a 2009 JCW. She's perfectly setup for it...KW V1's, camber plates, thicker RSB, control arms, recaro seats, alcantara steering wheel. She's got decent Bridgestone tires and an aggressive alignment setup (for the street). Throughout the trip, this car has been like a scalpel through butter. Absolutely perfect for these roads. It turns like a razor and with the -2 deg camber up front, grips like glue. The JCW engine (155kW) is torque-y enough to pull the car through any climbing turn you can throw at it. It's absolutely wonderful. KW's, control arms (for corrected alignment), thicker rear sway bar... Excellent Recaro Sportster CS seats So off we went...Day 1 - Canberra to Melbourne & The "Spirit of Tasmania" We started with a seven hour boring highway drive to Melbourne. We hopped on the Spirit of Tasmania for the ten hour ride...lucky we had a cabin and could sleep... On the way to Melbourne...at Holbrook It was once a Greek cruise-ship.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Day 2 - Davenport Ship terminal to Cradle Mountain This day only covered one stage - Hellyer Gorge. Not a single car on the gorge except us. Bloody brilliant! Here's some mates of mine running Hellyer Gorge in the same model JCW last year... After Hellyers Gorge we lobbed into 'Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge' for two nights. Spent the middle day bush-walking. Covered about 16km of walking out to the mountain. Lovely... Saw some cool wild animals...(and some in a local reserve) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Day Three - Back on the Road - The longest day This was the big one. We planned to do as many of the west coast stages as possible and then dash back across to Launceston. A fairly epic drive - dawn to dusk. For those of you looking at the stage maps We took in these stages...https://goo.gl/maps/ta9U2 Stages: Mt Black Plimsol Rosebury Strahan Queenstown - Gormanston Cethana Mt Roland Mole Creek HOLY MOLY. Twist after turn after crest after twist and so on. An no other traffic. Perfect driving surface. Perfect cambers. Beautiful scenery. It was absolutely amazing... Here's a few of the stages we did are covered here in Day 4 and 5: Sorry..didn't take many photos on this day...so much amazing driving!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Day Four - East Coast and more amazing stages This day we left from Launceston due East, covering several more stages. This was a great day and we finished the day off with the famous 'Sideling' and 'Elephant Pass'. Perhaps my driving needs some attention because I made the wife vomit near the end....oops... We covered these stages:https://goo.gl/maps/ZzeCW The Sideling Legerwood Moorina Welborough Pyengana Elephant Pass Here's some videos of the stage: (From 2:25 you can see what 'The Sideling' is like) (My MINI mates again on the Sideling) We also visited Freycinet and saw Wineglass Bay after a short bush-walk. Bec got close to some of the locals: Oh...managed to get down to Iron House brewery as well. It's a bit of a strange building....after so many old and shabby looking weatherboard houses, there's this big steel and glass building against the ocean. Anyway...tasty meal and ale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Day Five - Port Arthur Not as much Targa driving for day five. Though we did visit somewhere amazing. Port Arthur. The old penal colony was far more impressive than I thought it would be. Of course, 1996 is on everyone's mind, but no-one dares talk about it...the memorial is quite moving. One thing I didn't mention was that on the boat over from Melbourne, there were a few hot-rods. Turns out, there's a large Hot-Rod gathering here in Tassie and a few of them were at Port Arthur today. When we arrived at our hotel tonight (Good Friday), there were quite a few of them at a local pub. We spoke to a few and are heading out to the hot-rod show tomorrow! This is right next to our hotel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 So - like I said - I wish I'd posted day-by-day, but have totally failed to. For me, the point of this is to actually contemplate out-loud how hard it would be to organise a group-trip down to Tasmania next year. This place is like a drivers wonder-land. Now - I know there are already several options (ie Porsche and Targa Classic), and it has been done before, but is that something PFA'ers would be interested in? An organised tour of Tasmania - focusing on the Targa stages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 18April, 2014 Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Nicely done TIT, I love the roads and Tassy in general. (In fact since our little holiday over there in Feb my wife keeps looking at houses for sale over there) Funny you should mention a PFA run to Tassy I was speaking with a few other PFA members the other day and that subject did come up.......... Might be worth doing a bit of homework and a new thread..........to get some indication of interest. The day trips over on the boat also is a good option..... Hmmm......maybe we need to start a thread on the feasibility and interest, but don't want to jump on anyone's toes who may also want to organise a few days over there. Happy to have a look at it, but if you are interested in taking the reins and kicking it off please do, willing to assist in any way. With local knowledge (tazzieman) and our members who were over recently I'm sure we could get a good plan together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 18April, 2014 Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Actually having said all that, I think Stardust was already suggesting doing a run next year, so happy to leave it with Stardust or yourself if your interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 18April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 I'll start a new thread this evening. Perhaps set up an online survey to work out what people are actually keen on. I think we would need at least a week down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 18April, 2014 Report Share Posted 18April, 2014 Excellent, TIT, please keep in mind the ACT trip for next year is in its initial planning stages and the dates for that will be Thursday 19th March kick off for the Vic members, and returning home on Sunday 22nd of March 2015. Same dates as this year coincidentally. Cheers mate, look forward to your thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZ930 Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Excellent, TIT, please keep in mind the ACT trip for next year is in its initial planning stages and the dates for that will be Thursday 19th March kick off for the Vic members, and returning home on Sunday 22nd of March 2015. Same dates as this year coincidentally. 19th March ??? Damn, might have to accidentally forget my wedding anniversary. "no dear, today"s date?? important?? Whadya mean you're changing the locks…..You gave my stuff to who ??? The cops keep saying my car is stolen……." Back on topic love to: do Tassie, do a lap of Tassie, drive Tassie……….none of these sound right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quozl Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Looks like a great trip, love the stages you chose, they are some of my faves, did Robbo give you his notes from last year? Not sure if they told you but you can easily spot the controls for each stage just look for the TC = Time Control, TS = Targa Start (Start Line of Stage) TF = Targa Finish (Flying Finish) & SP = Stop Point (Stop control to get stage time) in yellow paint on the road for the controls. Cheers Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-p Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for sharing it all with us. I have never been to tassie so it's certainly on the to do list. Love the mini too, looks awesome. hot rods look great to. Have see a few of them around here. I have an itch for 32 ford coupe.... You should have warned us you were passing through Melbourne and we could have caught up as a few of us often have a coffee catch up at station pier where the boat comes in. Enjoy the reminder of your trip and travel safe C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhh Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for sharing it all with us. I have never been to tassie so it's certainly on the to do list. Love the mini too, looks awesome. hot rods look great to. Have see a few of them around here. I have an itch for 32 ford coupe.... You should have warned us you were passing through Melbourne and we could have caught up as a few of us often have a coffee catch up at station pier where the boat comes in. Enjoy the reminder of your trip and travel safe C Chris, tell me you are joking. You have a 911 and you live in Melbourne and you've never been to Tasmania? I wouldn't have guessed it possible. I live in Adelaide and get to Tassie every year - sometimes more. You must change your ways. Great thread, Tit. If this doesn't get some interesting happening here, nothing will. You are lucky having a wife who enjoys the driving too. Mine gets carsick and won't join me. She thinks I have a girlfriend in Tassie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoHeadsTas Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Guys, forget the day trip in the Spirit, it's as boring as batshit, 10 wasted hours you'll never get back. Let us Tassie forum members know when you're coming, it would be fun to have a trip around the island in company. Last time I really did that was in the very first Targa Tasmania. Did that driving a rare 'glass 308GTB. Lots of fun, but the whole targa thing has got too serious.... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSix Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Thanks for sharing Tit, looks like you enjoyed it. I have only driven down the east coast of Tassie....in a diesel Jeep.......following 200 cyclists Would love to get down there in the 911 some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
withers Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Looks like a great trip! And super cool car you drive too:) I would love to drive mine round Tassie one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAX57 Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Thanks Tit, love your work! btw how was he actual crossing? I hear it gets a bit rough on Bass strait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 19April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Hi Jax. I think the key to the crossing is to take the night cruse, book a cabin and sleep through it... Thanks Tit, love your work! btw how was he actual crossing? I hear it gets a bit rough on Bass strait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 19April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Yeah. I spoke to Tom B about it at Wakefield ages ago. Liam was my main guide as he has crewed for Robbo a few times. I'd be tempted to bring him among next time to do an AusMotive piece on the trip... Looks like a great trip, love the stages you chose, they are some of my faves, did Robbo give you his notes from last year? Not sure if they told you but you can easily spot the controls for each stage just look for the TC = Time Control, TS = Targa Start (Start Line of Stage) TF = Targa Finish (Flying Finish) & SP = Stop Point (Stop control to get stage time) in yellow paint on the road for the controls. Cheers Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quozl Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Yeah. I spoke to Tom B about it at Wakefield ages ago. Liam was my main guide as he has crewed for Robbo a few times. I'd be tempted to bring him among next time to do an AusMotive piece on the trip... That's a great idea, would be a fantastic story for Ausmotive. Would be a fantastic yearly GTG for PFA to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterP Posted 19April, 2014 Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Tit, great story, and such brilliant roads. Have been around a couple of them in a Range Rover, which is about as much fun as running at the Olympics with only one leg..!! Would love the get the porker down there.......BTW, love that mini , it looks absolutely planted on the road even when stationary..!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 19April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 Day Six - Hobart Had a nice-full day today. Hit up Salamanca markets first thing this morning. They are substantial markets! After a coffee on the water in the perfect weather, we headed to the show ground for the Street-Rod show. What an amazing turn-out. To those that know the show-ground, they probably filled the oval by two thirds. Quite a good turn-out. Here's a sampling: V12 with a blower! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tit Posted 19April, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 19April, 2014 We had time to go to the Museum of Old and New Art. They're running The Red Queen" exhibition. MONA is a fairly controversial gallery, and I could see why. Lots of confronting pieces (and lots of contrived garbage). For me, the most amazing thing was the building. Dug into the sandstone on the side of that little penisula, the gallery goes three levels deep and one level above ground. The floor lay-out is complicated and interesting. Even though most of the art made me smirk, I'll definitely be back... Some of you will recognise this piece - looks like a G-model under there...: God runs the vinyard next to the museum: oh...here's more rods just outside our hotel again today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonoz Posted 20April, 2014 Report Share Posted 20April, 2014 Fantastic Tit. Thank you for the write up. Congratulations to your dearly beloved for playing the game. I would like the cab-over truck for towing the 5th wheeler. If anyones going to organise a Tassie run, we would like to enlist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.