11 Jun 2026

11 Jun 2026

 The day started out rather peacefully, with no jumping up and racing out the door to get on the road while it was still dark. Took a more leisurely approach and went out for breakfast before getting going. After breakfast, I filled the car and set off with only one turn onto the highway out of town. I decided to go via a route that would keep me off the main roads and, therefore, hopefully out of the way of too many trucks and traffic. Some slow country roads through small towns and a solid day of relaxed driving.

That was the plan anyway.

I turned off the highway just out of Canberra, and had just made it through the small town of Gundaroo, 23 kilometres, when suddenly the sound of hissing air and the quick realisation that the back passenger's side tyre was now flat. Which is always a great feeling when 1, there is absolutely nowhere to pull off the road without falling into roadside channels, and 2, brand new tyres, well, 500-kilometre-old tyres!

Now to this point there had been no traffic on this road at all, though now that there was literally nowhere I could pull off to the edge of the road, and if I could have, there was nothing like solid ground to jack the car up on, suddenly every car from the town, and a truck or two, decided that travelling along that road was the thing to do. So I got the car as close to the edge of the road as possible and hauled the spare and the jack out of the boot. All good, so you would think. Unfortunately, it turns out that the jack I have had in the boot for the last 36 years of ownership, and have used on numerous occasions to rotate tyres and adjust brakes, actually doesn't fit under the car when a tyre is completely flat.

So, just to recap that, 36 years and I have never had a completely flat tyre before!

Anyway, just as I'm stressing about what to do, a kind fellow stopped and offered a hand. Luckily, he had a scissor jack, and within 10 minutes, the tyre was changed, and we were underway again! Thank goodness for random strangers saving the day! 

Now, I have done this road before, though only twice, and on a motorbike. To say that the road was great for the motorbike is an understatement. Though, to be honest, the first time on it heading north, it was raining like mad, so it wasn't all that fantastic a trip, but I digress. The choice of this road in a Morris Minor, which has issues with hills, was somewhat of a mistake. Some of the hills along the route really caused concern; there was a lot of gear changing and even, sad to say, some sections where even second wasn't sustainable! A few hills required 1st gear, which is hugely annoying given that the engine has had a complete rebuild and just doesn't perform at all under load.

I had to get to Tamworth for the night, and the day was slipping away very quickly, and the car was just slow. If I had taken the highway and gone all the way out through Sydney and then up the New England Highway, it would have taken a lot less time than crawling through the hills on the winding backroads. Mind these roads would have been the better option if the car had performed properly. I decided that I would change the route and steered well away from as many more of the twisty roads as I could and went through Mudgee and onto some much flatter, well, gentle hills, and less winding roads. 

At this time of year, the sun drops early, and it drops fast. At one point, I was scooting along,

and the sun was low enough to be blocked by a hill. By the time I got to the other side of the hill the sun had dropped below the horizon completely. It was a very good thing that I had fitted a light bar to the car as it was pitch black out there and sometimes seeing the road was difficult. I was relying on GPs for the route as I have never been this way before, and in the dark I had absolutely no idea where I was going. Getting closer to Tamworth the GPS had me turn down what looked to be just a small service road, it even had a gate that could be swung over the road to close it off. Following it along, it dropped down fairly steeply and twisted about, until it went between the supporting legs of a train bridge through a small ford, covered with water, and climbed back up the other side.

It has already been a long story, so to shorten it, the light bar was worth it's weight in gold. No wee animals jumped out in front of the car. And I have never driven into Tamworth from that side of town before! Anyway, made the hotel by 7:30 PM and even managed a pic.

The Big Golden Guitar