[hilifta]

Hi Guys,
Just a brief summary of what I’ve been up to on my latest Bathurst Odyssey.
I decided to leave Sydney on Sunday after arriving on Sat morning and head for Dubbo.
Dubbo is 400kms west of Sydney and is the easternmost point that roadtrains can travel. As I had never seen a roadtrain, I thought, “lets go”.
But the trip was also a “Mooch”, I intended to arrive back at Bathurst on Tues pm and wanted to just look and see and photograph anything that just appeared along the way.
Just beyond Molong I came across 50 or 60 old Melbourne suburban trains parked on a hillside, along with one Melbourne “Z” class tram and several old Sydney double deck carriages.
As I came to a stop some old trucks appeared, plus a DC3 aircraft.
All this in the middle of nowhere.
As I turned into the property some very ‘orrible, very large dogs appeared, on very long chains, so I did not get out of my camper!!!.
I backtracked up to the house nearby and located the owner. Initially he was very sus, but eventually he accepted that I was just a photographer with an interest in trucks and allowed me access to shoot what I wanted.
I was gobsmacked at what was there, and all the old British Austins!.
I spent around 2 and a half hours there shooting all I could see.
He has asked that I do not ID exactly where it all is, but frankly it is hard to miss so many trains in the middle of the country side.
He also has 5 DC3’s at a private landing strip nearby, one of which I have flown on, which I was able to see and photograph.
It was a magic few hours, and it was only day one!!!
I arrived at Dubbo around 2pm and duly went to the roadtrain staging area as described by Joe. However it was only then I discovered that only two trailer roadtrains are allowed into Dubbo, the three and four trailer rigs have to stop at Bourke or Cobar..
However I did see a few and it was very interesting to talk to the drivers. One rig arrived from Darwin heading back to Sydney. He had done 8370km’s in 5days, Syd/Dar/Syd, driving 2 up, 6 on, 6 off. One day off in Darwin, then 2 days off in Syd, b4 starting it all over again.
Another rig arrived from Perth, 40hrs after leaving, 8 hrs to Sydney still to go, 3000 plus k’s so far.
What I did not know was Dubbo is actually the crossroads for the Mitchell Highway from Sydney to Perth and Darwin, but also the Newell Highway and all the rigs heading from Melbourne to Brisbane and vice versa.
Despite no local info I was lucky enough to fluke a good spot to shoot these rigs. You’ll see them, over the next few weeks.
It is truly a great city for truck photography, and Joe, shame we didn’t hook up, I was where I said, for two and half days,... but still got some great shots.
After Dubbo, I headed back to Bathurst and copped all the usual shots. While passing through Orange I had a look at Ron Finnemore’s brand new depot, very very impressive.
I returned to Sydney after Bathurst, via the Bells Line of Road and managed to get some great oldies hidden in the bush along the way.
I promised to avoid Foreshore drive, but had a few hours to kill prior to handing the camper back, so I’ll end with a few from there also. The camper van depot was only 4k’s away!!!.
Never let a chance go by my friend!!!.
3331 photos in total, 1533 truck shots.
Some great wildlife scenes as well. The crow and the kookaburra having a stoush, and, best of all, a wedgetail eagle, magic,... and snakes galore. Oribble things.

Mike