Hi folks,
I thought you'd like a quick recount of a really neat north Queensland
roadster journey I did this week, just got back tonight. We drove north
from Townsville to Port Douglas, about 270 miles away. We motored
through Innisfail, the town that got flattened by Cyclone Larry just two
weeks ago, a category 5 monster with wind speed something like 180mph.
It's quite amazing that no-one was killed by the impact although there
are some fairly fragged people out there. Trees are stripped bare with
no green, even the bark, or ripped out of the ground, for a radius of
many kilometres. Buildings have been flattened or shredded, boats sunk
and trucks tipped over and banana crops are absolutely stuffed. People
are trying to get back to normal, and today seemed like the day for
everyone to mow the grass.... a bit strange when part of the house is
down the street.
The weather was really wet on the way north, and we couldn't put the
roadster top up without stopping, so we hardly stopped except for gas
where there was cover....
The weather is still unsettled and today on the way back home a couple
of days later we drove through several big storms again with the top
down, not game to stop and put it up, damn things they are when you're
in a hurry.
I've come to the conclusion that a Datsun roadster mainly needs a top
when it's not moving, unless your sporting quotient is diminished. Even
in extremely intense tropical rain, we didn't get soaked, but a chamois
for the inside of the windscreen was really handy and I'm still kinda damp.
Driving into Townsville tonight at dusk about 6pm, we took the Blakey's
Crossing road without too much forethought, and ended up driving through
up to half a foot of flowing water with a bow wave above the fenders for
a quarter of a mile. Don't you love these cars........
best wishes to all roadster fans,
Eric in Townsville
SP311-06003
'70 rhd 1600
|