> Getting ready to go:
 31/08/2009
There's a lot of nervous energy in the office today. Months in the planning and we're less than 24H away from heading off on our epic drive. This is the most ambitious public and press launch ever undertaken by Porsche in Australia for an all-new model. But a special car deserves something special. The cars - a Panamera S and Panamera Turbo - arrived by air freight late last week and they're in great condition. Our Porsche technicians have given them the once over and we have a green light for tomorrow. This afternoon the cars will have their special decals placed on them. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day One
 01/09/2009
The first day of Spring; and we are greeted with blue skies, golden sunshine and around 100 well-wishers at Porsche HQ in Collingwood for the start of our 17,000 km journey. We are also blessed with two special, brave young boys – 6 year old Blake and 13-year old Ben – both of whom have a “joy ride” this morning in the latest and greatest Porsche. We are delighted to have aligned ourselves with the Make A Wish foundation for Panamera Right Round Down Under. Things got serious – from a driving perspective, that is – once we hit the Great Ocean Road on the Victorian surfcoast. With minimal traffic and perfect driving conditions our two motoring journalists were able to throw the Panamera S and Turbo at tight and twisty corners after having spent the previous two hours cruising sedately and patiently down the freeway from Melbourne. The journalists were impressed (and so we were Porsche staff passengers) with the grip and evenness of the handling of these two four-door grand tourers. The Panameras are full-sized executive saloons, but to be in them as they are hurtled from one bend to the next gives the impression of being in a larger 911, such is the sure-footedness and composure of these cars at speed and with plenty of see-sawing at the wheel by a couple of motoring writers who do this kind of testing driving for a living. After almost 442 kms and plenty of photography along the way we arrive in the colonial hollow of Port Fairy on the southern coast of Victoria. We eat great steak at the local pub, called The Stump, and reminisce about the day’s adventure. But we’re kidding ourselves. We’re only 1 day into 33 days of adventure. Today was more like the taster before the appetizer. There’s a long way to go! View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Two
 02/09/2009
The sun’s rays struggle to find a path through low grey clouds. It’s beginning to drizzle and it’s cold. Our first stop is a mere 250 metres away – literally around the corner form the hotel – for some decent coffee to go. Cars fuelled, bodies fuelled, we continue our drive along the Victorian west coast. There has been much rain in the past few weeks. Fields are green. Almost a radioactive green so bright is the hue. Low flying ducks enjoy the marsh land, flying in pairs, wings flapping so lazily they look as if they could fall to the ground at any moment. We stop by some wind farms – the six of us wonder why we don’t make more out of nature’s gift of energy. The wind farms are an eye sore, say the locals. But there’s no time for arguments. Across to Mt Gambier, the beautiful blue lakes and now with blue skies to match. Lunch is a quick baguette in a coffee shop in the plain ol’ town of Millicent. What do people do here to stay satisfied and happy, we Big City folk wonder as we hustle on? From the flat lands we cross the Victorian border into South Australia and reach some hills as we approach the outskirts of Adelaide. The Panameras greet the corners like kittens their milk bowls, lapping up the turns with the same precision and speed we discovered yesterday along the Great Ocean Road. Twittering has become the norm. Damn mobile phones with small touch buttons make a simple task a pain in the butt ;-)) We arrive at the Porsche dealership in Adelaide around 4:40pm , the Panameras now having covered a tick over 1,000kms since our departure yesterday from Melbourne. A quick wash and shine and the S and Turbo are moved into the showroom for a VIP preview for the dealer’s most likely customers. We talk to the customers. They are an intelligent and inquisitive lot. The interaction is really good and the two hour preview passes quickly. We check in late at the Hotel, grab a quick bite and it’s off to bed. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Three:
 3/09/09
A day to draw breath after a couple of hectic days on the road. Not much driving planned for today. Group 1 journalists were out and Group 2 journalists were in. The three fresh media from specialist on-line automotive sites were taken from Adelaide airport to our dealership for a famous “Warwick McKenzie Walk Around” explanation of the Panameras and their features before embarking on the short 60-odd km drive through the streets of quaint Adelaide to the Barossa Valley – the home of Australia’s best wines – for the overnight stop. On the way we stopped for fuel and the spectacle of two large cars with Porsche badges drew curious attention. “What is it, mate?” quipped the attendant. “Front engined or rear engined? Sports car or sedan?” “It’s front-engined and both to answer your second question.” The local lad simply shrugged and said: “Whatever! But it looks good. I like it.” The Adelaide traffic played Peeping Tom with the cars – even the not-so-car-savvy mums on the school pick-up run knew there was something different among them in the stopped queues at traffic lights. At Barossa we arrived around 5pm. A full and generous late afternoon sun excited our photographer Peter Watkins, who along with Warwick, are the only two people committed to do the entire 33-day journey. So we hit some special locations for more photos, and then returned to the motel for a dinner at the motel restaurant – the lady at reception proudly boasting their restaurant had the best chef in this famous wine and gastronomic area. A three-star hotel with a five-star chef? We’ll soon find out. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Four:
 4/09/09
It’s amazing the things you see when you least expect to. Idling through the nothing town of Wilmington 300 kms north west of Adelaide we see half a dozen old Land Rovers parked out front of a shed, with a sign and spliced old wreck on the roof façade with the words “Wilmington Toy Museum.” We discover that David, the owner, has no less than 35 Land Rovers and Range Rovers in his collection – as well as an ever-growing old toy shop that also boasts 800 Land Rover model cars. We ask David if his passion for old Land Rovers is an illness. He says it probably is, and that he isn’t looking for a cure! After 30 minutes trundling through David’s sheds and yards full of old car bodies we head to the outback town of Hawker for lunch. One of us has a meat pie whose content is worrisomely black but the muncher tells us it’s a great meat pie. We joke that the pie’s contents were probably scraped off the bulbar of one of the road trains that thunder through these parts. More fast roads, flat countryside, old ruins and it’s not too long before we arrive at our overnight destination of Wilpena in the spectacular Flinders Ranges. If there is a God – this is his country! Out of nowhere appear vast hills that touch the sky, their sides sprinkled with red rocks like acne, and jagged peaks like a mutilated bread knife. It’s awesome! Our greeting party into Wilpena Pound consists of a flock of pink and white gallahs, shiny black crows the size of small pigs and a mother emu herding her six little babies across the road into green vegetation for afternoon tea. No wireless communication reception where we are, so this blog may be coming a little late. Got to go, there’s a burly black crow pecking at my door looking for a bottle opener ;-) View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Five:
 5/09/09
We are blessed with a beautiful morning. A rich sun, impeccable blue sky and plenty of kangaroos by the roadside to keep us alert for the first hour’s drive. Our first stop is 200km away in Port Augusta at the local truckstop. We draw attention and soon discover one of the on-lookers – Ron – went to school with Alan Hamilton, son of Norman Hamilton who imported and owned the very first Porsche brought into Australia – the maroon 356 Coupe that is our patron car on this journey. Ron remembers Alan being driven to school by his dad in that 356. Within minutes we’ve got Alan Hamilton on the phone and he’s chatting with his old school buddy who he hasn’t spoken to for four decades. It’s a small world this big planet. The terrain becomes flat and we roll into Ceduna – home of Australia’s best oysters. Three dozen of the slimy slurpees later and we’re on our way to the Nullarbor for the arrow-straight drive across the bottom edge of mainland Australia. We take the obligatory photo of the two Panameras on a cliff edge – the pair of Porsches nothing more than specks on a brown-yellow vertical blanket hemmed by the blue ribbon of the Southern Ocean. The sun sets on a cloud-laced horizon, but it still musters a fiery painting. We drive towards a backdrop of a fiery orange, deep red, light purple and thin grey canvas. More than 1100km later we arrive at our overnight stop at Border Village, just 50 metres shy of the Western Australian border. This blog is being written in the one building that defines Border Village – a truckstop, come roadhouse, come motel. The football finals are on the TV and the locals – do they have a dentist in these parts? – slash away at lamb shanks while yelling abuse at the TV. This is Australia, mate!! View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Six:
 6/09/09
The mean-looking truckies you wouldn’t dare stare at at the Border Village roadhouse turn out to be fun, gregarious, easy-going knockabouts that we soon bond with. Sharing beers, sharing tales and sharing our views on life. It is a wonderful experience. Rod – a gruff, stout bloke with a furry face and hair – is driving a “blade” from Victoria to Western Australia. The blade Rod refers to is a 40-metre long carbon-fiber blade for a wind farm mill, exactly the same mills we spotted in south-western Victoria a few days ago. Rod tells us each blade costs 2 million and the blade tips rotate at 200 km/h when in cycle – hard to believe given the wind mills seem to turn so gently when viewed from a distance. The skinny trailer used to tow the blade has its own bogey axle at the rear and is steered by remote control from either inside Rod’s cabin or by the trailing escort car with the flashing yellow light on its roof. Degrees of axle turn are needed to compensate for the cross winds which would otherwise blow the blade sideways into the path of on-coming traffic; or worse, off the road completely! From gruff guys to gentle grannies. Next acquaintance is Mary Taylor who we meet at the day’s first fuel stop in Cocklebiddy. Mary is a fighting fit 91 year old making her 18thsolo drive around Australia – the first of which was when Mary was a sprightly 75. Yes, you read correctly. Mary is a beautiful soul. “I can’t imagine life without my car. It would be devastating.” The truckies and roadhouses know Mary and keep an eye out for her. “Every morning I get on the CB radio and tell the truckies where I’m driving to and they always finish with the words “We’ll look after you, love.” The last few days haven’t been so much about the Panameras – it’s been about the people we’ve met along the way. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Seven:
 7/09/09
What a day of contrasts. Starting out on the sublime coastline of Esperance in brilliant spring sunshine, with crystal clear waves washing the granite boulders and whiter-than-white beaches. Our photographer says he could spend hours here. We begin driving through gentle undulating hills which alternate between scrub and fluorescent yellow canola crops. Around noon we are delighted to find a cafe with great food and friendly banter that would be a welcome in any state capital city, let alone out here. We take a short break for photos on the south coast at Bremer Bay with nothing but a few empty fishing boats for company. The weather changes as we head towards our overnight stop of Albany. Clear skies and sunshine are now replaced by a mighty rain storm and darkness . Suddenly, brake lights flash ahead of us as the leading Cayenne strives unsuccessfully to avoid a kangaroo. Through the mist and rain those in the first of the Panameras pass as the kangaroo jumps to its feet again, and disappears sideways into bushland. By the time all three cars come to a stop, only seconds later, the incident is over. Everyone's nerves are on edge from then on. There's still 80 kms to go before we get to Albany and our concetration levels are higher than normal. It's amazing how a close-call instantly changes your mindset when driving. The lights of Albany appear and the relief is palpable. The drive was more intense than anticipated, but perhaps the more rewarding for it. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Eight:
 8/09/09
Do we call this a corporate embarrassment or a sense of adventure with an acceptable risk? Or maybe we shouldn't listen to the photographer next time he comes up with a great idea. Yes, we bogged the all-wheel-drive Panamera Turbo in the sand! The plan was simple. We were at Cape Leeuwin, the south-western most point of mainland Australia. It is where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. There is a striking lighthouse on the point. Put a Panamera on the beach and capture the moment. All wonderful. Photo in the bag. But then the Panamera promptly sank as soon as we tried to drive out from the beach. Some red faces all round, but the Cayenne Diesel did the perfect extraction in low-range with the differential locked. We all needed a drink after this little episode, so it was off to Vasse Felix winery in Margaret River. No wine this time, just a coffee with the winery's marketing manager. The cars make an impression with some Japanese tourists as we enjoy the late afternoon sunshine. Can't relax too much. Still a few hours of driving to go before we reach Perth, making it into the city around 9:30pm. There are yawns. We look forward to full day's rest on Wednesday after more than 5,000 over the last week. And next time the photographer comes up with a great photo idea, we'll think twice. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Nine:
 9/09/09
Not much driving today as we enjoy our stop over in Perth. But there's still plenty of action. Our Perth Porsche Centre invited some interested enthusiasts for VIP previews of the two Panameras in his showroom. We spend time answering questions and providing as much information as we can about the cars. They are impressed with what they see and also make favourable comments about our low fuel consumption so far on the RRDU drive. Come mid-morning we wheel the Panamera S off the showroom floor to take 13 year old Lachlan for a ride to school as part of our capital city activities with the Make A Wish foundation. Lachlan suffers from leukemia and we're going to put a smile on his face by dropping him off at Sacred Heart school in Sorrento at the stroke of recess so his buddies can see him arrive and share the experience with him. It's a great few hours with Lachlan! Lachlan's big wish is to drive a TGV train in France. Tomorrow we hit the highway again - a big 12-hour drive north to Sharks Bay. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Ten:
 10/09/09
An early start after Wednesday’s late evening at Porsche Centre Perth introducing the Panamera to the Porsche Club of WA. Weather, however, refuses to co-operate with photographic desires, a steady drizzle and grey ceiling occaisionally broken up by alternating bright spells and squalls. Our convoy comes across the fully assembled version of the 40m turbine blades spotted days ago in the form of a huge wind farm on road to Cervantes. Like giant sentries, 40 or more turbines – each with three of the 40m blades – spin serenely in the strong westerly winds. After passing a tidy but cross-wind-challenged VW Combi, we reach the Pinnacles Desert to find a moonscape of limestone rock formations protruding from the yellow sandy soil and the Panameras once more undertake an “off-road” excursion around the sandy pathway marked between the towers. Taking photos of our caravan are three rather more ruggedly dressed guys on serious trail bikes; Jason, Korey and Greg conducting their own circumnavigation on 2 KTMs and a BMW GS800 but up, across, down and back up to Byron Bay in 2 months, meaning they were going the other way around. After photos all round we headed up, they down, and on through the sprawling industrial port of Geraldton to Kalbarri. Pass the still-weaving VW Combi and the well advertised “best bakery in Dongara” proves elusive, much to Warwick’s dismay. Instead we opt for lunch at the Season Tree Cafe Room featuring an interesting Asian menu but, er, not actually serving anything Asian today…BLT’s and quiche it is then, proving that real men do eat the stuff. Highway 1 leads to Kalbarri where sandstone abuts the Indian Ocean – itself doing it’s best to erode a few more grains with some sizeable wave action – and the photographer’s prayers are answered in the form of a setting sun, large rock platform and crashing surf. Gathering gloom means photography’s over for the day, but still 325km to run. Dinner is required before we reach Shark Bay, and we pull in at the properly named Billabong Roadhouse: “Kitchen closed 15mins ago. Could maybe make you some fish and chips?” “OK. What kind of fish?” “White.” Six white and chips consumed it’s back to the highway but progress slows markedly as the ‘roos, rabbits and rats (apparently) want to play chicken with the convoy. 1050kms + in a day, the body feels surprisingly fresh but the head says a beer and bed before tomorrow’s marathon. What a varied land this is. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Eleven:
 11/09/09 A now seasoned, 1000km+ crew assemble early to drive the 15mins to Monkey Mia for breakfast with the dolphins. Monkey Mia (mia meaning “home” in aboriginal dialect, but there don’t seem to be any monkeys…) has been a dolphin research centre since the early 80’s as these elegant though often scarred mammals – a third of all dolphin young exhibit shark bite scars – swim to the edge of the beach for a free feed. No raw fish for us, instead only a “full English” will suffice but one of the crew breaks ranks to eat something called muesli and yogurt. He clearly has no idea how far we will travel… We head south retracing our steps of last night (and adding further kms to the odyssey) as, fittingly for a ‘bay of sharks’, there is only one way out. Turning left and north, back on to Highway 1 and scenes of carnage along the roadside, as nocturnal wildlife and road trains have clearly failed to co-exist last night. This road to Carnarvon must be the straightest in the country; perhaps 150kms with barely a bend. Romans eat your hearts out. The Panamera Turbo’s overtaking punch is superbike-fast and useful when road trains stretch to 3, sometimes 4, trailers. S and Cayenne keep pace though, all three proving fast, comfortable, practical, livable and head turning – especially to a couple of touring German engineering students in their “Wicked” camper. Sandwiches and exploding burgers for lunch at Carnarvon – a town with a bank for every resident it seems – are preceded by an entrée of dried mango leather (no, really and quite tasty), but no pimping of apparel for us. No Combi tortoise today either, only goats, cows, ‘roos and emus but most stay wide of the road. Then the terrain changes from dry but green desert scrub to redder, rockier outcrops. We think we spy a miniature Uluru among the increasing number of pyramid-like termite mounds as we pass the Tropic of Capricorn and the temperature climbs to 30 degrees. Music choices today have edged toward the contemporary and comedic with Radiohead, Dave Mathews and Dave Shapelle making the playlist. Queen’s “Flash” still saved every one of us. Tracking shots car-to-car make the most of the long, straight roads and photographer Peter’s prayers are answered with the sun setting behind the cars, providing great light for shooting elegant metal but cleverly obscuring their non-model occupants… The Pilbera; mining country with its reddy, purple soil - caused by the iron ore dust - and illuminated mines, glowing permanently behind the distant horizon. Only 250kms to go to the end of another 1050km day, a good feed and – horizontal – sleep. |
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> Day Twelve:
 12/09/09
With an “only 635km today” ringing in our ears, Day 12 begins with a more sedate start at 8am from our overnight sustenance and sleep stop at the All Seasons Hotel. “All Types” would have been as apt, judging by the varied selection of locals, tourists, miners and car journalists (us) that stayed last night… Fuel and fly removal first up but as we head to leave, an MGB roadster (?!) arrives containing what may be Karratha’s founding Porsche Club member. A 911 owner, he’d read about the Panamera but couldn’t believe he was seeing two this far north. Bonnet and doors are opened for a better look and local advice on speed provided (“you got a radar detector in that?”) Finally away, we travel for an hour or two north east to the AC/DC classic, “it’s a long way to the top…”, when we learn it is in fact even longer. The PCM makes it clear it’s more like 800km to Broome not 635, and our later start might prove costly… Fast progress until we spy a classic outback pub in the middle of nowhere – literally – at Whin Creek. A couple of weary bicyclists pedaling from Canberra are awaiting the opening bell at 3pm, which is unfortunate for them but not for our average speed, and we continue on. A crisis emerges; yesterday’s blog and photos have been corrupted in transmission and must be re-sent, so Panamera becomes a business class lounge, using two laptops to resend the data at 110km/h+ As we head toward and beyond Port Hedland it’s clear to us now that 3 trailers on your wagon does not qualify for Road Train status: 4 seems to be the minimum. Temperatures edge toward 34 deg C as all around the barren, red surface seems to creep closer. It’s not the Moon; it’s Mars (with bushes…) A dramatic change of scenery arrives almost exactly half way between departure and arrival points, the red earth, low scrub and bushes giving way to a pampas-like grassland that stretches as far as the eye can see. South America meets Australia… plus cows, hundreds of them, trooping dustily toward Broome. A quick lunch at the Pardoo roadhouse and on again, the kilometers ticking up fast, to a rendezvous with a red dirt road, and proof that the Panamera Turbo makes an excellent off-road 4x4... Photography complete, a final sprint to reach Cable Beach in time for sundown. We join what appears to be a car park of vehicles on the beach itself but find some space and let photographer Pete work his magic. Others have picnic rugs and wine glasses, we have some empty cans of Red Bull, chocolate and muesli bars, but the sun sets as quickly on us both and Pete snaps away. “You drive ‘em, you wash ‘em” motto means our crew - who depart tomorrow – are all hands to the pump at the local car wash in preparation for the next leg’s travellers. 2992km in 3 days is going to take some beating… View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Thirteen:
 13/09/09
Having covered some 3,000 km in three days, it was time for a driver and crew change in Broome. One can only guess at the impression left on our Japanese companion as he disembarked, given those three days were his very first in Australia. Day 13 saw our new GT crew - as in “Gentlemen’s Touring” - take over for the run from Broome to Darwin. With Porsche ambassador Jim Richards and a combined 150 years of experience on board, the “Pearl of the North” disappeared in our rear vision mirrors as we set about tackling the initial 700 km’s to Halls Creek. The predicted 38+ degree temperatures didn’t faze us; the new technology and systems within the Panameras perhaps a little more so. The next challenge for the day was finding a dining establishment commensurate with the dietary needs of veteran GT drivers. After traversing the Fitzroy Crossing town centre (a 500 meter side road off the highway), things were becoming quietly desperate when a weathered sign indicating the “Fitzroy Inn & Restaurant” was spotted. A few hundred meters down the only side street loomed what appeared to be real outback-outdoors-bar-type-pub. Whilst the journalists were completely at home in the earthy pub atmosphere, the rear section revealed a restaurant complete with ironed white table cloths, fine wine glasses and an excellent selection of beverages to complement the “A Lar Carte” burger menu! An outback fine dining experience followed with the team showing rare self-restraint by consuming only ginger beer in light of the driving task ahead. Further exploration revealed some forgotten treasures lurking near the sheds in the form of an undeterminable age, straight-six Merc diesel lorry (circa 1930-50’s?) that looked in need of a good home, and an unlimited restoration budget. Soon it back to the zoned cooling comfort of the Panameras and onward to the day’s final destination: the lively town of Halls Creek. The journey to HC past Wolf Crater and the famous Tanimi track turnoff (identified by all as a future Gentlemen’s type of adventure – Cayenne style) was smooth, give or take few special excursions for selective photo shoots, and an unsuccessful attempt at herding goats with the Cayenne. Again the culinary gods were smiling on us at the Best Westin motel that evening, in the form of a ritzy and renovated “Russian Jacks” restaurant which turned out to serve great food, with even nicer staff. Nothing left to do then, but for these gentlemen to park their touring machines and retire for the night with their slippers and a glass of port. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Fourteen:
 14/09/09
Out of the blocks at 0700 and a kiss goodbye to “Russian Jacks” at Halls Creek. Watto (Paul Watson) was very reluctant to leave after meeting a couple of real dogs the night before, and which were still there in the morning when he stepped foot outside his apartment door ;-) Long way to go today so no mucking about! 300kms down the track and Jim Richards announces an ice cream stop is warranted. Jim, the current world expert on ice creams, suggests a “Barney Banana” but is then trumped by Watto with the suggestion of a “Memphis Meltdown” – liquid gold in caramel form! Morley – on a different track as always – pronounces the winner of the day’s best fuel consumption, at 8.8 litres per 100kms for the Panamera S he’s piloting. Outstanding for a 4.8 litre V8 with 400 horses under the bonnet. Onwards to Kununurra and the spectacular Lake Argyle. Peter Watkins gets some happy snaps for the album and then it’s across the border into the Northern Territory, land of the almost civilized 130km/h speed limit… A quick break for lunch at another roadhouse, another ice cream at Timber Creek, a bit of a chat to the local Police - who were mighty interested in our German machines - and it’s back to eating up the kilometers rather than the local cuisine. In doing so, we managed to hit the magical 10,000 km mark of our journey which, in turn, exceeded the maximum cumulative trip data on the Porsche Communication Management System… Perhaps our engineers didn’t have one lap of a Continent in mind when they were programming the computer?! A word of warning for the unsuspecting continent-circler; avoid travelling through the remote parts of this great country at dusk or throughout the night, as wildlife, cows and anything else that walks, crawls or flies will come out to do battle with your machine. Really quite scary! Into Katherine we arrive, followed by a quick check-in at our hotel, a couple of ice-cold beers, and off to bed, a Grand Touring day had by all. |
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> Day Fifteen:
 15/09/09
An easy hop today which will see us rendezvous with the new crew arriving this afternoon in Darwin. We depart Katherine at 0730, a cool 27 degrees - building to 37 degrees later in the day. Today’s journey was a bit different, however, the first 200kms went pretty much as it had for the past 2 days, great scenery, smooth roads, no traffic to speak of in the worlds best touring cars. After a roadside stop for refueling the pilots (not the Panameras) we continued up the Stuart Hwy to the outskirts of Darwin. This journey again registered impressive fuel consumption figures in both Panameras of high 8's (Panamera S) and 9’s (Panamera Turbo) per 100kms with the Cayenne Diesel constantly in low 9's even though it’s packed to rafters; spare wheels for all cars, tools and other weighty assorted survival gear. And then before we had time to say boo, we were confronted with traffic lights and two stationary lanes bumper to bumper! We arrived at Porsche Centre Darwin on the Stuart Highway, Berrimah late afternoon in time to give the cars a quick tub ready for this evenings preview. Northern Territorians from far and wide gathered to experience their first up-close encounter of the new Panamera at Porsche’s only dealership in the NT. Both Panameras were extremely well received, and with today’s temperature reaching over 30 degrees, cooling seat ventilation on the Panamera Turbo was a favourite for most. A relaxed preview was enjoyed by all with Aussie style catering; sausages in bread and cold can drinks! A quick farewell and the team of Morley, McKay, Richards and Smith head for the airport full of great memories from their experience of driving the world’s best Gran Turismo on some of the world’s best roads. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Sixteen:
 16/09/09
After taking over from the veteran GT – Gentlemen’s Touring – contingent in Darwin, it was thought best to keep the initial pace of the Day 16 equally relaxed. Soft southerners like us can’t move too quickly in the heat up here anyway. Acclimatization is needed. The locals, however, don’t sympathize much: “this isn’t hot, you should be here in summer…” So it was back to the air-conditioned comfort of the dealership for the morning. Ah, much better, thanks. Our two new journalists received their first hands-on Panamera briefing, joined by a rep from one of the trip’s sponsors, Michelin. We haven’t had to even change a tyre yet, but I guess the bloke deserves a seat for a few days anyway. Make-A-Wish organised for 13 year boy called Andrew and his mum to join us in the morning. If a brand new Porsche is “yours” for a couple of hours, you’re naturally going to want to show your mates. Andrew’s teacher didn’t seem to mind that our visit interrupted a lesson at school, with the car suddenly surrounded by enthusiastic kids, and local media also in tow. It turns out the teacher is the most excited of all to see the new car. The sale of tattslotto tickets might jump this week in Darwin. The 250 or so kilometers to Jabiru, within Kakakdu National Park, can’t be put off any longer, so the two Panameras and one Cayenne were packed up and we were off… to stop for lunch. The “world famous” (the sign said so) Humpty Doo hotel provides barra (fish) and burgers on a porch while the ceiling fans spin overhead. Yep, it’s hot. Not enough to stop the truckie’s game of pool, which looks set to go for hours yet. The run to Jabiru was smooth – for us at least. Just before Alligator River (I thought they were crocodiles around here?) we suddenly come upon a 4WD that has rolled over. A rear tyre blow-out gave the driver of the top-heavy 4WD no chance. All occupants appeared to be severely shaken and knocked about, but luckily no worse. No more taking the treads on our cars for granted. Checking into the Crocodile Hotel – it’s built in the shape of a giant crocodile – at Jabiru was novel. “To get to your room, go up the crocodile’s leg (a staircase), walk along it’s back and down to the ribs – that’s your room”. Okay then. We’ll all sleep well tonight in the belly of a croc. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Seventeen:
 17/09/09
Kakadu National Park (also a World Heritage area) is simply too large to get a meaningful impression from the ground, so some of our small crew hopped into an equally small aircraft to see it all from the air. “All” is, however, an exaggeration. Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land is an area larger than Tasmania, so even a 30 minute flight revealed only small portion. But what a landscape. Vast and timeless. It puts our 33 day ‘epic’ into a different perspective. The route heading southwest from Jabiru to Pine Creek was already earmarked as being one of the most interesting in this region. Our two journalists didn’t waste the chance to test the car’s capabilities in a strange new environment – roads with bends and curves. Make the most of it guys, there may not be too many more of those for quite a while. Cruising GT-style through the gold mining district of Pine Creek and on to Katherine was relaxed as it should be, until the jarring sight of a completely burnt-out road train loomed ahead. It had been carrying hay. We speculated that the driver may not have initially known his load was alight, and unwittingly been fanning the flames by driving, until it was too late. A short caffeine and fuel stop in Katherine proved Australia can sometimes be a small place after all. The daughter of colleague, on an outback tour with her school, spotted us parked at the petrol station. She phoned her dad in Melbourne, who promptly called us: “so, how’s Katherine?”. How did you know…? The late afternoon run to Daly Waters was beautiful…open country, smooth roads, the sun slowly setting. Sun setting? Better get a move on – don’t want to be out here when the kangaroo start coming out on the road. Ah, the Daly Waters Hotel… we’ve heard so much about this legendary pub in the middle of nowhere. The front bar is decorated with all manner of stuff that has been jettisoned by the many travelers who have passed through… including ladies underwear and bras. Somewhere between all the outback memorabilia is a photo of when three 911 Turbos were here. All kinds of characters are here. Entertainment is provided by volunteers for Camp Quality, a kid’s cancer charity, who are on their way up north. Our Right Round Down Under team comes a gallant third place, before retiring to the sound of crickets and nothingness. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Eighteen:
 18/09/09
Prolific bird life is expected in the cool of an outback sunrise, but this is less welcome. “Can someone shut that bloody rooster up?!”. Prayers of adding an item to the Daly Waters Hotel breakfast menu go unanswered, so there’s nothing for it but to join our photographer outside who is making the most of the soft morning light. In its early days, this place had two important features: an overland telegraph station (part of the first north-south line) and an airstrip. The telegraph station is long gone, but the surface of the runway is still surprisingly good. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” The roar of the Panamera Turbo launching itself down the runway cut through the warm morning air. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off…” As we turn south on highway no. 1 at a far more sedate speed, the navigation system once again provides clear and helpful directions: “please follow the road for nine hundred and fifteen kilometers”. Righto. By late morning the roads started to shimmer in the distance as the temperature climbed to the high 30’s and the red and green landscape flowed by. Eventually the sign for Tennant Creek broke through the horizon, which signaled our next important stop: lunch. (Mentos and water can only go so far). This trip is generating its own following in the most unlikely places: we followed down the main street and into the service station by a bloke who had heard of our trip on the radio, and wanted a closer look at the new cars. Suitably sated, it was back on the highway to the Devil’s Marbles. This amazing rock formation does indeed look as if the gods have been playing with smooth round boulders, balancing them on top of one another just for fun. It seems they got bored with the game, and just left them balanced there. Two friendly NT policemen stopped for a chat, on their way into Tennant Creek from a ‘nearby’ station…400 km away. The highway continued its impossibly straight line to the horizon as the countryside seemed to expand around us, making it sometimes feel as if the destination was slipping away, rather than getting closer. Only the small escarpments and landscape features provide some kind of relativity as the odometers silently counted the kilometers. The colour hues of red dirt, green scrub and blue sky were slowly softening in the late afternoon sun when flashing police car lights ahead suddenly broke the reverie. Is it an accident? No. That’s good. (Pause) You’re kidding me… an alcohol breath test out here? Random indeed. Doing these checks in the middle of nowhere, 100 km from the nearest town, seems to be normal business for NT coppers. Checks done, a friendly chat and a few photos later, and we’re counting down the final k’s to Alice Springs. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Nineteen:
 19/09/09
A rest day in Alice Springs meant a trip to the laundry for some and to the airport for others as our journalists swapped in and out and the ‘A-Team’ from Porsche Australia took over from the ‘B’... First up was a Make-A-Wish ride for Agnes around town with her grandmother and brother, delivering smiles all round, before a lazy day of rest for the road weary crew. A cruise on foot around historic Alice Springs, up one of only two hills to the Anzac Memorial, and a recce of eating spots for the nights culinary indulgence. Indulgence it was at Bojangles Saloon, a treasure trove of antiques (“I had one of those…”), memorabilia from the surrounding area and great steaks. A good job too as we might not be eating as well tomorrow night… To bed early for a prompt start on another 900km leg tomorrow, retracing our steps to Tenant Creek and then a right turn and east toward Queensland… View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty:
 20/09/09
Big country, small world… Before we even set off from Alice on our journey back north and east, we run in to the first of the day’s encounters with ’Porsche People’, in the form of Tony Connole from the Alice Springs Mercedes/Ford/Hyundai dealership who has spied the Panameras when out on his morning walk. Turns out his dealership was used by Porsche Factory engineers when they came over to NT to carry out hot weather and high speed testing a few years ago. The original Cayenne prototypes were fettled at his dealership during their development, and here we are 9 years later in the latest Porsches albeit in production form. With a new trio of journalists and videographers (Drive.com), we trundle through a tranquil Alice Springs at an unusually civilised 8:30am, passing the second of only two hills in town. The first features the Anzac memorial and great views of the town; the second appears to be what is technically known as a large pile of rocks. Head out on the highway, heavy metal thunder (Steppenwolf anyone?), and the Panameras cross the Tropic of Capricorn again but this time heading north and several thousand kms further east from their previous northbound crossing on Highway 1 above Shark’s Bay… NT’s latitude marker is a bit more elaborate than its WA cousin too. Our second small world encounter occurs at the aeronautically-named Aileron pub (we’re having coffee of course) where we come across Martin Peruzzi, an Austrian metals engineer who’s company supplies several ultra high strength steel components for the Panamera, including the A and B pillars and chassis structures. High tech forging and welding techniques are critical for strength and, crucially, lightness, he explains. Having been involved with the Panamera design for several years, it’s actually the first time he’s seen one in the metal, a mere 17,000km from home! He and his new wife are driving a rather less advanced campervan on their whistlestop tour of the outback, so we hand him a RRDU cap to take pride of place in his office (or head), and wave them on their way. Leaving the magnificent and massive steel sculptures at Aileron behind, it’s northward again and at the sadly infamous Barrow Creek, our third ‘Porsche person’ is a backpacking young German researcher from Pforzheim near Porsche’s hometown of Stuttgart who instantly recognises the cars as new models because, “Porsche hasn’t made a four door before”. No close encounters of the extraterrestrial kind at Wycliffe Well Roadhouse, the “UFO capital of Australia” (yet apparently only 5th in the world for the most UFO sightings - who makes these lists?!) In a bizarre connection only Agents Scully and Mulder could fathom, the roadhouse is also home to an international doll collection that includes a gorilla on a bed… However, the local aliens produce a fine selection of burgers and bacon sarnies for the visiting ones and, after fuel for cars and drivers, it’s on through Tenant Creek, the mandatory ice cream stop, and a 90-degree right turn east at Three Ways on to the Barkly Highway for a late rendezvous with the Post Office Motel at Camooweal. A stunning sunset behind us sends the photographers into frenzy and the sky ahead frames the grassland beneath in a beautiful pink and white halo, as Day 20, and the Northern Territory, comes to its end and Queensland and the Gulf of Carpenatria beckon tomorrow. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty One:
 21/09/09
Is it Monday? No, not the confusion arising from over indulgence the night before, but rather the ‘Groundhog Day’ merging of one Right Round Down Under day into the next as we awake to a perfect sunrise – and perfect poached eggs – at Camooweal. Into the rising sun we set heading for our first stop (coffee of course) at Mt. Isa. A place seemingly expanding in squares and connected by roundabouts, but providing excellent coffee, Wi-Fi and banana bread. The Panamera S (alone now as the drive.com crew have pinched the Turbo for some early morning filming) soaks up the 180km or so easily and economically (10l/100km), if a little more slowly, now that we are among Queensland’s lower speed limits and tales of ever-vigilant police… Burke and Wills country surrounds us as we continue east from Mt. Isa to Cloncurry, but more relevant to us is the REDex Trial road running parallel for several kilometers upon which the first Australian imported 356, which waved us off from Melbourne 21 days ago, would have travelled 46 years previously. Cloncurry - famous as the home of the first Flying Doctor service and destination for Qantas’ very first flight - disappointed at first until a baker’s shop was spied for an early lunch. Inside we discovered Cloncurry cattle farmer (and tourist charmer) Chris MacDonald (with apologies Chris, if you’re a McD rather than a MacD). This is what makes a journey round Australia so special, as Chris regaled us with her family history and the history of Cloncurry over meat pies and pastries. Her family has been in the area since 1946 and run a 1,000 sq. mile (mile) cattle farm with 10,000 head of cattle. (Apparently this is a somewhat modest in size and there are other “much larger” cattle stations around!) Small world moment of the day is that her husband has been considering changing his S-Class and had been to see the Panamera at Porsche Centre Brisbane’s Preview event two weeks ago. However, it was immediately clear to us who the decision maker in the family must really be (!), so Warwick adopted full sales mode and had her sizing up the cars in no time. Kevin provided an RRDU hat… Today’s objective was not originally the Gulf of Carpenteria itself but the desire to touch another ocean (The Timor Sea), and this one on the rarely visited northern edge, proved irresistible, particularly after Chris mentioned the excellent seafood that could be had for dinner at Karumba. What’s an additional 160km on 17,000km+ ? Turning due north from Cloncurry on the Burke Development Road (does that mean it’s developed or developing we wonder), past the Burke and Wills Roadhouse (they didn’t reach it…) to Normanton, home to the Gulflander, a kind of half bus, half train conveyance that still takes tourists once a week to and from Croyden, about 80km away by road. The train takes more than 5 hours which may explain why there’s a good pub at Croyden and the return ticket isn’t very popular. We fuel the cars at Normanton, avoid being fed to the world’s largest captured crocodile (thankfully a replica, though the sculptor was either very short-sighted or came from the “gigantist” school, judging by the size of the thing) and chase the setting sun to Karumba and the Gulf. The scenery changes again to wide, flat, open grassland as we head toward the coast, with heron and egrets joining the large numbers of hawks we’ve been seeing all day. The humidity - and the pace – rise as the sun sinks lower but we make it in time to snap a couple of pics with the Gulf of Carpenteria as a backdrop. Fresh, local barramundi x 6 is the dinner order overlooking the Gulf and the last of the light, accompanied by a garnish of tree frogs that hop across the grass horizon in front of our table. We still have nearly 200km to Croyden to complete before bed, thanks to our little detour to see the sea, and now in the darkness the Panameras excellent bi-xenon lights help us spot wandering wildlife along the roadside. Only one near miss – each – and a much reduced pace, mean we don’t reach the Croyden Club Hotel until after 10pm, but it’s – and Croyden’s only – bar is still serving, and future novelist and Hollywood screenwriter, Dawn (Scottish not Irish she corrects the Englishman) and owner Steve provide a warm outback welcome to our travelers. Another 1000km+ day beneath the Panameras’ Michelins, and Monday (is it Monday?) ends. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Two:
 22/09/09
Let’s start where we finished: Cape Tribulation and more enthusiastic Panamera viewers in the form of a family from Foster in Victoria touring the Cape, Cairns and surroundings. They’d seen the Panamera on “Top Gear” the night before and couldn’t believe they were seeing it in person the next day, so far north. The ‘stepless’ doors and Turbo’s party-piece rear wing impressed the most, while the RRDU hats would be put to good use to brag to friends! To get to the Lync Haven Resort hotel requires us to cross the Daintree by ferry (or “frew” as the SatNav calls it…), so we did it in “Apocalypse Now” style with a chopper carrying our, fortunately, camera and not machine-gun wielding shooters. The helicopter belongs to Gary Hunt, serial Porsche customer and serious off-roader – his latest Cayenne Turbo featuring full-fat off-road knobblies (tyres for the uninitiated). His first (in gen.1 form), taking him, family and trailer all the way to the Cape York tip and back. Prior to meeting our air support, we traversed spectacular serpentine roads off the Atherton Tablelands. The Cayenne made a good effort to keep up with the Panameras despite the load and roof box, but had to concede when the tarmac got really tight, twisty and downhill, as the low centre of gravity and wide track of the four doors was the (handling) order of the day. The run up and over the Tablelands provided extraordinary changes of scenery today – flat, wide expanses of tree-filled scrub, giving way to green rolling hills, as we continue to head northwest, via Ravenshoe, Mount Malloy and into the tropical looking environs of Port Douglas. Lunch location was at sleepy Mount Garnet pub, but the beers (ginger) and the chicken (burger) were delicious. Husband and wife cycling duo had the sensible idea of starting their 3,000km cycling trip at Ravenshoe – as Queensland’s highest point it would all be downhill from there… Georgetown was our first coffee stop of the day, a couple of hundred kms from Croydon. Trying to find a coffee shop was a challenge, so the servo it had to be. The somewhat quiet attendant turned animated on spying the cars. Turned out to be a car nut and we had to prize Warwick away after half an hour so she could serve other customers and we get on our way! And before all of that was a 7am wake up call, 680km west at delightful Croydon. More local hospitality over real coffee and perfect eggs on toast at the café, and a quick perusal of what is claimed to be the oldest shop in Australia (this far from sea?), puts Croydon on the RRDU team’s WWAV list (Well Worth A Visit). By the time we hit our beds 15 hours, a seafood basket and sticky date pudding later, the driving and scenic environment had changed completely – more cars, more people and limited passing places dropped our average speed (and, surprisingly, had put up our fuel consumption), and yet again this land of contrasts had surprised and entertained us. |
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> Day Twenty Three:
 23/09/09
Not even a Panamera can stretch a day to more than 24 hours, and so we have no time to pause and recharge the batteries at Cape Tribulation but instead, head back southward at 7am for a mid-morning rendezvous with the Porsche Club in Cairns. No chopper escort across the Daintree this time either, so a brief chance to enjoy the morning stillness of the river and soft, early sunlight. Another light, this time in the Turbo’s fuel gauge, suggests we might want to add some juice – sooner rather than later – so it’s a gentle right foot, air conditioning au naturale, ‘off’ with the wonderful ventilated seats and ‘on’ with Auto Stop/Start to minimize thirst. Then call up the nearest petrol stations in the PCM sat/nav to see whether we need worry. Being rather closer to civilisation than we have over the past few days, a servo looms soon enough but the ‘time to arrival’ clock in the PCM keeps ticking (if it could) as we re-fuel... It goes further into the red when we take a small detour back up (and down) the road to Mt. Molloy in an unsuccessful search for a lost pair of glasses (mine, doh). A good excuse for another go at the twisties though, and there’s no prising Steve from the driver’s seat! The road to Cairns is also twisty in parts but slow and devoid of overtaking opportunities (funny how some drivers don’t see the “slow vehicles use turnout” sign despite the six cars queued up behind them…) and by the time we reach Cairns we’re behind schedule. No time to put up the banners and giant route map here, so it’s left to Warwick to do what he does best – talking to the Club about the cars, the route and all things Porsche. But only after he’s washed both cars, changed his shirt and signed autographs. A good turnout of owners, friends and enthusiasts enjoyed the hospitality of the new “Salt” restaurant and bar, including one with a blue helicopter we’d seen somewhere before… Almost two hours late, the convoy with our new group of journalists hits the road - and the road works - and wends its way slowly south toward our overnight stop at Airlie Beach, still another 630km away. A late lunch beckoned (for some, more accurately, a late breakfast) and, calling on the local knowledge of our Cairns Post Motoring Editor, Nick Dalton, we were led to an “award-winning” pie shop in Wangan near Innisfail. He was right too, as in the Middle of Nowhere Street was a superb bakery where indeed award-winning pies and sausage rolls were wolfed down by all. Time for some serious distance to be covered which is of course the signal for the snapper to cry out “stop”, as he spies a perfect vista for a must-have shot. He was right as well though, as the foreshore of Cardwell obliged. Coffee at McCafe (possibly a ‘first’ all Tour), kept the alertness levels up as the long and rather dull run to Townsville, Ayr and Bowen rolled under the Panameras wheels. If the road failed to entertain, the dinner halt certainly didn’t; The Castle Motor Lodge at Bowen provided quick and tasty steak and barramundi, cocktails on the house for the non-drivers and a one-woman stand up act of jokes, most unrepeatable! The 70km or so run in to Airlie was swifter as traffic had all but disappeared, but the RRDU tour requirement to stay at m/hotels with signs invisible at night continued, allowing us to demonstrate via a number of U-turns, the effectiveness of the Panamera’s turning circle. A long day but one with lots of positive Porsche talk to an enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd at Cairns and three more journos taking the Panameras ever closer toward the finish of The Lap. Oh, and economically too, with the S recording a sub-10l/100km day, the Turbo dropping to 10.5… View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Four:
 24/09/09
A misty morning at Airlie Beach as a dust storm from far away Lake Eyre, north of Adelaide, sweeps eastward to Sydney and its fringe reaches us and beyond to Cairns. We’re away after breakfast and the early morning ritual of the blog, but rather than heading to the Whitsunday’s as many Airlie Beach visitors do, we head south again for a re-acquaintance with the Bruce Highway near Proserpine. “Boring Bruce” might be a better moniker for this predominantly single lane part of Highway 1 as slow moving traffic, a lack of decent overtaking lanes and the constant vigil required of the speedo to avoid providing revenue gathering opportunities to the State Government, makes for frustrating, slow – and surely less safe – progress to Mackay. Fabulous village names are the only relief: Yalboroo, Pindi Pindi, Wagoora. Car Scrabble anyone? Luckily, morning coffee in Mackay provides caffeine and sugar (taken in medically recommended cookie form) and helps break the stupor. We eventually get off Boring Bruce and a search for proper Porsche roads… We’re not sure what omen the fish hanging from the road sign means (large cats ahead?), but we ignore it and find photographic nirvana in the form of tight and twisting asphalt up the steeply raked Conners Range. An understanding of what the Sport and PASM damper buttons really mean dawns for our assembled press men, and we emerge on the far side of the hills to a completely different scenic environment; arid, flat and hotter than the sea side, we are suddenly transported back three days to the vistas last seen in the outback, west of the Atherton Tablelands. Our hasty 220km re-route, though an excellent drive, did not however, showcase our normally superior planning when it comes to selecting roads that feature pie shops. A board of enquiry later determined that Captain Warwick was relaxing in his quarters in the rear seat of the Panamera at the time his inexperienced junior officers were in the lead vehicle and indicated a right turn to the hills, putting lunch on hold for about two hours… (To make matters worse, we’d passed an “award-winning pies” shop sign 20 minutes earlier). Another Croydon, another surprise: this time a giant replica of the Olympic torch commemorating the torch relay passing this point prior to the 1956 Olympic Games. Emerging from the long, fast, undulating straights of the Broadsound Range at Marlborough, it’s finally time for refreshment of bodies and vehicles at – what else? – a roadhouse that continues our other tradition of finding servo’s with more out-of-order pumps than working ones, before a gentle cruise back on the Bruce Hwy to Rockhampton. From Rocky to Gladstone (we’ve shortened our leg today by 130km or so in order to arrive in daylight - well that was the plan!) and Warwick demonstrates his mastery of the game, by craftily following the un-signposted ring road rather than the more direct route through the centre of town selected by the PCM sat/nav. He’s rewarded with a 7km lead over his disobedient disciples by the time we arrive at Gladstone. Gladstone, it turns out, is about Big Power: Generating, smelting and refining all lighting up the night sky. Might be able to use a bit less if they turned out some of the lights... At the hotel by 7pm is a novel luxury, and after yesterday evening at The Castle with its knights regalia, tonight we are staying at Camelot and dining at King Arthur’s Restaurant though disappointingly, not at a round table. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Five:
 25/09/09
A day of signs – literal and metaphorical – begins with a beautiful morning for a short stretch of unusually scenic Bruce Highway from Gladstone, past undulating countryside and the Monduran State Forest to Gin Gin for breakfast, the friendliest town in Queensland (it says so on a sign). Is it also a sign we are heading closer to civilisation when we see a cyclist (upright not recumbent) towing a Samonsonite suitcase? Perhaps not. Signs of police enforcement – real and written – are better evidence, and in a further signal of things to come, we spy the tipper section of a huge construction truck being escorted by the Boys in Blue. Slowly… Slower still (or so it feels) and certainly less understandable are the queues that form behind caravans between the rare - and short - overtaking lanes. Bizarrely, when those lanes arrive, the entire queue finds its collective right feet and speeds up as a group! A sign of frustration? Breakfast dishes up more signs – this time literally – for two of our follicly-challenged journalists, and then, refueled, we return southward to the A1 and our rendezvous with Noosa. Strangely, the PCM navigation predicts our time of arrival at least an hour later than the distance suggests. A sign it knows something we don’t? So it proves, and it’s called the town of Gympie. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Crawl. Red. Green. Go. The Auto Stop/Start of the Panameras 4.8l V8s, doing its part to save fuel and the planet as we dawdle. Oh to be a sign-maker in Queensland! Who’s paying, who’s watching, who’s building, who’s road, where it’s going, where it’s stopping, this lane, that one. A proverbial who’s who and what’s what, all have their say on a sign. Slowly we descend through Gympie that made us grumpy, and on toward Pomona and Noosa Heads. No coffee stops, no pies – only a craving – and no ice creams today. Signs we’re behind time… Finally, Noosa and the signs they are a changin’… Fashionable Hastings Street is heaving; linen shirts, shorts and thongs of both varieties traverse between the beach and the bars, and the ocean breeze chills everyone out. Noosa’s reaction to the Panamera convoy is overwhelmingly positive and pleasingly knowledgeable (“That the new four door Porsche, mate?”, “Saw it on Top Gear”, “Put the spoiler up!”, “What’ll she do then?”, “Beaut”…), from both passers-by and potential customers lunching with us at Berado’s on the Beach. Good signs. Smooth, wide highways follow lunch. The traffic is still stacked up, but this time northbound. This must be why we went clockwise… Then, later, more thumbs up from small boys in the back of Dad’s Falcon as the theatrical rear spoiler on the Turbo does its stuff on the Sunshine Coast freeway, and in the evening at Porsche Centre Brisbane among the keen Queensland Porsche Club members who’ve turned up for the arrival of our dusty, fly-splattered chariots. Hmm, some of those flies have probably come Right Round with us… Positive signs to end the 2,067km Cape Tribulation to Brisbane leg, and this is your correspondent, signing off. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Six:
 26/09/09
Sigh. Draw breath. Relax. Just like they tell you to do in pregnancy class. The last 7, 8, 9, – who knows – how many days have been at a frenetic pace. To drive just 90 kms today was like a shot of Epidural. Today it was time to relax and enjoy a relatively easy day on the Gold Coast. It was Grand Final day at the MCG in Melbourne for AFL footy and the whole country – people up here in Queensland, at least – didn’t seem to care about anything else. But we cared about young Ben Shand – a delightful and perky 14-year old emerging from a few ugly years with bone cancer. Touch wood, young Ben is over the worst and he was delighted to be the very first Queenslander to take a spin in the new Panamera S as part of our association with Make-A-Wish. Ben knows more about cars than most people twice his age, and he was ga-ga to take the Panamera S for a spin to a construction site in Broadbeach and drop in unannounced on his dad working with a hard hat, whistle and orange fluoro vest. Ben has a terrific family and the love that bonds them is stronger than glue. We put a smile on Ben’s face, but he too put one on our faces the size of a melon. Go Ben! After that we trundled to Mano’s bar in Tedder Avenue (read, the poshiest street on the Gold Coast) for some tapas lunch and to watch the AFL Grand Final on the big screen. On hand were Porsche Gold Coast boss Terry Knight, his wife Jodi, and a gang of family and dealership members. Warwick McKenzie and Peter Watkins – our RRDU stalwarts – turned up in time for the game start after having taken the Panamera Turbo to the Mt Cotton Hillclimb organised by the Queensland Porsche Club. The enthusiasts were suitably impressed with the gran turismo as it performed some demonstration runs. That, basically, was our day. A low key day but one still full of cherished moments. Watkins has clean shirts for the next seven days and Warwick clean socks. So at least we start Day 27 with cars full of fresh-smelling occupants. Oh, Geelong beat St.Kilda in a cliff hanger AFL match. Go Cats!! View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Seven:
 27/09/09
You don’t have to think too hard about why Queenslanders crow about their weather: “Beautiful one day, Perfect the next” is actually about right. We picked up our two new journalists – Will and Rob – from Gold Coast Airport and within minutes had found some wonderful twisty roads in the foothills of the tropical south Queensland hinterland. After 20 minutes the vistas were of velvety treed hills and countless acres of sugar crops in varying shades of green; tranquil, dark cool rivers our constant companion as we snaked inland into chilled-out hippy territory. It was crazy to believe we were just 15 or so kilometers as the crow flys from the coast, with its 180-degree opposite impression of turquoise sea, golden beaches, stark white holiday apartments and drunken hooligans screaming in the streets at 3am. Journalist Will Hagon is driving the Panamera S and acting as a tour guide of sorts, telling us how he scouted this region back in 2001 looking for a sea change from bustling Sydney. We stop at a property called “Serendipity” … it’s the place Will wanted to buy, but didn’t, for a bunch of reasons he now regrets. “Serendipity” is 30 acres of unspoiled nature, gushing streams, ponds, fruit orchards and a house on a ridge 250 metres above street level. Oh Will, how could you have not … ? Lunch was at idyllic Byron Bay, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. Byron is known for its warmth and tranquility – but on a perfect Sunday in the school holidays the usually quaint main street was like the Sydney CBD at peak hour. A crawl up to the top of Cape Byron for panoramic views from the base of the lighthouse and a few of us were left cursing how damn lucky the locals are to call This Paradise their Home. We’re soon on the Pacific Highway – a dog’s breakfast of constant speed limit changes, ill-behaving trucks, snoozy holiday makers and locals living (and driving!) in their own world. We escape the monotony at the town of Grafton, not far from Corruption (get it?), and enjoy a 40 minute blast along some fast, challenging roads before we arrive at Coffs Harbour for the overnight stop. Not a hectic day like those we experienced a week ago, but still a fun day nonetheless. View today's images in the Photo Gallery |
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> Day Twenty Eight:
 28/09/09 |
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> Day Twenty Nine:
 29/09/09 The morning started with our seventh – and final – Make A Wish activity with polite and wonderful 11-year-old Dean, emerging from a rare strain of leukemia. Dean spent over an hour at Porsche Centre Sydney South touring the dealership – jumping from a GT3 race car in the workshop to a brand new GT2 in the showroom. Our young superstar got a special thrill when he got to rev the GT3 race car and see-saw the steering wheel imagining he was racing at Bathurst. The treat ended with a blast in the Panamera Turbo. What is it with seriously unwell boys showing more happiness and contentment than kids without illness? A cameraman from Channel Nine filmed Dean doing his thing at PCSS and Dean made the news that night being driven in the Panamera Turbo. In between visits to Porsche Centres we escaped down to McMahons Point for some Sydney postcard photography. Curious on-lookers admired the Panameras as Watkins went about capturing more brilliant images. The last two legs from Sydney to Canberra and then onto Melbourne will be driven by Porsche staff, whose names were literally drawn from a hat for the privilege. Our drives with journalists are now officially over – more than 20 motor-noters having participated in our epic adventures. Our planning estimated some 17,323 kms of driving for RRDU … but we’ve already exceeded that and still have another 1,000 kms to go. Did we get the estimate wrong? No. We simply did more kms finding new and interesting roads to drive along the way on this one lap extravaganza. It will be bitter-sweet feelings when the drive finishes in Melbourne next Saturday: relief that this 33-day event is over, but sadness that a once-in-a-lifetime adventure has come to an end. |
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> Day Thirty:
 30/09/09 Tour Master Warwick had planned the day well: all staff would get the chance to drive both the S and Turbo, at least once. We were soon out of the Sydney traffic and into the Royal National Park with its gently sweeping roads eventually leading us to Bald Hill – the famous cliff-top spot where hang gliders launch themselves into the air stream. But nothing to see today The perfect weather had probably robbed the thrill seekers of the unpredictable thermal air currents they need to dive and dart hundreds of feet above the sea. Our infatuation with pies on RRDU demanded a stop at Robertson’s famous pie shop: chicken, curry, vegetable, chili, potato, steak. All mouth-watering combinations and keen eyes within the group to see who would be the first to drip gravy down their front. The shock of the day was seeing some extreme skateboarders flashing down the Macquarie Pass while we were driving up it. It’s fair to say the skaters – in full motorcycle leathers and helmets – were traveling at the same speed we were. They disappeared down the pass in a road-whooshing blink! We arrived into Canberra around 5:30pm, the staff settling in for some drinks and a meal while the cars were readied and taken to Porsche Centre Canberra for a customer event. |
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> Day Thirty One:
1/10/09 Joining up is a fresh faced crew of Porsche Cars Australia staff to steer the cars back to Melbourne, eager to sample both the delights of the Panameras’ performance and the contents of various bakeries that will no doubt be visited on the 800 or so kilometers back to base. A quick circumnavigation of the circular political centre of Australia (well there are a lot of roundabouts…) and then we set a heading east through Queanbeyan (most famous son: F1 star Mark Webber), to Bungendore for the first round of coffee and excellent cakes amid the colonial ‘timber and veranda’ architecture common to the region. The RRDU convoy causes quite the stir in town and the local Bungendore newspaper freelance reporter (“free, as in I don’t get paid” she tells us) promises to write up the story once we’ve rearranged the cars and posed for photos. It might have been our last coffee and cakes too, since all that posing clearly went to our heads and we drove away from Bungendore without paying our bill! 30kms later we realise the error of our ways and begin formulating headlines for the Bungendore newspaper article featuring our mug shots taken earlier: “Porsche pilots pilfer profits”, “Right Rip Off Down Under”, “Pana-Runner”. We pull over and phone through a credit card number; “OK, we’ll call off the police pursuit” quips the grateful waitress and the guilty group avoids incarceration and removal of caffeine rights. Oh the irony: “Government Bend” is a 180 degree u-turn among the serpentine swerves of the King’s Highway from Braidwood to Bateman’s Bay. The Panameras are possessed of stiffer stuff as, dampers in “Sport”, their chassis’ exploit the grip provided by the low profile Michelins and they corner flat and firmly, winding down the hill. Blue clouds and Purple Haze from the Bose Hi-Fi, accompany the convoy through and past Bateman, and on toward Tilba, our predetermined (by Warwick) lunch stop. ‘Diesel’ the dog meets Diesel the Cayenne, and local lolly shop owner Peter Lonergan brings out his immaculate 356 C to meet the Panamera. He’s had his eight years, and before that? “Two wives” the reply. We arrive at the overnight stop of Mallacoota and our Hotel Motel looks like it’s hosting a Bikie convention, with 20 or so Harleys sprawling across the car park meaning there’s no where for the Panameras. “I’ll get them to move” says the receptionist bravely. Not if you want to live, we reply, and not if we want to see our cars in the morning! |
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> Day Thirty Two:
2/10/09 Grey skies and drizzle greet us for our Mallacoota morning, perhaps reflecting our sadness that this will be it: One final day of real driving as we tackle the 500 or so kilometers west and north back to Melbourne where it all began 32 days ago. Victoria’s most easterly town charms us all the same with a delicious and warming breakfast at Lucy’s café (all the more impressive when 10 hungry blokes turn up 30 seconds after you’ve opened the doors…), followed by a slow tour of the inlet along Foreshore Drive with only pelicans, a jogger (“you travelling around Australia in those? Can I come too?!”) and awakening campers to disturb the mirror-like waters. But it is time to turn north and west, so we wind our way back along the same Mallacoota Road we tackled last night and turn left at Genoa to rejoin Highway 1 and point the convoy toward Lakes Entrance. Almost there… The place names are starting to sound familiar – Gippsland, Snowy River, Traralgon – suggesting we are nearing more familiar territory, yet it seems that coffee stops, driver changes and photography are increasingly being used to delay the Tour’s inevitable conclusion. Lunch reminds us all Warwick has lost none of his edge over the past month, as we peel away from the A1 to Lake Tyre – how aptly named for us – and the Waterwheel Beach Tavern. Alex, perhaps concerned he wouldn’t eat again for at least a couple of hours, orders the seafood platter for two (there’s always one…), while the rest sample today’s tasty specials. The Great Alpine Route looks as tempting as desert but we resist both, and stick to our planned route along Highway 1 (there’s a first time for everything), through Bairnsdale, Sale and Morwell, the emphasis switching to the luxury limousine aspects of the Panamera as rear seat spots are sought for some shut-eye and iPod collections are surfed for crowd-pleasing classics. Almost there…Speeds are determined by an up- or down-flick of the cruise control now, as traffic swells, the A1 becomes the M1 and the roadsigns and PCM countdown inexorably. And yet, there’s a tease at day’s end: We stop tantalisingly short of our start to savour one last supper among the stalwarts of RRDU before tomorrow’s few concluding kilometers to Porsche Centre Brighton and, finally, Porsche Centre Melbourne where our lap began 32 days, XXX driving hours and nearly 20,000km ago. Are we ready for the end? Are we really finished? Yes and no. Almost there... |
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> Day Thirty Three:
3/10/09 Short on kilometres it may have been, but the thought crossed our minds that we were probably more likely to be involved in an accident negotiating Melbourne’s weekend traffic than we were in the outback avoiding the wildlife. I suppose we could have claimed any damage as being caused by a rogue ‘roo… A quick wash and brush up for our faithful steeds (we cheated and let the valet guys get their first glimpse of the cars - a free hat ensured speedy expedition on a busy Saturday) before the first appointment of the day at Australia’s newest Porsche Centre at Brighton in Melbourne’s south east. A good turnout of interested owners and enthusiasts were treated to excellent pizza, chicken wings and lamb chops all cooked on - what else? – the bbq engineered and styled by Porsche Design Studio. A few final pictures of Melbourne were still required on the 20km run back to our starting point at Porsche Headquarters in Victoria Parade, and the city obliged with a backdrop of Melbourne’s newest icon, the emerging Olympic Park soccer and rugby league stadium. Pictures complete, we hooked up once more with Ian Henderson’s first Australian registered Porsche 356 and, in a repeat of our departure 33 days prior, he led the two Panameras and faithful Cayenne support vehicle, back in to the Porsche Centre Melbourne showroom to a crowd of 200 or more well wishers, customers and friends of Porsche. With the champagne corks popping, it was time to digest some facts – How far? How fast? How much fuel? How many pictures? How many pies?! Distance travelled: 19,767 km You can’t. It was too big and too varied to boil it down to a sentence or two. The cars did everything we expected of them, even more so in dealing with Australia’s varied terrain, traffic and tarmac. Certainly more in terms of comfort, quietness and economy (we knew they’d have pace!). The people we met and the places we passed through so briefly were overriding memories for most of us; friendly, interesting, humourous and personal interactions for each of us lucky enough to be on this Grand Tour. Then there was the challenge of writing and the photos (trying) to capture and communicate the flavour of the journey for those reading and watching our progress. Perhaps most telling was that we’d all do it again – ok, maybe after a few days off – if only to see the parts we missed! Maybe we will go the other way next time and un-lap ourselves..! |