We stayed in the pub in Bombala.  I generally only book places that have private bathrooms, so I must have missed that it didn’t.   Having said that he rooms were very nice and the food was great.  The bed was the most comfortable of the trip.

As we drove out of Bombala, the sun was rising over the Monaro region.   The sunrise illustrated the high country landscape and the farms along the route.   The road was great and the cars were running well.

Originally we planned to drive to Bredbo, but we decided to refuel in Cooma instead.   This worked out well, as while Bredbo has a pie shop, it does not seem to have a service station.  In Cooma, we filled up all the cars and had breakfast at McDonalds.

After all the troubles I had with my car the day before, it was going very well.  I was getting occasional noise from my rear left wheel when turning, but none of the previous issue.   The noise was also different.  The noise led me to believe that its probably not a wheel bearing issue.   I suspect part of the handbrake mechanism, perhaps that little spring, has come loose.  It is probably moving around as I corner and the ends of the lug nuts are scraping against it.

A few people were very keen to get home by dinner time, and one of our group had a flight to catch, so we had fewer and shorter breaks today to move along.   Everyone was keep to complete the full route then be home for dinner.

We continued north, through the outskirts of Canberra and then up through Gunning and Crookwell.   Crookwell was our lunch stop, at another Bakery.   The lamb pie was the best I’ve had all trip and the Vanilla slice was good, although a little too much icing for my liking.

The road from Crookwell up to Georges Plain was excellent, full of long sweeping curves, elevation changes and great scenery.   The only downside was that there were many caravans on the road, and a Nissan Patrol that couldn’t climb hills.   One of the guys is interested in buying a 280CE, so had a turn of the white car during this section and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was around here that the 380SEC started playing up more.   So far it had only given issues while idling.  However, on multiple occasions it cut out while at road speed.   Most of the time it would restart while coasting in neutral, but not always.  Luckily there was not much traffic on the road.

As we passed through Perthville, we saw a 450SLC for sale by the side of the road.   One of the guys went back to have a look it it, and it was in a sorry state.   Rust in the firewall, chassis rails, holes in the floor and more.   It was a D-Jet car and a sad way for an early 450SLC to go.    I suspect its destiny is a wrecking yard like the one we saw on Saturday.

After a good drive though to Lake Lyell, we all went our separate ways.   A couple of us refueled in Lithgow, and then took Bells Line of road back.   I hate the Great Western Highway with a passion, so Bells line was the obvious choice.  It was very foggy, but the traffic was light and it was a fairly relaxed cruise home the back way.

After I rolled into the garage, I checked my odometer and I had travelled 3,883km in 6 days.  My 450SLC is now almost at 318,000km.   I have a few things to attend to.   Obviously the noise from the wheel, whatever it is.   The A/C, and the starter motor has started playing up, not always engaging.

All the cars and drivers made it back home safely.

Overall, the trip was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a great break from work and we saw a lot of Australia I have never seen before.

The post The Long Way Euround – Day 6: Bombala to Sydney appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

We started early in eastern Melbourne with some car repairs on the 500SL.   Even after tightening the hoses yesterday, it was still leaking power steering fluid.  We finally found out why.   The second generation cars had an additional spoiler at the front.   This had been attached with screws.  One of the screws was touching the cooler line for the power steering.  Every time the spoiler flexed over a bump, the screw would rub against the line.  After years of doing that, it had finally worn a hole.   The temporary solution was to cut a section of hose and cable tie it to the line to cover the ‘wound’.   This stanched the bleeding at least until the end of the trip.

The 380SEC continued to require a bypass for the fuel pump relay, but the owner of that car is getting his process down to get it restarted when needed.  It still does not like to idle for long periods of time, but runs very well when on the open road.   The bypass must have a lot of current going through it, as the connections are starting to melt a little.   It hadn’t blown the 25 amp fuse, but that has started to melt too.   This seems more current than I would expect a Bosch fuel pump to draw and may be part of the issue.

My car started out ok, but the wheel bearing noise became quite bad as we drove out of Melbourne.   So bad, that I phoned a friend in the MBCV to find contacts for mechanics in the Mornington Peninsula area.   At this point I was convinced I would have to leave the car in Melbourne.

However, being a Sydney car, the threat of staying in Melbourne for a few more weeks was enough to get the wheel bearing to quieten down, and so since It was behaving itself, we continued.  It seems to very much dislike city driving with turns and stop/start, but tolerate quite well cruising at 90km/h.

After we left Melbourne, we hugged the coast as we drove through Gippsland.  It was quite a windy and rainy day today, so there was quite a swell out on the ocean as we drove past.   The country was lush and green and there was a lot of cattle farming.

Our first stop was Inverloch where we sampled another local bakery called Slice of Heaven.   The pies were very good, and the Vanilla slice was the best I’ve sampled on the trip.   It was also Inverloch were I made the decision to keep going with the 450SLC.

Even in the rain the roads were quite good and we cruised along at a fairly leisurely pace.   Since I was trying to be gentle on my car, I returned the best fuel economy figures since I purchased it, all those years ago – 13.1 liters per 100kms.

Our next stop was Maffra, where we visited the Gippsland Vehicle Collection.   This is a nice museum with a rotating collection.   As of October 2024, they have 20th century sports cars on display.  I’ve covered the museum separately.

After the museum, we had lunch at the Maffra bakery.  We first looked at a fish and chip shop that was heavily advertised, but didn’t take our fancy.   The pies were excellent at the bakery, and the Vanilla slice was good too.

We kept going, as I was keen not to do the Monaro highway at night in the rain.

After Maffra, we continued to Orbost via Lakes Entrance.   Going through Orbost brought back memories of limping the green 280CE into town on the first of these trips a couple of years ago.   We continued to cruise along, the scenery quite good and the roads good to drive on in this weather.

After Orbost farmland started to give way to the National Park.   The road was quite wet so we had to slow down.    We were all getting quite tired by now, from our busy day yesterday.  A few of us got some snacks to re-energize, and there were a couple of power naps by the side of the road.   The countryside became more hilly, and densely forested with very large trees.  The road was windy, and It would be far more fun to drive on had the weather been good.   This is the second time I’ve driven this route in bad weather.   At least I had light this time.

We turned off at the Monaro highway, which climbs fairly steeply through dense forest.   Even in the wet it was a good road to drive on, and in the dry it would be a great driving road.   As we got closer to our destination in Bombala, the forest suddenly gave way open country and sheep farms.    We finally cruised into Bombala at around 6:15PM, right on time.   Originally, we had planned to fuel up ready for the morning, but the main service station was closed, and the other one only carried diesel.

We checked into the local pub where we are staying and went for dinner, which was quite good.   Tomorrow is the final day of our trip.

The post The Long Way Euround – Day 5: Gippsland and Monaro Drive appeared first on Classic Jalopy.