Oriental Offerings - Reincarnated

[KruJoe]

Cheers Gavin. At least we know what the front looks like now!

 

Let's continue with the three-months-out-of-date update from Oz. I was quite impressed with the layout of these metro trains in Sydney:

 

 

That was the best pic I got, so here's someone else's:

 

 

The doors above the bogies are at the normal height. Once inside, you go either up or down a few steps to the upper or lower deck to find a seat. This way they can carry nearly double the number of people per carriage. I'm no train buff, but I've not seen this anywhere else, such a simple solution. (I should have taken the lower deck window seats for the best platform-side upskirt views.)

 

Today I'll share from our day trip to the famous Bondi Beach, on the east side of the city.

 

 

We didn't take the train there, but the bus. A Boris bendy one. Some suburbs of Sydney look surprisingly grim, but the sun was shining, so it can't be all that bad.

Bondi is prime real estate though. Seemed painfully fashionable to me.

 

 

I expected it to be some big surf Mecca, but it was a normal looking beach, crammed with young families enjoying their New Year holiday.

Looking down on the car park - Magna wagon.

 

 

UK roads are all the poorer for lacking car-based 'utes' (other than the occasional Proton Jumbuck or Skoda Fun). This one is a Holden:

 

 

 

These Ford Lasers are not uncommon in Oz, and have something of a Rover R8 look about them. These ones are less obviously Mazda, and I have seen the odd one or two in Thailand. This one is relatively smart; most look like proper shagged out shiters.

 

 

Check this out...

 

 

Yaris saloon! Well the first generation Yaris was called 'Echo' down under, and surprisingly they had poor reputation. The mk 2 came along, they re-branded it to 'Yaris', and those sold like hot cakes.

 

My friend told me this is a Holden FJ:

 

 

There were a few more posers about, I tried to pap them as the girls were in the swimwear shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do like a 306, and the Cabriolet is a pretty as a soft-top could ever be.

 

 

 

That's all from Bondi.

Back in Chinatown, as we stepped out for our soirée the light was fading, but there was just enough to snag Catch of the day:

 

 

Only a fuggin three door Laser! I've never seen another, and it's almost as fit as a triple-porte R8!

 

I'm spent.

Just a few more to finish from the night-time.

 

 

 

 

G'night!

[fotorabia]

hehe..me old teenage stomping ground....good spots bro....

[KruJoe]

A few more from our last morning in Sydney, papped on a wander around the bridge / Rocks area of town.

 

 

Yes, that's the famous Harbour Bridge, dwarfed by a vulgar cruise ship.

 

 

Badge engineered Mazda van.

 

 

Maybe one for the 'Shite and Scenery' thread.

 

 

 

 

This was a Kia-built Ford Festiva mk2, called 'Aspire' in Thailand. Remember the 'I am sex' car in Chiang Mai?

 

 

 

 

Taxis are LARGE in this town, Ford Fairlanes and Falcon Wagons.

 

 

 

More badge fun. The Pride / 121 is called Festiva in Thailand too.

 

 

 

I think this was the last of the 323 / Ford Laser nonsense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was a panic to get the zoom out, but it snags 'Catch of the Day':

 

 

Help me out with an ID!

 

Next stop: South Australia.

[meggersdog]

Jeebus, that Toyota Landcruiser thing looks both hidious and awesome at the same time

[tooSavvy]

Bridge is ace..... and to think its a meccano job, prefabbed in UK!

 

tooSavvy

[KruJoe]

Due to the fact that computers etc can go to shit, we've lost two major updates from Adelaide and Victor Harbor, South Australia. Bugger.

Well, the spots are doing nowt but taking up p'bucket space, so here are some of them again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last one is what they call a Ford Capri over in Oz, and other than thoroughly looking shit, I know bugger all about them.

[KruJoe]

Right, a few more from Victor Harbor, SA.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Back in Adelaide now, and it looks like you can have any word you want on your number plate if you pay for it:


 











 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winner winner chicken dinner!

 

 

[ChinaTom]

Courtesy of my intrepid nutter Missus, here is a solitary snap from the border between Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China. Imagine her annoyance at me highlighting this photo amongst the genuinely fascinating ones of local tribal life, as it had an Epica in it. So from one corner of the Orient to the opposite, have an Epica.

 

[Junkman]

Epic!

[KruJoe]

Epic!

Couldn't put it better myself!

 

What's the other one please Tom?

Oh, and what's your nutter missus doing over that way?

 

 

 

Right, these next few are from Adelaide city centre.

 

 

 

 

 

^ Is (was) that a CF?

 

Next day, a ride out into the hills north of the city. This hard-working Dodge truck had me legging out of the air-conditioned ice cream parlour skipping about the dusty car park like a man possessed.

 

 

Gotta be catch of the day.

 

 

 

Next stop on our morning of sugar overload was this old chocolate factory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop: Hahndorf.

[ChinaTom]

The white one is a TianJin Xiali TJ7100 - the Charade Saloon (smaller than Applause though) that still sells plenty out there. You can often see them 5 up, boot open over suitcases, powering up mountain roads bouncing off the limiter in 2nd gear. I had the pleasure of driving one 200km with 3 passengers and a 250kW motor stator in the boot through the mountains of South Western Yunnan. I got 16 mpg from its glorious sounding raspy 1.0 engine and I don't think the engine ever saw anything under 4,500 rpm. The only useable power band is right at the top of the rev range.

 

I'm sure I had a thread up on here years ago extolling the virtues of the Xiali Rural Nanny - a 2nd gen Charade based pick-up truck. Hannah said there are a few of those still knocking about (she's only interested in pick-up trucks).

 

She's out there for 6 months following the life stories of the tribal folk who settled around there during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Remember a few weeks back when those 10 Chinese tourists were gunned down by the Taliban in Pakistan? She was 10 clicks away from that. She likes to make me worry... She is also documenting the life of a young Tajiki girl who is being brought up as a boy. All fascinating stuff, but a bit too intrepid for me. I like spending my Marriott Reward points on Ribeye steaks, or if intrepidness is the order of the day, then a night in a JinJiang Hotel chain KTV club private room with a big bowl of fruit, a case of Jose Cuervo and the first 10 out of the initial line-up of hookers that line-up in front of the 90 inch TV screen as we discuss the levels of depravity we intend to descend into before the loud music starts. Donkey festivals or randy girls from Changsha? Tough choice eh?

 

Anyway, back to cars... I'm 90% convinced this is a Mazda Xedos 9, but maybe it's a Yank.

[Lukas]

What you have seen there in the last picture Sir is a Mazda 929 HD, also sold as Ã¡ÂºÂ¼fini MS-9. Mega-rare, never made it to Europe.

[KruJoe]

Quite a life you're both having Tom. Good to see you're still enjoying it... I won't tell Hannah about the hookers though! She's from a Yunnanese hill tribe, right? How did she come by the name Hannah?

In some of the mountain villages in northern Thailand, missionaries have been in, and now there are Akha and Hmong kids running around with names like Jacob and Rachel! Of course they'll have more tribal names too...

 

 

The white one is a TianJin Xiali TJ7100 - the Charade Saloon (smaller than Applause though) that still sells plenty out there.

 

TianJin Xiali TJ7100 eh? That trips off the tongue nicely! 

There are a few Daihatsu Charade saloons earlier in the thread, from Chiang Mai:

 

 

Those Chinese copies (or licensed?) are a bit rounded off and have bigger lights. I didn't know they existed until last night, when I had Rude Tube on in the background - they featured this video of (what look like) the Chinese hatchback version:

 

http://youtu.be/2bInXhNc8IM

 

I'm sure I had a thread up on here years ago extolling the virtues of the Xiali Rural Nanny - a 2nd gen Charade based pick-up truck. Hannah said there are a few of those still knocking about (she's only interested in pick-up trucks).

 

Do you have any pics of a Xiali Rural Nanny before I go googleing? They sound intriguing...

[KruJoe]

Back to South Australia, and the village of Hahndorf up in the Adelaide Hills. It's Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement, formed in 1839 by a few dozen families of German Lutherans. And very German it feels too. 

 

SHITE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subaru XV apparently. I've not seen another, before or since.

 

 

It does nowt for me. An SVX however, would get me all steamed up. Oof!

 

Funny-faced Camry, I think..?

 

 

The tosspot in this effort was burning up and down the main street all afternoon, making a right old racket. Sounded like a right beast though, mustard mitt.

 

 

These tough old Landcruiser-style pick-ups are still sold new I believe.

 

 

Heading back to the city...

If you look closely at the S-Cargo driver, you can see the tears of shame, streaming down his face.

 

 

Back home on Gage Street, a dusky, blurred Catch of the day...

 

 

Any ideas? It's a Chery A1!

The Chinese are arriving in Australia, it's big news over there.

[Jim Bergerac]

Funny faced Camry is an Avalon. It's built on an enlarged Camry chassis. The model started life in the US but when the second generation model was introduced the first generation one began production down under.

[KruJoe]

Ooh ta Sandie! Welcome to Autoshite; you can stick around if you have useful* knowledge like that.

[Junkman]

 

 

 

 

Want-level uber-critical.

[ChinaTom]

China virtually owns Australia now. Imagine the Ford vs Holden war becoming Great Wall vs Chery! No, probably not yet. Wifey is Zhuang (Siamese) from Guangxi, not Yunnan, but similar enough as to make no difference really - those borders were drawn up less than 100 years ago. Hmong would be the nearest I guess in Thailand. I gave her the name so my family didn't look and sound like they were suffering a stroke when trying to pronounce her name.

 

I am due to come to Perth soon. Looking forward to it. I have put off visiting Oz as I have a sneaky suspicion I am going to love it enough to live there. Somewhere around QLD, raise some cane, sit back whittle some, and drive around in something like big blue barge. Want level also uber critical...

[KruJoe]

That sounds like a good plan Tom. We didn't make it to Perth this time (it might have happened, but didn't in the end - more of that later). I would like to go sometime. Fact: Perth is the most isolated city in the world; there's no other city within 2000km of it. A strange title, but there it is.

 

And Tom, my mate Jeff, with his wife Dao, who were our generous hosts in Adelaide, told me he thinks Australia will be a colony of China within 20 years; so you may not be far wrong.

 

On with the show:

 

 

These few are from our last free evening in Firle, a suburb of Adelaide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the light faded, I landed my Catch of the day:

 

 

I crept closer, but then an old man in a turban came out and gave me a bollocking.

 

 

I soon softened him up by demostrating how mental I was - I showed him the other pictures in my camera.

 

 

He was alright with me then, the brown W123 coupe was his pride and joy.

[Junkman]

That mustard Holden-Isuzu-Gemini Opel Kadett C Coupe is beyond kewlness.

[KruJoe]

Ey up you lot, my old laptop has a new heart, so lets see how it copes with doing an update. The old hard drive made this painfully slow. Old shite + new SSD lump = WIN! Hopefully.

 

 

These are from our last day in Adelaide, South Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

Kia Sephia I think:

 

 

Small saloon future shite left and right too.

 

More Holden badge engineering:

(Barina)

 

 

Holden Jackaroo

 

 

Torana:

 

 

Last Holden for now, can't remember the name of this one:

 

 

 

 

Actually LOL'd at the irony here:

 

 

That's it for Adelaide pappage. We picked up this heap...

 

 

...in preparation for a bit of a road-trip. Some of you may have heard, but this was the plan:

 

 

Adelaide ('A' on the map) is an expensive flight from the rest of the world, so I figured we could drive to Darwin (C ) which is half the way back to Bangkok! Darwin is only a short hop from South-East Asia, so flights are cheap.

 

Look in next time to see how that goes.

[mouseflakes]

Flippin' 'eck Tucker- that's gonna be one hell of a trip!

 

Hope all goes smoothly and the L300 serves you well KJ.

[KruJoe]

Cheers M_Flakes!

To be clear, the adventure is over now, but I'm just getting 'round to the write-ups.

The shite Mitsubishi van came from 'Wicked Campers', the only company that would let us have a vehicle for this trip, in early January, the height of summer in the south, and wet season in the tropical 'Top End' of the Northern Territory.

I think I mentioned it to you when you brought your Delicia to Shitefest in September.

 

 

All Wicked vans are distinctively spray painted. Our one was called 'Brett and Wendy'.

[KruJoe]

Right, off we go then.

Last stop in civilisation was lunch at Hungry Jack's.

 

 

Many station wagons have those velcro pads around the windows so curtains can be stuck up, in cheap-ass camper mode.

 

Chevette in drag:

 

 

Didn't see the badges on it, or whether those back lights are original.

 

Our first night in the sticks:

 

 

No other bugger was daft enough to camp in the summer, so we had the site to ourselves.

 

 

This wasn't a proper camper, just some rough formica shelving in the back, with an ice box.

 

 

Luckily we splashed out on the optional camping table, chairs, and portable stove thing, so we could make pasta or summert for tea.

 

All this lot were around the site:

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad spot, eh?

It was a cloudy day so we weren't even too hot!

[John F]

 

 

 

What the actual fuck?

 

I don't even like football, but I can still recognise the Leeds United sticker in that back window...!!

[mouseflakes]

I think I mentioned it to you when you brought your Delicia to Shitefest in September.

 

Sorry Joe - I think you did too. I'm a dimmock.

[KruJoe]

Back on the road, this was to become a familiar sight:

 

 

 

We passed dozens of abandoned broken wrecks like that.

 

Heading into the interior:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This batch are from the dusty town of Coober Pedy, a fading opal-mining hot-spot. It very much has the feeling of dying Wild West gold-rush settlement. There are old boys with long beards trundling around in knackered pickup trucks with broken lights and panels hanging off, still hoping for the big find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guess is that these contraptions are for sifting/separating the material they dig out of the ground. I saw a few working - there were piles of gravel under the tub on the boom. The bigger the machine, the bigger pile they can make before they have to move to a different spot. There are sun-scorched conical piles all over the surrounding desert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a chodtastic place! Well worth a look around if you're passing!

[fotorabia]

The collection above the green Holden ute Ive also photographed...

 

 

 

[KruJoe]

Hey, thanks for adding those ones Rab. You're a braver man than me!

Was Coober Pedy on your route between Uluru and Melbourne?

[fotorabia]

That garage  looked abandoned!...yeah...leaving Uluru behind and camping overnight at Coober Pedy...hopefully Ill be repeating it nxt year..at least Adelaide to Alice!