Below 265 SQ/FT Hewey's 1950s single garage & cottage

[hewey]

Rylstone post 2...

Sunday morning sees all the entrants line up in the main street. There's a low key presentation, with a small number of awards. In a surprise, we took out joint first place in the observation challenge! My wife gets all the credit for juggling navigation and observations.





That's the end of the formal part of the event. Some people hit the road, but there was an informal run Mount Panoroma to cut some laps and a final catch up. Some great roads between Rylstone and Bathurst!



Getting lapped, lapping the mountain. Yes 36kmh is 'race pace' with 848cc's!



Parked up on top of the mountain. A massive rainstorm swept through, and with the wind it was damn cold. With no heater we decided to hit the road and head on home. Absolute corker of a weekend, definitely looking forward to the next one.

 

[Geoff289]

Hewey that Rylstone run looks like it was more fun than you can poke a stick at. Even at 36 kph Bathurst is intimidating. I've been around it in the past and didn't need the 60 limit signs and cameras over the top of the mountain for me to stay under, its scary.

Interesting the Wolseley or Riley version of the mini besides yours in the third pic. I saw one in the UK but I bet there aren't too many of them here.

Our annual club trip to Tassie in Feb has just been opened for bookings, limited to 40 cars and first in best dressed so I broke all records paying the deposit. This time we're getting some time on Symmons Plains which ought to be fun.

 

[cros13]

Looks like it was a Great run for the day! Its been a few years since I've taken any car on a nice long club run.

Rudi.

 

[hewey]

Hey Geoff, yeh the Rylstone run was an absolute hoot. I echo your comments about Bathurst, I literally just don't know how they drive at race speed over that whole top section. There's a handful of Riley Elf's kicking around, but not many of them. Mustang trip to Tassie soudns great!

Cheers Rudi

No interesting updates otherwise, just a lot of work and working weekends, and being too drained for anything fun or productive on the remaining day off beyond basic house jobs.

 

[hewey]

After doing work stuff for the last 3 weekends, this was our first fully free weekend in about a month, and the weather was fantastic. I got in and did the first mow in a looong time. Yesterday we got out for a run down south, down through the Southern Highlands, popping out to the coast for some lunch in a park in Berry, and then back via Kangaroo Valley. One of the highlights was a fully un-interrupted run from top to bottom down Macquarie Pass. Some very nice cars out, but barely got any pics on the road.

One of the things we did was suss out the entry road to some accommodation we've seen online to see if it was 'mini friendly' for a future long weekend. Turns out it was barely Mazda friendly with washed out ruts, potholes, creek crossings, and steep loose sections. Kinda ironic when the Subie left at home in the driveway would have handled it all with aplomb






And a few shots from the passenger seat as my wife drove the Kangaroo Valley leg on the way home

 

[Lyndon]

Hewey

Nice drive. Some very familiar views there.

Lyndon

 

[Coolabah]

<snip>,,,,,,,,,Turns out it was barely Mazda friendly with washed out ruts, potholes, creek crossings, and steep loose sections. Kinda ironic when the Subie left at home in the driveway would have handled it all with aplomb

Can I please show your post to my better half ? She refuses to believe we need a Jag, multiple Subarus , Hiace, etc etc...
I keep telling her that you need for the shoes to match the dress... not working in the slightest to this point
I do love that drive when to-and-fro from Sydney to Narooma but have been doing the alternate routes for a while- they've probably fixed all the landslips by now I'm sure, just got out of the habit. We do love stopping at the old general store in Glengarry (? Worlds greatest pies) its like General Store Journal ,Store Gallery equivalent , so to speak

 

[Geoff289]

Looks like more fun being had at Hewey Central. Won't be visiting that accommodation in my Mustang.

 

[Coolabah]

Looks like more fun being had at Hewey Central. Won't be visiting that accommodation in my Mustang.

Interested : I nearly shipped a 60's Mustang from the USA a few years ago to restore, My thoughts are that it would do OK across this sort of Aussie platypus crossing ??? its not like its a Porsche ?? No disrespect, just curious as I have crossed such streams in my Datsun Fairlady 1600, 1970 Toyota Corolla, Ford ****** Panel Van Mk1 back in the day , without a second thought !!!
Ah..... the good old days !!! ???
disclaimer: oh , ok Batchelor & Spinster Balls , parties in the country... that might have been a factor

 

[Geoff289]

Interested : I nearly shipped a 60's Mustang from the USA a few years ago to restore, My thoughts are that it would do OK across this sort of Aussie platypus crossing ??? its not like its a Porsche ?? No disrespect, just curious as I have crossed such streams in my Datsun Fairlady 1600, 1970 Toyota Corolla, Ford ****** Panel Van Mk1 back in the day , without a second thought !!!
Ah..... the good old days !!! ???
disclaimer: oh , ok Batchelor & Spinster Balls , parties in the country... that might have been a factor

My reluctance is based on pampering the car rather than doubts about its ability to negotiate that goat track. I'd have to clean it afterwards. Mostly I don't even take it out in the rain.

 

[Coolabah]

My reluctance is based on pampering the car rather than doubts about its ability to negotiate that goat track. I'd have to clean it afterwards. Mostly I don't even take it out in the rain.

ah yes, that totally makes sense to me !

 

[hewey]

Thanks Lyndon - yeh plenty of roads to stretch the legs on a Jag. I particularly like Tourist Road from the outskirts of Bowral to the top of Macquarie Pass. Cheers Geoff

Coolabah - happy to share my post, not sure she'll listen to me. Also noting we only have 3 cars, so try and spread 'roles' across them. Most stock 60s or 70s cars would make this track, however our mini and Mazda are pretty short on ride height.

Is the pie shop you're referring to, in Kangaroo Valley? Sadly it's no more. The site was sold and is no longer a shop. It's received a lick of paint, but thankfully they've kept the heritage signage in the windows. Shame, albeit they always seemed to be grumpy, they did awesome pies.

 

[Coolabah]

<snip>

Is the pie shop you're referring to, in Kangaroo Valley? Sadly it's no more. The site was sold and is no longer a shop. It's received a lick of paint, but thankfully they've kept the heritage signage in the windows. Shame, albeit they always seemed to be grumpy, they did awesome pies.

Oh no !!! Yes , that's the one. I guess "you snooze, you lose" was never truer, as I mentioned : not been past there for way too long.
I did love going there- pies were certainly worth it- but more than anything it seemed to be a genuine time bubble into the past.
Nice car !!!

 

[hewey]

At work recently I got the 'you need to use up some annual leave' talk, so we looked at taking a quick break. Between my wife needing to take leave during school holidays, needing to find somewhere dog friendly, and looking at very late notice we didn't have a lot of options. In the end we chose this place in Mudgee in some old silos. Apart from cutting in some doors and a concrete floor, they were basically tin sheds. We thought what the hell, it's basically camping with the added bonus of a decent shower, flushing loo, and power. It was fun for a one off and something different, but probably wouldn't do it again.

The accommodation. Sleeping shed on the left, dining/lounge space on the right. Nice big sliding doors on them to take in the views. Put of sight on the left is a smaller silo split up with a shower, loo, and kitchen sink.



Night time fire was the key source of entertainment and warming at night.



Absolute highlight was the view across the back paddocks. This is the foggy view from our bed. Likewise the loo and shower shared the same view when we left the doors open.



We did a bit of local driving and exploring. One of the days we did a loop which went from Mudgee-Wellington-Orange-Bathurst-Mudgee. Helped this local off the road - couldn't pick him up, but did shove him along with my boot.



One of the back laneways around Mudgee.



One the way home we took the scenic route via the Capertee Valley. Gorgeous spot, but a little remote for living for my liking!





That's it for now. Back home for the long weekend and watching the Panthers in the final. Hoping to get some yard or garage time, but the weather isn't playing ball and it's wet once again!

 

[ajohno]

Mudgee is a beautiful place.

That looks like a great spot you stayed at Hewey.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hewey, thanks for the reminder. Spent a 1990 weekend in Mudgee with friends that didn't go well. Stayed at a downtown motel where we improved our accommodations by flipping the mattresses over. Had dinner at the RSL Club and partied with the locals until closing. Way too many rounds bought for us and even more rounds bought by us. I ended up being driven the few blocks back to the motel in a shopping trolley. People with a drinking problem should stay away from RSL Clubs. Took another decade to solve my problem.

 

[Geoff289]

Looks like another fun trip Hewey. I didn't know Bob was such a hell raiser when he was here.

 

[hewey]

Thanks Aaron and Geoff. Bob, that sounds like a wild night!

Well, the Panthers won the NRL Grand Final for the second year in a row which was a bit special. Following watching the game on the tube, we jumped in the car and drove down to do a lap of the main drag outside the club and take in the atmosphere (and before it got too out of hand). Good fun! Don't think the locals along there got much sleep that night, lol.

So for a couple of months my wife told me I was unavailable on the weekend just been - like unequivocally unavailable. I turn 40 in December, and she'd booked in something special, but I wasn't able to know what it was. At the start of the week she revealed what it was - hiring an MGA* for the weekend! It was booked in early as she figured neither us or the car would like 30+ degree summer heat - smart move! And given we've had months of wet weather, we lucked out and got one of the best weekends of weather we've had all year!!

*Lyndon this place also hires out a convertible e E Type

In the end, we picked it up Friday afternoon and returned it Sunday afternoon. The drive home was pretty terrifying if I'm honest - peak hour start and stop traffic on Sydney's M4 motorway, sun in the eyes, an unfamiliar and very pretty and expensive old car, drum brakes and non-synchro in 1st gearbox. And did I mention everyone jumping in front of me as I left a decent gap given said drum brakes? Was happy to make it home.

Saturday came out an absolute pearler of a sunny day. We headed down the southern highlands, stopping at a few cafes and op shops through Picton and Mittagong. The MGA was absolutely at home on the twisty flowing backroads and I started to get really comfortable. And it just fit right in...





So after hitting the amazing Tourist Road, we headed to Burrawang Hotel for lunch. The food is good, and the view from their beer garden is amazing.



After lunch we did some exploring down Robertson way, this is the road to Jamberoo, however it was closed off due to flood damage.



And heading back home along Tourist Road.

 

[hewey]

Sunday our local Blue Mountains cars and coffee was on at Medlow Bath (just near the Hydro), so we headed up there and grabbed a bacon and egg roll for brekky. Love the cars and coffee events, low key, no dickheads, great variety of cars, and over quickly so you can enjoy the rest of your day. MGA got lots of attention.

After cars and coffee we headed out west. Here we are going down Victoria Pass.



I always check out this quaint little shed in Hartley, so this was a perfect excuse to stop in for a picture.



And another stop in Hartley in front of this old servo.



From there we turned left and headed towards Oberon. That stretch of road was the absolute highlight of the whole weekend - fast flowing corners, no potholes, views for days, and 60-65mph just opened up a raspiness in the exhaust that just made you grin.



From Hampton we hooked back north along some backroads to Lake Lyall. Some great stretches of road, but really hampered by potholes for much of it to be too much fun - particularly with drum brakes.



From Lithgow we headed home via Bells Line, with lunch at the bakery in Bilpin. It was fun, but really hampered by traffic to enjoy it to its fullest. Great scenery in an open top car though.



From there we headed home. We gave the car a quick wash and tidy up, and then returned it back to the city. In total we did about 750km over the weekend, and I was just absolutely exhausted. But man, what a great weekend!

 

[Bob Heine]

And did I mention everyone jumping in front of me as I left a decent gap given said drum brakes?

Hewey, my baptism driving in Sydney rush hour traffic was exactly that. Back home in Florida I learned to leave a big gap to both react and slow or stop the car in an emergency. Many elderly drivers in Florida stop for green lights while others drive with their left foot on the brake, giving no hint when they panic brake other than smoking tires. At first, I drove the same way down under. Didn't take long for me to adapt and make sure I was close enough to the car ahead so I couldn't see its rego tag. I believe it's a Sydney thing to switch lanes for no reason, just because there is room to do so.

 

[Geoff289]

The fun never stops for you does it Hewey? What a blast!

My worst driving experience was in the south of France. Emerged from Nice airport in the dark in a hired Renault, wrong side of the road for me, straight onto a complex freeway network into the heart of Nice to our accommodation, with a GPS that took its own sweet time to find a satellite after emerging from the airport carpark, surrounded by mad French drivers who regarded road rules as vague suggestions at best.

 

[hewey]

Bob, yes that sounds like Sydney traffic! My wife deals with it everyday. I'm likely my commute is far more suburban, and much of the time I'm working from home.

Geoff that French traffic sounds like a nightmare and would leave a lasting impression. In regards to the fun, this is only the highlights package Workwise it's been a hell of a tough year, so there's been a conscious effort on our behalf to do some fun stuff to offset that. Similarly the ongoing rain has made it nigh impossible to plan any more house reno work when everything we want to do is outdoors. And lots of mundane weekends in between doing regular life stuff too

 

[cros13]

Looks like you had a blast in that old girl! Great roads too, does the hire company have a website?
Cant wait to hit all those roads in the zed!

Rudi.

 

[hewey]

Looks like you had a blast in that old girl! Great roads too, does the hire company have a website?
Cant wait to hit all those roads in the zed!

Sure did Rudi! Hire company is https://www.vintageandclassiccarhire.com.au/nsw-sydney-metro/.

 

[hewey]

Recently we did a quick day trip down to Canberra for the Canberra Design Festival. and something that might be particularly of interest to Geoff. We did a tour of this house https://www.lighthouseteam.com.au/projects-renovations-extensions/blackburn-house, with both the homeowner and architect team. Short version is it's a 1960s government workers home with a modern renovation, with a particular focus on passive solar design (all the living areas at the back and north facing, strategic use of eve lengths etc) and air tightness. End result is 7.8 star rating, all electric, and annual energy bills of around $700 (including full charging of their EV which clocked 23,000km). Really impressive project, felt like a brand new home, and lots of good ideas to pinch.



Back at home, after a loooong hiatus it's finally time to hook back in and finish off the deck and laundry project. So this is our 'European laundry', basically a glorified cupboard on our back deck. The original sink is tiny, only has cold water, and is terribly placed with the only electrical outlets above it. We never used the sink. And for such a tiny space, the cupboard actually had lots of wasted space.



Pealing away the layers reveals an old window, into what is now the shower space.



And an even closer inspection finds the original timber weatherboards under the original timber window sill. Our house is weatherboard with brick cladding over the top, we assume sometime in the 70s or 80s based on the brick and archways used elsewhere?



The big news is the concrete sink is all plumbed in on the outside of the laundry, and we're really happy with how it came out. So the idea is this sink is funky enough to justify it being 'outside' and on show on the deck. But it's also really practical for our usage, which includes things like filling up car washing buckets, washing dogs, as well as general laundry sink duties. Additionally, it can also be filled with ice for parties for the back deck. Only been less than a couple of weeks, and loving having a hot tap that I can get a bucket under! And fully plumbed in to the drains too. Still needs some tidying up, but very happy with it.



Next job is framing and lining the inside of the cupboard space. Materials on order and awaiting delivery. Until then the washing machine has found a temporary home under the back deck where we've connected it to the back tap. Not ergonomic at all! But far more convenient than using a laundromat.

 

[Geoff289]

Nice work. I reckon there's some brownie points in that job.

The house in CBA is interesting. I lived in a particularly leaky, drafty, cold, poorly oriented house there (in the suburb of O'Connor) for a few years in the '80's. We did have a great view of Black Mountain though.

I'm back in the workforce for a week doing some casual work with Victorian Electoral Commission. This is just so I can satisfy a work test to keep exploiting a significant tax advantage with my super. It does remind me that I have much better things to do than go to work. I have been riding my new E bike there though, so that's fun.

 

[cros13]

Nice work with the sink. Luckily its coming into summer now, I feel that washing machine under the house wouldn't have been so fun to use if it was still winter, I would have rather just hung my cloths in the rain! ha!

Rudi.

 

[hewey]

Hey Geoff, after 6 years of not having a laundry sink or even a kitchen sink we can fit a bucket under, I've already used the new one half a dozen times since it's install. Definitely one of those 'why didn't we do this sooner' projects. Rudi, yeh the under deck washing machine is certainly compromised, but much better than spending half a saturday in a laundromat...

My awesome neighbour came over and framed out the laundry and installed some wet area VJ panelling. It's gonna come together really nice, but the colour we've picked certainly isn't subtle. Further progress has been thwarted by work/christmas shopping/family birthdays, and now we're away for the week up the central coast.

 

[ajohno]

Sink looks good Hewey. My parents have a double concrete sink and it’s heavy.

 

[hewey]

Well somehow it's April?! Been a hell of a busy start to the year for a variety of reasons.

In recent news on the weekend I finally got our wheels on the mini, and while I was at it I took off the overriders and the roofrack. Changes the look of the car from the grandpa spec it used to have. Have since given it a proper wash and polished off the marks on the bumpers. The wheels are Amos, made in Queensland back in the 60s - nice to have some Aussie vintage speed equipment on it.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hewey, I love the look and finding those wheels is great. I suspect you'll have to put some flares on the wings. Something a little more subtle than these....

 

[Ray Bell]

Hewey, thanks for the reminder. Spent a 1990 weekend in Mudgee with friends that didn't go well. Stayed at a downtown motel where we improved our accommodations by flipping the mattresses over. Had dinner at the RSL Club and partied with the locals until closing. Way too many rounds bought for us and even more rounds bought by us. I ended up being driven the few blocks back to the motel in a shopping trolley.

Bob, I'm thinking you stayed at the Motel Central...

This is not far from the RSL, just near a service station, it was built into a motel from a big house, with all sorts of additions and most of the rooms upstairs, probably in the fifties.

My parents owned and operated it for a couple of years back in the seventies, but the big surprise when they bought it was that my mum recognised it as originally having been the home of one of her relatives.

 

[hewey]

Hewey, I love the look and finding those wheels is great. I suspect you'll have to put some flares on the wings. Something a little more subtle than these....

They're a little naughty. But I want to have the option of reverting back to stock steelies, so no flares for now.

 

[Geoff289]

Wheels and ditching the rack make a big difference to the little guy Hewey. You've got a way to go before it matches the Project Binky specs but I'm sure you'll get there. Did you see there is finally a new episode of that after a couple of years?

 

[hewey]

Thanks Geoff. I'm holding on to the steelies and roofrack, I like being able to change up the look with different bits to be able to change it up when I want.

Project Binky is an amazing project. Closer to you is Dutchy and his WRX powered mini, he's recently completed and is getting around the local shows including being on the Haltech stall at Motorex recently https://www.facebook.com/DutchysGarage

On the weekend we ventured out to Lithgow to pick up a marketplace purchase of some old magazines. With the rest of the day to enjoy, we looked at the map and plotted a course for a road that looked suitably bendy and ran along a creek for a bit - both good indicators of good scenery we find.

So we ended up visiting Turon Gates. The roads had recently been graded and were in great condition (have since heard they got smashed during last year's storms and floods). It's technically on private property with a public access road, but they have some camping and picnic spots, as well as cabins. Really nice spots along the river, well worth coming back to and doing a proper picnic. There was a small river crossing across a rock base, but it was nice and solid and not too deep.






The drive out was absolutely killer too. Nice variety of forest and open farmland, and awesome roads with nice long sweeping corners. Just really enjoyable driving, and the AWD Subie just eats this stuff up with aplomb.





Although, this cow warning sign was a little superfluous

 

[Ray Bell]

There's definitely some good-looking country out that way...

The sandstone cliffs lining the multi-coloured valleys. Interesting roads.

 

[octane_matty]

wow those roads look mint! jealous!

 

[Geoff289]

That little trip looks like a bunch of fun Hewey. Thanks for the link to the Suby/Mini, not that I need another online rabbit hole to go down. I've been very slack on here this year so I really must post some sort of update.

 

[hewey]

Ray and Matty yes it's stunning country out that way.

Geoff I've been exploring a bunch of random rabbit holes lately, like 90s street machine trends and history of the likes of Corsa Special Vehicles and HDT.

Over the weekend we had a working bee on the club Morrie. Some new shoes, fresh tint, bolted in some old Recaros etc. Almost ready for the mud run next month.

 

[Geoff289]

Ray and Matty yes it's stunning country out that way.

Geoff I've been exploring a bunch of random rabbit holes lately, like 90s street machine trends and history of the likes of Corsa Special Vehicles and HDT.

Over the weekend we had a working bee on the club Morrie. Some new shoes, fresh tint, bolted in some old Recaros etc. Almost ready for the mud run next month.

The fun never stops for you does it?

I had to work hard to stop one of my girls from buying a pink Morrie as her first car. She was happy to look past the pervasive rust, dry sump (because all the oil was on the outside) and lack of any tangible safety or creature comfort features because it was pink. She got a purple Hyundai Excel instead. Now she gets around in an employer provided Audi but still goes crook about not getting the pink Morrie.