This is Mat Urquhart, and he is the General manager of Tyrepower at Sunbury. Have I ever told you how much these guys are dedicated to customer satisfaction and all round do-gooders....Our first experience started last year when we were leaving Port Augusta and I needed a couple of tyres changed over from the van to spare and we called at two bridgestone dealers on the way out of town and both more or less said, Come back Thursday..This was Monday morning. great help. On we push to port pirie and the Tyrepower branch there had had a change of owner and it was lunch time, not a good time to call generally , but wait...Yeah wheel her in, said the owner and they changed the tyre straight away. How much, mate? ooh thats alright, no charge today. That was the start. On our return to Sunbury area I went to see Matthew about replacing the tyre that had been on the spare. well he tried very hard to replace the Simie tyres but apparently they are not made anymore. He did recommend a couple of light truck rated tyres and fitted and balanced for a very good price. light truck tyres are recommended because of the higher pressures they take rather than a normal car radial. The extra pressure because of the load they take.

My latest episode with Matthew Urquhart and Tyrepower Sunbury came just last week when I am considering changing my Coopers preferably for more Coopers. that was not to be at $370- per tyre. Matthew showed me some information on the Kumho KL/61a good, well wearing tyre that would suit our useage with 70%bitumen and 30% off road- sand and mud etc. The price included balancing and i asked about a wheel alignment and that again was no problem. Cannot speak highly enough of the service we have received at Tyrepower branches in Port Pirie and Sunbury. If you are in the market for a set of new tyres, give Matt a call on 97407755 and tell him Bruce sent you.

St.Leonards, Inglewood, Upwey, Macedon, Moama and further

Well it's  been a while since writing and quite a few things have happened since we left St.Leonards.I was right in thinking of maybe Inglewood and we stayed for a few days there. The frustrating part is that we still haven't been out fossicking yet. We go there and get busy with other things, like the WUDU magazine or an article for the website and before you know it, we're off again. Exactly what happened this time. Few days at Inglewood and then off to Romsey where we left the rig hitched up, took the "For Sale" Territory to Upwey for another WUDU shoot. This was a reunion of people involved in the Summer Series and will front the new season of Whats Up Downunder when it goes to air on the 30th March (check your local guides.)
Sunday morning and we are packed ready to leave and our host Col has arranged for us to meet his good friends Terry and Kaye. Terry has a great car collection that Col reckons I will enjoy. After winding our way through some very dry parts of the Dandenong ranges, we reach there magnificent house and several outbuildings on about 5 acres overlooking Cardinia creek reservoir. Terry DOES have some interesting vehicles indeed, as well as a great Elvis collection and an extensive museum collection of all sorts. Makes us feel a little older when you see things on display in glass cases and we both say "oh I remember those."
Terry has a "Tucker" motor vehicle, No.45 of 48 produced in the world, he is a member of the Cord and Duesenberg owners club of Australia and also drives in hillclimbs competitively. Thats the difference...Terry took 10 seconds off the record for class in his '64 mustang at the Bathurst hillclimb recently.Nice record breaker there, Terry.
My brother Dean was bringing Mum down to my sisters place at Wantirna south and our daughter Elise, was also going to meet them their with her two children, so as we were in the area, decided to surprise them and call in as well.A nice get together and a chance for a four generation photograph.We left there, back to Romsey, pick up the van and headed for Macedon.
 We hadn't been to this park before but it has everything we wanted, peace and quiet as well as being on the Bendigo train line, all good points. Not too far from Elise either.
Once you are able to settle into a park or area, start to appreciate and fit into your surroundings, a greater appreciation of the area develops. How so? Well, a forinstance..the local c.f.a. were holding a "flea" market on the Saturday so we decided to go and have a look. Well, we had no idea  how big this thing was. Kids jumping castle and special kids activities, food stalls a bric a brac shed and a book shed where a bag of books was $3-, unbelievable, then the auction started. Donated goods from which you could furnish a house were put up to sell with the MOST entertaining auctioneer we have seen in action for a long time, knocked the car park full of donated goods down to the highest bidder. Sattelite dish went for $2- Wow. Marg tied my hands behind my back otherwise we would have needed another storage container I reckon, and this only take place ONCE a year..Great event.
Left Macedon after about a week and headed back to Moama for another board meeting and catch up. Stayed in Shady River park as we had before and it's close to the RSL.Warm enough for me to go swimming and the floatation helps my back, so I don't mind getting wet now and again.
After a few days, all business done, we head South and return to Treetops. Elise and her cousin Erica have organised a family reunion here and we have a great time. all in all 25 people were there, we self catered, some had powered sites and the rest used the bunkhouse type of accommodation  that is in the hall. A great weekend. We stayed on for a further couple of days and explored the Topaz possibilities of the area. We were given info about the area that we may be able to fossick for these stones, not too far away. so a day out proved fruitless, but our info did say "when the creeks are running."
Now onto the Caravan, Camping and Touring super show at Caulfield racecourse . High temps about 34C may have put some people off but that was not evident where we stood. Luckily the WUDU stand is on the 1st floor in the air conditioned area and we are glad it is. Have spoken to lots of people over our time so far there and back into it tomorrow. If you are around, come and say G'day to stand no.115..