For the last few years we have had a run to the high country sometime in the Christmas – New Year period so this year was to be no exception, but it nearly didn’t happen as for some reason Christmas snuck up on us.
So in the time honored tradition of doing things at the last minute we gathered on Sunday night for a meal/meeting at Luciano’s to plan where we were to go and hopefully arrange somewhere to sleep the next night, as it happened a fair percentage of the Victorian population had the same idea but for some unfathomable reason had booked months ago so accommodation was scarce.
Next morning Des, David, Lynton and myself set off in the Aero Hisso, DM Delage and Lancia Lambda our destination was still unknown but with the plan that we would head in the general direction of Mt Buller, make some calls at lunch (Alexandra) and go from there preferably via the King Valley to…… Dinner Plain
The weather was just perfect with temperatures in the mid to high 20s and because of our (some would say) flawed planning process we had a scenic but long drive with some very steep grades up Mt Hotham obviously the Hisso with too many cylinders and cc’s does not seem to notice gravity, the rest of us struggled a little. Nevertheless we rolled into Dinner Plain with plenty of time to get a very good meal at the pub.
During our protracted meal in which beer, cider and 3 bottles of red were consumed planning for the return journey was thrown on the table with Des suggesting that as this was an adventure we should try the Dargo Road, a 4WD track only open in the summer months. Mr Google suggested this 65Km journey would take 3 hours and as it happened he/she was spot on mainly because the Lambda decided to miss the whole way with many stops to attempt a repair in the end it was just a fouled plug. The only other mechanical problem was the Delage running out of brakes on a steep decline needing two feet on the brake pedal and the passenger using both hands on the hand brake so an unscheduled stop for the brakes and the occupants to cool was needed, all necessary ingredients for a Vintage Adventure.
Here are a few photos, I particularly like the one of my finger…