'64 Plymouth/Valiant run to Oberon & Lithgow

Thursday 13th February - 2020

Two days ago, the Chryslers Restorer's Club 'Gourmet Run' to Oberon and Lithgow was cancelled due to "inclement" weather. 

Now, where do I begin to begin this story about our adventure to the Blue Mountains - Mayfield Garden - Oberon - Lithgow & their bush fire ravaged surrounding countryside on Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12th February, 2020.

If you are unaware of the crazy weather conditions that we have experienced here on the East Coast of Australia for the past 4-5 months you must have been living under a rock. 

We have been absolutely hammered with horrendous Bush Fires up and down our Eastern States until Saturday the 8th of February. Then, for a big switch up, our State of NSW was hit by a huge storm system with extensive rainfalls that helped extinguish most of the bush fires, thank heavens. 

My '64 Plymouth/Valiant outside the entrance
to Mayfield Garden, near Oberon, NSW

For me, this chain of events all started 3-days before the Gourmet Run was scheduled, when I just happened to have a wedding to attend in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. I was booked in to supply my 1931 Model A Ford Town Sedan on that day. I will not go into too many details of that momentous day, however I must tell you the weather conditions that I experienced during that wedding day in the beautiful Blue Mountains. 

On the Saturday morning I departed Cronulla in teeming rain and the downpour only got worse, from my place to where I had to collect the Bride is about a 2 1/2 hours drive. As I neared the summit of the Blue Mountains at Blackheath I have never experienced rain like it in my life. For those of you old enough and may still remember, it was the worst storm to hit the area in for 47-years. 

The '64 Plymouth/Valiant outside the Royal Hotel in
Oberon's Main Street. We had a scrumptious counter lunch there.
Photo: Steve Core

Get your laughing gear around this. A total of 492mm of rain, or in the old language 19.4 inches fell within a couple of days. Can you believe those statistics, no fake news here.

And to top it all off my Model A windscreen wipers do not work, thank god for Rain-X. If you don't know what Rain-X is then here is the story. lt is a synthetic hydrophobic surface-applied product that causes water to bead up and outsmart the elements, most commonly used on glass automotive surfaces, first introduced in 1972 by Howard Ohlhausen of the Unelko Corporation. 

Steve and I indulge in a zestful counter lunch at the Royal Hotel in Oberon

Now, to cut a long story short, I was about to tell you about our planned trip to the Blue Mountains with the Chrysler Restorers Club on Tuesday and Wednesday which was only three days after my epic rain-soaked trip for the Wedding at Blackheath. However you will understand why I am giving you all this useless information which will lead us up to the cancellation of the Chrysler Restorers Gourmet Run to Oberon & Lithgow which was due to take place only three days later. 

As it turned out at the wedding, the Bride, Groom, Photographer and myself should have worn wetsuits on the day, that's how wet it was and it did not let up for one second.

We had to dodge around the occasional fallen tree. This one here 
on Magpie Hollow Road between Tarana and Lake Lyell.
Photo: Steve Core

Henry Ford would have been proud of his 90-year-old vehicle, the old girl never missed a beat all day (thank God). However I must admit that the vehicle is definitely not water proof by any stretch of the imagination. By the time I returned home to Sydney that evening safe and sound, water was pouring out of it like a sieve, I am still trying to dry out the Model A Ford, one week after the event. 

Now let's get back to the cancellation of the Chrysler Restorers Club Gourmet Run...

My '64 Plymouth/Valiant parked at Mayfield Garden.
Photo: Steve Core

The Club's Gourmet Run Coordinator, Paul Lenehan, called me on Monday morning to acquaint me of the fact that our Gourmet Run to Oberon & Lithgow had been cancelled due to the current and expected bad weather, road closures, trees fallen over the highways, road and land slips and whatever else the authorities have warned us about not to make the journey.

By now you all know what I am like, I do not like the words "you can't do that."

So I called my planned travel mate for this trip, Steve Core, and explained the situation to him. I conveyed to Steve that I was still keen to go and he said he was too.

The wild weather from the previous week presented us with plenty
of driving challenges. This is Mutton Falls Road, Tarana, NSW.
Photo: Steve Core

We both had been looking forward to this adventure for the past three months and nothing was going to stop us. Last year I drove through Tornadoes in my Camper Van in Oklahoma, USA and nothing, and I mean nothing could be worse than that. So we both decided to give it our best shot and hit the road west as previously planned.

I picked up Steve at his residence on Tuesday morning in Gymea at 0730 and we hit the road running. 

After 1.5 hours driving our first stop was to check out Wentworth Falls in the upper Blue Mountains. I had heard reports the water cascading over the falls was the most spectacular sight for well over 30 years, so that was a great start to our journey.

After days of heavy rain, Wentworth Falls was flowing beautifully.
In the previous days, it was running at a 20+-year best flow.

So far so good, no rain on the way up to the Blue Mountains or on our drive to Mayfield Gardens just outside of town of Oberon.  As you can witness by one of the photos the only debris that we experienced was on the back road to Lithgow from the Mayfield Garden.

We made a fantastic stop at the Oberon Pies & Pastries
Bakery in Oberon's main street. I highly recommend this stop as 
their freshly baked Custard Slices are to die for.
Photo: Steve Core

We pushed onto Lithgow that afternoon and checked into our booked accommodation at the Lithgow Workies Club for a well earned rest for the evening.

Then on Wednesday morning l suggested to Steve that while we were up in this area we should take the Bells Line of Road back home towards Sydney to check out the area where the horrific bush fires had been burning for the last couple of months.

The fresh Custard Slices from the Oberon Pies & Pastries were
absolutely heavenly. I highly recommend a visit there
if you're passing through Oberon.
Photo: Steve Core

This is no fake news report.

We departed Lithgow around 0900 (still no rain) and immediately began our climb back up into mountainous territory. Our first stop was to inspect the Zig-Zag Railway, which is based at a little town called Clarence, we stopped to take in how ferocious the fires had been around this area. 

The bush fires ravaged the Zig Zag Railway headquarters at
Clarence. Where the flames licked along the platform's picket fence.

We came across a bunch of Australian Military personnel working with chainsaws cutting down all the hazardous trees that had been damaged by the fires. Steve got a chat on with Lieutenant Aaron who was in charge of proceedings in this area. He was running the show, co-ordinating the troops with all their duties. Aaron told us that he had a small squad of Indonesian Army Troops under his command, that were also assigned to the NSW bush fire clean-up operation on loan from Indonesia.

Steve Core [left] and the Royal Australian Army's Lieutenant Aaron
who was in command of the clean up detail assisting at the Zig Zag Railway

In the photographs of the Zig-Zag Railway's Clarence Railway station you can see where the fires actually burnt the wooden picket fences. It was now time to hit the road once more for our homeward road trip along The Bells Line of Road towards North Richmond.  

I kid you not, what we both were about to witness after we departed the Zig-Zag railway was absolutely astonishing.

On the Bells Line of Road, mile after mile of bushfire devastation
with most road safety signs being completely obliterated

From Lithgow to Bilpin is probably 70-80 kms. We drove the Plymouth along the Bells Line of Road towards Bilpin. I thought I was a lost astronaut driving on the dark side of the moon. The whole journey on both sides of the road was devastated mile after mile and as far as the eye could see. As you can see in the photograph I parked the Plymouth on the side of the road, in the background you can see the aluminium road sign was twisted and melted beyond recognition. 

The extreme heat from the fires melted all the road signs from Lithgow to Bilpin. When we finally arrived in Bilpin along the highway we could see where the bushfires destroyed many of Pilpin's famous apple orchards. Now some growers face an eight-year wait for another apple crop. 

The bushfire warning indicator sign at Bilpin

Steve and myself were completely devastated by the carnage that we had witnessed during our few hours drive along the Bells Line of Road. It must have been terrifying to be in this vicinity when the fires were out of control week after week. All I can say is: Thank you all the Firies and volunteers, we all owe you one hell of a debt.

We stayed here at the Lithgow Workies Club. You can see how close
the fires came to town with the scorched hills at the end of Tank Street
Photo: Steve Core

We descended down out of the Blue Mountains and arrived back in the vast Sydney metropolitan area by crossing over the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond. (Still no rain). We drove a distance of 482 kms (300 miles) over the 2-day adventure. By the time I tucked myself into bed that Wednesday evening I was counting my lucky stars, trust me.

Now if that's not a good story, I don't know what is.

Cheers for now until my next excursion on the highway of life.

Warbo.

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