Another Day in Paradise

Today Zara and I headed out early to cover some stages close by, passing by Guide Falls (stopped for a look later on), and heading through Tewkesbury and on to Talunah. These are great stages, and quite fast. This event is using several methods to calm the average speed of competitors, one of which is the old favourite of chicanes on fast straight sections. Whilst I am not a great supporter of this, it is an apparently necessary evil if we are to stay safer and socially acceptable. Most of the stages have at least one chicane, and the ability to negotiate these cleanly without impact will be a big part of a successful and penalty-free run.
We then headed to Hampshire and Upper Natone, and these are pretty exciting roads. Targa has shared some of these with Rally Tas for several years, but this is the first time competing here for us, so we are looking forward to slapping this road.
Meanwhile, Scotty dragged the Cruiser and trailered WRX to Legana, and spent the day fettling the car on the wheel-aligner. The new tyres were fitted up and after much (aledgedly) involved discussion about the correct angles to point everything, it was finished, and re-loaded for the continued trip to Burnie.
Back in the North-west, we dodged and weaved around the animals, other competitors, trucks, and the wildest of all, the locals, until late afternoon, when we ran out of things to check. A pitstop for dinner was quickly organised with the illustrious Craig Brooks, my northern gravel nemesis, and one of the many clerks of course for the event. Afterthe usual friendly banter, and a trip to the Vandenburg garage to oggle their very fast EVO9, Scottys roadtrain arrived with a very tired mechanic at the wheel.
We are now tucked up at Ridgley for the night, with Vehicle Scrutiny to deal with tommorow. With 60+ competitors, I am hoping for a smooth, swift and painless passage through this!