Brocky

Same here!!! Was 12 this morning and are supposed to have a high of maybe 40. Supposed to stay like this all week with back to 10 Sunday AM.

Vlad, I presume a large part of your problems are getting a visa from Russia??? The pictures I posted when we got home was on the old Just Old Trucks website and that crashed an we lost everything. Those pictures were in a better timeline order and the topic was 9 pages long. I have lost Stephanie's email address, but I still have John Vanatta's, so he could forward hers to you. You would also have to add New Zealand as there is the big Richardson museum there. I was thinking about going back in about 2019, flying into Rockhampton or Brisbane, renting a car. There is a museum in Gatton, several private collectors in Dubbo, work my way south to Sydney and participate in the April Haulin of the Hume, stop at the Wall of Honor on the Hume (similiar to our Viet Nam memorial wall) which honors all of the drivers who lost their lives on the Hume HWY, do the Snowy River Hydro project, Then take the Indian Pacific train west across the Nullibor plain, do the gold mine in Kalgoorlie, and on into Perth. Contact Aussie Paul and he can probably help you find more museums and private collections to visit, as well as possibly a ride on the Haulin' of the Hume??? Have Paul send you a map of Australia with some of the stops highlighted.

Irish Paul, Just click on the big picture in the post. It will then open the Flicker album. The same as the pictures of Macungie that Otherdog has posted..

Bob, It is Aussie not Ozzie!!!!!

Mark, I have seen videos of them.. They may be all right for their purpose, but will not be much help when the wind starts drifting the snow..

Have you tried Barry at Watts Truck??? 888-304-6225

Paul, With the exception of the 4 lane interstate highways the top sped for plowing is in the 35-40MPH range. Most of the rural roads your are working mostly about up to 30 MPH. Here is a picture of a real plow truck I had handy. Sorry not one of the Mack's but the biggest were set up the same way.

Looking Good!!!!!!! Please keep us updated.

Yes, Toyota imported a lot of Mid and large sized trucks to Australia that never came to the States. Chrysler and International of Australia had a very close working relationship in the 50's thru the 70's. If you look close some of the 50's IH's they had the Dodge Pilot House cab, and many of the A model IH's you see are badged Dodge, with Chrysler power trains. Maybe Paul can explain it better?

Welcome Back!!!!!! Have missed your expertise in heavy haul..

From Rockhampton we flew to Melbourne and we met by the bus which gave us a quick tour of the historical sights then headed southeast to Phillip Island Nature Park. This is where we were able to watch the Penguins come in from their ocean feeding to their nests for the night. No cameras were allowed in this facility. The next morning we were met by ATHS member David Driver, owner of the Gray Line Tours, with one of his own busses to visit 4 private collections in the state of Victoria. The first stop was at his personal collection of cars and busses, with a replica of a 1929 Pontiac 6 which his father and uncle started the business with. The 1947 Bedford is the first new bus they bought after the war. The next stop was at Ian Lee's shop and fantastic collection of EVERYTHING!!! From soup to nuts!!! A lot of his antique truck friends, with their wives, show up and served us Morning tea / lunch. From there we went to another ATHS Member's "Boneyard in a Sheep Pasture" protected by a BIG old Billy Goat. A lot of restorable and parts trucks and farm machinery. The last stop of the afternoon was at Archie Baines' facility where the ATHS Australian Chapter met us and served a BBQ style dinner. Archie also had a large boneyard (in a cow pasture) including construction equipment as well as a lot of the chapter members bringing their trucks to display. The last day we had a bus tour of the southern coast west of Melbourne where the sandstone shore line is eroding away slowly creating the 12 Apostles National Park. Since we first started dating whenever I asked her "where do you want to go to eat" She always said "Hawaii to see Don Ho"!! Travel agent Stephanie did a great job of creating a detour for us on the way home and Nelle got her wish. All together the entire trip cost us about $25k, but it was a once in a lifetime trip. I would like to go back, rent a car, eat at pubs, stay at normal motels, and see more museums and private collections at our own pace. The Hume Highway runs the approximately 500 miles from Sydney to Melbourne and is very similar to old US 70 from Greensboro NC to Nashville TN, both in size and terrain. There were a 1000 trucks running it every night. Each year in April there is a convoy of trucks 1/2 way alternating years from each end. There are You Tube videos labeled Haulin or Crawlin the Hume. Should you go Down Under for one of these convoys maybe MrsMackPaul can get you a ride??

Tony Champion's facility!!! What a place!!! He still has a MACK dealership with a BIG Mack sign out front and smaller lettering on the front of the building saying Volvo Commercial Vehicles. Tony also used to be a Caterpillar dealer and the building adjacent to the Mack building is the old Cat shop which now his restoration shop and behind it is the gallery building with his collection. We were scheduled to be there from 9AM to 4PM, but we never left until 9PM!! Tony went all out to welcome us including a buffet dinner with an Aboriginal dance group for entertainment. He had both the Holt and Cat running during the afternoon. The road trains parked beside the shop were the ones just back from Alice Springs and not unloaded yet. The maroon Mack tractor in the lead is Tony's personal Australian 50th anniversary "Southern Cross" edition. He also has a restored Outback service station with the Mack Jr he was working on at the time in front of it. The R-800 pictured on his back lot has now been restored and there was pictures of it recently in the ATCA Double Clutch magazine.

That is a small one!! In upstate NY there were a lot of 4X4 RM 700's with V plow on the front and wings on both sides.

We spent 3 days in Alice springs. The Truckie's Hall of Fame consists of several buildings and sheds containing trucks, pictures of the men and women with their biographies, outdoor exhibits, Kenworth museum, the Gahn railroad museum, boneyard, food court (with Beer!!) / picnic area, and show grounds. On Red Sand!! On Saturday there was a 5 hour parade on the Main road with traffic interspersed. From Alice Springs we flew to Cairns, Took a big boat out to a rafted platform on the Great Barrier Reef snorkeled and rode in glass bottom boats. From there we took a bus down the eastern mountains and coast. We had a wonderful 50ish lady driver, who by the end of the trip had Tired Iron Fever. We visited a fig tree, a billabong (zoo), a mini sugar mill with antique equipment, A KW Dealer and had morning tea with them, and other sights. Along the way an alternator bracket broke and we had an engine compartment fire. Finally ending up at Tony Champions large Mack collection in Rockhamapton.

Looks like it will have to do this in parts!! While at Alice Springs we took a side trip thru the adjacent McDonnell mountains. The Flicker album posted my pictures in reverse order so you will have to figure some of them out. This first album is of ALL the tourist activities so you will have to refer back to it later. Click on the picture and it will open the whole album.