Fast Cars and Slow Living

This past weekend my good buddy took me to his homeland to the south. We hoped in his car Saturday morning and after picking up a few hung-over friends scattered accross perth we were off. Our first stop was Bunbury where we dropped off his friends and I met his mother. We had no time to waste though as we needed to be in Nannuo to catch the main event, the Quite Forrest Rally.

That's right, we went to catch a rally race. The Quite Forrest isn't very high profile, it's not on the WRC circuit and it is open to manufacturers as well as individuals. When we got there we wondered through the streets (actually just street) of Nannup which had been converted to the maintenance areas for the teams. We then found a good spot at the first turn of a short stage. Many subarus and toyota's riped around the corner before us. The sounds from their engines made one feel as if the car would explode trying to contain all the power under the hood.



After we had our fill of dust clouds and lound engines Gray took me on a whirl wind tour of the southwest. We hit Margret river and Buesselton. Buesselton has the Southern Hemisphere's longest Jetti (2km) however they wanted to charge us 2.50 to walk on it, forget that. We stopped briefly in the Karri forest to enjoy a little serentiy. We then hurried back to Busso to catch the night stage of the rally. The stage was a short tarmac circuit where the competetors tried to get the fastest 3 lap time.

We then made our way to a classic Australian bush party. The party was full of underagers and really was nothing to write home about, except that I got to sleep in a swag.

We spent Sunday at Gray's family's hobby farm just outside of Bunbury. It was incredibly beautiful, complete with the classic rolling green hills. We went on a motor bike ride around the property and then returned to the homestead for some crab and conversation. We then went for a walk to a scenic spot up on one of the hills to watch a calf take her first clumsy steps. We sat and enjoyed a fine picknic of meats, cheeses and fruits and took in the strikingly fresh air. After the light lunch it was time for some tea and a little shoothing practice. We fired off a few rounds into some unsuspecting cans. Standing there with my tea in hand comenting on the boy's shooting skill I truely felt like an English Gentleman from a time long gone. Before I knew it, it was time to get heading back to the city.

- Drew Bahh