G’day mate!,

I have a buddy I will call “Brian”. I call him Brian because that’s his real name. Brian was newly exposed to my posts. I learned from others that he didn’t read everything in the post. When I next saw Brian I asked him why. He told me he was used to reading Instagram posts and watching TikTok videos. Brian wasn’t prepared for the “experience” and the indepthness aka length of my posts. I told Brian that all of my readers had been prescreened for their willingness and understanding in getting the FULL story. I encouraged Brian to practice patience when he reads the next post…because you never know what is coming next that you wouldn’t want to miss!

Yes, I have videos from each of the three Western Australia tracks covered in this post. Just click on the link and you will think you’re in the grandstands of Western Australia.

Manjimup Speedway…a country track

Bunbury Speedway…sprint car racing

Perth Motorplex…the best facility in Australia
 

 
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Today I begin the second half of my 2022/2023 trackchasing trip to Australia aka Part 2. I’m sure, with the Australian time zone in Perth being 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles I was the first trackchaser to record a new track visit in the new year.
 
 
The first half of this trip included trackchasing and touring in the eastern part of Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland. Today I would fly from Brisbane to Sydney and then to Perth, Western Australia. I will trackchase and tour in Western Australia for the balance of this trip.
 
 
Like many of my days on the road, today had its ups and it had its downs. I would end up flying about seven hours from Brisbane to Sydney to Perth. I don’t mind flying at all. I use my iPad pad to download Netflix movies and shows and watch those when I fly.
 

 
A few years ago, I got a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. As part of my credit card benefits, I get a membership in the Priority Pass club. With Priority Pass I can eat at airport restaurants and visit airport lounges at no charge. This is a very valuable benefit.
 
 
Today in Brisbane and then in Sydney, I ended up stopping at four restaurants that were part of the Priority Pass program. At each location, I could order as much as $36 Australian and end up paying nothing. When Carol travels with me the benefit doubles. That’s a pretty good deal.
 

 
For the most part, I chose “take away” items that could easily be placed in a large plastic bag and, wait for it, “taken away” on the plane. I think I ordered somewhere around $130 Australian in muffins, cold sandwiches, and one serving of salt and pepper squid! I hope to spread the cold stuff around for the balance of the trip when I need a snack.
 

 

Today I was flying exclusively on Virgin Australia. One of Virgin’s policies is that I had to check my 22” rolling carry-on bag at my expense. I don’t like doing that. However, their policy was that the one and only briefcase-sized bag that I could bring on the plane could only weigh 7 kg which is about 15 pounds. That “take on the plane bag” would be my computer bag. Oh yeah, Virgin boards their planes from both the front and the back. I flew them three times and each time I boarded at the rear of the plane.
 
 
When I landed in Perth, I heard them calling my name over the PA system. What could this be? It turned out that my checked bag didn’t make the connecting flight! I landed in Perth at 3 p.m. Now my bag wouldn’t be coming in until 9 p.m. Did I mention I don’t like checking bags?
 
 
Under “normal” circumstances I land in one place, then rent a car and begin driving to get my trip started. Luckily, very luckily for this trip, I was actually staying at an Aloft Hotel by Marriott in Perth only a 15-minute drive from the airport. I would be there for the next two days. This meant I could drive over to the airport this evening and get my bag. I’m not sure my bag would have ever caught up with me if I had started driving all around Western Australia from the moment I landed. Just lucky I guess.
 
 
I found rental cars to be very expensive in Perth. I had only been to Western Australia one time in the past. From looking at my notes I paid about $50 a day for a rental car there in 2018 in November. For this trip, I was paying about $140 a day, for five days, for a rental car!
 

 
Granted this rental was over Christmas and New Year’s. I guess prices could be a little bit higher because of that. I rented my car from Apex, which the pick-up driver said was the “poor sister” of Avis and Budget Rental Car. I doubt if the new employee training manual recommended him saying that about Apex!
 
 
I had to pay an “after-hours” fee of $40 Australian, even though I was picking up the car at 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Apparently, Apex has business hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anything after that includes an extra charge. Geez!
 

 
Nevertheless, I got a good rental car. It’s a Toyota C-HR with an automatic transmission. The car also provided some really good air conditioning which is going to be required here in Western Australia. Of course, it’s summertime in Australia and WA gets toasty at the new year.
 
 
I’ll be in Western Australia for five nights. I’ll be staying for two nights at a Perth Aloft hotel, and then returning on the last day of my trip to Western Australia for another night at the Aloft. In the interim, I’ve got a Best Western hotel reserved in Bunbury, WA. All of my hotels for this trip have been American-branded hotels and all Marriott properties except for the two nights at BW.
 
 
Tomorrow will be reserved for touring opportunities in Perth. Tonight, I did some online research. I came up with a couple of fun activities, Trackchasing Tourist Attractions, for tomorrow.
 

 
Yes, I am continuing to meet my goal of walking a minimum of four miles every day. In California, I do that walking from midnight to midnight as you might imagine.
 
 
When I travel to a different time zone, I have to convert whatever the local time is to California’s “midnight to midnight” timing. Perth is 16 hours ahead of the time zone in Los Angeles. Therefore my “walking day” in Perth runs from 4 p.m. to 4 p.m. By following this schedule when I get back to California, all of my walking times will be readjusted to match California’s midnight to midnight time schedule. Make sense?
 
 
Friday, December 30, 2022
I had hoped to find some racing in Australia today at a track that I had never been to. I couldn’t make that happen.
 
 
My hobby of trackchasing is all about seeing action at race tracks for the very first time. If I can’t make that happen, I want to see the sights and sounds of whatever area I’m visiting.
 

 

On this early morning, I went for a power walk along the Swan River. The river runs through Perth, Western Australia. This was a nice scenic walk. The weather was cool enough to make everything comfortable. However, toward the end of the walk, I was getting bitten by Australian bugs of some sort. The bugs always love me as evidenced by their constant “love bites”!
 

 
When I got back to the hotel, there was just enough time to take advantage of the Aloft hotel’s buffet breakfast. Because I stay at Marriott hotels so much they included breakfast with my room rate. Other guests had to pay the princely sum of $29 Australian. This was an outstanding buffet breakfast.
 
 
I had the day to visit whatever attractions I wanted to see in Perth. I had only been to Western Australia one other time. Back in 2018, I was on the ground in WA just long enough to see a race at the Collie Speedway. In total, I was probably in Western Australia for about 16-18 hours.
 
 
The first item on my agenda was to go to a shopping mall. I wanted to pick up some provisions that might make watching racing at my next three new race tracks in Western Australia more enjoyable. What would those provisions be?
 

 
I needed to get some bug spray, and most importantly, a face net aka mosquito head net. The “face net” would keep the flies away. Flies in some parts of Australia are most annoying, especially in rural locations. I loved the compactness of this as well.
 
 
Yes, I love visiting Australia during their summer time, but I do find their fly problem a major annoyance. I remember going to the Simpson Speedway in the Australian state of Victoria where the flies were so bad I almost had to leave. These flies don’t bite. They just keep bouncing off your lips and face and nose pretty much every couple of seconds. It’s terrible.
 
 
Today at a store called Kathmandu they had just the face net I was looking for. The price was $14.98 Australian. I would have paid twice that for this face net. However, for some reason, it was being sold at 50% off today. The price reduction knocked the price down to $7.50 Australian. After converting to American dollars the face net cost me just a bit more than five bucks U.S. That was a steal.
 

 
I also spent some time shopping in a Kmart. That’s right, Kmart. When was the last time, if you live in America, that you shopped in a Kmart? I’ll bet it’s been a while. During my Australian travels, I saw several Kmart locations. They didn’t have anything I wanted, but it was interesting just to be inside the store.
 

 
My first major Trackchasing Tourist Attraction today was going to be an auto museum visit just outside of Perth about 20 minutes. The Motor Museum of Western Australia in Whiteman, Australia was excellent.
 

 

When I go to one of these auto museums, I try to take a picture of the placard that describes the car and then take a photo of the car itself. I upload those photos in a photo album and attach them to a link under the Museums tab on the home page of my website at www.randylewis.org. You might like to check out that page. I don’t have all of the museums that I have visited posted there, but I do have quite a few. Here’s the link:
 
Halls of Fame, Museums & More
 

For the evening, I had another interesting Trackchasing Tourist Attraction scheduled. I have done some research and noticed that they were having harness racing at Gloucester Park in downtown Perth.
 
 
I’m up for seeing harness racing whenever I can. I’m going to tell you that the last time I saw any harness racing, was at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Illinois. This was in August 2021. Why do I remember that outing so specifically?
 

 
I took a Covid test at the Illinois State Fair and tested positive! Luckily my symptoms were pretty much just that of a head cold. Everything was back to normal in just a couple of days.
 
 
Tonight, I was able to talk my way into the harness races for the “visitor” price. For me general admission tonight was just six bucks Australian. If you don’t ask you don’t get.
 

 
It took a while to get the lay of the land. Their wagering system is a bit different than what I have found to be the case in America. I’m not complaining just explaining. I don’t want Australia to be like America. If Australia was like America, why would I need to come to Australia? Do you feel me?
 
 
I did place a couple of five-dollar wagers. I always bet to win. That’s how I like to live life. When I win, the payoff is a lot bigger. Tonight, I did not win.
 

 
Nevertheless, it was fun to see how they do harness racing in Perth, Western Australia. Someone told me they have the races here twice a week. The crowd wasn’t very large maybe only a couple of hundred people. However, the vibe was majorly laid-back. I enjoyed some fine food and drink as I watched the races.
 
 
Tomorrow I get back into the full steam-ahead agenda of visiting new racetracks. For the next three evenings, I expect to see new tracks from Perth to the south of Western Australia.
 
 
I’ve got a good rental car. I’m not going to have to drive all that far, maybe 500 kilometers. Yes, that driving will take place on the left side of the road. I’ve got three more nights of hotels reserved that should make for a comfortable stay. As always, I enjoy touring. However, it is the racing that stirs the drink for me to adventure to these faraway places.
 
 
Saturday, December 31, 2022.

It’s New Year’s Eve! I’ve had an excellent 2022 trackchasing season. After tonight I will have seen racing at 92 race tracks for the very first time. My lifetime trackchasing total will be 2,852 in 86 countries.
 

 
Unless some very unusual weather hits Western Australia, I will have completed the entire 2022 trackchasing season without having a single rain out. Even I am impressed with that statistic.
 

 
I have definitely formed a life habit with my daily walking. Today wraps up ten consecutive months of walking a minimum of four miles every day.  My walk along the Swan River was much better than yesterday. Today I had bug spray! No bites.
 
 
As a matter of fact, my average walking distance for those ten months is 4.9 miles. I have two more months to go to reach my goal of doing this for one year straight. I might add that I am feeling a little pressure to meet the goal. Having come this far I don’t want to screw up! Traveling to different time zones adds to the challenge of making certain that every day (using California’s midnight-to-midnight time clock) I cover those four miles. Here in Perth my “walking day” runs 4 p.m. to 4 p.m.
 
 
I really enjoy Aloft brand hotels. My Aloft hotel in Perth is excellent. After I finished my sumptuous buffet breakfast it was time to get on the road. I packed everything up including my army field jacket whose sleeves were stuffed to the brim with four days of dirty clothes. That field jacket gives me just the right “buffer” to make this nearly two-week trip withou having to do wash or carry a bigger bag than my 22” rolling Costco bag which I recommend 150%.
 
 
Today I would be driving five hours in total along Australia’s highways and driving on the left side of the road. The last couple of hours would be just as Australians were approaching 12 midnight on New Year’s Eve. Did I want to be on the roads then? I didn’t think I had a choice.
 
 
My hotel for tonight, the Howard Johnson Plus Hotel Lord Forrest, had quite a lofty name. When I’m looking for a hotel while traveling I’ll just do a Google search or a Priceline search. I rarely reserve a hotel room before the day I plan to use it. If I am driving toward a racetrack the racing can always be canceled by rain on nearly a moment’s notice. I never want to be locked into a hotel location, when if the race schedule changes I need to be heading in the opposite direction. I do think my hobby of trackchasing has encouraged me to have a very flexible attitude toward whatever plan I have. I happen to think that’s a good thing.
 
 
Have you ever stayed in one of those big city fancy Hyatt hotels with a huge atrium? The one in San Francisco comes to mind. Or, maybe a bit more downscale those Holiday Inn Holidomes where some of us watched our kids swim. The Howard Johnson I was staying in had one of those atriums. The atrium probably made this HJ seem better than it really was.
 
 
I had just come from an Aloft hotel that had given me, on a complimentary basis, their $29 buffet breakfast. Now the Howard Johnson wanted $34 for their breakfast. I expected the HJ breakfast to be of lesser quality than the Aloft. I declined their offer.
 
 
Because the Howard Johnson hotel was on the way from where I started in Perth to where I was going trackchasing in Manjimup I stopped and checked in. There was a McDonald’s nearby. Normally, I do not recommend an American tourist stop at MickeyD’s when traveling internationally.
 

 
There are exceptions to my rule. The main exception would be when there is a local menu item that won’t be found in the U.S. In Australia I had a fairly unique exception to my rule. I wanted to use their drive-thru lane in a ride-side steer car! Yep. This takes some mental ingenuity but if you stick with it the project can be completed! I did not find the McDonald’s food to be as good in Australia as it is in the U.S.
 
 
With lunch in the rearview mirror off I went to the Manjimup Speedway located in “southwest Australia”. When I travel I am usually thinking about food. I’m trying to plan what I will eat when I will eat, and where I will eat. Of course, when I last ate has a bearing on my decisions, and as well as where I plan to eat after the next meal that I am planning must be considered.

 
I started this thought process and soon encountered a misplaced link in the planning to eat process. This was New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow morning was New Year’s Day. I declined the hotel breakfast. I put all of that together and came to this conclusion.
 

 
On New Year’s Day, there might not be very many restaurants serving breakfast. What would I do for breakfast? That’s when both an eating idea and a touring idea popped into my head. I would stop at an Australian grocery store and get some food for tomorrow morning. I had a refrigerator in my hotel room to keep things cold.
 
 
For some reason, I absolutely LOVE walking around foreign grocery stores. Maybe it was because I was in so many stores during my business career. However, in business, I was in more drug stores than food stores. I do not have the affinity for drug outlets as I do for food stores. Heck, maybe it’s because I just like to eat!
 

 
I found an IGA grocery store in a small Australian town I was passing through. When I walked into the store I felt as if everyone was staring and saying to themselves “What’s this American doing in our store”. That was probably just my imagination but that’s what it felt like.

 
First, I had to walk down most of the aisles taking pictures of brands I had never seen before. Then I went over to the deli counter and ordered some thinly sliced ham and picked out a package of cheese. That would make a good breakfast tomorrow morning. Then I bought a 12-pack of Coke Zero counting on my fingers the number of days I had remaining on the trip and how many of these I would have to drink each day!
 

 
From there I was off to the Manjimup Speedway to see racing at my 48th lifetime track in Australia. I bought my ticket using my Apple Watch from a ticket seller standing alongside the entrance road to the track. I continue to be amazed at the high usage of electronic payments EVERYWHERE in Australia. I honestly think I could come here for a visit and never need any cash!
 

 
The Manjimup Speedway is what I would call a “country” track. What’s a country track? It’s a facility with not a lot of infrastructure, seating and such. Manjimup is a town of only 4,300 people. It started to get cold early in the evening. I figured I might be at an elevation but after checking the elevation was only 1,000 feet. I was wearing shorts and a light pullover. The temperature was somewhere around 60 degrees Fahrenheit but winding. The cold always comes from the wind.
 

 
My only refreshment purchase was a milkshake at the ever-present “ice cream truck”. I was reminded that pretty much only the United States serves a thick milkshake. Tonight’s milkshake had the consistency of drinking a glass of chocolate milk. Europe is like that as well with their milkshakes!
 
 
I must tell you that racing in Australia has far too many heat races in my opinion. In the U.S. each class will run one heat and a feature race mostly. In Australia, it is not uncommon for each class to run three heats and a main event. Nope. I don’t care for that.
 

 

Some of the stock car classes ran their heat races in opposite directions. That virtually never happens in the U.S. The main class of the night was the wingless sprint cars. These races are powered by V-6 engines. In the U.S. you won’t see any true sprint cars without a V-8 engine.
 
 
With the temperature dipping, I had to make an executive decision. Neither of my choices was that great. I could sit in the stands and soon turn into a dusted-down human popsicle. Or, I could get in my rental car, park it around the perimeter of the racetrack and watch the racing from inside my car. This would sort of be like going to the drive-in movies in 1965.
 

 

I chose the rental car option. This option kept me warm but worried. Worried? Yes! This was a dusty track. Dirt track racing throws off a lot of dirt and dust and sometimes rocks from the racing surface. When the sprint cars were on the track I could hear the small pebbles beating on the car’s windshield and body. That wasn’t good. Although I had 100% insurance coverage (which I almost never get) I didn’t fancy returning my Apex rental car with a cracked windshield. I backed the car up about ten feet.
 

 
Despite my rental car being filthy I was relatively clean. I highly recommend you see what the racing looked like from the Manjimup Speedway in Manjimup, Western Australia tonight. You can do that by checking out my YouTube video which is linked elsewhere in this post.
 
 
Now it was time to make the two-hour-plus drive back, on New Year’s Eve, to my hotel in Bunbury. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this drive for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was New Year’s Eve! Nevertheless, I was amazed by the lack of cars on the road. I guess that made sense. People who are celebrating New Year’s Eve are probably at a bar or at their house with their friends near midnight and not on the roads. Others are fast asleep in their beds.
 

 
Secondly, I was a little bit concerned after having seen so many kangaroo warning signs. I didn’t want to run into one of those in the dark on a two-lane road out in the middle of nowhere. On one of my previous Aussie adventures, when I was driving overnight, I nearly hit a kangaroo. It was 2 a.m. and I was driving out in the boonies. The kangaroo hopped out of the bush and came across the road from my left. I just let my car drift from the left (the driving side) to the right of the road and just missed him. Let me tell you this. That experience got my attention! I continue to believe I lead a lifestyle that is unusual to say the least.
 
 
I had wanted to arrive back at my hotel before midnight so I could at least say I was with some people when the New Year’s Eve clock struck midnight. I didn’t quite make it. I got back to the hotel at about 12:20 a.m. It was now 2023! The hotel was as quiet as a mouse. I guess I was staying in a place that catered to people who celebrate New Year’s by being fast asleep!
 
 
Sunday, January 1, 2023

Happy New Year! Believe it or not, this is the fifth year I have awakened to greet a new year in Australia. That’s 6.8% of my life. Not bad at all.
 

 
The first thing I did was to head out on a walking tour of the city of Bunbury. My walk focused on their harbor and marina.
 
 
There was just one major problem with the walk. It was still cool enough to enjoy the day, but the flies were an absolute problem. I’ve had problems with these small Australian flies in the past.
 

 
The fly problem was so bad that I returned to my hotel to get the face net that I bought in Brisbane. This was a lifesaver. Nevertheless, I don’t look very happy about the situation, do I? True I was the only person walking around this morning with a face net. Did I look a bit weird? Probably! However, I didn’t know these folks and they couldn’t recognize me when I was wearing this option. My face net was an excellent acquisition.
 
 
Tonight at 6 p.m. I would be trackchasing at the Bunbury Speedway. The track was only a 10-minute drive from my hotel. That gave me plenty of time to enjoy the day.
 
 
It didn’t seem to me that Bunbury had all that many touring opportunities. I did little research and found they had one local movie theater.
 
 

Just to keep my tech skills sharp I went online using my iPhone to the Grand Cinemas website and ordered a movie ticket. When it was time, I hopped in the car and drove over to the movie theater itself. I could’ve just as easily walked. The theater was only 2/10 of a mile from the hotel!
 

 
I loved seeing the movie called “A man called Otto”. The movie starred Tom Hanks. He a favorite of mine. The film was good enough that when I get home I might take Carol to see it. It’s sort of her kind of movie.
 

 
I arrived at the theatre early. I ordered a Coke Zero and some popcorn. That was some of the best movie popcorn I’ve ever had.
 
 
I took my advance arrival opportunity to strike up a conversation with a woman named Shelly also waiting for the show to begin. She was a bit surprised to learn I had come all the way to Australia just to see some auto racing. This is not an unusual reaction that comes my way when I talk to locals!
 
 
I told her I was surprised to see so few residential Christmas light displays. This was the wrong thing to say to this woman. Soon she was pulling out her phone to show me how well HER home was decorated for Christmas. Then she showed me even more photos of a special area near her house where all of the homes were heavily decorated for the holidays. I told her I stood corrected. She had the data. What could I say?
 

 
When it was time to enter the movie I bid Shelly farewell. She went inside the theatre ahead of me. When Carol and I go to the cinema we sit in the last row. When I go by myself I sit in the last row as much so I can view my phone without disturbing others. Today’s theatre wasn’t very big. Where do you think Shelly ended up sitting? In the top row! When I joined her in the top row with a couple of seats separating us I told her, “I’m not stalking you!”. I think she believed me.
 
 
Later in the afternoon it was off to the races to see my first new track of 2023. I wrapped up my 2022 trackchasing season last night. For 2022. I ended up seeing 92 tracks for the very first time in 13 countries and 21 American states. I didn’t get rained out a single time in 2022. I wouldn’t be rained out for the first couple of days of 2023 here in Australia either.
 

 
When I approached Bunbury Speedway I saw a lot of people parking along the highway. That normally means a big crowd. That being the case I found my own spot across the highway and walked the remaining distance to the ticket booth.
 

 
Tonight, I bought a “concession” ticket for $30 Australian. Concession tickets are the equivalent of our “senior” tickets in the U.S. The full general admission price was $35 Australian or about $23 American.
 

 
At the Bunbury Speedway the pit area is located beyond turns three and four. Pretty much the rest of the track from the exit of turn four to the entrance of turn three offered one form or another of spectator seating.
 
 
Even though I had parked along the backstretch and bought my ticket at the backstretch ticket booth, I would end up finding a seat right behind the starter in the upper grandstand.
 

 
The featured class this evening would be the winged sprint cars with 410 engines. They were the headline group for the USA versus WA Sprint Car Speed Week series. I’ll see this group run tomorrow night at the Perth Motorplex as well.
 
 
The winged sprinters were supported by the limited sprint car group that brought about 22 cars. The Australian late models, which look just like anything you might see at the World 100, had about 20 cars as well.
 

 
The first item on the agenda was to find something to eat. Despite a crowd that was announced at more than 5,000 people I saw only one major concession area selling food anywhere near the front stretch. That stand had a line where it took me about 20 minutes to be served. The photo above shows about one-third of the entire queue.
 

 
I went with the chips and gravy, which is not gravy in the American sense. What are chips and gravy in Australia? This is essentially French fries and barbecue sauce. I supplemented that purchase with a hotdog and a Diet Coke. Yes, I was hungry.
 
 
Left to their own devices Aussies serve their hotdogs with barbecue sauce. I passed on that option and chose mustard. I like BBQ sauce and avoid ketchup. It doesn’t help my mindset that my grandfather once told me that ketchup came from pig’s blood! The hotdogs were small but the hotdog bun was huge and tasty. The fries were excellent. They were sort of like when Burger King used to coat their flies or something or another.
 

 
I was impressed with the Bunbury Speedway’s infrastructure. It’s one of the best tracks I’ve seen in all of Australia.

Australia racing has one thing I don’t really care for. They have way too many heat races. Some of the tracks this week had three heat races for every car. Thankfully tonight they only had two heat races for the limited sprints and the late models (above).
 

 
The winged sprints had just one heat for each car. Yes! Then they had “dashes” that would establish the lineup for the first six rows for both the inside and the outside starting positions in the main event. Qualifiers outside of the top 12 had their own qualifier for main event starting spots from 13-22.
 
 
By the time we got to feature time it was past 9 o’clock. Folks, I am a big sports fan. I probably go to nearly 50 basketball and football games every year. A basketball game takes two hours to complete and you are out of there. A football game will take closer to 3 1/2 hours to finish.
 
 
Tonight’s temperature was in the low 60s but with a 15-20 mile-an-hour wind. That made for a chilly experience considering I was wearing shorts, a Randy Lewis Racing trackchasing t-shirt and a thin New Hampshire Ice Racing hoodie.
 

 
I don’t think any sporting event should be having its feature presentation nearly four hours after the event begins. They could have easily eliminated the second heat races for the support classes. I would’ve loved that. They did water the track after each race or two. That helped keep the dust down mostly. The racing was good. How good? Check out my YouTube video linked elsewhere in this post to see. Nevertheless, I think the fans in the beer garden had a good time.
 
 
Monday, January 2, 2023

I started the morning by listening to a UCLA basketball game. Oh, yeah. I still had a little ham and cheese left over from my IGA grocery store stop. Yes, the game was being played “Yesterday” by Australian time zone standards. Perth was 16 hours ahead of the game’s location in Seattle, Washington.
 
 
I used the UCLA app which gave me the broadcast from the UCLA broadcasters. I also used the SiriusXM radio app. There I could listen to the game described by the Washington broadcasters. I enjoy hearing what the opposition announcers have to say about UCLA. Today the Bruins beat the Washington Huskies by a resounding score of 74-49. The Washington broadcasters described the UCLA team as a “final four” team for the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament. I hope they’re right!
 
 
A couple of nights ago at the Manjimup Speedway, I parked at the fence to watch the races and stay out of the cold. That gave my Apex rental car a very good dusting.
 

 
In order to avoid any hassles with the rental car company when I returned the car tomorrow I took my car to a self-service car wash. I don’t know that I’ve used a self-service car wash since I was 16 years of age. I only wash my Tesla Model X by hand. The private contractor who applied a silicone wax to my new car’s finish recommended I never take it to a commercial car wash and I don’t.
 

 
I had to wait in line for about 20 minutes. Of course, I had to get behind the guy who had a Nissan Patrol SUV of sorts. He was so intent on washing his vehicle that he actually got up and stood on the roof of the car. Oh my. Why me? I watched three cars in the line next to me complete their washes while I waited.
 

 
I did watch everyone intently to make sure I knew how I was going to pay for and operate my wash. There were three different nozzles. I didn’t want to hold up anyone waiting behind me. I paid four dollars Australian or about three bucks U.S. and really only rinsed the car for about four minutes. I think it should pass inspection. It looked good in the sun. Unfortunately, later I would regret my decision to only rinse the car.
 

 
I also stopped to refuel. That’s where I got some good directions from a nice older gentleman at the gas station convenience store. His advice would get me to the car wash. I paid $1.79 per liter to fuel up. My Toyota C-HR hatchback is giving me 15 km/L. I’ll let you chew on that one for a while.
 
  
Here are some miscellaneous observations I made during my stay in Australia, I have seen almost no graffiti here. That compares to Europe, where graffiti appears to be a national outdoor art museum!
 
 
The road conditions have been good. The traffic has been generally light. Australia doesn’t have much in the way of rest areas or even commercial stops along their highways. I’m talking about highway stops that include a gas station, convenience store and maybe a fast food restaurant. I’ve always felt the best countries in this area are the U.K. with their Welcome Breaks. Europe does a good job as well. The United States has highway rest areas, but they are devoid of Vinny commercial ventures in almost every case.
 
 
In most circumstances, prices in Australia seem high. However, when you adjust for the currency, right now one U.S. dollar will get you $0.68 in Australian money, it’s not bad. Another way to look at it is when I see an Australian price I discount the price by about a third to get the U.S. equivalent.
 

 
Driving on the left side of the road with a right-side steering car isn’t all that difficult. I always say “lefts are easy and rights are scary”. You simply need to pay attention. I try to follow the same advice I gave each of our three children when they learned to drive. What’s that? Don’t hit anything and you’ll be O.K.
 

 
I found it surprising that retailers like Kmart and Woolworths are popular brands in Australia. Those names exited the U.S. some time ago. Australia has a fast food chain called Hungry Jack’s. They have the same logos and branding as Burger King. Hungry Jack’s became an Australian franchisee of Burger King in 1971. Then things went south between the two groups and Hungry Jack’s is no longer part of BK even though they maintain the BK look.
 
 
I stopped for lunch at a place called Guzman y Gomez. This is Australia’s equivalent to Chipotle. Their food was very good. The Australian chain has 151 outlets with even some locations in the U.S. I hadn’t had Mexican since I left home.

 
Guzman had a counter sign in the store today. The sign said because today was January 2, a public holiday, there was a 15% surcharge on their food prices. This was in order to compensate its employees for working on a holiday.
 
 
I shared that sign on Facebook. Others shared it on their page. From the feedback I saw people giving there was a lot of heartburn over the chain raising their prices. I didn’t really mind it. It made some sense to me. If you’re rich enough to buy a hamburger in a restaurant, you should be willing to pay a poor person enough to want to come in and make it for you on a holiday.
 
 
Tonight, was a special night for trackchasing in Australia in many ways for me. I was going to see racing at the Perth Motorplex in Kwinana, West Australia.
 

 
The Perth Motorplex had been advertised to me by several individuals as being the best racing facility in the entire country. After spending the evening there, I would agree.
 
 
The Perth Motorplex was also the 50th track where I have seen racing on the Australian continent which includes the countries of Australia and New Zealand.
 

 
Here’s the list of those tracks.

Parramatta City Raceway	Granville	New South Wales	Australia	November 17, 1989
Speedway City	Virginia	South Australia	Australia	December 26, 2004
Edge Hotel Motel Timmis Speedway (oval)	Mildura	Victoria	Australia	December 27, 2004
Edge Hotel Motel Timmis Speedway (figure 8)	Mildura	Victoria	Australia	December 27, 2004
Borderline Speedway	Mount Gambier	South Australia	Australia	December 28, 2004
Avalon Raceway	Lara	Victoria	Australia	December 30, 2004
Western Speedway	Hamilton	Victoria	Australia	December 31, 2004
Sungold Stadium	Allansford	Victoria	Australia	January 1, 2005
Western Springs Speedway	Western Springs	North Island	New Zealand	December 26, 2006
Blue Chip Speedway at Baypark	Mt. Maunganui	North Island	New Zealand	December 28, 2006
Upper Hutt Family Speedway	Upper Hutt	North Island	New Zealand	December 29, 2006
Stratford Speedway	Stratford	North Island	New Zealand	December 30, 2006
Huntly Speedway	Huntly	North Island	New Zealand	December 31, 2006
Meeanee Speedway	Hawkes Bay	North Island	New Zealand	January 1, 2007
Meremere Raceway	Meremere	North Island	New Zealand	January 1, 2007
Top of the South Speedway	Richmond	South Island	New Zealand	January 2, 2007
Woodford Glen Speedway	Christchurch	South Island	New Zealand	January 3, 2007
Robertson Holden International Speedway	Palmerston North	North Island	New Zealand	January 5, 2007
Taupo Motorsport Park	Taupo	North Island	New Zealand	January 6, 2007
Waikaraka Park International Speedway	Auckland	North Island	New Zealand	January 6, 2007
Archerfield Speedway	Archerfield	Queensland	Australia	December 1, 2012
Homebush Street Circuit	Sydney	New South Wales	Australia	December 2, 2012
Riverside Speedway	Invercargill	South Island	New Zealand	December 11, 2013
Beachlands Speedway	Dunedin	South Island	New Zealand	December 12, 2013
Central Motor Speedway	Crommwell	South Island	New Zealand	December 13, 2013
Ashburton Speedway	Ashburton	South Island	New Zealand	December 14, 2013
Ruapuna Speedway	Templeton	South Island	New Zealand	December 14, 2013
Kaikohe Speedway	Kaikohe	North Island	New Zealand	December 15, 2013
Wahgunyah Speedway	Wahgunyah	Victoria	Australia	December 26, 2017
Simpson Speedway	Bungador	Victoria	Australia	December 27, 2017
Mothar Mountain Speedway	Gynpie	Queensland	Australia	December 28, 2017
Maryborough Speedway	Tinana	Queensland	Australia	December 29, 2017
Grafton Speedway	Grafton	New South Wales	Australia	December 30, 2017
Hi-Tech Oils Speedway	Toowoomba	Queensland	Australia	December 31, 2017
Collie Speedway	Collie	Western Australia	Australia	November 10, 2018
Sandown International Motor Raceway	Springvale	Victoria	Australia	November 11, 2018
Druoin Speedway	Druoin	Victoria	Australia	November 11, 2018
Newtown Park Speedway	Narrabri	New South Wales	Australia	November 17, 2018
Morgan Park Raceway	Warwick	Queensland	Australia	November 17, 2018
Sydney Motorsports Park	Eastern Creek	New South Wales	Australia	November 18, 2018
Bairnesdale Speedway	Bairnsdale	Victoria	Australia	December 26, 2018
Rosedale Speedway	Rosedale	Victoria	Australia	December 27, 2018
Laang Speedway	Laang	Victoria	Australia	December 28, 2018
Latrobe Speedway	Latrobe	Tasmania	Australia	December 29, 2018
Midwestern Speedway Darlington	Darlington	Victoria	Australia	December 30, 2018
Lismore Speedway	Lismore	New South Wales	Australia	December 26, 2022
Carina International Speedway	Alloway	Queensland	Australia	December 27, 2022
Manjimup Speedway	Manjimup	Western Australia	Australia	December 31, 2022
Bunbury Speedway	Davenport	Western Australia	Australia	January 1, 2023
Perth Motorplex	Kwinana Beach	Western Australia	Australia	January 2, 2023

 
I bought my ticket for the racing tonight in advance. I bought a “gold level” ticket which allowed me to have a reserved seat on the front straightaway in a plastic bucket seat nearly behind the flagmen.
 

 

Holders of gold level tickets also had free admission to the pit area. It was a warm day with temperatures at nearly 90° when I arrived. I cruised through the pit area and took pictures of the late models, speed cars, aka midgets, Formula 500 open-wheel cars, and the winged sprint cars. The sprint cars were the featured attraction for tonight.

I know that some people might think of auto racing as being the same as when they watched a demo-derby or saw a thrill show when they were a kid. Those are old tapes. Today’s short track auto racing is a high-dollar, high-tech experience. Sponsors shove tens of thousands of dollars at these racers. NASCAR’s most recent TV package with NBC and Fox was for 8 BILLION dollars.
 
 
I thought I might stop by the commentator’s booth just to say hello. I’m glad I did. I ran into commentator Jason Crowe. It’s a small world. At least Australia is sort of a small country I guess.
 
 
I had only been to Western Australia for trackchasing one other time. That was in 2018. As a matter of fact, I was only in the West Australia state for about 18 hours.
 

 
During that time, I visited the Collie Speedway and met up with Jason Crowe who was commentating with Alan Smallwood. We did a nice interview at the track. If you would like to hear that interview with Jason and Alan from 2018 take a listen.
 
Collie Speedway – Trackchasing Interview – 2018
 

 
Tonight, Jason invited me into the commentator’s booth. The booth looked like a modern TV studio. We talked for a while, and both agreed, that we didn’t look any older, than the day we met five years ago at the Collie Speedway!
 

 
Tonight’s racing was good with some very competitive battles in the feature events. I still think Australian tracks run way too many preliminary events. Tonight’s track got a little dusty. Part of that was because it was so warm during the day. Dirt tracks has a tendency to dry out on a hot sunny day.
 
 
The sprint car feature race was part of the USA vs WA Sprint Car Speed Weeks series. When they have this kind of an event, they invite a few drivers from the United States over to represent the United States.
 
 
Last night at the Bunbury Speedway, Cory Eliason from the states won. Tonight, Tyler Courtney also from the United States won the main event in a great battle with Eliason.
 

 
I am not a big winged sprint car fan. I like a good non-wing sprint car race. I am certainly partial to late-model stock car racing. The winged sprint cars are fast. They just don’t pass enough for my tastes.
 

 
Tony Stewart says racing is about racing and it’s not about passing. Sorry, Tony, I don’t agree with you. I want to see passing. In order to get passing you’re probably gonna put the faster cars in the back of the race so as the race goes along the faster cars can pass the slower cars. If you put the fast cars up on the front row as the race goes along, the fast cars don’t have to pass anybody for a position because they’re already in the top spots. Pretty simple, huh?
 

 


I stayed for all of the racing tonight as I did last night. It was about 20° warmer tonight than it was at Bunbury last night. That made a huge difference in the enjoyment of the racing overall. I was definitely impressed with the hardscape of the Perth Motorplex. I liked the ribs and gravy as well!
 

 
When it was time to head out to the parking lot and then to my hotel in Perth I thought back on the racing part of my 11th trip to Australia. I added five more Australian tracks to my lifetime trackchasing list. That list now includes seeing racing in 86 countries at 2,854 tracks. I’m off to a good start in 2023.
 
 
Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
It seems odd to say “2023” as it always seems odd at the beginning of every new year to actually put into words the year I’m dealing with. Heck, I remember when Y2K was coming up and everybody thought the world was going to end. It didn’t. Hard to believe that was 23 years ago!
 

 
Last night I grabbed a hotel washcloth and went down into the hotel’s parking garage. Just rinsing my rental car in a self-service car wash had not really cleaned the car’s exterior that well. The wet washcloth would insure the folks at Aper Rental Car would not hassle me about the car being dirty because I parked it on top of a dirt race track! When I was finished the car looked brand new. Carol never likes me to use a hotel washcloth in this manner. I don’t…very often. She thinks when I do I should pay the hotel for ruining their small towel. We don’t agree on everything and this is one of those “things”! Here’s hoping Carol won’t read this far into my report.
 
 
After this morning’s powerwalk and a delicious breakfast at my Aloft hotel, I headed to the Perth airport. Today I was going to fly five hours from Perth to Sydney. Tomorrow I will fly 15 hours from Sydney to Los Angeles. Don’t worry. It’s what I do.

 
My trips almost always go smoothly. Today that was NOT the case. I was traveling on a fully paid ticket with Virgin Australia Airlines. I had paid to check a bag. I didn’t want to check a bag. However, my 22” rolling bag would never meet the airline’s draconian weight requirement for bags permitted in the passenger compartment. That limitation was 7 kilograms or around 15 pounds. Oh my. My computer bag probably weighed that much.
 

 
Before I cleared security I asked one of the Virgin employees manning the check-in kiosks if even though I had paid to check my bag if I could bring it on the plane with me. To my surprise, he said I could. Great!
 
 
The Perth airport is modern and new. I cleared airport security with both of my bags. After waiting in the terminal for nearly two hours for my plane to depart I decided maybe I should ask the people at the gate if bringing my bigger heavier bag on the plane was really OK. That was a stroke of bad judgment. I learned a long time ago that you ask for forgiveness not approval.
 

 
When I asked they told me no! OMG. What now? The plane was leaving in 30 minutes. They told me I had to leave security and go back to the check-in area to check my bag on the plane. I asked them to gate-check the bag. They told me that “would take too much time”. Now I ran back to check in area only to be told that it was too late to check my bag. I saw the guy who originally told me I could bring my bag on the plane. I must admit I did not speak very kindly to him or his supervisor. What a friggin’ idiot he was to tell me I could bring my bag on the plane.
 
 
Now with the plane departing in 17 minutes, I encountered a much longer and slower line of passengers clearing security. Just my luck. When I cleared security and got back to the gate the agents NOW told me they would gate-check my bag. I asked them if my bag was guaranteed to get on the plane. They told me “No problem. Your bag will make it”. I boarded the plane with my bag sitting out the front door of the aircraft.
 

 
The plane ride from Perth to Sydney was five hours long. The time zone was also three hours later in Sydney. When I landed I waited for my bag. No bag! I went to the baggage service area and the person confirmed my bag did not make the flight! Maybe I should have been a bit gentler with the staff in Perth. I was not in a good mood. It was 11 o’clock at night. Thankfully the Virgin Australia baggage agent in Sydney was kind and sympathetic. Nevertheless, it was 11 p.m. I had just flown for five hours. In about 10 more hours I would be on an airplane for 15 more hours or without my bag. Dang it!
 
 
I had a decision to make. I could get a hotel. However, I couldn’t get to a hotel until midnight or later. I didn’t have any toiletries. I didn’t have any clean clothes. You might know where I am going with this. What pushed me over the top was that my bag was coming in, if it was coming in, on a 6 a.m. flight. What would you do with these dynamics?
 
 
I made the executive decision to NOT get a hotel. I would sleep overnight in the airport. This is not a foreign idea to me. See what I did there? Foreign? Get it? In point of fact, a couple of years ago, in a single year, I slept 43 nights on an airplane, in an airport, or in my rental car. No, sleeping overnight in a foreign airport would not be a foreign idea to me.
 
 
There was one minor problem with “sleeping in the airport”. Sometimes when things turn to sh$t there is no avoiding the result. The Sydney airport has a special policy that I had never seen in any other airport. They close the entire airport, airside and landside from 11 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. You can confirm that by checking www.sleepinginairports.net which is sort of the bible for me for doing things like this. Lots of airports close their airside terminals at night. This is the first airport I have ever known to close the landside portion of the airport meaning baggage claim and those areas.
 

 
The first thing I did was to walk a mile and a half to get started on my four miles of steps. My “walking day” would be 4 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Sydney. I had already landed at 11 p.m. and would be departing for Los Angeles at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Then I would fly for 14 hours. In order to get my four miles steps in I had just 12 hours in Sydney to do that and I had to sleep and check in for an international flight and probably be on the plane by 10:30 a.m. or so during those 12 hours. It was a little punishing to keep walking past the Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel which was advertised to be within 80 steps of the airport terminal, and it was. However, their overnight rate of $200 couldn’t be justified given my time constraints.
 

 
Luckily, it was warm in Sydney at midnight on January 3. It was warm enough to somewhat feel like I was sleeping outdoors in Maui. I grabbed a wooden bench. I used my computer security cable to make sure my bag with all of my electronic equipment didn’t “walk-off”. I slept as well as someone could on a wooden bench. My army field jacket with its sleeves stuffed with dirty clothes made a nice pillow!
 
 
I set my alarm for 2:30 a.m. When my alarm went off all of the other people sleeping and/or waiting near me (more than 50) cheered and the doors to the landside part of the Sydney Airport cheered. I went in with everyone else and found a padded bench and slept for a couple more hours.
 
 
Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
I would leave Sydney at 11 a.m. today, January 4. I would arrive in Los Angeles before I left Sydney (time-wise) at 6 a.m. on January 4. This all comes from flying 14 hours but gaining 19 hours with time zone changes.
 
 
I was flying in coach in a middle seat but at the bulkhead. The woman in the aisle seat next to me called the flight attendant to complain that her seat would not recline. She and I had already struck up a conversation and were now “airplane pals”. The flight attendant, being ever so helpful, suggested that she see if I might exchange seats with her. She stood up for our newfound friendship and told the FA, “I’m not going to ask this man to take my seat that doesn’t recline”. The FA told the woman he would check around the rest of the plane for a more workable seat for her.
 

 
I had not been using the recline position of my seat up to that point. I suggested to the woman next to me that we simply swap seats. She was somewhat incredulous that I would be willing to do that. I had a secret plan. Karma. I believe in Karma. If I did this to help her out (on a 14-hour flight) surely Karma would repay me in some unexpected future way. That’s what we did and now I’m looking for Karma!
 

 
When I landed my Tesla Model X was waiting for me in the parking garage just where I left it. That’s always a good thing. I had been gone for nearly two weeks. Did you know that a Tesla loses about one mile of driving range for each day that it sits? I had planned for that and had plenty of range to drive home.
 
 
For the past couple of weeks, I had lived in a time zone that was 16-19 hours ahead of where my home is in Southern California. For some reason, two weeks later I am still wanting to sleep in until sometimes 10 a.m. when I normally awake at 7:30 a.m. or so. That’s not the worst problem to have in my retirement world. Carol gets up at 6 a.m. each day but she is quiet and doesn’t wake me.
 

 
Well, that’s it. My 11^th trip to Australia. I had a fun time. The people were great as was the weather. It wasn’t a very expensive trip. The flies were bad at times. The racing and the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions met and exceeded my expectations. Will I go back to Australia for a 12^th-time. I think I very well might and you could be surprised at how quickly that next trip comes about.

Hold on! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading this far. Appreciate it.
 
 
G’day mate!
 
 
Randy Lewis
International travel liaison