esCarpade 2025 - Day 1 - Tamworth to Coonabarabran to Dubbo

Early morning in Tamworth... the first day of driving had arrived! 

Hoges was trying on the new "Bluey spacer hat" for use holding the Bluey costume at the right height!

At breakfast...

Damo aired down the tyres to 28psi to make the dirt driving a bit more comfortable.

Blue hanging out with Alice in Wonderland (aka Sienna from Mad Hatters).

Bluey and Damo and the other esCarpadians had a crack at line dancing...

The start line...

The breeze was blowing the flag almost to horizontal!

The Camp Quality Puppets!

Time to start driving...

One of the new entrants Kung Fu Panda had some mechanical issues... the boys were unable to assist, so they kept going.

Everyone stopped waiting for vehicles to be recovered from a deep water crossing.

Damian's turn taking Bluey through...

Back on the road again!

This section has quite a distance of rocky water to cross...

Here's the video of Damian taking Bluey through!  Note the drop at the end!

Back on the track!

At the Fun Stop... of course, Mario has his bonnet up as per usual!

Back on track after the Fun Stop!

And arriving in sunny, downtown Coonabarabran for lunch!

Not every day you get to check in with a Gorilla!

Lunch...

Impressive drawing on the footpath outside...

After lunch, it was Hoges' turn to have a drive, while Damo navigated.

Noni the photographer was set up ready to take some water crossing shots...

Damo told Hoges to punch it!

Back on the road...

Welcome to Dubbo!

Past the Dubbo train station...

And checked in!

A great day of driving, with some fun tracks, a few treacherous potholes and bumps, some deep water crossings and of course some great Australian scenery!

What is in store for day 2?  Hopefully more of the same!