Tash

Hahaha nice blackmail guys :D Shaping up to be a pretty good meet! Reece, love the garage cafe but pretty sure they're closed on Sundays - I remember investigating there to book for a dinner after a meet and I called them and they said they weren't open Sundays :(

Correct to those who said stability control - it was an upgrade and then became standard across the entire range in 2008 builds. Although must admit I don't miss having it in my '06 Sportivo hehehe

Call it what they want, the gearbox is still a true automatic gearbox built to run like one. I personally wouldn't say it's intended to be driven manually. They can just call it Sequential shift because the shifting action basically is the same motion as a true sequential, but at the end of the day, it doesn't define the nature of the gearbox. This. As far as I am aware, the only 'proper' sequential/semi automatic gearbox that has been in a toyota was the one in the MR-S... and it was ratshit! Great info there, my biggest gripe with the Toyota dealer here is that when I was looking for a manual Gen 6 Camry (which are pretty few and far between!! Would love some actual sales data) they kept trying to sell me an Aurion saying that I could drive it like a manual and shift myself - any wonder there is a such a misconception about it all when they try to promote it like that. I just don't get the point of it driving like that, other than as suggested to limit speed down a hill or what not, if its an auto, drive it as an auto. And as Daryl said, if you want to drive a manual, then buy a manual. Yes they are getting harder to find (across pretty much all manufacturers), but nothing that can't be done without the appropriate research/effort.

Excellent - all looks great to me, and we'll definitely bring the chicken kebabs along :) Prices sound fair to me too, hopefully we can snag enough parking spots close enough to each other to get at least some photos! I can leave from Bendigo a bit earlier too and help you guys set up on the morning of, the reality is for timing wise anyway I'd probably leave Bendigo about 9am which'd mean I'd be at Albert Park by 11. As for the alcohol thing, was there any signage around? I know that for a lot of parks like that drinking in a public place is prohibited - but there's usually signs around saying that. But I guess really who'd be looking on a weekend, as long as it was all in moderation and everyone kept well under the limit and got rid of the rubbish responsibly.

Yeah - just might get people to indicate they're interested and chip in a bit of coin to cover the costs. I'm only talking like 2-3 skewers each or so to go along with snags, steak etc, so more of an accompaniment to the main event. It's all Barb will eat anyway so I'll make her do it But yeah, I think Johnnie might have to do a BYO and have his own BBQ, cos he won't be able to order an extra seafood basket here! Hahahahahah :D Make sure you bring a burner for the rice too ;)

Hahah pfft - just those of us who have finished uni already Is this your last year? BBQ in October sounds great, pretty sure I'll be up for it providing my Aunt's baby does arrive at the beginning of the month as expected rather than the end! I know I'm the furthest away but if there's anything I can do to help organise and what not let me know :) Might make up some home made marinated chicken skewers, that way its the nice chicken and not those gristly thigh bits.. Don't forget to BYO chair! :D

Hey - yep that's cool, probably works out better anyway as I might be moving around that time too. Plus I'm still hunting for ideas/locations up here too :)

I would agree too Andy - I am guessing this last incident happened on the second half of the cruise after I left, which is a shame because it was a brilliant day and really well done. I suppose from my point of view whilst the expectation has always been clear in terms of behaviour and driving ability we still promote to a degree a "fast" and a "slow" pack - I'm not sure if maybe that is giving some people the wrong impression in terms of what that actually means and that perhaps we need to highlight that a bit better. From my own point of view I always try to place myself mid-pack so as to give myself some space to drive at my own pace/ability, and also because the middle/tail is the most likely to get fragmented as the front cars keep a quicker pace so I figure other members will be able to see the gold car and stick with the group. Must admit that I was over-jealous in my overtaking on Sunday and if I had my time over I probably wouldn't do it again, though I didn't cross double lines to start the pass. I want to give Johnnie some credit there too cos there was a lot of pressure from the back for him to go around that Territory as well and he wasn't going to put himself in a situation where there was unnecessary risk. I like a spirited drive as much as the next person but I know my car inside-out including its limitations and handling, so I drive accordingly. I know some members have commented that I am pretty gutsy/bold with some things but I know my car and what it can do and don't push it beyond that. Unfortunately there are others that do, and I don't know that we'll ever eradicate that without slowing down the group overall. Perhaps our next couple of meet-ups should be simple meet & greet/short drive to a photo op or lunch and just tone it down for a little bit, get to know each other better and then head back to Noojee (cos it was an excellent pub) in the New Year?

Now that is a brilliant idea!! How about a December TOCAU X-mas Meet & BBQ up this way??? Leaving the way clear for Go Karts in November (cool!) and possibly someone else can organise something for October? Stickers is a great idea Andy, had a few people ask me on the weekend about the rounded/oval one I've got on my rear window but I know we don't make them anymore. I wouldn't mind some form of URL sticker but the last one was a bit plain for me, didn't think it really worked with my bigger Racing Development TRD sticker - vanity queen that I am!!

What an awesome day and fantastic meet!! Great to catch up with you all and to meet some new faces as well - it's a wonderful group and I always have a great time ;) Very much looking forward to the next one, now that the weather is starting to get warmer I will put some more serious effort into something out this way, I have a few ideas in mind its just putting them together. Don't think any of the routes have as much spirited driving as yesterday so it might just be a nice scenic one :) Fantastic photos as well (except for that awful group shot which has reminded me that I seriously need to get on the exercise band wagon again!!) - all of the cars looked great on the day :D And I lol'ed at your post Pete, thanks for washing the 'Rolla, it looked a lot better!! Will endeavour to get photos up from this end as soon as I can :)

About 70 minutes or less via the EastLink ..... more from any other route ... Cheers Guni, I was looking at the map last week and figured I'd be using Eastlink so that's cool, make it quicker to get back to Bendigo from Lilydale Lake when we wrap up in the arvo as well anyway.

Getting pretty excited :D I'm staying in Langwarrin - anyone got any idea of the timing from there to Lilydale Lake??

For the people who want to convert from the camry to the aurion :whistling: Join the dark side :spiteful: Only when the dark side gets manual transmission

That is awesome! Very nice work - it would look great driving around plus the added visibility :D

Ah clever! That's pretty cool then, maybe I should steal leather seats from somewhere heheheh

I get the ridiculously small date/time text at work on IE6, but it appears as normal at home on Firefox 3.x Ah I hadn't really thought about that - I'm running IE8 here at work and it seems to be flicking between rendering it normally or making it extremely small. Can't say I've paid too much attention using it at home lately as I've been whittling away time in the office hahah

+1 to this - very annoying having to log in again all the time as sometimes even the check box on the sign in page doesn't work either.

I think they're still there Snowy, its just that the font has gone so ridiculously small that you can't actually read it. But I've been wondering about this myself as its been annoying me too. Wonder if changing the way we view the forum would make a difference.. Edit: Okay, when I typed this there was no date visible on the post above and now there is. Issue fixed or is it intermittent?

Hehehe I do need a new sig... Hahaha, +1 to that! That meet was a long long time ago, good times :) We should do another photo shoot somewhere similar one of these days!

I am not 100% on this but doesn't a seat swap mean you need an engineers certificate to comply with ADRs?? I don't think there is a problem swapping like with like (i.e. getting the leather seats out of another Gen 3) but going from a Gen 3 seat arrangement to say a Gen 5 or 6 might involve some modification to the seating rails. I wouldn't imagine they'd be a direct swap but they very well could be. Have you tried looking on Toyota Nation in America to see if any other Gen 3 owners have done anything like this?

Hey Muney, When I had my Gen 3 I had 6 x 9's in the rear parcel shelf and I think 5" in the front, I cannot quite remember. They were Hertz at any rate. The rear parcel shelf is pretty easy to get to, essentially you need to take out the side arms of the rear seats for easier access to get the parcel shelf out, make sure you pull off the rubber trim surrounding the boot opening and then there are a few screws to undo. The one part you might get stuck is getting the shelf out over the rear brake light; we just cut mine on either side of it to get it out, given it was so low down no one could see that from the outside of the car. Not sure on the door trims but others here will be able to help you out. There's also a great website at camrystuff.com that has manuals for each generation. Good luck with it all!

can u fully do mine next time? i'm just about over it...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................:P Lol as tempting an offer as that is... :P My car is hard enough work, let alone doing anything else! Although maybe one of these days, I'd like to improve my technique and get more of a rhythm happening so I could do other cars. You should totally drop the projects too Peter hehehe I think after lunch is the cruise back, more photos etc, would that be right? Hope you can make it gourou :)

Congrats Daryl, very well deserved indeed :D

Am very jealous - Bendigo is going to be on Stage 3a and above forever and ever and ever.. you get the point. I also hear that Ballarat's restriction level has dropped and they were meant to be further up s**t creek in terms of running out of water than we were, not fair! I guess as long as people are still water wise and don't go wasting it now the restrictions have dropped it'll be alright, but really its us out here in the regional areas that suffer, though much of QLD is even worse. Would be very nice to be allowed to wash the car with a bucket though, but at least there are the car washes that recycle the water :)