Mad Max Tour        29th August         Words & Pics Rodger

 We were fortunate to have good weather for the 2010 Mad Max Tour.  A good sized group gathered at the Shell Westgate in anticipation of an enlightening cruise around the western side of the Port Phillip Bay area.  We established that many of us were not old enough to see the movie when it was first released, but it is believed that all had seen it since.  Mad Max is an iconic Australian movie that cost as little as $500,000 to make in the 70s, the sort of money that Hollywood might spend on catering these days.

                                                 Cherry Lane, Altona, Night Rider chase scenes     

 We began by visiting the old pumping station at Spotswood, the scene of the Halls of Justice.  Then we moved on to the back streets of Laverton, where many of the opening scenes were shot, including the pursuit car flying through the caravan.  On to Werribee to check out another site before a lunch break at the Caltex road house.  After lunch, we ventured to Point Wilson stopping to make a close inspection of the mysterious concrete bunkers used in the movie.  We left there and headed to the township of Little River.  Anyone that has travelled to Geelong will have seen that sign but many have never ventured off the highway to visit the town.  Little River was the focal point of the Mad Max 30th Anniversary reunion last year.

Next we visited Kirks Bridge Road.  This is where a couple of the bikies flew off the side of the bridge and ended up in the river.  It is also where Max was parked at the beginning of the movie attending to his car before taking off after Night Rider.  The interesting thing here is, we were out on a back road, parked on a side road and passers by would see the cars, pull up and check them out.  Our final stop was at the intersection of Old Melbourne Road and Little River Road.  This is where the Bronze shoots at Night Rider in the opening chase scenes.  While we were parked there, more people stopped to check out the coupes.  Its great to see that the cars still have the sort of aura that makes people want to stop and stare and appreciate the beautiful lines.  From here it was back to the roadhouse for afternoon tea and more discussion about our sightings before heading home.

A big thank you to Bruce Shirra for not only hosting the run but also doing the recce run the week before to make sure everything would run smoothly.    Bruce was also responsible for preparing the excellent run sheet which I will keep as a remnder of a most enjoyable day.