Reminders of your childhood

[Parra]

Similar to me mate. My old man had a panel beating business in Kirrawee, near all the car yards and he knew all the business manager & owners. Anyway unbeknownst to me as a 16 year old - he picked up a trade-in from Sutherland Mitsubishi - did a load of body work on, interiors and everything..

He then drove it home one day - parked out the front. It was a Mitsubishi Sigma - stationwagon. Beige (like the bottom pic).

With a big fat red club-lock.

Loved that car....

haha, brilliant!

before my cousin sold it to me he had a new roof lining fitted for the same reason as yours.

yep the pheasants nest one, not sure how it didn’t fall apart, but the quicker white fury travelled, the better it felt, it was a 5 speed manual, and his brother was a mechanic, so it was always in its best condition.

we still laugh about the old sigma every now and then.

Remember the Peter Wherret Special

 

[The Rosco]

. . . ahh, fireworks.
Towards the end of them being available, I found a shop in Chester Hill that was still selling them behind the counter. Saved up my $$ and bought an impressive stash. My mate from 2 doors up lived with his grandmother who was too tight to give him bunger money, so she bought him just a few of the faggy colourful crap crackers.
I had my arsenal in a couple of shoeboxes, and dickhead me didn't leave the tops on the boxes . . . We lit the crap crackers first, to get them over and done with, and the flowery effin shit crackers sprayed out their lame, safe and harmless plume, and fkk me if a spark from the last spurt of lameness from Garry Johnston's fkkn girl crackers didn't land in my shoe boxes filled with armaments. ( Nah, they are far away enough, I said )
You can imagine the bedlam as bungers, skyrockets and roman candles started launching from every angle. We all ran for cover, me crying as I was running. It still upsets me to think of it, even 46 odd years later.
f**k, I'm old.
And I miss skyrockets and bungers.
Unlike Garry Johnston's friggin girly fireworks.

 

[Generalzod]

. . . ahh, fireworks.
Towards the end of them being available, I found a shop in Chester Hill that was still selling them behind the counter. Saved up my $$ and bought an impressive stash. My mate from 2 doors up lived with his grandmother who was too tight to give him bunger money, so she bought him just a few of the faggy colourful crap crackers.
I had my arsenal in a couple of shoeboxes, and dickhead me didn't leave the tops on the boxes . . . We lit the crap crackers first, to get them over and done with, and the flowery effin shit crackers sprayed out their lame, safe and harmless plume, and fkk me if a spark from the last spurt of lameness from Garry Johnston's fkkn girl crackers didn't land in my shoe boxes filled with armaments. ( Nah, they are far away enough, I said )
You can imagine the bedlam as bungers, skyrockets and roman candles started launching from every angle. We all ran for cover, me crying as I was running. It still upsets me to think of it, even 46 odd years later.
f**k, I'm old.
And I miss skyrockets and bungers.
Unlike Garry Johnston's friggin girly fireworks.

We should start a petition to bring back cracker it’s brings communities together..

 

[horrie hastings]

. . . ahh, fireworks.
Towards the end of them being available, I found a shop in Chester Hill that was still selling them behind the counter. Saved up my $$ and bought an impressive stash. My mate from 2 doors up lived with his grandmother who was too tight to give him bunger money, so she bought him just a few of the faggy colourful crap crackers.
I had my arsenal in a couple of shoeboxes, and dickhead me didn't leave the tops on the boxes . . . We lit the crap crackers first, to get them over and done with, and the flowery effin shit crackers sprayed out their lame, safe and harmless plume, and fkk me if a spark from the last spurt of lameness from Garry Johnston's fkkn girl crackers didn't land in my shoe boxes filled with armaments. ( Nah, they are far away enough, I said )
You can imagine the bedlam as bungers, skyrockets and roman candles started launching from every angle. We all ran for cover, me crying as I was running. It still upsets me to think of it, even 46 odd years later.
f**k, I'm old.
And I miss skyrockets and bungers.
Unlike Garry Johnston's friggin girly fireworks.

I remember when I was really young my father used to set the sky rockets off from milk bottles. Apart from the sky rockets used to love the parachutes and also satellites, you never knew what way the satellites were going to take off, even though they were girly I always liked sparklers, I loved how you could make patterns with them in the dark by swirling them around.

 

[horrie hastings]

View attachment 39228

Throw downs were one of my favourites, accidently dropped a pack one day in the class room and the whole lot went off, what a waste.
Other things I remember we were on a bus and my brother threw a throw down out the window at a lady who got off and I can still remember her jumping and both her hands grabbed her boobs as she jumped up, we laughed about that for ages but after that my brother freaked me out a bit when we got off the bus and he threw one at a passing petrol tanker, probably nothing could have possibly happened but I just had visions of a spark from the throw down causing the petrol tank to explode, I have got the giggles thinking about those two incidents while I'm typing this.

 

[horrie hastings]

There was one time my father insisted my older sister supervised me and my brother plus the kids two doors up with our cracker night once, she didn't want to do it so just started lighting stuff to get it over and done with , she lit a Roman candle and it fell over and shot a neighbour getting out their car across the road, after that she gave up and went inside and left us to our own devices

 

[horrie hastings]

We should start a petition to bring back cracker it’s brings communities together..

Especially with a bon fire , the kids would let off crackers while the dad's would stand around drinking beer and the mum's with their wines while the bon fire would start to burn then you would chuck in the crackers that didnt go off which in hindsight was dangerous if they were ones that would take off but they were mainly bungers so just let out a big bang.

 

[The Rosco]

We should start a petition to bring back cracker it’s brings communities together..

Agree, General.
If they don't want the kiddies to experience the joys of learning all about explosives and such, they can have responsible elders of the community ( I was thinking about the likes of you or me . . . but I keep getting the images of Ned and Uncle Jimbo) in charge of the responsible lighting of said fireworks at a community gathering.
Then, when all the little snots have gone home, we can have a proper bungers vs skyrockets vs Roman candle fight. Just for old times sake.

 

[The Rosco]

I remember when I was really young my father used to set the sky rockets off from milk bottles. Apart from the sky rockets used to love the parachutes and also satellites, you never knew what way the satellites were going to take off, even though they were girly I always liked sparklers, I loved how you could make patterns with them in the dark by swirling them around.

sky rockets off from milk bottles . . . the younger viewers here don't have a clue about either.
though they were girly I always liked sparklers, I loved how you could make patterns with them in the dark by swirling them around . . . after reading this disappointment Horrie, I want to ask you if you sit down to pee.

 

[horrie hastings]

after reading this disappointment Horrie, I want to ask you if you sit down to pee.

Only if I'm having a crap at the same time

 

[horrie hastings]

sky rockets off from milk bottles . . . the younger viewers here don't have a clue about either.
though they were girly I always liked sparklers, I loved how you could make patterns with them in the dark by swirling them around . . . after reading this disappointment Horrie, I want to ask you if you sit down to pee.

Also sparklers were good for lighting other fireworks, would often light the bungers with sparklers. And yep about the milk bottles, still remember when the milkman used to drop them off at the front door.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I lived in Wagga Wagga between 1982-84 for cracker night as primary school kid.

The ice cold, sharp air...filled with that smell of burnt cracker powder...the heat of the bonfire, until dad chucked on the old car battery or tyre...ahh it takes me back.

Was lucky enough to live in different parts of SE Asia as a teen and there were no such qualms about buying bungers and all the firecrackers you could dream of.

 

[horrie hastings]

 

[horrie hastings]

 

[horrie hastings]

Even have this on my IPOD,
Came out on a red vinyl single back in the early 70s

 

[horrie hastings]

The 2nd track on the single

 

[horrie hastings]

The Pacific Hwy at a place called Telegraph Point about halfway between Port Macquarie and Kempsey.
This photo was taken around 1973 and i can remember the road being like this, the bridge was basically single lane and you had to queue to cross it and on the northern side it came out right at the main northern railway line, just north of Telegraph Point the highway continued through the Cooperabung Ranges which had hair pin bends and actual mirrors on the bends so you could see traffic coming the other way. In the photo you can see the new bridge being built across the river, of course now even this newer bridge has been by passed in the last couple of years by the Pacific Hwy upgrade.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Lived in Wagga Wagga and grandparents moved to Central Coast in very early 80s. So much of the Highway and road has been redone, towns bypassed, sections abandoned, bridges torn down. Even from 90s when we’d go to Gold Coast there have been countless changes.

I still see this near Tarcutta when we drive to Melbourne every four years for The Ashes.

Stopped in Holbrook in 10/11 and visited submarine. In 13/14 I said to my wife we’d stop there and she laughed and said it was an hour ago as new highway and bypassed it all.

 

[horrie hastings]

View attachment 39697 View attachment 39696
Lived in Wagga Wagga and grandparents moved to Central Coast in very early 80s. So much of the Highway and road has been redone, towns bypassed, sections abandoned, bridges torn down. Even from 90s when we’d go to Gold Coast there have been countless changes.

I still see this near Tarcutta when we drive to Melbourne every four years for The Ashes.

Stopped in Holbrook in 10/11 and visited submarine. In 13/14 I said to my wife we’d stop there and she laughed and said it was an hour ago as new highway and bypassed it all.

I remember when the Pacific Hwy had bridges like that, we used to call them the toast rack bridges, there was two or three of them just north of Grafton, not sure what year they were taken out, i can still remember them in the 80s and they may have been there when the old Laser did its last big trip in 1997 but not certain.
Edit, just read the bridge ceased being used in 1988.

 

[horrie hastings]

Found a couple of pics of the old bridge across Shark Creek north of Grafton.