2012 provided a whirlwind of a ride! Looking back at both my progress as an artist and what’s been achieved this past 12 months leaves me feeling satisfied.

Autocult.net has grown enormously over the last 12 months. It’s awesome going to events and hearing people talk so highly of the content Originally Autocult was just a side project that my buddy, Kory Leung and I formed as a place for us to practice blogging and work together on bigger events. 2012 saw some super talented individuals join the team and the site needed to move to it’s own server to deal with traffic.

Over the last half of the year, I’ve been working quietly on ‘Speed Nation’, an automotive themed apparel company. We took our first orders for Christmas and the demand was overwhelming considering it was a completely new idea and style. Expect to see a lot more Speed Nation stuff in 2013.

The biggest highlight for 2012 has been making the transition from online to print media. Being picked up by a couple of mazines. Firstly, 9TRO, a JDM mag that sells across Asia. It’s a great compliment to the Aussie car scene that other countries are starting to take a solid interest in what we’re getting up and the cars we’re building! As well as some features I got to cover World Time Attack for them! (Check my 2012 Motorsport Highlights HERE).

The other, more local magazine I’ve jumped on board with is Street Machine! Joining the gang at Street Machine is definitely the jewel in the crown for 2012. When I was back in early primary school, I remember conning my old man to part some coin for a stack of  Street Machine mags that stood almost as tall as I was at the time! I loved flicking through those pages, and still do! Only now sometimes I get to see my work between the covers. It’s a total buzz to see your work in glossy goodness and not just on a screen. It’s also quite a privilege to be sharing pages with some of the guys that inspired me to take my photos further (Easton Chang and Chris Thorogood to name just a few)

Anyway, let’s get on the TOP 12 Features for 2012

In no particular order…

There’s one more shot that I’d like to share but it hasn’t been published yet. You’ll just have to keep an eye out on my Facebook page for an update later on in the year

Let’s go check out my Top 12 Motorsport Highlights from 2012…

Bye Bye 2012, Let’s get ready for what 2013 has to offer!

 

We woke up a little later than expected on the Monday, the last two massive days must be catching up to us! Oh well, we can rest and sleep when we’re either dead or at least finished our adventure. The show must go on! We left the hotel and stopped for a quick breakfast and coffee at a local cafe and decided that Warrnambool looked to good to not explore, so we headed around town. If I was 12 years old this place would be the best on earth! Heaps of parks (including a maze!), a bmx track, skatepark, beach, rivers and more more more!!! Once we finished our coffee we went for a stroll over the break wall.

Liv was driving the first half of our adventure today, I convinced her to stop in a park so I could run after some ducks and we could race through the maze. I was pumped! I haven’t been in a maze since I was tiny. Ready… Set… Go! It was either a really good maze, or I’m a bit slower than most. It took me ages to find the exit, Liv beat me by over a minute haha!

After our little park adventure we jumped in the car and headed back out towards the Great Ocean Road. This time we were to check out the coastline on foot. We stopped in at the usual touristy lookout points but thought we’d use our 4×4 skills and the Santa Fe’s satnav again. A few trails didn’t really lead anywhere useful, but then we found one trail that took us right the very edge of the world!

As we stood atop the very edge of the limestone cliffs the Antarctic winds blew right through us. I had left my jacket at the Adelaide Hotel in our rush to leave in the morning so the chill factor for me was ridiculous. Liv opted to sit in the car until I could confirm it was worth getting out and braving the wind. It was more than worth it. It was one of the highlights of my entire weekend of adventuring.

I can’t explain what made it so special, when you put it down on paper I was standing on a cliff in the wind. Big deal. But it was a big deal! I tried to explain it to Liv in the car as we continued our trip. It just felt right. Like, it felt like I belonged there. The surging waves smashing relentlessly against the colossal cliffs was calming and the cold wind that was cutting through me felt as if it were cleansing me.

If I were travelling alone I could have stood on that cliff in the freezing cold for hours. Even now when I’m writing about it, a wave of calm has come over me. I’m relaxed. I’m Zen. Little Bear loved it too!

Liv and Little Bear sharing their own special moment on the cliff face :p Unfortunately we couldn’t stay there long, we had to press on. We had about 500km and another couple of adventures ahead before we could hang up our boots and rest.

As I approached the Santa Fe it also looked as if it were right at home. So I took a couple shots. This car has really grown on me! It looks pretty sexy, handles better than most sedans has some awesome luxury items inside. I could see myself owning one and exploring the country on the weekends ‘One more shot’ I said to Liv, she rolled her eyes knowing full well it wouldn’t be just one shot.

We headed on down further to the actual 12 Apostles lookout. As impressive as they were yesterday the sheer scale of these giants didn’t really click while flying over them. They’re gigantic!

We said goodbye to the ancient Monoliths and continued along the Great Ocean Road through valleys and over hills.

The wide open fields for farming turned into dense rainforests as approached our next stop, Apollo Bay.

Apollo Bay was a little over 2 hours of driving from where we were. Liv was still behind the steering wheel and fell in love with the Santa Fe through the twisty mountain roads. Her smile was infectious and I sat quietly in the passenger seat waiting for us to arrive at our next destination so that I could take the reigns and crack my whip through the next section of road!

As it was I was enjoying snapping with my brand new camera on some of the best scenery I’ve seen in my entire life! Say ‘CHEEESE!!!!”

We descended back down towards sea level and were in awe at Apollo Bay! It was paradise! What a ridiculously great view from the beach! I wonder what it looks like from out on the ocean?

We’d been sitting in the car for a couple hours so the opportunity to stretch legs was more than welcome. After a sandwich each we found our next destination, the local Surf and Kayak Shop. We were going Kayaking out to some rocks to say ‘Hi’ to some Australian Fur Seals! We met our guide and beach expert James who showed us a thing or two about getting out and maneuvering the kayak through the waves. Everyone agreed, including the bear,  that it’d probably be best if Little Bear sat this adventure out.

So we suited up and headed out into the FREEZING ocean! Who am I kidding, it was nice and refreshing The cold was a reminder that we were alive and experiencing life’s best today!

We managed to get out past the breaking waves of the beach without falling out or tipping over. Amazing!!! Once we were past the break we paddled out using a couple of reefs for cover from the incoming swell and made our way over towards the Seal’s Bachelor Pad.

James told us that all the seals here were males, and they were basically just chilling out, looking for a feed and generally having a good time putting on weight before they headed off to stake their territory and set up a harem of lady seals! Sounds like a good life

They’re a playful and inquisitive bunch, some of them came over to see what we were doing and have a bit of swim nearby. The angle on the gopro makes it look as though they’re quite far off, but they were playing as close as 10 metres away from the kayaks. It was great, except for the smell. They’re a stinky bunch for sure! haha

After we came in to the beach and dropped Liv off James and I went out again for a quick lap of the beach to try and find a few waves to surf in. The tide was high and there wasn’t much action but we finally managed to ride one in.  We thanks our host and were on way towards our final destination for our #BrilliantRoadTrip. Thankfully it was now my turn to drive, and the best road of the entire adventure was just ahead. The stretch of Great Ocean Road between Apollo Bay and Geelong! A world famous stretch of road that many locals take every weekend, hell, even international tourists make a point to drive the road purely for it’s driving pleasure.

We stopped breifly to look back on where we’d come from…

And then it was on! Like Donkey Kong! The long sweeping bends, the undulating road and the breathtaking scenery make the Great Ocean Road the best driving road in the country, and in the top 10 list of driving roads world wide. Before I set off on my little adventure I was wondering if I’d be limiting myself and be disappointed in the Santa Fe over the sportier Veloster Turbo during this leg of the trip. I can safely say at no point during the GOR was I disappointed.

Sure the Santa Fe has a higher centre of gravity but it’s handling made up for it. I was having a great time steering around the bends and cliff faces! I love this little car!

We were making good time on the way up into Melbourne, we saw a sign for a waterfall. I think a waterfall is the only thing we hadn’t seen over the last few days, so we decided to pull in for a quick look before we make the final dash into town. I think neither of us wanted to adventure to stop :p

That was the last stop. Time to hit the city to relax and unwind at our final destination, Crown Casino. After over 1200km in 3 days Liv, Little Bear and myself were all relieved to see the skyscaping CBD of Melbourne stretch up towards the sky. We were nearly done!

I have to thank Hyundai for not the whole experience, but also their Speed Camera alert system built into the satnav! Melbourne roads are very sneaky! I wouldn’t like to imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t had their satnav and speed camera warning systems built in :O
Reluctantly, I handed the key and the car to Valet and retired for some nice wine, a fine dinner and some well deserved rest and relaxation.

As we entered the hotel room with our bags the sun was setting on Melbourne’s CBD, just as the sun was setting on our #BrilliantRoadTrip. It was seriously one of the best few days of my life and a life changing experience.

The journey has opened my eyes and made me realise I need to make more time to adventure, travel and explore. I’m in absolute awe of just how amazing our country is and the wide diversity of what it has to offer. I’d like to thank Hyundai for the opportunity to adventure and share with you all Hopefully we’ve inspired you to go on your own #BrilliantRoadTrip in the near future. I know I’m already looking into where we’re travelling to next.

(if you’ve come in late and missed the first couple of days you can do so here: Day One & Day Two )

 

Waking up in the Beautiful Coonawarra Wine Region to take photos of the rising sun through the vineyards was tough. The day was only going to get tougher with some forests, caves, Mt Gambier’s Blue Lake and a helicopter flight along the Great Ocean Road. Yep, it’s a hard life sometimes, but someone has to step up to the plate and take one for the team. Yes, I’m selfless! You can thank me later!

Little Bear had an even harder start to the day, soaking up some rays while I was off shooting. Poor Little Bear!

Fancy some early Shiraz?

Liv and I knew we had a massive day ahead and successfully got up early to make the most of it all. We hit the road early in the morning and began our second day in the New Santa Fe.

We didn’t see another car travelling in either direction for the best part of half an hour. A weird experience for city dwellers I assure you. It felt like we were the only people left on the entire planet!

We set the Satnav for Mr Gambier and headed south. Time was on our side due to the early start so when we came across the Pembula State Forest we decided to make the most of the Santa Fe’s 4×4 ability and detour through some forest trails. Little Bear felt right among the giant Pine trees and ran off to get back to nature.

Liv and took a couple of photos, both of the car and a few selfies for the photo album at home. As we stopped to take a few shots and were greeted by a giant hare and a bounding kangaroo, it was pretty early though and I’m not a morning person, so I missed the opportunity to snap them for you guys.

We re-joined the tarmac and continued down to Mt Gambier, a city built around an extinct volcano and the famous Blue Lake. If you’re ever out this way you MUST stop by and check it out! The water is bluer than the sky and it’s surrounded by vibrant green trees and yellow flower! It looks more like a painting and less like reality. It’s absolutely beautiful!

First stop in Mt Gambier was a subterranean stop. Under the city is a bunch of connected caverns, caves and lakes. We found the Engelbrecht Caves and joined a guided tour that took us below the cities roads and homes. The water in the caverns we saw was on its way to the Blue Lake, a journey that will take somewhere between 500 to 2000 years to make the 10 km journey. It was all very impressive! It’s hard to believe that the locals used these caves as a place to dump rubbish from the 1800′s all the way up until the 1970′s! Local volunteers spent the next 7 years cleaning the site and preparing it to be open to the public. Thanks guys!

We travelled down to about 30 metres below the surface and visited two seperate caves.

And got a bit of insight into the series of underwater lakes and caverns that are accessable from the caves. What’s that in the corner there? A diving dummy of course! Let’s call him Dave. Divers in the caves need to take 2 of everything, including 2 watches, 2 air tanks, 2 breathers. You wouldn’t get many second chances down in the tubes if something goes wrong.

Jumping back in the #BrilliantChariot we cruised across town to the renown Blue Lake. A body of water that exists in an extinct tube of an old volcano which Mt Gambier is built on. Even Little Bear was impressed! Look at that expression of awe on his face! :O He could Bearly contain himself…

And why wouldn’t he be? The Blue Lake was the highlight of this leg of the trip, seriously the water is bluer than the sky on the bluest of blue days! We found out the Blue colour comes from the water being filtered through the limestone caverns below and also that it changes colour for a week or so every November. If you’re ever in the neighborhood to stop by! It’s Breathtaking! Yes, that’s the actual colour as you see it with your eyes. It’s no trick photography!

Next to the Blue Lake is a lookout platform,  Rook Tower, it’s not very tall but it’s made from old school flagstones. I thought I’d get my James Bond on and give it a climb. Liv had a go too. You can’t take kids anywhere these days!

After a quick bite to eat in Mt Gambier we set off to cross the border and an hour later we said ‘see ya S.A and Hellllllo Vic!’ The scenery along the way mostly consisted of farm land and commercial forests. I’ve never seen so many rolls of hay. After a heat discussion about if they’d be comfortable or not Liv and I decided to find out. We pulled over and we’re going to try and jump on a bail each, but Liv being the more sensible of us decided that the electric fence was a good enough reason to not find out. I wasn’t so easy to deter though. :p I wasn’t keen on getting zapped either though. I jumped on the pole with one hand, one foot and some Jedi skills, then leapt for all that I was worth over the fence!

I can confirm that the hay bails are quite comfy! If not for the deadlines we had I probably could caught an hour or sleep up here and not felt to bad about it.

The Dream Team and I saw so many cliche ‘Aussie Outback’ sights. I know that cliches exist for a reason, but I was still really surprised and excited every time we drove past a settlers shed,

Sheep filled paddocks.

fat cows munching on the green, lush grass.

or my favorite of all, the good old tin windmill!

Speaking of windmills, we even drove past some Wind Farms just inside the South Australian border. I know this next shot isn’t the cleanest, but I love it all the same. It tells a great story with no words. If you wanted to get all ‘Art Student’ you could even read into the motion in the foreground as part of telling the story. I’m not an art student though, so I’ll just admit it’s nothing more than a well timed shot out the Santa Fe’s window while doing 110km/h.

Liv and I paid attention for side roads and tracks leading off the road towards the turbines for a bit of a photo-op.

This was as close as we could get without trespassing or knocking on a strangers door.Check out how small those cows are! The turbine would have been the best part of a kilometer away and it’s still towering overhead. After doing some quick homework, These turbines are over 120m tall!

We couldn’t stop long though, we had a few hundred kilometres between us and what would be the highlight of the day, and possibly the entire #BrilliantRoadTrip Due to our extra exploring we had some time to make up for. Unfortunately we had to cruise through Port Fairy without stopping and soldier on towards the famous Great Ocean Road. We were booked in for a 4pm helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles and the limestone coastline. Even making our 4pm booking was going to be a massive struggle so we pushed our flight back to 5pm. It’s all about the journey and not the destination right? It was so hard to keep to a schedule when driving through some many brilliant places, places that NEED to be explored! Places like this… THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD!!!

Driving past Port Campbell we could see the water on the Satnav approaching, we were both getting quite excited. As lovely as the country vistas were a change of scenery would be nice, and if that scenery just happens to be the Great Ocean Road well that’s even better See the first glimpses of the Ocean to the right?

I’m sitting at the airport right now, waiting to head home and I remember it as it happened only seconds ago. We had just passed through Port Campbell, the road veered sharp right 90 degrees and we saw the first limestone formation poking above the tree line in the distance. It looked like something from an another age, or a video game! We knew were still running  a  bit behind but we both looked at each and silently nodded. We had to stop for a closer inspection of the Sleeping Giants. The very last formations along the Great Ocean Road. We were told that over 80% of people who come to see the 12 apostles miss these two giants. Hence the name ‘sleeping giants’. If you head to along the road from Melbourne, make sure you drive on for another 20 minutes. I don’t know if it’s just because they were the first ones we saw but they were definitely the most impressive.

This was our very first view of the coastline…. Impressive?

Turning around to face the west was almost as impressive a view too!

As much as I could have sat here and just marvelled at the awesomeness on display we had to rush off to our next destination. Hopefully beating those nasty looking clouds that were beginning to roll in from the great south. Luckily the helipad was only a few minutes away and we made our ‘late booking’ just on time. It was time to see the 12 Apostles for the first time, but we were going to see them from a different angle to most, a very high angle! We drove over a crest and could the chopper in a field to the left. There was a lot of excitement in the cabin for just 2 people and Little Bear :p We were close to heading up!

As we headed across do the coast line I looked south and saw the 12 apostles in the distance for the very first time!

We headed in the opposite direction, back towards where we had come from and into the same direction as those angry looking clouds we spotted earlier. They’d made their way in and were not sitting just off the shoreline. Dark. Menacing.

We pressed on and continued into the dark sky. The temperature inside the chopper dropped dramatically. Suddenly massive blobs of water started pounding the cabin of the chopper. It was a bit of a bumpy ride for a few minutes as the pilot battled the turbulence outside. He wasn’t worried so either were we. We were to excited by the whole thing! Even Liv, who’s known for worrying a bit more than required on occasion had a massive smile on her face! It just made the adventure even more of an adventure and multiplied the almost mythical feeling that this ancient coastline gave off.

Check the shot above, see those two tiny formations in the middle, scroll up 4 shots.  They’re not so tiny after all Just like this next tiny rock… London Bridge.

Now for a sense of scale… yes, that white dot in the upper right is a big tour bus. Amazing!

We made our way to the end of the the Bay of Isles and headed East towards the 12 Apostles and bluer skies. We made our way past other landmark formations like the Seahorse, named for pretty obvious reasons when viewed from above.

We flew to the eastern most part of the tour, to the beginning of the main line of Limestone formations before turning around again to face west, the view that most Melbournites and tourists would have, except from slightly higher of course. As headed east most of  the formations stood alone, isolated. But as we approached the 12 apostles they actually looked like a group of statues. Probably because they’re all lined up nice and evenly.

We flew past the Apostles and turned back for a view I had seen before, in magazines, newspapers and on T.V. The whole coastline and all the statues looked like one big chess set from this angle. They didn’t look so alone now. 12 Apostles from the air… beyond #Brilliant! You need to come up and try it out for yourself Cue dramatic break in clouds… WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

The broken coast. The clouds really helped amplify the atmosphere. It felt like we had been transported back millions of years ago and were watching the earth form before us. I was half expecting a pterodactyl or some other flying dinosaur to fly past . :p

The adventure was over for the day, we headed back to Warrnambool to our hotel for the evening. The Lady Bay Hotel.

It was more of an apartment than a hotel. After a quick shower and a change of clothes we headed out for a late dinner after very long day on the road and full of adventures. We picked a little Thai restaurant on the main strip, Cattleya Thai, and damn it was the BEST thai that either of us had ever eaten! Every meal was a 10/10! I thought it might have just been because we were hungry, but asked to takeaway what we could finish because it was to good to waste, and it just as good the next day! Shame it’s half the country away!

What a day! We crossed states, saw the Blue Lake, explored caves, ran through paddocks, drove from volcanic areas through farmlands to the coast and saw the mighty 12 Apostles from the air all in one day! Today would be in my top 5 days ever! I did plan on writing this post that night, but we didn’t get home til after 10pm and we had another massive day ahead tomorrow. It was time to try and catch some Z’s in preperation for tomorrow. The final day of the trip.

Welcome to my #BrilliantRoadTrip blog! A few weeks ago I entered a competition that Hyundai were running over facebook, I had to tell them what my 3 days adventure would be and what car I’d choose to do it in. I picked the New Santa Fe and the next few pages will document where the adventure takes us

Overall, I aimed to tailor a trip that mixed some outdoor adventure with a bit of luxury in the evenings as a reward. It was also my intention to push myself and challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. We’ll be trekking from a state I’ve spent 2 days in (with no car) across the border via the coastline into another state that I’ve only spent 3 days in(with no car). We’ll be driving on roads I’ve never been on and doing it on in a car that’s a completely different style of vehicle to what I’m used to Normally I’m found behind the wheel of sports cars, but this adventure will see me piloting a 4×4 to get us from place to place. A change is a good as a holiday right?

So, who is ‘Us’? We are the RoadTrippin’ Dream Team! There’s three of us onour #BrilliantRoadTrip. Me (Hi!), My lovely fiance Olivia and finally ‘Little Bear’ our trip mascot! Each of us bring something unique to the team and this is why I think we’ll make awesome roadtrip buddies.
I’m generally super chilled, relaxed and adventurous. I also get distracted easily, sleep in most days and have no sense of time when I’m having fun and very little regard for time tables, even if they’re very important schedules.
Liv is the ying to my yang. She’s an awesome organiser and works best when there’s a schedule to stick to. She’s thorough, logical and has great eye for details I often skip. Liv is also pretty handy for spotting cool stuff roadside that I’d usually not see when I’m in my only little zone.
Little Bear is a lazy but friendly party animal who is great at making new friends and finding places to sleep. He’s also a master of Kung Fu, handy to have, just in case stuff gets rough later on. Between ourselves we balance everything out and become a lean mean road trippin’ machine!

Now with the introductions done, let’s get adventuring! We arrived in Adelaide late last night after a hectic dash across Sydney and it’s glorious traffic. Making to check-in with a generous 10 minutes to spare. Our suitcase was a few kg overweight and I was peaking out a bit about missing our flight. It was pretty funny (in hindsight) The dude working on the check-in counter tried to not laugh at me running a million miles an hour and trying to rip laptops and tripods out of the bag. Liv was just laughing at me and he ended up just letting us through, Thanks dude! I’m half surprised security wasn’t called for an erratic caucasian male…

The flight was ok, but 2 hours in a seat will make anyone tired. We arrived safe and sound around 10pm and we were picked up and driven straight to our hotel. Neither of us have really had a look at Adelaide so we went for a stroll around the block and stopped in for a beverage at a local establishment. This may be why I was a bit slow to rise in the morning :p But this trip is all about experienced right? Nice view!

Little Bear, or L.B. as I like to call him was right at home in the lap of luxury

This morning we took delivery of our New Santa Fe. It’s a beast of a car, looks great, drives well and is packed full of features. The first couple hours of our trip was mostly Liv and I just finding cool little random touches inside the car. It’s got variable steering, so Liv could put it on ‘comfort’ or ‘standard’ and Icould flick it over to ‘Sports’ and get a little more response and feedback from the road. Did I mention it’s a sexy looking machine?

There’s a stacks of other little touches like the drink holders that have little press out tabs so it’ll hold both a small coffee or a large coke in the same spot. Or the fact that I can connect my phone directly to the media centre via USB and have full control over my songs and folders via the touch screen. It’s a nice car. I wouldn’t mind having one to put in my garage Anyway, Let’s start our #BrilliantRoadTrip!!!

We headed South East of Adelaide and went past Albert Lake and over the famous Murray River. There we took a slight detour of a few hours and headed South to the Coorong National Park and drove parallel to 130km of beach, swamps and estuaries. There were some amazing views, stuff like nothing we’ve seen before after being locked up in Sydney for so long.

The highlight of the park and probably today’s whole adventure was having to give way to an Echidna crossing the road! We pulled over and ran back to say hello the little critter. Neither Liv, Little Bear nor myself had seen an echidna in the wild before! We named him “Spike” and took a couple of photos before leaving him to continue his journey. He looked like was in a hurry, I’m guessing he had a Hot Date on the other side of the road :p

 

We stopped off at Kingston Se and found another Aussie icon, the BIG LOBSTER! I had no ideas we had one of those! I’m not suprised though, we’ve got ‘Big’ everything else. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that we should have one.

Turning inland we pressed on into the afternoon towards the world Famous Coonawarra Wine Region. Home to a number of national and even international wine awards. I’m currently sipping  a glass of ‘St Mary’s 2008 Cab Sav’ and it’s amazingly good! 10/10!!!! Dinner was just as good! I had the 2nd best steak I’ve had in my entire life! It was wrapped in expensive bacon (proscuito) for bonus points!

You’ll have to jump on my Drive Brilliant page to check out my trendy foody instragrams of dinner

We’ve just finished a massive day! 500km of driving on new roads in a new state! Luckily, the Santa Fe’s Sat Nav  was flawless and kept getting us to the next location. I’m not usually one to use satnav, but then again, I’m not usually crossing states I’ve never visited. Without the nav it would have either been a very long trip (lost forever) or a very short trip (ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere) Hell, we might have even ended up in Tasmania! We’ve got another long day full of action and adventure tomorrow, hell, it’s going to be bigger than today! Time for bed!

You can catch my live updates and photos from the road at http://drivebrilliant.hyundai.com.au/matt-e/

‘VRRRRRT VRRRRRRT‘ my phone buzzed at me from my pocket. I had forgotten to take it off vibrate again. I nearly missed the phonecall! Luckily I pulled my phone out and answered just in time. ‘Yo…’ I answered display the full power of my phone etiquette. I was greeted by a slightly more American voice than I was expecting. Telemarketer perhaps? Wrong! It was Chris from Hyundai Australia calling to share some excellent news!!!
I was going on a 3 Day Road Trip with up to $5k to cover all my adventures and acommodation! AWESOME!!! I had entered the Hyundai ‘Drive Brilliant’ competition a couple of weeks ago, I never win anything, so entertaining the idea of the road trip left my mind a day or so after I finished entering. I was NOT expecting this phone call! It made my day

 

Good news for you guys/girls too! I plan on documenting the trip and sharing the experience with my online family You’ll be able to follow the adventure via facebook, tweets & instagram from the road and then I’ll be sharing some more polished images, videos and highlights from the trip in blog form later on! Double good news, I picked up a new super dooper camera last week and I’m hanging to get it out there and see what it can do when it’s pointed towards some of the best sights Australia has to offer! Can’t wait to point it at our coast!

You can add me on the following media if don’t already have me as a contact:
Facebook: Matthew.Everingham.10 & My Photography page: MatthewEveringhamPhotography
Twitter: @MattEveringham
Instagram: the_matboy

I’ve been told that most of my online content will be combined into one feed over on the Brilliant Roadtrip website: http://drivebrilliant.hyundai.com.au/ You can also check out what the other 9 Road Trippers have been up to!

So where are we going? We’re going on an epic trip from Radelaide via the coast then back up north to the Coonawarra Wine Region. Then we’re heading south to Mt Gambier and on to Warrnambool. Finally we’ll do the the Great Ocean Road in the heart of Victoria and even the heart of Melbourne, Crown Casino! We’ve got a few adventures planned, but you’ll have to wait and see to find out what exactly is in store  I’ll be taking my lovely fiance, Olivia, along with a whole bunch of camera gear to help me share the experience with you guys!

 

It’s a pretty big trip for someone whose only spent less than a handful of days outside of N.S.W.!
I spent all night arguing with myself over what car to take, I even asked my facebook buddies to help me make my mind up. The obvious choice is the Veloster Turbo right?

I allllllllmost picked it! But since I was already throwing myself in the deep end by flying to state I know nothing about to drive on unknown roads to another state that I know little about, I thought it might be more fun to drive a completely different style of car to what I’m used to driving. So the obvious choice was the The New Santa Fe! (in silver of course.) Way to throw myself in the deep end! :O

So I hope you’ll jump on board, feel free to jump on and say ‘Hi’ or suggest ideas/locations/etc over facebook.

Here’s to Driving Brilliant! Talk to you soon!

This is my personal highlight for 2012. Being a part of something so amazingly awesome from cover to cover is a good feeling. Sharing pages with the very best in the industry in an end product that you can tell was lovingly crafted and not just pumped out. Even if your not a fan of Hot Rod’s you can’t not be impressed by the talent, the time and abundance of cool that the 2012 Hot Rod Annual exudes… Check it out in news stands, it’d be very hard to miss.

 

I got to fulfill mulitple boys dreams in one go.
1) Get up close and play with a alcoholic monster (The car not the owner)
2) Play with smoke and FIRE!!!
3) Midnight BBQ
4) Get featured in a mag I’ve idolized since I was a kid.

Shooting  Shane Corrs’ Concerned, a retro Gasser build that uses only time period correct gear that takes us back to the early 70′s and the beginning of what would become the funny car drag scene.

 

Well well well, World Time Attack 2012 was another massive weekend! Actually, it ended up being a massive week! Chock full of parties, long days, late nights, petrol fumes, tyre smoke, dodgey food and overpriced beverages. Plus I caught the worst cold I’ve had in my life watching the drifting! Anyway, the fruit of all this hard word, hangovers and sleepless nights can be admired in print form through 9TRO Magazine. Their latest issue (Rocket Bunny Hachi on cover) has a massive 8 page spread with all the highlights and results wrapped in glossy goodness!

My World Time Attack 2012 galleries from each day of the weekend including Thursday’s Practice will be uploaded in the ‘Event Galleries’ section across the week.

Now, it’s time to share some of my personal favorite shots from the event:

Redbrick Racing Evo:

RE Amiaya RX7

High Octane R34 GTR

Event Winning NEMO Racing Evo (well, it used to be an Evo)

Cyber Evo

Suzuki Under S15

MadBull RX8

Top Fuel S2000

Tilton Evo

Road Track Rally Evo X

Sutton’s S15:

One of my highlights from the whole weekend wasn’t the racing, it was an exhibition class ‘Classics of Turbo Era’. Damn, so many cars I’ve dreamt of seeing hit the track were out in force. Including this pair:

If you live outside of 9TRO Land (Singapore and Malaysia) you can find some of my coverage online at AUTOCULT.net and 7TUNE.