Sunday was not an ideal day for a roadtrip, what with the early fog, the persistent drizzle, and the occasional wall of smashing rain, but Cara and I made the best of it and trekked to North Vancouver BC for what has become my annual end-of-season tradition, the DNBC Show at Waterfront Park. The grass was swampy and the group was small, but we still had a great time with our fellow non-weather-dependent gearheads and I came home with the Best In Class trophy in the Modern Coupe class. It’s a custom, handmade one that Richard put together that I was especially excited to earn.

Cara is a fantastic roadtrip partner and not only put up with but actually enjoyed all the open hoods, car talk, highway time, and getting semi-lost on the way home looking for souvenirs in Surrey – I can’t wait for our next adventure. :)

Gallery is here – slideshow button is at the top-right corner.

Spent a great day with Christie, starting with the annual NWN Golden Gardens meet – the officially unofficial start to the car show season, and always a mix of rare imports, nicely-tuned Nissan and Datsun rides, and an assortment of unfortunate jalopies that fall somewhere in a spectrum of humorous to disastrous. After taking the pictures in the below gallery and catching up with several friends we hadn’t seen in a long time, the rain finally arrived in full force and chased us away. We stopped at my house to swap out the Z for my QX4 (and it’s 4WD) and trekked down to Federal Way to wish Devin and Riley a happy 11th birthday, see Mike for the first time in ages, and meet Crystal (and her delicious ice-cream-filled cupcakes). The phrase of the day was definitely “it’s way too cold for this” but we had fun anyway, and I’m really glad we chose to make both events.

Gallery slideshow is here.

I felt pretty out of it today from the time change, but I forced myself outside into the brilliantly sunny day to explore the Darling Harbor area a little. I found a great omelette and cappuccino breakfast at a streetside bistro, took some halfhearted pictures of tourists on the boardwalk, ate lunch overlooking the harbour and then gave up on being either adventurous or artistic and retired to my hotel for a nap. I stepped back out briefly this evening amidst a completely different crowd than the day’s – gone were the tourists with their fanny packs and strollers, replaced with the stilettos and cigarettes of the young clubbing crowd. My neighborhood is alive with energy tonight but I’m just too tired to take part. It is literally by force of will, pushing myself to stay awake until a reasonable Australian bedtime, that I’m even online right now posting these shots for you.

From my hotel room window, looking over Darling Harbour and across to downtown Sydney:

(Click for the full-size)

And from the Pyrmont Bridge, looking south into Darling Harbour. My hotel is the one trimmed in yellow neon.

(Click for the full-size)

Hopefully I’ll feel a little more ambitious tomorrow. Sydney is clearly an incredible city and there’s a lot of people I wish were here with me right now, helping me enjoy it.

Spy shots of Nissan‘s upcoming GTR hit the internet today, flying through the tubes from the Nürburgring straight to you. The 450 HP 3.8L TwinTurbo (specs are merely a rumor at this point) All-Wheel-Drive coupe that every Nissan enthusiast is jonesing for is getting closer and closer to its 2008 release date, and if they’re already testing it at the world’s most renowned track that means the handling and performance are coming along nicely.

Winding Road has the details, but the pictures are what you really want:

Maybe if i’m really, really good in 2007, Santa will bring me one for Christmas?