SPYDER SENSE

PORSCHE'S BIG BORE ATMO-SIX 718 BOXSTER SPYDER WAS MADE FOR VICTORIA'S CHILLY HIGH COUNTRY ROADS

- DYLAN CAMPBELL

THERE IS A CERTAIN thrill about discovering a new road. It starts at home, browsing Google Earth-like a US spy satellite, zooming in on especially squiggly stretches to see if they’re sealed or not – or more than a car-width wide. Then there’s deciding to schlep the however many hours out there, hoping to discover it’s 100km/h not 80km/h, that it hasn’t been overrun by crazed trail-seekers in high-riding old Nissan Patrols or herds of feral deer. Fair dinkum, in the Australian alps that’s very much become a thing.

That could have very well been the case for C486, too, the remote country road connecting Heyfield to Jamieson in Victoria a few hours east of Melbourne, 143km running roughly north-south and reaching 1558m in altitude as it crosses Mount Skene in the Australian alps. A good part of the road is unsealed, and so treacherous in winter (people kept needing to be saved) that it’s now only open seasonally.

An even better part of the road, at least for enjoyment in a low-slung car with softly sidewalled sporty tyres, is mercifully sealed, and that’s the part we’re exploring today. We’re heading from agricultural and timber town Heyfield to Licola, the only town – in all of Victoria – not on the state electricity grid. It is entirely self-sustained.

Given that we are still in some form of lockdown as we set off, our vehicle for self-isolation today at least can guarantee plenty of air-flow. To call the new Porsche 718 Spyder just a pimped-up Boxster would be to do it a gross disservice – and potentially mean you’re missing out on properly appreciating what is a seriously special car.