| [ Total Views: 1162 | Total Replies: 16 | Thread Id: 85681 ] |
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 beetleboy88
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| posted on August 29th, 2010 at 12:26 PM |
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Drive-In
Hey guys. Last night was the final ever screening of the Cairns Drive-In cinema. The drive-in closed late 1999 but a facebook group was created and a
push to open it one last time to say goodbye was a success. It was part of the 2010 Cairns Festival ( http://www.festivalcairns.com.au/ ) The first movie was Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and the second
movie was Dirty Dancing.
I took a few pics and I thought I'd share them with you....
Our dinner table.....
The frog that liked the view of the movie from my windscreen....
1973 Super Beetle
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Barnabie
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| posted on August 29th, 2010 at 06:10 PM |
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Nice work 
I can remembr going to the drive in as a child with my parent circa 1980 in Victoria - its such a shame that they've died out for the most part.
A night at the drive-in would be an awesome way to finish a summer's afternoon of cruising with a heap of other like minded dubbers.
Guess we'll have to find a replacement for the almost extinct drive in 
Kris.
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beetleboy88
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| posted on August 29th, 2010 at 06:15 PM |
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So true Kris!
Their is another drive-in about one hours drive west of Cairns ( http://www.mareebadrivein.com/ ) that is still in full operation so once my car is running sweet I intend on making the
journey up there. 
1973 Super Beetle
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on August 30th, 2010 at 12:52 PM |
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Very sad. Was Cairns drive-in owned by one of the big chains - Greater Union/Birch Carrol Coyle or Hoyts, or was it privately owned? What is going to
happen to the land? Has it just gone out of business or is the land going to be redeveloped into housing etc?
Sydney once had 14 drive-ins (not as many as Melbourne - they had 22!) in the late 1970s but today there's only one left, at Blacktown. All of
Brisbane's drive-ins have gone - only the one at Yatala is still going. Adelaide only has one left at Gepps Cross. Perth has one left. Melbourne has
two left in the city and a third at Dromana. Most of them closed in the mid-1980s when VCRs started becoming popular, and daylight saving meant that
sessions had to start an hour later - not good for families with young kids. But ultimately the land was too valuable to sit idle during the day.
If you like drive-ins, you'll like this enthusiast tribute site:
http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/
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STIDUB
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| posted on August 30th, 2010 at 01:44 PM |
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phil, theres one thats closer than yatala to brissy, it runs occasionally (owned by a church) at tivoli, it kinda counts as active & in bris
http://tivolidrivein.com.au
Volkswagen Drivers Club of Queensland - member
STIDUB - yep its still a work in progress
Vwdcq club car racing/ and crashing while my bug isn't finished.
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Smiley
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| posted on August 30th, 2010 at 01:48 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Phil74Camper
Very sad. Was Cairns drive-in owned by one of the big chains - Greater Union/Birch Carrol Coyle or Hoyts, or was it privately owned? What is going to
happen to the land? Has it just gone out of business or is the land going to be redeveloped into housing etc?
Sydney once had 14 drive-ins (not as many as Melbourne - they had 22!) in the late 1970s but today there's only one left, at Blacktown. All of
Brisbane's drive-ins have gone - only the one at Yatala is still going. Adelaide only has one left at Gepps Cross. Perth has one left. Melbourne has
two left in the city and a third at Dromana. Most of them closed in the mid-1980s when VCRs started becoming popular, and daylight saving meant that
sessions had to start an hour later - not good for families with young kids. But ultimately the land was too valuable to sit idle during the day.
If you like drive-ins, you'll like this enthusiast tribute site:
http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/
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I just had a look at that website. Thanks for posting Phil, it's great to see some history!
And the one at Yatala is not very far from where I stay in Brisbane!! I'm definitely going when I'm down in October!!
Smiley 
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
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beetleboy88
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| posted on August 30th, 2010 at 05:32 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Phil74Camper
Very sad. Was Cairns drive-in owned by one of the big chains - Greater Union/Birch Carrol Coyle or Hoyts, or was it privately owned? What is going to
happen to the land? Has it just gone out of business or is the land going to be redeveloped into housing etc?
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I believe the drive in was owned by BCC. It's official name was 'Coral Twin Drive-In' . The land has been bought by Glen Corp (property development
business) and will eventually make way for a block of ugly units  It's a pitty it's closing down. I saw so many happy kid's there on Saturday night who have probably never been to a drive-in before.
1973 Super Beetle
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on August 31st, 2010 at 08:00 AM |
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Ah yes, I remember spotting the drive-in at North Tivoli on Google Earth, when i was trying to find what happened to them all. I have a 1978 Brisbane
street directory that lists them all. I thought North Tivoli (Ipswich) had closed so I'm glad it's still more-or-less going.
Last time I was in Brisbane (in mid '09) I went to the site of the former drive-in at Richlands, on Archerfield Rd. The screen has gone but the
ramps, and the foundations of the snack bar, are still there.
Yes the same thing has happened to all the Sydney drive-ins; the land has been redeveloped. Most of them are now houses, units or villas - Warriewood,
Bass Hill, Matraville, Dundas, Narellan. Chullora is a shopping centre. Liverpool is a retirement home. Fairfield is the Mary McKillop college.
Caringbah is a Bunnings. North Ryde and Frenchs Forest are industrial units- Frenchs Forest industrial park has a 'Skyline Rd', named after the old
drive-in. Parklea is now Parklea Markets. Penrith is a car park for the UWS campus and still retains its old shape and layout. Only Blacktown is still
going, but it looks rather run down and unloved and Greater Union doesn't promote it at all. I wonder how much longer it will last. If it closes, the
one at Heddon Greta near Kurri Kurri will be the last one left in NSW - and I know they have already been approached by developers too.
Yet the eastern suburbs trendies have set up a new temporary drive-in inside randwick racecourse and charge a packet for people to go there ($49 per
car!) and won't allow Kombis.
One interestring thing - Go to Google Earth and look at Mt Panorama race track at Bathurst. Just at the start of the Caltex Chase, at the end of
Conrod straight, you can see the remains of the Bathurst drive-in (which closed in the '80s). They use it for parking during the race weekend, and I
guess it sits and rots the rest of the time. And there's another old drive in on a former race circuit at Orange, Gnoo Blas street circuit. It's on
the corner of Forest Rd and Kemp Rd, easily spotted on Google Earth. The race circuit used to be Forest Rd, Huntley Rd and Bloomfield Rd.
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HappyDaze
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| posted on August 31st, 2010 at 08:17 AM |
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There was a drive-in still operating in the '80s near Narellan Rd. It was privately owned, and I think it was called 'Gayline' (not kidding!). It
was demolished to make way for the Mt.Annan / Narellan Vale housing development.
There is a Gayline Drive in the area.
I'd rather wear a Beetle out by racing it than by polishing it!
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beetleboyjeff
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| posted on August 31st, 2010 at 11:39 PM |
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The Port Macquarie drive in closed in the late 80s or early 90s, and part of it is a shopping centre (mainly Harvy Norman) and part of it is a car
yard - John Oxley Motors - who are also the VW dealer in Port Macquarie.
From your ole' mate Jeff
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jacky_moo
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| posted on September 1st, 2010 at 05:14 PM |
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Im just glad we still have a few in melbourne
Lunar Drive in out at dandenong, coburg drive in and the Dromana 3 drive in 
Do go out to lunar every now and then ... seeing this makes me want to go back!!
schnell!! schnell!! schnell!! schnell!!
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 07:47 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by HappyDaze
There was a drive-in still operating in the '80s near Narellan Rd. It was privately owned, and I think it was called 'Gayline' (not kidding!). It
was demolished to make way for the Mt.Annan / Narellan Vale housing development. There is a Gayline Drive in the area.
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I never went to that one Greg - Chullora and Bass Hill were my locals. I did find this period ad for the Gayline, which just happened to feature a
famous movie. It was during the school holidays, of course.
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Joel
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| posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 08:53 PM |
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The old drive in theater here at Alstonville which has been shut down since the 80s is currently suffering the same fate as most and being turned into
a housing developement
It was right out in the sticks before Wollongbar developed out around it
We used to have Dub nights a few times a year at the Yatala drive in, but its died off in recent years.
Might have to organise one now its warming up
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 08:56 PM |
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The site of the Gayline drive-in was the square marked out by Morshead Rd and Gayline Drive, with Scobie Place running across the middle. Apart from a
small Gayline Reserve at the end of the cul-de-sac (UBD 325 C13), the only evidence left is Gayline Drive (once the entrance lane into the Drive-in).
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Joel
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| posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 09:07 PM |
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Here ya go Phil,
Goes to show how out of date Google earth is
My farms about 5km away and I can tell from it the pic is taken in 2005
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 10:06 PM |
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Brilliant Joel, I didn't know about that one. You must be fairly near where the old Booyong to Ballina train line once was.
We have tried to organise a run or two to Blacktown, but they seem disinterested in putting anything on except the usual mainsteam releases. I don't
know why they can't put more interesting 'cult' films on - Grease, Gone in 60 Sec, Bullitt, Italian Job, Love Bug etc. Those 'park' open airs
that run every summer seem to be able to do it.
This is the sort of fun stuff that drive-ins used to do, once upon a time.
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HotRodMatt
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| posted on September 3rd, 2010 at 08:53 AM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Phil74Camper
We have tried to organise a run or two to Blacktown, but they seem disinterested in putting anything on except the usual mainsteam releases. I don't
know why they can't put more interesting 'cult' films on - Grease, Gone in 60 Sec, Bullitt, Italian Job, Love Bug etc. Those 'park' open airs
that run every summer seem to be able to do it.
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Do you have any idea how film distribution works?
Owners of a cinema (or drive in) have no say on what goes on their screens. It is dictated by the distributors.
Even independants don't have full control of their screens.
Just be thankful that Blacktown is still open. There is no way in hell it makes money... All the other Greater Union cinemas are subsidising their 2
screens.
Maybe they'll do what you want, when you can guarrantee them the many thousands of dollars it costs them to screen a "cult" or "classic" as well
as the bonuses they miss out on by not having current releases on the required number of screens for the required number of plays.
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