Fortuner's Days Out: 4 Days Visit To Calicut, Wayanad, Mysore and Ooty

[Mathew]

Brindavan garden is really awesome. I visited during my school days. It is fun. We checked the garden, water spill ways. Finally we moved to water fountain. It is time for the first show. We took uphill pedestrian steps. We spent some time there. Bought some photos. The fountain show is nice. We felt it is short. We demand more time for each show. We returned to hotel around 9.00pm. Kids were happy. No tiredness. We had food from the hotel-restaurant, and decide to move as early as next day morning.

 

[Mathew]

Day 3

We left Mysore around 7.00am. we decided to have breakfast on the way and around 8.15am. We left Karnataka border, and enter to Tamilnadu. We found one restaurant on the way. Good food. Decent wash rooms, and neat chairs and tables. We spend some 30 minutes there, and moved to madumalai.































We then reached to Masingudi. The weather was fantastic. We came closer to the 36 hairpin bends. I was anticipating how Fortuner will perform this hairpin climbs. My vehicle is 4x2 automatic (AT). It is the first version of automatic, ie, it is 4-speed Automatic. The recent Fortuner come with 5-speed automatic. 5-Speed automatic will give more fuel efficiency. 4-speed will have tall gear ratios, and hence overtaking is easy. The option with automatic are [P-R-N-D-3-2-L]. For normal driving D is enough. 3,2 or L are put depending on situations. This is the first time driving the vehicle through these hair pins. So, no idea of bends and uphill movements. I managed the whole bend using default D. At one stage I could feel the gear hunt. Gear hunt could have been avoided using 3-2-L options. Could have taken 2 or L options.





















The Innova was fully loaded (7 passengers) with some luggage. We could hear the hissing sounds while on uphill curve. Fortuner went smooth, and it was like a marble cake for the vehicle. We reached Ooty without any issues. We kept setters, jackets and shawls. I notice that the temperature (Fortuner is having outside temperature display) display shows 21 degrees. We anticipated that we have to wear jackets&shwls but not needed. First we went to Botanical garden.

 

[Mathew]

WOW, nice. We took some group photos. We spent an hour inside the garden. Instant photography is a good business. We took some group photos. Those guys use EPSON color printer for printing the photos. They use NIKON camera to take photos.

 

[jettasam]

Nice photos dude. Thanks for sharing with us the beautiful garden.

 

[Mathew]

Nice photos dude. Thanks for sharing with us the beautiful garden.

thanks jettasam.

Ha Ha, we did not mention about refueling the vehicle. End of second day only we filled fuel. As mentioned before, the tank capacity is 85 Litres. Land cruisers are having twin fuel tanks and can store upto 160 Litres of fuel. Most of the time our vehicle was running with A/C on. We have not looked into mileage aspect of the vehicle. Toyota certifies 11L for 4x2 AT vehicle. 5-Speed auto gives better mileage.

We have used P&S camera, SONY HX20V. This camera is having 20 Optical Zoom. This camera, made in Japan, is having lots of features. This is next to famous RX-100. 20 Optical Zoom is a nice feature to have.

Just check these two photos. May be we have to invite Highway Ranger to have his comments.

 

[Mathew]

Some more photos from the Garden. One guy is trying to fill the gun!!!.

 

[dhoom9]

Lucid travelogue & elaborative pictures, especially with Toyota kids. Thanks for rejuvenating old memories of honeymoon trip to Bengaluru / Mysore / Ooty.
Please share FE by tankful method if possible for both Toyota kins.
How much is fender mirror useful to you?

 

[Mathew]

Please share FE by tankful method if possible for both Toyota kins.
How much is fender mirror useful to you?

Thanks dhoom9. Toyota fortuner is having on board computer calculates current fuel efficiency, remaining diesel, average speed, direction, outside temperature etc. The fuel efficiency can be reset, so again it will calculate fuel consumed. Tank full approach calculates to 11km. On board computer calculates anything between 10.5 to 11kmpl.

Innova is having 2.5L engine, while fortuner is 3.0L D4D. Fortuner engine is BSIV, while innova available in BS3 and BS4. BS3 innova gives around 14kmpl. Our other vehicle was rented, and mr.x was not worried about fuel efficiency.

Took some panoramic photos. The first one is from Botanical garden, while the second one from view point-Chammundy Hill.

 

[Mathew]

We then moved to Poykara Lake for boating. Way to Poykara lake is horrible, like an off-road track. At some places the road is fully damaged. It is easy for the Fortuner, but Innova took sometime to reach the poykara lake. We spent some time there.
















We then returned to Ooty lake near to Brindavan garden. We thought not to go with boating instead take the Train drive. It is a small drive, going to small distance. Did some visits to local shops. Before the train journey, we had our food in Restaurant (just above the parking space). We did a trekking to this hotel. The weather changed, and now some scattered rain. The rain picked up in next one hour. We decided to return. My wife did schooling at Coonoor, and hence thought to visit that place.

 

[jettasam]

View attachment 143678

It became My Wallpaper(New one).

 

[Mathew]

How much is fender mirror useful to you?

I missed this note. The bonnet is raised and what is next to the front bumper is not visible in Fortuner. The fender mirror is handy in such cases. Need some experiences with reference to objects and vehicle are needed. Will get experience over the time. It is really useful. Attaching one photo where were moving to Coonoor. A narrow road, and this vehicle can just move. The fence is just next to the door. The mirror helped me in those roads.

It became My Wallpaper(New one).

Nice.

 

[Mathew]

Some more photos.

 

[Mathew]

We lost the GPS guidance, and took some risky narrow roads to reach the main roads. Believe me, my first encounter to drive in such places. I wish 4x4, then situation would have been different. 4x2 AT never let me down. It took me the places, where it is not supposed to drive. We reached Coonoor after this hectic mission. We visited the Ordinance factory, and her childhood house. It is still there with the same shape. The rain was at its high. We could not get out of the vehicle. We just stopped on the side of the road to get down. I asked wify to go have a visit to the old house, me staying in vehicle. I stopped on the side of the Coonoor –Mettupalayam road. It was raining heavily and also some traffic jam picked up. I thought not to waste time, and we moved to Mettuplayalam. We descended to Mettupalayam. The hairpins were risky due to heavy rain. I used the default D to descend the hairpins. Instead, 2 or L would have been efficient, without doing much braking. It was raining continuously















Mr.x is having hairpin driving skills, and left much ahead of us. I took my own pace, and slowly drive in the hair pin. I felt my vehicle horn is not sufficient. It is having the OEM sound horn. Enough for routine drive. Later I fitted roots vibersonic megasound. This new horn is typical taxi SUMO/Bolero sound. I have to change to Land cruiser PRADO horn, which is really apt for such heavy vehicles. Finally, we found our mr.x with Innova waiting for us in front of tea shop. We had some tea, and decided to move forward to Coimbatore. Very unfortunately, we lost the GPS connection, due to mobile data coverage and hence lost in Coimbatore. We tried all pathways of Coimabtore.. We lost somewhat 1 hour inside Coimabtore, and finally found way to Palaghat.

We had our supper in a decent hotel at Palaghat. The food was nice. All are happy. It was almost 9.45pm. We felt, and desire to do some more driving. The other family was short of vacation and mr.x wants to join back to duty. We decided to drive overnight, and stopped near Thrissur for coffee break . It was around 11.30pm and raining heavily. I told the other family to proceed, and we stayed back at Thrissur smart residency.

 

[Mathew]

Our vehicle was now completed over 10000kms. I was hoping to do the 10000 service at Kalamaseery Nippon Toyota Service Center. So I decided to stay at Thrissur, and next day morning 9.00am we can reach Nippon Toyota. The service station was full, and also the booking was full due to previous holidays. So we decided to try at Thiruvalla. We tried Thiruvalla, again it is full and need advance booking. I derailed the program, went to my sister’s house, and finally reached Pathanamthitta around 3.00pm.

We did the service at Nippon Toyota, Kottayam. Check the guy on third hanger from right.

 

[Mathew]

Concluding...

Overall it was a good drive, all members enjoyed. Almighty saved us from accidents. The vehicle crossed over 1600km on a straight stretch. The vehicle performed well, and the owner felt happy.

We dedicate these two, for those who showed patience to read this Travelogue.