Dural's road and its hills
Old Northern Road
Dural sits on Old Northern Road, built by convicts between 1825 and 1836 to link early Sydney with the north. As Tourist Drive 15 it winds up through Castle Hill and Glenhaven to Dural, then carries on north as a two-lane undivided road to Wisemans Ferry.
Up in the Hills
The Hills District takes its name from its hilly ground, and Dural sits at 208 metres. Climbs and descents use the brakes harder than flat suburban streets, and towing or a heavy car adds to it.
Houses on their own blocks
80.3% of Dural's occupied homes are separate houses. A driveway or a shed suits a mobile mechanic for a service, a battery or a car that won't start.
No train line
Dural has no railway station; buses connect it to Castle Hill metro station. If the car has to stay at a workshop for the day, plan the trip home first.
When is the first pink slip due?
In NSW, the 5 years before a car needs a pink slip are counted from the month and year on its compliance plate, or for an imported car from the month and year it was built. After that it's every year, and the rego renewal notice tells you when one is due.
Trailers and caravans of 4.5 tonnes ATM or less come under the same light vehicle rules, so a trailer that's been around a while needs its own slip. Pink slip or blue slip sorts out which inspection a vehicle needs.
If it were our car
We'd have the brake pads measured at every service, given the hills, and line up the pink slip a few weeks before the rego is due. A mobile mechanic can often do the service on the driveway; the slip itself has to come from an AIS station or one of their mobile inspectors.