After 2 weeks at the Port Augusta sports club camp ground it's time to move on.
After a fortnight of indecision we have finally firmly decided to go up to Darwin ( for now ) and then across to Queensland
Sorry to be leaving the French Hot Bread shop as their produce was superb as was the pricing. As usual it is Asian owned (as are most of them) I guess it is the French influence in Viet Nam.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Port Pirie
Had the computer looked at whilst in Broken Hill and the "fixer"omitted to put the antivirus software back on so I ran into a fistfull of viruses, didn't I? Hence the reason for no posts for so long.
Headed up through Port Wakefield after Easter and then over to Wallaroo where we camped at the old wheat truck marshelling area just on the edge of town. Then to Moonta, staying at the Port Hughes boat ramp.
From there down to Minlaton and onto Warooka, taking sidetrips to check out Innes national park and Corny point (well named)
Then back up through Ardrossen to Port Pirie.
Found the peninsula generally fairly uninteresting bar some of the history and the huge expances of cereal crops. Pirie on the other hand is a thriving, go-ahead city.
Watched a ship dock at the smelter wharf today. It had to negotiate the long channel off The Spencer Gulf and turn around with the aid of 2 tugs
e parked at a local council gravel dump which is well situated, level, dry and quiet. However anyone looking for a parking spot should try asking the locals where "the bridge to nowhere" is and pick your spot anywhere over the other side of that.
Last night we tried "Barnacle Bill's" seafood restaurant which is something of a local icon. Seafood was great without being pricy and so was the salad bar.
Stayed an extra day to do a tour of the smelter. Unfortunately it was from the windows of a small bus and photos weren't allowed,but we got the general idea. the process is so complex and on a huge scale. It's the biggest smelter in the world. The smokestack is over 200 metres tall.
In the old days Port Pirie was a really dirty place but the smelter owners have cleaned up their act and now it's very clean.
Headed up through Port Wakefield after Easter and then over to Wallaroo where we camped at the old wheat truck marshelling area just on the edge of town. Then to Moonta, staying at the Port Hughes boat ramp.
From there down to Minlaton and onto Warooka, taking sidetrips to check out Innes national park and Corny point (well named)
Then back up through Ardrossen to Port Pirie.
Found the peninsula generally fairly uninteresting bar some of the history and the huge expances of cereal crops. Pirie on the other hand is a thriving, go-ahead city.
Watched a ship dock at the smelter wharf today. It had to negotiate the long channel off The Spencer Gulf and turn around with the aid of 2 tugs
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| Creeping up the Channel |
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| Full Astern! |
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| Pushing... |
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| Turning... |
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| Turning... |
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| Lining up |
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| Pushing.... |
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| Pushing..... |
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| Docking |
e parked at a local council gravel dump which is well situated, level, dry and quiet. However anyone looking for a parking spot should try asking the locals where "the bridge to nowhere" is and pick your spot anywhere over the other side of that.
Last night we tried "Barnacle Bill's" seafood restaurant which is something of a local icon. Seafood was great without being pricy and so was the salad bar.
Stayed an extra day to do a tour of the smelter. Unfortunately it was from the windows of a small bus and photos weren't allowed,but we got the general idea. the process is so complex and on a huge scale. It's the biggest smelter in the world. The smokestack is over 200 metres tall.
In the old days Port Pirie was a really dirty place but the smelter owners have cleaned up their act and now it's very clean.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Port Augusta
Moved up to the head of Spencer gulf at Port Augusta on on Friday and headed straight for the sporting club at the edge of town where Barry and Jill whom we had first met at Port Macquarie had been camped for a week on their way to Darwin
It's a good setup where the club controls the ground for self-contained vehicles at nominal rental.
There are a lot of vehicles coming and going every day.
Port Augusta is a junction of north,south,east and west. The traffic to Darwin and Perth must all pass through.
Everyone had dinner in the club Friday night. Huge meals really cheap.
Great weather for the first few days but it closed in on Saturday evening and began to rain with the wind gusting heavily.
The take-up rate in this campground is huge. Every night it is packed to capacity and once it got to the stage where 4 motorhomes were in the carpark and another 3 on the broad verge outside the fence.
Had a great time with Barry and Jill so were sad when they moved on after a week heading north..
A couple named Ian and Susan camped next to us. We shared a barbq and card games with them which was totally enjoyable. This ground has a great spirit with a level of friendliness not always experienced in other places.
It's a good setup where the club controls the ground for self-contained vehicles at nominal rental.
There are a lot of vehicles coming and going every day.
Port Augusta is a junction of north,south,east and west. The traffic to Darwin and Perth must all pass through.
Everyone had dinner in the club Friday night. Huge meals really cheap.
Great weather for the first few days but it closed in on Saturday evening and began to rain with the wind gusting heavily.
The take-up rate in this campground is huge. Every night it is packed to capacity and once it got to the stage where 4 motorhomes were in the carpark and another 3 on the broad verge outside the fence.
Had a great time with Barry and Jill so were sad when they moved on after a week heading north..
Barry and Jill
Much of our time here was spent working on the bus with little jobs.
Had met a couple at the Port Macquarie Rally who were selling led lamps and when they turned up here we bought some and fitted them.They were really needed in the engine bay.A couple named Ian and Susan camped next to us. We shared a barbq and card games with them which was totally enjoyable. This ground has a great spirit with a level of friendliness not always experienced in other places.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Port Parham
"Camps" book showed a rest area at Port Parham, 10 km off the northern highway. It's a great spot, the local council has done a lot of work here,top dressing the site, erecting fences, toilets, shelter shed, electric barbqs with water laid on and ample garbage disposal bins. Decided to stay over Easter.
This is on the shore of the Gulf of St Vincent. There is no sand on the beach, just a deep layer of dead seaweed and the edge is very shallow out to about 200 metres, so the water recedes right back at low tide.
Many of the locals have built machines they call a "jinker".( it is a local invention) This is a chassis that have a front and rear suspension attached. On top of it there are four uprights about 2m. high and another chassis with a motor and gearbox, seat, steering wheel and controls. Behind and below the driver is a tailshaft connected to a diff with the axles positioned vertically. On the top end there is a disc brake to stop the vehicle and the bottom side has another tailshaft which feeds another upward looking diff driving the wheels. These are used for towing and launching the runabout fishing boats.
The bus ran great up the highway and it was a real novelty not having to fill it with oil.
The only commercial venture in this village is a social and sporting club which is completely staffed by local volunteer labour. A lot of the campers including Maureen and I went there for dinner last night. All had a great time and the food was sensational. They offer $2.00 schooners at happy hour on Wednesdays
Tomorrow we will go to the dawn service held there, followed by a community breakfast.
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| Passing out easter eggs on Easter Sunday |
This is on the shore of the Gulf of St Vincent. There is no sand on the beach, just a deep layer of dead seaweed and the edge is very shallow out to about 200 metres, so the water recedes right back at low tide.
Many of the locals have built machines they call a "jinker".( it is a local invention) This is a chassis that have a front and rear suspension attached. On top of it there are four uprights about 2m. high and another chassis with a motor and gearbox, seat, steering wheel and controls. Behind and below the driver is a tailshaft connected to a diff with the axles positioned vertically. On the top end there is a disc brake to stop the vehicle and the bottom side has another tailshaft which feeds another upward looking diff driving the wheels. These are used for towing and launching the runabout fishing boats.
The bus ran great up the highway and it was a real novelty not having to fill it with oil.
The only commercial venture in this village is a social and sporting club which is completely staffed by local volunteer labour. A lot of the campers including Maureen and I went there for dinner last night. All had a great time and the food was sensational. They offer $2.00 schooners at happy hour on Wednesdays
Tomorrow we will go to the dawn service held there, followed by a community breakfast.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Mt.Barker
On arrival at Dry Creek, Bruce the mechanic surveyed the engine and declared that we could probably do all the travelling we wanted without intervention and that I could buy a lot of oil for the price of a reco job. When I remarked that if I once forgot to check it I could have a cooked engine, he countered with "thats what the oil light is for". But it was eventually decided to go ahead with the job so he replaced rings, bearings, pistons, liners, some hoses and various other things.
It was found that the rings were seized, worn to witness marks and ring ends were in alignment ( all allowing oil through) also electrolysis had eaten halfway through the walls of the cylinder liners plus the big end bearings were worn out as well as other minor things like leaky hoses and adjustment of tappets and fuel rack
The standard of knowledge, workmanship, ethics and kindly treatment was unsurpassable and a breath of fresh air after previous treatment and if anyone is interested in having Bruce do work for them, I would be only too happy to put them in touch with him.
We were there for a total of 10 days while he worked between mine and other jobs.
We were advised to take a trip to Murray Bridge and back, about 75 km south/southeast of Adelaide as it included a gradient climb of 1 in 9 rise for 27 km and other sharp pulls through the Adelaide Hills, to bed the engine in. But we only got half way at Mt. Barker when we liked the look of the countryside, found a bus parking area beside a park and and decided to camp here.
Today we took a close look at Hahndorf, a neighbouring town about 8 km away.
It has a single main street about 1km long and is filled with the yuppiest stuff you could cram into it. Everything from german sausage to Lladro.
In 1839 a group of religously persecuted german refugees arrived here with the help of the Captain Hahn a dane, and master of the ship in which they travelled Wtih his assistance they set up a community in what would become the Adelaide Hills and in gratitude they named it after him -hence Hahndorf
It was found that the rings were seized, worn to witness marks and ring ends were in alignment ( all allowing oil through) also electrolysis had eaten halfway through the walls of the cylinder liners plus the big end bearings were worn out as well as other minor things like leaky hoses and adjustment of tappets and fuel rack
The standard of knowledge, workmanship, ethics and kindly treatment was unsurpassable and a breath of fresh air after previous treatment and if anyone is interested in having Bruce do work for them, I would be only too happy to put them in touch with him.
We were there for a total of 10 days while he worked between mine and other jobs.
We were advised to take a trip to Murray Bridge and back, about 75 km south/southeast of Adelaide as it included a gradient climb of 1 in 9 rise for 27 km and other sharp pulls through the Adelaide Hills, to bed the engine in. But we only got half way at Mt. Barker when we liked the look of the countryside, found a bus parking area beside a park and and decided to camp here.
Today we took a close look at Hahndorf, a neighbouring town about 8 km away.
It has a single main street about 1km long and is filled with the yuppiest stuff you could cram into it. Everything from german sausage to Lladro.
In 1839 a group of religously persecuted german refugees arrived here with the help of the Captain Hahn a dane, and master of the ship in which they travelled Wtih his assistance they set up a community in what would become the Adelaide Hills and in gratitude they named it after him -hence Hahndorf
Adelaide#2
I guess the highlight for our time in Adelaide was the "Obahn". This is a set of concrete tracks on which buses run out to the suburb of Tee Tree Junction. The driver doesn't need to hold the steering wheel and buses travel at 100k/h!! It only stops at a couple of interchanges where feeder buses radiate out to various destinations
I am sure that we could do with something like this in Sydney.
The cafe never closes and serves simple quick meals and the locals love it.
I am sure that we could do with something like this in Sydney.
On the Obahn
were told about a place called DeVili's cafe which adjoins Vili's pie and cake factory in an Adelaide suburb so we drove over there for dinner. Their produce was excellent though some a bit on the small side and none too cheap.
The factory runs 20 hours a day with around 40 staff on duty at any one time turning out cakes and pastries for the city.The cafe never closes and serves simple quick meals and the locals love it.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Adelaide #1
Left "the Hill" on Sunday down the Barrier Highway and stayed at the small town of Yunta.
morning teatime on Tuesday saw us in Jamestown so we called into the local bakery where they had vanilla slices that you couldn't jump over. I remarked on the size, but chose an apple scroll which was beautiful. We were halfway through it when the proprietess presented us with a vanilla slice in a container. WHAT A SPIRIT!!
Then onto Peterborough, a nice little town which is really RV friendly.
In the afternoon we went on a guided tour of Steamtown, which has grown out of former major railway facility. We returned that evening for a sound and light show which was really excellent
On Tuesday we pressed on to our destination which was Dry Creek, an inner northern industrial suburb of Adelaide where the mechanic is situated. Just opposite is a former transport co. yard where we are now camped. It's really convenient having the railway 2 minutes walk away and this afternoon we took the 20 minute ride into the city and rode round on a free sightseeing bus
Can't believe all the parks, gardens and layout of Adelaide and we are looking forward to beginning to look more closely
But first tomorrow, Bruce, (the mechanic) will assess the bus and decide whether to do something with it or leave well enough alone.
morning teatime on Tuesday saw us in Jamestown so we called into the local bakery where they had vanilla slices that you couldn't jump over. I remarked on the size, but chose an apple scroll which was beautiful. We were halfway through it when the proprietess presented us with a vanilla slice in a container. WHAT A SPIRIT!!
Then onto Peterborough, a nice little town which is really RV friendly.
In the afternoon we went on a guided tour of Steamtown, which has grown out of former major railway facility. We returned that evening for a sound and light show which was really excellent
On Tuesday we pressed on to our destination which was Dry Creek, an inner northern industrial suburb of Adelaide where the mechanic is situated. Just opposite is a former transport co. yard where we are now camped. It's really convenient having the railway 2 minutes walk away and this afternoon we took the 20 minute ride into the city and rode round on a free sightseeing bus
Can't believe all the parks, gardens and layout of Adelaide and we are looking forward to beginning to look more closely
But first tomorrow, Bruce, (the mechanic) will assess the bus and decide whether to do something with it or leave well enough alone.
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