Exploring the Towns and Ghost Towns of the Mid-North

"Rufant" (rufant2) 08/16/2019 at 18:03 • Filed to: None

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Part 2 (part 1 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ).

It got quite cold overnight...

There isn’t normally enough moisture to get frost like this in South Australia, but as I said, we’d had a lot of rain.

I was actually fine in the swag. With a combination of my old Army synthetic sleeping bag and my MacPac down sleeping bag. The only problem was I closed the swag up a bit too much and got a lot of condensation inside, with the dampness of the air and the big temperature difference between inside and outside. So the outside of the down bag was quite damp.

So I start up the 6er and whack the heater on full and stick the sleeping bag inside. On start up, the car makes a distinct electronic ‘boing!’ I’ve never heard that before... I look inside and the long dead (very 80's) OBC (On Board Computer - computer ) has suddenly com to life with an outside temperature and I figure the boing is an ice warning (this is an ex-UK car), consider me warned.

I drag the chair and the swag into the sun to start defrosting, and take myself off for a hot shower. Easily worth the $15 camping fee on its own. Packed up I headed back down to the pub, of which the food side was now serving big breakfasts to the bikers. I grab a coffee and a bacon and egg roll before having a quick cruise around Peterborough. This town has more purpose than some of the others I came through yesterday, but is clearly I far cry from its heyday. Town’s like this need to give people a reason to visit, and this town has one.

So I head to the motorbike museum, fully expecting it to be overrun with the Tassie biker group, but strangely I pass them heading out of town on the way. Did they visit yesterday late afternoon before they got to the pub? Maybe, but it seemed like they had just come in off the road, and wouldn’t you rather go fresh in the morning rather than after a day’s ride? Maybe they just missed the sign and maybe the bike themed pub owner didn’t mention it? Who knows but I figured that would be their main reason for coming here, there aren’t that many bike museums around.

Anyway, that means the museum is quiet and I have a good chat with the owner. About insurance (the biggest expense), !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (he knows the owner), and technology - how simple changes can have big impacts on businesses and communities.

I’m not much of a bike guy, but there was certainly some different stuff in this museum, mostly 70's, lots of Italian and small capacity stuff. Anyway, absolutely worth $7 bucks.

This is a Russian made bike that was sold in Australia, the price was $1 per cc apparently, with 350cc and 650cc versions. Pretty terrible to ride so I’m told.

It’s not just bikes.

This orange pair caught my eye. The owner has owned these two bikes for about 30 years. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Apparently the one above was the fastest (road) bike in the world when launched.

Twin cam, supercharged, intercooled, and water cooled. A replica of a Benelli from 1939.

I fuel up and punch on. A slight detour north to Black Rock, before turning the shark nose south.

A quick map of todays route.

Black Rock is another defunct railway station. Some buildings are still inhabited and in good condition, others, less so.

The roads are long and straight out here.

From here down to Jamestown, the biggest town of the region and birthplace to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , whose company is still going strong today.

Although even that has its fair share of empty buildings. The grand pubs and hotels are often the first to go, no longer is the population large enough or wealthy enough to sustain so many of these big establishments.

It must be noted that it is the empty buildings, and the towns that have that whiff of desolation and despair that draw me to this region. I can’t quite put my finger on why, maybe it’s like why do you enjoy a Stephen King book? Certainly where I come from in the UK, there isn’t really anything like this.

I have a mosey around, and spot this. What is this strange beast?

It’s an OKA. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . This one was for sale.

A couple of old dears are exchanging pleasantries as they get into their cars “not much rain dear” “only a sprinkle, we need more” “take care love” “you too dear” - I wonder how many times they’ve had a chat like that over the years!?

I get some lunch at the busy and good cafe in town (I also like to see businesses doing well out here) and then head east to another little hamlet I’ve never been to before called Caltowie. There is a music festival here in September, I might just come up for that. After our big trip I feel a stronger connection to country Australia than ever.

From here I chance a short section of dirt road to connect to the next piece of bitumen. As I previously wrote I’m not worried normally about dirt roads in the Bimmer, but all this rain has made them a bit more of an uncertainty. There is only so much you can tackle with not much ground clearance and very secondhand rear tyres.

I track west. Through Appila, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Nearly a full year ago.

Canola fields and cherry blossoms looking as good as ever.

I’m heading for a particular road. One I’ve driven a few times before and probably rate as the best bit of bitumen in the state. It runs through the Flinders Ranges, roughly between Murray Town and Port Germein. About 15km of that road looks like this.

Up until now I’ve just been cruising around, sat 10km/h under the speed limit, soaking up my surroundings. But this road is too good to pass up, so I up the ante. I’ve done a few mods to the 635 that means it’s a pretty effective drivers car, and the muscle memory of how to drive this car fast soon comes back to me. Hard on the brakes, heel and toe downshift through the dog-leg gear change. The front end has very strong grip and then you just meter out the power as the corner opens up, just smearing the rear tyres across the road. It’s a pretty physical experience, but you really have to drive it. It gets better the harder you push. Of course this is a public road with some slow moving 4x4's coming the other way, so I save heroics for the well sighted clear sections, and just keep it merely brisk where you can’t see so far ahead. The adrenaline hit from driving a car fast on a road like this is a tonic you have to give yourself every now and then.

The Six Series isn’t fast by any modern measure, but it feels fast. Also urgent and involving and challenging  in a way that you just don’t get with modern machinery either.

Then I clear the gorge and pop back out to the highway. I had been debating where to camp tonight, but the call has come through from The Captain that the gearbox has to come out of the Evo (see !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), which is neither a quick or a one man job. I know he is entered in another hillclimb this weekend, so time is of the essence to get the problem diagnosed and fixed. So just as turning up in your newly built race car and having it break straight away, is just part of motor sport. So is having mates that pitch in to help you fix it. So I hang a left and head for home.

Thanks for reading.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 18:30

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I had to google Laverda, having never heard of the brand  before, and HOLY COW THAT’S A SEXY BIKE

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 18:38

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Great write-up! Looks like a very nice part of Oz....hopefully I can visit Down Under someday! :)

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 18:41

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We’ve been through Peterborough many a time...and I never knew there was a motorcycle collection there! I know there’s a very fine railway collection but the motorcycles are new to me. Nice that t hey are oddbods too.

And I'll have you know, Dear, that we all talk like that out here...and about exactly the same shit everytime.

Chariotoflove > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 18:43

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Good stuff, man. Keep going.

Rufant > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 08/16/2019 at 18:48

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Yeah I hadn’t heard of them either. The guy who owned all those bikes was VERY enthusiastic about his Laverda’s.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 18:49

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As Clarkson would say, "I'm having a crisis!"

Rufant > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 08/16/2019 at 18:49

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Very good Dear.

Rufant > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 08/16/2019 at 18:49

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Thanks!

Rufant > Chariotoflove 08/16/2019 at 18:49

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Cheers!

zipfuel > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 21:52

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These travelogues have become my summer beach reading, please keep  on trucking!

someassemblyrequired > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 22:04

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Hope the Evo repairs went well.   Really enjoyed this series.

phenotyp > Rufant 08/16/2019 at 23:34

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Very, very nice.

Cheers, dear. 

Rufant > zipfuel 08/17/2019 at 01:05

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Good to hear! I’m about to return to the normal world, so I’m not sure what the next one will be.

O/T fun fact: I own a Whyte PRST-1.

Rufant > someassemblyrequired 08/17/2019 at 01:14

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Thanks.

Luckily to take the gearbox out you have to take the front driveshafts out. One was flopping around like a wet rag once it was out, and so we found the culprit.

Last time he rebuilt this shaft the retaining clip went AWOL. So he sourced another one from a ‘CV specialist’ which clearly didn’t retain the shaft in the CV and it worked its way out enough so just the tip was in the CV when The Captain gave it the full monty off the start line. Which nipped the end of the driveshaft off like a cigar cutter.

The ‘slipping clutch’ was all the drive being transmitted through the viscous LSD centre in the transfer case. Being a friction fluid rather that a mechanical link, it felt just like a slipping clutch...

Just as well we found it as none of us had any idea why the nearly new comp clutch should start slipping.

I suggested he go genuine on the clip this time :)

It’s back on the trailer ready to race tomorrow 

Rufant > phenotyp 08/17/2019 at 01:16

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Thanks love.

Rufant > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 08/17/2019 at 04:07

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I found these funky little plants hiking around Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills today. My googling can’t find what they are, any ideas?

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rufant 08/17/2019 at 05:24

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I've never seen them flower like that! They are a type of sundew. It's an insectivorous plant of the genus Drosera (according to M'lady).

pip bip - choose Corrour > Rufant 08/17/2019 at 06:33

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nice trip

zipfuel > Rufant 08/17/2019 at 11:16

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Nice! I worked a summer in bike shop that sold them back in the day s o got to ride the shop demonstrator about a bit, my buddy crashed it...

Rufant > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 08/17/2019 at 17:27

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Excellent. Thanks.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosera

{The mucilage produced by Drosera has remarkable elastic properties and has made this genus a very attractive subject in biomaterials research. In one recent study, the adhesive mucilages of three species ( D. binata , D. capensis , and D. spatulata ) were analyzed for nanofiber and nanoparticle content. [27] Using atomic force microscopy , transmission electron microscopy , and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy , researchers were able to observe networks of nanofibers and nanoparticles of various sizes within the mucilage residues. In addition, calcium , magnesium , and chlorine – key components of biological salts - were identified. [27] These nanoparticles are theorized to increase the viscosity and stickiness of the mucilage, in turn increasing the effectiveness of the trap. More importantly for biomaterials research, however, is the fact that, when dried, the mucin provides a suitable substrate for the attachment of living cells. This has important implications for tissue engineering, especially because of the elastic qualities of the adhesive. Essentially, a coating of Drosera mucilage on a surgical implant, such as a replacement hip or an organ transplant, could drastically improve the rate of recovery and decrease the potential for rejection, because living tissue can effectively attach and grow on it. The authors also suggest a wide variety of applications for Drosera mucin, including wound treatment, regenerative medicine, or enhancing synthetic adhesives. [27] Also of note, because this mucilage can stretch to nearly a million times its original size and is readily available for use, it can be an extremely cost-efficient source of biomaterial.}

Unfortunately it seems they are being harvested from the wild for this research...  Might not post those photos to Instagram hey?

Rufant > pip bip - choose Corrour 08/17/2019 at 17:29

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Thanks 

Rufant > zipfuel 08/17/2019 at 17:36

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Ah correction, mine’s a PRST-4. Unfortunately one of the rear dropouts is chewed out, so it’s just a static display these days. I bloody loved riding that thing back in the day though.

This is it in front of my old Range Rover, I miss that too!