10-5-11

Headed home

I never got to see one but I guess this is a crossing area.

Woodenbong has nothing to do with dope smoking bongs….. just a regular town, not like Nimbin the hemp capitol of OZ.

The famous Rabbit Fence that is supposed to keep out most of the rabbits. They use a lot of 1080 down here to control foxes, rabbits and feral cats.

I wish these distant photos would have turned out better but they were doing a lot of controlled burning as well as a few wild fires all over the country.

I just loved these little narrow paved roads without center lines. They actually figure that if you are driving down there on a road that you should be smart enough to keep to your own side of the road when you cant see ahead, but allow you to use the whole road when it is safe.

Peter and Dennis and Dell pointed me in the direction of the Blues Rally held in a small town, actually just in the back yard of a pub put on by the Ulysses motorcycle club. This action shot was a little event in the vendor area which turned out to be a old fashioned gunny sack race. The folks down here at this event were sure a nice bunch. At first I was a little put off by all the Harleys and black leather, chains and BS, but it turns out they are just a bunch of really nice ‘Blokes’. I am starting to pick up on a little of the language. I asked one guy if it was looking like rain and he said… Thizafo….  I had to ask where that was and finally he slowed down and told me that Ozies shorten most things down and what he actually said was “This afternoon”… 

Ned is a National hero. He was a horse thief and was put in jail the first time when he was 14 years old I think. His last stand was when he went against a huge group of government lawmen. He made himself an iron suit and went into battle. They finally shot him in the foot and elbow and got him down and arrested him. While I was there they finally found his bones and identified them for sure. When they hung him his last words were “such is life”.

The sales girl was just a sweetheart.

The group that put on the rally.

Hack on the ‘wrong’ side and with its nose way up in the air. I am not sure why he had it set up with the high front end.

Paint protection? Jeez these clean Harley boyz.

Here is one for you Micah.

A bike show where you were to pick the best one. I liked the dirty little fat tire one.

This guy rode up on his new Ural. I told him that they cost $12K in the states… how much do they charge to put the sidecar on the wrong side and sell them down here? he said they cost $20K and you cant get them two wheel drive because the differential is on the other side and they cant run a drive shaft over to the side car wheel.

I hung out with this guy for a while and discussed world politics and finance. He has been in the MC trailer business for 20 years and is ready to get out. Maybe slow sales?

A new 1200cc Tenere. I think they are going to start selling them in the USA now.

This was his throttle control device. It is illegal to use a throttle device in OZ but so far he said he has been able to get away with it. Probably the cops don’t realize what it is?

The guys I camped next to ready to ride in the morning.

I just love the farm areas. It is early spring down under now and these garlic?onions? were sure looking good.

A Ned Kelly fan made his mail box special.

Must be some sort of cactus fruit.

I was stopped at a little rest area overlook and this guy rode up. Turns out he is a 'Conflict Resolution Specialist' that has been working with the aboriginal tribe not too far from Alice Springs. He has been on the road for about nine months now with his Motorhome that he carries this little bike on the back. He said he had enough money for a few more months and was really not looking forward to going back to work.

in the distance you might be able to see the Gold Coast…. Yuck!!! It looks like a long city development right along the coast, sort of like Florida. I stayed away.

Too bad there was so much smoke in the air.

stopped here for lunch and a short nap.

Oil wells? Looks like they get a little water with the oil and collect it in the big tank. I hope they dispose of it in a safe manner.

the first little scooter with two front wheels I have seen.

Jeez, they even run the little 4x4 Toyota’s with snorkels (deep water) on the tracks!!! Sorry Keith for not many train photos this time. I think we all got burned out on the trains when I was in Kiwi land. An interesting thing is that every state in Australia has different gage rails so trains have to change the wheels on the cars to go into a different state or just unload them and load into a different car for the rest of the trip. I think they said there were three different distances between the rails.

That big mountain in the distance is what is left of a big volcano, sort of like Devils Tower just down in Wyoming. They said that the soil around here is very rich volcanic.

just amazing to ride thru.

They are promoting farmers to plant trees to capture carbon.

Back home to the Doghouse. You might be able to see the sunflowers I planted on the south side of the cabin. They got a lot of rainwater this spring and came up looking really good. I planted Anazazi beans between them but the grasshoppers ate them. Not much rain this summer but they did put on some seed that I see the birds are harvesting. millions of grasshoppers have eaten the leaves off of most everything. 

A very wild plant that looks like it was trying to grow into the motorcycle shed. the hoppers didn't seem to like it. 

looks like some bird found my old Stitch riding coat a perfect place to shit.