2-5-09
Birdport to Hobart

I was just filling up at the gas station, er petrol station and see someone has a nice ‘slinger’ as they say down here, in the shop.

As I was riding by I saw this car down there upside down. the cop was just leaving and you can see him closing the wire gate. I have no idea if they were hurt or not but must have done a job on the top of that little car.

I don’t see many of these old fine rock buildings in disrepair like this one. I am surprised to see it has gone down hill this far.

I saw this little Citron CV2 down a side street and had to go down and take its photo. I saw on the porch one of those big wheel bikes that they call penny farthings down here. I saw the guy that owned the car working in the side yard and went over to talk with him.

He said that this is a big area for the penny farthings. There is actually a big race that is going to be held in a couple of weeks. I told him about Cactus Jack being a wheel man and he said to invite him on down for the races. They race them around town on a ¼ mile route and go around four times. I think he said it averages out that they go 30mph. they do longer races too. SO, come on down Jack…..

He said the CV2 was two cylinder and this one is the biggest one they made with 600cc. they also made 350 and 450cc models. This one was made in france in 1987.

it is air conditioned with the little flap under the windshield.

the doors come off.

in town there is this bronze. Unfortunately the sun was from the wrong side. Notice the nice dog that wants to go for a run.

there was this painter statue too. I didn’t see who it was.

On down this little road I came across this old car by the side of the road with these guys crawling around looking for something. It turns out that some little brush flipped out from the magneto and they were looking for it in the grass. I helped look and finally it was found. It is a 1914 Itala that the guy has been working on for 12 years. He started with a froze up motor and part of a transmission. 

It has carbide lights.

When he finally got it back together he gave the crank a pull and off it started and ran like a dream. I just love these old slow rpm motors. This one idled at maybe 200 rmp.

The owner fiddling with the carberator.

He had the origional carb in the trunk but had this one for field running. Nice brass fittings and plumbing. Actually he had a fortune in brass on this thing.

It has a fabric covered framework for a body.

Off he goes. I stayed and talked with the third guy that is just walking up to me here. it turns out he restores old motorcycles and he was just along helping these guys with their car. He sure knew a lot about old motorcycles and names of some I sure had never heard of he owned. He mostly restores the ones made in the teens and early twenties.

I stopped in this little town and this guy named Wayne and his dog Jack pulled in and we got to visit some. He had an accent that wasn’t that hard for me to understand and it turns out he is from Minnesota but has been here for thirty years. He came down to teach school and still does a little. Jack has been riding bikes since he was just a little puppy. He is ten years old now and is a really nice dog that doesn’t mind pets at all. Wayne doesn’t have a car and uses the bike for all his transportation. He says he gets wet now and then. He lives up in Penguin and he invited me to come up when I leave on the ferry for a visit. I may take him up on that if it works out.

This gal pulled up on her bike and we had a nice visit with her. She is just a beginner rider and they made her put this L on the bike to let every one know she is a Learner and the cops know that she is only allowed to go 80km/hr. We had fun telling her to stay still while we read her tee shirt. she said one guy said he was blind and would have to use his hands………

I was taking this little dirt road out of town when I saw a nice rock building and some folkd walking around with cameras. I had to stop and see what was going on.

check out these rocks that they have carved with pick and chisel.

check out these rock steps that have been worn down over the years.

I have seen lots of these walls that I thought were blocks and now I see that some may be a lot different under.

They had this new wall constructed around the property. Looking in the background I see the little road I was on was paved at this point.

It got a lot nicer as I went out from town and got along this little river. The gravel roads are high crowned so you have to be careful when going around an outside corner.

I gently climbed up hill into forest country.