OZ Dog
12-3-2008
I forgot to tell the story about what happened in the parking lot of the BMW/ Harley Davidson dealers place while I was there.
I was visiting with the salesman Steve when I happened to tell him about the couple that I met on the airport shuttle bus (in that squeeze play where we crashed into the side of the big bus) coming into town that were on some sort of ‘Flying Harleys’ deal. Well, he said, they are just around the corner, why don’t you go say hi to them? So I did go out and wish them good luck and a safe ride, as you usually do other riders. The guy had this Harley pretty well packed with some stuff strapped on top but he was practicing riding around the parking lot without his wife on the back. When he took off he seemed a little wiggly but finally got up speed and just then a little delivery truck pulled into the parking lot. The Harley rider quickly pulled to the right to let the truck go by….. the delivery truck quickly pulled to the left to let the Harley rider get by……. They ended up just a foot or so apart stopped nose to nose. Down here ya gotta get over to the LEFT to get out of the way!!! So the happy Flying Harley rider almost crashed the bike before he got it out of the parking lot….. sheesh, I probably would have made the same mistake myself. This is going to be a bit more exciting then I had first thought. I am very glad to have watched that educational play, so simple, yet so nearly nasty. The Flying Harley couple are from Rapid City, South Dakota and even with all the correct Harley clothing and gear with the Sturgis pins showing how many times he as been to the Sturgis Rally, that don’t mean sh*t down here. Good lesson eh?
There are several different vehicles for sale on the bulliten board in the hostel. As I was walking in yesterday I noticed this little outfit with a sign for sale in the parking lot. I think it is a 1990 Toyota Camper/Safari rig with lots of camping gear and looking pretty foxy with new paint and all. The price for it is listed at A$4500 which I suppose would be about USD$3000. Not bad deal IF it doesn’t break down some place in the outback. I was visiting with a guy here that said a vehicle is really a problem here because parts are really hard to get.
I finally got hooked up with Hamish who owns this little Suzuki DR650SE motorcycle. It was a real hassle to get the title changed over and all but we finally got the deal done and now I am the proud owner of this little bike. It is two years old and has 9,800 kilometers on it which is probably something like 6000 miles. He has taken really good care of it and it has several nice features upgraded to it for more serious travel. It has a staintune exhaust system with pipe and muffler that increases the hp as well as it gives it a little better tone. He had to have the jets changed in the carb to tune it for that exchange. It has brush guards on the handle bars to help protect the levers if and I say IF it should fall over some how. It had a big bash plate on the bottom and it has a really nice set of big flex foot pegs that I think he said cost $250 if I remember right, either way they are really nice. It also has a nice set of soft luggage that is made in USA the tag says. It has nice new tires and the big thing is that it also came with a big 22 liter gas tank that is also made in the USA. When he set this tank on and hooked it up he found that the connection from the petcock to the tank would leak a little gas. Hamish didn’t like that at all so he put the original tank back on. I will need to use some farmer gasket or maybe a new bigger o-ring to fix that problem but for now I am just going to tie it on top of my gear and get out of town.
I had brought a set of soft bags that I use on a couple of my bikes at home but will have to find the post office tomorrow and send them back home as I sure don’t need two sets.
I haven’t ridden the bike yet and sure am apprehensive about getting out in traffic. One other thing I forgot to say about traffic is that this morning when I got out in very heavy foot traffic I noticed that the locals all walk on the left. Things are sure different down here but I find myself being aware of getting on the left now just walking around. At first I was walking in the tourist traffic and in that situation there doesn’t seem to be any rules. I guess there are people from all over and some walk on the left at home and some on the right. What a jumble, it was better walking with the locals during rush hour. An old dog learns new tricks slowly but hopefully I can learn before killing myself. So here is the New Oz Dog and his ‘new’ girl. She is a little ‘light weight’ one coming in at 325 pounds.
I went up to one of the dealerships that is not too far from my hostel. It is amazing that I didn’t know it was here. For some reason it didn’t show up on line yellow pages for Suzuki motorcycle dealers in the area. They didn’t have any new DR650SE’s either but they did have some of the little WR250 and you can see the steep prices that they are getting, or at least going to try to get for them. Times are tough down here too. I did get a set of tire irons and a cable lock at the shop up the street from the dealership. I visited quite a while with a really nice guy there that tried to give me some pointers on how to ride and deal with the outback and town traffic. They take photos of you here and that is one of the ways you get caught speeding. Not sure how they are going to contact me for speeding fines which are A$200 but I suppose when I try to leave at the airport they will get their due or not let you come back unless you pay. One way or another I am sure that they will get their blood somehow.
I was walking back from the motorcyle store and came upon this BMW ambulance. Evidently they send this out as a first responder machine and later the big ambulance comes. I didn’t stay long but think that the problem was that an old man fell down on the escalator and got hurt.
Window washers at the building where we got the title transferred.
Here is a photo of Hamish. He is a specialty realtor that handles mostly residential properties and has done so for many years. He is going to get married and wanted to take his new wife with him on a motorcycle but the little DR650 just isn’t big enough for two up travel. I am hoping that I will get to ride with him for a few days soon. He will be getting married in about a month so it may be iffy if we do get to ride together. I sure like him and he went to a lot of extra effort to make this deal happen. He was actually just going to take the bike out for a little trip before he got married and sell it after. He sure went out of his way to get me out of the city.
THANK YOU HAMISH!!!
