Author Topic: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally  (Read 2153 times)

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2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« on: March 20, 2021, 05:37:21 AM »
Day One Ride Report - Radelaide To Wallaroo Mines

After shelving my plans for Mudgee in january (and pretty much any interstate travel for the time being) my attention turned to SA's Not The National Rally overnighter at Tumby Bay.  With thursday to monday off it was to be have the kwaka serviced on thursday and hit the road on friday.  Before changing jobs two months ago I could catch a train to work when the kwaka was in for a service but nowadays I don't have that option.  The only trains that pass my work are freight trains.  I took this photo yesterday.



However, two weeks ago I purchased a Yamaha Xmax, primarily for shopping but will also do the commute when the kwaka is in for a service.



I rotated this shed in my back yard ninety degrees to house it.



Consequently I took the kwaka in earlier in the week, they got started on it earlier and had it finished by lunch time so I decided to hit the road on thursday afternoon, booking accommodation in Wallaroo Mines on the outskirts of Kadina on the way to picking up the bike.  Traversing South Road reminded me why I like departing in the wee hours of the morning.  Fortunately lane filtering is now legal in South Australia and I could worm my way through the traffic.



Once on the Northern Connector I was flying until I hit roadworks on Port Wakefield Road (which I have seen listed as Wakefield Highway a few times recently).  I pulled into my usual spot at Inkerman for a break as it's between to point to point speed cameras, but said road works would have deemed those cameras useless.



Some twat had left their propaganda on the tables there.  I wonder if anyone would actually pick it up up and say yeah I'll read/watch that.



Arriving at my accommodation for the night I noticed the motel didn't have a parking spot for those checking into reception so I pulled into a vacant one outside a random room and went to reception.  No one was there but after calling the number they said they'd be there in five minutes.  By fluke where I parked the bike happened to be my room.



The day was very last minute but I also managed to arrange dinner with a friend who lives on the outskirts of Kadina.  I stopped to get a photo of this windmill in Matta Flat when I noticed there was a big coffee cup there.  The coffee cup photo has gone in the appropriate thread.



Returning for the night and being well beyond my bedtime I noticed a lizard on the wall outside my door.  I shan't play it as a big thing.



Day one complete.

I had no issues with it but the day before yesterday the core came out of my disc lock when I tried to lock it at work.  Does anyone know how to fix this?



Said Xmax got a top box and a Bluesky dashcam this week.  I'll be testing that this morning and post thoughts in that thread later.

« Last Edit: March 24, 2021, 03:21:46 PM by Bodø »
 
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Offline Brock

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2021, 10:51:26 AM »
Technically speaking the lizard is a gecko, and is absolutely harmless.. Unless you are a fly , mossy or spider.

In Thailand they are considered good luck. I must be really lucky as at my Thai house i have 30 or so that I can see at night, there will be many more that I cant see.
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Bodø

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2021, 12:10:01 PM »
Is it big for a gecko?  Asking for a friend.   :whistle
 

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2021, 12:37:41 PM »
Is it big for a gecko?  Asking for a friend.   :whistle



But the geckos around my home are about 15cm
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2021, 12:46:49 PM »
 :Like:
 

Bodø

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2021, 04:10:02 PM »
I just remembered this, but when refuelling in Kadina I went in to pay my fuel when a kid about five said hello, so I said g'day and then he said he could see half of my bike (half was obscured by the pump.  My response was that I only see half of it when I'm riding.
 

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2021, 07:47:47 PM »
I just remembered this, but when refuelling in Kadina I went in to pay my fuel when a kid about five said hello, so I said g'day and then he said he could see half of my bike (half was obscured by the pump.  My response was that I only see half of it when I'm riding.

Thats a good one :rofl :rofl :rofl


It reminds me of a Harley rider I met when I was 8.

I asked him
   "Are you a bikie?"
and he said
   "Nope I'm a biker not a bikie, a bike-key is is what you start a bike with"

It's one of those memories I'll never forget :grin
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2021, 05:25:25 AM »
Day Two - Wallaroo Mines To Cowell

Despite a late night the body clock kicked in and I still woke up early.  Upon opening the door to load a bike this critter tried to run in.  He was ushered outside.  The picture isn't overly clear but it was a rushed photo.



Overnight road trips usually mean taking breakfast cereal.  More often than not it's Special K but occasionally it's be Nutragrain or Sultana Bran.



I left in the dark and arrived in Wallaroo in the dark.  It was only seven kilometres from my accommodation at Wallaroo Mines.  I got some good lighting on this by pointing the bike at it and turning on the LED bar.



Then it was off to the port and I got there in the dark too, although preparations for sailing were under way.





It was light before I got on the boat though.



Overall there were four bikes on the ferry just like on my way to Tassie last year in 2019.  I keep saying last year.  The only one that interested me was this Goldwing.



A short cut across the Spencer Gulf was under way.  When I checked in I was told that a drone will be filming for their website and facebook pages and to go up on the top deck.  I didn't actually see a drone but in email conversations after I got back they said it fly and look forward to posting said images on the relevant pages.





I spent the whole trip on the top deck in the fresh air.  I had to ride the bike up this ramp and all I was thinking was "don't stall it".  Part of me also wondered how slippery it might be if it was wet.



The journey to Lucky Bay was a lot longer than the Kangaroo Island ferries I did last year but a lot cheaper.  This was my first return to Lucky Bay since 2015.  The ferry wasn't operating then.



Look at all those punters waiting to go back the other way.  How did they get a morning sailing?  Initially my plan was to utilize the ferry going back and to ride the long way there, but the only sailing on my return day was 1430 and I didn't want to use most of the day hanging around for it, so ditched the idea.  A day later I thought about sailing in the opposite direction and the times were favorable so I booked it.



When we hit Lincoln Highway almost everyone headed south but not this black duck.  If anything I don't do anything conventionally.  I was hoping to find a road from the Lincoln Highway to Minbrie and Mangalo that Langers had suggested but as I kept going it was apparent there wasn't one or I missed it but I did recall going to Iron Baron in 2015 and there being a road to Kimba from there so if I didn't find it I'd do that.  Along said road I saw this sign in Middleback Range.



Then I thought, Whyalla is a city, not a district council and wondered when it changed (and how old was this sign).  I did some research when I got home.  All I could find was that the City Of Whyalla was once "The Corporation of the City of Whyalla" but never a district so I decided to write to the city council and ask for clarification, attaching that photo in the email.  I got a reply last week saying "This sign is not a Council or DIPTI owned sign, Whyalla has never been a district and it appears that someone has placed that sign there without consent.".

It may not be a council or DPTI sign but I doubt it was without consent.  I've seen these signs in a few places including Whyalla Barson, Lincoln Gap, Watraba and Ceduna so I think they get put there by the Outback Communities Authority with consent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback_Communities_Authority

This stop sign in Cooyerdoo is a legal road sign, but trains stopped running in Eyre Peninsula a month or so after I was here on Border Run 2019.  Well grain trains stopped running then.  I'm not sure if if this is a grain train line or an iron ore train like.  Iron Knob, Iron Duke, Iron Knight and Iron Baron are all in this area.



The previous sign said 60km/h so I'd thought the increase to 80 may mean the the road conditions would improve.  It didn't.  It wasn't the worst road I have encountered but will go in the "never do again" category.



A quick stop at a bend before checking out Secret Rocks..



I am pretty sure this is the road I still had to travel, not what I had already covered.  Geez, I only took this photo about a week ago and I can't remember what direction I was facing when I took it.



I'm not surprised that Secret Rocks are kept secret.  The road out here was abysmal and the rocks themselves weren't that impressive.  Not everyone is going to write home about them (although I just did).  I didn't know they were here, just stumbled across them.



I was quite happy to hit a sealed road in Kimba, where I stopped for lunch.  Many a road house these days have staff from the sub continent which in turn means they have curries and that instead of the usual schnitzels and pasties.  This was the first overnight road trip I have done without having a schnitzel.  I'd choose a rice dish any day if the option is there and the butter chicken here was very good.  Butter chicken, Barosta Bros iced coffee, the Ozstoc cap and the 2014 National Rally shirt all color coordinated with the kwaka.





The Durban Curry I had in Tumby Bay the following night was awesome.  I didn't take any photos of that one though.

After lunch it was the usual things you do in Kimba, photograph the silo art and big galah (posted in those relevant threads) and spotted this bus.  I was hoping to see JB's bus in Tumby Bay later in the trip.



It's not often a fox stays still long enough for you to get a photo of it.  Actually there were quite of lot thee littered around the grounds of the information centre bakery.  I didn't even notice it was a bakery until I looked at google maps street view just now.  Probably because all traversing through Kimba means refuelling at the road house and if I lunch or brunch then it's at said roadhouse.  The motel rooms all looked vacant come to think of it.



I took the Kimba-Cowell road for the first time and it was a good ride.  I didn't cover many new roads on this trip but they were all from Kimba.  I'd done Whyalla-Kimba to get here, Kimba-Cowell on the way out and the Cleve-Kimba on my last day.  The latter two were nice rides.

I always so no road trip in SA is complete if you don't see either a disused railway or a salt lake and I saw both on this trip, but I guess it's almost a given that you'll see ruins somewhere.  This one was in Miltalie.  What's rare is is it still has a roof.



Now that's more like it.



That one was at Minbrie.  I could see the Spencer Gulf from there so I knew I was close to pulling up stumps for the night.



The silo art in Cowell was done only a month after my stay in Cowell on Border Run 2019 so snapped that before refuelling for the next day, buying milk and making my way to my accommodation.



Until now it had always been the Jade Motel but this time around they didn't return my calls and booked a cabin at the caravan park instead.



When the ground isn't solid you always worry about the stand sinking into the ground, but I improvised with this cover which I used as a shim.



I spotted these when I went for a walk into town.





Unlike my previous two outings Spotwalla/Bubbler didn't miss a beat this time.  Funnily enough the course on Eyre Peninsula itself looks like a mini Eyre Peninsula (shapewise).



I've used the flag icon and fuel icons before but this was the first time I used the green and yellow spots in Bubbler.  Green was for where I changed roads and wanted to record a spot so the line doesn't 'cut a corner' or for obscure places where I took photos (ie. Cooyerdoo, Secret Rocks).  The yellow ones were where I changed timelapse cameras (ghostxldrift, mobius, gopro).
« Last Edit: April 26, 2021, 07:42:21 PM by Bodø »
 
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Offline richo

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2021, 07:19:04 AM »
Great report.    Looks like a great ride
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2021, 07:44:31 AM »
Interesting read Bodo  :thumb
Thanks for sharing  :like
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2021, 11:46:42 AM »
Great report.    Looks like a great ride

I warn you now, the Whyalla to Kimba road isn't very ST friendly.
 

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2021, 11:47:03 AM »
Interesting read Bodo  :thumb
Thanks for sharing  :like

My pleasure.
 
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2021, 10:12:56 AM »
Day Three - Cowell To Tumby Bay

Prior to leaving Adelaide this was my planned route for the day, doing the Cowell-Kimba road, Kimba-Cleve road, Kyancutta-Mount Joy road and the Cummins-Tumby Bay road for the first time, but went out the window (I know the kwaka doesn't have windows) when I did the first one the previous day.



I did Cummins to Tumby Bay twice on this day and the Cleve to Kimba road on day four.  Kyancutta to Mount joy (which I have an inkling is now sealed*) may get done on the Elliston RTE.  I've requested not to be rostered on the saturday, sunday and monday of that weekend.  Hopefully the roster gods are kind to me.

No surprise but day three saw me load up the kwaka in the dark then vegetated in my cabin waiting for first light.





As the odd shower was forecast all the wet gear was on (both me and the duffel bag) but between Cowell and Cleve it was a down pour, not the drizzle I had envisaged.  I stopped for a look at some old farm machinery on display in Cleve.





I've lost count of how many places I have crossed Goyder's Line and taken photos of monuments.  I am guessing that monument I often see in Koongawa but deem it's too unsafe to stop is a Goyder's Line one.  This one is either in Cleve or Rudall.  I find it frustrating that locality signs are rarely placed at the actual border.  Apparently either side of the border was once known as Yadnarie.



Every time I come to Lock I always get a picture of this.



This wall art was just around the corner.  I saw a few paintings of this person around the traps on this trip.



Also in Lock, somewhere along the Tod Highway.
*edit:  Actually it's in Peachna, Murdinga.



Grain trains stopped running only weeks after I did Border Run 2019 so it was no surprise that the railway not in use sign was quite shiny in Tooligie.  So was the ones I saw at Rudall and Yeelanna.



I did see a train at very level crossing in 2015.



Since 2015 I have learned that many a township is hidden from the highway and there are building just a hundred or so metres behind the scrub.  This one was Yeelanna.



After having a pump stop short on me in Orroroo last year I was reluctant to use this but opted to just in case.  No such problems this time around.



Today's ruins come compliments of Yallunda Flat.  I'd be back here later in the day taking photos on the opposite side of the road.



These days topping for roadworks is inevitable.  This is either Tumby Bay or Whites River.  Taking selfies when stopped at roadworks is something I started doing in Tassie.





I had planned and stopped for lunch in Port Lincoln but the service was so slow I got sick of waiting and eventually walked out before ordering.

One of my favorite places is Coffin Bay.  Seeing the oyster farm on the water reminded me of working on a fish farm in Japan.  I wasn't very good at it, got sea sick and quit within a month.







Remnants of bush fire activity was visible from the lookout.  I didn't even know there had been fires in the region this year.



Like Yeelanna Coulta is another township I had never seen on previous trips but just hundreds of metres behind the scrubs there were indeed buildings there.  This was a sculpture in a random back yard.



Back in Yallunda Flat for the second time.  I wonder if that person from the City Of Whyalla thinks this sign has also been erected without consent.



When I checked in at the caravan park the manager advised me my friends "were already here and probably having a cup of tea".  I saw Stinky Pete and Langers's ride as I made my way to my cabin.



I'd heard Stinky Pete had got toe last cabin so wondered where Langers was staying.  Knowing I had bunks in a second room I thought I could offer that only to enter my cabin and find the bunks were very small you could almost call them shelves.  Well that's how I used them.



Being the Not The National Rally all my t-shirts for this trip were national rally shirts, however for dinner the Ozstoc shirt came out.  So too did my new Harrington, after replacing the previous one which I had for three decades.



We walked to dinner and I snapped this on the way there.  I got another photo of it leaving the following morning along with the silo art.



Spot up until that point.

« Last Edit: March 29, 2021, 05:28:58 AM by Bodø »
 
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Offline richo

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2021, 02:32:17 PM »
Great report.   Thanks for the good read
Richo
 

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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2021, 07:54:58 PM »
Great report Bodo. The traffic hold up was White's River (we rode through there yesterday). Coffin Bay is paradise IMHO. Should the X-Lotto gods smile on me, that'll be my address for the next decade. I really don't understand the business model of Genesee Wyoming, the company which bought up all the SA country grain railways and then closed them all over a short period of time and forced all the grain onto our roads not built for B doubles and triples.
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Re: 2021-03-13 Not The National Rally
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2021, 05:22:18 AM »
Day Four - Tumby Bay To Adelaide

Last day of the trip and it was time to head home.  Probably not the first time I have mentioned this here but this has been my travel companion for four decades.



I did actually take the flag to the dinner the night before but we didn't get a photo with it.



By this time the bike was loaded and it was just the few electricals left to the end to be put in the top box when I hit the raod on first light.





As with many RTE overnighters it's a sunday morning and usually means I have Rage on in the background.  They were featuring Britney Spears which really isn't my cup of tea, although what Rage plays rarely is.  At least it wasn't hip hop.



First light means hit the road.  I did go looking for JB's bus but never saw it.  Another place, another time.



I did say I got another photo of this.



Aftter forgetting to get it on the way in the previous day I stopped for some photos of the silo art on the way out.  I think Stinky Pete and Chris overtook me whilst I was here.



I overtook them not much later and figured they'd pass me when I stopped to get a photo of the big whiting at near by Port Neill.  They did.



This was also where the sun decided to poke its head out.



Arno Bay was where I would say good bye to the Lincoln Highway.  I'd already had photos of this but pulled in here to add a turning 'point'
to Bubbler/Spotwalla before heading along the road to Cleve and then Kimba.  This is the first time I have been to Southern Eyre Peninsula and not gone through Whyalla.  Distance wise, going via Kimba added another twenty kilometres to the trip but is a far more interesting ride.



Popped into the lookout at Cleve.  That was a first for me.



I spotted an old postie bike in the bush at Campoona.  In western Japan these are often referred to as tansha (単車) and I did work for a company that collected these, cleaned them up and shipped them to Taiwan.  I didn't stay there very long after coming to the conclusion that it was a front for some dodgy stuff.  I could be wrong, but it was the impression I got.



The furthest from Adelaide I had seen an Adelaide Metro bus was in Iron Knob in 2015 but went one better when I spotted this in Kimba.  I'd have ridden past this two days earlier, but didn't noticed it as I was going in the other direction and it was behind a wall.  After posting this on facebook yesterday a very interesting conversation emerged at work.  I can't say much more than that at present.



I got stopped at roadworks at Pandurra, just near the Nutbush Retreat.  By this time I was wondering if I'd rendezvous with Stinky Pete at the intersection of Eyre and Lincoln Highways.  I didn't.



Once on this side of Spencer Gulf I stopped to get a couple of big things, the thong/jangle at Telowie and a coke can at Solomontown.  This car was near the thong.



This was near the can.



I stopped at the Snowtown roadhouse, refuelled and had another Butter Chicken and rice for lunch.  The one at Kimba days earlier was way better, but the Durban curry in Tumby Bay topped them both.  It completed a road trip where I didn't eat one schnitzel or pastry.  I took the road via Nantawarra, Balaklava and Mallala home but didn't stop anywhere.  Another enjoybale road trip and ride to eat done and dusted.





 
 
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