Day 238: Bedford Truck.

  England, 1930, and the humble Bedford Truck rolled off the production line.  The years following it become one of Britain’s leading international truck manufacturers, exporting all over the world.  WWII didn’t slow them down either because they developed several special models for the Allied Forces.  When the flower power days hit, it must have been the extra herbs that were around.  That inspired them to develop specialised utility vehicles to the modest base; fire truck, tippers, horse boxes, and flat-beds.  If you happen to find one lying around in a paddock today, it could be worth a dollar or two.  Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, recently a restored 1956 Bedford went for $5,000, labour of love.  

 

Day 196: Riley express.

 Riley was a British motor car/cycle manufacturer that started up in 1890.  It had a long history of merging with other companies; British Leyland being one of them.  1969 was the last time a Riley was rolled off the production line and today the Riley Trademark is owned by BMW.  This little baby was a 1950’s model, 4 door sedan.  In 1952 it was tested by “The Motor” magazine and its top speed was 121 km/hr (75mph).  Obviously they didn’t have ‘The Stig’ around then to test drive, or maybe they did he was just a bit younger then.  The total cost of the test car including taxes was 1,339 pounds.  My how the times have changed.

Day 189: 10.10.10 – Bathurst.

 It is a pretty special day today; people are getting married, kids celebrating 10^th birthdays all on the 10^th day of the 10^th month 2010.  Another special event is brewing too, and I have no shame in saying I’m going to be a total square eye’s today watching the Bathurst 1000; Holden versus Ford, V8’s humming, for 161 laps around Mt Panorama.  It is just a shame we don’t have smell a vision, having surround sounds makes up for that a bit.  The Bathurst 1000 is definitely on the bucket list to attend one year.  In the meantime, I’ll enjoy watching on the big screen and share a little piece of my V8 with you, and depart saying GO HOLDENS!   

Day 174: Footy Fever - life still goes on.

  Whilst the whole of the country is in the grip of ‘footy final fever’ my team didn’t make it in either code; sooooooo care factor - nil at this stage of who wins.  Although it is exciting whoever is playing, as long as it is a close game.  You know it might be one of the biggest days in sport for the majority of Aussies.  Life still goes on, especially for the cane farmers who are in the middle of the season at the moment.  The cutters remind me of the big beast in Disney’s Car movie that chases Mator and Lighting out of the paddock from tractor tipping.  I really wouldn’t want to get tangled up in a cutter because you would be toast.  There are spiral cutters at the front disperse the stems, and circular blades at the top that cut off all the green tips.  Only the stalks get processed and spat into the bin, the tractor drives besides.  Dust, bugs, and mayhem follow the cutter, but when you are sitting in an A/C cabin, it’s not too bad and adds to the spectacle.    So whether your team wins or loses, there is always next year, and life will still go on!

Day 124: Three Passions.

For those that know me well, V8’s, outback pubs, Australia’s pioneer past are some of my great passions in life, beside family & friends which goes without saying (hang on I just did, but there you go).  So when you have a Mad Max film car parked out in front (granted a bit worse for wear but it is a harsh climate out here) of an outback pub – being Silverton Hotel, and if those walls could talk, you just can’t help combine the lot.  Can you believe Mad Max 2 was shot back in 1979, and the photos of Mel in the pub are definitely the younger version – mmmm.  There were 10 pubs in Silverton during the height of the mining.  When the ore declined buildings came down, brick by brick and transported to Broken Hill and rebuilt there via camel and donkey trains 25km away.  On one of the signs in town it is quoted as “..buildings and ruins that remain are a testimony to the men and women that settled, worshipped, educated, served, paid rates, drank their share, went to court, goal but most of all worked” so I think they made a great use of the pubs, wouldn’t you say.

Day 120: Bulloo River crossing.

This is why our trip has taken so many different turns and backtracks since we started last Wednesday.  The Strzelecki Track and other surrounding roads to Haddon’s Corner and Cameron’s Corner was open, and then while on the road some places had one inch of rain, others three inches.  Put that on top of all the rain that has fallen into this area and being Lake Eyre catchment basin, I think Lake Eyre will have water in it for some time to come.  Even though we are not exactly where we would like to be we are discovering other places in SW Queensland, and there have been a few surprises as well.  Because a lot of the roads in this area are dirt it means a lot are closed for a while, so we had to hit the black stuff for a while to get to Broken Hill.  Hey, that all adds to the adventure and whilst I usually get out of the car on water crossings and take photos of the action.  The water at Bulloo River was just a tad colder, wider and deeper granted the bonus was no crocs but sat in the car for this one and took an action shot from the inside.  Sometimes I just like being on the other side of river when they are nearly 0.6m but great for action, and the other bonus it got rid of all the mud underneath the car we accumulated the day before.