21 Apr 2025

 21 Apr 2025

Penultimate day has just been done! Well for the 2025 Morris Minors Rally in Perth anyway. It has sort of turned into a South Australian Silo Art trip along the way as well. So I guess it is fitting that I wind up the SA Silo Art tomorrow too. I saw a few today and got thoroughly sent in the wrong direction by the TomTom, it added about 120 kilometres to the trip. Anyway made it to the cabin for the night and found a pizza vending machine for dinner (there is nothing else at all here for food after 4 PM. 

I am in Karoonda for the night and the cabin is fantastic, it is an ECO Cabin, so it has everything you need in a small package, it is solar and battery operated, and has a fridge and air-cond as well.

A Cabin in Karoonda

So today was made up of 4 Silo Art sites, though I didn't realise when I set out today that two of those were Silos were only accessible via lots of unsealed roads. Unsealed roads are fine and that is what the car had to deal with when it was new, but it was built in 1955 and it isn't in its "first flush of youth" anymore, so what is fine in a modern is a but hard on a 70 year old car. That said, there were some great sites along the way. it was 128 kilometres from the night stop to Galga, and only about 30 of that was dirt, but every street in Galga is dirt too, it is in the centre of nowhere 

Driving the dirt highway 

Interesting locations along the way

Some very nice Silo Art too:

Galga Silo Art - painted by: Jarrod Loxton

Form there another equally great road out to Copeville, not sure how that town is even still there, just a hand-full of houses and very overgrown tennis courts. Nice Silo Art though, glad to have seen it, though I can't see me every going back.

Copeville Silo Art - Painted by: Jarrod Loxton

From there it seemed like a very long way along some very ordinary dirt roads to get back to the sealed highways, though some more side of the road interest along the way:

Finally back on the main roads again, the TomTom decided to add a huge amount of mileage and stress to the mix by dropping me on one of the busiest highways I have seen in weeks, well out of the way of where I wanted to end up too, 125 kilometre drive to get to Coonalpyn when it could have been 60 kilometres (as I did on the way to the next Silos and the nights stop at Karoonda:

Coonalpyn Silo Art - painted by: Guido van Helten

Karoonda Silo Art - painted by: Heesco

There are two more Silo Art sites to see tomorrow, that it seems that my last on in South Australia will not be quite done, they are currently painting another Silo where it is. Then there is one in Victoria I need to see again as they have recently completed repainting the Silos with a new creation. The it is straight home!...

20 Apr 2025

 20 Apr 2025

Today was all about Silo Art, so it was no loss to see Port Augusta in the rear view mirror. It seemed to take forever to get to the first Silos at Bute, but then it is 184 kilometres, so it was the bulk of the days driving in one go. Definitely worth a visit, though I must admit I am surprised that all of the South Australian silos see to have been built either at right angles to the road or they are all hidden behind trees and scrub. In Victoria all the silos seem to have been build parallel to the road, eg. the train tracks run along side the road. Here in SA all the old tracks to the silos seem to cross the roads, not that it is a great drama, it just means getting the car in front of them can be tricky, rather than just pulling up to the silo and taking a pic like in Victoria.

Bute Silo, you see what I mean about hidden. 

Bute Silo Art - painted by: Kimsone & Scott Nagy

From Bute it was a relatively leisurely drive, only 82 kilometres to Owen. This was the start of a small about of back tracking, but you have to do that to see them all.

Owen Silo Art - painted by: Robert Hannaford and Cam Scale

As you can see the weather has again caught up with me and a few places were a tad damp, which required waiting in the car until it let up, but all part of the job I guess. So retracing some of the distance from Owen it was 77 kilometres on to Farrell Flat, this one was definitely a wait till it passes situation, it rained horizontally here! The wind, wow it has been strong. Another stunning example of how difficult it is to get in front of these silos.

Farrell Flat Silo Art - Painted by: Jarrod Soden & Matthew Knights of Perplswet Designs

So following that little downpour, it was a leisurely (ok not really, the road was rough and there were a lot of hills and potholes in the sharp bends, which can be a tad exciting in a cart spring old car) 66 kilometre run to Eudnuda. This one was definitely a challenge to get to. Actually it took me a while to even see the sign on how to get to it, I mean I could see the silos over the building and trees, but the sign to it was tiny.

Eudunda Silo Art - painted by: Sam Brooks

And that about wraps up today, 225 kilometres just to see Silos, and 184 kilometres to get to the first one, a short days driving really. Tomorrow should be a short days driving too... 

19 Apr 2025

 19 Apr 2025

Wow we really has it all today, well not quite, there was no snow. We did get torrential rain one second (well it actually lasted for a lot longer than a second), then it instantly cut off, like driving through a curtain and its a raring gale force dust storm. Yes that is right we car, dust storm, brown car, formerly green. Even had a gale gust so strong that it blew the car clear onto the other side of the road, luckily I was the only one on the road.

So from Ceduna to Port Augusta via Cowell. It added an extra 100 or so kilometres to the journey, so another very long day driving, though I think it was worth the effort. As I have done all the current Silo Art pieces in Victoria (well I will have by the time I get home as one has just been repainted) I decided to do the South Australian ones and today was another off that list. There is another further down the Eyre Peninsula at Tumby Bay, but that one is just too far out of the way and to be honest I don't mind missing it. The Cowell one is great though and well wort a look if you ever find yourself down that way (or if you are just ticking them off and have extra time to get there). It took just two and a half weeks to paint!

Cowell Silo Art - painted by: N I T S U A

On the way to Cowell, stopped for a brief visit in Cleve. Popped in to see Anne, but Henry said she was out, lost her glasses. He says she'd lose her head if it wasn't still firmly attached. Ok, I know, bad, but you have to have some fun don't you?

Welcome to Cleve, South Australia

After that there was just a brief stop in Whyalla, very brief, looks interesting from what I saw of it, but I really only did just pass through.

Then straight on to Port Augusta. What can I say, yes it is easter and nothing is open, but wow. I check into the motel and the lady asks for a credit card and licence. I ask how much this will cost and she says nothing (I had already pre-paid the room), so I say, but there must be an amount, she says it is just as a guarantee. I ask again how much and she says no amount, I know I am missing something here, so she has blocked an undisclosed amount on my credit card with no information as to how much or when she will remover the block.

Anyway Port Augusta, what can I say about it. Well actually I wrote a spiel about it and asked ChatGPT to tone it down, so over to how ChatGPT edited my paragraph:

"Ah, Port Augusta. Where the pubs are either fully booked or only accept customers with three teeth and a firm handshake from Centrelink. Anyway, back to town: food options are limited unless you brought your own stove and a pioneering spirit. The streets are alive with the sounds of the local youth, who appear to be auditioning for a Mad Max reboot by shouting profanities and staggering in packs. The whole place has the distinct aroma of giving up. And yet—just when you’re weighing up whether the bridge might offer sweet release—there’s the sunset. A warm, golden blaze over the river that almost tricks you into thinking the town has charm. Almost."

I think that came out rather well, so you can probably work out that my version was slightly more colourful, but it does sum it all up rather nicely. 

Main street - Pub is open there are 5 people and no-one is eating.

Further along main street - Port Augusta

The river views and sunsets are nice though...

18 Apr 2025

 18 Apr 2025

Another wet morning, though it dried up fairly soon, and it started early with the neighbours leaving at 4 am and 6 am, so not a huge amount of sleep. it was a short day of about 6 hours driving today, or so I thought, but it seemed so much longer to do it. I didn't get into Ceduna until 5:30pm, 557 kilometres seems so much longer when you aren't doing 110 kilometres per hour.

Over all not a very adventurous day really, stopped for a couple of photos here and there and to get fuel, but that is about it. I didn't get much fuel, just topped it up twice as I had a jerry can in the boot of much better fuel from Perth as the engine now needs premium to run properly. 

I stopped at Nullarbor Roadhouse and goodness the flies were out of control, no matter what you did you were completely covered in the things. I then went further on and stopped at Yalata where there is an unmanned fuel stop, I didn't get fuel just needed a break. There were no flies at all, not one! Driving further on and stopping at Nundroo for a dring (51 kilometres from Yalata) and the flies were worse than the Nullarbor Roadhouse. Is there some sort of no go zone for flies at Yalata, if so they should extend it to the other two places too!

I have been surprised by the number of people riding bicycles across the country, no matter where I have been driving there is always a bicycle or two to pass. Maybe everything is a scale, people think I am mad driving a Morris Minor across the country and I get to think these people are mad riding bicycles. I was passed by and passed going the other way a lot of motorcycles todays too, which was a first for the trip so far.  

Have made a discovery as well. I was wondering why the passenger front door was suddenly scraping the leading edge on the back of the front guard again (it has done it before), but it seems like someone, somewhere has actually hit the car and slightly bent the bumper and the front guard, enough to push the alignment out and now the back of the guard is bent, so will keep hitting the front door. Unfortunately I am going to have to put a bolt back in the gap between the guard and the sill to keep them apart.

17 Apr 2025

 17 Apr 2025

I am not sure exactly what time it started raining over night, I didn't look and tried to ignore it, but by this morning the predicted 10-40mm looked to be getting towards the latter end of that estimate. It has been wet, to very wet most of the day, finally starting to dry off late this afternoon.

Anyway, digs for last night were in Norseman and to be honest I think the idea of ditching the tent was a great one (actually looks like ditching the tent most of the way home is likely after looking at the weather forecasts!).

Last nights accommodation, obviously before the rain.

When I left Norseman this morning I wondered if any of the roads would be cut as it wasn't beyond imagining given the size of some of the "puddles" on the road out of town. Anyway it wasn't to be and as such a day of driving in the rain was entered into.

Instant lake (behind the trees) just add road run off

I stopped for fuel a few times, interestingly most of the highway servos are BP in Western Australia, and they all have 98 Premium, which I need for the new engine. So much better than the trash you get once you cross the WA border, lets just say the quality leaves a lot to be desired in some places. Such a shame it can't be BP all the way across TBH.

Useful distances signpost

Accommodation at a roadhouse tonight, and one in the middle of nowhere, it is great and BP too haha! We're going just a little retro I think

Hmmm, unfortunately as I write this, it appears that the rain has managed to catch up with me. Forecast is for thunderstorms most of the night and morning tomorrow. Hopefully it is a forecast they have gotten wrong. It has been known to happen...

16 Apr 2025

 16 Apr 2025

Nothing to report, car going fine, no longer gushing oil everywhere, though it still is leaking unfortunately. Having had the engine fully reconditioned there was hope that it would stop dripping oil in the drive, but alas no it seems.

Left York relatively early after a very smokey night. The place I stayed at was s shocker, the room smelled of smoke the minute I walked in and then once all the road workers returned to the accommodation and started smoking in the courtyard, well. It seemed that someone had started a fire somewhere as well, it was so bad I had to leave the room and go for a walk for a while, but the smoke was everywhere. All I can say is that if they think they can charge me for airing out the room they are sadly mistaken!

Was a nice day all round, though only really stopped for a very few pictures and fuel, so just short of 7 hours driving today.

Tomorrow starts relatively early as well as I have another 6 hour drive to the next stop...

15 Apr 2025

15 Apr 2025

Slow start this morning, everyone has talked up the wee town of York as wonderfully historic and all that, the added advantage is that it has a Motor Museum. So I had decided that I would head there for the day and have a look around. This didn't require a very early start as it is technically only an hour from Perth (well in a modern car anyway). So I left later, when and found a SuperCheap Autos and got a new Jerry can (the fuel over the centre is absolutely rubbish it seems) and then battled the traffic on the freeways. Ok well not so much battled, or traffic for that matter, but you get the idea. I arrived into York at about 12:30pm and so when for a walk along the main street. It didn't take long, about ten minutes. I found somewhere for lunch and then walked back to the car, which was busy being photographed. I then moved the car up to the front of the Motor Museum, when it attracted more people (who then paid to have a look around the museum I might add).

The range of exhibitions in the museum is interesting, they have some very old and rare cars there and some more modern classics. I did like the nostalgia of the Robin caravan.

Nothing else to report really, had a walk through the park by a toxic looking river had a look at the suspension bridge, it is single lane and there were people on it, so I went with you have walked over one suspension bridge...

Long drive tomorrow. I have a choice of a 5 and a half hour drive almost on a direct route to Norseman or a 6 and three quarter hour drive going north east and then south (remember that is in a car travelling at the maximum speed limits!) and I am taking the long route. The more direct route isn't sealed (well mostly not sealed) and is prone to washouts and badly rutted surfaces it is said, so...