18 Oct 2023

Well it's been a while between trips and posts so it's about time for a bit of a road trip. Over three days 18, 19, 20 Oct 2023 we'll be traveling around Western Victoria to see all of the Silo Art. I have planned a route for the best fit for me using the Australia Silo Art Trail site, though it does seem to be not entirely up to date it is the best source of data for the run. I am not using the suggested starting point as I think I have a better plan in mind, though to be honest, just because it makes sense to me does not mean it is sensible. Anyway...

Day One - 18 Oct 2023.

Started out relatively early, 5:30am, as I wanted to get underway and hopefully try to minimise the amount of traffic and trucks that I might encounter (only to minimise the disruption to them by my travelling at only 80km/h). This of course only worked well while I was on the dual-lane roads, once it was back on the two-way highway roads the trucks were a concern. The emergency lane sides of these highway stretches are quite wide though so it was easy enough to pull over into the lane and let the trucks go by. It is certainly much more relaxing driving on the quiet country roads off the highways though.

Anyway as stated I had made up a route plan for my trip and then suitably left the written version at home and the mobile didn't connect when I felt that I may have gone astray, oh well no matter. I did go the wrong way but that was okay as I saw more of the area and it was only about another 50-80 kilometres anyway, so no great concern at all.

The route today took in Charlton, Wycheproof (and at this stage, I went the wrong way), Nullawil, Sea Lake and then backtrack along an awesome back country road to Birchip, Woomelang, Lascelles, through Speed and to the day stop at Ouyen.

Nullawil Silo Art Featuring Jimmy the Kelpie, painted by Sam Bates (Smug)

Sea Lake Silo Art, Titled the Space in Between, painted by The Zookeeper and DRAPL

Birchip's Big Mallee Bull

There  are a few murals to be seen around the small town, though no Silo Art in town 

Woomelang has 7 painted mini Silos around town, unfortunately, I only saw two.

Lascelles Silo Art - painted by Rone, featuring Geoff Horman

Lascelles Silo Art - painted by Rone, featuring Merrilyn Horman 

Hotel Victoria at Ouyen

2 Apr 2023

Pushed on home this morning, started at 4am, though didn't get to leave until about 4:30am as had a bit of an issue trying to be quiet at the motel and not wake everyone starting the car so early, which caused a slight problem or two, but all good and away. Decided to stop by the Ettamogah pub site as haven't been there for years, seems like it is a popular camping area out the back, so it is good to see they have managed to reinvent themselves and stay open for business.

Arrived home at around lunch time, so the early morning start certainly helped with that.

Early morning starts and empty highways! Get any better?

 

Ettamogah Pub

All up did a total of 3958.7 kilometres (actual driving days was 5 and a half days) and used 248.48 Litres of fuel. So the fuel usage calculator says that works out to be 15.932Km/L, 6.277L/100Km, 37.474MPG (US), 45.004 MPG (Imperial). Not too shabby for a  68 year old car with a 948cc engine, travelling at 80 kilometres an hour.

31 Mar 2023

Heading back home to Melbourne this morning and there has been no set plan of route or of planned stops, so we'll see what happens and how long it takes...

Didn't do a leave at o'stupid hours so a relaxed start to the morning. Decided that the coast rout will have to do as technically it is the quickest route and it is actually the only route, out of the three main "Highways", Newell highway, New England highway and the Pacific highway, north and south that the Count has not yet been on through New South Wales. That said though the Count has been of part of the Pacific highway before as the New England highway ends at part of the Pacific near (relatively) to Sydney.

Along the way are some of Australia's "Big Things", so will drop by some of these and other places along the way and see how far we get...

The Big Pineapple, Nambour Queensland.

The Big Banana, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.

Had a brief stop along the way at Grafton to visit with some very good friends and overnighted at Grafton, so not too many kilometres done today in total, only 503.7 kilometres (312 miles), though a lot of roadworks along the way...

15 Mar 2023

Following on from fixing the car after the little up close and personal from the neighbour I decided to take it for a drive. I need to go to Queensland for a visit, so why not take the Count for a bit of exercise. So with some plotting and planning decided that on the way up may as well visit some of the Silo and Water tank art on the way. Well actually none of it is technically on the way and some of the locations are well out of the way to get to. To get to most of the ones I want to see it involves quite a lot of extra kilometres that wouldn't be necessary if going direct and it would take less time too, though that isn't the point of a road trip is it.

First day plan is Melbourne to Goorambat Silo art, then into the Winton Wetlands for the CFA water tank art. It is then onwards to Chiltern for s look as I haven't been before and then over the Victoria/New South Wales border and off to Walla Walla, then through Wagga Wagga and Junee to Harden for more Silo art and on to Grenfell for yet more Silo art.

That was the plan anyway and mostly followed that path, though it went off track there due to lack of accommodation options and fuel, the plan was amended to head out to Forbes and Parkes for somewhere to sleep. Had hoped to get further, though all the back tracking between art sites and travelling at 80k's tends to slow thing down a bit.

On to the photo progression of the trip:

Out on the highway ready for the early departure

First brief stop at Benalla

Silo and shed art at Goorambat

CFA water tank art in the Winton Wetlands

Water tower at Walla Walla

Water Tower at Yerong Creek

Silo art at Murrumburrah-Harden

Magnificent Grenfell silo art

Day one ends...

19 Dec 2022

 

Sunrise on the way home

Left Canberra at 4:30am and decided to stop on the side of the highway for a quick dawn pic around 5am. only came head to head with one kangaroo heading the other way, though we were both able to get out of each others way before there we were too close for comfort.

Along the way the car developed a few strange vibrations, like a wheel had lost a balance weight or something, though it went away and the car seemed fine after that. it powered along fantastically all the way back to Melbourne, returning fuel usage figures between 38 and 44 mile per gallon, not bad for a car built in 1955 (though with a slightly later 948cc engine).

The only casualty seemed to have been the speedo that stopped working all together. It had a cable replacement and had been working really well on the way to Canberra, mind slow to get up to the speed and drop back. Prior to the new cable it used to flick about and only work when it felt like it, you could not ever rely on it. So the speedo will need to go and have a spa retreat with an instrument reconditioner now and maybe yet another new cable.

It also seems that due to the slow creep of noise over time and driver industrial deafness from being in the car for so long that I failed to notice the increase in noise from the diff along the way. After being home for a while and then going for another drive it was alarming to notice the amount of noise coming from the just over 12 months old, expensive, reconditioned diff. This must have been where the previously mentioned vibration was coming from it seems, though inspection since shows that it was not brought about by lack of lubrication. Not sure what has caused this melt down in the diff, though I am willing to bet that it probably was never reconditioned in the first place. I would not be too surprised if the company I bought it from not only installed the incorrect oil seal (27 Jul 2021), but also just selected a reasonable looking second hand one and just painted it shiny, did nothing else and sent that to me as a reconditioned diff. Disappointed I can tell you.  

14 Aug 2022

 Another run with the BMC-Leyland club, up Mt Macedon and then through to Trentham for lunch at the pig and Whistle pub, and the Count didn't miss a beat. Actually it really liked the colder weather, always seems to, especially if there is a bit of moisture in the air, makes it run very well. The run went well and i wasn't always the slowest car on the trip, though I think everyone passed me on the way home, even those who had previously been slower. The only difficulties on the trip were posed by cars in front slowing down before the climb on the steeper sections of Mt Macedon, which then killed my momentum and thus when they started pulling away again I had nothing left to accelerate. Oh well, it is only 948cc after all. 

14 Mar 2018

Certainly has been a long time between posts. The Count has been ticking along well, just doing short runs here and there, much as a second car. Hasn't been on any long runs or seen any sights really.

The only really new thing is that it has redeveloped the overheating coil thing it started once before, though this time it really went to town.

So here we are, the Melbourne traffic got to The Count and it's decided to give up on the effort of running. I'd guess it's the coil as it has broken down from over heating, which itself underlines other problems, but you get that. The RACV have informed me its location is too dangerous to inspect so they're going to tow it. It's never been towed while registered before, only trailered unregistered, new experience. Can make it all the way around Australia but Melbourne traffic kills it. Oh well who needs dinner anyway...

29 Dec 2016

Off back to Melbourne this morning, not a too hot day for driving and with the "air conditioning" (read quarter vent windows) operating hit the road at 0730. There was a bit more traffic today and managed to build up a bit of a line of cars behind me along the Bruce highway, though they weren't stuck there for too long as they only came along as I neared places that I could pull over or at over taking lanes. That said it was good to get to the Hume so I wasn't holding anyone up from there on.

Was a quite drive and again not too much traffic, it is always good at this time of year as there are no road crews blocking lanes with maintenance along the way, so no delays. I stopped briefly for fuel at Gundagai and thendecided as I have often passed the mid way point of Tarcutta, well midway between Sydney and Melbourne (where Canberra should have been built, except there is not enough of a water supply there for it to have been), and have never actually been able to get a picture at that point I should stop and remedy that situation.

 
It really is a shame that the red reflector from the boot emblem managed to fall off the car on the Parkes trip, actually surprised that it managed to last there that long actually, I notice it missing every time I walk past the car.

Anyway as you can see in that pic the sky had clouded over by this time and by the time I made it to Albury there had been a bit of rain, though not too much, mind Albury must have had a bit before I reached there as the ceiling at the Lavington petrol station had fallen through and dripping still as I had a bit of lunch. After the refueling and then the lunch break, for the first time in a very long time and for the first time on a long trip, the Count refused to start!

Luckily I had parked the car out of the way, which saved having to push it anywhere so it didn't matter how long it took to rectify. It was surprising as I had only refilled the tank not more than 30 minutes previously, then started it, moved it and parked so I could have lunch and when I came back plenty of fuel and plenty of power, just no spark. I tired he leads (have a spare set in the boot) and checked the rotor (electronic ignition has been fitted), but still nothing. The electronic ignition module was warm to the touch which was a bit odd, but I resorted to calling the RACV ( I am a member and have top cover roadside assistance, which I have for just such a situation, though have never used it before.

Had a few conversations with various people while I waited for the NRMA man (RACV had passed it on as I was in NSW, less than about 10 kilometres from the VIC border) which was interesting. When the NRMA man arrived he touched the coil and recoiled in horror as though he had just stuck his hand in a fire, it was very hot to touch, so we definitely had a problem. Mr NRMA announced that there was noting he could do (yep looked at nothing else) and went off to call a tow truck to take it to an auto electrician. This was taking some time and as it had taken so long I tried to start the car once again, it started! I called the tow truck off (the Count has never been on a tow truck whilst I have owned it) and drove to the auto electrical place and even though they a\were very busy they had a look at the Count for me, though to be honest they weren't too sure about it as they weren't used to working on something as old as the Count. After various tests and lots of electrical sparks it was decided that anything could be causing the problem so we'd just go for the most obvious to start with and we installed a new coil, I say we as I did a fair bit of the installing of it. Once in the car started and I was away, blind faith and ignorance that the problem was solved.

To be honest I am not sure that the old coil would not have kept me going all the way home, but the new one certainly did and I had good cause to test it out as I had to stop quite a few time from the border onwards. It started to rain and while it was never all that heavy it certainly was necessary to use the wipers, which have never been fantastic on the Morris, even by the limited standard of their nature. The passenger side wiper decided that as a rare treat it would wipe more that half of the windscreen pane that it clears (usually it only does half of it) and started wiping the whole screen, though it seems it became a bit too enthusiastic as it started wiping right to the side of the screen and managed to dig itself into the windscreen rubber, which stopped the both wipers completely. I had to stop and pull it back a number of times to "reset" it's sweep, though by this stage it had a mind of it's won and decided that it would be more exciting to wipe the A pillar rather than the screen. I finally managed to re-position it on it's spindle and it went back to wiping just half of the passengers screen again, though at least it was working.

I had been warned that the storms in Melbourne has been quite intense, but never had much along the route. Just near Euroa though the police had closed on lane and had lowered the speed limit to 40, so even I had to slow down! There was some minor flooding over the highway though the police were still waving the cars through, so off into the water we went. Unusual situation driving through water that at times we up to the sills of the car (the Count is by no means a low slung vehicle), not able to see the road surface and feeling the water flow tugging at the wheels, while the water is hitting just under the floor of the car. All was well though, no great drama, and if it was at all dangerous the police would have closed the road all together, so happy they had not!

After that there were no further incidents or delays and finally managed to get home at 10 minutes to 11 pm after the 0730 start for what should have only been a max 10 hour drive at 80kph. It had started out so well too, oh well it happens sometimes...

26 Dec 2016

Off to Canberra again today for a post christmas family catch up. 0730 departure as had to stay and watch the Doctor Who christmas special on iView this morning before I could go, Some things are just too important to miss 😁

Was just the usual trip with not very much traffic about, which is always a plus. Went through Holbrook on the way up to refuel and to see what changes the bypass has made to the town, from what I could see not much has changed at all. The submarine casing of the old HMAS Otway is still there attracting visitors, which I suppose is what it was placed there to do, so that must be a good thing. HMAS Otway is one of the old Oberon class submarines of the Royal Australian Navy, it was built in Scotland in 1965 and was commissioned into service in 1968. Otway was decommissioned in 1994 and sold off for scrap with only the fin having been donated to the town of Holbrook. The town managed to buy the upper casing (everything you would see above the waterline when it was surfaced) from the scrap metal merchants that won the tender for the metal scrap of the whole casing, and installed it in the main town park.

Other thanks that it was dry and to be honest if you hadn't know it had rained so much relatively recently you would have not realised it had, everywhere was so dry and brown, it's amazing how much difference a few months can make to the landscape...

4 Oct 2016

So left Canberra this morning for the drive back to Melbourne. Canberra was not terrible exciting visit this time, but I guess you get that sometimes don't you.

The drive home was, as usual, slowly done at 80 kilometres an hour, though the good thing about the Hume Highway is that it is duel lane all the way from the Barton Highway to Melbourne. That means that it doesn't matter if the car is slow as there is ample opportunity for other drivers to pass will minimal disruption to their pace. Mind you do always get those that come speeding up to the back of your car and then seem to wonder why they have to slow down, they don't seem to look more than 10 feet in front of themselves sometimes. It's a shame that the Barton Highway from Canberra out to the Hume Highway has not been duplicated as it is still mostly one lane in each direction, it really is just a glorified "cattle track", not the sort of "Highway" you would expect leading you to the capital city of a country.

Anyway the drive was long and the day was wet. I didn't stop often other thanks to refill the tank and the rain just kept on coming down. Was great to see some streams that I have never seen water in before, though other thanks that nothing exciting to say really...

Oh I did receive this picture over Instagram from a fellow Valley Green Morris Minor owner, seems a friend of his had taken it while driving on the Hume and passing me. Small world isn't it.  Note it isn't my photo, I would credit the photographer, so thanks Retroasted.

2 Oct 2016

Off to Canberra by 0700 this morning to get the journey done, quite a nice morning so all good for the water levels to have dropped a bit and all the roads I needed to be clear. Bonus that there was not much traffic travelling early and it was a good easy run. Quite a few of the pot holes had already been filled, so there were not too many crashed or too much ducking and weaving to miss them, there were still some shockers though.
It was a non eventful trip, so was give time to ponder the fact it on this trip I have seen almost every farm dams and most small creeks and large rivers full, overflowing and running, some of them I have never, in all the years of driving through these areas, even seen with water in them! It really is an amazing country.
Random happening of the day would have to be being followed out of Boorawa and all the way to the Hume Highway by and MGTC, very cool, even though he did have the roof up. Managed to make it from Parkes to the center of Canberra on 1 tank of petrol, 295.6 kilometres on 20 litres according to how much it took to fill it from past the E point on the fuel guage, so that is something like 6.77 litres per 100 kilometres, not too shabby for a 1955 car.

Canberra was as it usually is, Canberra, though I was surprised by the bad state of some of the roads and how the city centre is mostly deserted, a lot of empty shops in there and not many people anywhere. A lot of other things to see though...

1 Oct 2016

The day started out nice and sunny and then went very grey and then sunny, such was the process of the whole day. The gates opened at 8 and everyone was supposed to be in place by 9am, so I was there at 8 and only the organizers were there as well, bit light on for punters at that hour. a whole group more cars started to roll in ans line up and it was looking promising.

Some really very nice cars turned up and from Queensland, Western Australia as well as New South Wales, some very nice ones ans almost every one driven there too, rather than trailered, which is always the best thing. To say I was surprised that only a couple of the cars from the Canberra club turned up, one being an organiser, and not a single other Victorian club car was there other than mine! i though that the Vic club were coming on mass and had coordinated a meeting point for their drive up and all, but something obviously happened, not a single one. Both surprised and very disappointed with that from Canberra and Vic, oh well I guess the weather and flooding had them all too worried.

After the show I wandered about town, it certainly doesn't take long to get around anywhere here, it's quite a small place. It's not surprising to see a lot of closed shops about, though there are sure a lot of pubs in town. I haven't been out to The Dish, as I went out there last time I passed through here on the trip around Australia (5 Jun 2014 if you missed it)

Today is all about the cars though...

and some more from walking around town

 Off to Canberra in the morning...