Day 2, Injune.

About 100 km from Rolleston in the morning we came up behind the first car for the day, naturally in an area difficult to pass instead of the easy country just prior to this hill cutting leading to the high point of the trip until we reached the NSW Central West.

I've been wanting to take piccies of this old loco in Injune for years and finally got a pretty good chance this time, despite the still grey sky.

Olivia boogieing with Injune legend Waverly Jackson.

One of our rodent catchers has grown.

Olivia has been looking a bit pale since we returned, she's scared of these things, or at least the snakes that outgrow them. Jimby on the other hand is quite happy to have them about and it could be the reason I haven't seen a rat for many years.

Quite a fair length.

A really easy fix was this clock.

I told Olivia that if she bought it when we were in Sydney that I would think I could replace the mechanism very easily.
So far the fix has been even easier, all I did was put a battery into it and it ticked into life, win!

Spell checker required.

Close, and as well as many Aussies would manage.

Our Sydney trip, day 1.

We started our journey under grey skies that became incessant rain for too many hours, casting a gloomy spell over us, here we go past Virgin Rock near Springsure when at last the rain was clearing a bit, but I couldn't be bothered stopping for photos on a dreary day.

A comfort stop at Springsure didn't add much cheer with a threadbare flower bed.

We overnighted at Rolleston Caravan Park which I had organised way in advance, and we had a win when the van we'd wanted was taken, so we were upgraded to a larger cabin. This bug clung to the door frame to the ablution block all night, and was possibly about the most interesting thing about the place. Rolleston exists because it's a long way from anything but in its favour the fuel there is way cheaper than the millionaires town Emerald 140 km up the road.
The cabin we stayed at is priced at $80 per night but it isn't value at that price, about all you can do here is rest for the night. the ablution block was pretty good, but then I possibly look for different things than most when I consider my likes, it had a shower with a dry shelf and hooks, a washbasin that made for a comfortable shave, and a lavatory that was clean and flushed, all good by me but lacking was a urinal, so a minus for that.
A dreary day.

New tyres for Daisy.

We've just returned from a trip that included sightseeing Sydney, I had booked to get tyres fitted whilst we were there as I like to justify expenses by combining things.
I ordered a four genuine Chinese Kinforest KF550 tyres online from Tyroola to be fitted at Minchinbury and the whole deal was splendid, the tyre fitter who I wish I had asked the name of was a champion bloke and already I feel these tyres are way superior to the Goodyear Ducaro that was fitted as OEM, although I've yet to drive on a wet road, waiting, waiting.

 The old tyre is about worn down to the change zone after 19,400 km but I had booked a month ago at home and was calculating how much wear would occur on the trip, anyway I've hated these tyres for too long and they really became noisy when worn.

Not as much tread on the new tyre as I would have liked.

When I got home some 2600 km later there's not been much wear, the old tyres lost 1 mm after merely 1000 km but the maker must have put a soft layer on top to impress the journalists.
I was pleased the fitter shares my opinion about tyre pressures, he also pumps his way above recommendations, I keep mine above 300 kPa which I heard on the grapevine a while back is a very sound thing to do.
AU$244 for four tyres fitted that in the dry at least grip very well, steer beautifully, seem more comfortable and quiet than the old ones, and look set to last longer, I'm happy.

For those curious I bought them online from www.tyroola.com.au And my experience was a very happy one, I did however travel a long way to avoid the onerous in Australia freight cost, something that isn't really the fault of most traders. I'm still waiting for some wet roads but the dry grip of these Kinforest KF550 is more than good enough for this old man.


I'll pore over our trip photos and post a selection when I sort them out.

Olivia put many hours into this.

A lot of sewing time was spent crafting this thingy, it's something my Mother had started and put a lot of effort into creating, then passed it onto Olivia at our last visit to continue its creation. It looks like the effort has been rewarded and we shall return it to my Mother when we see them again on a trip we're leaving tomorrow to do.
Olivia should also see Sydney this trip, something that has been on her bucket list of places to see.

Maybe we're not forgotten.

We saw the NBN node 300 metres away from us being worked on today, we'd almost given up hope of ever being connected to it as the node has been sitting alone and unloved for ages. There's still hope for us.

Active this morning.

Olivia picked up a budget wooden thingy via the local trading group on Facebook, an excellent source of bargains and local information snippets.
It's a bit wobbly so here I'm fitting a brace I made from a bit of scrap.

About to fit some casters here, do I have two chins or none?

A fancier job than normal, I measured the mounting point for the casters before fitting them. The drill I rescued a few months ago after I had virtually abandoned it due to its poor operation, the problem was a bad carbon brush which a new one fixed.

One of the screws was a bit loose so here I seek the right torx fitting to tighten it, lucky Jimby grabbed the right one first pick too.
Already I see an issue, it's going to sag with only 4 casters fitted, I shall have to mount a fifth centre one.

A pretty good result.

I had a patch of Bowen's disease cut off my cheek in October 2015 after the Doctor kept badgering me to have it done, the scar is minimal and he was a clever sausage by putting it in one of my natural creases.
Really I'm glad I had it done as it did annoy me fairly frequently, he didn't listen to me when I asked him not to bother sending the flesh away for testing as I considered it pointless, but he sent it and it naturally came back positive for the cancer he sought, but since he'd already chopped it out it was a pointless waste of taxpayer money. It's hard to change habits.

As it was just afterward, I pulled the stitches myself a few days later to try and save the taxpayer a little bit.

Holding to the theme.

Daisy now has a yellow liner on the under dash tray.
I also notice that I haven't clipped the under dash panel back in properly after the last time I had it out.
For those who haven't got it, Daisy is a white car and I've chosen to add yellow highlights, hence Daisy. White is such an ordinary colour (although a quantum leap ahead of the hordes of grey/silver ones that abound on our roads) that it needs a touch of colour added to it to brighten it up.