0034 Time at home, and a trip to Tasmania

0034 Time at home, and a trip to Tasmania

12th October 2021 

3 months of Covid Restrictions !

More orchids in garden

Orchids in garden

It has been almost 3 months since we got back from Perth, crossing Australia's central deserts, and our plans to later head north to explore Cape York got a bit
way laid.   We were expecting to make a quick trip down to Tasmania for the opening of Benn and Sarah's new Moonah Pub and Cellars, but repeated delays due to renovating problems meant that we ended up not getting down there till the end of September.  This meant that the hot and wet weather of the Tropical North has now well and truly set in, and a visit to Cape York is not a "good idea" !  But that's OK - There has been plenty more to keep us busy !  And our orchids in the garden have all                                          come out !

After destruction !

Before destruction

In mid August Damien and Meisha finally got all the approvals to pull
down their old house, and hopefully can soon start on the construction of their new place.  The delays caused both by bureaucracy and the incredible wet Perth winter have already added several months on to their original plans, so it is good for them to be making some progress at last.   It was so exciting to see the equipment move in and demolish their place in just a day or two !

Plan of their new house

More of the collection

Working on some of the cars

I have been spending quite a lot of time working on my friend's car collection, along with Steve my mechanic friend, without whom I would not be able to make much (any ?) progress on the mechanical side.  Basically we "work" on the car collection 2 days a week, from 7 am till about 3 pm, while Steve has his own mobile Classic Car Restoration and Repair business to run on the other 3 days.  I spend those days "off" running errands or taking used oil to the tip or making sure we have the parts we need for the following week,  so it is fairly full time.  And somewhere in between I try to fit in the jobs around the house !   Most of the work on the cars is first of all washing and cleaning them, as some of them have been sitting in dirty and dusty warehouses for several years, and once they are clean, we try to get them running.  Often fuel pumps and carbs have all been gummed up (or worse) from old fuel sitting in them, and we have to drain all the old fuel out of the fuel tank, unblock filters and rebuild fuel pumps before we can start them.  If we can get them running, we then do oil and filter changes, and then look at the brakes.  These are often seized, while the rubber brake lines are often perished, so all these have to be either replaced or rebuilt.  Internally there is often a lot of mould on the upholstery due to the humidity in Queensland, so this all has to be treated and cleaned, and silica gel bags are placed in all the cars while they are stored.   Once this is all done, we can work out what else needs doing, which depends on what my friend wants to do with the car. If it's one he wants to keep, we work out an ongoing rebuild / maintenance programme for it, but if it is one he wants to sell, we start work with that in mind.  

We were supposed to have a hoist installed in the warehouse so we could work on the underneath of the cars, but there have been delays on this installation due to Covid, so we are still limited on what we can do.  We are also experiencing long supply delays for spare parts, especially out of the US and UK, although having a large number of cars to work on means that we can leave a car until the parts arrive, working on other cars in the meantime.  Nevertheless, there is always plenty to do, and we are always looking for more hours in the day !

Sheepskins in VW

I brought some sheepskin seat covers back from Perth for the VW, and I got these installed after we got back from Perth.  With no air conditioning in the car, the original plastic unholstery could get pretty sticky in summer, and these sheepskins really make a big difference.  I had them in both my Lotus and in the Land Cruiser, and they make long distance driving a lot more comfortable, so if I can get my trip round Australia sorted for next year, they will earn their keep.

Missing bolt

I have been using the VW as my everyday car as I try to build up confidence in her from a reliability point of view, and so far I am very pleased.  In late September I drove up to the Sunshine Coast to see my trailer man (of which more in a minute) which was a round trip of some 350 kms - The longest single trip I have made yet.  She ran perfectly, and I had a very pleasant drive,

Broken bolt

but as I turned into our street, after 350 kms, there was an ominous clunk and some scraping noises from the rear axle !  I managed to limp the last 100 yards to the house, and when I took the wheel and left rear brake shoe off, I found that the 4 bolts which hold the axle bearing in place were all very loose, and in fact one had sheared due to being loose, and was causing the scraping noise.   It was not difficult to get some new bolts and fit them, but how lucky was I that they had not come loose / broken when I was on the freeway, when it would have been very hard to repair ?   And why had they come loose ?  In hindsight, I can only think that I had missed tightening these up completely when I rebuilt the rear axle, so I did spend some time checking all the other bolts.   Whoopsadaisy !

Trailer under construction

As for the trailer man on the Sunshine Coast. this is all part of my plan for my Round Australia trip next year.  I want to be able to camp, and that means free camping along the way in order to minimise costs, but I am not going to pitch a tent each night, so I have come up with the idea of a tent permanently pitched on a trailer.  I have found a tent which can lie flat on a trailer when driving, yet only takes about 20 seconds to pull up into position, so now I have designed a trailer made out of aluminium in order to keep it very light (the VW only has 54 horsepower !) and I found a specialist who not only specialises in aluminium trailers, but also is on-board with what I am trying to achieve, so is very proactive in terms of looking for ways to optimise the whole design.  I am running the same VW wheels and tyres

Trailer almost complete

on the trailer (so I won't need to carry a specific trailer spare wheel) and 3 weeks ago he said he needed the two trailer wheels.  I called up my VW parts people to buy two, but due to Covid, they are out of stock until November ! (Wheels are all manufactured in China nowadays).  So I had to scramble around, and eventually found two second hand wheels in NSW, and had them freighted up.  Since they were freshly sand blasted, I have to prime and then paint them before I could get some tyres fitted, and then I took them up to the trailer man.  Hopefully another month or so the trailer should be completed and I can start to fit the tent (which I have already purchased) onto the trailer.  

On the plane to Tasmania

On the 27th September we at last set off for Tasmania, with the official opening of Benn and Sarah's revitalised Moonah Hotel & Cellars to be on Sat 9th October, with a "soft" opening (for friends and supporters) the Wednesday before.  Since the most economic direct flight from Brisbane to Hobart left at about 9.15 am, we would have had to get up at about 3 in the morning in order to be sure to get to the airport on time, so we decided to do what we have done in  similar situations in the past, and stay in a motel near the airport the night before, so there was no rush.  Janet found a Great Western motel where we could also leave the car for $5 per day - Much cheaper than the official airport car parks, as well as the train to and from the airport.  We were handcarrying a rather large box containing an electric car

Large box for car

which we were taking down for Olivia, so it was much easier to go up in the car anyway.  We had a great dinner at th local Bowls Club which we could walk to, and after a good nights sleep we got a maxi taxi (to accomodate the big box) and headed to the airport.  Checking in was a slight drama as the airline wanted to check what was in the box, but they were very good about it and after resealing the box, we were able to go through and board in plenty of time.    Sarah met us in Hobart and with the rear seats folded down we were just able to fit the box into her car, and head to the house.

During the next week, Benn and Sarah were super busy with all the preparations for the opening of the Moonah Hotel, and Janet and I were able to take the girls to school and then run errands around town, picking up last minute stuff like

The Moonah Hotel & Cellars

towels, baby chairs, and other items needed at the hotel.  In between, there were days when the girls didn't go to school, so we also spend lots of time with them, playing games or reading books or watching TV.  We also managed to get the electric car together and Olivia did really well driving it.  It was interesting to watch as she tried to work out which way to turn the steering wheel when reversing !  Not as easy as it looks !!   I hope she enjoys it, and when Evelyn is a little older, she should hopefully be able to enjoy it too.

Heart attack hill

The weather in Tasmania was, as usual, about half the temperature of Queensland, which we always enjoy.  Alfie the Cocker Spaniel and I enjoyed daily walks.  The road that
Benn & Sarah live on is a VERY steep hill, and I have christened it "heart attack hill" because after about 100 yards you really do feel like you might be having a heart attack !  I am due to have a stress test when I get back to Queensland, so I wanted to do these walks so I could keep my fitness up.  At home I cycle for 30 minutes nearly every morning, and also have a 30 minute walk every afternoon, but we have no hills, so this steep walk with Alfie was good for both of us.  And of course, what goes up must come down, so the steep descent was also good for calves and thighs !  I tried to use my phone inclinometer to show how steep the hill is - It doesn't look too bad at "19 degrees", but this is effectively a 20% gradient, which is a 1 in 5 hill in the old terms.   That is quite steep enough for me, thank you !  

Cherry blossom in garden

All over Tasmania the spring blossoms are coming out, and in Sarah's front garden is a beautiful ornamental cherry tree (I think) which started putting out buds when we arrived, and  each day more blossoms opened.  By the time we left it was almost complete, and a beautiful sight. 

The opening of the hotel was great.  We babysat the girls on the Wednesday "soft" opening, but we all went down for the public opening on the Saturday, and it was great - A full house both around the bar and in the restaurant section, and everyone agreed the changes Benn and

Opening night in bar

Sarah had made to what had previously been a fairly average Hotel and Bar were excellent.  Hopefully

Opening night in hotel

it will become the new local for the Moonah community.  Meanwhile the new brewery is being prepared for the arrival of the tanks from overseas - At present Benn has no brewery since he has sold his original small one in order to increase his volumes to support both the Fox Friday Tap Room in central Hobart, and also now the Moonah Hotel. Hopefully they will be here by the end of the year and he can get back to brewing his great beers.  

Olivia at skate park

Hungry Jacks for supper

After a hectic 10 days, our departure trip to the airport included Evelyn's ballet in the morning, a visit to the local markets, and then off to the skateboard park where the girls are starting to take part. All a bit alien to Janet & I who are not skateboard experts by any stretch of the imagination, but great to see the girls having some fun, and learning new skills.   After that, it was back to the airport to catch our flight back to
Brisbane, where we picked up our car from the motel and drove home.     As a post note, in this current Covid situation, we had to avoid NSW and Victoria as they were locked down, but Queensland and Tasmania are covid free, so we could fly directly between the two, as long as we had the correct passes.  However just 3 days after we returned to Queensland, some unvaccinated idiot got into Tasmania and caused a 3 day lockdown, and shortly after that, Queensland had a problem and also had a snap 3 day lockdown !   So we were lucky to get out when we did !

Rest of the photos are here :-  https://photos.app.goo.gl/tWqHD5soad4KH82F6