Celebrating Positives (offset of the Gripes Thread)

[onetrack]

Back to the original thread subject - here's my "positive" report for this week. (SWMBO says I've been too grumbly and short-tempered this week. Might be, because I'm fighting to finish several projects).

 

Thursday night, we went to the W.A. Gravity Discovery Centre, located about an hour N of Perth in the Yeal Nature Reserve, which is halfway between the coastal City of Yanchep, and the rural inland town of Gingin.

 

The night Observatory tour we went on, is called the Adults Only Stargazing Date Night. The tour included dinner, and about 2.5 hrs of stellar and sky discussion and learning. We got there at 6:30PM for a supposedly 7:00PM dinner time, but we were told some people were running a little late, so the dinner start was put back to 7:15PM. We spent 45 minutes checking out some of the site attractions, such as the informative galleries.

 

The whole setup is owned by the University of W.A. and comprises several display galleries as well as a "leaning tower", and the GDC Observatory - which is a retractable roof building housing several large telescopes - which we all got to peer through, to view some of the planets, and some of the more prominent and well-known stars.

 

There were only 5 couples in the tour, and we got a nice meal from the little cafe, with the (pre-ordered) choice of chicken or steak, followed by cheescake dessert. Then we headed off into the darkness (aided by the tour speakers small red light, to ensure our night vision was preserved), to view stars and planets from the Observatory.

 

He had a big green laser pointer which he used sparingly to point out the various celestial bodies of interest, and he waxed on comically for about a couple of hours, talking about star formations and collapses, the various features of planets, the research on Gravity Waves, and a host of other celestial and physics of the Universe that left our heads spinning. He reckoned he'd been doing this for 30 years, so he knew astronomy inside-out!

 

Someone asked a question about satellites and how they affected sky-viewing. He got quite animated about this subject, and especially about Musks Starlink satellites (and he constantly referred to Musk as "Mush"!  😄 )

He talked about how he'd set up cameras to take dozens and even hundreds of shots of the night sky - only to find in the morning, that his sky shots were criss-crossed with satellite trails! - which left criss-cross lines all over his great photos! He said, "about then, you start having homicidal thoughts (about Musk)". 😞 

 

I was staggered to find out, that there's now around NINETY THOUSAND satellites in low Earth orbit! - as against perhaps only a couple of hundred, say 30 years ago.

 

We had an absolutely PERFECT night - a perfectly clear sky, cool to the point of being chilly, no moon (moonrise was around 10:00PM as we finished up), and as dark as we could get, allowing for the fact we were just 70kms out of Perth. Naturally, the City lights glow was still pretty visible on the Southern horizon.

 

All in all, we had a very enjoyable evening, doing something a little different. The Adults Only Stargazing Date Night is currently unavailable, we got the last booking date for the event, for the time being.

I'm not sure when there will be another repeat of this event, they might be struggling to get staff to run it, as it appears they rely a lot on volunteers.

 

https://gravitycentre.com.au/

 

Edited Saturday at 08:47 AM by onetrack

[Litespeed]

Beautiful day in the passage, my mate Michele went sailing with tourists and on cue the dolphins arrived, they think she has a secret button 😄. The pods rarely leave the port. 

 

This afternoon I swapped the 3.3 hp for the 9.9hp 👍.

 

Runs super smooth but does need a proper tune and a few little bits to tidy up.

 

Very pleased, starts real easy but a few minor adjustments to make- not opening throttle fully. Also the idle and low speed mix for trolling

 

Will sort it properly, but all looks positive. So far 10 knts but should get at least 15knts, the Tintanic is a very heavy build with four floatation cell seats and runabout steering. Not normal for 12 ft 6", sometimes I want a smaller, lighter boat. But it's a solid vintage Savage from 90's like the motor.

 

Great having reverse again.

 

Discovered it has a lighting/ electrical output, that's cool as can charge a battery and run lights.

Most motors this size do not have this and often a $500 option.

 I may need to add a regulator as some pump AC instead of DC. A simple eBay will be fine.

 

It's a two stroke but very smooth and fairly quiet. I will eventually add sound shield matting under the cover to make it even quieter. Will also add a water/fuel separator/ filter unit for guaranteed clean fuel. The carb has no drain plug so this is essential.

 

112 psi both cylinders, pretty good for 35 years of regular use. 120psi would be ideal but that's new.

 

No crabs in the pot but the beers cold.

[nomadpete]

My positive of the week.....

I have been reluctant to confess to the forum (you lot might be critical). My motorcycle has been trapped in the shed for 4 or 5 years due to unfinished heavy stuff awaiting major repair. Note that my dearest never mentioned its inactivity - she probably hoped I'd forget all about it. (Sensible girl, that one. But oh, so wrong).

 

Anyway I recently had old mates visit and we got those big jobs fixed. Of course I hadn't forgotten the bike. Cleaned it up, serviced it, new battery.... and got it going.

 

Then dread.... am I too old to ride? Have I lost the awareness needed on 2 wheels?

 

Well after a few tentative brief laps of the paddock, I gave it a go. Absolute heaven! Now I have been  out for a cruise into town every day this week! The awareness of surroundings - the scents, the wind, sights are all sharpened. Absolute delight!

 

PS:  I do know I'm no longer the same bulletproof rider I once was. But you can't wipe the silly grin off my dial.

[facthunter]

Watch out for the tin top Idiots. They aren't even looking for a motorbike. What brand  of Monster is it? Do  Power slides in the Paddock for practice. Don't High side it. Watch for Gravel or Leaves on sealed roads. Nev

[nomadpete]

Thanks for your concern, Nev.

 

I was surprised how quickly I  got back into reading the road closely.

 

Your points are stuff that I  have practiced whatever I drive. I learnt to survive on 2 wheels before I started driving cars.

 

Nevertheless I am acutely aware that my reactions are nowhere what they once were.

 

Sad to say, it is time to sell my bike. End of an era 😞

 

[facthunter]

IS that a 535 Virago?   My Daughter has one.. I checked it all over for Her. It has a fuel pump. Nev

[nomadpete]

Virago XV1100

Odd fuel system - no tap. When the low fuel light comes on or it splutters, turn on the electric boost pump.

Touch wood, it's been a very reliable ride.

[Marty_d]

You rode a cruiser around the paddock? Brave man!!

[Litespeed]

Be bold and keep it.

 

Rego classic for pittance and ride to suit the vintage rider.

 

Bikes are the fountain of youth if you can ride the beast.

[old man emu]

Hopefully my recon-ed oil pump arrived last Friday while I was away. Nomad's effort might enthuse me to do the replacement job. Unlike his bike, mine has remained registered while it has been in storage, but I need to get it running by June so I can take it into town for its pinks slip. 

[old man emu]

My positive is that I went to Sydney ostensibly to watch my grandson play in a baseball grand final, but I left early and on Friday I met a cousin I had lost track of over sixty years ago. We had a wonderful day just talking about our lives and families. It was so trouble free, as though I had just seen him a month before. 

 

By the way, the grandson's team didn't succeed.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Next year will be your grandson's year... Great to hear you caught up with your cousin...

 

 

[nomadpete]

6 hours ago, Marty_d said:

You rode a cruiser around the paddock? Brave man!!

Steep slippery grassy ground. Then half a K of sreeo gravel driveway.

Road tyres are like on ice. Great fun while it stays upright.

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Hopefully my recon-ed oil pump arrived last Friday while I was away. Nomad's effort might enthuse me to do the replacement job. Unlike his bike, mine has remained registered while it has been in storage, but I need to get it running by June so I can take it into town for its pinks slip. 

Yeah but yours is a classic!

[Marty_d]

I don't know, 1100 Virago is pretty classic too!

[nomadpete]

12 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

I don't know, 1100 Virago is pretty classic too!

Well it is old enough to go onto 'special interest ' rego. Which is cheaper.

 

And if those turkeys can get 'classic rego' on old HK, or older Holdens.... what can I say, they were dogs to drive when they were new!  Classic what?

Classic crap?

Edited Sunday at 11:04 AM by nomadpete

[nomadpete]

Anyway, back to positives....

 

Beaut mild sunny day..... rode down to the next town, a bit closer to the south pole. Geeveston is still nice and warm. Had to take the leather coat off to sit and enjoy a burger.

 

Lots of sweeping curves all the way. Few crazy car drivers.

 

Love the autumn weather. The trees are starting to turn their colours.

 

If world leaders spent a few days like this, there would be less wars.......

[Marty_d]

That stretch of road between Huonville and Geeveston is lovely for a bike. 

Even better (on a fine day) is continuing on to Dover.  As long as there's no caravans in front of you.

[onetrack]

Gee, that's a bit severe on the old Holdens, Pete! The brother and I bought Dad a new HK Holden Premier wagon in 1968 - and I drove it often, and I can honestly say it was one of the best cars I'd driven, up to that time.

I loved driving that Premier, it was only a 186 and 2-speed Powerglide, but it went like the clappers, stopped beautifully (disc brakes) and it was a very comfortable and smart car to drive. I have very fond memories of that car, and I'd love to drive a new one of them again - which is impossible, of course.

 

We traded the HK Premier on a new HQ Premier wagon in 1974 (202 and Trimatic) - and the HQ was a slug, with wallowy handling, and gutless to boot. However, it did last quite well under his ownership until he died in 1988, and I sold it in 1990. 

 

But the vehicle I do miss the most, was my yellow-with-black-stripes, HJ Sandman ute, that I bought new in July 1975. I used it for work and wore it out and it ended up being dumped on the local country tip when we sold our farm in 1995. Unsurprisingly, it vanished from the tip within hours, someone knew what a collectible was!

The VIN plates would probably be worth $10,000 today, and it wasn't until about 20 years ago, that I found out, that GMH only made 380 Sandman utes, in total! 

[nomadpete]

The HK I had was a drum braked van. The brakes faded to nil after a single (fast ) stop. 

It also frequently was stopped in summer - from vapor lock due to hot path fuel lines. 

The sedans had terrible visibility out the back quarter when reverse parking.

 

The HQ waggon (poor coil spring back end) had terrible wallowing on corners but the van much was better. Except that when cornered hard on a RH turn, the engine starved halfway around the corner resulting in total loss of power, making a dramatic change of line. (202 c.i. motor).

 

What about the shiny vinyl bench seat that had you clinging to the steering wheel to stop the driver sliding across when cornering?

 

Or the hand brake that curiously didn't work when going backwards, but would go over centre and jamb on, allowing no forward motion until the NRMA arrived?

 

Thankfully, silly stuff like the above is unheard of now.

 

No,  do not yearn for those cars.

Edited Sunday at 12:24 PM by nomadpete

[facthunter]

Modern CARS make them look like the crap they were.  That stuff used to Boil on Hills. Run out of brakes going down them. The 202 was a crook motor. The HR was the worst Holden. Bench seats with broken springs that ram you against the drivers door. Small Tyes. Rust ridden bodies when near salt,, You were always doing something to them. No Air cond or power steering. Lots of body roll on corners. I worked on all of them, for other people. At least they were (Mostly) easy to work on..  Nev

[facthunter]

Valiants Broke in two pieces. Back windows popped out of the 56 Hoidens early on. The FX needed a sandbag in the boot. Don't mention the P76.. Back axles wandered out of Holden Utes. Welch [plugs dropped out of VN blocks VW's broke Crankshafts All the Plastic cracked on SIMCA's and so on and on. I went PEUGEOT till about 1980.  with 2 Fiats mixed in.  Nev

[Litespeed]

I can honestly say, there are no Holden's or fords or even Valiants that I'd consider worth as a classic.

 

Some were fast like the Charger but all had woeful handling, steering and brakes. The motors were unreliable, cooked in the heat and gearboxes primitive.

 

Sunday, I saw a 1974 Triumph 2500 in perfect condition, not a stellar car but far superior to the local stuff of the time. It was pristine and a luxury exec express compared to local stuff.

 

The current collectors seem to only want what they knew in their very limited experience as teens. So local junk that was boosted by the press with a vested interest. So it's local stuff and jap cars that weren't special.

Anyone want a old Corolla or Corona as a classic?

 

Meanwhile the really good stuff- European gets ignored by idiots with money but no taste.

Spending 50k to restore a old Holden still gives you a shiny old Holden.

[Litespeed]

Peugeot 504 is a legend of a beast.

We had several, the French built were the absolute best, but local built were still superior to any local yank stuff.

 

My brother has a 504 rally car, the ultimate country blaster in comfort.

[facthunter]

Each to his Own and Many seem to want to relive their youth. I had 2 V6 Capri's, 1970 One is still going and an XD Cleveland V8 ESP Ford Falcon that's till around and worth a bomb in WA. Some Magazine fellow tracked Me down and wanted details about IT. I got it(LOW MILES) from the original owner who became financially  stressed, and needed Money. 

  My Best Peugeot 203 C clocked 117 MPH but it kept breaking rear axles 1482 CCs engine that I developed. Appendix K touring car spec.That's Pretty fast for that sized engine.