Adventure to the Red Centre, part 2

Up to Wilpena Pound

There were 11 of us on the trip, all east coast Aussies bar us.  From the get go, it was apparent that we were all going to get along with plenty of irreverent humour shown.  Our driver/guide from APT, Kym, was out of the same mould too.  Transport to the various locations was via an articulated Scania 4WD truck with very comfortable seats for long hauls over some indifferent roads and tracks, plus a good comms system and internal window for Kym to chat with us.

The mighty Scania

Working our way north from Adelaide, the first leg up through the Clare Valley was what you might call pastoral, plus large areas of fruit and vegetables.  The big difference compared with similar places in the rest of the world is the steep drop-off in the number of people you see on the roads outside the main centres.  It can be a lonely place if you run into trouble.  Some of the small population areas are in steep decline for multiple reasons, whilst others are reinventing themselves.   A good example is Watervale, where we stopped for lunch.  Origination was in the mid 1800's and it has more recently become an epicurean centre for good wine and excellent locally-grown food, centred around the beautifully restored hotel.

Here are some photos.

The Watervale Hotel

Massive old cast urn outside the hotel - presumably a high copper content

Magnificent kitchen

Reception area with Aboriginal art

One of the restored dining areas

After a magnificent lunch, it was time to head further north.  By the time we reached Orroroo, about 280 km north of Adelaide, the landscape change was really noticeable, being dustier, drier and a fair way from anywhere.  Big main street, a good number of empty shops and a declining area population of around 500 at present.  

Orroroo main street

Sign outside the butchery

Seeing the southern Flinders Range late afternoon on the horizon and then arriving at Wilpena Pound was a really exciting prospect as we were due to see it from the air early the following morning by light plane.  We didn't really know what to expect but it seemed to be on the bucket list of everyone we spoke to.  Accommodation and food was excellent, as were all the places so far.

Wilpena Pound is a natural amphitheatre of mountains over 400 km north of Adelaide and what a spectacular place it is! We waited for the small high wing Cessna to turn up at the nearby bush airstrip and I noticed a couple of kangaroos watching us, rather hoping that they weren't going to cause trouble during take-off or landing! The pilot looked like he was on work experience from school but doesn't everyone these days?  Mountain pilots are normally highly skilled to cope with the climatic conditions and this young fella was as smooth as silk.

Don't look now but we're being watched....

Here comes our ride

Wilpena Pound from the air

Traversing the rim of the Pound

Solar power installation

Outside the Pound, showing dried-up watercourses

After the breathtakingly beautiful flight, we visited a nearby historic station and homestead from the 1850's.  Conditions for early settlers were pretty challenging to say the least.  The next photo shows a eucalyptus tree which is known to be at least 500 years old.

The Wida River Red Gum, a protected tree of significance.  Wilpena Pound in the background

Eucalyptus branch mottling

One of the original living quarters on the station

Later in the day, Jennie and I walked for a while inside Wilpena Pound and saw the effects of nature at work in this area.  It's hard to assess the scale in the following photo but the tangle of uprooted eucalyptus trees in the creek bed is between 5- 10 metres tall. It was due to a flash flood in 1989.  Termites and weather are gradually returning the trees to the land.

The result of flash flooding in 1989

The impact of weather on the erosion of Wilpena Pound and the nearby ranges is shown in the following photo.  The rock is about 2 metres long and 3/4 metre deep.  It's been recently split in half most likely due to water ingress into small cracks, followed by the typically cold nights and hot days of the desert climate causing expansion and contraction.

 

The power of nature

Next morning required an early start for the long haul up to Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.  In a trip already laden with superlatives, Arkaroola certainly wasn't going to disappoint!

Adventure to the Red Centre, part1

Sealed roads, dirt tracks and light aircraft flights - that's what you call variety!

We've spent a lot of time in Australia on holidays and visiting family over the years.  When Jennie spotted a limited numbers tour from Adelaide in South Australia by 4WD truck up to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Red Centre, we jumped at it as we'd never been significantly inland before.  Winter is a great time to do it as cold night and early morning temperatures are followed by warm days, but not up to the 50 C of summer!   The plan was to spend a few days exploring Adelaide and the wine regions of Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley , then do the tour and finish in Melbourne to catch up with our daughter and our son in law.

Adelaide Region

Flying directly from Auckland to Adelaide was about 5 hours, being picked up in an upmarket Mercedes and being delivered to the Playford Hotel (How the other half live!)

Mrs J in retro heaven at the Playford

The hotel was only a short walk from the Torrens river and the Adelaide Oval cricket ground.  It's a city of 1.3 million but seems largely free of congestion thanks to good infrastructure such as free trams in the central part of the city - we loved it.

Torrens River and the Oval Cricket ground

The city was a good mix of old and new buildings, the beautifully restored Adelaide Arcade being a great example both inside and out.

Adelaide Arcade exterior

Arcade interior with boutique shops

The railway station was another example of excellent restoration.

Railway station interior

Food was also excellent and similar in price to NZ.  We found a superb Mexican restaurant down a side alley which got great reviews and we can see why!  I had my first bowl of traditional Pozole soup made with pork, chillies and hominy, with various herbs - absolute heaven and completely filling.

Heaven in a bowl

However, it was wine-tasting from one of the world's great regions that we were really interested in and a fair amount of sampling went on.  Most were high quality but nothing absolutely stood out until we stopped off at Chateau Yaldara.

Can't wait to get inside!

Seriously impressive

Decisions, decisions.....

There were some pretty nice wines but at the end of the tasting session, the big guns were rolled out in the shape of a limited release 2017 Grenache - smart marketing!  Our eyes just about popped out, it was that good. I'm not going to disclose the normal selling price or the circumstances of our discount but 6 bottles were purchased as a present from Jennie for my birthday in October.  They'll be shared with good friends on special occasions.  They arrived in NZ well before we returned with no hassles.  I might mention that their most expensive item was a vintage port at A$600 a bottle.  Good job that Jennie doesn't like port!

Nectar of the gods

During our Barossa trip, we also saw a pub/microbrewery with a great name.  This is it: 

What a great name for a pub!

We also visited the village of Hahndorf which is Australia's oldest German settlement.  Whilst it was nice to see the old buildings, much of it was set up to sell unexciting wares to tourists.  Not unexpected I suppose but not done with the low key touch of Arrowtown in NZ's south island.

A bit of a theme here......

That concludes our exploration of the Adelaide region and the next post sees us on the first part of our 4WD trip towards the Red Centre.

Another milestone

A bit of a departure from cars and bikes this time round but the timing is right for a bit of reflection on something special and more than a bit sentimental.

Later this month, Jennie and I will celebrate being married for 52 years.  They say that time flies when you're having fun and that's the absolute truth of it. Mercifully, she doesn't read this blog or she'd think I've gone soft in the head but over all that time, I couldn't have wished for more support than she's given to all my peccadilloes and hobbies.  I'd like to think it's been reciprocated too and I'm just as crazy about her now as when we got married, even if I receive a well-earned bollocking from time to time for guy-type transgressions.  She once said that it was like living with a 5 year old for something I'd done.  Clearly demonstrated her past profession as a teacher!

When I first mentioned to my closest mates that I really fancied her, they reckoned that I didn't have a chance as she was far too classy for the likes of me.  Only your closest friends can get away with saying that!  I must admit that I was almost painfully shy at that time and nervous about asking her out. Pretty surprised when she said yes, although one of her close friends was in on the matchmaking too.  It could have turned to custard at that stage as my mates actually told her what they said to me.  However, she showed true class by ignoring them, although she does still enjoy winding me up about it if I need pulling into line.  When the time came later on, I botched THE PROPOSAL by getting hopelessly tongue-tied and she made me get down on one knee and do it properly, sigh.  We married less than 12 months after first going out which was a complete whirlwind.  Photo taken on our honeymoon.  Why such a beautiful and smart woman chose to spend her life with me remains a mystery.

Just after our wedding, 1972

Moving from the UK to NZ in 1975 was the start of our big adventure together and as we both enjoyed our introduction to sailing in the UK, we bought a yacht to race at the local NZ yacht club.  On reflection, partners sailing together isn't necessarily a smart move as a hastily shouted command by the skipper can be taken badly (and often was!).  Fortunately, this was solved by Jennie expecting our first child and stopping sailing.  A move to single-handed yachts ensued and a lot of weekends were spent trailing a growing family round to various regattas in scenic locations around the country. Little wonder that our kids have always enjoyed the water!

Our Frostply class yacht - 1976

Building a professional career and raising a family became the priorities but in the late 80's, my interest in motorcycles was rekindled.  Jennie already knew of my past biking passion so I got the green light, although there was a quid pro quo in her buying a piano which cost twice as much as the bike!  

Circa 1990 - big hair and big glasses very much in fashion!

As the kids grew older, Jennie and I did more 2-up trips on the bikes.  She was the best pillion ever - you wouldn't even know that she was there.  However, there was one infamous occasion where we rode to some street races with friends and their wives.  On the way home, my mates and I might have been travelling a little too fast for the comfort of our pillions.  We stopped for refreshments at a country cafe and received a massive telling-off from our wives.  This was done in front of other riders sitting on the outdoor deck which received thunderous applause and cheers.  It would have been fatal to smile so we just shuffled our feet and took the very public rebuke.

Jennie and the Blackbird - 2003

The early 2000's saw the last of our kids off to university and Jennie traded being a pillion for her first 2 seat sports car.  We toured the south island for a month in her first one and had an absolute ball in near-perfect weather with the top down for most of the road trip.  It also allowed me to buy bikes which were better suited for the solo rider!

Mk1 MX5 at Warbirds HQ, Wanaka

Jennie became quite a petrolhead and for her 60th birthday, the first MX5 was replaced by importing a special edition MX5 NB model which had been worked on by Mazdaspeed in Japan.  Only 3000 of them were made for worldwide sales in the metallic merlot colour and other enhancements.

Mazdaspeed - prepped MX5, Warbirds HQ, Ardmore, Auckland

On the aforementioned south island trip, we also took a trip into the foothills of the Remarkables mountain range on 2 stroke quad bikes.  On a tricky downhill section strewn with rocks, Jennie left me for dead and has been smug about it ever since.  I still maintain that she wasn't aware of the risks but she isn't having any of it!

Hooning on 2 stroke quad bikes - Queenstown NZ, 2001

Since my retirement from motorcycling, owning our classic MGB GT car and a boat for sea fishing have both helped to fill the gap left from not riding.  Both of these pursuits were Jennie's suggestions so she really is one in a million.  A lot of her spare time is spent as Chair of the local museum and I lend my support as being one of her army of volunteer maintenance people - helping out cuts both ways!

A spot of winter fishing with So-Fish-Ticated

Made the same year we got married - 1972

Getting older doesn't mean sitting around, it means new experiences and never saying "If only....".  Being able to do it with my best mate is one heck of a bonus.  Overseas travel together has been somewhat curtailed since Covid but that will shortly be rectified with an Outback adventure in Australia, followed shortly after by my second knee replacement.  Hopefully after that, we can settle back into a normal, but busy life with our extended family.  I'm a lucky guy.

A new toy - the Huawei Watch 4 Pro

The Huawei Watch 4 Pro unboxing

I've always liked nice mechanical watches, principally because of their elegant design; which appeals to me as an engineer. I still have the 54 year old Omega which was a 21st birthday present from my grandparents.  I also bought a TAG Heuer over 3 decades ago and both have served me well.  Smartwatches have never been of interest, although the rest of the immediate family have them for varying good reasons.  My view has changed over the last few weeks and I blame Bryan, my doctor!  Let me explain.

Apart from the normal age-related matters plus a bionic knee (soon to be both of them), I'm reasonably fit with good blood pressure numbers.  On the minus side, I've had Atrial Fibrillation (AF) for a few years.  Fortunately, the effects have been minimal and don't seem to affect my cycling or other physical activities.  On a recent routine visit to Bryan, he proudly showed off his new Huawei smartwatch, purchased during an overseas trip.  He gave me a lengthy demonstration of the manufacturer's health app which covers multiple aspects of cardio tracking.  I was particularly interested that it has an ECG function and could be a useful addition to monitoring my own cardio health.  This feature is currently  uncommon on smartwatches. Online reviews of this Huawei model are excellent.  After consultation with my Chief Financial Officer, permission to purchase was obtained and it was ordered through Amazon.  

This isn't going to be a full review of the watch capabilities as there are plenty of online reviews on YouTube and other platforms which do a comprehensive job.  What follows is my personal experience so far for the capabilities which interest me in case they're of any use to other potential users. Talk about being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.  Good job I love learning new stuff!

SETTING UP

When the package arrived from Amazon, the first action was to charge it via the accompanying magnetic wireless charger.  It has a large titanium case with a 1.5" (38mm) display under sapphire glass.  Very easy to read and there is a magnification function too.  I downloaded the Health App to my Samsung smartphone via Google play - all straightforward.  Accompanying instructions are brief but the process is reasonably intuitive for a non-IT guy.  About 30 minutes was spent trying to pair the phone and watch 3 or 4 times without success.  I thought I'd followed the correct procedure every time but it eventually worked ok - bit of a puzzle.  The first thing I did was to change the watch face from space-age digital to an analogue replica to confirm old fart status.  There are heaps of choices, both free and at a minor cost so no-one will be disappointed.  The following photo is what I chose.  Time, day/date, percentage of charge remaining, local weather and number of steps/calories burned (not interested in steps etc but it's part of that particular watch face).

A clutter-free design

The setup allows certain functions to not be loaded and at this stage, I've bypassed a few features which don't interest me. How it's configured affects battery life.  Huawei claim 21 days if wifi is turned off, down to 4 days or thereabouts when all bells and whistles are activated.  With my current setup, I recharged it after 6 days for the first time, which is fine with me. It takes about 90 minutes to fully recharge the battery.  No complaints there either.  After initial setup, the watch informed me that some system updates were available via wifi. One or two were very fast but the update of the Harmony operating system most certainly wasn't.  It had loaded 53% in 5 hours before it was time for bed.  With some trepidation, I left it to its own devices, expecting to see a "failed to load" warning or "Blue Screen of Death" in the morning.  Needn't have worried - everything worked perfectly and we were ready to rock and roll.

THE HEALTH APP

First step was to learn how to navigate between screens, which was dead easy with the assistance of good old YouTube. Opening the Health App brought up requests for permission to access the phone for downloading data for storage.  All pretty standard.  It was then time to go digging, although not in any structured way.  The following photo shows one of many screens showing various options.  These can be enlarged as appropriate.  The heart rate shows current rate and a historical trend since midnight.  This can be accessed in far more detail and there are examples further on in this post.  Three of the dials are blank.  These are some which I'm not currently interested in.  The light blue symbol with the stethoscope gives access to the Health App. The Yin/Yang symbol covers breathing exercises.  The purple symbol showing 7.4 (hours) is sleep data.  I'll be covering this in more detail.

A typical selection screen

I set the watch up to continuously monitor cardio and sleep data without my intervention.  The phone can be turned off at any time, but will sync all the data when turned back on for a more detailed look at statistics.

The following photo is a 24 hour graph from midnight to midnight of my heart rate.  Between midnight and 0600, it's generally low during sleep.  The peak readings between 1100 and 1200 were when I was hill climbing on my mountain bike and it decreases quickly once the arduous part of the ride is complete.  The 91 bpm figure simply shows my heartbeat at that particular point in time by dragging the cursor to the required spot.

24 hour heart rate tracking

The following photo shows the mountain biking period in more detail by selecting the cycling part of the app before setting off.  Just by way of comment, my heart rate during the mountain biking was significantly higher than it normally is for an unknown reason and that's why data collection over time will be valuable. It was back to normal on a subsequent ride.

Cycling data

The next graph shows another ride with heart rate and a green/blue line showing altitude.  The heart rate is lower than the previous example, partially because the route doesn't have so much climbing in it. It may also be that my AF was behaving itself.  For the first 2/3 of the ride, it's reasonably consistent but drops significantly on the downhill section where I'm not putting much effort into pedalling.

Heart rate vs altitude

I was taken by surprise during the cycling by a male American voice periodically giving me various statistics, including when my heart rate was considered high - presumably because of some age-based algorithm.  It was relatively easy to hear when cycling along.

The ECG function takes about 30 seconds to perform and the example output below clearly shows my AF, which is normally not noticeable other than when I'm laying quietly in bed.  Even then, it's not really intrusive.  I'll be building up data for discussions with my doc as the basis for any future action.

ECG trace

The other function which I'm currently interested in is the sleep tracker.  I've been a light sleeper for several decades and it may be associated with the work I was involved with all that time ago. I'd like to improve the quality of sleep and getting objective data is the start of that process.  Here's part of the report covering a night's sleep. It suggests that Deep Sleep and REM states are far too short and that Light Sleep is far too long.  Although I haven't previously had objective data, the results come as no real surprise and opens the door to doing something about it....... further reading on the subject for starters.

Sleep tracking data

IN CONCLUSION

It's early days yet and it's risky to draw conclusions from such a small data sample.  Nonetheless, there are indicators to be chased down with further data acquisition and subsequent discussions with health professionals.  Also, it's fun learning something new and I'm a naturally inquisitive person.  Errrr.... bordering on anal or OCD if you listen to someone who is near and dear.  I couldn't  possibly comment.

I hope this post has been of interest to at least one person out there on the world wide web who isn't a techo tragic!

Unplanned maintenance

Sometimes, we're just not sufficiently switched on to see warning signs over time that point to potential trouble.  We've owned the GT for nearly 3 years and apart from a rebuild of the carbs, expenditure has been in the routine maintenance category or minor improvements.  Overall, pretty good for a 52 year old car.

During ownership, there has always been a slight whiff of petrol, although no obvious source.  I just put it down to what one might expect from a non-injected engine.  However, that smell has recently been more noticeable after a drive when the tank is more than 3/4 full.  The baffles in the fuel tank are fairly rudimentary and with the relatively short filler pipe, I wondered whether it was possible that the fuel surges back up the pipe, particularly when cornering enthusiastically.  Time to jack the car up and have a good look round as a car fire is the last thing anyone wants.

Nothing obvious showed up until I noticed that some underseal was missing at the front of the tank - very hard to see in the narrow space.  That set the alarm bells ringing as a solvent such as petrol could cause underseal losses like that.  Time for a bit of research on the various MG internet forums and what I found was pretty worrying.  Apparently, the top of old MGB fuel tanks are prone to rusting over time, both from the inside and on the external upper surface where crap can build up.

Nothing obviously wrong at first glance

First job was to drain the tank.  Although there's a drain bolt at the bottom of the tank, I was worried about flow regulation and decided to siphon it instead into containers with a narrow neck.  Jennie was less concerned about me setting fire to myself than setting fire to the house so it was accomplished outside the garage with a fire extinguisher at the ready.

During the internet search, I found some excellent instructions for tank removal and replacement on a blog by US resident Eric Cloninger: Replacing an MGB Fuel Tank.  Very easy to read and also included a YouTube video link to an English chap who demonstrated how to do it.  Many thanks Eric - great when a plan comes together, eh?   I'm not going to give a blow by blow account but removing the tank was pretty easy, using the jack to support it, plus one or two well-aimed kicks to dislodge it from the threaded studs. As an engineer, I know when to apply brute force rather than careful leverage!

The following photo shows the tank being wheeled out on the jack.  The top of the tank had been undersealed but looking towards the top right hand side, it's clear that the underseal had been washed off over time by petrol leakage.  This part of the tank is close to the right hand rear wheel and I suspect that it collects more crap as a result.

Old fuel tank immediately following removal

One of the panels had severe corrosion pitting but the panel nearest the front edge actually had a number of small pin holes all the way through.  These are shown below.  It's a fair bet that as the underseal got progressively washed off, the leaks became significantly worse; particularly when the tank was fairly full and g forces caused the contents to slosh about.

Fuel tank right at the end of its life

Celestial star map of the tank top, lit from inside

A quick call to Paul Walbran Motors, the MG specialists in Auckland revealed that they had a tank in stock, together with a mounting kit. Not cheap at approx NZ$1000 (USD 610, AUD 927, GBP 479) but they're imported from the UK and being a high internal volume item, shipping costs are significant.  Not complaining though as Paul and his team always deliver outstanding service.  It was received in deepest Coromandel less than 24 hours after ordering.

Next job was to transfer the fuel gauge sender unit to the new tank.  Years of accumulated grime and corrosion on the locking ring required a bit more brute force and copious quantities of WD40 before it came free but a new locking ring and rubber seal made reassembly straightforward.  The original rubber strips to prevent fretting corrosion between the floor pan and tank were covered in sticky underseal.  The replacements were cunningly manufactured from the rear inner tube of Jennie's bicycle because it's been years since she used it.  Besides, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.  Ummm... actually, it's better to say nothing at all.  The new seal round the filler neck and floor pan hole was cut from Jennie's yoga mat.  Not likely to get into grief with that as it's been some years since she last did any yoga and the mat was abandoned in the garage.  Fair game, I think.

New fuel tank being prepped for installation

Next job was to pop the tank onto the jack and gently raise it into place.  Not quite as easy as the previous sentence suggests as the filler pipe had to be eased through a hole in the floor pan at the same time.  Only a few obscenities uttered and 15 minutes or so wasted until the best method was discovered.  

Bolting up was no problem, apart from a 76 year old body laying on concrete for much of the day in a cramped position.  Connecting the tank filler pipe to the external filler pipe via a length of rubber piping which was an interference fit took some time to accomplish but all was well.  Hook up the fuel gauge sender unit to the power supply, connect the fuel line and that was the job done.

Connecting the filler pipe through the floor pan and filler cap assembly

 

Hooking up the fuel gauge sender unit

Refill the tank (outside because I know what's good for me), no leaks, no smell of petrol and all is fine and dandy.  Well, apart from the aches and pains of laying on a hard surface for a fair slice of the day - nothing that paracetamol can't fix. Kneeling is particularly uncomfortable after the knee replacement and with the other due in September, servicing the differential is a job that needs to be done fairly soon.  Keeps us from getting under our significant other's feet eh?

Ready to come off the axle stands