South to Windsor – 1/26/2013
Jan 29th, 2013 by admin
Sure enough, the morning dawns gray with a very cold mist. The storm is catching us again.
We walk down to the main street again. There’s a display of very old engines that is being setup
The engines are from as early as the early 1900’s. They are all gasoline engines that have been painstakingly restored. One of the great things about these engines is that all of the operating mechanics, the valves, camshafts, the spark timing are all visible on the outside of the engines.
Almost all of them are water cooled but they only have a small water circulating pump and an open bucket or tank as a radiator. Some of the engines are massive but only generate a few horsepower. I saw one that weighed over 3,000 pounds but generated only 3 horsepower at full throttle. A big, beautiful beast.
But the mist is starting to turn to rain. We get a late breakfast at the local restaurant. Then back to the car and on the road south.
As we pass the Highest Caravan Park in Australia (that’s really what it’s named), the rain picks up. We’re glad to be leaving but the storm is really getting annoying. It’s causing real hardship to the north. But as we head south we descend in altitude and, in less than hour, the skies are back to partly cloudy and the temperatures are back up. It’s hard to believe that just a few minutes ago it was so gray.
We stop along the way for a bio break and as we were starting back into traffic I delayed for a moment moving all the way into the left side of the road. The only traffic was quite a ways up the road but in the traffic was a police car. As we passed the traffic, the officer noticed that John who was in the right seat was reading a map and not driving. That did it. On went the lights and the siren. A quick U-turn out of the lane. I just pulled over before he even got into the lane. No big police chases for us.
I stop the car, roll down the window, turn off the engine, take off the sunglasses. The officer goes up to the right side of the car and stick his head into the car. Hmmm… no steer wheel. He pulls his head back out of the car and walks over to my side, the left, and starts over again.
He’s quite friendly and immediately starts with the “Do you know why I stopped you?” line. “Well, yes, officer, I think I do – the driver was reading a map and then didn’t even have a steering wheel. Am I getting close?” Well, yes. “I saw you coming up the left lane and then move into the right lane. But then as you drove by I saw your mate reading the map and I said to myself, “What’s wrong with this picture?” and decided that we should have a chat.”
He was quite friendly and, after he gave me an obligatory breathalyzer, he thought the entire episode was quite amusing. (They don’t actually use a breathalyzer. They have you count from 1 to 10, speaking into a mike on a hand-held device. It determines if your speech is slurred or disturbed enough to warrant a real breathalyzer. No walking backward along the white line, or standing on one foot and touching your nose with your index finger while keeping your eyes closed.) I pass. Then he starts talking about the dufferences between US due process and Australian due process. He says we have but they don’t. I correct him. We used to have it (due process for police stops) but now we both don’t have it. He still thinks that the job is much easier for Aussie cops.
He gets quite animated when we give him the short description of our trip. He ends up amazed that he’s talking to a couple of old Americans doing a round the world trip – in an old Cherokee. He wishes us well and sends us on our way. (And looks like he’d gladly climb in with us if we offered.)
We work our was down the New England Highway until we get to Branxton and then head northwest to Bulga and head down a winding narrow road through the Yengo and Wollemi National Parks.
The weather is fine and there’s almost no traffic. We’re looking for a place to camp but we don’t find anything. It’s 227 kilometers (a little less than 150 miles) of wilderness driving. After we climb up a few hundred meters, the road just follows a very long spine of hill for nearly 160 kilometers.
It’s a great drive but it’s getting late and we’re both tired of driving. We make it to Windsor and find a Best Western motel that has a room. Order some sandwiches and drink a bottle of wine. A strange day.
Obi-wan