Southern Wheat Belt

Whilst standing eating my lunch during my rest stop in Wickepin I noticed an old wagon.  It dates from the late 19th Century and was constructed from native timbers by the local blacksmith.  The wagon was used to transport grain from Wickepin to York approximately 180km north.  There the grain was either sold or exchanged for grist or flour.  A return trip took approximately 10 days.

The other interesting building was the railway station which I forgot to photograph.  Actually it wasn’t the building that caught my attention but the fact that Wickepin had a railway connection.  Then I realised “of course the town would have a railway connection!”  A hundred years ago the railway would have been the principle way of moving people and freight.  These days the remaining active rural rail lines would only carry seasonal freight; primarily grain; from rural silos to the coast for export.

My route took me further SE passing through Lake Grace and Lake King (both  large salt lakes) to reach Ravensthorpe where I joined the South Coast Highway some 200km west of Esperance.  My final destination, Cape Arid; was another 160km east of Esperance and I started to realise I might run out of daylight before reaching it.

I pulled over at a rest area 60km west of Esperance to stretch my legs noticing three caravans of “grey nomads” had set themselves up for the night.  I was tempted, but realised the rest area was adjacent to the highway and would be subject to the noise of passing road trains (heavily loaded lorries) during the night.  Not a good place to sleep!  Ten kilometres east of Esperance I made a mistake was misled by the gps!  It had decided to take me the shortest route to Cape Arid along remote unsealed roads.  If I had ignored her or done some checking, I would have realised it would be possible to continue for a further 135km on bitumen.  This would have been both safer and faster. 

Driving on remote gravel roads at nigh has additional hazards.  Primarily wildlife and after a couple of close calls with suicidal kangaroos I decided I was too tired to continue stopping beside the road before raising the trailer clamshell tent and crawling into my sleeping bag.

I woke just before dawn and decided to continue on to Cape Arid deferring breakfast until my arrival.  After finding a suitable campsite I set up the trailer.

Next task was to empty three of the 20ltr jerry cans full of diesel into the Isuzu.  The two yellow jerry cans you can see on the front of the trailer in the photo above can be locked onto the trailer.  However three of the cans can’t and as I intended to leave the campsite unattended the unsecured valuable fuel was better travelling with me.  Sausages and eggs for breakfast.  My first meal since breakfast yesterday.

After cleaning up I decided to fly the drone to get an idea of the surrounding country.  I’m still very nervous about flying the drone.  Not only is it valuable, but I have a preference for wanting to watch it rather than the image on the display.  The flight confirmed my preferred fishing location should be the beach.  Fishing from the rocks has additional hazards and I didn’t come equipped with a life jacket should I be swept away by a rogue wave.  That’s probably slightly dramatic.  If I was washed off the rocks a shark would probably get me before the life jacket saved me

I drove down the track to the beach where there was a ford

Tyre marks suggested other vehicles had crossed here however I was reluctant to simply follow their tracks.  Instead I removed my shoes and socks before wading across checking the depth and feeling whether the base was firm with my feet.  I also checked the angle of entry as I didn’t want the engine air intake to be submerged drowning the engine.  It was quite probable previous vehicles had been fitted with a snorkel.

Having satisfied myself that the risks were acceptable I crossed and drove 2km up the beach before finding a suitable fishing spot.

The fish are all mine!

After four hours I had my first fish

A reasonably sized herring that had committed suicide by foul hooking itself on my line.  After a solid day of fishing I’d caught three herring and gone through a full bag of bait.   Perhaps there was a reason why I was the only person on the beach??????

1200km

No recent updating of the blog because I’ve been away on a 1200km fishing trip in the southeast of the state. 

The trailer was towed onto the front driveway and then packed.  Three important categories of items needed to be loaded.  Food, water and fishing gear!

Knowing what a poor cook I am Jan had pre-prepared a number of frozen meals which went into the trailer front freezer.  Eggs, bacon, sausages, bread, milk, etc went into the fridge.  I filled the 50 litre water tank and took a further two 10ltr containers of potable water.  This trip I intended to trial the shower and ensured that was loaded. 

The first stop was 20km south at Costco where I topped off the Isuzu tank and filled five 20ltr jerrycans of diesel at a cost of $260 (ouch).  Still, I knew this would be the cheapest fuel I’d be able to purchase during the trip.

The route was SE down the Brookton Highway and then south down the Great Southern Highway to Pingelly before heading SE to Wickepin where I stopped for a rest and lunch (banana & apple). At this point I had driven 214km

Wickepin is a small town (pop 381) supporting the local farming industry.  It is part of the great southern wheat belt.  Like many of these small towns it seeks to claim something making it noteworthy.  In Wickepin they have claimed Albert Facey.

If you haven’t lived in Western Australia you probably have never heard of Albert Facey.  When we first arrived Perth during the early 90’s I’d not heard of him.  It wasn’t until our oldest son bought Albert’s autobiography home from school as compulsory reading that he first came to my attention.

Albert Facey was born in Melbourne, Vic but lived most of his life in Western Australia.  At various times he was a farm boy, drover, boxer, soldier and tram driver.  Albert never attended school but subsequently taught himself to read and write.   It was his autobiography “A Fortunate Life” which brought him to national attention.  His life was full of hardship and tragedy which suggests he had a very positive outlook on life given the title of his book.  More interesting read here <wikipedia>  

Albert farmer in the Wickepin area for a decade between 1924 and 1933 when they were forced off their land by the Great Depression.  He died in 1982, nine months after the publication of his autobiography.  In 2000 the Shire of Wickepin relocated his old farmhouse to the town as a tourist attraction.

Note the heat reduction measures of a steep pitched roof and wide veranda on all sides.

Time to continue the journey

A great idea copied!

If you have every closely looked at a bike chain and thought about it you will have realised the horizontal gap in each link is either wide or narrow.  This is the gap the tooth on the cog fits into.

Red – narrow and Blue wide

However all the teeth on the cogs are the same width. 

When changing gears on a derailleur the chain moves horizontally left or right which means often the teeth on the cog don’t exactly line up with the gap in the chain.

Some astute fellows in New Zealand realised this and designed a chain ring where the teeth alternate in thickness.  Narrow teeth for the narrow gap in the chain and wider teeth for the larger gap.  This meant changing gears would be both smoother and more accurate.

They also identified that when a Bafang centre hub electric motor was fitted to a bike the chain was moved further away from the hub making the line of the  chain more curved.  They cleverly designed a main chain ring with alternate wide/narrow teeth which were then offset on the ring bring the teeth back into line. 

Then they made a bad mistake.  They decided to have their clever chain ring made in China.  Yes, it would be much cheaper to make the rings in China but the Chinese are not interested in honouring intellectual copyright.  When my chain ring arrived today I immediately noticed it wasn’t marked with the words “Lekkie  - Designed in New Zealand”

.

My assumption is the Chinese manufacturer has allowed the New Zealanders to invent the ring and prove the concept works, before stealing the idea.  One assumes the factory produces the Lekkie Ring by day and the replica by night.

To a different subject

I had not realised young Scottish males were so fashion conscious with their kilts these days.   What can I say……. except……..

Nice car!!!!

Swimming Pool Success and Fright

I had “Heath Robinson’d” the pool solar water heater as a test bed to see if the modified wiring and pump will work with the solar controller.  The original cheap pump lacked the power to raise the water onto the shed roof.  To temporarily resolve this I plumbed in the larger 12V pump I use for the camper trailer shower.  The plumbing now looks very Heath Robinson.  But the pump works!

However this resulted in the solar controller not recognising the load (ie, the pump) and nothing worked.  After thinking about it I wired the Thermocouple (ie, water temperature switch) into the pump electrical circuit rather than the solar controller circuit.  This didn’t fix the issue.  More thinking resulted in me wiring the pump to the small 12V battery.  Initially I was concerned the pump would run off the battery and flatten it when there was no sun light to send power to the battery via the solar panel and controller.  However I realised my logic was flawed.  If there was no sunlight to power the solar panel then there would be no sunlight to heat the water and the Thermocouple wouldn’t turn on the pump. 

A – Solar Controller

B – Battery

C – Temporary pump

My guess is the “Load” terminals on the solar controller are incapable of handling the electrical demand from the pump.

I’m satisfied the system is configured correctly and will work.  However the wiring and plumbing won’t be tided up until a new pump is delivered.

Later in the day I returned to check on the system and was delighted to hear the pump running.  The return pipe from the water heater panels on the shed roof was too hot to hold.  I waited to hear the pump stop running when the hot water in the panels was replaced with cold from the pool.  It didn’t happen!  That’s when I realised the main pool pump wasn’t working…..  FRIGHT!!!

The previous day I’d completed the weekly pool clean and also decided to do an annual clean of the pool filter cartridge.

 

I restarted the main pump and after a longer than usual delay it primed before suddenly stopping.  What had I done wrong during the reassembly of the filter?  I stripped and reassembled the filter three times and each time the main pump would cut out after initially priming.  Where was the blockage? 

Having recovered from my fright I started to thinking logically.  The pump primed, but then almost immediately stopped.  Was the blockage before or after the pump.  “Look for the simple things first!”  I went to the pool and examined the leaf catcher to see if leaves had blocked it. That’s when I realised the water level in the pool was quite low.  After many recent sunny and hot days the water level had dropped 4 inches through evaporation.  The pump was attempting to suck more water than the pool could supply which resulted in the pump safety cut-out activating!  All that was required was to add more water to the pool.  I was relieved to realise I’d done nothing wrong.  Lesson learned

Tarzan and Size Matters (sometimes)

It’s been six months since the 4WD was serviced.  The manufacturer’s specifications state 12 months between services, but I’ve never trusted vehicle design engineers.  The manufacturers are in competition with each other and servicing is a cost.  Extending the service interval reduces the owners costs.  However there is also a risk for the manufacturer should there be a service related defect during the warranty period and I suspect the clever engineers have been able to design the vehicle to just last the warranty period.  It’s what I would do!  So I’ve always done an oil and filter change in the middle of the scheduled servicing period in an effort to extend the life of the vehicle.

This morning the 4WD was driven onto the ramps in the garage before I drained the oil.  Then I removed the oil filter.   Actually I didn’t at first because Tarzan had fitted it!  I huffed and puffed taking regular rests before eventually removing it.

You can see how much I had to mangle it in the removal process.  I always spin the filters on and then tighten them a further quarter turn.  Tarzan must have the arms of a gorilla. 

One of my problems is the filter’s location.  It’s a confined space with little manoeuvre room for a filter wrench.

Looking up from under the vehicle

With the filter replaced I went to add the new oil.  Tarzan had also tightened the filler plug.

I had to use a spanner to loosen it.  In the past an oil change would take me two hours.  This time it took most of the morning.  Am I getting old?

Size Matters (sometimes)

Two deliveries from Aliexpress.  Both for the router table.  The ‘feather boards’ were so long in arriving that I’d almost reached the date where I lodge a dispute and claim a refund.

The second package contained the nut knobs ordered for the router fence. 

Finger for size guide

They are considerably smaller than I’d anticipated.  Looking at the picture on Aliexpress doesn’t give a good idea of dimensions.  However I think they will work.  I also needed some M6 countersunk bolts 45mm long.  The nearest length was 50mm so I cut 5mm off the end of each with the angle grinder.

Loosening the knobs enables the sacrificial timber face on the router fence to be adjusted.

Size didn’t matter.  The same couldn’t be said for the feather boards which came with T Track bolts

The head of the bolt is too small for the T Track.  I’m working on a solution.

This is how the feather boards should be fitted.

The are supposed to hold the timber firmly against the router fence as it gets fed past the bit.  In this case size does matter!

Why Taiwan?

Jan’s bought me a new T-shirt.

Why would I consider Taiwan as a cycling destination?

1. It’s relatively close
2. See it before the Chinese People’s Liberation Army arrive
3. Cycling friendly
4. Great food
5. Numerous hostels and budget hotels
6. Scenic
7. Good infrastructure allowing short daily rides between locations

What about the bike?  Because cycling is so popular there are numerous companies renting bikes and bike repair shops.  The centre of Taiwan has a mountainous spine with peaks exceeding 3000 metres.  An e-bike is probably a good option for someone my age.  I could take my own bike.  Many airlines accept bikes as part of a passengers luggage allowance.  On further research I’ve discovered they won’t take the bike’s lithium battery.  I’d need to either ship the battery in advance by sea or buy/rent a battery in Taiwan.  Can that be done?

When to go?  Taiwan can be hot and humid in the summer.  Rainfall needs to be considered along with the typhoon season.  The best month is December when it’s cool with little rainfall.

Where to go?  Stay away from the west coast of the island.  This is very industrial and heavily populated.  The east coast is less populated and scenic.

What to avoid?  Cycling isn’t allowed on major motorways. 

Mapping.  I’ve been using the following map sources

• Google Earth
• Google Maps
• Open Street Map
• www.bikemap.net   

Most of the planning has been done using Open Street Map.  Unfortunately (for me) it shows place names in Chinese characters so I’ve used Google Maps and Google Earth to cross reference locations.  The first step was to draw a route.

 

The current plan would be to arrive in Taipei and cycle a clockwise route down the east coast returning on the western side of the central spine away from the heavily populated areas.

The next step was to calculate the daily distance.  I set a daily goal of 30km.  This was then refined by using BikeMap to produce an elevation map of each section.  Too many hills or too steep and I’d reduce the distance for that day.  Conversely, extend the distance if it was flat or downhill.

Having identified the daily distance look for a nearby town where accommodation might be found.  Open Street Map was good for this and I then used Google (and Google Translate) to identify suitable accommodation and cost.  When all that was completed I used Open Street Map to identify all the public toilets along the route.  Yes….. The plumbing isn’t as reliable as it once was.

The route is approximately 1000km, with some steep sections towards the end where I must cross over the mountainous spine. 

How to navigate?  I’ve been downloading routes from Google Maps, Open Street Map and BikeMap before converting the data into gpx format where necessary.  All this data is then uploaded to OSMAND, my Android sat nav app.  A finalise duplicate copy of this data will be uploaded to Google Drive.  That way if my phone fails or is stolen, I can purchase a replacement phone in Taiwan and download the data on to it.

Fallback position.  Taiwan has an excellent train network and many of the service allow bikes.  If I get behind on my schedule or the body/brain gives up, I can skip a few days cycling by catching a train.

How long will it take?   I estimate a month, allowing for several rest days at particularly scenic locations.

Communications.  SIM cards can be purchased at the airport on arrival and mobile data isn’t expensive.  Many younger Taiwanese speak English.  I will also use Google Translate where necessary.

What will it cost?  That’s the part I haven’t completed!

Meanwhile the body needs to repair itself and allow me to get bike fit.

Brain–Body Disconnect

Purchasing the bicycle has been an enjoyable decision which has resulted in me gaining the freedom to explore further afield.  Moreover converting it to an e-bike has extended my range.  Over some of the recent hot days I sat at the computer and traced out all the city’s ‘Principal shared Paths (PsP) using MS Windows and a program named OSMAND.

 

The network is quite extensive and I started to salivate at the thought of cycling everywhere.  But first I wanted to finish some additions to the bike.

The first three have been delivered.  A bike stand to the rear wheel and a handlebar extension.

The extension has made room for a small carry bag and a new location for the mobile phone which is used as a satnav.  Yet to be delivered is a replacement bell (louder ding ) some mudguards and a new chain ring.

It was about this time there was a disconnect between the brain and body.  The brain thought it was still in its mid 30’s and decided to ride accordingly.  The body decided it was in its early 70’s and acted accordingly.  The body won

I haven’t been able to ride for the last three days after my left knee gave me some grief.  The brain shouldn’t have been so reckless.  Using more of the electric assistance would have prevented this occurring.

However the brain hasn’t learnt and has been researching more adventurous ideas.  Where can I go for a long cycling trip.  Obviously not Australia.  Too vast, with not much in between.  Besides I’m saving that for the 4WD and camper trailer.  It would have to be overseas.  How do you take a bike overseas?  After looking at the atlas Taiwan looked promising.  I’d just need to get there before the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army.  Putin might be assisting me with that!  More research required!