Category Archives: Rally

Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018, Rally

That’s it for this years Heartland Rally …

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Another cold start to the morning with ice on the car again.
 
There were a few withdrawals from yesterday but most Rally Cars started Day 2.
 
Today was not going to be a quiet day with 2 of the Advance cars breaking down and me having to fill in as 0A for one of the wind farm stages. It is not often you see a Holden Colorado with a BBQ on the roof be the lead car of a Rally.
 
I had just cleared the Wind Farm stage, when there was a rollover with injuries at one of the other stages. This was going to fill in most of the day.
 
It was not serious injuries that were the issue but due to them being spine related, the ambulance crew were not willing to cause further injury transporting out on the rough roads.
 
A Rescue Helicopter was dispatched from Adelaide, with part of my duties being air traffic controller assisting with the landing. 
 
The rest of the Rally was uneventful and following the podium presentations, it was off to the Burra Hotel for yet another BBQ.
 
Tomorrow I start my trek up to Darwin and since there has been no rain on the Oodnadatta Track, it looks like I will be headed that way.
4WDing, Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018, Rally

Lets go Rallying …

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First day for the Rally of the Heartland and wow was it cold. It must have gone below zero overnight as there was ice on the car. It was still only 1C when we got going at 0730.
 
The town was abuzz with the sounds of Rally cars and there first ones were away at 0800.
 
Provided all the cars behaved today, my Emergency Crews would have a quiet time and enjoy watching the cars perform.
All went well today with a couple of minor incidents but nothing that required attendance of the crews.
 
The BBQ Tea went off well but most of the crew were still full from the BBQ lunch they all attended at one of the Wind Farm stages 3 hours previous.
 
We finished off the night by standing by at one of the most remote locations of the rally for the night stages.
 
We set ourselves up with a campfire and watched the first run, occasionally getting covered in dust.
 
It was the dust that became the downfall as the second run was cancelled due to the dust not clearing between cars making visibility a safety issue.
4WDing, Geocaching, Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018, Rally

Looks like there is a Rally in town …

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There was no wondering if there was a Rally in town this weekend with the burble of Rally cars driving the street at the edge of the Caravan Park.
 
First thing on the agenda was a Geocaching Breakfast at the local cafe and given that we were a couple of hours away from Adelaide, it was a good turn out with 14 attending, the furthest from Mildura.
 
There was time to wander around town to pick up supplies for tomorrows BBQ I was putting together for the Emergency crews then it was reconnaissance time with the Emergency crews that were already here.
 
Even though I did all the paperwork for last years event, I never attended the Rally due to it clashing with the Darwin V8’s. This year was the first chance to check out the roads being used as our Stages rather than just lines on a map.
 
Some of the roads were familiar to me as I used to work at Burra 33 years ago as a Stock Agent for Elders Pastoral, however there were new roads on the ridges where the wind farms are located. These wind farms were not here when I was here in my former life. 
 
Back into town for another pub meal, this time at the Commercial Hotel with the Emergency Crews.
4WDing, Geocaching, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018, Rally

Done with working for 2 months …

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With my last night shift behind me and the preliminary work for the Rally of the Heartland complete, it was time to hitch up the Taj and start on this years adventure.
 
I have two months off work with a combination of standby’s (people working my shifts), Long Service Leave and Recreation Leave.
 
The plan is to travel to Burra for the Rally of the Heartland, then take the Oodnadatta Track (provided it doesn’t rain again), then back on the Stuart Highway with a stop at Mataranka for a few days before heading into Darwin for the Supercars.
 
Jenny will then join me in Darwin and we will head back down the Stuart Highway, turn left and head to Outback Queensland taking in Mt Isa, Longreach, Charleville and Birdsville before taking the Birdsville Track back into South Australia (provided the floodwaters haven’t cut it off).
 
With some last minute shopping and packing, I was hitched up and on the road at 1030. Making a few stops on the way for geocaches and I checked into a relatively empty Burra Caravan Park around 1400.
 
There were a few Rally types also camping but this place will be packed by tomorrow afternoon.
 
Into the Burra Hotel to discuss last minute Rally items with Ivar before hitting the hay.
12 of 12, Family Life, Holidays, Rally, USA 2012

April 12 of 12 – Boeing Plant and the Freemont Troll

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For our 12 of 12 this month, we were in Seattle Washington and made a visit to the Boeing Assembly Plant in Everett and then went down to Freemont to visit the Freemont Troll.

Despite leaving our digs at University Motel Suites around 1/2 later than planned (nothing unusual for us), we arrived 1/2 an hour earlier than expected for our Boeing Tour so we managed to get onto the earlier tour.

We visited this plant 20 years ago and it has expanded a lot since then and they are producing another different aircraft since then. Back in ’92, they had just begun on the Boeing 777 range and now they are now just beginning producing the Boeing 787 range. I wonder what they will be making if we come in another 20 years time. 🙂

Again it is pretty mind blowing the sheer size of this sort of operation particularly with the number of staff working in this facility (17000 at Everett) but it looked like most of them were just walking around. The kids were also suitably impressed.

Rachael would like to have one of the Boeing Business Jets to travel around in but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Also I don’t think we will be buying a 737, 747, 767, 777 or 787 anytime soon – my bank balance just wont go any where near.

The tour of the plant took 1.5 hours and of course the kids were hungry so it was lunchtime in the carpark – a bit like an American tail-gate party in the parking lot 🙂

Back inside to the Future of Flight to have a close up view of jet engines, the new composite 787 and even got inside the cockpit of a 727.

Looking across to the mountains, we were glad that we didn’t go skiing as it looked like the rain was pelting down – hopefully it hasn’t washed the snow away but with a 5m base, you wouldn’t think so.

We headed down the 99 towards Freemont but got way-laid as Jenny and the kids wanted to go into Costco but they couldnt spend any money as there are no longer visitor cards. 🙂

The temperature had dropped down to 10C as we arrived at the Freemont Troll. Jenny said “Oh it is an actual troll”. It is a sculpture that looks a bit like the Bunyip at Murray Bridge but this one doesnt move. Of course there was both a Geocache and a Munzee here to be found.

That was almost it for the day. We spent 20 minutes driving around Freemont scouting out Groundspeak only to find it about 100 metres from the Freemont Troll. We have a visit scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

Another stop at Safeway for provisions and back to our digs.

So ends another 12 of 12. I know there are 14 photos but I had to prune it down from 34 so there are a bonus 2 for this month. 🙂

Our Accomodation
On the I5 to Everett
The Boeing Plant
Inside Future of Flight
The huge Dreamlifter
The huge Dreamlifter
Lunch in the car
Rolls Royce Jet Engines
The 787 Body
Landing Gear
Inside a 727 cockpit
The Freemont Troll
Under the Freemont Bridge
The Freemont Troll

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Rally

Day 2 of Rally SA Testing with some Ops stuff thrown in ….

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It was another perfect morning at the “Hideaway”, but again once I climbed up the hill, down came the rain which persisted till about 2:30 pm.

Testing today was at Kersbrook. Both the Evans brothers were testing there as well as the Raymonds and Dowell. Totally Wild joined us for the day to get a feel for rally and they certainly did today with rain, cold and mud. It will be interesting to see the program in a couple of weeks.

I spent most of the afternoon doing Operations stuff including placing water barriers on locations in the Mawsons Row Stage and Mt Crawford Stage, placing Hessian on a fence in Mawsons Row to stop rocks being thrown into someones yard – all of this in rain, rain, rain.

Checked out with the Forestry boys one of the creek crossings in Mt Crawford stage that should prove interesting if we get more rain. They have placed 37 tonnes of rubble in it to try and raise the road but there is still 100mm of water going over it. I wouldn’t want to stray too far off centre as it is up to a metre deep in places.

The evening was spent with the Linke brothers moving the oval lights at Angaston Oval. It was going all too well and looked like we would get out of there at 7:00 pm but a wire broke in one of the lights so that added 1.5 hours to the night.

Got back to the “Hideaway” at around 9:15 pm

Still managed to grab a couple of caches while waiting for it to get dark.

Rally

Testing at Cromer

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What looked to be a reasonable day at Saunders Gorge, changed once I climbed the hill to Mt Pleasant. The rain had set in with visibility reduced to about 500 metres due to fog as well.

This was until the end of testing and then it “fined” up. Well at least the rain stopped but was still overcast.

Despite the weather, we had 2 cars testing including Neal Bates and Coral Taylor. All went off without incident. Kersbrook for testing tomorrow.

Rally

New Home for a week …

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This week is Rally Week with the Sprint Auto Parts Rally SA. As usual I am doing the Deputy Clerk of Course and Chief Safety Officer gig. In order to not have to travel for hours each day during the event, I get to stay in some local accommodation.

The past few years I have been staying at the Novotel at Rowlands Flat but this year I am camped at Saunders Gorge, not far from Mt Pleasant, in the Hideaway B&B. The Hideaway is in a secluded valley amongst the majestic Gums. Very comfortable with a wood stove to keep warm at night. And believe it or not 3G coverage.

Off to testing with Neil Bates and Coral Taylor today at Cromer