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Published: February 12th 2004
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After lights out (this morning-I spent a bit longer than the standard ten minutes packing!), I looked out onto Victoria St and more tears had poured from the sky.
I was also carrying an extra bag today with my technology and all. Totally hand luggage, as my Rip Curl bag was big enough to be checked in! Even though it had some important things in there, it made moving around a lot more easier.
The bus to Adelaide is late and I’m listening to talkback radio at the moment. One of the topics is Hydroponic VS Field Tomatoes. It reminded me that I was still in a Fruit Fly Free zone and even though we were in a drought, this area is generally a harvest area. Another topic of discussion is the proposed toxic dump in the Northwest of Victoria. Right now we’ve just left Ouyen and all the “No Toxic Dump” signs are propped up everywhere, as if they were trees filling up the barren land. It’s quite ironic that the Government wants to build a toxic dump here so close to farms and harvest/produce areas. Quite personally, they should build that toxic dump in Collingwood (!).
Pinnaroo, SA
Just over the border! There was another sad irony on the way up to Swan Hill. On one side of the highway was the same desolate, bleak landscape that was outside the window on the way from Bendigo to Kerang. On the other side of the highway was Lake Boga, which could have passed for Lake Macquarie, Chipping Norton Lake or even The Entrance! But it was in the middle of Victoria. Every kilometre to Adelaide drew us closer to the Murray River and ultimately, back to NSW but at Piangil, so close to the river, we make the turn west to South Australia. Soon, there’s about 115 K’s left before its 30 mins behind AEDST-and I’m going west further than I’ve ever gone before. (12.10pm)
The further west we travel, the hotter it gets. We’ve just left Pinnaroo and I’ve just gotten off the phone to Gordon. I’m now speaking to the South Australians! Just last night, William was a Cracker Barrel full of laughs and stories. I remember him telling me about a hundred jokes just in that sitting last night. I’m also still thinking about what Jason’s mum said (in good spirit though!)…
“What are you going to
do about your Vodafone reception when you’re on the bus to Adelaide and you’ve broken down?!” Now I’m on that road and in less than three hours, I’ll be hitting up Adelaide!
I met Gordon and his wife Pam at the National OldSchoolFriends.Com (OSF) gathering back in September, but hopefully these next two days I’ll put in a more disciplined effort. I only spoke to them for 5 minutes before I went back to the bar!! However, Gordon has pretty much been there, done that and he knows his stuff. If it wasn’t for his help and expertise, I’d be sitting bored for I wouldn’t know what to get up to in Adelaide! Mind you, I haven’t been able to get hold of Sara Mac, nor Jess Paterson (not in Echuca, or Mallala)…so bring on Adelaide!
Right after Tailem Bend is National Highway 1. The last time I was really on it was slamming it up to the Sunshine Coast in Robbie’s awesome Mazda 626. Today, the highway crosses over the Murray (which we last crossed over in Albury) and it has totally been non-stop all the way from Pinnaroo, to Adelaide City!
Adelaide is one hell of an amazing place to get to when you’re on the M1. You’ve gotta slide through the Adelaide Hills, under Mt Lofty (727m) and through the Crafers Tunnel-while descending from a great height. I’m counting down the K’s to Adelaide City and we’re still in mountainous terrain. Totally unbelievable! The indicator that we have reached suburbia is Glen Osmond Road, carrying us all the way through suburbia into the city. As soon as I’m off the coach, Gordon greets me.
There’s a slight walk through the city before we’re out on a bus and already you can tell that this is a planned city, with a geographical centre (Victoria Square) and Terraces lining the boundaries of the city. We pass through the northeast corner of the city and the bendy-bus slithers its way onto the Adelaide O-Bahn, a revolutionary system where small wheels guide the bus along a concrete track-kinda like a light rail track. It’s not just an ordinary busway-it’s actually a guided system where the buses make their way to the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide at speeds of 100 KM/h. Our bus leaves the O-Bahn at Paradise Bus Interchange (I’ve been to Paradise twice on this trip! I’ll let you guess where it was the first time ;o))
Anyhow, we drop the bags and rest easy for a little bit before Gordon takes me to the Civil Aviation Historical Society as a guest speaker is talking about the great thing that is radar. In an hour, he discusses radar technology, as it was in WWII, especially important to us to monitor incoming enemies. He proposes an interesting theory that if a straight line is drawn between Longreach, QLD and Laverton, WA (where Australia’s two radar stations are), with a perpendicular line beginning at Laverton, that line would end up at Christmas Island. Perhaps another radar station there, eh? Gordon shows off his Control Tower skills on a tower panel that he used to work from. All the buttons he knew as if it was just yesterday.
Gordon’s been offering up one of his trademark quips from OSF-“This is what retirement is all about!”, and all we’ve done all day is run around town, criss cross town and he’s trying to give me a guided tour of town at the same time. Everything has a story behind it and thankfully Gordon knows a lot about Adelaide. It’s a refreshing perspective from all the YHA brochures I’ve been reading for the past week. There was a chance tomorrow that we could go up to the Barossa, but Gordon had a physio appointment in the afternoon and we had to go motor wrecking tomorrow….
K’s: Kerang-Adelaide: 588K
Adelaide-Para Hills: 17K
Para Hills-Airport-Para Hills: 45.6K
Running Total: 3954.1K
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