Stang

Sally was getting hungry by this stage, so we picked up a pizza from a place in Murray Bridge, then went to sit on a wharf by the river.

It was still quite warm as we crossed the Murray River. Sadly, due to leaving home so late, by the time we got to Tailem Bend, the drifting was almost over. Deciding it wasn't worth paying $40 for less than an hour's worth of action, I turned and went back west, stopping at a lookout on the way.

I'd been wanting to have a look at the Tailem Bend track, particularly the drift course, so I thought it would be good to head up there for the Matsuri event. Unfortunately the day turned out to be stinking hot, which isn't great with my health problems, particularly with the difficulty of staying adequately hydrated injecting water through the tube. So I thought it would be better to go later in the day. On the way up there, we passed a few tidy examples of classic American muscle cars, which were on their way to a big cruise also on that evening.

Thanks, yours is looking pretty good too. Yeah I thought that may have been you, although I couldn't remember your plates. Are you down south much? My mate Daniel with the Pintara wagon is an ambo, and says he's seen a white Ceffy a few times over that way.

That looks like a lot of fun...wish I had access to a nice wet skidpan.

No, it's actually somewhere near Myponga Beach...

A recent B&W film photo I like...

Looks pretty tough. And that's a pain about the drilling mishap!

Further down the road banked into a section completely lined by very tall palm trees, which made the scene look very cool, with the road disappearing around the next bend.

I eventually got back onto level ground, and was able to drive along at a decent pace, stopping to take photos of a wrecked old Nimbus, and the Ceffy near a row of big and odd looking trees.

I then made a somewhat poor choice in turning down a road that was signposted 'dry weather only'. It was ok at the start, but then degraded into a very steep and rocky track. You can't really tell in this photos quite how severe the grade is; but between that and the loose rocky surface, I had to idle down the slope at a snail's pace while standing on the brakes.

I finally got down to the beach, although it consisted mostly of big rocks.

I then drove over the dam wall which had a nice view, but you're not allowed to stop on it, so I couldn't take any photos. There were plenty of nice dirt roads around, and I started to try and make my way down to one of the beaches. Like in the previous post, I alternated using my Nikon digital SLR and Canon 35mm SLR with black and white film. After a few twists and turns, I found a picturesque dirt road winding its way through the slopes and down to the shore. The road itself largely consisted of very fine bulldust on chunky gravel, which meant the dirt got everywhere.

Meandering up the road a little further, I stopped at the lookout area.

I then continued heading south down Tapleys Hill Road, and kept on it for quite some time, until reaching a turnoff for the Myponga reservoir. I remembered from a previous visit years ago that you can actually drive across the dam wall itself, which was kind of cool. I pulled up to take a few photos of the car and rolling landscape. A ute and trailer going past caught my eye, mostly because it was loaded with what looked like a Datsun 1600 rally car.

The next day I still had a hankering for more random hills and dirt road explorations, so I headed south, with no particular destination in mind. Driving down Military Road, a bright red Ferrari F430 turned at a roundabout in front of me. The driver wasn't giving it much stick, but even at low revs it sounded pretty sweet. I grabbed a couple of shots as it pulled away from a set of traffic lights, next to an old Hyundai Excel. It's kind of funny seeing them side by side; both will get you from A to B, but in very different levels of speed and dollars.

Yeah something a bit different, and entertaining in that I may not see the photos for a few weeks after I take them, as opposed to a few seconds with digital stuff.

Cool...sounds like you'll be cruising soon. I found out I already had a hicas lock bar when I took my car into Jaustech, to regas the aircon and install one. But the rear subframe bushes and boots are screwed, so couldn't do a wheel alignment, and explains all the clunking and shuddering from the rear end.

I think my favourite is the shot where the bride is looking back over her shoulder.

All part of the fun!

Following that, I undid all the cleaning work with more random dirt road explorations. The dirt track wasn't as quiet as it first looked, with a livestock truck passing by... ...as well as the incessant humming sound of thousands of bees.

Heading further into the hills, I stopped along a nicely tree-lined bit of road.