Bumming around

Yesterday I got the bike fixed by a bloke a few doors up the road. He is an aircraft mechanic that fixes up bikes on the side. He discovered that the small water leak I had was the least of the troubles. A hose on the other side had a hole burned through and was gushing coolant. Most of it was gone. I reckon that it might've only gotten bad recently seeing as I've ridden a couple of thousand km with a leak. He fixed that up with a double layer of hose.

The other problem was the Petcock. The screen filter inside the tank was clear. The Petcock works on a vacuum from the carb. When the engine is going the vacuum opens a valve and fuel flows. He thinks it was probably a hole in the diaphragm that the vacuum sucks on. The internet said something similar, but I thought that would affect my main fuel intake as well as reserve. But I guess the different fuel lines have their own diaphragm, which makes sense.

Anyway, he had a gravity fed petcock there. It is essentially a tap. The main pick-up is much shorter than the old pick-up length, while the reserve stem is the same length. What that actually means is I should get significantly more km while the tap is switched to main, but the reserve will be way smaller (the reserve is actually the same tank, it just picks the fuel up from lower).

The gravity petcock means that if I leave it on when the bike isn't running the fuel will continue flowing to the carb until the float bowl is full. If the little stopper thing in the carb leaks it will keep filling until it flow out the overflow onto the ground. If the overflow fails the carb will fill up and fuel will leak into the engine and cause bike killing problems. All very unlikely but the point is I should try to remember to turn the tap off when I finish riding.

I didn't bother getting the speedo fixed...

He charged me $100. That's cheap.

I also need to get the bike serviced or at least change the oil and clean my air filter myself. Plus the chain needs cleaning and oiling. I haven't cleaned it since I left. That I'll definitely do myself today. I'm thinking I'll see if I can get to Broome on these tyres. By Broome I'll be past all the major dirt (which hasn't been much really) and can get more street oriented tyres.


After the bike was fixed I went down to the club. There was a band playing and they were very good.

The locals chewed my ear off for ages. One of the old boys asked if I know anyone with the last name Sprat around Kempsey. Apparently his grandfather (or great grandfather) came to Australia in 1880 with his 2 brothers. One of the brothers went to Fremantle, one to Kempsey and one to Bathurst. He is descended from the Fremantle one.

I mentioned that I quite like Wagait Beach (even though I haven't actually been down to the beach yet). I shouldn't have said that because one of them jumped on the phone and got me a job at the local school, another one tried to sell me a house and a third has organised for me to go on a charity ride in September. If I'm here next weekend I'm also going fishing on another blokes boat and for a ride with Jenny's husband! Jenny also works for the teacher registration board.

I can honestly say, my plan to work in Western NSW next year is dead. I will absolutely work up here before I go out there.

When the club shut we came back here. The band was staying here and Jenny's husband (I really should remember his name) invited me up to the house to have dinner with them, which was nice of him.

This morning I shifted my tent to the front yard so they could fit another van in. It will be full here when that van arrives. While it was empty I'd been sleeping in this granny flat that acts as the amenities and kitchen. Now the place is full I'll return to my tent.

I'm paid up here until tomorrow. I just need to decide where to next. I could easily stay here longer. I haven't been in to Darwin yet. Holidays are over so it's probably safe to venture back down to the national parks. I'd also like to go to Arnhem Land.