Winkler Park Saddleworth

Yesterday we had one of those "let's go for a ride" moments so we left for Saddleworth at about 10:30 am this morning.

Most of the 140km trip was ok but having a 60kph road work speed limit for about 30km slowed us down a little. Heading north just south of Terowie were quite a few cruisers of various makes and even some riders waved.

Winkler Park is about 2km south of Saddleworth and we arrived about 12:30 and rather park the bike in the car park and walk I took it over and parked next to one of tables.

 



It didn't take long to unpack the bike with what we needed for lunch either. As I took this Heather was trying to break her camera by taking one of me. The Galaxy Note 8 is on the dash shelf and is mounted with one of Samsung's mounts which is made for it.

 

 

Somehow this photo got taken with me behind the bike.

 

 

Then Heather wanted one taken as well. I moved the mount to the fake tank cover for the trip back home and it seems better there.

 

 

I loaded some music on the tab and tried out the little Bluetooth speaker that Heather got a freebie with her phone. I used a lead rather the pair the speaker with the tab. At 3 watts it's not what you'd call loud but good enough for around the table and inside a tent.

 

 

After lunch we packed everything up and went for a walk around the southern half of the park.

 

 

We managed to get a photo of one the parrots

 

 

and a red bottle brush just coming into flower.

 

 

and a wild pea. The only other flower in abundance was the sour sob. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_pes-caprae

 

 

The park is between the Barrier Hwy and the Gilbert River though up here it's more like a creek.

 

 

At about 3:30 pm we left for home via Clare so we could avoid the roadworks on the other road. It's about 10km further and with stopping at the supermarket in Jamestown we did it in about the same time and arrived home about 5:20 pm.

Our ride map. The new Google maps won't show the route we took the same as the old maps so here's the link http://goo.gl/maps/mbrsx

The little 8 inch tab performs 100% as a GPS using the SYGIC app. But it's being used as more than just a GPS. I have a fuel/maintenance/trip app called Driver Diary from Google Play installed on this one just for bike use and the same apps on our 10.1 tab for the car. Plus I can load music like I did for today and all in one item.

 

Ride To Mannum 26th April 2014

This was one of our Ozstoc   (www.ozstoc.com ) club RTE (ride to eat) meets and it wasn't until the 22nd that we decided to attend or not.

We had sunny days leading up to the 25th but the weather for the 26th forecasted clearing showers at home and at our intended destination. Upon waking on Saturday morning the skies were overcast but the clouds to high for rainfall of any type.

After making sure the wet weather gear was on board, our cooler bag for drinks and camera etc we left home at about 8:30am for the 270 km ride to Mannum which I estimated would take us about 3 hours plus one rest stop about half way. We stopped at a small town called Robertstown for our rest stop and arrived at the Pretoria Hotel in Mannum at 11:45am.

Our route http://goo.gl/maps/sjZr7

This little ride was also a test for the GPS function on our new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tab. Apart from a minor issue with the mount the tab performed as expected and will become my GPS. The colours of the map allow it to be visible in most light conditions plus most of the text is large enough to read without my glasses.

I forgot to take pics of the bikes and the few that we took inside on the phone weren't to good but it was a new phone and still working out how to use it. These were the best.

 

Three hours later it was time for us to leave for home as we wanted to be home before it got dark. The bike was refuelled and took 15 litres for the 273 kms we'd done in the morning.

 

We retuned home the same way as we come and this time stopped at Eudunda. While there we went to the lookout and took a few pics.

 

Looking towards the towns main street and the way we leave town. The Hotel with the red roof on the RH corner is still in business.

 

A close up of the above shot and where the main street begins at the taller white building.

 

 

Eudunda is the centre of a farming community which used to be serviced by rail. The grain storage is now serviced by road transport. This is typical of  many towns in South Australia now.

 

 A not so green 13th hole at the local golf course

Looking North towards the way we go.

Heather taking in the view

The bike in the car park

The Eudunda roadhouse. We've often stopped here for food and sometimes fuel in years gone by while riding/driving to/from the Riverland area when we used to live in Adelaide.

 

We arrived home at about 6:15pm after doing about 540 kms for the day and just over 6 hours riding time.