Today Dave and I left for Adelaide. We were going to leave yesterday but Dave had things that needed to be finished and by the time they did it was noon-ish and since it gets dark at like 5, we decided to push off leaving till today. We got started out at 9 or 10-ish. The drive today was nice, you go up over the mountains and through Kangaroo Valley which is quite nice scenery. Then it’s a nice drive through some rolling hills. It wouldn’t be a roadtrip without some drama though right?
Well at about 4:15 pm, we got a flat tire on the boat trailer (yes, we were towing a sailboat). Dave had been kind of moving over to the shoulder to let people pass because he was going slower than normal while towing the boat and there was only one lane. He must have picked something up on the shoulder that punctured the tire then it must have gotten caught in the mud guard because this thing was shred-ed! I mean, totally torn apart, I took a picture, I had to. Dave grabs the spare, the jack and the wheel brace. Well turns out the brace was for the lug nuts on the truck, not the boat trailer, so of course it doesn’t fit! Since were only a couple km’s outside a small little town, Dave decides to go in and see if there are any service stations he can borrow a brace from. He doesn’t want to leave the boat alone on the side of the road for fear of looters…cut to me, standing alone on the side of the road with a boat, waiting who knows how long for Dave to come back. So yes, folks, I got ditched on the side of the road. We had pulled over in from of the guys little farm and he outside in the garden. It was an older gentleman with the cutest little dog. So I chatted to him for a few minutes, told him we had a tire, and jack but the brace was the wrong size, well of course he had one we could have used had we asked. But of course Dave was already gone. I chatted with the guy for a few more minutes, not understanding all of what he said (he had a really thick accent!) be he was very nice. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for Dave to come back, he was only gone for 10 or 15 minutes. He came back equipped with one of those 4 sided braces that looks like a spoke. He then performed what I think may have been the world’s fastest tire change. Because you see, we were using the spare, so we didn’t want to drive a whole lot farther without getting a new spare. It’s now like 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. EVERYTHING shuts down on Friday at 5 and not everyplace, especially in the middle of nowhere Australia is open on Saturday. So we were trucking it to try and get the tire changed and get into the town to get a new one. First we drop the brace we borrowed back off at the servo’s (service station) then head to a wreckers (kind of like a salvage yard) and they didn’t have the right size. Then we went to a tire place and they didn’t have the right size. Then we tried a second tire place and got there just as they were about to close. Luckily they had the right size so they were able to fit the tire on the old wheel, we stopped at the car supply store next door (which actually was open till 5:30!), picked up one of the 4 sided braces and we were back on our way! We pulled into Nurrandera, our stop for the night at 7/7:30-ish. Grabbed dinner at the local RSL and headed back to the hotel to watch some footy (Aussie Rules) and cricket…
Yes folks I’ve learnt about cricket. I know the rules (not all, but a bit), how it’s played, what the point is. You see, there’s this big event going on right now called “The Ashes.” It happens every 3 years. It’s a competition between England and Australia. It is in “commemoration” of the first time Australia beat England in cricket. It was a huge event, seen as the end of English cricket, the “convicts” had beat mother England. Someone took and burned the wooden wickets and collected the ashes and now they’re kept in a small little urn. So now England and Australia play every 3 years for the right to be awarded this little tiny urn of ashes. Of course it’s more about pride then the actual ashes. Three years ago the Ashes were in held here in Australia so this time they’re being played in England. It’s 5 5-day test matches. So on this evening, we were watching day 3 of the first test match and Dave was teaching me about what the hell I was watching. Which was good because there is much more cricket watching to come.
12 years ago
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