Limbo once more!!

The ride along the "Great Ocean Road" on the south coast was awesome and well worth having a motorbike. The "twelve Apostles", the stunning views and the perfect biking road made the fact that Fanny is again, on a workbench in a bike shop!!! Bearable!! I had been noticing an oil leak as I travelled towards Adelaide and had already decided to stop at the first bike shop I saw and fix it. I explained to the British fitter that when I had the oil and filter changed, the the oil drain bolt at the bottom was not very good. The middle of the thread was stripped and it was touch and go whether it would be ok, but it tightened enough to seal it or so we thought. And with a new washer all seemed fine. However ;-) I didn’t notice the oil leaking at first because I was parking on the grass next to wherever I put my tent. But when I pulled up at garages and re-affixed the silencer for instance, I noticed it. Not to bad and not in danger of getting on to the back wheel. But enough to have to fix it. We decided at "Bills motorcycles" in Adelaide to seal the leak it rather than risk taking the bolt out. After several good attempts the bolt had to be taken out and a new one put in its place. Still no good!! Didn’t work at all! Infact it made it worse!! So now its exhaust off, bottom engine plate off, and a re-tap or a weld. Ho Hum!! I moved into a backpackers in the city but moved on after a few days as I didn’t like it and I didn’t enjoy the "vibe" but I found a single room over a very very popular pub for only £14 a night and I have Tea and Coffee but its so so hot!! and so so noisy!!! I have been exploring and met some local colourful characters. I am planning to ride to Alice Springs and on the way go see the "Flinders range" and also a town where its so hot nearly everyone lives underground!!! Apart from a new battery and a regulator and a silencer I keep having to fix back on and the oil leak and the clutch slip!! The bike runs really well, and she is a bit like me really. We cough and splutter around a bit as soon as we wake up and rattle and creak but within minutes we are sounding like fine pieces of precision engineering capable of wonderful tasks ;-)
The Aussies are a really nice friendly bunch and one typical Aussie idea is the drive through bottle shop. You don’t even need to switch of your engine to get your "slab" of beer or your "Stubbies". Adelaide is an excellent city and its no hardship to be "In Limbo" here so to speak. But after two lengthy stays one in Coogee bay and one on Phillip Island I have seriously itchy feet. Adelaide is a lot hotter than it was along the coast and I have gone from being frozen in the middle of the night in my tent putting on any bit of clothing I can find, to sweating all night long. Its all good tho ;-)
And the updated news is... They have managed to get a bolt into the already heli-coiled hole (well a spark plug actually) and are sealing it shut as I write this. The website is down at the moment due to the incompetence of the company I host it with and by the time you read this I should be in Alice Springs or on a train somewhere after having set fire to the bike in the outback!!!! (as if I would)
 

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