tell a Model A related story

[katy]

Nice picture of your wife , is that her artwork?

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by katy

Nice picture of your wife , is that her artwork?

Nah Katy, dats mi sista.

[woofa.express]

More on Derby.

There is one part of the Australian coastline that is spectacular and that is from Derby to Wyndham ie King Sound to Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. It’s a distance of only 400 miles and it covers a coast with big high to low tides flowing in and out of narrow passages, rocky islands and archipelagos and two islands made entirely of iron ore. They are Koolan and Cockatoo islands. They were owned by Australian Iron and Steel and purchased by BHP which is Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd. In 1979 transport was from Derby in an aeroplane, the Scottish Aviation Pioneer, a twin radial which was replaced by a turbine Twin Otter in 1968. Prior to my arrival at Derby one was caught on Koolan during a cyclone. It was tied down and 4 tons of grader and dozer blades put inside and I don’t know how they managed to handle such heavy items. It was still blown over the cliff. Houses were tied down with thick cables to big concrete footings to stop them blowing away in future cyclones. They claimed to have the longest golf hole (do I call it that?) in the world, being the undulating airstrip. It was gravel, just like at Broken Hill.

A massive bauxite deposit was found in the very north of the state at a location called Mitchell Plateau. It has never been developed and I think the reason is it’s isolation, extreme difficulty in transporting equipment there plus a great distance to an existing refinery. I’d do a regular run to Mitchel Plateau mainly with mail and foodstuffs. A research team lived there in tents and were evacuated in the wet season. Two stayed and they were Sam and Theo. Days would pass without them speaking. It’s not that they disliked each other they simply ran out of things to say. Christmas’67 I flew up a plane load of top shelf food. Such things as hams, turkeys, steaks etc. They said it was far too much for them and they sent nearly half back with me for my Christmas.

There was 2 adjourning cattle properties only about 30 miles north of Derby, Oobagooma and Swallows Nest (I think the name was). The manager and owners respectively were Jack Camp and x? Swift. They disliked each other intensely however used to share the cost of aeroplane charter. One day Swift wanted horse shoes and he was away from his homestead. I picked up Camp and he was to return to Derby with me after delivering these horse shoes. I located Swift, flew towards him and descended to about 70 feet and opened the window on the right. Camp was to drop this small but heavy parcel at my command. It went like this. ‘ready Jack’. ‘yes’. ‘ On the count of 3’‘yes’‘1,2,3’ .'Quick drop it Jack, drop it Jack DROP IT JACK’. Well Jack held on more and it was obvious he was endeavouring to hit Swift. There was insufficient time for Swift to catch sight of this missile and bolt but fortunately it missed him. Not by much, but it missed him.
The owner of Oobagooma was Doctor Hollman from Derby. A doctor with several titles of profession and administration. From a book he wrote he was lost on Oobagooma for 3 days and both he and his dog were starving. The dog was wagging his tail and it occurred to the doctor that dog could do without his tail so off it came and got cooked on an open fire. Doctor enjoyed the meal and dog enjoyed the bones. Well so Hollman says.

A young local lad was killed in a motor car just a few days prior to my arrival and it turned out he never had a drivers licence. Well the cops reigned in many drivers and for maybe 3 or 4 weeks there was always about 5 cars parked outside the cop shop. Some to acquire their very first drivers licence others to renew theirs and others to get a West Australian state licence. Another incident was on a Sunday night which was movie night, in an open air and canvas seat theatre. One night the movie stopped and the police made this announcement. Those with cars parked outside are to remove ignition keys. There looked to me as if all cars were left with keys in the ignition. It seemed a newly arrived sergeant of police had arrived. One with an urban attitude and a 'new broom sweeps clean’ syndrome. Those had been days when the law was ‘be courteous and considerate but use your initiative’.
In those days one had to be 21 years old or older to enter a pub. Cops didn’t bother me or anyone else. A bloke at the Fitzroy Crossing pub asked my age because he couldn’t believe I was old enough to fly an aeroplane. I said 20 and the barman later said you have just told the cop you are under age.
Derby was a great place for everyone. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Me especially me because I was in love with this attractive nurse. Many courtships commenced there. Great place this Derby.

Aeroplane photos of Twin Pioneer and Twin Otter from the internet and Cessna 205 in story with new owner and new home base.

[woofa.express]

Broome.

Only 120 miles to the south west of Derby is the town of Broome. I remember it from the 60’s because I’d sometimes overnight there. I’d stay in the ‘Continental Hotel’ which was largely constructed from ripple iron.The other hotel was the Roebuck, a hotel constructed from timber. Broome was a pearling town and I can remember seeing more than 100 riggers departing Roebuck Bay with crews who were setting out to dive for oyster pearls. The shells were used for button manufacture. Big wooden riggers. I understand that today there is only 1 left and I don’t know if that is seaworthy or a display. Pearling had started to decline much earlier with plastic coming of age and being substituted in button manufacture. The town was largely made of corrugated iron and many people were Asian/European. Malayian and Japanese for it was they that who were the pearl divers. In more shallow water they could hold their breath much longer than Europeans and dive without the encumbrance of helmets, cables and air hoses. The fatality rate was high and many of the graves bear Asian names. Many of the shop owners were Chinese. It was a quaint little town that is until the English Lord McAlpine discovered it then changed it. Now Broome is a big tourist town with many up market shops. Accommodation is grand, luxurious and grotesque. The little airport which had 2 hangers is now large with many private and commercial operators plus aeroplane maintence mechanics. The town has a nice beach about 20 miles in length known as cable beach, named apparently because this is where the telephone cable departs Australia for Indonesia then the world. Today one can take a camel ride along the beach.
So what was once a quaint little town is now a busy tourist and holiday town. It’s difficult to believe that some call this progress. Luxury accommodation and fine dining can be found in the towns and locations where the tourists live so why come for more of the same? Of course the weather is warmer here than in the south during winter. I think it is now a monstrous gathering place for trendies and others who enjoy to flaunt their wealth and brag when they get home.

The pictures show the new grotesque Broome and the picture theatre of old Broome.


More on Broome tomorrow.

[woofa.express]

More on Broome.

Roebuck Bay provided sheltered water for boating although seas don’t get rough in these lower latitudes the exception is squall lines off thunderstorms and cyclones. It is Roebuck Bay where the pearling luggers were launched and there is a good jetty there at Broome. The divers were Malaysians and Japanese. They wore those steel (brass or copper) helmets and would have air pumped down to them. The all up weight (including the diver) would exceed 1000 pounds. There were many deaths in that industry and this is confirmed in the cemetery by the names on the graves. Plastic buttons started to appear in the 1920’s and became competitive during the 1950’s and caused the industry to decline. 1967 was the year I saw those 100 or more luggers in Roebuck bay but from the internet I have copied the following report.
By 1914 Broome was supplying 80% of the world’s pearl shell and there was over 400 luggers and 3500 people involved in the industry. At it’s peak pearl shell was worth 400 pound per ton.
In 1965 we converted to metric currency and 1 pound became $2. I can’t convert to today’s value. I have copied a picture of the good old days of the luggers.
Today pearls are cultured mainly by one family, the Pasparley’s. They have many pearl farms. I can remember flying an old aboriginal man back from Cape Leveque to Derby. He worked on a pearl farm and I wish I could find the photograph I took of him. He was handsome and proud.
The war. Feb. 1942 saw some 8000 escape the advance of the Japanese in Malaysia and Indonesia. These escapees passed through Broome. In March the Japanese attacked and destroyed some 24 aeroplanes. This included 15 flying boats moored in Roebuck Bay with 40 Dutch escapees still on board. All were killed. I heard one pilot walked out of the pub, observed and immediately suicided.
A well known Catholic mission is 80 miles north of Broome. Beagle Bay. Renowned for it’s mother of pearl church pulpit. I’ve never been there but I’m told it’s spectacular. Many aboriginals in the Kimberly’s learned to read and write at that mission. Lombadina Mission is further north, about110 miles north of Broome. I remember doing a medical retrieval from there. A child who sadly died later. It was there I was given a genuine boomerang. Unfortunately I was careless with this and broke it by throwing it for which I had thought it was made but it was probably a display or ceremonial piece. Probably made of brittle wood. Only a little further north is the Cape Leveque lighthouse and I used to deliver the mail there once a fortnight. Their airstrip was pure sand and they would pull some sort of leveller over it to flatten out the roughness. One day, only 30 minutes after doing this they walked the strip andcounted 32 snake tracks crossing over. They also spoke of a lighthouse keeper named Smith who recently had a python wrapped around his body which took the strength of all present to disentangle it.
I was last in Broome in ’68 and hadn’t returned until about 4 years ago. My description of the town is in the previous story. In ’68 Woodside Petroleum were setting up a helicopter base to service north sea petroleum exploration. Now Woodside is a large productive petroleum working field and Broome is a yuk, a place for trendies to hang out.
Tomorrow. Old Broome by another pilot.

[biggieou]

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Here's mine that's funny now, not when it happened. I bought my first A, an early-28 Sport Coupe. Nice car, all steel, painted hot rod black. Trailer it home, take it off the trailer to back it into the garage and literally backed it into the garage. I had the mirror adjusted so I could see the body, but not the fender and bump, right into the corner of the door opening. Didn't hit hard and just scuffed the bumper luckily, but unfortunately my wife saw it go down and laughed at me!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by biggieou

Here's mine that's funny now, not when it happened. I bought my first A, an early-28 Sport Coupe. Nice car, all steel, painted hot rod black. Trailer it home, take it off the trailer to back it into the garage and literally backed it into the garage. I had the mirror adjusted so I could see the body, but not the fender and bump, right into the corner of the door opening. Didn't hit hard and just scuffed the bumper luckily, but unfortunately my wife saw it go down and laughed at me!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Yes, I've reversed into 2 posts with antique cars. Because of limit rear vision and not taking sufficient care. So you're not Robinson Crusoe.

[woofa.express]

Dean's view.

My stories of Australian towns which have been trashed by money and trendies has been well received by Australian readers. I email these stories each day to several people who are not subscribers to this forum. Some have been to A meetings as my guests and others may have no interests in antique cars.
For those of you who are not interested in these local stories, and that is okay, they will continue for only another 3 or 4 days.
Today's story is an email in responce by a fellow pilot who is an American expat. He worked for me some years back and we have remained good friends. He returned to the US early 90’s flew there (crop spraying) another 20years, lived in South America for some time and returned to Australia maybe 6 years back. He has a much broader range of experience than myself. I have attached a picture of us, Dean is the wealthy one but Gary is the young handsome fellow. Many people are sensitive to having their names published on social media and for that reason I have given him a phoney name. Dean has called me on the phone and requested even his picture is removed. So that is why there is now a contradiction in writing and picture. Here is his response to my local stories.

Hello, Gary,
I was first at Broome the winter of 1962 flying a 182 (RTF) in support of the helicopters of Helicopter Utilities. I had dropped some parts onto a small island for an out-of-service helicopter offshore from the old, partially overgrown Truscott WWII airstrip, out from Kalumbaru. I spent the night on a survey ship offshore.

The next day I proceeded to Broome and stayed at the Continental. You may remember the Roebuck wasn't normally a place for most white guys, but the town in general was an interesting place to be.

The best Chinese long soup I've ever had was at one of the Chinese places there. They were Wing, Wang, Wong, and Fong, and you'd better be ready to spend some time eating there because everything was made to order and from scratch, - which was ok as long as the beer held out - but the wait was worth it. No airconditioning, no fancy chairs and tables, nothing fast in those days. Where I ate there was an ordinary kitchen table for about 6 people, the floor was covered with linoleum,

Broome at the time was an quiet, nice wide-spot-in-the-road tropical place to be, but I haven't been there since the 1970s, so all I know about it now is from the advertising. However, the sunsets were just as spectacular then as they are now.
Dean.


Until recently Gary hasn't been there since 1969. If Dean was to see it now he would feel just the same as myself. Nauseated.

[woofa.express]

Some interesting facts on Captain James Cook’s first Australian landing was on April 29th 1770 and the political ramifications that followed.That’s in a couple of days. In the interim I’m going to give you all what must be a welcome break from woofa express.

Did you know that the Hawaiians ate him? Yes.

[woofa.express]

The Influence of Modern Times.

Many Australians believe Captain James Cook discovered Australia, but that is incorrect. He mapped the east coast and New Zealand. His first landing was Botany Bay, on which Sydney is built. His second landing was between Bundaberg and Rockhampton and this location is known as The Town of Seventeen Seventy, or 1770 for short. It’s a very attractive location comprising of a peninsula with ocean on the east and a large inlet on the west side. This is where Cook would have anchored. It was a perfect place until greedy developers got their grubby hands on it. Then it all changed especially when “Hoges”(*1) and his buddy “Strop” discovered it about 200 years later. Then came the treble fronted brick venereal homes and commercialisation and resorts. I’ve been there only once and really it provides no incentive for me to return. This follows the same pattern as Broome and Port Douglass in my prior stories doesn’t it.
I have searched the internet for pictures of old 1770 but can find only one. A dunny and unfortunately it doesn’t provide the “seated one” an ocean view. I have posted it along with “modern 1770” holiday shacks and holiday makers swimming in a pool when they went there for the ocean waves or calm waters of the inlet. (Americans can substitute vacationers for holiday makers).

*1. Hoges is Paul Hogan, an Australian actor who endeavoured to convince the world to “put another shrimp on the barbee. We in Australia don’t have shrimp, we have prawns but we are too influenced by American culture. Sadly. Hogan is known as Crocodile Dundee for a dumb but commercially successful movie of the same name. Strop is his side kick.

Cook is continued with facts next story. It will include Cook in Hawaii plus other explorers, one who had a big influence on historical American race names. Can you figure who? Many of you can of course.

[woofa.express]

Who discovered Australia
.
Well that depends on who you ask doesn’t it. Ask an aboriginal and they will point out to you that their race did since they were here centuries before Christ. The Indonesians have been visiting the north western sector for centuries. The Portuguese colonised Timor in 1550, then sighted Australia shortly afterwards, or so the internet tells me. Then in 1606 a Dutchman by the name of Janszoon shortly followed by another Dutchman by the name of Tasman. Captain Cook mapped the east coast and the British arrived to settle it with what is known as the first fleet. That was 1788. It was then Australia was proclaimed a British Colony. This fleet consisted of 11 ships and the top dog was Governor Phillip. The landing was in Botany Bay (read Sydney). In addition to Governor Phillip were some free settlers who must have been adventurous to immigrate to an unknown quantity and of course the prisoners. They had the choice,capital sentence executed or immigrate.
Cook’s expeditions took him to Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica,Canada and Alaska. Following these marvellous fetes his last point of call was Hawaii. He needed to remast his vessel but stayed too long. His crew were apparently making eyes and making love to the local girls and the local blokes had had enough. He was speared and eaten.
The Australian flag has the union jack in the top left corner. For many years many Australians have been agitating for Australia to become a republic thus independent for Britain. We had a referendum some years back and we decided to stay as is. I think we would be better to be independent but voted to remain, why? Each timea change is made the government seem to acquire more power and authority. They have more than enough now. Many would like the flag changed, mainly the removal of the union jack. It was a supprise for me when in Hawaii and see that they too have the union jack in the same position as we do here. I mention that because many Australians are trying to become Americans as fast as possible. Many businesses such as McDonalds, TV starting with Sesame Street plus sitcoms. Many of our words tend to get pronounced as Americans pronounce. For you Americans it is pertinent for me to say I like America and Americans but wish to remain Australian.

Now Christopher Columbus. Born Italian but with his family immigrated to Spain as a kid. Became a sailor and in the late 1400’s approached the Spanish government for finance. This was rejected, the Spanish were preoccupied with warring with the Muslims. Following the captureof the last Muslim stronghold of Grenada Columbus was financed, a 3 ship fleet to explore a route to India and the spice islands which are of course Indonesia. Several trips were made and on one he believed he had arrived in India but he was infact in the Caribbean between Miami and Venezuela. I have copied the account below directly from Wikipedia.

When he landed in the Antilles, Columbus referred to there sident peoples he encountered there as "Indians" reflecting his purported belief that he had reached the Indian Ocean. The name stuck; for centuries the native people of the Americas were collectively called "Indians" in various European languages.

Now this account got to be quite long didn’t it. That was not intended.

So how did the American natives become known as Indians?

Controversy does exist about these explorers and even these portraits. I will not be offended if you Deluxe, or any other reader contradict me.

[woofa.express]

I have had difficulty putting this story together and now run out of time to edit further.

Talgarno.

I started my flying career in 1968 as a charter pilot in the remote northern West Australian town of Derby. I have mentioned this before, Derby pronounced as it’s spelt not like the POM’s pronounce it, Darby. I twice was sent to a remote airstrip south of Broome. I hadn’t known what to expect but on arrival I found a town with no inhabitants. A new town which was now deserted. That felt quite odd and the name of this place was Talgarno. Besides houses there was a butcher shop, movie theatre and other retail buildings. I remember it as being made from green corrugated iron which is really corrugated steel, a common Australian building product. Enquiries I made revealed it was to do with the monitoring of the blue streak missile.
I had no idea what the Blue Streak missile was but made enquiries. It was a British missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead, but still in test phase. It was launched from Woomera in South Australia and it's destination was Talgarno or close by. It seems it had little in the way of a guidance system. This seems quite silly for the technology was available, held by the Americans because they had captured the German with the skills when WW2 concluded. One Von Braun. Surely the Americans would have shared this knowledge with the Brits? Talgarno was to monitor the missile in the later part of it’s 5 minute flight. I would think they had little to do since there was only 4 successful flights from 18 launches. Following these failures and a cost blow out the project was cancelled. Copied and pasted from Wikipedia, in blue

Doubts arose as the cost escalated from the first tentative figure of £50 million submitted to the Treasury in early 1955, to £300 million in late 1959

I do read on the internet that the Talgarno staff entertained neighbouring pastoralists with wine and caviar and they all had a merry time. The pastoralists experienced aircon for their first time.
I have since heard the buildings have now been sold by auction. I don’t know if they were transported as a whole or disassembled.

William Creek is a hotel in the desert of South Australia. In front of the hotel is various pieces of the Blue Streak. Shown in first picture and the pub in the second. Odd pieces are still being found in the desert today. William Creek is a stopping point for tourists who like to experience the outback. I frequently stopped there in a cropduster to gas out of jerry cans when ferrying aeroplanes to Adelaide for maintenance. I recently gassed my Piper Cub there from the motor vehicle bowser, there’s not many facilities outback. The third picture is the town at Woomera, British financed. the forth picture is a random shot of a launch of an unknown rocket. Those and pictures of Talgarno were sourced from the internet. I don't often carry a camera. Many of the pictures in my stories are from the internet, I mostly make it known when that is so.

[woofa.express]

Two incredibly lucky survivors.

Talgarno was annexed off Anna Plains Station which was owned by a wealthy American from the entertainment industry. A name that older people will well recall. I remember flying the owners son to the property when they were loosing cattle. From my memory there was little feed and cattle would have been starving. I don’t know why they didn’t destock and I don’t know why investors buy so far from their home where they don’t have full control. I looked Anna Plains up on the internet and see the property is just short of 1 million acres, run 18,000 head and have permanent staff of 6 and use 5 seasonals.
Anna Plains western boundary is the Indian Ocean and the coast is the Eighty Mile beach. I remember the shore being littered with the dry bodies of cuttle fish, you know the dry white brittle and porous fish body that bird owners place in bird cages. I remember the water was shallow for such a long way out into the ocean. There was once a fisherman in a small aluminium boat who for some reason was tipped out. He survived for more than 12 hours until he exhausted his energy and accepted his fate and sank. He found he was in water only chest deep.With a little renewed energy he slowly waded ashore and survived.
The luckiest story I’ve ever heard was that of my wife’s brother in law. He was returning to his camp site across the inlet at Weipa in very far north Queensland. In a tinny. He hit something which he simply couldn’t identify and was thrown overboard. Now many modern boats have kill switches that bring the engine back to idle and immediately commence a turn if the boatman leaves the helm. This boat didn’t have such a modern safety item but it did both actions never the less. On the second circle he grabbed the side, made his way to the rear and climbed aboard with the ladder that his wife insisted he attach for her convenience so as she could climb aboard in normal operations. Out of curiosity I had a look at the boat and reckon as he was thrown he held the tiller wheel which caused the boat to turn and his hand grip leaving the throttle caused it to close. There is really no other explanation.
A bit about Weipa. It’s located in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the inlet waters support both crocodiles and sharks and not just a few either. I have spent time there while flying prawn spotting (shrimp to Americans). The town is on an expanse of nearly pure bauxite (aluminium) which is owned and exported by Rio Tinto. It's both Australian and offshore owned. The name originating form a river in Spain. There are many things I remember about the town and area.
1. The nearest bank is Cairns a road trip of almost 500 miles and on an ordinary road so I’m told. The commercial and retail businesses operated on credit cards. I recall the pub providing $50 only at a time to spend at the bar, mind you – you would be wobbly after drinking $50. Even haircuts were paid by credit cards. Now this is of special interest to the government. who want all expenditure documented resulting in no tax avoidance and no money laundering. The second thing I remember was the in house railway. Lines and sleepers snaking across the bauxite. The steel railway lines were welded together. No gaps to allow for expansion and contraction. They simply snaked, more so in the heat of the day retracting at night. Maybe this is common in extreme climates, I don't know.
And there’s also another thing I remember, he rain, which is typical in tropical climates. Bucket fills.

No pikkies today people.

[woofa.express]

Hooligans on the road and in the air.

Only last week I had a road incident where a truck would have run me off the road because I was slow moving out of a merging lane. The driver displayed impatience and arrogance as he moved behind uncomfortably close flashing his big auxiliary lights in an attempt to intimidate me. Because he was compromising my safety I emailed the truck operator who took the incident seriously. The driver was mid 50’s and didn’t have a good record I was told.

I think back to my younger life in aeroplanes. I was a hoon which is short for hooligan of course. I once got the sack for having a low level dog fight too close to town. My flying skill coupled with the thrill of low level lead me to ag flying. I used to buzz south bound highway trucks when I ferried aeroplanes to Adelaide for annual servicing. Years later I’d ski the aeroplanes up the channels in the irrigation area and even the river. It was a river incident that bought some moderation to my behaviour. I was in full view of the holidaying public and I immediately realised how venerable my business was with a pilot without a licence. I guess I would have been in my mid thirties. I must add there is nothing wrong with skiing aeroplanes but don't do it in public view anymore and that I never compromised any persons safety.
The farmers and other country folk enjoyed my stupidity. I never had an accident, (apart from a total engine failure at 5 feet). Should I have had an accident at any time community attitude towards me would have been quite different. " he was looking for trouble".
When I was young and inexperienced I needed supervision but I got none. Now that I am about to retire, I get constant supervision from an operator I frequently work for and whose early career I helped develop. He recently asked me not to fly under the power wires because it was contrary to his practice and would make him look not so good. I know how to handle it. Smile, nod my head and say yes. That’s easy. Now supervision 51 years ago would have been in order even helpful. But now, as the saying goes “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.
I will point out that flying under the wires is easy where as flying over them takes judgement and care. Wouldn’t you fly under. Yes?

[40 Deluxe]

Gary,
Why was/is corrugated sheet steel the material of choice for buildings? My experience has been that a metal building is an oven! Especially a metal roof!

[woofa.express]

From 40 Deluxe.
Gary,
Why was/is corrugated sheet steel the material of choice for buildings? My experience has been that a metal building is an oven! Especially a metal roof.

Hi Deluxe. Here it is. A full explanation. Well as I see it anyway.

Our native tree is the eucalypt. The landscape is covered with them in all directions. No two of them are the same and the wood is knotted and twisty. It’s near impossible to split by hand and an axe or block buster can simply bounce off. Well you might say what the hell that has got to do with steel sheeting and I’ll come to that. You in the US have wood with straight grain which splits easy and you use extensively for roof shingles. Ours wood is not suitable for the reasons I explained.
For roof sheeting we needed another option. Early settlers used kerosene tins which they straightened. From there we progressed to corrugated galvanised steel. Corrugated to allow strength and channelling for water to run and galvanised to prevent rust. It is totally water proof. We can still buy galvanised steel but another product entered the market: zinc coated steel. Better looking and better lasting. From here colour bonded corrugated steel became fashionable and it can look most attractive. It is sometimes used for wall sheeting as well as you can see in the picture below. A good design will have the walls shaded by the veranda and there is a large choice of insulation available. I built my current house in 2001. I chose red brick and zinc steel roof because after the new look fades it will be difficult to date the house. For insulation under the roof I used in addition to reflective paper, rock wool. It gives both thermal and acoustic insulation and is fire proof. I insulated the double brick walls with reflective paper and polystyrene and installed double glazed windows. Picture 1 which also show eucalyptus gums.
Another roofing alternative is clay tiles. Dirt can enter the joins between the tiles and build up in the ceiling plus they exert many tons of weight on the structure. I think another disadvantage is you can’t hear the rain on the roof and rain can be a rarity at times. I don’t like to miss a moment of it.

[40 Deluxe]

Those clay tile roofs seem to be a top choice in southern Arizona, too (Phoenix and Tucson especially). They hold up the best under the desert sun.
Another question: Did you ever get blinded by the sun reflecting off a steel building while crop dusting?

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by 40 Deluxe

Those clay tile roofs seem to be a top choice in southern Arizona, too (Phoenix and Tucson especially). They hold up the best under the desert sun.
Another question: Did you ever get blinded by the sun reflecting off a steel building while crop dusting?

An additional answer to Deluxe’s question yesterday,
My friend Kevin points out it is cheaper and more convenient to transport corrugated steel to distant locations as compared to other roofing products.
In answer to Deluxe’squestion today.
Hi Deluxe. No, I don’t recall being so. We are moving about 58 yards a second so exposure to reflection off roofs would be over quickly. However let me tell you of the difficulty of reflection in another situation..
My biggest season was rice sowing and follow up spraying. Rice is pre germinated and sown into water where it would root and emerge. This water can present a reflection problem especially in the first part of the morning and last part of the afternoon when the sun is relatively low. The follow up spraying was for blood worm which is a water born insect that eats the newly sown seed
A second spray was for grass which would emerge about the same time as the crop. If untreated it became a strong competitor.
Mostly in early morning and late avo we endeavoured to work north/south to avoid the reflection of the sun. not only in rice work but all work.
A couple of interesting facts. The very early sun up and late sun down are no problem. Up to about 10 degrees or there abouts above the horizon it is not the sun we see. It is the refraction of the sun. It is being refracted because light is entering a denser medium thus it bends. This situation is only short lived, maybe about 10minutes. The other is when spraying into choppy water. The surface becomes glassy because the emulsifiers in the insecticide or herbicide that allows it to emulsify in water when preparing the spray mix. DDT especially, but that product was removed from the market in about 1983. This glass water reaction is quite novel.

[woofa.express]

Are dealer workshops competent or do they have manufacturer authority to rip you off?

I have had an excellent trouble free run from VW motor cars,so when I decided to purchase an SUV it was a VW. An excellent specimen with only 100k km mileage with the recommended book price of only 20% of retail.
It didn’t take long for trouble to arrive and I’ll make this as short as possible. First a failure in the high pressure fuel pump. It appears these were troublesome in vehicles manufactured that year, well so be it. Dealer quote to repair $10,700, that is AUD. Trailered it home, purchased pump on ebay, mechanic fitted, total cost, $1,450.
When I purchased this vehicle the seller advised it had never had a crash. Contrary to that I found paper work for a front end panel repair, yes it had been crashed and because of this more repairs were required. A disconcerting noise started when decelerating. I was in Toowoomba at the time and took it to the local authorised dealer workshop. I was advised to change or repair the transmission. Bill for diagnosis was $100. I took it to a reputable non VW workshop and they did an extensive and expensive job, replacing the CV joins where the noise was coming from plus replacing other worn components. They were both competent and honest.

My wife bought fuel for an earlier VW from a country service station where the attendant refuelled for her. Both of them were jaw wagging instead of paying attention: the diesel car was filled with petrol and it didn’t travel too far before it quit. She phoned VW and was told she must take it to a dealer. Now this was most impractical as this incident was at a fairly remote location. The service station mechanic arrived and pumped out the petrol, refilled with diesel and she was on her way. Isn’t it good to deal with country folk. (At times my friends poke fun at me for driving a VW. They tell me it is Hitler's revenge).

Question. Does this occur only with VW or is this type of practice and behaviour also applicable to other manufacturer’s authorised workshops? Have you had a similar experience? Do tell me.

[woofa.express]

I confused the mileage.


in my story below 100km should have read 100,000 Km or 100k in kilometres. It has now been corrected. Pardon me.