The plan today was to commence with a walk on the beach at 6am. This was thwarted by the flash of lightning and clap of thunder amidst the heavy rain just when the alarm went off. Oh well, stay in bed. To make things worse, due to the time zone and latitude, it is quite dark here at 6am.
We planned to spend some of the day with a friend from a long time back with vintage car affiliations. We met Howard Filtness at the Queensland National Tour at Peregian Beach in 1975. After that, there was some correspondence, but nothing more since the mid 1980s. We saw his name on the list of participants at the National 1 & 2 Cylinder Rally at Perth three weeks ago. We went along the next day and renewed our acquaintance. Howard now resides in Adelaide and has met Diane since those days. Upon arrival at their house we first saw the collection of veteran vehicles (ie. built before 1/01/1919).
The Phoenix 3 wheel car, which we first saw at Perth three weeks ago was still in its trailer from last weekend's run. We saw three motorcycles, Indian, Bell and Rudge. Also in the garage is probably the most charming car I have seen, a 1913 Napier. It is magnificent.
We put ourselves in Dianne and Howard's hands, and with Dianne at the wheel we went for a tour commencing with Adelaide city. The arrangement of the city within one mile by one mile was explained and we travelled the South, West, North and East Terraces and adjacent four parklands. Adelaide was laid out before it was built and it shows.
As part of the tour we were shown the O-Bahn which is a system of bus travel where normal buses modified to allow guidance by follower wheels travel on concrete wheel tracks incorporating guides to give rapid transit from outlying suburbs to the city. On the O-Bahn the bus driver only uses the accelerator and brake; the bus is steered by the guides. Once a bus reaches the city it drives off the O-Bahn onto the regular road like all the other buses. It is an extension of an idea used in Germany to guide buses down a few very narrow lanes. The system is more clever than rail. There are also trams in inner Adelaide.
After this we travelled to Mount Lofty and overlooked the city. You can see the weather. After morning tea on Mount Lofty we went looking for wineries in the Adelaide Hills, east of Adelaide. We went through villages like Hahndorf and Balhannah about which Jim Lonergan had spoken many years ago. Dianne found the Shaw and Smith Winery. We went in and did some business. The vista here is what I expected the winery area to look like.
Next stop was the National Motor Museum at Birdwood. Howard's Phoenix is usually displayed here. You can appreciate I found this a fascinating place.
The trip back to Adelaide was through fruit farming areas, particularly apple orchards. Once in Adelaide, we toured the city looking at the highlights including buildings of significance like City Administration and Post Office.
Dinner with Howard and Dianne topped of a very enjoyable day.
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