Adelaide, South Australia

Arriving in Adelaide after a long day in the saddle from Nhill, through the Big Desert National park was a welcome relief. Unfortunately the friends whom we had met in Canberra were not home so we headed to the nearest campground. On arriving something broke in the rear wheel housing, and so began our run of bad luck in Adelaide.

The problem turned out to be a retaining clip on the brake activation shaft. Once I got that fixed it was time to explore the city. Adelaide turns out to be a wonderful city. We visited a couple of museums and art galleries. During our stay here the S.A. Arts Festival was going on and we saw a number of wonderful shows put on by street performers and musical groups. As well as a concert by the Adelaide symphony held in the park, which was really wonderful.

Our friends showed up and we moved in with them for a few weeks, as we continued to explore the city and the area around it. We also took a trip to Kangaroo Island, which has turned out to be a major highlight of our time in Australia so far. We spent a week on Kangaroo, hiking and riding around the countryside. The roads on Kangaroo Island turned out to be perfect for our GS. Lots of bulldust, corrugations and roller bearing gravel. It made for some very exiting riding, even at 20kph.

Aldgate where our friends live is a small very pleasant town in the hills outside Adelaide. It is a really nice region and most who live here work in the city. We are very glad to have a nice place to stay since our bike problems continue.

It seems that the starter motor on Cecilias motorcycle decided to go on a permanent vacation. The magnets inside the rotor case decided to detach themselves from the casing and attach themselves to the rotor, keeping it from spinning. Ok, no worries, check BMW and see if they fix or replace the casing. It turns out that the casing is replaced when something like this happens, and no they do not sell it separately. What the... Now they want A$800.00 for a new starter motor, no chance mate!

First lets see if we can find a used starter motor, no problem, A$250.00 will buy an "old" style motor, none of the "new" style are to be found. Sorry still too much for my taste. A quick call to Loctite reveals that they have a glue for this type of application, ok, lets give that a go. I sand the casing down to remove all the old glue and then glue the magnets to the casing. Don't know if the magnets are in the right place (reverse polarity will make the starter turn backwards.

As I re-assemble the starter motor, I break the plastic brush holder. Back to BMW for parts, sorry mate no-one has this part. Call my friend Eric in Germany, no problem he sends it our the same day. Ten days later I have the part. In the meanwhile I start learning HTML programming and begin keeping on-line diary in for of web pages. Oh, well at least I am using the time productively. We continue to explore and enjoy the sights of Adelaide. We go to see a round of the S.A. Open Golf tournament. We even followed the "Shark" around for a few holes. Seeing my first Rugby tournament was also memorable, mainly in that I don't think I will repeat it.

Once the part is finally here, I finish re-assembling it and install it. You guessed it, I had the magnets glued in backwards, the motor spins in the wrong direction. By heating the casing up I was able to rectify the problem by re-gluing the magnets in the correct place.

Once again we are on the road. Our visit to Adelaide had taken 3 weeks longer than we had originally planned.

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