Flinders Ranges :: Day 9 :: Flinders Ranges to Adelaide


We packed quietly. Both Kim and I were still worried about the car, the bike rack, the bike rack and the journey home.




One of our neighbours who had a caravan came over to say good-bye. They pointed out that our bike rack seemed low to them. Without much prompting, they imparted their bike rack story. I wished I didn’t hear it but we didn’t stop them. Their cantilevered bike rack at the back of their caravan developed a crack in it due to the roads' corrugations. They managed to fit one of their bikes inside the caravan. They had gave away their second bike at a rest stop, and disposed of their broken bike rack. With out setup, we didn't have any space to place any of our bikes.

We drove our car carefully. I was very stressed. At every bump, I closed my eyes and ears. At Hawker, there was a spoon drain that I reminded Kim about. He slowed down to a snail's pace but we heard the awful scrape.

We stopped by Knit, Spin and Weave in Clare. I bought scarves from Tracy. I love her work and think she is very talented with her hands. We also detoured to Shut the Gate and bought some wine.

I think my worst fear came when there was a sign on the side of the road, warning of drivers of the undulating roads. At the first undulation, the car made a hideous sound. We stopped immediately. We could not possibly continue on. We pulled over and turned the hazard lights on. We donned our hi-viz jackets and inspected the car. Both Kim and I thought of the same thing. We needed a new car. This little car couldn’t assist us in achieving the type of activities we wanted to do. It had served us well until now. Kim’s bike was the last bike on the rack. The clearance between the bike wheel and road was very narrow. It was about the width of my foot. 

We were at the outskirts of Roseworthy. It was about 40 minutes away from Kim’s mum’s home. Where we stopped, there were two houses across the road. We thought we should seek refuge there first. Kim walked towards one and had to turn back as they had a dog. No one was home in the other. We decided to take off Kim’s bike out of the rack so that I could push it towards the petrol station we passed a little while ago. Maybe it was about 200 meters away. Every time I saw a truck. I stood a little further from the side of the road and held on to the bike for dear life. Kim turned the car around with the hazard lights on and drove slowly to the petrol station. We called Kim’s brother and he bought his ute, ropes and associated tools. The tray fitted the bike rack and our bikes.






By the time we reached Kim’s mum’s it was quite dark already. We had dinner with Kim's mum and brother. We then visited my parents. Uncle William and Aunty Angela were there for a holiday from Hong Kong. We presented Aunty Angela and Mi with the scarves we bought earlier and shared a wine we bought earlier at Shut the Gate.

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