Die Adelaider Zeiten
(The Adelaide Times)
Edition 9 – Wednesday 24th December 2008
http://brian-vogt.customer.netspace.net.au/DAZ09/index.html
Written and edited by "der umherziehende Reporter"
Continuing in the tradition of Die Rüsselsheimer Zeiten (35 editions in 19 months, 1998-2000),
this is my summary of the past 52 weeks in Adelaide.
I'm about to spend Christmas Day and the following 2 days with Dad at Kapunda (where I was born and went to school), 70 km from my home.
Dad's 85th birthday was on Friday 15th February.  A surprise party was organised by his next door neighbours Robyn & Tim, held at the Sir John Franklin Hotel the following day.  After a tennis match in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, I was able to arrive in Kapunda just in time for the start.  Ten months later, Dad is still saying what a fantasic surprise it was to be greeted by 30 friends as Robyn & Tim brought him into the dining room.
The BMW Owners Club of South Australia celebrated its 50th birthday this year.  I left the club in 1982, but maintain a loose connection through my father whom I introduced to them in 1979.  On 13th April there was a special gathering of past and present members at the local dealer, Adelaide Motors.  Besides a free barbecue and chatting with many people I hadn't seen for 25 years, Adelaide Motors and BMW Australia provided a good range of motorcycles for test rides.  I left it until after lunch to ask for a ride, so I couldn't get the bike I was interested in – the R1200RT (horizontally opposed 2 cylinder engine and large fairing).  Instead I was disappointed to be assigned the K1200S (inline 4 cylinder engine) – see picture below.  Photo credit: Uwe Sinn.
My disappointment didn't last long, as I explored the enormous horsepower at all legal speeds.  It really shattered my old thoughts that one needs a big 2 cylinder engine to give a nice even spread of acceleration across all engine speeds.  The K1200S engine (1157 cc, brake horsepower 167 ps) is a bit scary because it's so easy to over-use.  Magazines report acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, and then you change into 2nd gear.
Links to some video files that show what other people have done with the K1200S :
  – Acceleration from 0 to 280 km/h (a very short video).
  – A lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife (21 km) in less than 8 minutes.
At the 100 km/h speed limit going up the South Eastern Freeway, I felt a bit frustrated because the bike had far more horsepower than I was allowed to use.  For the next section of the ride – slow bends through the Adelaide Hills, I was able to swap for an F800S (parallel 2 cylinder engine) which was lighter and much easier to turn.  For the final section – back down the freeway, I swapped for the R1200RT that I originally wanted.  It has a mild amount of horsepower compared to the K1200S, and is quite nice although I find the fairing to be too large – much like driving a car.
My conclusion:  I have no use for the fast K1200S, and the other 2 bikes don't offer any significant advantages over my 1977 model R100RS.  However, it was a fantastic experience.
This year, the BMW Motorcycle Rally was at Yarram in the state of Victoria, on 25-27 April.  (See lower right area of the map below).  Again I accompanied my father, now aged 85.  On the way, we stayed 2 nights at Ballarat with my Cousin Betty Handreck and her husband John – (top left corner of the map below).
Further along the way, we needed to go through Melbourne – there's really no way to avoid it.  Fortunately for me, the Westgate Freeway goes within 500 metres of the former Rootes Australia car factory at Port Melbourne, where all of my Hillman cars were assembled during the 1960s.  It was my first opportunity to visit this sacred site, and I was pleased to take several photographs of the remaining buildings.  I was even more pleased when one of the tenants (an artist) approached me and spoke with me at length – eventually allowing me inside the entrance foyer where I tooks some more photos.  Mission accomplished and my curiosity satisfied; we got out of the Melbourne rat race.  If I hadn't spent many hours on the internet planning our route along Melbourne's network of freeways, I'm quite sure I could not have succeeded.  Dad happily let me lead the way, and decreed that he never wanted to return to Melbourne.

Sacrilege!  The former Rootes Australia factory and administration offices have
become the Melbourne Indoor Paintball game arena (and many other things).

At the motorcycle rally in Yarram, Dad and I shared a cabin in the caravan park with 2 friendly BMW riders we'd never met before.  On the Saturday, over 100 motorcycles went on a scenic ride, stopping in Wilson's Promontory National Park, the most southern part of mainland Australia ("Coastal Park" on the above map).


In the National Park: that's me in blue, and Dad behind his mid-1980s BMW R100RT.

On Saturday evening, Dad easily won the award for the oldest rider, and is again the oldest rider ever to do so.  This time he also won the awards for the oldest combined motorcycle and rider, and for the longest distance rider (1002 km from his home at Kapunda).  For his efforts he's very popular with the crowd, but isn't sure whether he'll be able to do this again – especially if they hold the 2010 BMW Rally on the eastern side of Melbourne.

After the Rally, we spent a few days visiting several of Dad's friends in the north of Victoria and Mum's brother Norm Tschirpig at Lavington just over the border in NSW.  Our original plan was an all-day ride up the Omeo Highway – the shortest path, and I've heard that the scenery is fantastic.  However, we chose the wrong season for this, as the Sunday night forecast was for snow down to 1000 metres, and the Omeo Highway goes up past 1500 metres altitude.  Luckily, a married couple were riding back home to Wodonga, and we were able to follow them through the outer Melbourne area and up to Uncle Norm's home in the rain.  More luck – I was able to do a 70 minute video camera interview with Uncle Norm, about his life and Mum's family generally.

My plans to continue studying and volunteer work experience turned completely to dust.  By this time last year, Thebarton Senior College had notified students that I.T. Certificate 4 subjects would not be offered in the first half of 2008, due to lack of interest by students.  So I approached St. Joseph's (Catholic) Primary School in the suburb of Kingswood, with a view to continuing the work experience of PC network management that I'd started in October 2007.  It wasn't until March that the Principal found time to process my request and begin taking me through the formal Induction process for volunteers.  With induction complete, I was eager to get down to some serious computer work.  Then a week later, the consultant who was in charge of the school's computer network decided to retire and pass the consultancy company to his daughter.  With 2 very small children, the daughter didn't want the company, and closed it down a couple of weeks later.  This left me without a mentor, and the Principal would not allow me to work there unsupervised.  Nothing has changed since then, so I haven't returned to the school.

In the middle of the year I enquired about enrolling at Thebarton Senior College.  Bad news!  Still no interest from students, so they would not teach the subjects I wanted.  I was unable to find another college offering this course, so I turned to hobbies for the rest of the year.  I've now virtually given up on the Information Technology industry, and will look for another type of work early in 2009.

My young brother Wayne was 50 years old on 19th August.  As he lives in Tasmania and works every day as a security guard, he had to defer his return to South Australia for the party until late August.
We had the party at the Roulettes Tavern, Parafield Airport on Saturday 30th August.  Click here to see my pictures page.
The University of Adelaide has regular guided tours, conducted by volunteers who explain the history of the organisation and its classic buildings.  On 9th September I went on a tour because it's the only way to get into Bonython Hall (the university's large ceremonial hall).  It was the first time I'd been in there since May 1976 when I received my Bachelor of Science certificate from the hand of Vice Chancellor and supreme court judge Dame Roma Mitchell (who was later to become state governor).  The whole interior is lined with high quality timber.  The precise location of Bonython Hall at the northern end of Pulteney Street is because of an early 1930s proposal to extend Pulteney Street for the sake of city traffic – but it would have divided the small university campus into halves.  Sir John Langdon Bonython donated a mountain of money, and this beautiful building became the nation's largest road block.
Tennis – I'm still playing for the Denman Tennis Club, now in my 6th consecutive season, and 9th season overall since starting there 30 years ago.  The 2007-2008 summer season finished with my team (Division 3 doubles-only) a long way out of the finals.
This season (2008-2009) I'm playing in Division 5 mens-only.  Denman has 2 teams in this division, and the 2 local derby matches have given rise to a very interesting friendly rivalry.  I've beaten the club's 11 year old prodigy on both occasions – coming from behind in each case.  Overall, my team has been losing a lot, our first win coming only last Saturday (just before the mid-summer break).  However, I have won about as many sets as I've lost.  It then takes me 2 days to physically recover, despite all of the running I did before the start of the season.  It becomes more difficult every year, and the lower divisions have disappeared from the competition, so there's nowhere for us old blokes to get an easy match.
At the Annual General Meeting on 22nd September, I was elected to the committee for the first time.  My main project will be to help with the development of a website that gives public prominence to this club of many achievements during its 75 year history.
At the end of January I had a new air conditioner installed in my home.  It was a much-needed replacement following the self-destruction (with huge smoke) of my old unit two years earlier.  With temperatures reaching 43°C several times each summer, it's difficult to live without one – especially on the odd occasions when the overnight minimum is 30°C.
Current daily maximum temperatures are around the high 20s and low 30s.  During the past couple of days we've received news reports of heavy snow in northern USA – and even extending to southern California yesterday.  I prefer what we have here, because I can drive my cars.
I continue to be an active member of of Prospect Road Uniting Church.  Although I don't have any formal duties, I usually operate the PowerPoint presentation during Sunday morning worship services.  (The ministers prepare screens for all of the hymns, liturgy, illustrations for their sermons, etc.).
The final worship service at our Islington property was held on 16th November, after continuous use since 1882.  It was a big day of celebration, with over 200 former members returning to chat with old friends.  This is where I commenced semi-regular church attendance in 1982.  The small group of people who have been meeting there in recent years became too few in number too organise things, so they have decided to join our main group on Prospect Road on Sunday mornings.
On Sunday 19th October, I joined Kapunda Uniting Church in the celebration of 150 years of worship services in the current building.  I can just remember the centenary celebration in 1958, when I was unable to get inside due to the large crowd present on the day.  There was no such problem this time, as current membership has dwindled and many of the oldtimers have died.  They have turned over some of their former Sunday School rooms to Uniting Care – of which the state director (Michaela Tiller) was present to preach the sermon and perform the opening ceremony for the newly prepared counselling rooms.
My involvement with the Gideons continues.  This month I was elected to the position of Treasurer of my local group, after being the Chaplain for 3½ years.  Away from the meeting room, I again placed Bibles in the rooms of several Hotels/Motels in North Adelaide and along Main North Road.  This year I was able to distribute testaments to Year 8 students in schools, after missing 2007 due to college studies.
Gideons who speak at schools and in churches need to pass practical tests for speaking quality every 5 years.  For example, information content must be very good, and going overtime is an instant failure.  On 9th April I passed my tests for each of the 2 categories.
I attended the State Convention at Mount Gambier during 18-20 April, and spoke for Gideons in a church at Naracoorte on the way home.  During the preceding 3 months I had filled a casual vacancy for the position of State Chaplain.  This was just long enough to appreciate the hard work some people do, and also to understand the wisdom of some decisions made at the higher level.  Better decisions are made when you know more of the facts.
I'm also on the arrangements committee for the 2009 State Convention, as Ushers Co-ordinator.
I continue to be an active member of the Hillman Car Club.  On 4th May we had an economy run and a big party to celebrate the club being 20 years old.
At the Annual General Meeting in August, I was re-elected to the position of Social Events Officer – co-ordinating the people who volunteer to organise specific events.  At the the "Christmas Lunch/Meeting" in Lobethal on 7th December, I ran a Christmas Quiz.  Click here to download the quiz.  Answers are given after the 4th set of questions.  Give it a go – I'll bet your score is a lot lower than you expected.
Being unemployed, I have been able to attend a several of the mid-week runs, as well as most of the Sunday runs.
I continue in the appointed position of Webmaster.  Our website, which I started building 7 years ago, is widely acknowledged as being one of the most informative about Hillman cars (in addition to showing our own members' cars and stories).
During November I developed a new website for the social interest of my former workmates in the state Public Service.  Our agency was disbanded in April 1996, but we still have occasional reunions – the latest one being on 26th October when a former manager asked me to develop a website.

Haben Sie frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr !
(Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !)
To my Home Page
To my Picture Gallery