Pt Augusta to Hahndorf to Pinnaroo to Charlton to Ballarat - 12-16th July

My leg was still playing up on Tuesday so hit the bitumen.  I wanted to buy a new helmet as I was not all that comfortable wearing what amounted to an ice cream container on my scone for protection.  One of the other areas I wanted to have a squiz at on the bike was the Flinders Ranges.  They provide a pretty spectacular backdrop riding into Port Augusta.  My leg was still giving me a lot of curry, so I once again decided not adventure into the ranges.  I decided that seeing as I'll be going for a ride through to Blinman in about a month's time that I'll still have some time to see them properly when I'm in a state to enjoy it more.
Once I picked up my new helmet, I posted the old one back to Ballarat - it's going straight to the pool room - well, the shed anyway.  I got out of Adelaide pretty quickly and enjoyed the run through the Adelaide hills to Hahndorf.
The next day I traveled to Birdwood to check out the National Motor Museum.  It was well worth the visit and I spent about 2 hours or so checking out the bikes and cars.  I headed for Murray Bridge where it started to rain again.  The last few days I've been travelling with all my liners in my jackets and pants, a merino thermal and balaclava.  Earlier in the trip I was wondering if it was really worthwhile bringing my winter road gloves - boy was I glad I did as I would only have gangrenous stumps for fingers by now.  Nothing really exciting happened through to Pinnaroo on the SA/Vic border.
From Pinnaroo I was going to head through the Big Desert (which isn't really all that big).  I turned off at Murrayville on the Murryville-Nhill Road.  This became a dirt road, then a sandy road.  I had no idea this area existed in Vic - again, kinda similar to the terrain I saw at the start of the Simpson - minus the big dunes of course.  I'll have to head back this way with the trail bike to get some sand riding skills.  Arrived in Charlton looking forward to some home cooking for a few days.
The end was the short ride from Charlton to Ballarat to complete the journey.  7 weeks away from home and I was pretty glad to be back.  I'm not sure how long that will last for though :)

Some pics from Birdwood

Leyland Brothers West to East Crossing Expidition Landy

Tom Kruse's Badger (renovated)

Well - that's all folks.  I've re-read some of these entries and I think it must've been for the first time.  Some of the spelling and grammar leaves a lot to be desired - not to mention that I think I've left entire words and sentences out.  Thanks for reading if you manged to make it through this far.