Trip South to pick up Rocket

Paul Bryant

Living Legend
Joined
Jun 17, 2008
Messages
3,193
Location
Hamilton. New Zealand
Ride
2006 Rocket
We left home Thursday morning heading South to Levin, about 275 miles, about a six hour trip.
We stayed the night in Levin intending to pick up the bike then head home Friday.
Well we started heading North but decided to take an extra day getting home, there was no rush to get home.

We stopped at National Park, central North Island and stayed there the night.

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Just South of Nation Park is "Smash Palace" a renown car wreckers.
A totally amazing place.

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I love old car/truck/bike junk yards. We should start a thread for them and I know a certain Aussie Rusty truck fan and photographer on the forum could supply heaps of pics to get it started. A world wide collection of junked bikes and cars etc would be cool.

When I first went to the Northern Territory in 1981 and for about the next 10 years I used to love visiting the outback Aboriginal settlements/reserves for work especially the desert ones where the cars never rusted and heaps of old US Left Hand Drives which had been imported into Alice Springs by US spooks working at the still secret Pine Gap ICBM tracking and spy facility since the early 1960's during construction. Now they fly the latest in on the weekly Starlifter service which supplies everything for the facility and US staff stores with their favourite cereal and candy bars etc.

I think they changed the rules in the late 80's though, as it is only a lot fewer official cars and vehicles now where as early on the general staff and family where allowed to bring their cars etc in dutyfree paid for by the US Govt on the twice weekly 1000 mile train service North from the port in Adelaide as until the late 70's it was only a dirt track from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Pine Gap - Wikipedia

After numerous owners these and other old cars/trucks ended up in Aboriginal communities and cattle stations (ranches) up to 500+ km from Alice Springs which along with old 50-60's Australian and occasional English models were dumped a few km from each settlement after they had finally died, run out of fuel or tires whatever. Many of the trucks have been recovered, restored and placed in the National Trucking Museum in Alice Springs now.
National Road Transport Hall of Fame

In the early '90's travelling scrap crushers started clearing them out and they are pretty rare these days. They would bring a crusher out on a semi and crush a pile of cars for a week or two, load them up on semis and head onto the next community. You still come across abandoned cars left for 50+ years on the side of some sandy backtrack 50-100km from the nearest habitation though.
 
I love old car/truck/bike junk yards. We should start a thread for them and I know a certain Aussie Rusty truck fan and photographer on the forum could supply heaps of pics to get it started. A world wide collection of junked bikes and cars etc would be cool.

When I first went to the Northern Territory in 1981 and for about the next 10 years I used to love visiting the outback Aboriginal settlements/reserves for work especially the desert ones where the cars never rusted and heaps of old US Left Hand Drives which had been imported into Alice Springs by US spooks working at the still secret Pine Gap ICBM tracking and spy facility since the early 1960's during construction. Now they fly the latest in on the weekly Starlifter service which supplies everything for the facility and US staff stores with their favourite cereal and candy bars etc.

I think they changed the rules in the late 80's though, as it is only a lot fewer official cars and vehicles now where as early on the general staff and family where allowed to bring their cars etc in dutyfree paid for by the US Govt on the twice weekly 1000 mile train service North from the port in Adelaide as until the late 70's it was only a dirt track from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Pine Gap - Wikipedia

After numerous owners these and other old cars/trucks ended up in Aboriginal communities and cattle stations (ranches) up to 500+ km from Alice Springs which along with old 50-60's Australian and occasional English models were dumped a few km from each settlement after they had finally died, run out of fuel or tires whatever. Many of the trucks have been recovered, restored and placed in the National Trucking Museum in Alice Springs now.
National Road Transport Hall of Fame

In the early '90's travelling scrap crushers started clearing them out and they are pretty rare these days. They would bring a crusher out on a semi and crush a pile of cars for a week or two, load them up on semis and head onto the next community. You still come across abandoned cars left for 50+ years on the side of some sandy backtrack 50-100km from the nearest habitation though.

I have mentioned in previous posts for a few years I hauled crushed scrap vehicles and obsolete machinery/boilers for a living some of the stuff we picked up would be worth good money now as restorers are running out of old tin, on more than one occasion we also picked up a snake or two in the old vehicles and plenty of rats and mice always had a look around the sleeper cab on the truck before settling down for the night
 
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