VTR roars into life.

Honda VTR 250 at the Doublecheck
Auto and Bike Repair Shop.

Ben phoned today from Launceston. His flying (and driving) visitor arrived safely and spent part of the day in Tasmania's second-largest city. The trip didn't quite go to plan owing to a mix up with place names; Winnaleah and Weldborough aren't really close to each other geographically but both names do start with 'W' and end with 'h'.

Fishing and fossicking both start with 'f' and end with 'ing'. Fishing has been a useful beachside activity and fossicking in the mountains looks like it could yield some interesting results. The local jewelry wholesaler was impressed by some of the stones.

The big news of the day is that the VTR 250 has been reassembled and the engine was run for the first time in over three months. It didn't exactly 'roar' into life, the sound was more like "putt... putt... putt." Initially it seemed that the engine had completely seized however the problem was due to excess oil in the cylinder. Once running, it would only idle but not rev and that was due to loose carburettor mounts. Finally it ran smoothly but would not climb the steep driveway and that was due to me not being able to ride a motorbike. Not having a helmet or other bike gear, personal safety equipment consisted of a Tasmania baseball cap, a Las Vegas hoodie and garden gloves. Will the bike ever return to Tasmania? Stay tuned.