Re: The World's Slowest Indian, some bling!
Added some bling to the old girl, got some new fancy duck bill fenders and found a period style replica horn and this cool fender light, plan to convert all the lights to 12 volts so will have lights and horn soon.
Been lovin Mplscoasters trips around his corner of the planet so I thought I would take you for a bit of a tour of my little corner of the world. Lord Howe Island in the south-west corner of the Pacific Ocean was discovered by Henry Lidgbird Ball the skipper of HM Ship Supply on the 17/02/1788. The two mountains in the back ground Mt Gower (2850 ft) and to the left Mount Lidgbird (2550 ft). I've climbed Gower about 30 times, takes around 8 hours up and back. For many years the export of Kentia palms (as an indoor decorative plant ) was the biggest industry these days tourism is the island's main industry which employs most including my wife, myself and our kids in the holidays.
So this is where the bulk of this bike originated, the local waste management facility, skips are loaded with scrap metal and other recyclable waste which goes out by ship to the mainland, after I have pirated as many bikes bits as I can get! 90% of the island's waste is either recycled or reused, the white bags are filled with finely crushed glass which is used along with imported gravel for road base, yep one for the road is one for the road!
The island's runway is short 3000ft so only 36 seater aircraft and the cows don't mind the planes. Takes around 1 hour 40mins to fly the 420 miles from Sydney to the island.
The island is probably most famous for a flightless endemic bird, the Woodhen, which was saved from extinction, in 1978 there where around 30 left, after knocking back preditors and a rebreeding program there are now over 300. To this day one of the rarest creatures in the world, you can buy souvenir Woodhens as a keepsake, pic the real one?
There are more bikes than any other vehicles on the island low speed limit 25klms but helmets must be worn. My wife and both my kids went to the local school, one of the oldest Central Schools in New South Wales, also one of the only schools in the state where bare feet is part of the school uniform! Boarding on the mainland for secondary school.
Our War Memorial, 9 men of the total population 110 went to WW I, 24 men of a total population of 160, 2 men also went to Vietnam. Two men died in WW I and 3 in WW II, to this day funerals are sad events as they are in all small communities. The machine gun is a WW I Maxim captured in the muddy trenches of France.
The oldest sea worthy vessel on the island The "Albatross" built in 1936, in 2013 turned 77 years old and still used.
All these pic's were taken at the southern end of the island today 29/3/13 around midday, a beautiful day out in the Pacific Ocean, will get some pic's of the north end soon hopefully.