Eyes on the Road

Here's our first stop today:

The National Motor Museum. It is a lot more interesting that I thought it might be! I was expecting rows and rows of cars. There is a bit of that, of course, but there are also special displays on the social aspects of motoring - how motor vehicles have affected life in this country.

The front entrance is through this actual old service station, which was bought in the 1920s as a prefab from the USA:

When it was going to be demolished it was rescued, restored and reassembled for the museum.

How about this driving outfit?

Fortunately in the Jag we don't need special clothing to protect us from dust, wind and rain!

This display celebrates Aboriginal "bush mechanics" and the art of keeping vehicles going in the outback until they have had it:

Other displays feature drive-ins, travelling hawker vans, outback mail adventures, Alice Anderson's all-women garage, as well as of course a huge range of vehicles.

Cute ones like this 1957 Isetta bubble car:

And very snazzy ones like this Bugatti Veyron:

The fastest production car in Australia. But who needs to travel at 460km/hour?

After eating our picnic lunch in a cemetery - maybe an odd place, but they had a nice shelter and seats there - we hit the road towards Victoria.

We took a break at Coonalpyn, to investigate the rest of their public arts trail that we missed on the way here. Here's the northern end of the silos, which we didn't see before:

"Coonalpyn on Show" was a display of appliquéd panels made by a local sewing group and the primary school, but the shop where it had been on display was empty. "Growing Coonalpyn" is a garden display, but we didn't find it.

The one art project we did find is "Eyes on the Road":

 An eagle's face made of 3,200 bits of folded and painted metal:

It probably looks better when the sun isn't so bright behind it.

Our next stop was Bordertown. On our way I had seen some "Cup o Flora" wicking pots for sale in a shop there, but didn't buy one. Of course later I thought I should have. Fortunately the shop was still open when we drove back through this afternoon, and I bought a couple to try with my African violet babies when they have grown a bit.

Our overnight stop is Kaniva. Like many country towns, Kaniva was once a thriving town but now there are many empty shops. Along the main street there are history panels showing businesses that used to exist:

Several grocery stores, greengrocers, a couple of stock agents, butchers, all sorts of clothing stores have disappeared.

This church is now a garden:

Some businesses have only recently closed down:

But bizarrely, there is a puppet shop looking quite prosperous:

Unfortunately it is closed on Mondays, so we couldn't check it out. It could be that they do a lot of their business online.

Kaniva's tourist attraction is a flock of decorated sheep along the main street. Details here. The sheep were painted by community groups and businesses. Here are a few of them:

 I thought they were pigs when I first saw them.

 Apparently they are based on Texel sheep, which are lean meat sheep.

Only another 300km of our road trip to go. We will be home tomorrow afternoon.