Black Hill Tractor Trek

Last week-end was the Nildottie Group's bi-annual tractor run starting at Black Hill. (Between Swan Reach and Cambrai) I took my John Deere 3020 and a neighbor's JD 730 and trailer. Unfortunately he had a back end problem on the Saturday and had to pull out of the event. We travelled there Friday night, unloaded Saturday morning and set off about 9 am.

This is the group of 18 tractors and support vehicles.


Our first stop was at Rheinthal cemetery, a pioneer one dating back to settlement in the mid 1800's. Large areas of SA were colonised by German immigrants fleeing religous persecution in their homeland, and many towns and area's have names reflecting their background.



Now travelling West towards the Barossa Hills we left the Murray flats and began the climb up into the hills and some fantastic scenery. Because of the Summer rains over much of Central and Eastern Australia the countryside is already green.
The real highlight is the miles of stone walls built during the 1880-1890 period. A local told us the builders worked as a team, one gathering and carting stone and the other building the wall. They were able to build about a chain a day (20 metres) and were paid by that.
A section of wall toppled over so this fellow and his neighbor decided to re-build it. The hill was so steep they could hardly stand up let alone place stones, so they gave up and used some ring-lock instead. Makes you appreciate the work these pioneers did.



Our lunch stop was near an old Copper mine. A seam of high yielding ore was found in 1849. The shaft is 360 feet deep (bit over 100 mtrs) with numerous drives in different directions. Unfortunately the seam was small and it eventually closed, and is now being used as a stock water supply.


Back on the road and passing through Keyneton and then on to near Moculta (now quite close to the Barossa Valley) we turned East on the Swan Reach -Stockwell pipeline road and began the descent down some quite steep parts to the overnight stop at Towitta Park.


At the Park we had a great night and a good chance to catch up for a yarn, which is what it is all about. There were people from Wentworth, Irymple, Waikerie as well. Also time to do a few small fixes. The accomodation ranged from swags on the ground to campers.



This is Henry's house, a hand crafted creation made from fully imported timber. (packing cases) He has a list of improvements written on the top for when he builds Mk 2.



The evening meal and breakfast were supplied, then some spare time before starting again. This Lanz Bulldog owner took the opportunity to entertain us with smoke rings and carbon producing antics.



I was intrigued to see this sign on the back of the Bulldog.


We set off South along the base of the hills until we got to the Marne River, then turned East and followed it until our morning smoko stop near to Cambrai.



Still following the Marne we arrived in Black Hill township for a barbecue lunch and the end of a fun week-end.
I came home with the usual list of fix-its, a slow front tyre leak, generator not charging, small diesel leak, muffler loose and a sticky transmission park lock cable,(power shift trans) which got progessively harder to move and then froze so that I had to disconnect it to get the tractor off the trailer when I got home. Aah, all part off the fun.
So, loaded up to go home without the 730. which the owner had collected with his own drop-deck and lifted the tractor on with a Volvo loader. No news yet of what went wrong in the back-end. Cheers Geoff

Nice work Geoff, thanks for sharing.

its good to see the country side in s.a. and the tractor collectors having a good weakend
john. qld

great photos

very nice tale, and pics well done...

/me

Thanks for the comments fella's.
The JD 730 has the mudguards,platform, seat etc off but too hard to see much through the smallish plate near the steering column casting. He has pretty much ruled out the diff as the problem.
To take part in a trek the tractors need to be capable of 20 km/hour so they are sure to reach their over-night stop in daylight should there be delays. The first day was 82 km, and the second part day 45 km. We probably averaged somewhere around 15 km/hour while moving, and had a few stops for minor hassles, to allow bunch-ups to spread out a bit or do some catching up. I was near the end on one leg of the trek and copped a lot of dust stirred up by the others. Didn't really think it was too much till I saw the dirt gathered on the trailer tarp. Cheers

Hi Tacho I just read the tractor trek story in the TOMM good read did you guys get the parts for the JD 730 gear box i have got John Deere used parts from US try miller tractor parts JD ebay or ring them they have a lot of 2cyl JD parts freight is a bit hot $50 for 20lb small parts i need a complete governor set up it is fairly heavy for a JD 720D a 730D is the same. For reprouduction parts like new 730 clutch kits only $105 US plus freight etc try W Farms 2cylinder tractor parts ebay ;)john

John, if you reckon the US Postal Service prices are hot, try Canada Post. Whatever costs you $50 with USPS will cost you $100 with CP, plus GST, plus fuel surcharge, and plus anything else they can think up.
I reckon there must be at least 50,000 people in CP on $250,000 a year salaries, with the unrealistic prices they charge.
It's stopped me from buying anything from Canada .. and when I absolutely have to, I get it freighted over the border into a U.S. mates hands, and then sent on via USPS, at a huge saving ..

Tacho - Good pics and story, looks like you got around a bit. Travellin the countryside in a tractor isn't my idea of fun .. maybe its because I've done too much of it in a grader.
At least you get to be on a first-name basis with every roadside guide post, they are going past that slow ..

.. and when I absolutely have to, I get it freighted over the border into a U.S. mates hands, and then sent on via USPS, at a huge saving ..

Onetrack, this is a trick that even the Canadians resort to, and many in the border towns simply cross the border to sent off the article from the US.

Yeah I agree with "one track" that and every rock and stone etc.
I Laughed as memories of an old Alice AD3 arm breaker With a three cylinder GM and the Barrossa valley roads around Moculta come swamping in.

Good story with pics well told there Tacho.
Digger.

G'day John from Bullyard,
The TOMM had not arrived when we left for WA so I have not read the article. Peter was hoping someone reading it may come forward with parts from a wreck. He will be at the NHMA rally so I will catch up with the latest then. Cheers Geoff