When people ask me how my trip to Bright in Victoria to attend the Great Aussie Clubman Roundup in my Locost went , I usually tell them that I survived. The event itself was fine and so was the weather for the weekend but driving there and back was something else . The only weather condition I didn’t have was snow (Although I saw some ) I left home at first light on Saturday 5th Nov , there was a light drizzle after heavy rain all night and it was cold . I had my motorcycle rain gear on and my toy helmet which kept me dry even though the rain was falling on me. I could have done with wipers both sides of the screen , I soon found that over 80 kph the rain barely trickled into the cockpit as the slipscreen blew it away. Unfortunately I came up behind some huge mining machines that took up all the road on the Roe Highway at Welshpool and they would not let any traffic past until I turned east at Midland , so much for my early start. I almost got to Northam when the weather dried and I needed comfort stop, so had to pull into a parking area and pull off all my wet gear to gain access . As there was no one around I decided I would leave the engine running with the fan on in case the engine didn’t start and left me stranded , This I did many times on the trip and I’m glad to say the engine never got over 85 degrees even in 37 degree heat ( one less thing to worry about ) By now the weather was fine but still cold and I was able to get some idea of how the trip would go . The cruise control seemed to work OK and only drop out occasionally ( for no apparent reason ) my seat proved to be comfortable and with the cruise control I was able to move my legs around , sometimes I would put my feet behind the pendant pedals to stretch out and hope I didn’t need to brake suddenly .
I refueled at Merredin and had a cup of tea and a brief lunch stop and fuel at Coolgardie. I encountered several showers between there and Norseman , as it was mid afternoon I decided to T.P, & fuel and press on. I could see dark clouds ahead and to the right of me and figured I would miss them , but of course the road curved round to meet them and it poured down on me until about 20 klms from Balladonia where I overnighted . I had a large blue tarp and some occy straps that I put over most of the car as I thought it might rain , the next morning there was a heavy dew on the tarp so I covered the car every night after that .
I had brought a large container of instant porridge with me and a metal plate and spoon so I was able to make my own breakfast and save time and money , I intended to only stay in motels and managed to negotiate a discount with my seniors card at each overnight stop bar Balladonia ( where else could you go ? ) although the cost was reasonable anyway.
I again set off at first light and it was cold but no rain , but the smell and sight of the dead Kangaroos either side of the road between there and almost to the border was quite unpleasant . As I sat there freezing and with the smell of rotting flesh I glanced up and saw a small blue patch of sky and through that patch of sky I saw the vapor trail of the morning jet to Adelaide and thought what the hell am I doing here ?? I settled into a routine of stopping every 2 or 3 hours for T.P.& fuel depending on the bladder and the distance between stops. Over a quick lunch at Border Village I found I had lost 3 hours due to time zone and daylight saving and was concerned over where I would spend the night having planned to overnight at Ceduna still a long way off ( I don’t know if there was some sort of conspiracy going on , but whenever I asked what the weather forecast was no one could tell me ). I stopped at Nullabor at about 6pm and asked what time last light was and was told about 9pm and I would make Ceduna easily . About 50 klms from Ceduna I hit very heavy rain and it was getting dark ( I needed fast wiper speed for the first time and my lights on in case a truck ran over me ) even then once I got confidence to keep my speed up very little water entered the cockpit , only a light spray on the inside of the screen and my visor . Unfortunately I had to slow down to go through Penong at 60 klm and the rain poured all over me and inside the car , it only eased up as I entered Ceduna , I got yelled at for failing to stop at the checkpoint but backed up and got told off ( it wasn’t at all clear whether you should stop and no one seemed to be around ) was I carrying any fruit ? (where I thought to myself) I managed to get a room at the Ceduna Hotel / Motel where I had stayed before as they have a lockup compound around the Motel units and a good meal at reasonable cost. Just as I was unloading the car it poured and I got soaked but managed to get the tarp on before the seats got wet , however I was able to jump straight into a hot shower after dinner I was able to watch the Motogp on tv so not a total loss.
It poured with rain all night and there was wind as well I was glad to see in the pre dawn darkness that the tarp was still in place. After breakfast the rain eased and so I decided to get going as soon as possible, I had no sooner got the tarp off and it started to pelt down I had no choice but to carry on loading, I put all the towels from the room over my seat and quickly put on my wet gear and stowed the tarp and luggage. Luckily the car started first go but unfortunately I needed to refuel so I sploshed around to the first servo with a canopy and fuelled up. I set off in pouring rain and everything was getting wet, the instruments were steaming up on the inside but I was relived to see that the water was not running under the dash and into the computer, which was my main concern with regards to the rain. Once clear of the town I was able to speed up and stop some or the misery and after about half an hour it stopped raining but no sun. After the usual stops I had lunch in Port Augusta and headed towards Adelaide it didn’t seem long before I was in the rain again but being a dual road I was able to keep my speed up and overtake slower vehicles. However overtaking trucks was a nerve wracking ordeal as soon as I got near them I got covered in spray and couldn’t see I just had to keep my foot down and hope I popped out the other side (needless to say I made sure the road ahead was clear and straight) I have to say the trucks didn’t give me any trouble even when I had overtaken them several times as I stopped for a break they keep going..They have a useful way of signaling when you are behind they give one flash of there right indicator to say all clear to overtake (not what I would have expected it to mean, in fact the opposite) As I reached the outskirts of Adelaide not only was it raining heavily It was also rush hour and I wasn’t too sure of where I was going. I had memorized the map but had to sit in the rain not moving and when I did pull the map out although it was in plastic the rain soon made it impossible to read, The road signs in Adelaide are very hard to see and I thought I was lost as I couldn’t find the road I wanted in 3 lanes of traffic I couldn’t stop. Luckily just as I was about to give up I remembered I needed to turn right at the next intersection after the women’s prison which suddenly I recognized and from there I remembered most of the way to my friends house in Paradise (yes that really is the name of the suburb) we were able to put my car in their garage and that’s where it stayed for several days. Unfortunately it kept raining and the area experienced serious flooding so I was housebound for several days.
I had arranged before I left Perth to catch up with Darren Ponton in Adelaide as he was attending a conference there and that if he could arrange to get someone to take mine and his luggage we would travel on to Bright together leaving Thursday morning. I had fitted a wheelie bin bag over the passengers seat and fastened it with the seat belts and duct tape needless to say every time I stopped I had to add more duct tape to cover the holes ripped on the bag, when I got back home I had used up all the tape and another bag. Darren arrived by taxi about 9 am Thursday and it wasn’t raining and he had a dry seat. how good can it get ? We managed to squash our overnight bits and pieces all around the cockpit and squeeze in . Needless to say despite instructions on how to get to the motorway I missed a turn and we almost went through the city, lucky we had decided to have a late start to miss the traffic and we were going in the right direction just the wrong road. As we headed out of town on the motorway it started to pour with rain (Darren had his legs in a garbage bag to keep dry) as we went through a tunnel we wondered if we could feign a breakdown to stay dry but decided the traffic was too heavy. I thought I was being hit with gravel being thrown up from the road when Darren said it was hail and it really stung.
The weather remained showery through out the day as we pressed on with only one more hailstorm. At the first stop Darren was freezing, luckily I had a balaclava behind the seat and a pair of cotton gloves ( for the sun if it ever showed ) and I got a pair of disposable gloves from the kitchen that he was able to put on as well after that he was reasonably comfortable . At one place we stopped at for fuel the lady serving petrol said “ I bet when you were 17 you didn’t think you would be sitting in a plastic bag in an open car in the pouring rain when you got older!!) We arrived at Bendigo for our overnight stop late afternoon and after driving through the town twice only came across one motel so we had to stay there and it was the most expensive that I had to pay at $120 but I was able to get a discount down to $108 and Darren took all the toiletries for his kids (apparently they thought they were better than the presents he bought)
We didn’t get up early as we knew that we had plenty of time to get to Bright. On my return trip on going through Bendigo on the Melbourne road I found there were plenty of Motels. We had a really pleasant drive to Bright it was sunny although cool and the scenery was lush green, we were puzzled by some odd sheds that turned out to be for tobacco drying. We arrived in Bright in time for lunch and had no trouble finding our motel, as there were several cars already there. I am hoping at this stage that Darren does a write up on the weekend which was a great success although I was disappointed not to get a trophy for longest distance to attend, that was won by a chap who was driving around all states of Australia and in fact he was going to Tasmania next.
I left Bright mid afternoon Sunday in perfect weather I was heading for Castlemaine as I wanted to go to Rod Hadfields Rod Shop to see if they had any answers to our RWD engine problems, although I didn’t think I would get that far, forgetting daylight saving of course. In fact I got all the way there that afternoon the only problem was driving into the afternoon sun. Although my helmet visor is tinted the sun was still in my eyes and I didn’t want to stop until later on if I could. Duct tape to the rescue, I put a strip across the top section of my visor and this worked well, as I could hold my head to block out the sun.
I didn’t need to get up early as I knew the shop wouldn’t be open early, when they saw where I was from and how I had got there they showed me round the workshop etc. at this stage they have no plans to do any conversions that would help us. I had to back track to Bendigo before I could head directly for home, the weather was warm and very pleasant as I headed through open farming country up the Calder Highway and through Mildura. As I drove north I had to keep taking clothing off as I got hotter and put on my white cotton gloves and bandage wrist protectors, also the water temp was starting to rise above 80 degrees where it normally runs, or lower, so I drove with my eyes glued to the gauge and hoping it wouldn’t go any higher. I had been confident before as it had gone all through last summer without overheating but I had not done any long runs in the heat and was afraid it would keep climbing. As it turned out my fears were unfounded and the most it got to was 85 degrees. At Mildura where I had in my mind to stop, it was still quite early, so I headed east along the Stuart Highway out through Renmark and on to a small town called Morgan where I managed to get a motel unit at the back of the Imperial Hotel that was comfortable and cheap, The Motel on the outskirts of town was $120 and there was no where nearby to eat. Morgan had been quite a busy place in the old days as it was on the river and there was a railway as well, long since gone but the old buildings and docks were still there and a ferry still in operation.
Dawn start again after late starts was a bit hard but I had to crack on, although they were minor roads they were in good condition and quite interesting after the endless flat straight roads. I did find out whilst waiting for the servo to open in Morgan that the temp had been 35 degrees the day before. I wound my way through the hills through Burra and on to join the Princes Highway at Crystal Brook and head back up to Port Augusta before heading west again towards the dreaded Nullabor. I pressed on through the South Australian wheatfields and towns and made Ceduna by 4pm , here I was at a quandary whether to press on or not . I decided to stay as if I pressed on I would have to overnight in the Yalata Reserve country or Nullabor neither of which appealed to me,.Although as I couldn’t get in to the Ceduna Hotel it was full I thought that decision had been made for me , I was able to back track where there were a few motels and was able to get a deluxe room for standard room rates and there was a car port to put the car under. They did offer to put it in their garage if I wanted but it was hot and didn’t look like rain and they assured me it would be safe tucked around the back . I had several hours to kill so I started reading through the draft vehicle standards that I had taken with me.
Away at dawn again still quite cold, start stripping off on the way to Border village for morning tea only to have to put the clocks back to breakfast time. Getting rather warm again stop for Lunch at Madora Pass 37 degrees outside, fuel $1.65 a litre, lucky I don’t need much, its going to be a long day even without daylight saving. Get to Balladonia at 4pm should I stop or go ?? press on only 2 hours to Norseman , after 12 hours on the road and 1000 klms I began to wish I had stopped sun in my eyes stinking hot tired get to Norseman absolutely buggerred and it gets worse both motels full in desperation go to caravan park, in lick they have an ensuits cabin, not to tired to negotiate a discount . Collapse into cabin, drink lots of water ( I never drink water ) have shower , shall I or shan’t I put tarp on car its hot and blowing a gale , I lash it down and go to servo for dinner , must have looked pitiful had fish and chips , biggest plate of chips I’ve e ever seen could not eat them all (unusual for me to leave any food on a plate ) bed early . I could not have driven on to Kalgoolie or Coolgardie another 200 klms on dusk I would have slept on the road I was that tired.
Did it rain that night , glad I put the tarp on , had breakfast packed up , still raining quite hard , I’ll just have to wait till it stops. After about 15 mins it eases off, quick dash to get loaded up and fuel, on the home run now. Rains quite hard then just drizzle come up behind a truck but as soon as I get near spray stops me going past, single road not worth the risk he’s doing 100klm anyway, follow all the way to Coolgardie. Huge overwidth load truck pulls up ,better get out quick don’t want to get behind that all the way to Perth, just make it weather starts to warm up. Fuel in Merredin should get me through to home now. No sooner got the other side of Northam and there is a diversion, no explanation head off up narrow road towards York and eventually join York to Lakes road must have traveled another 50 klms, Finally almost home, fill up at local servo to work out fuel etc. 5 klms and home jump out take photo, home at last Thursday p.m. approx. 8000 klms after 12 days away.
In summary I traveled about 8000klms (odometer reads fast) made 36 fuel stops, used 586.28 litres of unleaded fuel averaging 38.7 mpg or 7.33tlrs/100klms Dearest fuel at Madora pass $1.65 next nearest Border Village and Caiguna $1.55 most other places under $1.30.
Total cost of fuel $762 Total cost of food and accommodation $900 approx. equals $1662.
Was it worth it??? To be honest NO although Bright was good and seeing my friends in Adelaide again I enjoyed, the strain of all that travel by myself and always worrying if something is going to go wrong no. Still I have done a lot of things in my life that I haven’t always enjoyed but have got a sense of achievment as anyone who went to my 60 th birthday party would know. So I built my own car from a set of plans and drove it across Australia and back that’s another memory in the old memory bank.
Barrie Nelson