Hello all, We are settling down to life in the west now. We have been here two days and it's been nice to kick back.


Cyril is Ken's little dog and he is travelling with us on this journey, which is a godsend from my point of view 'cos I can have some intelligent conversation now and again and he also smells better than my other travelling companion. (Sorry Ken, but that is the power of the pen as it were)

Cyril spends huge chunks of the trip in this comatose condition. However, as soon as the bus slows down and there is a dropping of the revs he snaps awake instantly, his senses razor sharp, for the chance of food, wee stops, sniffing opportunities etc etc.

                  This is one adventurous little dog who is constantly exploring the world around him.

Ken driving the Falcon over the Nullarbor somewhere near Ivy Shed Tanks

We had driven all night due to the Falcon over heating during the day. 

Ken at Ceduna 2013 and this photo is very rare 'cos he hasn't leapt out and started smoking. I think he was overdosed on my perscription anti inflammatory tablets. He had 9 in under 24 hours. The perscription said 1 a day. Although I must admit, it did help his sore back a bit until he fell out of the van and buggered it up again, which was a bit of a blow as we didn't have any anti inflammatory tablets left.

We had a delay of 24 hours at Nullarbor Roadhouse due to a broken bolt on the power steering pump.

Ken's toolbox consisted of a few spanners that Noah had used on the ark. Some tie wire and string, gaffer tape. Some old bolts and screws from a Jag. A jack that wouldn't work and.......... one of Geoff's best pullovers for wiping your hands on.

However, Ken did make up for it all, he had taken out RACV gold cover and we were put up at their expense at the Nullarbor Hotel and the mechanic fixed the bus. He had a spanner that fitted.

Come to think of it,,,,,that is way out of character for Ken,,,,,I suspect someone else, maybe katrina took out the gold cover.

                               Dave having a break around Norseman. Our first view of a big salt lake

                         We could only travel at 37mph during the day or the Falcon overheated
                                  It was a very slow tedious trip throughout the heat of the day
We drove the notorious 146km straight at this speed in 69 and it took nearly three hours just as the sun   was going down and just to make things a little worse the Falcon had no sun visor on the driver's side.

These two photos are of Ken at Coolgardie - 1969 and 2013 see if you can pick the difference ??????
I'll give you a clue, the big fat sod is the more recent one.

Ken and I lived in the back of the Falcon on Trigg beach and Scarborough beach for a while when we got to Perth in 69. The photo below is Dave holding the last of our money,,,,$2

Two things strike me about these two photos???? The hair that has disappeared and the the waistline line that has appeared, course that has nothing to do with the Guiness does it.

This is the sleeping arrangement in the van. 

Ken sleeps on the bed 'cos it's his van and he's the oldest. I get to sleep in the slot between his bed and the cupboards,,,,with Cyril, and if I lie on my side I just fit in.

We left Perth after working there for a few months and continued our trip north in a 1946 Bedford that had a hand wind up tipper on it when we bought it for $60. Our plan was to drive the bedford around the rest of Australia with our mate Graham from London and our two cars behind it.

                                         

                 Just North of Canarvon when route 1 ran out???? if you don't believe that statement see the photo below. The road from here to Kathrine in NT were all dirt. The truck started to disintegrate as we progressed north. The back window fell out, which then created perfect conditions for the red dust to pour in. The oil bath air filter bounced off and spewed oil over the red hot engine and clouds of black smoke erupted into the cab instantly. This set of a chain reaction fuelled by panic and the three of us jumped out of the moving truck, thank god it was only going at 15mph. As we picked ourselves up out of the dust, we saw the truck disappearing down up the road in a cloud of red dust and black smoke. The brimstone beast had a mind of it's own and the bugger had the better of us.

 There is the now and then photo of this spot that I will put up later as the photo now is in my other camera.

                      The further north we went the redder we got. That bloody red dust got into every pore.

Roeburne the only place there was in 69. We had a cold drink and some sandwiches that were about a week old. If you look at Ken & Graham's body language you can see the dejected demeanour that is the dawning reality of the situation and the crumbling of a dream to drive the beloved Bedford to Melbourne.

We sold the bastard in Pt Headland to Avis rent a car for $60 which is what we paid for it. It had taken us about a week to get from Perth to Headland. It was a week full of incidents. We asked at the Pier Hotel in Headland if we could have a shower but they wouldn't let us use their regular showers, but the did have a dirty old one out the back we could use. It took about half an hour to stop the red dust from coming out.




                                                        Ken in Headland pre Shower

       

                                                       After shower, what a feeling.