Model A Restorers Club of WA Inc

Our last day of The Trip. Tania, Darryl, Des, Brett, Richard, Paul, Coral, Reg, Sue, Peter and Kaye all stayed at Kaye’s sisters farm in the Clare valley last night. A beautiful property with stone cottages and stunning views.

Stunning valleys

The boys made use of Murray’s workshop to fix Brett’s wheel stud (see instalment 6), Peter rebuilt his fuel pump as well as some minor work. 

The ladies were treated to cooking instruction by Brett only to be let in on the secret that Paul had precooked the meal last week!

A very cold morning in the Clare Valley

Come morning and Darryl put the mockers on Pete’s car Wilson, by saying it was very reliable and rarely gave trouble. Wilson responded by promptly refusing to start. The issue was not diagnosed, but eventually Wilson was persuaded to get with the program, and off we all went. 

Just a short trip to Kapunda for morning tea and to part ways. Eardleys, Des and Brett’s crew all went to a friends house, Reg and Coral went on to parts unknown (even to themselves) and Tania, Darryl and Sue went straight on to Murray Bridge. In an effort to spare Sue the busy Barossa tourist traffic, we chose another route only to encounter the steepest white knuckle descent over the Flinders ranges you’ve ever seen. Sue handled it like a pro and we pootled down past Mannum to MB. 

Ooooh

Aaaarh

We’ve checked in to our caravan park, unpacked the car, scoured the Engel of all those mystery leaks from the last week and put on 2 loads of washing. Time for a feet up and glass of wine. 

Tomorrow we’re off to Glenelg to overnight before an early start for the Bay to Birdwood run on Sunday. 

Peter and Kay shot off early to take Neville to the Whyalla airport. Sadly there is a family emergency and Nev is flying home. Sue will continue on and now has Paul as copilot. Brett says he paid her to take him off his hands. 

Before leaving town we had a quick look at the silo art and big galah. Speaking of big things, so far we’ve seen the big camera, big kangaroo and the big whale which was big, but ultimately quite small if you see what I mean. The big galah was big, but looked like it had mange.  

Silo art in Kimba

Drove straight through Port Augusta (no loss) and on to lunch in Melrose. We’ve cut across the hills away from the main highway which was madness with trucks and kamikaze drivers. At the first incline Sue and copilot Paul had an advance rod come off and needed a patch to get up and over the hills. 

Up, up, up.

Once in the valley, it was a great relief and the scenery changed dramatically. One picturesque town after another.  While sitting in a cafe having lunch in Melrose, who should drive by, but Reg and Coral. They didn’t see us but Reg sniffed out the A’s and was parked with us on our return to the cars.  

Wheat, canola and even lupins all all ok, but finally a crop I can get excited about.

We’ve been offered an overnight with Kay’s sister and brother in law Murray and Ann who have a farm on the way to MB. This will be our last night together as some are going direct to Adelaide, others to MB and others who are touring a bit longer. 

No Russell Coight moments today. I think the touring party has worked out I’m telling tales and are on their best behaviour.

It seems Brett’s reliance on Corals scones and cooking is a farce as he’s made his own lamb shanks, roast shoulder and all the vege at 4 in the morning in some else’s campfire. 

We left early and arrived at Ceduna to restock the fruit and vege. 

Elect issues with George’s solar appear to have been fixed by the lunch stop at Wirrulla.  If you remember, George is Brett’s new teardrop  

Poochera windmills

At Wirrulla, Peter used the advantage of first arrival to scope out the old parts from a local garage.  The owner asked for $50 and Peter eventually negotiated the box for $70.

But otherwise a fairly quiet day. That is until we arrived at Kimba to overnight. 

The entire reserve were treated to 2 and a half hours of hammering, swearing and grinding to remove a wheel nut from Glad. Eventual success and the camp returned to relative serenity. By about 8pm the grunting and muttering died down and everyone returned to normal. 

Yup, it’s a wheel

George’s solar issues appear not to be fixed after all. The entire system was working perfectly until it actually got dark and was needed and then packed it in. Brett calculated that he could have bought 1023 head torches for the amount he’s spent on the solar. 

Still at it

Russel Coight moment #4 -Someone had a shower at 4am, forgot his towel and dried himself as nature intended at a campfire. Thankfully, the idea someone was coming convinced him to tog up and get decent. 

You don’t see that every day – Nullarbor

Not such a windy night as expected, but lord it was cold. Very difficult to pry ourselves (okay, myself) out of bed this morning.  This was after we discovered an airstrip ran not 50m from our tent and a plane landed during the night. 

The Touring Party is complete

We dawdled this morning to allow Brett a bit more time to catchup after he overnighted on the Nullarbor. He, Richard and Paul arrive about 9.30am with much fanfare and ahooga. Although I thought Brett’s horn sounded more like a strangled duck. 

We now had a full compliment: Sue and Nev, Pete and Kay, Toni and Ray, Des, Tania and Daz, Brett, Richard and Paul.  John and Kay and  Bob and Marilyn and ahead at Port August at last checkin. 

Still pushing into a strong headwind meaning the fuel consumption and speed are suffering. Des had a flat and Neville and Sue had some wiring issues, but otherwise we charted a short day into Fowlers Bay.

Unscheduled stop

We were warned by many other travelers about the ‘rough’ road into Fowlers and advised not to attempt it. But we were not to be put off and soldiered on.  Pffttt.  What a joke, the 10 km of gravel was significantly less rough than the Perth to Kal highway.  We had an early camp and everyone industriously attended to vehicles and cooking the last of the veges before the quarantine in Ceduna. 

Minor mayhem fitting 5 vehicles in a 2 car spot.

Des is busy

Richard is busy

Nev is busy

Russel Coight moment #3 – Brett, while attempting to use all the ice and whiskey before it melted (see photo), fell out of his camp chair and had it fold up on him, pinning him to the ground. No one was quick enough with a camera to capture the glorious moment. 

Ray and Toni have travelled ahead to try to get their fridge fixed in Ceduna or Adelaide. 

Ice for Brett’s whiskey

It’s amazing how quickly an efficient camp can turn into a shanty town.

Today was driving Fraser Range to Madura. Overnight saw some unexpected lightening and rain, but all was dry and comfortable again come morning. Many of the travellers decided to get going early and had left by 7.30. Cooks and Horgans drove on ahead and the rest of us pootled along. It was a warm day and we covered about 430km overshooting the planned stop of Cocklebiddy (no hardship) for Madura. 

Madura was a nice stop with trees and shelter which was a change after the windy night before.  It was a beautiful, still and warm evening and the port flowed freely. We hope Des doesn’t suffer any discomfort today after having his arm twisted over the port refills. 

Some news we’re GLAD to hear is – the report of the Model A broken down near Southern Cross was greatly exaggerated and it arrived in Kalgoorlie to collect it’s cargo and is now continuing on. 

Vehicles are going well however Mahony’s A still managed to get a flat tyre without moving 1 foot from the trailer and Neville and Sues car got a new water pump at Madura with the kind regards of Nev, Darryl and Pete. 

Russell Coight moment #1 – To protect the innocent we will call the gentleman involved… hmm, let’s call him Wilson. 

So, the story is, Wilson was innocently filling up his Model A at Belladonia with precious $2.05 Fuel when he was approached by two lovely and charming lasses. They oohed and aaaghed (but not our hero being the manly type) and some distracting conversation ensured until, Pe… I mean, Wilson was chagrined to realise he was overflowing (his tank that is) and his very expensive fuel was running down the gutter!

Tailgate kitchen

Goldfields pipeline

Early start with the road trains in Southern Cross today. Camp breakfast and then down to the local foodland for the essentials we left at home. (Salt and pepper). Even without these, we had a great steak and veg dinner last night if I do say so myself. Chocolate slice for dessert which was meant to last us until SA, but won’t make it to Norseman at this rate. Brett will be disappointed, but more on that later. 

Horgan’s at Coolgardie

Made tracks to Coolgardie for morning tea with Mahony’s and Horgan’s  (both towing their A’s) and then on to Norseman for lunch. The weather is unexpectedly warm after all the minimums in the minus for the previous week. A steady drive with no problems and only the sound of the hilux guzzling fuel to keep us entertained. 

Arrived mid afternoon to a Model A reunion at Fraser Range. However after walking to each site, the place was abandoned. Eventually found everyone in the break room glued to the tele and THE GAME.  Des Addison and Nev and Sue Swindell came across via Ravensthorpe (driving), Kay and John Cook (towing), Peter and Kay Eardley (driving) with our Perth group that’s now 13 of us. 

We can highly recommend Fraser Range Station Stay. A very nice place for a stopover. 

Fraser Range

After coming back from dinner at the station, we noticed that Chris, Leanne and kids had also stopped in too overnight bringing our total to 17.

Fraser Range

It seems like everyone is making their own way across the nulllabor; not that there is many alternatives but everyone has a different driving pace and accommodation needs. So we’re quite scattered. 

Rumour has is that our planned stop for Sunday night has suffered a fire yesterday (the travellers grapevine is an awesome thing). This may be grossly exaggerated and we won’t know until we get there. Stories range from inflammatory words to the place being razed to the ground. 

Another tale we heard is that there’s a broken down Model A near Southern Cross. Not sure if this is true either, but I’d be GLAD if it’s not. Could I also say I’m GLAD we haven’t broken down yet. And if this turns out to be an exaggeration I’d be GLAD that you didn’t repeat it. 

That’s it for now

Tania and Daz. 

Canola fields

Our travelling outfit

Left right on time for our meetup with Mahony’s in Northam. It was approximately 15 minutes out from our gate when I realised I’d left the iPod at home. It was going to be a long 2700km without tunes and only road noise and the dulcet tones of Darryl cussing out the other drivers on the road. 

We had our first inspection in Northam by the gentleman owner of a 24 Buick and 29 Chevy. 

Arrived in Southern Cross for the first overnight after a leisurely lunch in Merredin. Rehydrated at the Club Hotel first before on to the Southern Cross Caravan Park where we met up with Horgan’s and we had our second inspection by a Austin owner who put us on the lookout for his friend at the National Meet. Mahony’s continued on to a camp spot to test out their new camper. 

I’m happy to report that the continuous road trains on the exhaust brakes only SOUNDED like they were coming through the tent until midnight and a good nights sleep was had until they started again at 4am.  *sigh*