News8

Brisbane to Brisbane

A short story of our epic family trip in Australia.

Its one thing reading about all these Citroën Raids and all the legendary achievements by 2cvs and their drivers, but to actually plan your own trip and build 2cv specifically for the task, is an achievement in planning and logistics, living as we do on the other side of the world.

Originally my plan was to participate on the Raid 2000 but as it was, last year was a convenient time to sell my 2cv business, and I also wanted my wife and two children to come along. Australia is a large country and I felt I needed a minimum of six months to explore, so the trip began to take shape. The last car to be built at the garage Levellois workshop in Sussex was my raid spec car in bright orange, a favourite colour of mine as a child visiting a local Citroën dealer in the mid seventies, the journey started with us being picked up from Brisbane airport by our friends Rowan and David, the car was meant to arrive in a couple of weeks on landing in Brisbane but was delayed in Hong Kong and two became four. We explored the local areas from Noosa to

Toowoomba and then made off in to New South Wales, our first dirt tracks were encountered in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney which is a very beautiful area, we did the usual tourist bit in Sydney and stayed with some relatives. The next leg of our journey was to head towards Victoria to be with relatives for Christmas and New Year, we then headed across country towards Adelaide and S.A we then proceeded to Port Augusta with its unusual pink salt lakes. And then the rough stuff started heading towards Lake Eyre with the South Australian Desert regions, most of the paint damage done to the car was in these areas with the constant sand and rock blasting the fronts of the wings outriggers on the floor and rear panel bottom lip and inner wings became bare metal, the car was able to cruise at 90 kph even on the rough tracks. Stopping in these remote areas and not

seeing humans made you realise how reliant you were on a reliable car, which has been well prepared. Just stopping and looking around at the animal carcasses and the complete silence gives you a healthy respect for this vast country. Next stop Coober Pedy and the red centre, West of Alice Springs in the McDonald Ranges was extremely wild especially adventuring into the bush and using the compass and maps for navigation but we were extremely pleased to find cool water holes to swim in as the temperature went beyond 40 deg in the shade, the worst thing was camping on the desert floor with the heat radiating up in to our bodies, the next step was onward to Tennant Creek to Normanton and the Gulf Country. At Karumba we experienced the most heat and humidity but the children did not complain we then headed across country in to the Tablelands.

The next step of the journey was to head up towards Cape Tribulation and Cooktown, we tried to head up on the coast road but as it was the wet season the currents in the river were to powerful for our little 2cv, so we went up the inland route driving towards Cooktown, the road was flooded and very muddy and there before us was a flooded creek, we had no choice but to try and get through it, I sprayed the points box and tied a sheet of canvas around the front of the car. Things were going jolly well when suddenly the car came to a halt. All I had to do was dry out the points box and away it went. The next leg of the journey was to explore the tropical beaches and head inland towards Gayndah and meet Peter, Pam and Les and their wonderful Citroën collection, I would like to thank them very much for their hospitality, and this goes for the majority of Australians we have met on route.

The crew Graham, Patricia, and the boys Charles & Joshua Draper.