This is the diary of Gus Robinson who drove the entire Raid route in his red 2CV.
All the views and suggestions are his personal views and may not necessarily be the same as the views of the Raid Committee.

28^th July 1999 - 2^nd August 1999 travelled from my home in Kiama to Alice Springs, where I met Bruce Elsegood and Paul Young, who were in the Jackeroo 4WD.

2^nd August 1999
We camped at the Heavytree Caravan Park-Resort at Alice Springs tonight. This is quite a large resort on the southern outskirts of Alice Springs. It has excellent showers.

The landscape approaching Alice Springs from the South from about 100 km out is very interesting.... folded tilted Rock Ranges. The actual entry to Alice Springs (The GAP) is most fascinating. It is almost like passing though one of the many Gorges or Chasms found up north.

ALICE SPRINGS itself (at least what I’ve seen so far) looks to be a bit of a go-ahead place. Quite neat, tidy and organised.... some reflections of Canberra.

A Bank holiday exists on Monday so actually almost nothing is open. Lots of groups of Aboriginals sitting around and walking the streets. I pulled up outside a Supermarket (1st stop in A.S.) and was immediately asked for $2 by a teenage Aboriginal girl.

The little 2CV is making a bit of a hit with the boys on the Harleys. We seem to meet at every fuel stop as they have a similarly sized fuel tank to mine. Have quite a chat to a few and they all give a big wave as they go past.
We’ll hang around Alice (do some shopping et al) until around 10-10.30 am and then begin the trek.
The 2CV is running beautifully at present.

3^rd August 1999
I bought a few basic food goodies this am at Woollies and had to pay 50 cents to use the Toilets ... visions of Singapore.
Bruce’s Canadian toaster proved to be a bit of a fizzer on the gas stove.
Stopped for picnic lunch on the Plenty Highway around 12.27 .

ALPARARA Store .. fuel stop mileage 61649
fuel ... $ 1.06 per litre.

We bush-camped a couple of km up the road from AMMAROO Station, in a dry river bed..... lt's full of burrs.
We left the bitumen not that many km out of Alice Springs.
The gravel road so far is generally very wide Red-sand. The first half to our camp was a very good surface.... recently graded.

The 2nd half is OK with some corrugation - some deep sand patches - nothing to stop the 2CV though.
The car is remarkably dust free inside. The Jackeroo id full of sand and dust and so are the lads.

Travelled on to ALPURRURULAM which is a Government Council run depot/ workshop and support for the nearby Aboriginal Mission. Fuel here was $ 1.19 per litre and everything associated with the fuel and the offices was wrapped securely in iron mesh and barbed wire.

5^th August 1999 .. early morning.
What day is it ? I haven’t a clue. It is 5.12 am est and I’m sitting by my tent under the fluoro light writing up my diary.
We are bush-camped (last night ... 4.08.99) about 2 km from the end of the Sandover highway where one must select to go north (102 k) to Camooweal or south (101 k) to Urandangi.

The road from Ammaroo Station is rather variable. It is a ‘highway’ and basically graded sand in parts (Northern Territory side) it is very wide and in some stretches excellent hard sand. Other sections are loose sand hills and the sand is quite deep. One long section was being graded and proved to be a bit of a challenge with its deep ruts. A guy at the petrol station (Alparara store) claimed a traveller had to use 2nd gear low-range to get through. Well, the 2CV got to 2nd gear, but no low-range. It is proving to be an amazing little car. I believe the inside is as clear as when I left home, despite all of the sand, dust and bull-dust we’ve been through. The other guys aren’t quite so lucky. The 4WD leaks like a proverbial sieve and everything is covered in inches of red and black sand and dust. The lads look an absolute treat at each stop as they are filthy with dirt.

By the time we reach Mt Isa today we will have covered more or less 1000 km of dirt road.
A couple of items have vibrated loose on the 2CV but otherwise no dramas.
Telecom Mobile-net doesn’t reach out here so will have to contact home from the ISA.
The Sunsets are just magic - so to the sunrises. (but not quite as spectacular)
It is bloody hard work though having a daily crap without the usual European conveniences.... but we manage.

We got petrol yesterday at ALPURRURULAM near Lake Nash (a property) --- talk about a war zone. Everything existed inside steel mesh and/or wire fencing; including the government offices. You paid for the petrol across the road at the office and then went to the bowser where the most pleasant young lady flicked a switch and the bowser dumped that amount of fuel into your tank .
Russian styled. Petrol was @1.19 a litre.

Lake Nash property is on the western edge of another Nullabor Plain. The only thing we could see growing within the whole 360 degree totally flat horizon was a spinifex type grass ... it looked like a huge paddock of wheat stubble. Absolutely featureless except for what seems to be a checker-board pattern of windmills at bores / tanks every 10-15 km or so. I took a number of photographs as I drove. One needs 2 sets of hands for this technique. It is a little hard to juggle things at times.

The road on the QLD side deteriorates to one-car width mostly; although some of it is like packed ant-bed material and if you new in advance where the ruts et al are you could cruise at 100 + kph.

B.O. is becoming a bit of a problem so I intend to strip off in the paddock and have a good old-fashioned A.P.C this am before too long. The lads want to have a beer in the pub at Urandangi but I don’t think they’d allow us in at present.

The Sun is not yet up. The Moon is and is about 1/3 rd to 1/2 lit, yet outside a clear sky- a million and one stars and the amount of light almost suggests a full moon.
It has been windy (just plains winds) all night. It is not cold, just pleasantly warm. One needs a blanket only mid-early morning,

Later in the day -
We did call in at URANDANGI Pub for a cold VB and a hamburger for lunch. The Licensee is a middle-aged Norwegian lady. The small community seems to be 99% Aboriginal. The road from our camp to Urandangi was generally good condition - a lot of black-soil country with some red sand and some gravel. Some of the road is just 2 wheel tracks while other is quite wide gravel. You pass through some real channels of a dry river which looks as though it might hold 20 or more feet of water in the wet.

The 2CV is running well. The rear exhaust bracket broke yesterday so I repaired it this a.m. I also noticed a great ding in the front of the chassis body. This must have happened when I rolled over a large rock while trying to skip over a pile of graded sand the day before.

At Urandangi we saw almost nothing in the way of security grills or bars etc.
Fruit for lunch , morning tea and afternoon tea today. Bananas, Apples and Mandarins.... so suck that old girl.
The landscape and plants coming into MT. ISA are very interesting. Rocky Hills and green vegetation. The vegetation is quite different to that of the Coast and a bit of a contrast to what we have seen over the past couple of days.
The Caravan Park (in ISA) is on the bank of a River. Bruce asked the proprietor if we could go for a swim. She offered a shovel to dig a hole in the sand. The rivers up here only tend to run in the wet season - otherwise are dry sandy tracts.

9.50 pm.
We have just walked back from a very nice ($10 all you can eat) dinner at the local Leagues Club.
After setting up the tent this arvo I had a shower and sitting, and felt much more comfortable. I then sat around nodding off while the washing machine did its thing on the clothes.
A real loud-mouth is camped beside us tonight. He’s on his 2nd marriage- is very loud and obnoxious ....... a situation a bit different to the last 2 nights when we had the world to ourselves.

6^th August 1999
I plan to visit the Commonwealth Bank today re Card/Cheque et al.
We need to purchase a few basic goodies as we’re going bush again. The boys might do this while I’m at the bank.

We headed out along the Barkely highway for about 100 km before turning north towards the Gulf of Carpentaria and Burketown .
The road has some bitumen but deteriorates into a very rough hard rocky surfaced road.... in fact one might say "bloody rough". It is OK for trucks and thick tyred 4WD but largish angular shaped rocks trash shallow walled Michelins on the 2CV.
I trashed one new 125 x 15 Michelin today.
The road sports lots of sharp drain-dips across the road. It is difficult to negotiate these in a 4WD or long wheeled-based car but generally the 2CV loves it.... a lot like being on a Roller Coaster, as long as speed is monitored.

We are camping at ADELE’S GROVE tonight.... near Lawn Hill National Park. This has changed considerably since we were here in 1990. There are a lot of campers, with Lawn Hill being completely booked out.
The 2CV is wanting to run-away with itself, or so it seems. It seems to be running better and better.
- shame about the tyre.

7^th August 1999
Gus got lost this a.m. Went to the loo at 4.22 am and couldn’t find my way back to the camp. After 5 or 6 attempts I gave up and sat down outside the loo-block to await the arrival of Sunrise hoping that with a little more light on the subject one might enjoy one’s breakfast in their own campsite.

Heading towards Gregory River Downs this a.m. we traversed more rough road prior to being given a real treat with a beautiful new fine-gravel road... a bit of a highway.

A lot of engine noise in the distant all last night turned out to be a large ZINC mine which must be run 24 hrs a day. They are relaying the stuff through to Karumba where it is to be belted through a pipe-line quite a number of km out to a deep-sea loading port in the Gulf.

At Gregory River Hotel / Roadhouse we treated ourselves to a coldy and while sitting on the veranda purveying the scenery we met a young lass who had a dog called "Defa" .... i.e. D for Dog.

Burke and Wills Roadhouse ... We stayed in an insulated "Hospitality unit" tonight. We decided to use these facilities as the cost was $50 per unit (3 beds) - air conditioned.
We had a few coldies and a Burke and Wills Roadhouse "HOTDOG" special. It is a banger on a long bun with lots of bacon, onion, cheese and mustard . (DeJong seeded) ... Yummy.
We also had brekkie .... A bottle of chocolate milk and a Bacon and Egg burger ... a real treat.

Mileage to B & W Roadhouse ... 62496

10^th August 1999
Early a.m. awaiting Brekkie ... will have cooked brekkie today .. a real treat.

Things of interest that occurred yesterday:

Stampede of Brumbies across the road .... They would have run straight through
    the 2CV if I had been another 2m up the road.
River Crossings.
Bull-dust.
Road train and associated gravel and dust storm.
Dunbar Station .... very picturesque.... like something out of a movie.
Grey-coloured Brahma cows and bulls .. rather pretty colouring.
Dips in Road.
Vegetation.

   2. He is able to run around to the rear of the car and push.

I left him behind on one occasion. Bruce has snapped his front anti-roll bar when the car hit a bull-dust hole. The 2CV seems to fly over these holes but with the Jackeroo’s weight it crashes rather heavily into them. His Carby is also playing up again.

16^th - 17^th August 1999
We are camped amidst Coconut Palm trees along a sandy / grassed area adjoining the beach at SEISIA.

Today we spent visiting the various ‘Communities’ that we could access. We could not get into Punsan Bay due to water crossing the track and deep /long sand drifts.

We visited the "Cape York". The drive in is beautiful. It is slow but travels through lush Rainforest and slow is the way to go if you want to see anything. At the end of the road you park the vehicle and walk some 300 or so metres partially along boardwalks, and then a similar distance either along the beach or up and over the rocky headland to the Cairn that marks the spot of the geographically most northern point of mainland Australia.

The scenery is beautiful and peaceful . I had the opportunity to sit amongst the rocks overlooking 180 degrees of ocean and coastline, with not another soul in view for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Delightful.

I realise now that I have actually visited each of the 4 main Compass points of Australia.

We have ordered 2 new 165 x 15 tyres and tubes. These should arrive tomorrow by plane around lunch. We are down to 2 spares (both rather suspect) and I would rather have a couple of sound tyres in case.

We spent a couple of hours late today watching people (local Islandanders and others) fishing at the jetty where the "Ferry" was loading and unloading stock to get back underway to Cairns.

Apparently it costs $400 to get you car shipped back and $300 per person.

We visited a crashed WW2 DC3 site near local air field.
We visited / viewed other camping sites for possible Raid 2000.
Seisia is the most developed of the communities.
I have attempted to contact Al (Alexander Miller) who is on a 3 month work permit in the area., but no one has heard of her- even after a few phone calls.
No Public Phones are operating here at present so unable to contact home as the mobile service doesn’t get past Cairns.

18^th August 1999
We plan to pick up the tyres around 1.00 pm and to move on towards Weipa today. We hope to be in Weipa for tomorrow night.
My 2CV is running well. Bruce’s carby is playing up still.
I had a big "clean up" and re-organisation of my car this a.m. Everything is full of red-brown dirt and so everything is filthy.

Later:
The tyres did not arrive so have relayed the delivery to Weipa.
We got away OK around 2.30 pm and had already blown another tyre before we’d reach the Jardine river some 58 km away.

Across the Jardine and we blew another tyre at the junction of the by-pass road and the track across to Elliott or Ellis Falls. We patched 2 tyres again but both compressors are busted and so we are unable to inflate the tubes. We will have to flag down a passing motorist for assistance and / or camp the night nearby.
The camp we did... another bush camp surrounded by healthy "blackboys".

Bruce and Paul drove to Ellis Falls while Gus and Andy set up camp. Their idea was to catch a camper who may have had a compressor. This proved fruitless as the road in to Ellis Falls turned out to be too difficult.
So we camped the night in the company of a large spider that had spun its web between two saplings about 1.5 m apart.

19^th August 1999
After brekkie we managed to flag down a 4WD (early) who pumped up our tyres.
Back on the road to the WENLOCK River.

We had lunch at the river edge while the motor et al cooled down ready for the dunking and then we dragged the little 2CV back across the river. We dried out the points and away we went again.... some 25km to the BRAVARIA DOWNS turn off to cut across to Weipa.
Another Flat.

We arrived at Weipa after dark... one headlight only on my car. Bruce’s had no rear lights. My alternator wasn’t working. Tests later showed that the alternator was R.S.

Bruce rang a number of possible sources of a 2CV alternator and managed to secure one from Continental Cars of Sydney. He arranged for it to be sent to TRINITY Beach where we plan to stay in a couple of days. (The alternator actually arrived in under 24 hours..... for which we were extremely grateful.)

We had to hang around in Weipa until about 2 pm as we had considerable difficulty locating the representative of T.N.T. who should have received my tyres by now. We eventually located him on a trip to the airport.

THE TYRES HAVE ARRIVED.
They look a little too big for the 2CV (165 x15 series)
We camped Thursday night at COEN in a Caravan Park.

We met an Aboriginal chap who is employed as "inspector" for the Quarantine Station out of Coen. He was very dark skinned, even the palms of his hands. He referred to our 2CV as the "TURTLE-BACK".

21^st August 1999
Bruce has taken Andy to Cairns at 6.00 am.... 330 km there and 330 km back.. crazy !
He plans to drop Andy at the airport and continue to Trinity Beach to pick up my alternator, returning to Cooktown early this pm so we can get the cars running and head off.
I think he is asking too much of himself so I won’t pack up camp in case he gets back late and we need to stay another night.

Note: The road Weipa through to Lakelands is mostly good to excellent gravel road. Some sections are mildly rough but nothing like the track to the Cape.
The road across from Lakelands to Cooktown (82 km) is mostly gravel in a poorer state than the Weipa road but OK.

I did some hand-washing this am... 3 sets of clothes though I forgot about socks... don’t know why I bothered as all are stained (permanently ?) orange. I guess at least they’ll smell clean if not look it.

I gave the exterior of the 2CV a dose of soapy water this am. This has cleaned at least a couple of layers of red sand off it, but it needs a dam good hosing inside and out - top and bottom.
The inside of the car is very dusty. The floor is still wet and muddy. I guess it’ll stay like that until I get home.

Saturday p.m.
It has been quite windy here - all day and all night. Fortunately the C’Van Park has masses of very large and very tall "paper-barked" trees so little of the wind actually gets down to tent level, other than the noise.

The lads returned from Cairns A-OK., although the exhaust on the Jackeroo had broken away at the manifold and repairs were needed as apart from the noise the engine was back-firing with such an explosion Paul was suffering from shell-shock. The alternator of the 2CV was fitted and works a treat.
We decided to stay another night as it was quite late.

22^nd August 1999
We packed up the camp and did a "Cook’s tour" of Cooktown. This is a rather small township (apparently current population is 1600 though up until quite recently 400 souls lived in this beautiful locality.)
Some lovely old buildings exist on the edge of some very pretty coastline, although the sky was very overcast and not a lot of sunshine to highlight the beauties.
We went back along the Lakelands road for about 30 km and turned off towards the "Lion’s Den" pub., and then headed towards Cairns via DAINTREE, CAPE TRIBULATION et al.

This road is a "4WD only track" through to Cape Tribulation - you can see why. A number of hills (climbs and descents) need a low-range gearbox and you would have considerable difficulty without one ... in fact bordering on impossible.
To make matters "more interesting", it was raining - lightly though enough to make the road boggy and very slippery in parts. The 2CV just sat on one hill with its front wheels spinning while sliding backwards.

So we used the Jackeroo to drag it up and over 3 such hills and one river crossing. A problem is that steep climbs ultimately lead to steep descents and it was a little tricky pulling up the 2CV on the declines.
The drive is rather slow but very interesting, especially when one gets into the Daintree Rain forests. The area a few km north of Cape Tribulation and also south has some absolutely magnificent rainforest sections. The road is all clay and gravel with a few of the steep sections a couple of concrete tracks to help with traction.
The road from Cape Tribulation south is 90% bitumen and a fair amount of Commercialism has developed along this stage - it seems not too intrusive though.

We arrived back in TRINITY BEACH C’Van Park in time to set up camp and do a few repairs to both of the vehicles.
A couple of travellers who had seen us up North came over for a chat and of course wanted to know did we actually "make it." They reckoned the little red car was the talk of all the camp sites they were in. People everywhere had seen it at some stage - taken photos et al. It (the 2CV) apparently became quite a conversation piece.

While I sat this afternoon on the side of the road waiting for Paul and Bruce, a chap and his wife whom we had met at our first crossing of the Wenlock river, drove up and wanted to talk about the trip. His comments were the same in respect to the camp conversations that the 2CV had "inspired".

23^rd August 1999
The mileage to Trinity Beach C’Van Park reads 64961.

It is now 8.15 am but I have to sit here until the Commonwealth Bank opens otherwise I’m unable to proceed due to a lack of Cash-funds.
The lads left at around 7.50 am hoping to do 1000 to 1200 km today and to meet with Steve Wedell by tomorrow afternoon and then home to Sydney by Wednesday afternoon. Me - I’m intending taking a little longer possibly 6 days.
I think it is a big ask of themselves after a tiring trip to travel from Cairns to Sydney in 3 days. I hope their car behaves itself and they have a safe trip.

I rang Rodney (Nolan) last night and would like to try to get to Imbil by Tuesday night - although I’m unsure if that is possible... we’ll see.
p.m. Stayed with the LITTLEWOOD family at Mackay Monday night. John is the son-in-law of the folk we purchased the 2CV from in 1984 at Melbourne. His own #1 car is a light blue 2CV.
Tuesday & Wednesday I stayed with Rod Nolan and Vicki at Imbil.... Thursday night with my sister and Bro-in-law at Lynche’s creek and home again late Friday night.

Fuel filters x3 (used 2 spare)
Fuses .. 3 of each size needed.
Headlamp bulb and minor lamp-bulb replacements.
Air Filters ( I used paper filaments in a modified 2CV air filter housing.)
Ignition points (2) and condensers.
Ignition coil
Sparking plugs
Fan belts (2)
alternator regulator.
Tyres (5) ... two set up on spare rims. plus 3 cases and 2 new tubes.
Tyres extra.... Purchased another new 135 x15 en route.
Tube repair kit ... glue on patches preferred. ( include some large truck-sized
    patches)

Basic tool kit ... enough to do all perceived minor repairs.... must include long thin-walled 14 mm for fan nut. and lots of electrical ties ... marvellous things for holding a 2CV together.

A good torch (essential)
Air-Compressor. and tyre-gauge.
Larger capacity windscreen-washer bottle with electric motor.

Paul carried spare knife-edges, clips, and eyelets and one spare rod to connect eyelet to spring.

Rear wheel bearing outer shells came loose. (On one side I had stupidly
   overlooked the "peening" that is needed... this undid a number of turns.)
Fronts shock absorbers stuffed.
Fuel pump died.
Ignition coil died ... Is original unit ... maybe died of age ... maybe from being
   splashed with water while still warm.
Alternator stopped functioning. As yet I do not know what fault occurred... doesn’t
   matter as the output or lack thereof is just the same.
Tyres ... lots of damage. Needed to purchase another 2 tyres and tubes. Could
   only get 165 x15 ... tried tyre dealers in Townsville, Cairns, Brisbane and
   Melbourne. (165 tyres are definitely not recommended).

Tyres cont’d ... Steve managed to "bandicoot" 3 more ‘old’ 145 for me and had them delivered to a mutual friend in Imbil QLD.

I started the trip with 4 new tyres plus 4 (those I’d replaced) which had quite legal tread plus 1 bald but sound case. I purchased another 3 on the trip and had 3 more donated to the cause. I arrived home with 6 sound tyres.

Rims suffered minor damage ... mostly repaired with a few whacks using a
   medium weight hammer.
Broken Headlamp glass ... vibrations shock glass free from lamp.
Fatigue-crack in firewall due to vibrations (corrugations) and excessive size of
   battery.
Air cleaner housing torn free from supports leaving gaping holes in bottom which
   had to be sealed .
CB radio vibrated to pieces and failed-to-proceed.
One of the heater boxes has broken free and rattles around on the exhaust pipe.
Knob of Headlamp load-compensator kept vibrating loose.
A couple of trouble lights in the dash-panel fell out.
Driver’s side window-up catch broke.... temporary fix with piece of wire.

The clutch will get a severe workout so I’d suggest fitment of a new one before
    you start.
New driveshaft boots ... also carry at least 1 outer spare.
The air cleaner housing may require modification - in that they are prone to
    cracking with vibrations. Use a paper filament and maybe a pre-filter.
Additional sump-guard to cover the open area between gearbox and frontal section
   of chassis ...I rolled a large rock (while traversing roadworks) into this area and it
   jammed causing damage to the chassis...but remember air circulation is required
   for cooling of the motor & gearbox.
On rough corrugations (and there is about 1500 km of them) of the Cape road
   remove headlamps and store in secure spot inside car.
Fitment of XZX -135 or (preferably) 145 tyres all around. This will make sharing of
   spares more practical. The 145 sits squarely on the 2CV rim and gives a wider
   footprint (better in sand) and taller (slightly) casing side which may lead to less
   possible damage on rocks. The effect on gearing is virtually unnoticeable. It was
   the X-125 size that suffered most on my car. This size has a narrow footprint and
   the side walls immediately "balloon out" to catch any sharp rock that may happen
   to pass by.
The distances recommended by Bruce ( i.e. approx 250 to 300 km max per day -
   depending on location) would seem to me to be very sensible and practical.

There seems to be nothing in the way of banks north or Cairns nor outside of any of the larger metropolitan centres. Visa / Master Cards and the like are accepted almost everywhere , but normal banking facilities are NOT available in a lot of locations...... BE PREPARED.

Develop a taste for XXXX-gold or V.B. It is on-tap / in cans and cold almost
   everywhere and goes down extremely well at the end of a hot dusty day .
   CHEERS Bastards !
Open weave rubber floor matting and a couple of drain holes in the floor are
    needed to assist internals of cabin to dry out.
Each 2 CV should carry its own towing strap.

It cannot be stressed too much that SPARE-PARTS are non-existent en route and almost non-existent in Australia so you MUST bring any and all of same.