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E mail received from Shayne, 1627 29th. Jan: "Tom has broken down 160km other side of Balledonia, near Ciaguna. I'll take some parts out, probably leave tomorrow". Quick call reveals Shayne has a dilemma, he must be in Kalgoorlie by 1400 on the 31st. This means he will only have time to drop off the required parts, then scoot.
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Hurrah, at last I can help. I get set to go, throwing food, camping gear, extra fuel & as many tools as possible into my 2CV nick named Putt Putt. Am a bit worried about the pinging the car has been having which seems to be fuel. At 0800 Shayne gives the word, "can I get going at 1000 hrs". A bit late, I head out at 1030 with Sally after quickly cooking her food. This trip will make or break this little 14 yo. fellah, who has been down & out since loosing her life long mate in early November.
Arriving at Shayne's the pinging has got worse & a quick carby clean with compressed air does not alleviate the problem, nor does some anti knock additive. A stop at the National Park along the Brookton Highway finds the ignition timing considerably out and things improve dramatically, I can continue! Its now 1400 & we have a long way to go. Strong headwinds and a fair load mean I cannot keep up with Shayne, 90 kmph being my maximum, while he can run out to 95, he slows for me. Every couple of hours we stop for fuel, or the dog & us to have a drink etc. We keep trucking towards Hyden without concern, arriving about 1800. Then off again, the dog is holding up well, although a bit perturbed.
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Onto the dirt, the shadows are getting long & just before light fades Shayne finds a nice borrow pit, where he is busting to show off his compact camping stove & pot, which works a treat to heat up some tinned stew which is eaten in conjunction with some steak leftovers & Shayne's seemingly endless supply of Vegemite buns. The dog spurns the freshly cooked tucker from the fridge, too bad mate, no tucker for you tonite! Onward we push as its now dark, a little slower for a while, but no hoppies (kangaroos) in sight we speed up to 90, spacing out at about 2 kms, sometimes more as the headwind veers. As we approach Norseman, the first of those wiggles through the salt pans has us in an interesting directional situation, time to start taking note of advisory speeds! Refueling & topping up the vital water containers at Norseman, I relent & give the wee (now happy) dog a larger than normal bed time bickie supper at this now lonely 2200 hrs. She scoffs it up, no more mate!
Off we head on the blacktop, very little traffic & we wonder why, soon to find out. We pull into Balladonia sometime past midnight for "just in case" fuel, all shut up. We are starting to find out why the traffic is so light, the roo population starts increasing, first slowly then considerably, we slow down to 70 and keep our eyes peeled, strangely neither of us is fatigued. The countdown starts, Shayne monitors the map & his GPS, I call the "mileposts" the first possible refuge for Matilda passes, the second is a surety about 30 km West of Ciaguna, we throttle back & select "angel" gear so they won't hear us, thinks us. This is it, a campfire, a roofed area and lots of vehicles, somewhere in the middle we spot our target.
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No sooner had we landed than Tom & Lois were out to welcome us, our attempts to sneak up had failed, they had heard us coming for miles! In the night we were unaware that the road was dead straight for miles & miles! After a short chinwag we hit the sack in the Piccannini dawn, its 0400 & we don't realise it, Shayne must be away at 0600. No chance of much sleep, we are still running on auto pilot. Getup at 0600 & we are welcomed by many others who make us coffee & fuss over us to no avail.
I shoot off 30 kms East to Ciaguna for some fuel. The water situation of 40 years ago remains the same, but its good to have a black top road now. I grab a toasted ham sandwich & head back to Matilda, which in the short hour I have been away is ready to run again, some guy this Tom fellah.
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The mandatory goodbyes to all the helpers follows as they leave and we head out at 0900. Matlida running like a clock, as she does all the way home to Perth.
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As we approach Kalgoorlie flashes of very bright light illuminate the pitch dark horizon, oh dear, a thunderstorm & a petrified dog are on the agenda! As we get closer the flashing turns out to be a very powerful airport strobe light, phew! Unusual though, these things are normally medium intensity green & white rotating beacons.
We arrive 2200 at Kal, to be welcomed on its outskirts by tireless Shayne, with immediately demolished FOOOOD. Lois has organised a free house to stay overnight & by now even the dog is hungry, demolishing a can of Pal overnight & chasing a feral kitten out of the place!
Next morning after a welcome sleep, while Matilda chuggs off, we do a tour of Kal, which has dramatically changed (like I suppose I have) in the 50 years I last saw her. The long drops have gone, the corrugated tin fences have been replaced by a more modern variation, the wandering goats, cows & horses have vanished, and there is the gigantic SuperPit.
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Apart from helping an elderly European couple with a caravan tyre change after a blow out, the homeward journey alongside the Perth to Kalgoorlie water pipeline for all of us was thankfully uneventful, but interesting. While we were having a bite to eat at Southern Cross, a truckies wife offered to put little Sally in her air conditioned truck cab to cool off, I declined the kind invitation on the dog's behalf as dognapping seemed to be in the air, specially as they had just lost an 18yo. one!
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Just before Northam, where Matilda and its adventurers hailed from, well wishers started to arrive. As soon as the mini welcome was over I felt it time to peel off home & avoid the crush of the huge escort to the "Official" finish line in Perth 60 miles further on. Tireless Shayne continued on to this reception to see Matilda's "crew" safely on their way back home to Northam in more modern transport.
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Statistics: |
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Trip out: |
Trip home: 1112 km. |
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Perth to Hyden: 351 km. blacktop |
Total trip: 2081km. |
And the effect on Sally the little dog has been great, she now has a lot more confidence, the ghost of her old mate has receded into the past, like Alan & Elaine's 2CV, she "Candoit"!
Chris & Shayne