Four-month Journey Over The Great Rally Route

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31862, 14 December 1968, Page 5

Four-month Journey Over The Great Rally Route

(Specially written for “The Press’’ by J

JILL AMER

The current 10,000 mile, London to Sydney car rally is being followed with particular interest by “overlanders” in many parts of the world. The London to India route has grown increasingly popular amongst adventurous travellers in recent years and the gruelling drive across Australia is still regarded with more than a little respect.

Between us, my husband and I are almost veterans of the route, particularly our transport, for eight years ago Ray drove across the Nullabor Plain with two friends in a 1926 Chevrolet and three years later we spent our honeymoon jolting across Europe and the Middle East to New Delhi in a 1933 Morris.

Now (he cream of modern automobile manufacture and the most skilled drivers of today are tearing over the same ground, but although [we regard their expertise and [daring with admiration, we I can’t help feeling that racing across the world in a modern ,car is akin to jet travel, in that the marvellous experience of seeing new countries and getting to know their people and their cultures is just not possible. Official Doubts With already behind him; the crossing of the Nullabor in a Chevrolet that boasted wooden wheels and whose only misbehaviour amounted to two punctures and a runaway wheel, my husband was a member of the “old cars are built to last” brigade. Our latest model Austin; was sold and for SNZSO we bought Annie, the Morris,;: which looked very much like: an old-fashioned hearse. She had 200,000 miles on the clock and a whine like an air raid siren in the differential which didn’t exactly inspire the confidence of my family and friends. The Automobile Association and the leading British insurance companies did not [share our optimism either, [for we were unable to [arrange insurance cover be|yond Greece and we still have the letter from, the A.A. [warning us that it was extremely doubtful if the vehicle would survive the journey and it was doubtful if we would even reach the Pakistan frontier. However, they were kind enough to supply us with a route map—imagine it. a route map across the Great Salt Desert of Iran. Preparations My long-suffering father accompanied us on visits for spare parts to the car wreckers’ yards and helped with Annie’s overhaul, realising that nothing would stop us from having a go at the trip and never openly voicing the doubts that must have filled his mind. My mother patiently helped me to choose a small wardrobe that would see me through a cool European spring, the heat of the Middle East and the humidity of the Indian monsoon, yet pack into half of the suitcase that was my allocation. : She reported on the cut price situation in the local supermarkets and helped us to accumulate the 50 odd tins of food that went along as emergency rations. My 17-year-old brother dismissed the whole affair as yet another example of his sister and her husband’s madness and confined hiffiself to offensive remarks as to Annie’s suitability for the scrap heap. Finally we were ready. Ray was satisfied with Aqnie and her spares (two spoke wheels, four spare tyres, a back spring and string, wire, etc.) and had taken the back seat out to convert it into a camping unit for storage of tent, food, air beds, sleeping bags, suitcase, etc. We had treated ourselves to an inflatable igloo tent, mos-quito-proof. and with a fitted groundsheet to deter creepycrawlers (we did spot a scorpion at Damascus). Our only weapon of defence was an ancient bayonet, a present from a well-wisher. Routine Set The first few weeks were spent touring around Europe and there the car and its New Zealand sign earned us many friends. We soon settled into a camping routine which was to stand us in good stead when the going began to get tough. At those European camp sites we could drive up, pitch camp and have the tea cooking whilst our fellow travel-

lers were still working out the pole lay-out of their fancy! tents. There were few mechanical problems, the worst! mishap being at the AustrianItalian border when an unattended Annie rolled backwards and left her mark on a shining Mercedes owned by a very voluble German woman. At Belgrade we met an Australian couple who had just driven through from India in a new Volkswagen in a month to the tune of three punctures, three broken shock absorbers, a lost silencer and a smashed battery. More impressive was a retired couple (he was 66, she over 60) who had just driven overland to Calcutta, gone on to tour Japan, collected their car again and driven back through Afghanistan.

From then on we began to see first signs of Eastern [ culture. We met a boy with a bear on a lead, lots ofi peasants with their loaded bullock carts and later on, • in Greece, women doing [ manual work in the fields ini flawing gowns with veils over I their heads in the scorching, sunshine. And everywhere! we encountered wonderful friendliness and interest.

Turkish Luxury > In Istanbul we were!; charmed by the mosques and|[ bazaars and the sultan's' [ palace, complete with harem,l. and were staggered to be I, able to book into a motor; camp complete with hot[ ( water, showers, cooking facili-' ties, a swimming pool and an iron. What luxury! In Ankara we were ; befriended by a wealthy Turkish bachelor who insisted I; on putting us up at his home [• and wining and dining us and introducing us to his influen-| Itial friends. He also persu-; iaded Ray to leave Annie for! la “check” at the garage of [the U.N.I.C.E.F. sanatorium. 'lmagine his horror when we [returned to check on progress ;to find that the friendly 'mechanics had taken out the ! engine. [ They had never seen a) ■ side-valve engine before and [ excited workmen were busy i ' working on it whilst other j colleagues welded up errant 1 parts of the bodywork and i generally spruced it up. Their 1 efforts were certainly worth- > while for we managed a I detour through the Middle • East, through Syria, Jordan, [■ including Jericho and Jeru-| salem, and then followed the oil pipeline across the desert! to Iraq. We even became quite non-[| chaiant at the sight of robed and heavily armed Arabi soldiers keeping a close eye; on us. In Bagdad, a British TV engineer found us driving;] around in a daze in 120 j degrees Fahrenheit revived ; us with an iced beer and took , us back to his air-conditioned 1 flat for a shower before tak- ;

ing us to his club for all delicious steak dinner. Idyl- ’ lie after camping through [1 the desert. 1 One of Annie's springs was h repaired at an Armenian 1 garage and then we were off [! again, past cars damaged byi' tanks in an attempted revolu-| ! [tion a fortnight previously[’ and on towards the north:' where the Kurds were in' [revolt against the Araqui|' Government. Sketch That Failed The border with Iran was! heavily guarded and patrolled! Iby men with machine-guns but our papers were in order and we were relieved to cross[ without incident. Driving' 'towards Teheran, the brakes; [ tailed at the top of an 8000 ft; [mountain pass. The manual 'advised that brake bleeding! ; should only be done by a [ [competent mechanic but my i competent Kiwi coped and we were soon off again, although; another spring broke and the; lights failed. At Kermanshah; we drew a picture of a tent [ [to indicate to a helpful! .passer-by that we were look-! ing for somewhere to camp! land he took one look at the) [drawing and took us to a; radio station to get our radio : repaired! The journey through Iran [was fascinating and there. [ was plenty of evidence of the I [Shah's attempts to improve; [ his people’s lot, little brick [ • houses springing up to [replace mud hilts in many! places. It was nice to see; really green grass and rivers; with water in them and the[ mountains were fairytale.) Not surprisingly, the Great) Salt Desert was a rude | awakening and we bumped: our way over the corruga-] [tions in the track formed by* [big transport trucks in excru-' [elating heat with resultant damage to bodywork and many punctures.

Pakistani Welcome It was hilarious to arrive [ 'at the Pakistani border in) the middle of a deserted desert track to be confronted Iby a large sigh: “Welcome to Pakistan. Keep left.” We , reallv felt that we were on [the last lap and allowed ourselves the luxury of staying I at dak bungalows (public rest houses) as we drove on 'through Quetta and down through the irrigated lands [of the Indus to Lahore and ; the good old Y.W.C.A. j At the Indian border, the- [ superintendent had to be [telephoned before our muchbattered Annie was allowed in, but soon we were coasting through the monsoon rains to Delhi via Chandigarh. the impressive capital of the Indian Punjab designed by La Corbusier. We parted company with the fog lamp and front bumper bar on the road to Delhi, the generator developed an alarming knock, and the carburettor was not at its best. Car Surrendered However, we made it and generous officials allowed us to surrender Annie to the Indian Government to save us the cost of shipping our beloved wreck home to New Zealand. We fell like crim-

linals deserting her but time was short and there was just [time to see the sights of Delhi, including a memor:able afternoon in the Indian Parliament listening to [Nehru reply to a vote of noconfidence in his goveni|ment, and to carry out a ithird class circular rail tour [which took in Kasmir and [much of Northern India, [before our boat sailed from Bombay. We had been on the road for four months. It was an experience of a .lifetime. We may not have broken any records, except [perhaps for doing the overhand trip in the oldest car, but the memories of the sights we saw and the people !we met are rich indeed. We |have nothing but sincere [congratulations for the drivers of those rally cars j which are now en route for 'Fremantle and the drive i across Australia. The rally is a fine advertisement for modern engineering and human endurance [but we, I am sure all the [other overlanders would [agree, found a more leisurely journey through such [exciting and interesting places was far more worthwhile than a competitive [rush between checkpoints.