MOTOR TOUR

Evening Post, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 10

MOTOR TOUR

SEEING AUSTRALIA

WELLINGTON MEN'S TRIP

3000 MILES BY EOAD

Two Wellington men, Mr. C. Parsonage and Mr. L. Thompson, have returned from Australia feeling that it was well worth their, while taking a car with them. They travelled over three thousand miles in New South Wales and Victoria, and used 200 gallons of benzine at an average cost of is 9d per gallon. Mr. Parsonage has made a number of visits to Australia, but this was the first on which he took his car with him. If probably will not be the last, for, he says he would not go to Australia for a holiday again without it. He hopes to make tours through Queensland and South Australia. : <

Mr. Parsonage and Mr. Thompson have been away since towards the end of December. After spending a few days around Sydney, they left on December 29 for Melbourne, via the Princess Highway. Going down tlie famous Bulli Pass they met another New Zealand car, the only one they saw on the trip. At a petrol-filling station at Nowra the garage proprietor was very interested in the number plates on their car, and asked the travellers where they came from. When they told him New Zealand, the garage man wanted to know how long it had taken them to drive from there. "I made myself scarce," said Mr.: Parsonage relating the incident this morning, "for fear he asked about the condition of the roads." That night the two Wellington motorists camped at Bateman's Bay, where, said Mr. Parsonage, oysters abound like mussels on the rocks round Wellington. The next night was spent at Carin River, and next morning they left for Moe. Before entering: Moe they came to a place called the Haunted Hills, so named, they were told, because of the fact that cattle would under no circumstances stay on the hills overnight, the area being an old aboriginal burial ground. At Yallourn they inspected the brown coal fields, which are 800 square miles in area. The product is being used for electric power generation and the manufacture of, briquettes, of which 1200 tons are produced daily. From Moe, the visitors went on to Melbourne. . MELBOURNE ILLUMINATIONS. Mr. Parsonage described the illuminations in. Melbourne for the Centenary as being marvellous. They were very impressed, he said, with the effect achieved on the four-storey fire brigade station, which was illuminated with flaming spotlights. They paid a visit to the Boy Scout jamboree at Frankstori, 25 miles out of Melbourne, and there saw scouts from all over the world, including the New, Zealand contingent, whose section, representing a Maori pa, said Mr. Parsonage, was very fine indeed. The return trip to Sydney was. made by another route, the Hume Highway. The first night they camped at the Albury agricultural show grounds, under the permanent shelters that: are there, and next day visited the Hume Weir, a great wall across the Murray River. This wall took fifteen years to: build, at a cost of £5,500,000. It. encloses a sheet of water more than twice the area of Sydney.. Harbour. From Albury, they pushed on to Yass and then on to Canberra. 'At Canberra they found many historical exhibits and much of interest, to visitors. After spending.a couple of;days in Sydney, Mr. Parsonage and.Mr. Thompson set out for Newcastle, 108 miles away, travelling by the famous "millionpounds road." Not one portion of the road, said Mr. Parsonage, is narrower than the widest part of the Huttßoad, and it is of ferroconcrete throughout. The scenery on this trip was the finest they saw. On one side there was the ocean, and on the other ■ lakes and bush. BUSINESS CONDITIONS. Mr. Parsonage said that since his last visit two years ago business conditions in New South Wales had improved considerably. The opinion was held that the State would be back to normal- again ■<• by next spring. - The same, however, .could not be said of Victoria^ The bad' weather- experienced during the Centenary celebra-tions-had been no good for business people. There were quite a number who had gone to Melbourne expecting to make> money, but instead of doing that many of them had lost money. While in Sydney Mr. Parsonage was much impressed with the control of foot and vehicular traffic.1 Haying been .associated with athletics in Wellington1 for some years, Mr. Parsonage paid a. visit to the Sydney ■ Sports Ground on the occasion of the New South. Wales athletic championship meeting, and there he met J. P. Metcalfe and T. E. Hampson, who visited New Zealand • last season. They wished tor: be.." remembered to New Zealand friends. Mr. Parsonage was riot impressed with the way the meeting was conducted, and for such a meeting he had expected that there would, have been a larger attendance than about 400. He saw Metcalfe1 clear 6ft 4Jin in the high jump, and three others do over 6ft. Hampson was just beaten in the 100 yards, though many thought he won and vocally recorded their disapproval of the decision.

The roads in Victoria over which Mr. Parsonage and his companion travelled were good; "in fact, they did not strike a bad road, but that was not so in New South Wales, where some of the country was very hilly and undulating. The weather during the tour was not of the best, there being not one whole fine day, but, nevertheless, the two motorists had an excellent time. :;

Mr. Parsonage paid tribute to the efficient manner :in which the automobile association representatives in Wellington, Auckland, and in Australia had handled matters in connection with his car. The whole cost of shipping the car had been just under £ 20. Anyone ? contemplating taking a car to Australia, he said, should see that his bond.to the value of the car was sent over at least a week ahead. ; . . , :