ROUND AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1927, Page 11

ROUND AUSTRALIA

WAGER NOT TO SHAVE SYDNEY, «Nov. 28. Mr. F.-J. Dean, of Belmont, and his wife,'who left Sydney last July in a Vauxhall motor car on a journey round Australia, completed the task on Saturday morning, when the cai drew into Martin-place. The journey had occupied nearly four and a hall months, and more than 10,800 miles were covered. A' large crowd surrounded the Haveners in Martin-place upon their arrival. Two huge buffalo horns projected from the radiator of the car, and long spears and other native weapons were lashed to the sides oi the machine. Mr. Dean said that he and his wife undertook the journey for pleasure but in a spirit of fun he had wagered a friend £5O that he would not shave until his return to Sydney. The motorist said he had observed the conditions of the wager, although, in order to meet the wishes of Mrs. Dean, and to keep his growth of “stubble" under some control, he had applied lighted matches to it. “Although my wife and I embarked upon the journey for pleasure,” said Mr. Dean, “we frequently found the conditions to be otherwise, and I would not advise any woman to make the tour. We were often faced with severe hardships, and in the Northern Territory on one occasion, when our water supply became exhausted, my wife and I were suffering so badly from thirst that our swollen tongues prevented us from understanding each other’s speech. Kangaroos taught me how to discover water. I noticed a number of them scratching the ground and discovered eventually that they were burrowing down to an underground stream, After that lesson we never went short of water.” In the north-west of Western Australia, Mr. Dean said, they encountered great difficulty owing to quicksands, and in one part the car travelled only 75 yards in 25 hours. The car used was a stock model, and Mr. Dean claimed that it was the first British-made motor that had been driven around Australia. He experienced no engine trouble. Across Rankin Plains, in the Northern Territory, he said he covered 160 miles in two hours. The parched plain, he stated, was as smooth as glass.