On the Road Again

Day 30 On the road again, heading for Tennant Creek. Chris Fermanis in his E-type was suffering from go – not so go – problems, so when we got to Daly Waters, we removed fuel pump for repair. I sat up at the bar of the Daly Waters Pub with soldering iron and insides of pump, asked could I plug into a power point, so the barman unplugged something and plugged in the soldering iron. Just about to solder the wires when iron went cold, looked up to see 3 jackeroos and 2 jillaroos had sat down, without a word the barman had unplugged the iron and pulled them each a pint, then plugged the iron in again. Half-way through soldering went cold again, same thing, barman was pulling them another pint without a word being said, then plugged me back in to finish the job. Sometimes not a lot of words spoken out here.

This whole saga took us into late afternoon, with all the other Jaguars having left after lunch, so it was a quick dash to try and reach Tennant Creek before our self imposed curfew of 1700 hrs in order not to dodge the kangaroos and other livestock that take over the roads from that time. We were travelling pretty well (reasonably fast!) until just before Elliot the E decided it needed a drink, so Byron flagged down a cattle truck, and much to all our surprise, a young jillaroo jumped down, herself quite fascinated to see two Jaguar sports cars. Part of the conversation from the jillaroo went “I’m from a property (150,000 acres) a few mile up the road, been into Elliot (pop 156) to drop off some cattle, go in about twice a month, don’t like crowded towns, went to Alice Springs (pop 29,000) once, but to big and busy for me ….!”

Day 31 Devil’s Marbles, where an unfortunate incident to Bruce Craven’s 140, a clown in a 4WD towing a caravan, who obviously thought he was in a small, car tried to fit between Bruce’s parked 140 and another vehicle, smashing the front of the 140. Fortunately it was only body damage, the suspension, chassis and oil cooler undamaged, with a little creative panel beating, Bruce was able to continue.

Processional arrival into Alice Springs was again an inspiring site, to the weighbridge where a plaque has been placed as marking the official finish and setting of the world record by Les. In true fashion, the law was on hand to arrest Kees, just as they had done to Les in 1951, and led him away hand cuffed, Kees begging for help from all the Jaguar team to pay the fine, who just stood with hands shallow in their deep pockets.

The camaraderie engendered on these events among enthusiasts having a love of and spirit for Jaguars is truly amazing, invigorating and rewarding. The international support for this event included Ray and Marion Larson from New Zealand with their beautiful XK120OTS, and while Ray apologised to all Territorians for creating a near water shortage, having to fill the radiator every 20klms, they were forgiven, even though they were Kiwis. 

Ole and Bea Sommer came from Denmark and drove Ian Cummins’ E-Type roadster, and at the farewell dinner, entertained us all with stories of his Jaguar exploits, reminiscing about his friendships with all people Jaguar including Sir William, Lofty, Malcolm, Bill, Norman and lots of others. What a wonderful and treasured life so full of unforgettable experiences.