Aussie adventure

20,000 air miles, 15 days, 2 hemispheres, 6 loads of laundry and 2,500 kilometers of Australian roadtripping later…We are now back home from the “Land Down Under.”

In some ways this trip felt a bit like a scavenger hunt. We certainly came home with several treasures, most prized among them a signed copy of The National Geographic Magazine from May 1958 with an article penned by the late Jinx Rodger entitled, Sahara Sand in My Eyes.

The article is a beautifully detailed first-hand account of the Rodger’s 1957 Algerian desert crossing in a Series 1 long wheel base wagon that Jinx completed with her husband, George Rodger, who was a well-known British war photographer turned adventurer. Amazingly, we also got to see the now famous vehicle they made their crossing in which is aptly nicknamed Mzuri which means “Very Good” in Swahili.

To see this piece of history and to see the reverence that its current stewards, Janelle and Dave D’Arcy of Land Rover Heaven, hold for it was indeed a highlight of the trip. If you have read Australian Adventurer Barbara Toy’s 1961 novel, In Search of Sheba, about her passage from Europe to Ethiopia in a brand new Land Rover Series 2 (preceded by her famed globetrotter 1950 Series 1, named Pollyanna), you will also love the unlikely story of Dave and Janelle discovering Mzuri in Australia more than half a century later.

After our brief, but forever memorable visit to Land Rover Heaven, we camped overnight in Glenworth Valley and awoke early the next morning to meet up with the Sydney Branch of the Land Rover Owners Club of Australia. They were kind enough to include us on a day trip they had organized for members to lunch together at the infamous Wallombi Tavern, home to Dr. Jurd’s Jungle Juice. By tagging along on this mini-adventure we were treated to sights, roadways—including a small ferry crossing—and people we would otherwise never had the chance to encounter. And of course, we picked up a few treasures at what can only be called a roadside junk shop where we purchased a well worn Aussie license plate to hang in our garage.

That day trip to Wollombi kicked off our Australian East Coast road trip in earnest and we spent well over 8 hours in our rented Td5 Defender to arrive in Urunga by dark. The next morning we woke up to see kangaroos hop across the side yard before watching the sunrise on Wenonah Head beach and driving another 4 hours to Toondah Harbour in Queensland where we took a vehicle ferry to North Stradbroke Island.

After a night on Straddie, we again chose to wake up early to take in the sunrise over Point Lookout and spotted several migrating whales from the North Gorge Walk before crossing back to the mainland and meeting up with friends in Brisbane for a few days. Our hosts in Brissie were friends we met during our 2024 Cuban adventure and we were delighted to reminisce about rolling cigars and drinking coffee together in the Viñales Valley and drinking rum in Havana. After a full day of behind-the-scenes tours of the world’s first and largest koala sancturaries, East was also lucky enough to tap a wooden beer cask while watching the decider State of Origin rugby match at the historic Brekky Creek Hotel.

Our drive back to Sydney via Nambucca Heads was without incident except for the second of two slightly out of control shopping trips to the South African Shop in Oxenford where we loaded up on snacks for the road.

Once we arrived in the artsy and gritty suburb of Annandale on the outskirts of Sydney we again stumbled upon an antique store where we picked up a gorgeous enamel Australian Drago badge that we will keep for the appropriate 50’s vintage car…perhaps Dawie, our 1958 Series 1?

Aside from the tangible treasures we brought back home, we also stumbled upon several new gems on social media (thanks again to our friends at Land Rover Heaven); one in particular named @Big_G_the_Landy who generously responded to our awestruck message and suggested many places for us to explore on our next trip to Australia.

Before our best friend Big G passed away in South Africa, he had shared his hope to immigrate to Australia with his family. At several points along our journey, we couldn’t help but think he was winking at us from heaven and laughing at us during moments when our adventure skills were definitely not up to scratch. We’ll keep on adventuring in his honor as long as we can.

Thanks as always for following along!

Next
Next

Parisian perspective