HONEYMOON TOUR

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 46, 17 May 1927, Page 10

HONEYMOON TOUR

10,000 MILE JOURNEY EXPERIENCES IN AUSTRALIA In this modern age diverse means are chosen by up-to-date young couples to spend their honeymoons. But surely none was more novel than that of a young newly-wed couple of Brisbane who chose a tour around Australia by motor-car as their mode (says a Sydney paper). Not many people, even in the advanced stage of motoring to-day, would care to underi take a tour like this, much of it through I unsettled country, through sandy ! wastes and deep fords, but the bridal | couple faced such a journey, and, what j is more, accomplished it. j They were Mr. and Mrs. J. Dorney. j After they left Brisbane they traversed the Northern Territory and the Kimberley district of Western Australia, and visited Perth, Coolgardie, Eucla, Port Augusta, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. Their journey occupied over five months, and was done in an Overland Whippet touring car. STRENUOUS EXPERIENCES

Mr. and Mrs. Dorney had some strenuous experiences, especially in negotiating the Fitzroy and other rivers of the north, and &gain in sandy country in Western Australia. When the car forded the Fitzroy—a large river —it was very sandy, with two stretches of water to negotiate. It was impossible to get through by engine-power unaided, and a party of eight aborigines was picked up at the nearest station and taken to the river, where they assisted the engine by pushing the car until it was on the far side. BATTLED THROUGH

Through another river ford being flooded, the Dorneys were forced to make a detour of 70 miles along a track never previously traversed by a wheeled vehicle, let alone a motor-car. But they battled their way through. At a third crossing the car struck a submerged stump, and Mrs. Dorney was thrown through the wind-screen and had her eye cut badly, while the front axle of the car was bent back alarmingly. Anxious to seek assistance for his wife as soon as possible, Mr. Dorney had to work hard to get his car out of the stream before a possible flood. VERY TRYING In the sandy country of Western Australia the Dorneys had some very trying times. On one occasion Mrs. Dorney had to turn to and carry the luggage, including cases of petrol, one by one, while Mr. Dorney hauled the car through the sand with a winch and wire rope they carried. The grade of the hill was not so severe, but the surface was so soft that the moment the engine power was applied, the wheels spun round and sank deep in the sand. After seven hours’ labour the car progressed 75 yards.

For most of the 10,000 miles the load on the car was 17cwt. Petrol consumption for the trip averaged 30 miles to the gallon. The same set of spark plugs fitted when the car left Brisbane was used to the end, and the cylinders were decarbonised and the valves ground in Perth.