Author Topic: Parked the Pagoda, heading out in the Kombi (Read 30304 times)

Garry · « **on:** June 08, 2013, 07:01:18 »

Kate and I are heading out tomorrow for a bit of a drive in the 1974 VW Kombi.

Hope to cover 14,000km in two months of driving.

Half of it will be with the Kombi loaded on back of a passenger train for two legs of the journey, firstly from Adelaide to Darwin and again from Perth to Adelaide. Driving part, Melbourne to Adelaide (900km), Darwin to Perth (at least 5,000km,) and Adelaide to Melbourne (another 900km) at the end. Glad I am not doing the whole country, I would need 6 months.

Hopefully the Kombi is well prepped for the trip, have been working on it a year getting it reliable. Had to lower it 2" to meet height restrictions for the train so that it clears tunnels on the rail part of trip. After we loaded it up today, it did a further self levelling of 2"

Looking forward to warmer weather, following winds and an uneventful trip.

Cheers
Garry

Paul & Dolly · « **Reply #1 on:** June 08, 2013, 08:06:58 »

Fantastic....

sometimes..... I wish I had moved to your country

Enjoy

Paul

pj · « **Reply #2 on:** June 08, 2013, 11:58:45 »

Hi Garry,
what a great trip! Will you be able to post pix or a blog or something while on your way, so we can enjoy it vicariously with you?

bogeyman · « **Reply #3 on:** June 08, 2013, 13:03:40 »

Garry:

Looks like you are truly loaded for bear.

Same color as the "family truckster."

Don't forget the Vegemite.....

stickandrudderman · « **Reply #4 on:** June 08, 2013, 19:25:15 »

What a great trip. I once spent a year driving around Aus. great times! (except the smell of dead roo!)

JamesL · « **Reply #5 on:** June 09, 2013, 07:12:17 »

We want lots of updates and piccies. Hope the Kombi treats you well

Garry · « **Reply #6 on:** June 09, 2013, 07:23:12 »

I will post more as I get going. Today only achieved 300km as we head toward Adelaide and from there we head north inland to the outback.

I will start posting some pix as things get interesting. Meanwhile the Kombi performed well. I have lowered it 2" to get it on the train on Wednesday next. That makes for fairly short suspension travel and fairly rough. Once I get it off the train in Darwin I have arranged for it to be raised again for the long drive down the west coast of Australia. I fitted an adjustable front beam. That can be fairly easily adjusted up or down in about an hour for both front and rear.

More to follow.

Garry · « **Reply #7 on:** June 12, 2013, 03:21:59 »

This is how the Kombi Travels. Heading out of Adelaide toward the north with Kombi up front of Train.. It gets there before we do

71Beige280SL · « **Reply #8 on:** June 12, 2013, 15:59:02 »

In Southern California, they would describe your Kombi as a Lowrider!

Rolf-Dieter ✝︎ · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2013, 19:59:24 »

Have a great trip Garry and safe travels ... Love your country spend 3 months there in the mid 80s saw the Americas Cup in Perth (my customer took me there). Did some work for BHP north of Adelaide at the steel mill. Of all the places I've been I liked Adelaide the best (the city, the ocean, Adelaide hills and the Bourassa wine valley). Great folks down under!

Post plenty of pictures if you have a chance, sounds like a great trip!

Garry · « **Reply #10 on:** June 19, 2013, 00:43:24 »

You know you are going to have some difficulty when you have to pass a truck this big. In a Kombi it only happens when they are stopper on the side of the road.

Picture taken somewhere in the Northern Territory near Darwin, Australia this morning.

JamesL · « **Reply #11 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:13:59 »

Funny.... there was a thing on TV the other night about the Ghan line - the original - from Adelaide to Darwin. Chap drove to Alice and got the train (missed the passenger one and ended up on the freight one) up to Darwin.

WRe · « **Reply #12 on:** June 19, 2013, 09:53:41 »

Hi,
The Volkswagen transporter based on VW t-platform was named "Bulli" in Germany. Is the name "Kombi" usual in Angol-American-Australian context?
A "Kombi" in German is a station wagon.
...WRe

71Beige280SL · « **Reply #13 on:** June 19, 2013, 13:09:32 »

That quite a truck! "Road Train" on the front bumper is an appropriate description.

Garry · « **Reply #14 on:** June 20, 2013, 07:08:38 »

Yep they run big trucks here with four + trailers on the back. Quite scary in a Kombi when they pass you when you are doing 90kph and they want to go up toward the 130 speed limit.

Given the speed limit, the poor Kombi cannot even get to that speed. Bit of a laugh.

The term VW Kombi was used for the rest of the world other than Germany I believe. I also understand that the term Bread Tin is a term used in some places in Europe!

The Kombi has been running well even though it is quite hot here in daytime. We did about 450 km today before stopping as the day got hot.

Here are a couple of photos along the way. Note the Pagoda University T shirt in the last photo

Garry

Bill Sgro · « **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2013, 00:54:41 »

The Great Ocean Road is quite a sight. I did it in the mid '80s also. It was beautiful. Say "hi" to the Twelve Apostles for me!

georgem · « **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2013, 03:45:19 »

Bill,

Glad you enjoyed the Great Ocean road - sadly I think there are now only eleven as I have at the back of my mind that one fell over a couple of years ago. Gary can probably confirm..........

Garry · « **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2013, 08:16:58 »

There are now only 7 left. London Bridge fell down about five years ago and one of the apostles fell a year or so ago.

They are about 4,000km from where I am at the moment in the north of Western Australia where it is 3-400km between towns and petrol stations.

A photo of the Kombi on the road, One of Kate driving in the middle of nowhere and where I am now doing my internet blogging

Garry

Garry · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2013, 10:44:42 »

Driving around the far north west of Australia where there is a boom in mining going on I met with a small dump truck

Keep running into things that are really big!

Peter van Es · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2013, 10:54:14 »

Great story and great pics. Love the airco system that Kate enjoys. Do you sleep in the camper or is it too hot?

We just had a camper holiday in Norway with a modern Hymer, slightly bigger, but on account of the rain my wife probably would kill me if all the space we had was a Kombi...

Peter

Larry & Norma · « **Reply #20 on:** July 02, 2013, 10:57:44 »

Looks like the only shade for miles around!
Great adventure, enjoying each instalment,
all the best

Garry · « **Reply #21 on:** July 02, 2013, 13:46:36 »

We are sleeping in the Kombi. Promised Kate that we would go to a top hotel if she had need of some decent accommodation. Her comment. She's enjoying the Kombi. Just love it.

Couple of more of Kombi and camp site over the last week or so.

simonarn · « **Reply #22 on:** July 02, 2013, 14:56:05 »

Are there any ahem hairy spiders or nasty bitey things out there on those rather remote campsites?

Rolf-Dieter ✝︎ · « **Reply #23 on:** July 02, 2013, 15:52:02 »

Hi Garry ,

Enjoying your story and travel reports ... what part of the country so far is your most favourite spot?

Take plenty of photos .... and .... Continued safe travels !

PS. I spend some time in your country in 1984 on business up in Whyalla, South Australia (when I was in Perth my Customer took me to show me the America Cup you fellows won for the first time in 1983 then he took me to show me the yacht Australia II ). I was fortunate during my stay to see some part of your wonderful country (Sidney, Melbourne, Whyalla, Adelaide and Perth). I very much enjoyed the city of Adelaide and surrounding area the most I have to say. Perhaps it was the different areas (the city, the ocean, the Adelaide Hills Wineries, then Perth was also a great spot to be. Loved the houses by the ocean massive glass and verandas on them houses.

Garry · « **Reply #24 on:** July 03, 2013, 00:51:46 »

There are lots of things that bite and want to eat you and want to kill you but if you hit them with a big stick or a big knife, they dont get to take too much out of you

Some of the outback gorges have been really beautiful and so have some of the very very remote beaches. It is all so different that I could not put one before the other as they are so different.
What does strike you is the massive distances between some civilisation, often 300km plus between Roadhouses for petrol and 600 between very small towns with populations of only a 100 or two.

The other thing that we are seeing is the massive works being taken for the iron ore mining and gas production and the billions of dollars being spent. The mining camp we went to yesterday probably had 200 workers that are FIFO, that is flown in flown out on a two weekly rotation from Perth and stay in the mining camp. Earning a lot of money. The ore truck drivers alone earn around $200,000 plus. There is a rail line that is taking the ore from the mine inland to the coast (300km) that is driverless, and is operated from Adelaide, South Australia, 3500km away. One of the mines did not even have drivers for the big dump trucks, they are also driven from down south remotely.

All very large scale and a bit of an eye opener.

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Author Topic: Parked the Pagoda, heading out in the Kombi (Read 30304 times)

simonarn