Next reunion 25-27 April 2003 |
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RAAF Richmond to Perth trip - December 1964
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Towards the middle of 1964, Tom (Tich to us Appies) Harrington and I decided we’d take the BIG adventure and drive from Richmond to Perth for Christmas. Tom was originally from Broken Hill and I was from Perth.
We had both joined the RAAF on 8th February 1960 as part of 14 (Apprentice) Course based at Frognall. I was a bit disappointed at first as I thought I was joining the Air Force - where was the runway and where were all the aircraft??? I wanted to smell burnt kerosene from jet aeroplanes and not the stench of brown briquettes from pot-bellied heaters. (But that is another story).
Following our graduation in late 1962 as AC Radio Technicians (Air), the RAAF decided that because we got through our apprenticeship it follows that we must now know everything about our trade so Tom and I were posted to Richmond - he to 11Sqn to work on the Neppies and me to 36Sqn to work on the old “A” model Hercs. We soon realised that we knew bugger-all about the “real” Air Force.
The next year (1963) I purchased my 1956 FJ Holden - and a modern technological marvel it was. After a while, I had fitted some luxury extras such as:
- A pair of stick-on windscreen demisters
- An up-market, press-button radio (driven by an internal mechanical vibrator)
- A heater - what bliss!!!
- Flashing turn indicators - this saved me from freezing my arm off when I had to stick it out of the window to inform all those idiots on the road that this experienced driver was about to initiate a 90 degree change of direction.
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My great old FJ was affectionately known as “Mac’s Modern Miracle” (at one stage I was considering taking legal action against the 3M company as I reckon I had the abbreviation all stitched up with MMM). The FJ stayed with me until 1967 when I traded it in to buy a Datsun Fairlady 1600. When the car salesman offered me a trade-in value of 25 pounds, I had a big spit and he said to me “Listen mate, I can go to the Flemington car auctions and pick up half-a-dozen FJ’s for 25 quid. Take it or leave it." I took the 25 quid.
Anyways, Tom and I planned for the big adventure to the West. We boned up on all the hints and tips to cross the Nullarbor. We loaded up the FJ with 2 spare wheels and tyres, spare fan-belts, water hoses, points, plugs, jerry’s of water and fuel, 4 gallons of oil and an esky or two. Two water-bags hung from the front bumper-bar - we looked the part and we were ready - we set off on a Friday after work at Richmond (1650 hours precisely).
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Sunday morning we’re up and off - over the Adelaide hills through Mt Barker, Hahndorf to Murray Bridge and then onto Port Pirie and Port Augusta. On the way we briefly stopped at Port Germain to have a sticky at the jetty which seemed to poke out forever into the Gulf - the water is so shallow.
We had a bit of a break in Port Augusta while we prepared the FJ for the Nullarbor crossing. One tip we had read, was to use masking tape to seal all the door and boot openings to help reduce the amount of bulldust entering the vehicle. We left the passenger’s door free to allow us entry to the vehicle. We thanked the painters at Richmond who donated the masking tape as we bandaged up the old FJ (see picture). “That’ll do the trick” we thought.
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".....and if you want to buy marijuana, press the hash key...."
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