It doesn’t matter who you are, in one way or another all of us will be touched by cancer at least once in our lives, either personally or through someone we love. Pete and Kris have been and that’s why they decided to enter the 2016 S***box Rally and help raise money for Cancer Council Australia.
This year’s S***box Rally goes from Mackay to
Hobart. Kris wasn’t able to do the
Perth to Mackay transport section with Pete due to work commitments, so Pete’s brother Paul has volunteered to sit in the
seat as far as Mackay, where Kris will take over for the rally and the drive
home to
Perth.
![Lake Cowan on the road to Norseman.]()
Lake Cowan on the road to Norseman.
![Time for fuel at Norseman.]()
Time for fuel at Norseman.
![Not an unfamiliar sight on the Eyre Highway.]()
Not an unfamiliar sight on the Eyre Highway.
Pete and his brother Paul are in
Eucla at the SA-WA border, “transport”, to hopefully get old Henry at least to the start line. Today was a fortunately very uneventful day with no mechanical problems whatsoever. Pete and Paul left
Coolgardie about 7:30 this morning heading for a fuel top up at
Norseman, the tiny Goldfields town they had intended to reach yesterday - if had the
Hyden to
Norseman Road had been open.
One thing they did discover, and worth remembering for the rally, is that old Henry’s fuel gauge isn’t very accurate. Paul was driving and, after filling up at Norsemen and on the approach to Cocklebiddy, Paul told Pete the fuel gauge had just reached half way. Pete looked at the map and said it was only about 100 km to Madura so made the decision to keep going and fuel up there.
![Into Madura for fuel. Just in time!]()
Into Madura for fuel. Just in time!
![Is this a late 1930s - early 1940s Willys pick up, but with a FC/FE/FB/EK rear end??]()
Is this a late 1930s - early 1940s Willys pick up, but with a FC/FE/FB/EK rear end??
![The old and the not so old.]()
The old and the not so old.
Following that Pete did some quick calculations and came up with fuel economy figures of which Henry is known to be incapable. But they made it to Madura and Henry took nearly 74 litres of fuel. According to the manual Henry’s tank only takes 72 litres so Pete and Paul must have cruised into the service station on the smell of it. The fuel gauge was still showing one bar under half full.
Tomorrow Pete and Paul head to
Streaky Bay in SA, a beautiful little place not far from
Ceduna at the top north western point of the Eyre Peninsula. After that it’s hopefully
Broken Hill, then on to Narrabri to catch up with a couple of other rally entrants. One of whom owns a pub...
More tomorrow!