LAP of NSW Adventure
in a 1937 Riley Lynx 2019
Noel McIntosh and Rob Everett
Photos by Rob Everett and Noel McIntosh
We are back after a brilliant 5000 kilometre adventure around the perimeter of NSW in a pre-war open car. We have some great pictures and wonderful memories.
Re-enacting the journeys of pre-war motoring pioneers and reviving the excitement and unpredictability of “vintage” motoring, we enjoyed springtime in the outback, the locals, the sights and the smells. The recent rains brought out the beauty of nature.
Our Journey
We drove across sunny Sydney early in the morning on 12th September 2019 and bubbled down the Bulli Pass before we met traffic.
Rob started reading from his diary of our 2004 60th Anniversary Around Australia Rally, which described our last day as we passed Berry on the way up to Sydney. Somehow it seemed appropriate to be starting another adventure as the previous one had finished. Every morning he read the corresponding day, much to our amusement.
Narooma
It was a relief to see Aussie Rock, Narooma, knowing we were underway without any problems. The day before the car had a fault, as it had every week for the past 6 months, with a faulty starter button. The spring blossoms heralded a new life for the car and us so we slept well.
We visited fire-devastated Tathra as we felt they needed every tourist dollar.
Eden, Cathcart, Bombala
We satisfied the first of our three objectives, to meet old car clubs, in the Port of Eden, which is the most southerly point of our Lap.
The members at the Sapphire Coast Car Club congratulated the VSCCA on its historic achievement. It was a long haul up the mountain track which was used by bullock wagons to supply Cathcart, an inland distribution point. It was so narrow that oncoming wagons could not pass and one was pushed over the edge.
Cooma, Adaminaby, Cabramurra
Cooma, always interesting as the HQ of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, was a cold night stop. The local hire-shop expert told us the road was semi closed and we would need snow chains to go to Adaminaby. The old man said our narrow tyres were good in snow so don’t fit chains. He gave us a pair to show the police.
There was snow up to Cabramurra, the second highest town in NSW, then followed the long ups and downs to the weathered basin of Australia’s interior.
75th Anniversary Celebrations
We joined the well-organised VSCCA 75th Anniversary festivities in Wagga for two nights. This event was a fun, historic celebration of 75 years of Club’s activities. We did a re-torque of the engine head and a detailed check of the car. So far so very good.
Albury, Swan Hill, Mildura
Early on Monday morning we headed for Albury to meet the Mighty Murray River and start our Westward journey along the river. We trespassed into Victoria to see Swan Hill historic sites and then onto Mildura.
Malcolm Bennett, descendent of a 1909 farmer, and a Riley Kestrel and steam engine enthusiast, gave us a great tour of the 1880s Mildura/Meribeen town and irrigation area. His mates have restored one of the 4 Chaffey-era large steam pumps, which fed the 1880’s irrigation schemes. Four huge boilers for each were fed tons of wood by 4 men.
Lucky us! He also gave the car an oil change and grease.
The strong Mildura Vintage and Vehicle Club has 200 members and gets 100 keen people to their monthly meetings.
Now we turned north to Wentworth where the Darling joins the Murray.
We got a feeling of the romantic and dramatic history of the River Boat era of the late 1800’s as we travelled along the major rivers, Murray and Darling. A few of the 200 paddle steamers, which worked the 4000 miles of the rivers, are preserved or stranded. Rob has a whistle from one now high and dry, 10 miles from the river.
There is a fascinating history of inland transport using barges towed by steam paddlers. Some of Australia’a biggest ports were on these rivers. Now the Darling is a disaster with precious little water which is green and mostly stagnant. Locals say the high water demands of massive cotton farms and water theft has devastated the whole area.
bROKEN hILL
Noel and Rob, Miner's Memorial, Broken Hill. Photo by Beth Garland
Broken Hill was made special by Beth Garland, Vintage car club editor. She helped with our second Lap objective, to publicise the use of pre-war cars by driving our 1937 Riley around the State. She arranged an interview on ABC Breakfast radio and 2 front-page stories in the local paper which also publicised the Fred Hollows Foundation.
It is an engineering city, which displays its history very well. Interesting social and labour history in a town founded by 7 farm workers who formed the famous BHP.
The Broken Hill Veteran & Vintage Club has its own 1910 building in the centre of the city.
Western Frontier
It rained after a dust storm on our travels to the Western Frontier towns of Wilcannia, Cobar, Bourke and Brewarrina. We passed the 1500 mile mark on this section and the car was getting stronger by the day!
Fred Hollow Foundation
Our third Lap objective was to raise funds for the exceptional Fred Hollows Foundation as it has a strong regional presence where its services are desperately needed. Fred did the groundbreaking eye health research in Aboriginal communities, put in motion a legacy to end avoidable blindness and restored the sight of 1000’s of people.
We made an emotional visit to Prof Fred Hollows’ grave in the Bourke historic cemetery. Rocks surrounding a massive polished stone form the shape of an eye with various texts on stones and plaques praising his sight restoring missions in poor communities.
We raised $10,000, which is enough to restore the sight of 400 people or train doctors.
We headed into the rising sun and up to Goondiwindi, oh my gaud, in Queensland. It is a lovely town with mown grass on the centre road islands and traffic circles. A complete change from the recently experienced red dust. A quick night stay and we were back in NSW, unscathed, and meandering our way to fire-ravished Tenterfield.
Ten days ago we had crossed the Great Dividing Range in snow, descending to the flat belly of NSW all the way out to the dry Broken Hill then looped back to go over the Northern Great Divide in the semi tropics.
Casino is an Art Deco gem divided by the big Richmond River.
We followed the next river, Tweed, up to the Heads, our most northerly destination. What a shock seeing a white beach and 20-story skyscrapers after the quiet, dry towns a week earlier.
Had a cup of tea on the busy foreshore then fled south through the lush sugar plantations to Byron Bay. It was equally frenetic but we had to get a picture of the lighthouse on the most Easterly point of NSW.
We spent the night in Maclean on the Clarence River. This quaint town’s resident artist has painted 200 power poles each with a Scottish tartan. Here met a VSCC UK senior member who was amazed to see 3000-mile-adventurers having a quiet lunch.
We took the coast road into and out of Port Macquarie before the night stop with Rob’s family in Red Head for some special curry.
Our last day
Friday, 27th September, was a sad day as it was our last day. We extended it as much as possible by weaving our way along the coast road to Foster and Blueys Beach. The inevitable end of our dream happened as we stopped at the busy intersection in Chatswood with a million people crossing at the lights.
About the intrepid travellers
The adventurers, Noel McIntosh (78) and Rob Everett (78), drove the 15,000km 60th VSCCA Anniversary Around Australia Rally in 6 weeks in a veteran 1913 Vauxhall. It was shown in TV segments in Sydney CH9 Today Show, Ch9's Morning Show in Darwin, Perth etc. as well as featuring in many newspapers and magazines.
Noel and Rob are experienced long distance adventurers.
Rob did the London to Sydney rally, 3 Targa Tasmania rallies and crossed the Nullarbor 5 times, 3 of those before asphalt. Rob, whose grandfather was a well-known 1920’s motoring adventurer and record holder, is from Australian motoring royalty.
Noel has driven his 1913 Vauxhall across Europe, Russia, Japan, USA, UK, South Africa; did the 1988 Darwin to Adelaide bicentennial rally and the 2004 around Australia trip. He also drove his 1933 Rolls-Royce 5,500 km around Japan.
The 1937 Riley Lynx 12/4 is a 1500cc 4 cylinder four-seater convertible.
It is very comfortable on the road, well suited to long distance driving – if it keeps going! It is 80 years old and had a tough life in Ireland for its first 50 years. The body and trim was well restored in Brisbane and I did a complete mechanical overhaul and rewiring. It has taken a year of hard work to get it in reliable condition.
A new used block bought in the UK arrived in Feb 2019 and was rebuilt in a hurry for the Riley National 10 weeks later. It went well for 2000 miles but on our return journey the engine blew up in Wagga with a hole in the piston. The second engine rebuild in 2019, this time with standard compression, started in July. I had to get a replacement crankshaft, as the first one was badly ground in Queanbeyan. The engine was finished in mid August and run-in before the Lap started.
Noel McIntosh
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