Smartcarby- Robertson family in Fregon

We were coming down to Adelaide for the holidays; Bruce packed the car while I was at work because as soon as school finished we were to be gone. I asked Bruce to make sure he put some food in the car so that if the boys were hungry we would have something to eat.

"No it is cheaper at Marla" he said therefore they can wait" He should always listen to me!
We had the trailer on the back with his motorbike although it had no globe in the light as he couldn't buy one in Fregon he would get one in Adelaide. So off we go I am really looking forward to takeaway hamburgers from Marla for tea.

Coming around a bend the exhaust fell off the Valiant, don't worry about it said Bruce it was rusted anyway so we continued on. We got 20 km passed Mimilli and go around the corner and we see a rock fly under the car and suddenly we have no drive with the back wheels. He had done this on purpose I am saying to myself. Bruce examines the underneath of the car to discover that the automatic has become inoperable.
"I'll have to ride back to Mimilli and ring Peter (the mechanic from Fregon) to come and get us." said Bruce
"OK but what about lights?" As it is getting on dusk now and it will take at lease an hour to ride on the sandy road in the dark. Also did I mention that there was no moon?
" I'll have to use the torch"

The sunset was beautiful but with no food and no transport the night became frightening.

The boys thought it was a great adventure except that we had no food at least we had 20 liters of water which we always kept on the roof. Bruce went off into the dark night and we could hear the motorbike get increasingly softer in the still night. We gathered firewood and made a small fire to keep warm. A few cars passed us and stopped to see if we were OK.

We were doing OK singing songs and telling stories but then there was this cry in the nights that was like that of a babies cry. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I thought of all the monster stories the elders had told around the campfires in town.
"Get in the car Kids!!! Wind up the windows and lock the doors". The thought of do dingo's eat poodles? I'm sure that the boys would be as tasty. This was the only time I was ever unsure of being alone in the bush and it was completely illogical as we were on a "main" road and were in no danger what-so-ever.
It was hours until a fair glow was seen in the distance and the hum of a two stroke.

Bruce had managed to go to the homestead at Mimilli and ring Peter who was able to drive out and get us. The wonderful lady had cut some sandwiches and packed some fruit juice for us to eat. It was about 12 o'clock when Peter arrived with his jeep and started to tow us back the 70 km. We didn't get back to Fregon until 4 am as Peter had a blow-out and the lights go out with an electrical fault. We also stopped to pick up the lost exhaust pipe and strapped it to the roof. How lucky we were said Bruce cheerfully. All I could imagine was were we were in time and what take-away food we would have consumed. I made eggs and bacon and we went to bed for a few hours.

Bruce got up at 7am and pulled apart the automatic and found that a circlip had been broken by the rock. After some search we found a suitable replacement and put the car back together again. At 4pm the next day we were off again and this time with food from the store just incase. We made it to Marla however the car was very loud as it had no exhaust and we would have to be careful in Adelaide. We had made it to Cooper Pedy although the car had difficulty in starting we were off once more. Luckily Bruce was driving when suddenly all of the lights went out and he kept the car straight on the road. If I were driving I would have ended close to the Western Australian Boarder. Again the boys thought that this was great fun because we got to take the hurricane lamps out of the boot. Bruce wanted to stay there but we knew that there was no where to sleep as this was a pedder plane of rock and no wood for a fire to was not a good place to camp.

We discovered that the problems was a loose circuit and off we went. I said I would drive even thought I am very night blind but Bruce had not very much time to sleep and he was very tired. It was very good in some respects that I couldn't see all of the cows and kangaroos beside the road as I didn't panic and just kept driving. It did worry Bruce because he would wake up and say didn't you see that …. And I would reply nope.

We made it to Port Augusta only to find that there was a road block. They were doing license checks - we had a very noisy car with the exhaust strapped to the roof. So I coasted into and wound down my window. All of the smells from 14 hours stuck in the car greeted the police officer. "Come far?" he asked. From the Northern Territory boarder I replied. He checked my license and told me to drive on. I slowly edged the car past the sergeant fully expecting to be arrested any moment. However they just let us go past and we made it to Adelaide without too much hassle.

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