Bean there, done that as car-azy London to Melbourne adventure raises more than $120k for RFDS
Telegraph reporter Matthew Benns and cartoonist Warren Brown’s epic drive from London to Melbourne in a historic jalopy has raised more than $120,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The wedge-tailed eagle rose from the kangaroo carcass, spread its wings and flew straight into the path of the speeding vintage Bean roadster, passing between the exposed heads of the astonished drivers.
“Shit, that was close,” co-driver and cartoonist Warren Brown said.
“And there looks like a pretty big storm ahead.”
Piloting a 100-year-old car across the globe from London to Melbourne was never going to be easy but the Australian leg proved the toughest of the lot. Purple lightning bolts struck the ground either side of the road 200 metres ahead as the heavens opened to herald the arrival of the monsoon season in the Northern Territory.
In the open-topped Bean, with no roof, doors, windows, or windscreen, we hunkered down to see who could make their head lowest and avoid the lightning strikes.
“I am so glad you are here,” gasped Brown.
“I would have turned to jelly if it were not for your steely resolve.”
The Australian outback provided red dust roads and roaring road trains all baking under a 42C sun. Throughout it all the Bean soldiered on.
Outside Mount Isa the magneto cocked up and team mechanic Tony Jordan conducted one of his many running repairs – stripping it down and cleaning it on a rest area concrete bench.
“The Bean has run brilliantly,” Jordan said.
“It is so impressive for a 100-year-old car with its original, four-cylinder side valve engine.”
In fact the Bean has proved even more reliable than the back-up vehicle which broke down before it even reached London. The Bean left Australia House in London with the well wishes of King Charles and Miss England Milla Magee ringing in its ears while our back-up languished in the garage.
The epic journey in the tyre tracks of adventurer Francis Birtles almost 100 years ago in the same model Bean 14 roadster saw us crossing the English Channel into France and quickly speed across Europe.
The Bean had crossed the freezing Austrian Alps before the back-up vehicle caught up and together they headed through Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and into Greece to cross the Mediterranean to Egypt.
“For me, the Middle East was one of the highlights of the trip and I am delighted we managed to navigate the troubles there and get those amazing photographs at the pyramids,” Brown said.
It was then across the Red Sea on an old Grimaldi Line roll-on, roll-off ferry to reach Saudi Arabia and the breathtaking archaeological remains at Hegra, sister city of Petra, where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed.
Driving out of the mountains to the capital Riyadh we met Australian Ambassador Mark Donovan.
“As far as I know you are the first Australian car to ever drive across Saudi Arabia,” he said. “That’s one for the record books.”
From there it was another ship from Dubai and on to Asia and a meeting with the King of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, who posed for a cartoon before giving Team Bean a tour of his $1 billion car collection, which includes more than 300 virtually new Rolls Royces, many with less than 500km on the clock.
In Singapore the Bean was put into a high-rise car vending machine alongside a number of scarlet Italian supercars prompting Brown to comment: “Look, a highly desirable red sports car and some Ferraris.”
The Australian Border Force and quarantine staff in Darwin gave the new Bean team a far easier ride than that received by Birtles 100-years-ago. Back then Birtles was told he would have to pay import tax on his Australian registered car and only a call to then Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce got the car cleared and on the road.
Once in Australia the current Bean’s purpose of raising money and awareness for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) really hit its straps with people stopping the team to donate money and tell how the quietly spoken heroes of the air had saved them and their family members from strokes, snake bites and every other conceivable medical emergency.
At Mount Isa RFDS senior pilot Sam Love told how a farmer had suffered forty per cent burns from a burst radiator and still got into his tractor to grade his driveway so the plane could land to take him to hospital.
“That is resilience,” Mr Love said.
Team Bean ploughed on – through a rain blitz outside Ballina that stopped all traffic, soaked the drivers and drenched the electrics – and on to Sydney to be met by Premier Chris Minns at Government House.
“I followed the journey on the website the whole way through. It is a really great Australian achievement – I am really proud of you both,” he said.
Miss Universe Australia Zoe Creed also welcomed the car home, closing the circle that began when then Miss Australia Phyllis Von Alwyn waved off Birtles in 1927.
Classic car enthusiasts met the Bean at every stop on the journey to Melbourne, forming cavalcades of honour from Goulburn to Albury.
And finally yesterday, after almost 20,000km, 20 countries and four continents the Bean arrived at the steps of the GPO in Bourke St in Melbourne just as Birtles had almost 100 years before. However, this time the reception was very different – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was on hand to welcome the team home and celebrate more than $120,000 raised for the RFDS.
When Birtles arrived almost a century earlier, he was told he could not park there and to clear off.
To donate go to:
More Coverage
Originally published as Bean there, done that as car-azy London to Melbourne adventure raises more than $120k for RFDS
Bollards, CCTV cameras to be rolled out in Sydney’s east
Bollards and additional CCTV cameras are set to be rolled out in Jewish communities in Sydney’s east, as three councils band together in order to catch anti-Semitic vandals in the act.
‘Abused, spat on’: CEO reveals threats after council rate hike vote
The boss of Northern Beaches Council has spoken to police, saying staffers have been subjected to widespread abuse after councillors voted to pursue a 39.6 per cent rate rise.