Australia Years Ago

1990 was the first time I have quit my job back home in Switzerland to trade a scheduled working life against travelling and living on the road. In fall of that year I took a flight from Zurich/Switzerland to Moskow/USSR. From there by the transsibirian railway to China. A different China I suppose. Down to Macau, at the time a portouguese colony and by speed boat to Hong Kong, still being british those years. 

Backpacking South through Souths East Asia, I have taken a flight from Singapore to Darwin in the Northern Territories of Australia. It was there, where I first became an overlander travelling by cars overseas in a foreign continent. In Darwin I stretched my backpacking budget to its max and bought an old, and I tell you, a really old, Holden Kingswood. A straight 6 cylinder gasoline engine with just one carburator and a 3 gear manual gear box gauranteed for high fuel and oil consumption combined with low performance. Many times I have been dreaming of the huge 4 WD Toyotas that where omnipresent in Australia at the time as soon as it got a bit rural or outbacky. 

Hard to believe but the good old Holden held strong and was a good companion for some 20'000 miles or so within a bit more than 3 months on the red continent. 

A bit of a flash back here as I am scanning my old slides right now. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when the first scanned slides poped-up on my laptop's screen.

I seem to hav had a thing for rear awnings already those days. Looks similar to the one I constructed on the blue truck some 25 years later.

Carboardboxes served to get some how organizied with my gear. So much more room in the trunk of the Holden compared to my backpack.

I thought I was in the desert, when I met this fat fellow one morning.

Beautiful nature...

...and impressive Road-Trains.