Page 100 - moondani kyema
P. 100
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 100
But probably the most endearing vehicle we
ever had was the Suzuki “Beetle”. The
Beetle was a gift to Bev from her Dad and
was so small it only took up half the space
of other cars on the road. It had an 800cc
capacity which meant it did not have much
power, but it ran for miles on a spoonful of
petrol. It was a van, so was square in
shape which meant that it caught the wind.
The effect of this was that if the wind was a
head wind, you used up twice the petrol
than at other times and if it was a side wind,
you were blown all over the road. This was
compensated for to some degree by the
very narrowness of the vehicle, because it
was able to veer across the road quite
alarmingly without crossing the centre line
or leaving the edge of the road.
This propensity for wandering reached a climax
one day when Bev was coming home from a
stint of night duty nursing in Ballarat, 35
kilometres away. The road was bitumen until
about two kilometres from our home in the
forest. This gravel section had just been
graded the day before and as a consequence
there was a fair bit of loose material in the
newly graded surface. Bev came off the end of
the bitumen and onto the gravel and the little
wheels of the Beetle caught in the loose gravel
and it veered across the road. As Bev tried to control it, it left the road and went
across the vegetation at the side, missing a large tree stump by feet, and then
headed straight for a wire fence surrounding a grazing paddock. When it reached
the fence, it never paused. It flattened the fence with no damage to its front end, and
went straight over the top and into the paddock. The fence meanwhile sprung up
behind it and left it with no way back on to the road.
So, here she was at 7 o’clock in the morning marooned in a paddock. The Beetle’s
wheels were very small and would not allow the vehicle to go through the ditch in the
middle of the paddock, so Bev had to drive around the edge of the paddock until she
finally came to a gate and was able to let herself out and onto the road for home
again.
As a van it was very useful for carrying all sorts of materials, and we made full use of
its space as we were living in the country and doing a lot of house maintenance and
renovations. We did not realise that when we loaned the Beetle to our daughter to
shift some of her goods to a new residence in the country, that the Beetles days were
about to end.
But probably the most endearing vehicle we
ever had was the Suzuki “Beetle”. The
Beetle was a gift to Bev from her Dad and
was so small it only took up half the space
of other cars on the road. It had an 800cc
capacity which meant it did not have much
power, but it ran for miles on a spoonful of
petrol. It was a van, so was square in
shape which meant that it caught the wind.
The effect of this was that if the wind was a
head wind, you used up twice the petrol
than at other times and if it was a side wind,
you were blown all over the road. This was
compensated for to some degree by the
very narrowness of the vehicle, because it
was able to veer across the road quite
alarmingly without crossing the centre line
or leaving the edge of the road.
This propensity for wandering reached a climax
one day when Bev was coming home from a
stint of night duty nursing in Ballarat, 35
kilometres away. The road was bitumen until
about two kilometres from our home in the
forest. This gravel section had just been
graded the day before and as a consequence
there was a fair bit of loose material in the
newly graded surface. Bev came off the end of
the bitumen and onto the gravel and the little
wheels of the Beetle caught in the loose gravel
and it veered across the road. As Bev tried to control it, it left the road and went
across the vegetation at the side, missing a large tree stump by feet, and then
headed straight for a wire fence surrounding a grazing paddock. When it reached
the fence, it never paused. It flattened the fence with no damage to its front end, and
went straight over the top and into the paddock. The fence meanwhile sprung up
behind it and left it with no way back on to the road.
So, here she was at 7 o’clock in the morning marooned in a paddock. The Beetle’s
wheels were very small and would not allow the vehicle to go through the ditch in the
middle of the paddock, so Bev had to drive around the edge of the paddock until she
finally came to a gate and was able to let herself out and onto the road for home
again.
As a van it was very useful for carrying all sorts of materials, and we made full use of
its space as we were living in the country and doing a lot of house maintenance and
renovations. We did not realise that when we loaned the Beetle to our daughter to
shift some of her goods to a new residence in the country, that the Beetles days were
about to end.
