Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2009 | Page 51

FEATURE

life

They had started with a mad idea to build
a replica of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from
an old Land Rover, and, even madder,
to drive their fantasy car from the Isle
of Wight to Australia. Now, Nick and
Carolyn were in Malaysia and about to
enter Oz

By Roz Whistance
THEY were almost there. But first they

Thailand and Cambodia. It would be

had to pass the monstrously strict

too cruel to be stopped at the final

quarantine laws. This wasn’t a health

border.

check for Nick and Carolyn, it was

Part of the cost of shipping into

Chitty who was under scrutiny: “For all

the country included having the car

their laid-back image, they’re incredibly

cleaned, but Nick didn’t trust anyone

bureaucratic in Australia,” says Nick,

else to do the job. “I’d been told by the

as he re-lives his nightmare that they

importers that the last British car had

would be turned away from the border.

had holes drilled in the chasse to let

For Chitty had travelled through

some errant soil or bugs out. I couldn’t

France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany,

risk that happening. And Chitty leaks oil

Austria, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Iran,

like a sieve!” So he paid to be allowed

United Arab Emeritz, India, Malaysia,

to clean her himself, turning up with
scrubbing brushes and wire wool. The
officials were impressed with Chitty’s
gleaming underside and she passed. “I
felt we’d cracked the whole trip!” grins
Nick.
Carolyn, too, felt the pressure drift
away as they began their journey across
Australia. “I love the people, their sense
of humour; I love buying food and
knowing what’s actually in the product.
And the scenery is out of this world!”
However, she is less fond of the
Australian creepy crawlies, which tend
to be large and exotic. “Huntsman
spiders are sandy, furry, and they don’t
run, they jump. The times I went into
campsite toilet blocks and came out
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