We gave a quick laugh. Then a pause, “Why isn’t he trying again?”

Glen jumped out of the stranded Holden with a smile on his face, “How ya goin, mates?”

Glen was an amusing character, to say the least. His voice was very low key and mellow; his statements ending in a manner of quiet amazement. The way you say wow when you see something really spectacular. You know, “wooowwwww.”

“Need a hand, mate?” Glen asked.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know,” Glen replied, looking at his car and giving his head a quick scratch. “We don’t have a clutch and can only use second gear.”

Again, you have to remember all this said with that “wooowwwww” tone. It really was funny.

“How about a pull,” I suggested.

“You think that would work”

“Absolutely!”

We backed the Land Rover into place, attached the rope and, in first gear low range, confidently pulled the crippled Holden up the incline. Granted Land Rover’s may not have much on speed, quietness, comfort, aerodynamics, or even the simple capability of keeping water out , but present them with a situation of off-road exertion and you will not be let down.

Glen and his girlfriend, Katie, were up from Ipswich – roughly 2,000 kilometers south – on their one month holiday, and were clearly having the most unfortunate luck.

“We’ve been goin like this for three days now,” Glen was explaining. “The clutch gave out and we’ve been driving in second gear. It’s really slow.”

“Well, why don’t you go ahead, and we’ll follow in 20 minutes just in case you run into more problems,” I suggested.

We finished up lunch, packed up, and were, 30 minutes later, standing on the side of the road next to Glen’s Holden, now with the hood open.

“She just stopped,” Glen explained, “but I think the battery cable just popped off the terminal.”

Tightening it up, he jumped back into the car and gave it a crank. The Holden lunged forward – without a clutch, starting it involved cranking the engine in gear until the car built up enough speed and started – then proceeded to putt down the track, with Glen yelling back to follow. We had another good laugh, then obligingly followed.

We drove around for 10 minutes at the Eliot Falls campsite and couldn’t find a place to settle into. It was ridiculously crowded. Just then, rounding a bend, we saw Glen running up to us.

“I found a place up over there, mate,” He said. “Follow me.”