Via West January - February 2013

January 2013 Via West Page 1

1953 - 2013...Volkswagen commemorates 60 years in Australia



CONTACT US YOUR COMMITTEE (cont’d)

VOLKSWAGEN CLUB OF WA (Inc) EDITOR: 0407 347 340

MAIL: PO Box 175 Ray Willis [email protected]

Victoria Park CONCESSION LICENCE: (08) 9332 6919

Western Australia 6979 Rod McSwain

ABN: 31 610 140 537 CMC LIAISON OFFICER: (08) 9342 8703

TELEPHONE: (08) 9342 8703 Richard Hines

E-MAIL: [email protected] PROPERTY OFFICER: (08) 9342 8703

WEBSITE: www.vwclubwa.com Richard Hines

MERCHANDISE OFFICER: (08) 9332 6919

YOUR COMMITTEE Rod McSwain

PRESIDENT: 0408 183 396 SOCIAL SECRETARY: 0408 183 396

Jamie Barrett [email protected] Jamie Barrett

VICE PRESIDENT: 0415 165 175 SPORTS ORGANISER: Currently grouped under

Graham Tibbs As above “Events Coordinator”

SECRETARY: 0407 347 340 PUBLICITY OFFICER:

Ray Willis [email protected] As above

MEMBERSHIPS: 0407 347 340 GENERAL COMMITTEE: Patrick Spiteri, Dave Moore,

Ray Willis [email protected] Kim Muste (country liaison South West)

TREASURER: 0438 819 443 WEBMASTER:

Justin Bayley [email protected] Tina Moore [email protected]





VIAWEST MAGAZINE

VOLKSWAGEN EVENTS

Advertising:

Please send your ‘for sale’ or ‘wanted’ adverts by mail or email to the Editor before the publication deadline.

Normally one event will be nominated as the club run each month. Some months will have more than one event. Not all events attended by the club will be club organised.

Please note that non-members are welcome to come to the club organised events. If you have any friends you would like to accompany us, please bring them along.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for club organised events give a Committee member a call or an e-mail and the committee so we can put it on our calendar.

The VW Events Calendar lists the upcoming events and club runs for some months in advance in chronological order.

Fees:

Members - 1/4 page adverts are free.

Non-Members - 1/4 page adverts are $5.00

Please contact the Editor to find out about commercial advertising in the magazine, inserting flyers or advertising on the website.

Publication Deadline: The ViaWest magazine’s dead-

line for articles for the next issue is . February 24

COMMITTEE MEETINGS

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Volkswagen Club of WA (Inc), its Committee or members.

Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at John Hughes Volkswagen in Victoria Park, starting at 6:30pm. Committee meetings are open to all members and invited guests.

Membership and Birthdays IN THIS ISSUE page

The Club.............................. p 2

The Club (contd) .................. p 4

President’s Spot .................. p 5

Club Event Calendar .......... p 6

February Club Run .............. p 7

NSW 2013 Bug-In ............... p 8

VW Hilton Trip (part 3) ......... p 10

Volkswagen News

Sustainability Award ...... p 14

Up! award...................... p 14

New SUV ...................... p 14

22.6% Sales Increase ... p 16

9,000,000 VWs ............. P 16

Kombi Road Trip ................. p 18

Volkswagen Motorsport

WRC Monte Carlo Rally p 25

Playing a Round of Golf

(part 3) ............................... p 29

BACK COVER:

March Club Run

FRONT COVER:

See VW Kombi story part 3See VW Kombi story part 3

Happy

Birthday

to our

members

JANUARY

Christian Jones

Emily Whitelaw

Emma Faulkner

Florence Blagg

Helen Keillor

Janet Avice Du Buisson

Jessica Shepherd

Karla Paget

Lauren Storrs

Patrick Lawrence

Peter Richards

Rose Van Son

Scarlett Faulkner

Stanley Guntrip

FEBRUARY

Alison Van Corler

Caylah Williams

Donna Mathews

Emelia McKenzie

Erin Taylor

Hannah Moore

Jasmin Summer-

field

Jessica Moore

Joshua Hallsworth

Kelli Summerfield

Kerry Muste

Lachie Glasfurd

Lara Rundle

Lauren White

Sheley Hallsworth

Sue Waters

Tania Spiteri

Trish Summerfield

Welcome

to the new

members…

Baden Colella

John Broekman

Ian McCulloch

Paul Kuah

Peter Thomson

Matthew Ngui

The club now has 157 active

memberships



Well the new year has started. My New Years resolution is to be more prepared and organised! - wish

me luck, as this area is not one of my strengths!

However the start to the year has proven to be a productive one in terms of the club. Events for 2013

are on the drawing board with February’s “RAAFA Museum Run” already planned and the March event

about to be announced. We are actively working on improving Day of the Volkswagen for December .

So get any ideas to us however grand they might be.

The Council of Motoring Car Clubs “Classic Car Show” held annually at Whiteman Park is on Sunday

28th April. The event usually attracts over 1,000 vehicles, making it the largest classic car show in WA

and one of the largest in Australia. We have applied for 34 vehicle passes. With overnight camping this

is great show to get involved in - express your interest by email to me [email protected]

Some great news - Club membership level is as high as it has ever been! Thank you for joining the club

and big Welcome to the new members.

The monthly Alfreds Kitchen gathering is a great opportunity to meet other members and get that VW

fix.

Happy New Year

Jamie Barrett

Club President



This month... February 2013

# indicates a club run Wednesday 6th ALFRED’S of GUILDFORD

7pm cnr of Meadow & James St Guildford

Sunday 10th SOUTH WEST MONTHLY GATHERING Contact: Kim 0408 914 400

BUSSELTON Contact: Mark 0449 947 782

Wednesday 13th MONTHLY COMMITTEE MEETING Contact: Ray Willis 0407 347 340

6:30pm @ John Hughes Volkswagen, Victoria Park

Saturday 16th # RAAFA AVIATION HERITAGE MUSEUM Contact: Ray Willis 0407 347 340

See page 9 for information

Wednesday 27th EVENTS COORDINATION MEETING Contact: Jamie Barrett 0408 183 396


March 2013 Wednesday 6th ALFRED’S of GUILDFORD


Sunday 10th SOUTH WEST MONTHLY GATHERING Contact: Kim 0408 914 400

BUSSELTON Contact: Mark 0449 947 782



Saturday 16th # SCARBOROUGH TO MUNSTER COASTAL Contact: Jamie Barrett 0408 183 396

CRUISE See page 9 for information



April 2013

29th March - 2013 BUG-IN NEW SOUTH WALES Contact: Ray Willis 0407 347 340

See page 9 for information 1st April 2013

February February 2013 February 2013 Wednesday 3rd ALFRED’S of GUILDFORD




OLD COAST ROAD BREWERY & SOUTH WEST Contact: Kim 0408 914 400 Saturday 13th &

MONTHLY GATHERING BUSSELTON Contact: Mark 0449 947 782 Sunday 14th



Sunday 28th # WHITEMAN PARK CLASSIC CAR SHOW Contact: Jamie Barrett 0408 183 396

Details to follow in next magazine.



Cruising

there… Freestyle… To take you own route to the museum.

To arrive at Museum by 10:30am.

North of the River… To assemble in Kings Park, DNA Tow-er, coordinator will be Dave Moore for a 10:00am departure and run down the Freeway.

Exit at Leach Highway (left hand turn) for the first turn on the right (at lights) into Bull Creek Drive.


South of the River… To assemble in Bull Creek Shopping Centre, coordinator will be Rod McSwain for a 10:00am departure and short lap around the suburbs.


Location:

The RAAFA Aviation Heritage Muse-um, Bull Creek Road, Bull Creek is on the corner of Bull Creek Road and Leach Highway, just to the east of the Kwinana Freeway.

Opening Hours:

10.00am to 4.00pm

Features:

There is a shop that sells, drinks, ice-creams, books, models and other souvenirs.

There are two planes for children to play in.

Inspections of the Lancaster are $100 with no concession and a maximum of 4 people at any giv-en time to stop overcrowding.

It takes about 4 hours to get a good look at the whole museum.

Event

details... Date:

Saturday

16th February

Club Run Entry:

Adults $6

Children* $4

Club Member Children* FREE * children ages 4 - 16 years

Note: Normal entry fees are Adults $10; Children $5; Family (2 adults & 2children under 16) $25; Students & Pensioners $7.50

For ease of entry into the museum we will collect the

entry money before we enter

to eliminate a long queue.

Special Event: Because it will be a Saturday the Arm-strong Siddley, Cheetah 9 engine will be run by our VW Club and Committee Member Richard Hines at 1:00 pm

It is a 13 litre radial engine, with a big propeller, which makes all the right noises and which is quite impressive.

Richard would like someone with a good video to film the whole process and then put it on the website and/or the net.

BBQ: If there is enough interest, the VW Club will consider putting on a sau-sage sizzle at the museum’s BBQ. Tables and chairs are available.

Meeting time at Museum: To be there by 10:30am for a GROUP entry at 11:00am into the museum. Monies will be collected in the car park from 10:30am onwards.

RAAFA Aviation Heritage Museum ...the Club Run for February 2013



New South Wales Bug-In 2013 The “OLD Buggers “ of NSW have pleasure in announcing & inviting you to what may be the last ever Bug In in NSW, in

the Beautiful Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney from 29th March to 1st April 2013.

Accommodation is available from “Blackheath Caravan Park” Prince Edward St, Blackheath NSW

Telephone: 0247 878101 Website: www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au

They are currently installing 8 brand new cabins, prices & reservations are not available for a few weeks. But you should make an inquiry. Mention the Bug In but unfortunately it will not get you a discount. 4 nights are required @ Easter. Next

door is Lakeview Holiday Park who also have cabins Telephone: 0247 878534 for prices & availability.

Please Note: Easter is a busy time so you should not delay in booking accommodation.

Alternative accommodation try Googling caravan parks Katoomba Blue Mountains or if you want to go a little upmarket try Blue Mountains accommodation for Hotels, Motels, Cottages, B&B’s etc. etc.

DON’T WAIT, BOOK NOW.

Bug In Events

Friday Night Bar B Que will be held @ Blackheath Caravan Park - $10 per head

Saturday Morning Car Display @ Wentworth Falls lake 8:00am to 12 noon. Peoples Choice gold coin donation.

Saturday Afternoon and Night are free, we will have a suggested itinerary for you to follow, that should be interesting.

Sunday Sunday we will be holding a Driver Education Day @ Hampton, aboutwe will be holding a Driver Education Day @ Hampton, about 45 mins run away.45 mins run away. drivers. So the more that enter drivers. So the more that enter

the cheaper it will be. Hot dogs for lunch.the cheaper it will be. Hot dogs for lunch.

Sunday alternative Sunday alternative is a trip to Jenolan Caves and well worth the visit. Travel 64 km is a trip to Jenolan Caves and well worth the visit. Travel 64 km -- 1hr. Over 10 lime stone caves to 1hr. Over 10 lime stone caves to

exploreexplore between 30 to 40 dollars per tourbetween 30 to 40 dollars per tour with packages available, look at www.jenolancaves for more info.with packages available, look at www.jenolancaves for more info.

Sunday Night Sunday Night is at Nineteen 23 rest @ Wentworth is at Nineteen 23 rest @ Wentworth

FallsFalls $75 per head$75 per head includes 5 courses & matching includes 5 courses & matching

wines.wines. Not to be missed. Not to be missed.

Monday Monday we will convoy to the Zig Zag railway & possibly we will convoy to the Zig Zag railway & possibly The Mt Tomah Botanical gardens The Mt Tomah Botanical gardens -- unless you are depart-unless you are depart-ing for home.ing for home.

Post BugPost Bug--In EventsIn Events

Tuesday* Tuesday* will be a run to the Mudgee Wine Region.will be a run to the Mudgee Wine Region.

Wednesday* Wednesday* will be a visit to Mt Panorama race circuit in will be a visit to Mt Panorama race circuit in

Bathurst and the Australian Motor Racing Museum.Bathurst and the Australian Motor Racing Museum.

Returning each night to Blackheath.Returning each night to Blackheath. There are a coupla There are a coupla nice Pubs in Blackheath for evening meals.nice Pubs in Blackheath for evening meals.

Thursday* Thursday* we will depart, but anyone wanting to Visit we will depart, but anyone wanting to Visit

Sydney & its world famous HarbourSydney & its world famous Harbour today & Friday would today & Friday would be the days.be the days. There is a fantastic Hop on Hop off double There is a fantastic Hop on Hop off double decker bus tour that includes city highlights & Bondi. A ferry decker bus tour that includes city highlights & Bondi. A ferry ride to manly is always enjoyable. The possibilities are end-ride to manly is always enjoyable. The possibilities are end-less. less. I will be more that happy to be the guide if required.I will be more that happy to be the guide if required.

* These and other tours will be dependant on the number of * These and other tours will be dependant on the number of people remaining after the Bugpeople remaining after the Bug--In that wish to do them.In that wish to do them.

We should have a Bug In shirt, cap & other souvenirs avail-We should have a Bug In shirt, cap & other souvenirs avail-ableable but will be limited to prepaid orders only!but will be limited to prepaid orders only!

Looking forward to seeing your smiling faces @ Looking forward to seeing your smiling faces @

Easter,Easter,

Regards Christopher HarperRegards Christopher Harper

P.S.P.S. If you could drop me an email with your in-If you could drop me an email with your in-tentions it would be of great help to assist with tentions it would be of great help to assist with

planning, bookings & catering.planning, bookings & catering.

[email protected] [email protected]

Updated

WITH

LATEST

NEWS !





VW Hilton’s “Kimberley

Trip 2012” (part 3)

by Dave Beckley

The fully sealed Great Northern

Highway runs along the southern

and eastern sides of the Kimber-

ley and the Gibb River Road is a

short cut from Derby to Wynd-

ham that runs through the heart

of the Kimberley. The road is 650

km long but with all our detours

we travelled over 1700 km along

this road. In the 1970’s the GRR

was little more than a single lane

track built to get cattle out of the

area to market. Today the GRR is

a two lane road that sometimes

sees a road grader; much of the

road is badly corrugated, rocky

and very dusty. The dust is quite

a problem as each vehicle gener-

ates a dust cloud that makes it

difficult to see the road when a

vehicle travelling in the other di-

rection passes. It also makes it

very dangerous for anyone who is

silly enough to try and overtake

through one of these dust clouds.

We saw the aftermath of an acci-

dent where an idiot in a Toyota

Landcruiser had run into the back

of an off road caravan that had

slowed right down to negotiate a

dry river crossing. The front end

of his Toyota was destroyed, for-

tunately no one was seriously

hurt but that was the end of his

holiday!

There are numerous river and

creek crossings along the GRR

and we timed our trip quite well

in regard to water depth, earlier

in the season the rivers would

have been too deep for the VW

and any later the waterfalls would

have less water flowing. The

deepest river crossing we went

through was about 450mm. We

were very glad that prior to our

departure we had installed ‘Go

Westy’ lift springs that gave us a

bit more ground clearance.

Overall impressions of the area

are the space and feeling of wil-

derness. Many of the cattle sta-

tions are more than 1 million

acres in area with roughly one

head of cattle per 100 acres,

which adds up to 10,000 head of

cattle on a big station! The cattle

industry is a tough one that does

not generate much profit these

days and consequently most of

the stations have opened their

doors to tourism by providing

camping facilities for the many

people from all over Australia and

Overseas who flock to this area in

the dry season. Some of the Sta-

tions have been purchased by the

Government for National Parks,

for conservation or to give to the

local Aborigines. Other stations

such as Mornington have been

purchased by private organisa-

tions for conservation.

The landscape can be best de-

scribed as rugged with ancient

weathered ranges a major feature

of the land and with deep gorges

cut by the rivers when they flood

in the wet season; these gorges

being a major tourist drawcard.

In the southern area there is a

massive exposed reef from a time

when the sea levels were much

higher than today. In the north,

the sandstone is apparently so

old that it pre-dates any complex

life form and consequently there

are no fossils to be found in these

sedimentary rocks. Many of the

hillsides are strewn with exposed

rocks, which we assume are ex-

posed by the torrential rain in the

Wet. The vegetation varies quite

a lot from open savannah grass

lands to quite dense forest. In

most areas the strange bulbous

Boab trees are to be found.

Our trip into this area started

from Fitzroy Crossing on the

Great Northern Highway, where

we went to see Giekie Gorge.

From Fitzroy Crossing we back-

tracked a bit towards Derby and

(Continued on page 11)

The Gibb River Road

Windjana Gorge



then took the Leopold Downs

Road, a dirt road that connects

with the GRR. Along this road we

stopped at Tunnel Creek where

there is a 700m long walk

through a cave system. There

are no lights in the tunnel so you

need a good torch to find the way

through, in some places we were

knee deep in water. This was an

interesting experience but I did

not take my camera with me as I

was concerned about dropping it

in the creek. There would be

some great photo opportunities in

this cave for anyone with a good

camera, a waterproof bag, a tri-

pod and a strong light. After

Tunnel Creek we headed for

Windjana Gorge National Park

where we stayed for a couple of

nights. Windjana is another mas-

sive gorge cut through the Devo-

nian Reef; in this case, by the

Lennard River and it also has

many freshwater crocs, which

seem to have got quite used to

tourists allowing one to approach

quite close to them. The

campground is close to the Gorge

and so we made several trips in

to see the cliffs in different light.

While at Windjana we met a cou-

ple from Sydney who also had an

old T3 Syncro like ours. We new

this couple were in the Kimberley

as we had been exchanging

emails but it was by pure luck

that we actually met.

Twenty km from Windjana the

Leopold Downs road joins the

GRR and after a short distance

along the GRR we detoured 50

km off the road to Mt Hart Sta-

tion. Mt Hart is now owned by

the WA Government and is run as

a tourist/conservation area.

There was not a lot to see on this

station that apparently had never

made much money for its past

owners and probably won’t in the

future. After a couple of nights at

Mt Hart it was back to the GRR

and then to a campground at Si-

lent Grove. Silent Grove is locat-

ed 10 km from Bell Gorge, which

has a very attractive waterfall.

After a night at Silent Grove we

went to Imintji, an aboriginal

community with a very small gen-

eral store and a motor mechanic

called Neville, who gets to fix lots

of tyres etc. We had hoped to

buy some LP gas for our fridge

and stove at Imintji but to our

despair the store no longer pro-

vides this service. We then went

on to Mt Barnett Roadhouse, the

only place along the whole length

of the GRR that sells petrol! Mt

Barnett also has a small store

that gets its supplies once a week

on a Wednesday, so by the fol-

lowing Tuesday there is not much

left to buy in the fresh food line.

This roadhouse is also the gate-

way to Manning Falls and has a

camping ground 7 km off the

GRR. We stayed the night at this

campground where most people

had massive fires that produced a

smog like effect in the damp

evening air. We have noticed

that people from Victoria in par-

ticular love to have big camp fires

the smoke from which does not

agree with Louise so we decided

to move on and not go to the

Falls. The following morning the

VW decided not to start! We got

some guys to give us a push start

and we then headed back down

the GRR to the Mornington Wil-

derness Camp 85km off the GRR.

(Continued from page 10)

(Continued on page 12) Bells Falls

Boab tree at dusk Mornington Station



Mornington is owned by the Aus-

tralian Wildlife Conservancy, a

private organisation that makes

some money from tourists allow-

ing a maximum of 50 people per

day to stay on the property.

Apart from the campground they

have a bar and restaurant and to

our relief they also offered gas

cylinder refills. The VW Hilton

was not overly happy that day

and after we arrived at Morning-

ton she decided not to start again

so she was left in the

campground in disgrace while we

went on an all day hike and canoe

trip up the Sir John Gorge. As

the VW would not go we had to

get the good folks at Mornington

to drive us to the Gorge in their

OKA. After this all day trip on our

own we were both quite tired and

so took advantage of the bar and

restaurant that evening. The

next day I gave the VW a bit of a

service, putting in new spark

plugs and generally cleaning dust

or water out of anything that

looked important. This seemed to

help the starting problem but the

motor was still not happy and

seemed to be getting too hot and

again refused to start, although

the starter motor was turning ok.

Mornington have a landline so I

spoke to my VW mechanic Patrick

Hugi in Perth who

gave me a few tips

on what to check

and I also spoke to

Neville the mechanic

at Imintji who sug-

gested disconnecting

the battery to see if

the on board com-

puter that controls

the automatic fuel

injection system

would reset its self.

This last tip seemed

to help and all ap-

peared to be well

again. We also did a second ca-

noe trip at Mornington paddling

through the Dimond Gorge, which

is named after the chief engineer

that carried out a 1950’s feasibil-

ity study to dam the Fitzroy River

at this gorge to provide water for

Perth.

We damaged a wheel rim and

tyre on a rock at Mornington so

after we hit the GRR again we

backtracked to Imintji to see Ne-

ville the friendly mechanic. Ne-

ville managed to straighten the

rim and found an old tyre that he

fitted to our rim so we still had

two spares, one good one and

one very worn one. We then

headed in the right direction

again detouring another 40 km to

Charnley River Station where we

stayed for three nights, visiting

the Grevillea Falls, a multi-tiered

waterfall with several swimming

holes which is accessed via a very

rough track. From CRS it was

back to the GRR stopping to look

at Galvans Gorge, a very pretty

waterfall and swimming hole just

a 15 minute walk from the GRR.

Then on to Mt Barnett Roadhouse

for fuel and a few supplies before

heading to Mt Elizabeth Station



VW Hilton Crossing the Pentecost River

An old Kombi that did not make it … or

Is it just waiting for a restoration



where we stayed for four nights.

At Mt Elizabeth Station we went

on a very interesting station tour

that included information about

life on a working cattle station

and several stops to look at abo-

riginal art sites. We also did

some bush walking and bird

watching while on this Station.

Although camping at Mt Elizabeth

was very pleasant, organised

camping can be a bit regimented

and we decided that a bush camp

would make a pleasant change.

We found a pleasant spot a few

hundred metres off the road on

the banks of the Hann River. We

so enjoyed the peace and solitude

that this location provided that we

ended up spending three nights

there. I had great fun trying to

get a decent photo of the beauti-

ful Rainbow Bee-eaters that fre-

quented the river bank.

After our relaxing stop at Hann

River we went to Ellenbrae, yet

another station offering basic

camping and of all things fresh

scones with jam and cream for

the hungry tourists. Ellenbrae did

not offer much to do so it was on

our way again to Home Valley, a

cattle station that the Govern-

ment had purchased for the local

aboriginals. This station has had

a bucket of taxpayer’s money

spent on it to turn it hopefully in-

to a profitable tourist venue and

working cattle station but unfor-

tunately not too many aboriginals

were seen working there. The

camp ground by the tidal Pente-

cost River was a beautiful spot.

At this stage in our GRR travels

we were now in Salt Water Croc

country and these beasts need to

be respected.

From Home Valley we crossed the

Pentecost River and headed to

the well known El Questro resort

complex that provides a range of

accommodation options including;

the Homestead for the rich and

famous at $1800 per night for a

couple! down to camping on the

Pentecost River. There is a big

caravan/camp ground but we de-

cided to pay a little extra and

took what they called ‘private

camp sites’ that are roughly 1km

apart on the river bank but that

have no facilities; so that meant

digging a big hole once more! It

was a beautiful campsite with a

good view of the river. I spent

quite a lot of time watching birds

that were catching fish in the riv-

er including a Jabiru. While at El

Questro we went on an evening

boat trip up the Chamberlain

Gorge and a visit to the very pop-

ular Zebedee Thermal Springs,

but at 7.30 on a cold morning

there was no way I was going to

strip off to sit in some warm wa-

ter with a load of other people.

We also did a fairly long walk up

Emma Gorge to a beautiful water-

fall and swimming hole.

Emma Gorge was our last stop on

the GRR and in spite of the VW

playing up on the odd occasion

she handled the conditions well

with only a small amount of dust

getting in and the one flat tyre.

The weather was just great;

warm days with cool and some-

time cold nights, particularly at Mt

Elizabeth Station, which is 600m

above sea level.

After 41/2 weeks travelling along

the GRR we still had close to five

weeks left on this journey and

had some great places still to visit

that I will cover in the final

instalment.


Typical Station tracks

Emma Gorge

Rainbow Bee-eater



VW Wins International Sustainability

Award Award by World Forum for Ethics in Business for responsible action in the environmental and social fields

The Volkswagen Group has once again received an award for its exten-sive activities in the field of sustainabil-ity and corporate social responsibility. The World Forum for Ethics in Busi-ness honoured the achievements of the Group with the Ethics in Business Award 2012 in the category “Outstanding Corporation”.

The Board of Directors of the Forum honoured the sustained efforts of Volkswagen in the fields of environ-mental management and corporate social responsibility. The Board also took into account the inclusion of Volkswagen in the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability World index and its third place in the Sustainalytics DAX 30 rating.

The World Forum for Ethics said that the reason for the award was the lead-ership of Volkswagen in the assump-tion of corporate social responsibility and the implementation of outstanding and innovative projects. The Forum also underlined that the Group made a positive contribution to society in many areas and set an example of universal values such as integrity, responsibility and respect for people and the envi-ronment through its various environ-mental and health projects.

The Ethics in Business Award is pre-sented by the World Forum for Ethics in Business every two years to honour people and companies who represent values and ethics in business.

The award was made for the first time in 2006. The World Forum for Ethics in Business organizes regular events such as the International Leadership Symposium on Ethics in Business and

the World Youth Forum and sees itself as a platform for global dialog on cor-porate governance.

Volkswagen up! Wins

Again Volkswagen up! Wins Again at UK’s What Car? Magazine Awards

Volkswagen’s much-lauded compact city car, the up!, has retained its small car crown at the UK‘s What Car? awards. The accolade was presented at a prestigious event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The up! has already proved a big hit, receiving numerous local and overseas industry accolades, including Drive’s safety innovation award, and even the prestigious title of World Car Of The Year.

Commenting on the award, Chas Hal-lett, What Car? editor-in-chief, said: “The Volkswagen up! was last year’s Car of the Year because it offers class-leading ride and refinement and is great to drive. Low running costs and strong residuals make it sensational to own.” Since arriving, the up! has faced stiff competition from a number of ri-vals, however, according to What Car? “none could match the up!’s sheer tal-ent.”

As well as high quality, high levels of equipment and class-leading ride and refinement, the up! also offers excel-lent value for money, with pricing from

$13,990 for the up! three-door. Volkswagen up! owners also enjoy the peace of mind with low capped-priced servicing for the vehicle’s first six years or 90,000km (whichever comes first).

All up! models feature a refined and economical three-cylinder 1.0-litre en-gine producing 55kW. Standard equip-ment on the up! includes ABS, four airbags, ESP and the award-winning City Emergency Braking system, which at speeds between 5km/h to 30km/h, detects the risk of an impending colli-sion and can reduce accident severity, or even avoiding a crash entirely, by initiating automatic brake interventions.

So far, the up! is the only vehicle in the segment to offer this innovative tech-nology, more commonly found in cars more than double the up!’s price.

New Volkswagen

SUV Concept Makes Global

Debut at

Detroit Show Six-seat SUV concept designed specif-ically for North America

Innovative diesel-electric plug-in hybrid powertrain offers fuel economy of 2.1 l/100 km (134.5 mpg) (NEDC for plug-




in hybrid vehicles)

Concept is built using the MQB Modu-lar Transverse Matrix components set

Range in all-electric mode is 20 miles (NEDC)

306 PS; 700 Nm (516 lbs ft); 0 to 60 mph estimated at 7.0 seconds

Volkswagen has unveiled a new SUV concept at the North American Interna-tional Auto Show in Detroit. Called the CrossBlue, it has been developed spe-cifically for the U.S. and Canada, and if it goes into production would sit above the Tiguan and below the Touareg in the Volkswagen SUV line-up.

The CrossBlue features a plug-in hy-brid powertrain that combines a TDI engine with two electric motors, a DSG transmission, and an electric all-wheel-drive system dubbed ‘propshaft by wire’, and offers economy of 2.1 litres per 100 kilometres.

The CrossBlue was designed in Ger-many under the leadership of Walter de Silva (Head of Design, Volkswagen Group) and Klaus Bischoff (Head of Design, Volkswagen Brand), in close co-operation with Volkswagen of America. Painted in ‘CrossBlue Glass Flake’, the concept is 4,987 mm long, 2,015 mm wide, and 1,733 mm high. A wide track of 1,686 mm (front) and 1,696 mm (rear) give it a confident stance on the road, as do 21-inch alloy wheels shod with 235/45 tyres, and flared wheelarches. Contrasting with the body colour is a stainless-steel trim that runs all around the SUV’s lower section.

The CrossBlue has two ‘fuel doors’: one for the diesel tank on the passen-ger side, and one covering two electri-cal sockets on the driver’s side. The first socket is to charge the lithium-ion battery and the second can be used to connect electrical devices.

While the CrossBlue concept car is equipped with six individual seats in three rows, in a production version, the second row would have the option of three seats to make it a full seven-seater. Headroom is excellent throughout the vehicle: 1,077 mm up front, 1,020 mm in the middle row, and 954 mm in the rear. Legroom is am-

ple, too, with 947 mm in the middle row and 917 mm in the back. Convenient access to the rear seats is assured by sliding second-row seats that can be managed with a single hand move-ment.

Behind the third seating row is a cargo area of 335 litres (length 600 mm). With the third row folded, cargo capacity grows to 815 litres and load length to 1,387 mm, figures that in-crease to nearly 2,000 litres and 2,230 mm with the middle row stowed. A forward-folding front passenger seat makes for a maximum 3,110 mm load length.

As soon as the driver starts the CrossBlue, controls for the lights, cli-mate control and four-wheel-drive sys-tem emerge from their flush resting positions. The controls have alumini-um surrounds: aluminium is one of the predominant interior materials, along with leather and dark-stained banana tree wood accents. In the centre con-sole is a 10.2-inch touchscreen, while there is an Apple iPad Mini in the back of each front head-restraint.

As well as excellent fuel economy, the CrossBlue has impressive perfor-mance from a powertrain that produc-es up to 224 kW and 700 Nm: 0 to 100km/h is estimated to take 7.0 sec-onds, while the top speed is 204km/h, or 121km/h in electric mode. The CrossBlue runs in zero emissions mode at the press of a button or auto-matically. With a fully charged battery, the CrossBlue can travel up to 23km in electric mode in the US test cycle, or 33 km using the European driving cy-cle. It has a potential range of 1064km from a combination of the 70-litre fuel tank and battery power.

The CrossBlue is based on Volkswagen’s new Modular Trans-verse Matrix (MQB) components set. Its 140 kW TDI diesel engine is from the new EA288 family, matched to a six-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission. The 9.8 kWh lithium-ion battery lies in the vehicle’s centre tun-nel, and powers 40 kW front and 85 kW rear electric motors. The Cross Coupé concept first shown in 2011, and also on display in Detroit, uses a similar powertrain concept, showing the possibilities of the MQB platform.

The TDI engine produces 400 Nm from just 1,750 rpm, while the electric mo-tors produce their torque – 180 Nm at the front and 270 Nm at the rear – im-mediately. Combined, the system can produce up to 700 Nm.

Powered by its battery, the CrossBlue can cover up to 33 km (NEDC) or 14 miles/23km (US test cycle) as an EV. In E-mode, only the rear electric motor propels the vehicle and the TDI engine is shut off and decoupled. At up to 120km/h, the engine is not en-gaged as long as the battery has suffi-cient charge. As soon as there is a need for TDI power, it is coupled to the drivetrain again, within fractions of a second. The battery can be charged by external power sources or by the engine while the vehicle is moving.

The driver can switch to a charging mode by pressing another button on the centre console. The TDI engine charges the battery while driving to store enough electrical energy for EV operation later in the journey, for in-stance in an urban area. There are





also a number of other modes, as de-tailed below.

Coasting: When the driver releases the accelerator pedal, the engine and elec-tric motors are decoupled from the drivetrain, provided there is sufficient battery charge.

Battery regeneration: When the accel-erator is released or the brakes ap-plied, the electric motors act as gener-ators and feed energy recovered from the brakes into the battery. In this case, the TDI is also shut off and de-coupled from the drivetrain.

Boosting: When more performance is required, the electric motors form an alliance with the TDI engine known as ‘boosting’. In this mode, all four wheels are driven.

Off-road(‘propshaft by wire’): All four wheels are driven. In this case the front electric motor (supplied with ener-gy by the TDI engine) operates as a generator and a power source for the electric motor at the rear.

TDI only: In this mode, the CrossBlue is a pure front-wheel-drive vehicle.

Volkswagen Reports 22.6%

Increase in

2012 Sales Volkswagen Group Australia has con-tinued its growth in 2012 achieving a 22.6% increase with total sales of 54,835 vehicles. Commercial Vehicles set an all-time record with 12,050 units sold, resulting in a 52% increase.

“2012 has been our 8th year of con-secutive growth for Volkswagen in Australia,” said Volkswagen Group Australia’s Managing Director, Anke Koeckler.

“The brand delivered another important step in our long-term plan, thanks to our growing dealer network and dedi-cated staff. With the arrival of the icon-ic new Beetle and classleading new Golf, we are looking forward to another strong year for Volkswagen”.

Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles in-creased sales across almost all its range during 2012 with total sales of 42,785 units. The Golf range (including Golf Cabriolet) accounted for 42.3% of the total sale figure with 18,112 units sold for the year. Jetta and Touareg showed remarkable strong perfor-mance in 2012 with the Jetta posting strong gains from last year (58.2% year-on-year increase) selling 2,637 units, whilst the luxurious Volkswagen Touareg achieved a new record of 1,737 units sold resulting in an 80.4% year-on-year increase. The Polo saw a 36.0% increase with a record 5,925 units sold along with Tiguan and Eos selling 6,871 units and 765 units re-spectively. Passat increased it sales with 27.5% with 4,362 units sold and the eye-catching five-door coupe, the Volkswagen CC, sold 848 units in 2012.Volkswagen Commercial Vehi-cles had Crafter and Amarok custom-ers to thank for its 2012 success. Volkswagen’s entry into the ute seg-ment has proven successful, with local sales of the Amarok demonstrating a strong appeal in the market with 6,742 units sold in 2012 (39.2% year-on-year increase). The Volkswagen Crafter proved particularly successful with sales up almost 78.7% for the year with 838 units sold.

VW Group Delivers Over Nine Million Vehicles for

First Time

Full year 2012: 11.2 percent* increase in deliveries

December was strong month: 784,300 vehicles delivered / 20.7 present rise*

Board of Management Chairman Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn: “Group devel-oped extremely well in difficult condi-tions and recorded best sales year ever.”

Group Board Member for Sales Chris-tian Klingler: “Present uncertainties will intensify in 2013. Markets remain chal-lenging, competition is getting tough-er.”

The Volkswagen Group recorded a further strong increase in worldwide deliveries for the full year 2012 and exceeded the prior-year delivery rec-ord. The Company delivered 9.07 (2011: 8.16; +11.2 percent)* million vehicles for the first time in a twelve-month period. The Group also finished the month of December with a 20.7 percent increase, delivering 784,300 (December 2011: 649,700)* units.

The Chairman of Volkswagen Aktieng-esellschaft’s Board of Management, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, comment-ed: “The Volkswagen Group devel-oped extremely well in difficult condi-tions. 2012 was the best sales year ever. This is another big step forward in our Strategy 2018. Tough challeng-es lie ahead. The Volkswagen Group has everything it takes to face these challenges and to play a leading role on world markets.”

Group Board Member for Sales, Chris-tian Klingler, added: “All the brands in our Group contributed to this very good delivery performance in 2012. This is an excellent team achievement. We are still keeping a vigilant eye on the future, because the present uncertain-ties will intensify this year, particularly in Western Europe. The markets are challenging and competition is also getting tougher.”

Full-year deliveries developed espe-cially well on the American continent, with the number of vehicles handed over in the North America region in the period to December growing 26.2 per-cent to 841,500 (666,800) units, of which 596,100 (444,200; +34.2 per-cent) were delivered in the United States.

“The United States is one of the Volkswagen Group’s key markets for implementing our Strategy 2018. Volkswagen Group of America will continue to grow and, together with Porsche Cars North America, will deliv-er well in excess of 600,000 vehicles to customers this year”, Winterkorn said on the eve of this year’s motor show in Detroit.

The Volkswagen Group handed over 1.01 (0.93; +8.2 percent) million vehi-cles to customers in the South America region during the same period, of which 780,200 (704,700; +10.7 per-cent) were delivered in Brazil.

The Group also recorded very satisfac-





tory figures in the Asia-Pacific region, where deliveries topped the three mil-lion mark for the first time in a twelve-month period, with 3.17 (2.57; +23.3 percent) million vehicles handed over to customers, of which 2.81 (2.26; +24.5 percent) million units were deliv-ered in China, the region’s largest sin-gle market. In India, deliveries in-creased by 2.1 percent to 114,100 (111,700) units.

Deliveries by the Volkswagen Group on the overall European market re-mained stable in spite of the continu-ing difficult situation on markets in Southern Europe, and ran at 3.67 (3.68; -0.3 percent) million vehicles. In Western Europe (excluding Germany), Europe’s largest automaker delivered 1.85 (1.98; -6.5 percent) million units. The Company grew deliveries in the home market of Germany to 1.18 (1.15; +1.9 percent) vehicles. The Volkswagen Group continued to enjoy strong growth in Central and Eastern Europe, where 644,300 (547,800; +17.6 percent) vehicles were handed over to customers, of which 317,700 (229,000; +38.8 percent) were deliv-ered in Russia, the region’s largest single market

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 5.74 (5.09; +12.7 per-

cent) million vehicles to customers worldwide in the full year 2012. The brand developed particularly well in the Central and Eastern Europe re-gion, delivering 267,100 (218,100; +22.4 percent) there. Volkswagen Passenger Cars handed over 623,300 (496,700; +25.5 percent) vehicles in the North America region and 2.37 (1.93; +23.2 percent) million units in the Asia-Pacific region. Audi delivered 1.46 (1.30; +11.7 percent) million vehi-cles worldwide in the period to Decem-ber 2012. The premium brand from Ingolstadt developed particularly well in North America, where 168,800 (142,500; +18.5 percent) units were handed over to customers, and in the Asia-Pacific region, where deliveries for the same period ran at 478,900 (373,700), an increase of 28.1 percent.

The sports car manufacturer Porsche, which became a Volkswagen Group brand on August 1, 2012, delivered a total of 59,500 vehicles from August to December. Demand for models built by the Stuttgart-based carmaker was particularly strong in the Asia-Pacific region, where 17,800 vehicles were handed over. In the North America region, 17,400 units were delivered as a result of continued high demand.

The ŠKODA brand delivered a total of 939,200 (879,200; +6.8 percent) vehi-cles in 2012. The Czech automaker

developed particularly well in Central and Eastern Europe, where 261,100 (231,600; +12.7 percent) units were delivered, and in the Asia-Pacific re-gion, where 276,800 (256,100; +8.1 percent) vehicles were handed over.

As a result of the difficult market situa-tion in Western Europe, SEAT deliv-ered 321,000 (350,000; -8.3 percent) vehicles worldwide in the period to December. In contrast, the Spanish brand recorded a strong increase in Germany, where 63,700 (52,000, +22.5 percent) vehicles were deliv-ered. Deliveries in the UK rose to 39,000 (36,100; +8.2 percent), and in Mexico 21,100 (18,100; +16.5 percent) vehicles were handed over.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles grew full-year deliveries 4.1 percent to 550,400 (528,900) units. Deliveries on the overall European market were maintained at the high prior-year level in spite of the difficult market condi-tions, and 326,000 (326,300; -0.1 per-cent) vehicles were handed over to customers. The brand recorded strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, where 19,000 (11,700; +61.9 percent) vehicles were delivered.

* including deliveries by the Porsche brand from August 1, 2012; excluding MAN and Scani

The end is

coming... About 10 years ago the club came up with the concept of having its own identifying club plates. Since then the club has sold a number of plates to members and they are proudly dis-played on their cars.

Last year we received a letter from the Department of Transport (Government of WA) that they intended to retire our club plates because of falling sales.

DPI has introduced a minimum sales requirement of ten (10) sets of plates per annum.

Unfortunately one of the reasons for falling sales is the continual price hikes by the department. Last year they were priced at $315 per set of plates...now they are $327 per set.

Last year the club gained an extension of time to be able to give you, our club members at least one more chance to buy our club plates...the deadline was December 2011.

Now…The VW Club committee has now been able to negotiate, what ap-pears to be a FINAL EXTENSION,

until 2nd January 2013.

Extension past this date is solely at the discretion of the Department of Transport, primarily if enough plates are sold.

However, the VW Club committee has decided that when the Department of Transport retire our plates, that will be end of the series. It could be as early as January 2013.

Once more, in an effort to make it easi-er for the club members to afford our

club plates, the club has decided to keep the discount price of $300 per set…yes now you save $27

per set.

If you are interested, you can contact the club at any time for an application form and information sheet or just to discuss your ideas.

You can purchase these and put them into storage if you do not have a vehi-cle for them yet.



The start of our story is the diffi-

cult decision to sell our

Splitscreen camper 66Split in or-

der to raise funds for new pro-

jects but only under the condition

that we had to have something

else to camp in.

We initially looked at camper

trailers we could use with the T3

for VW camping trips and with the

Pajero if we wanted to get a bit

more off road. Dave as usual was

surfing the net when he spotted a

bay window Kombi that was

jacked up with big chunky wheels

which he liked the look of, he

thought a double door panel van

would make a good camper so

started looking to see what he

could find. He found one in Tassie

but it was an old post so he post-

ed to see if it was still available,

there was no response re the Tas-

sie van but someone else did post

that one was for sale in Sydney.

Meanwhile we sold our splitty so

now the pressure was on to get a

replacement for the summer

camping.

So Dave gave Mikki a call about

the Sydney bus, Mikki sent over

some photos, some discussions

were had and with an offer from

Mikki to drop the bus off in Mel-

bourne at his friends Ricks place

the Friday before Christmas the

deal was done. So now how to

get the bus the rest of the way

home!! After discussing the op-

tion of transporting it or driving it

back ourselves we decided we

would like to do the drive if we

could get the timing right to be

back for the New Year and work.

So after searching flights the best

price was on the red eye on

Christmas day. We confirmed Rick

would be available for us to col-

lect the bus on Boxing day then

booked the flights. With only 10

days to go I had to start planning

and preparing for the trip, what

could we take and what would

have to buy over there so numer-

ous lists were started! We man-

aged to take all our small camp-

ing equipment and some spare

parts and small tools so we just

had to buy the heavy tools, food,

drink, chairs cooker etc. in Mel-

bourne. After checking out some

forums I did route planners for

each day to give us a schedule as

we only had 5 full days of driving

and whatever we could squeeze

in on Boxing day after the shop-

ping and Dave giving the Kombi a

once over.

Christmas Day

After spending Christmas day

with friends we headed off to the

airport. By the way the airports

are not quiet on Christmas day,

we had to queue just to get to the

drop off point!! The terminal was


Our Kombi Road Trip from Our Kombi Road Trip from



really busy we couldn't believe

how many people where travel-

ling. We checked in to our first

Tiger airways flight with no dra-

mas. The seats are very close to-

gether and even a shorty like me

found it cramped, as soon as the

seat in front came back it was on

my knees!

Boxing Day

The flight was over quickly and

we landed ahead of time, we

were then told there was a delay

at the gate and we had to remain

seated and could not access the

overhead lockers, we were trying

work out what the delay could be

when two police officers walk

down the aisle and take some guy

away a few rows ahead of us. He

had stolen a wallet and a hand-

bag from other passengers!! Ex-

citement over, time to get going

and collect our Kombi. Rick col-

lected us from the train station,

he took us to his workshop first

so Dave could have a look. It

made Dave's shed look like a gar-

den shed!! Dave was in his ele-

ment wandering around and get-

ting photos. We then headed over

to Ricks place and there it was,

well it has to be said it doesn't

quite have the same impact as

the splitty but with a bit of TLC

and refit should work well for

what we need. Whilst Rick

searched for the receipt and rego

papers I started unpacking to get

organised and Dave started

checking over the bus.

At 9.30 we headed off to start

getting the shopping which was

easier said than done! We knew

the stereo didn't have an iPod

connection so we had bought an

FM transmitter so we could listen

to the iPod we managed to get

music but it was not the best.

There were a couple of cushions

on the bed base but they didn't

look very comfy or very big, we

tested them out and nope even

us shorties were not going to fit,

airbed and pump added to shop-

ping list! Gradually we collected

everything we wanted but could-

n't find the Esky or Jerry cans

Dave wanted! We just got a

cheap Esky from BCF as we al-

ready have enough Esky's at

home! We could now get the food

and start heading to the Great

Ocean Road. Dave remembered

the light check so we pulled over

to check them, no brake lights,

dipped beam didn't work stuck on

main beam something to look at

later.

It was now well into the afternoon

we hoped to be in Lorne tonight.

As we passed through Geelong

we spotted another Bunnings and

managed to get their last Jerry

can, they sent us down the road



Melbourne to Perth Melbourne to Perth by Tina & Dave Mooreby Tina & Dave Moore



to their new super centre and we

managed to get the other Jerry

can another thing off the list. We

stopped off at Torquay and got

our first picture of the Kombi by

the Ocean. Dave wanted to carry

on as he didn't want to fall behind

the route plan. We were starting

to lose light so we pulled over

and Dave changed some wires in

fuse box so that we only had

dipped beam. We arrived in Lorne

and tried the caravan park, they

wanted $55 for one night unpow-

ered so we headed off looking for

the free campsite at the other

end of town, we drove out of

town and didn't see any campsite,

we saw a T3 parked up in a lay by

that looked like it was there for

the night so we pulled in behind it

was now 22.15. Distance 145

miles(233km).

Thursday 27th December

After a cold sleepless night for me

we got up early and headed back

into Lorne, we parked up on the

beach to use the facilities have

breakfast and for Dave to try and

fix the brake lights, it was the

switch so still no brake lights. We

left Lorne at 7.45, our destination

today was Keith. I connected the

dash cam up which caused inter-

ference on the FM transmitter and

we had a constant whistle, off

goes the stereo. We stopped at

Apollo bay Dave removed the

drivers mudflap as it was catching

on the wheel when turning right,

we didn't make it out of the car

park and there was an awful

buzzing noise, Dave stopped

quickly but the noise didn't!! I

saw the light bulb go on as Dave

realised it was the horn

(knackered and earthing out) so

he jumped out and disconnected

it. Shortly after I had my first

drive on the windiest bit of road

so far, driving the bus was easier

than our splitty as I could reach

the handbrake with the clutch

down yay. I was apprehensive

that the brake lights didn't work

as I was constantly slowing down

for bends people seem to like

driving very close! We arrived

safely at the 12 Apostles, photo

time off we trot with all the other

tourists to get a few pictures. We

also stopped at Loch Ard Gorge,

The Arch, London Bridge and the

Bay of Islands. We realised we

hadn't travelled very far and time

was getting on so no more tourist

stops and straight to Warrnam-

bool. We stopped to pick up an

aerial, wiper blades and some

seat covers, we had a look at ste-

reo's and decided to get a new

one, what we wanted was not in

stock. We went somewhere else

where Dave thought we should

look at the one in the sale for

$100. Didn't look the best but if it

gave us music without hissing or

whistling that’s all we needed. We

had no luck getting the brake

light switch so tried one more au-

to store but no luck there either.

Dave decided to fit the stereo,

which he did in record time even

if it was a quick bodge it install.

We head of down the road and I

try and get music working, it ac-

cepts an iPod but doesn't recog-

nise my iPhone!! Now we have a

vibration noise coming from the





front panel area driver’s side.

Here starts the undetectable

noise story to be continued. We

still have a long way to go and I

suggest we stop at Mount Gam-

bier instead but Dave wants to

get as far as we can. We crossed

over in SA so gained 30 minutes

just what we need. We pulled

over so I could cook tea and Dave

fitted the new seat covers, he

started with the driver’s seat then

did the 2/3 seat except the cover

wasn't 2/3 it was tiny so covers

all had to be changed back. We

headed off again after dinner and

got just North of Millicent where

we pulled off into a lay-by for the

night, it was now 22.30. It was a

long day with all the tourist and

undetectable noise stops on the

way. Distance 292 miles(470km).

Friday 28th December

We headed off towards Adelaide

at 6.30. We stopped at Kingston,

photo opportunity with the big

lobster. With all the pit stops and

undetectable noise stops it was

nearly lunchtime so we stopped

at Handorf for a pit stop and a bit

of lunch then continued towards

Adelaide. I did a search for auto

stores as we had decided to bite

the bullet and get another stereo

as we still had a lot of driving to

go. I found one on the road out of

Adelaide we would be on so we

called in there and they had stock

of the original stereo we were go-

ing to get so we went straight

outside and fitted it in the car

park. Finally we had music with

no hissing or whistling. We

stocked up on supplies as I didn't

think we would make Port Augus-

ta before closing. The tempera-

ture was starting to pick up now

but with the windows open and

sunshades on the windows to

keep the direct sun off us it was

still quite pleasant in the van. We

called in at a servo for more ice

and there was an auto parts store

next door so Dave popped in on

the off chance of getting that

brake light switch, finally they

had one but we had to go up the

road to their warehouse, so off

we go again one switch collected

and fitted and now we have brake

lights. Just the noise to go now!

So we keep heading north for Port

Augusta. Time was getting on

again with all these stops we had

only reached Snowtown, it was

here that Dave finally fixed the

noise yippee. It was 6.15 but as

Snowtown looked more like ghost

town we decided to stick to our

original plan and eat in Port Au-

gusta. We arrived at Port Augusta

and went to Macca's for food so I

could use the wi-fi which was a

waste of time as it so slow. We

found the Big 4 caravan park so

booked in there for $36 for an

unpowered site and it was only

21.30 an early arrival for us. At

last we get to have a shower just

in time for the hot sticky part of

the journey. Distance 439 miles

(706km).

The Undetectable Noise.

A very loud vibration noise start-

ed just as we left Warrnambool.

Only appears above 50 mph!

Dave doesn't like any sort of rat-

tles or noises that shouldn't be

there so as soon as this noise

started he had to stop it so here

starts the process of elimination.





There wasn't really anything in-

side the van so we pulled over.

Dave had a tap around the front

and had a look underneath, he

found some loose washer on bolts

in the chassis so he tightened

those and off we set we still had

the noise, next stop the bumper

was tightened still have the

noise, the headlamp was re-

moved no change. The badge on

the front was loose so that had

tape wrapped round it but no

change next out came the grill

still no change!! I thought maybe

something was dislodged behind

the stereo as the noise started

after that was fitted so out it

came no change, the drivers kick

panel came off and we both tried

laying in the drivers foot well to

hear exactly where the noise was,

not an easy feat whilst you’re

driving along with handbrake and

pedals in the way not mention

feet. Dave thought maybe the

noise was actually at the back but

travelling down the heater tubes

so he checked out the back of

bus and found an exhaust clamp

missing, he was quite positive at

this point the he had located the

source of his noise. So now how

to fix it, getting hold of an ex-

haust clamp specific to a VW en-

gine was going to mean trying to

source it in an area we didn't

know so instead off we went to

get an exhaust bandage and ty-

ing wire for a bodge it fix until we

get home.

Day 2 of the undetectable noise.

Dave made the bodge exhaust

repair before we set off for the

day. He also removed the rear

heater tubes as the heat ex-

changer was also rattling. We set

off confident the noise would be

gone but no it was false hope

there it still was. So the speedo

was disconnected and off we go

again and yep we're pulling over

again this time the loose throttle

pedal linkage is cable tied anoth-

er stop this time the loose hand-

brake linkage is cable tied. So the

day is getting on and we still

have this awful noise so now the

washer bottle is removed and the

indicator so Dave can get a good

look down behind the front val-

ance but nothing was apparent.

Next the front fan tubes where

removed but still no change.

Dave had noticed that the repair

to the front inner valance wasn't

that great there was a gap be-

tween some fibreglass and the

front panel and maybe the wind

was getting in there so he started

ripping of some of the fibreglass,

not that either! We did a pit stop

and Dave then decided he wanted

to wedge something in the repair

so I pulled a brochure out of the

bin for a wedge. Dave then no-

ticed a tiny crack in the number

plate so he also wedged some

paper behind that too and off we

set. Hallelujah the noise has final-

ly stopped 26 hours after it start-

ed. So a tiny crack in a number

plate that doesn’t rattle when

tapped, driving at over 50 mph

with a crosswind equals a really

loud annoying noise!!

Saturday 29th December

After replacing the cold water

with ice we set off at 7.30 for the

Eyre Highway and WA. No loud

vibration noise and music to ac-

company us we can relax just en-

joy the driving. Just outside of

Port Augusta we see our first wild

Emu but Dave was too slow to

get the picture. I finally get a





chance to start typing this write

up that would never happen if it

waited until we got home so will

have to play catch up. First pit

stop Kimba, photo with the Big

Galah. Next Wudinna, photo with

the granite sculpture of an Aus-

tralian farmer. At Poochera, we

saw Peter's humpy that he built

using kerosene cans in the

1920's. The highway wasn't very

busy wether that was normal for

a Saturday or because of Christ-

mas we're not sure but it was

great for us as it meant we didn't

hold anyone up for long. It also

made it easy to suddenly stop for

photos of the bus with signs

along the highway. I wanted to

have lunch next to the ocean at

Ceduna so we had some snacks

to keep us going. We arrived in

Ceduna at 13.30, found a car

park on the beach and set about

making lunch. I was determined

to have a cup of tea as I hadn't

had one since Christmas day. So

table and cooker out, it was pret-

ty windy but Dave managed to

get the water hot whilst I made

lunch. After lunch I went for a

paddle, the water was lovely like

walking into a warm bath. I

would have loved a swim but we

still had a long way to go so back

in the bus we go. We passed

through Penong taking photos as

we drove past as we wanted to

see the Bight. We finally made to

The Head of Bight at 18.20 only

to find it closes at 16.30! We

were very disappointed and sur-

prised to find that it closed. We

pushed on to the first lookout and

managed to get a view of the

cliffs. We decided to have a bite

at the Bight so time cook dinner,

it was blowing a gale so the cook-

er had to be supervised so the

saucepan didn't fly off. Due to the

wind we decided to eat inside the

van then where on our way

again, our destination the first

rest stop past Border Village. By

the time we got to the next view

point of the Bight there was no

light left so on we go. I emptied

the esky at Border Village ready

for some more ice only for Dave

to come out and say they didn't

have any, note to self don't emp-

ty the ice cold water out of the

esky until you have more ice!!

We called in at Eucla and luckily

they did have ice so we could

keep everything cold, phew. We

pulled into the rest stop with all

the trucks and set the van up for

the night, it was 21.20 I would

say it was an early night but as

we had just gone through a time

zone it was really a late night!

Distance 603 miles(970km).

Sunday 30th December

We woke very early as the sun

was up very early!! Who keeps

voting against daylight savings?

We planned to fill up at

Mundrabilla, which isn't 24hrs so

we laid in until 5.15 then headed

to the roadhouse to fill up and

have breakfast hoping it would be

open. It was and we were soon

on our way again. We had our

first Kangaroo cross the road up

ahead not close enough to be a

hazard, I wonder if the roo shoo's

were working or if the Roo's were

just staying off the road? I spot-

ted a small group of Emu's so

Dave reversed up and we man-

aged to get photos this time. We

stopped to get a photo of Madura

pass then off we go again. We

filled up at Caiguna, the lady that

served Dave asked him how the





Kombi was going and it turned

out she owns the Bay window li-

mo that was at DOVW this year,

it was currently off the road as it

had blown the transmission

again, hope its back on the road

soon. It was my turn to drive and

I got the longest stretch of

straight road in Australia 90 miles

of it. As we were making good

time today we decided to head

for Coolgardie tonight instead of

Norseman. By mid-morning it

was starting to warm up in the

van and by lunch was hot, out

came the spray bottle so I could

mist myself down, Dave didn't

need it as he is not effected so

much by heat or cold, lucky him.

We had the windows open but the

wind was so hot it was like sitting

in front of a hand dryer!! About

80km's east of Norseman we

pulled into a rest stop with a salt

lake, Dave spotted an area where

he could get down so next thing

we are parked up on the lake for

more photo's, never would have

got these photos in our splitty as

it wouldn't have made the short

trip off road. We made it to

Norseman by 15.30 so we filled

up then headed into town to

stock up on supplies, we spotted

the camel statues so I jumped

out to get a photo. We found the

IGA, it was closed, another note

to self, remember what day of

the week it is when planning to

get supplies!! Off to Coolgardie it

is. We stopped in at the pub for

dinner which was delicious. We

booked in at the caravan park,

the mosi's were out, the first of

the trip. I lit the burner and got

the van ready for the night. Dave

got back from his shower and

jumped into bed and nearly

jumped out again! The bed was

so hot it was like an electric blan-

ket had been left on it on full all

day. I tried to sleep but the heat

was so oppressive I knew I would

be awake all night, I went to

have a cold shower to try and

cool myself down, think again!

the cold water was hot so no cold

shower. I got back to the van and

Dave was willing to keep on going

for home although he probably

would have been able to sleep.

We got about 40km's shy of

Southern Cross when Dave pulled

into a layby and parked behind a

hedge. We didn't bother covering

the windows Dave used the front

seat and I made a space on the

bed big enough to lie down. It

was still pretty warm but had

cooled off enough for us to get a

couple of hours sleep. About 3am

we continued on, now it was just

head for home, with a quick stop

off at Bakers Hill for breakfast we

were home by 8.30. We headed

straight for bed put the fan on full

and slept til lunchtime. Now we

had all the unpacking to do and

this write up to finish. I put the

aircon on and spent the rest of

the afternoon in the house. Dave

went out to the bus which had

not had a clean for a long time

and looked like it had been sitting

under a tree for a while, and he

set about washing the van and

giving the roof a t-cut and wax.

Wow what a difference. As we

had got back earlier than planned

we went round to Jamie's to bring

the New Year in with friends

(thanks BJ and GJ for a very

pleasant evening and divine cock-

tails), we took the bus for its last

trip for a few weeks as it is being

stripped out and a few jobs done,

hopefully will be on the road

again soon. Distance 849 miles

(1366km).

The Verdict

We could definitely had done with

a few extra days, more time in

Melbourne to get setup properly

so we didn't have to stop at the

shops so often along the way. Not

knowing Melbourne didn't help as

everything is so spread out. It

would have been nice to have at

least a couple of extra overnight

stops along the way so we could

have had more time to see some

of the things we drove past and

to have had time to just sit and

relax and the end of the day in-

stead of falling straight into bed.

As I was due back at work on the

2nd we just couldn't do those ex-

tra days so we made the best of

what we had. The Nullarbor was-

n't quite what we expected, we

thought it would be quite barren

but in fact was quite green and

there is lots of trees and scrub. I

would be great to do the trip as

part of a VW convoy it's just a

case of time, maybe after I get

that winning lotto ticket!!

Would we do it again,

yes if there was a reason to

Total Distance: 2328 Miles

(3746kms)

Total Fuel: 410L

Average Fuel Economy: 25.8 mpg

(10.9 litres per/100km)




Volkswagen Polo R WRC makes debut at the Rally

Monte Carlo When the first World Rally Car

sets out on the opening stage of

the Rally Monte Carlo, from

Moulinon to Antraigues, at 09:00

on Wednesday 16 January, it will

mark the start of something ra-

ther special: Volkswagen’s first

season in the FIA World Rally

Championship (WRC). 20,000 kil-

ometres of testing, 1,700 parts

designed completely from

scratch, 17 months of prepara-

tions – all for this one moment,

the dawn of a new age. The ap-

pearance of the Polo R WRC in

the FIA World Rally Championship

heralds a new era in motorsport

for Volkswagen – and where bet-

ter to make your debut than the

legendary Rally Monte Carlo. In

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila

(FIN/FIN) and Sébastien Ogier/

Julien Ingrassia (F/F), the works

team from Wolfsburg lines up at

the WRC season-opener with two

young crews who nevertheless

already possess a wealth of expe-

rience. From 15 to 20 January,

Volkswagen will face strong oppo-

nents and a new technological

challenge. The WRC is regarded

as the biggest all-round test in

international motorsport and,

alongside Formula One, it is the

most iconic of the FIA’s world

championships.

“I cannot wait to finally getting

going. The entire team at

Volkswagen is looking forward to

the WRC debut of the Polo WRC,”

says Volkswagen Motorsport Di-

rector Jost Capito. “World Cham-

pionship rallies in the top WRC

class are new territory for the

team. Furthermore, the Polo R

WRC has been developed from

scratch, features a lot of innova-

tive ideas, and will be making its

competitive debut. The ‘Monte’

will give us our first indication of

how we compare with the opposi-

tion – our rivals already have two

years’ experience of the regula-

tions that came into force in

2011, and have been driving in

the WRC for many years. Our

goal for the Rally Monte Carlo is

to gain as much experience as

possible and to finish with both

cars.”

Debut time: Volkswagen, the

World Rally Championship and




the Rally Monte Carlo

The Rally Monte Carlo is a first for

Volkswagen in many regards: the

team is competing at a World

Championship rally in the top cat-

egory for World Rally Cars. At the

same time, the Polo R WRC will

make its first competitive outing

and the team will be working with

a new driving duo for the first

time under rally conditions. Finn

Jari-Matti Latvala and his com-

patriot and co-driver Miikka

Anttila officially joined the

Volkswagen outfit at the start of

the year. Prior to their appear-

ance at the “Monte”, the duo with

seven WRC wins to their name

have completed a number of test

drives.

Latvala and Anttila start the 2013

season in the number 7 Polo R

WRC. In the cockpit of the num-

ber 8 Polo will be Frenchmen

Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver

Julien Ingrassia. They have been

under contract as Volkswagen

works drivers since the end of

2011 and have played significant

roles in the development and

testing of the Polo R WRC. To-

gether with co-driver Ingrassia,

Ogier, who was born in Gap (F),

has already won his home rally

on one occasion. In 2009 the

French pair won the classic as

guest starters in the Interconti-

nental Rally Challenge (IRC). Like

Latvala and Anttila, Ogier and

Ingrassia currently have seven

WRC race wins to their name.

Simply legendary: the “Monte”

challenge in the snow and ice of

the mountains

The Volkswagen Motorsport team

could hardly be facing a tougher

challenge. After all, the “Monte”

is the oldest rally in the world

and the “mother of all rallies”,

having been held for the first

time in 1911. The majority of the

Rally Monte Carlo is held on nar-

row tarmacked roads in the

French Maritime Alps to the north

of the principality of Monaco.

While the lower roads close to the

Mediterranean are regularly dry,

the drivers are often faced with

black ice and snow on the many

mountain passes they are re-

quired to negotiate. This makes it

essential to select the right tyre –

and makes the “Monte” one of

the most difficult and complex

rallies on the World Champion-

ship calendar.

Thoughts ahead of the Rally Mon-

te Carlo

Jari-Matti Latvala, Polo R WRC #7

“I can hardly wait for the season

to get started. I may already

have five years as a works driver

in the World Rally Championship

under my belt, but both the

Volkswagen Motorsport team and

the Polo R WRC are new to me.

As such, I will be making my de-

but in two regards. The tests up

to now have shown that the Polo

R WRC is very reliable. This is

probably the most important find-

ing so far – and a good basis for

future technical developments

over the course of the season. I

have already developed a good

feeling for the car on asphalt and

snow, which is a good sign ahead

of the Rally Monte Carlo. It is

great fun driving the Polo R WRC.

It is very stable and the driveabil-

ity of the engine is also very

good. I would like to get the sea-

son off to a good start at the

‘Monte’. The result is not the top

priority yet, although I would ob-

viously love to pick up some

World Championship points.”

Sébastien Ogier, Polo R WRC #8

“The ‘Monte’ is a very special ral-

ly. After all, it is my home rally.

However, the season-opener near

my home will be an extraordinary

experience for the entire team, as

it is the first rally with the new

Polo R WRC. We have been work-

ing towards this moment with

Volkswagen for over a year. We



Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia



can hardly wait to finally get

started. However, it is difficult to

judge how we will compare to the

opposition, as we have not yet

raced against the other teams

under competitive conditions.

Making your debut in a world

championship with a completely

new car is a big challenge, partic-

ularly as the other manufacturers

have several years more experi-

ence than we do. For this reason

we must be patient and concen-

trate at first on reaching the fin-

ish without any problems. Experi-

ence shows that this is anything

but simple at the Rally Monte

Carlo, as anything can happen at

this event.”

Volkswagen in the FIA World Ral-

ly Championship (WRC)

The start in the FIA World Rally

Championship (WRC) sees

Volkswagen continue its success-

ful history in motorsport.

Volkswagen claimed overall victo-

ry at the Rally Dakar in 2009,

2010 and 2011 with the Race

Touareg to claim a hat-trick of

titles at the toughest marathon

rally in the world. The Polo R

WRC is the first World Rally Car

to come out of Wolfsburg, with

the manufacturer now entering

its own works team at the pinna-

cle of rallying for the first time.

This presents Volkswagen with

the opportunity to prove itself in

direct sporting competition on a

global stage. No model is more

suited to the challenge than the

Polo, which is one of

Volkswagen’s most internationally

manufactured and distributed

cars.

© Volkswagen Motorsport Com-

munications

Strong debut: Volkswagen

finishes “Monte” in

second place Wolfsburg (19 January 2013).

Absolutely “Monte”: Volkswagen

showed an impressive debut in

the FIA World Rally Champion-

ship. In one of the toughest edi-

tions of the Rally Monte Carlo in

recent years, Sébastien Ogier/

Julien Ingrassia (F/F) managed to

lead the Polo R WRC in its first

competitive outing to second

place. In difficult weather condi-

tions with a mix of snow, ice, and

wet asphalt next to bright sun-

shine, thick fog, and heavy rain

Ogier/Ingrassa won two special

stages on the classic through the

French Maritime Alps. Behind the

nine-time world champions

Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (F/

MC, Citroën), Ogier/Ingrassia

achieved top times from the

start, thus reaching the podium

straightaway and on their own

accord in the debut of the Polo R

WRC.

Their team colleagues Jari-Matti

Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN)

were among the top five almost

until the end of the rally. Because

of the extremely challenging

weather conditions with slush and

pieces of ice, they were, howev-

er, forced to retire after sliding

off in the legendary special stage

over the Col de Turini.

Milestones: Fastest times for

Ogier/Ingrassia

First special stage, first fastest

time – for Volkswagen the Rally

Monte Carlo began with a mile-

stone achievement. On “Le Mouli-

non”, with 37.1 kilometers the

longest special stage of the rally,

Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia

achieved the best time. On the

second day, the French duo also

secured their position with the

best time in the fifth special

stage, “La Batie D'Andaure”, in

their home rally “Monte”. With

other top results Ogier/Ingrassia

consolidated their second position

in the overall ranking. In total,

Volkswagen managed to record

top-three results in 14 of 16 spe-

cial stages.

Extreme weather: premature end

to the “Monte” for safety reasons

Extreme weather conditions and

safety concerns resulted in a

premature end of the Rally Monte

Carlo. The organizers of the rally

called off the remaining two stag-





es on Saturday evening, including

the final round over the Col de

Turini. Heavy rain and the result-

ing unpredictable weather condi-

tions in the night from Saturday

to Sunday as well as traffic chaos

around the mythical special stage

caused safety concerns. Shortly

before the cancellation of special

stages 17 and 18, Jari-Matti Lat-

vala/Miikka Anttila had slipped

from the track into the barriers

with their Polo R WRC. Slush and

pieces of ice had made the open-

ing stage of last day of the rally

unpredictable. Besides Latvala/

Anttila, other top drivers crashed

out in this special stage.

Tyre gamble and driving skills

most crucial

Changing road textures and un-

predictable weather: The condi-

tions in the Rally Monte Carlo are

unique in the WRC calendar. In no

other rally is the skill of the driver

as important as in the “Monte”.

An additional success factor: the

tyre choice. In the 2013 edition of

the classic rally spike tyres turned

out to be a rare commodity. No

more than 20 pieces per car are

permitted by the regulations.

When which tyres are used, is a

decision that the teams decide

based on the information provided

by weather crews along the stag-

es and precise weather forecasts.

Here, Volkswagen not only proved

to be ready for the WRC

with the Polo R WRC techni-

cally but also in driving and

logistically.

The next round of the FIA

World Rally Champion-

ship (WRC) will take

place in Sweden from

February 07–10, 2013.

Quotes, day four of the Rally

Monte Carlo

Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motor-

sport Director

“Second place in the first rally of

the new Polo R WRC is more than

we could have expected. The

team did an exceptional job in the

last four rally days and prepared

the cars perfectly. The Rally Mon-

te Carlo is the most complex

event in the calendar and the

team has here shown that they

are ready for the World Rally

Championship. There was no mis-

take, not the slightest problem.

One cannot value the perfor-

mance of Sébastien Ogier high

enough. He drove the ‘Monte’ for

in a World Rally Car the first time.

There is no other rally in which

the driver’s impact on the result is

bigger. That is why we will not

see where we stand with the Polo

R WRC until after the upcoming

events.”

Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo

R WRC #8

“I never was as happy about a

second place as I was today. To

reach the podium in our debut

with the Polo R WRC is just great.

These were probably the most

difficult conditions in a Rally Mon-

te Carlo I have ever experienced.

Especially today, during the first

run to the Col de Turini, it

was extremely slippery,

so that speeds of more

than 20 kph were not

possible. It was just about

keeping the car on the

road. The entire team

worked very hard during

the last year, and I am

happy to give something

back to them. I am sorry

for Jari-Matti but I am

sure that we will celebrate further

victories together for Volkswagen

in the future.”

Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen

Polo R WRC #7

“I am very disappointed. There

was more wet snow in the first

run through the Col de Turini

stage than I expected. I was too

fast right in the beginning, the car

did not turn as expected, and I

crashed heavily. Another car had

slipped there before I did and I hit

the same lane. There was nothing

I could do. It was my goal to

gather lots of experience with the

Polo R WRC. It is bitter to end the

rally this way. I am sorry for the

guys because they prepared the

cars brilliantly. I really wanted to

give them a points result.”

And then there was …

... the Volkswagen Group brand

Audi, which got on board the

World Rally Championship at the

“Monte” in 1981 with the Quattro,

winning, just like Volkswagen with

the Polo R WRC, the very first

special stage in its debut as a

manufacturer. At the time, it was

Hannu Mikkola who had a dream

start; in 2013, it was Sébastien

Ogier who started in a similarly

spectacular way in the very first

and longest special stage. The

Quattro was revolutionary within

the World Rally Championship in

the early eighties and helped start

the triumphant march of the four-

wheel drive. This kind of trans-

mission technology is indispensa-

ble in World Rally Cars today.

© Volkswagen Motorsport Com-

munications




Playing a Round of

Golf VI 2011 Golf 77TDI "Team"

Driven 2011-04-28 to 2011-06-26 by

Bernd Felsche

...continued from the September

October November 2012 Via West

Sunday, the First of May

It's a special day in Germany. A

day when all the motorbikes

seem to come out to play in the

spring air.

After a good night's sleep and a

light breakfast, I headed West

towards Belgium, with heaps of

time on my hands to get where I

wanted. Although the TomTom

Navigation system running on the

old Treo phone knew most of the

roads as they had been in Germa-

ny in 2007, by 2011 there'd been

small changes. And the the maps

for Belgium had only the main

roads. Lucky for me, the Hotel in

on a main road. Well, a minor

main road.

Destination was Tombeek, part of

the city of Overijse in the Flemish

part of Belgium. The training

courses were to take place in a

Francophone part of Belgium,

which began just on the other

side of the creek near the Hotel.

My planned commute was about

half an hour each way.

The run to the border was at

most uneventful. I was a little

disappointed that the fuel con-

sumption remained relatively

high, despite the flat landscape

and smooth Autobahn surface.

But it was still a new TDI. Proper-

ly run in; which can take 40,000

km or more, both oil and fuel

consumption can be expected to

fall.

I made a brief stop off the Auto-

bahn just before Aachen, just

over half an hour into the trip to

take off my jacket, have a drink

and to try to fix the video camera

I had mounted in the car. It was

rubbish. The camera being far too

sensitive to any vibrations, the

recordings turned out to be al-

most completely useless. So

much for "solid state".

Speedometers are Compulsive

Liars Belgian motorways have

speed limits; usually 120 km/h so

the importance of the navigation

system increased as it indicated

the real speed of the car, unlike

the speedometer which has been

programmed to exaggerate the

measured speed by about 7%. It

is legally required to lie so that

the car can be licenced for road

use. The compulsive lying behav-

iour can be confirmed by plugging

in a diagnostic tool and getting a

readout of the speed measured

by the car's own sensors; which

agrees with the GPS figure within

2 km/h at a steady speed. The

result is that at an indicated 100

km/h, the car is not even travel-

ling at 95.

In combination with strict speed

limit enforcement, one gets the

same motorway behaviour in Bel-

gium as one endures in Australia:

All lanes are occupied by every-

body driving at their idea of 120

km/h and failing to stay out of the

passing lanes. This reduction in

lane discipline compared to (de-

restricted) Autobahn traffic in

Germany raises the apparent con-

gestion, even on a Sunday, and

probably the stress experienced

by drivers.

After about 150 km of Belgian

motorways, I took a near-enough

exit at Wavre and noted that the

speed limit around most of town

is posted as 70; at least on the

main roads. Both the age and the

lack of map detail in the naviga-

tion system become apparent as I

hit roadworks, incorporating new

road, intersections and rounda-

bouts. But I can read signs, and

they seem to point in the right

direction. Ooohhh look: A new

Audi showroom. There are other

small businesses settled either

side of the road.

After a little while I was back on

the unchanged road. It becomes

semi-rural, with some treelines

and a ridge. I blinked but didn't

miss the small sign greeting those

who enter Vlaams-Brabant. Just a

minute from the hotel on Wavers-

esteenweg at the entrance of the (Continued on page 30)

PART TWO



village of Tombeek, part of the

greater community of Overijse.

Radio reception ought to be good

because there's a huge mast over

the ridge, behind the hotel.

Time to check in; though there

didn't appear to be any staff out-

side of the trenches. Front door

was locked, but that door also

served the restaurant which was-

n't open at the time. A staff

member arrives by car and sees

that I'm checked in and have a

room.

They showed me the guests' en-

trance at the back of

the hotel and tell me

where I can park the

car for easy access.

The suitcase which I

was carrying wasn't

easy to wrangle up the

stairs. A bit of unpack-

ing to do; hang the

shirts and trousers so

that they're not too

wrinkly in the morning.

And oh dear; noticed

that the hem on one

trouser leg has come

undone. That was when

I applied my Army

training, got out the

sewing kit and figured

out how to do some

blind stiching. Fixed in

under half an hour. (I

hadn't brought any

duct tape. A dismal

oversight.)

Still daylight, my feet

are still itchy and I

headed back out onto

the road for a quick

squiz at the neighbour-

hood. Along Wavers-

esteenweg towards

Brussels, what looks

like Overijse's old town

centre invites a pause

at a war memorial in

Overijse. For a mo-

ment, I consider that it

wasn't only the World

Wars which ravaged

that region, but wars

over several centuries

between rival tribes

and nations. For exam-

ple, Waterloo is within

spitting distance. But

there were many earli-

er, deadly struggles, for

much less.

Carrying on towards

Brussels, the newer-looking parts

of town stretch out along the

main drag. With a speed limit of

70. There are restaurants, fast-

food and other shops, as well as

service centres for large corpora-

tions. I made a mental note of

the locations and approaches to

service stations and did a short

run along the motorway back to

the Wavre exit, and a circuit

around that town, completing the

evening's orientation.

Back at the hotel, I found that

the Wi-Fi Internet didn't quite ex-

tend to the inside of my room. I'd

disabled "data" on my mobile

phone the night before because

roaming data charges were astro-

nomical. And that sort of thing

could wait until the following day,

where the training facility provid-

ed sufficient access capacity.

Commuter Duty

I was ready for breakfast too ear-

ly for the staff. No big deal as

there was about half an hour's

drive and the scheduled start was

9 a.m.. Two cups of coffee, some

bread and fixings and I was fit to

tackle rush hour; Belgian style.

It was chilly. Quite cold. Below 5°

C. Brrr... This was supposed to be

the middle of spring.

Like all diesels, the 77TDI rattled

when cold; nearly as badly as my

teeth chattered. I kept my jacket

on because I knew that it'd take

quite a while for the little diesel

engine to produce enough

warmth to make the car cosy.

Screen demist was on, as were

the rear window's and the ones in

the side mirrors. At least those

electric heaters were

"instantaneous". No wonder that

heated seats and auxiliary heat-

ers are popular in Northern Eu-

rope.

Through planning and with blue

extremities, I was heading the

opposite way to most of the traf-

fic almost all the way. The route

chosen by the navigation system

however took me through too





many villages where the traffic

was frequently slow or stopping.

Nevertheless, my OpenERP train-

ing destination in Grand-Rosiere

was reached with minutes to

spare.

The converted farm had a large

gravel area for parking. It took a

minute of me looking around to

find an entrance before somebody

popped out to point me the right

way for "class". Yep. Back to

school. But I had brought an ap-

ple. Not that there was much

need as there were croissants,

jam, coffee, fruit juice, etc dished

up for the students.

There were many foreign students

in the class; including another

Australian. Most of the other for-

eigners weren't quite as foreign,

being from e.g. the Netherlands

and commuting daily. English was

the language for training. Most

seemed quite comfortable with it.

Although we remained on the

premises most days for lunch,

Friday were special with students

and staff taking lunch at a local

restaurant. We piled into a few

vehicles and made a convoy. The

negative was that the driver

couldn't enjoy more than a sip of

beer or wine with their lunch. It is

probably obvious that Friday af-

ternoon's training wasn't quite as

productive as it had been on oth-

er days.

The end of training at about 5

p.m. wasn't the end of a day by a

long stretch. It didn't begin to get

dark until after 9 p.m., giving

plenty of time to scout around for

places to eat, buy some special

munchies or simply to see a bit

more of the country. That said; I

was usually too tired to stay out

much after 8 p.m..

"Routine" settled, the rest of the

week flew past. One evening, I

dropped into a supermarket and

found some Australian Pink Lady

apples; for about €1 per kg. Mad-

ness! So I bought a few to munch

while watching incomprehensible

TV shows until it got dark enough

to get some sleep.

The second morning was even

colder than the first. Frost on the

windscreen. Just enough to have

me make sure that I'd park wip-

ers off the glass that evening.

Which was fortuitous as I had to

use the ice scraper to free up the

glass the next morning, while the

engine was running, working on

defrosting. That wasn't in the

plan, but only delayed me by a

few minutes.

A Golf feature with which few

Aussies will need to be familiar, is

that of wiper parking options. The

first is the service position where

the wipers swing up to the verti-

cal position so that the blades can

be cleaned, inspected and

changed. The second is the off-

glass position where the blades

are lifted off the glass so that

they don't freeze into position.

Blades that are frozen into posi-

tion can either have the rubber

ripped off them or cause the wip-

er motor to overload. Neither of

those is a desirable option. So

RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) if

you're expecting frosty/freezing

weather.

Le Weekend

That's French, you know!


(Continued on page 32) War Memorial, Overijse



It was a chance for a big tour

around Belgium with pleasant

weather. After waiting for Aldi to

open its door in Overijse to fetch

some fresh provisions for the

road.

The objective wasn't to "fill a

dance card", but to see where I'd

be spending most of my Sunday.

To have some depth in my sight-

seeing.

Brussels was immediately out of

the mix. The wide avenues

seemed to have no merit and the

millions of tons of concrete and

glass edifices were devoid of in-

spiring or inspiration. Their grey

pouring cold water onto any

cheer that the clear blue skies

might provide.

In terms of driving, the biggest

challenge proved to be some of

the local roads for which the Golf

has evidently grown too fat. Cars

parked on both sides of a lane

leaving less than 2 metres for

traffic... and the width across the

side-mirrors for a Golf VI is just

over 2 metres. So I ended up

slowing down and having the mir-

rors "kiss" those of some parked

cars; at one stage, simultaneous-

ly on both sides. The paintwork

wasn't marked. My nerves were

frayed.

I gave the video cam-

era another chance to

display some merit on

the leg to Spa, but

could salvage only a

few stills from a half

hour of recording. Bel-

gium is not all flat, as

you can see from the

few pictures. In some

areas, it even approxi-

mates "mountainous".

Following more than

350 km of driving in

about 8 hours, I went

back to the

"traditional", Belgian

burger joint I'd seen

earlier in Waterloo.

Then to the old centre of Over-

ijse. To snap some pictures and

to sit down for a cool glass of

Leffe Brun.

Sunday in Leuven

Breakfast was late on Sunday. No

big deal as I'd decided that Leu-

ven was most worthy of a closer

look and it was only half an hour

from where I was staying. Well,

anywhere in Belgium was less

than two hours from where I was

staying.

Starting at about 10 in the morn-

ing meant that I didn't

have to deal with frost

on the windscreen.

Traffic was light and the

navigation system guid-

ed me to the edge of

Leuven; after which it

was fairly useless due

to its ignorance of mi-

nor roads. It was a

matter of watching

what little traffic there

was and avoiding an-

other lane of mirrors as

experienced on the yes-

terday.

I found a small carpark

in Fonteinstraat at

Brouwerstraat which

was ticket parking. My

Dutch is about 30%

correct when reading so

just to make sure that payment

wasn't due on a Sunday, I donat-

ed 20 Euro cents and got a ticket

to confirm that I could remain

there until 1 a.m. on the Monday.

In case of memory loss, I kept

the tear-off portion of the ticket

in my wallet.

Finding the centre of town was

then easy; follow Fonteinstraat to

Brusselsestraat and turn left. Fol-

low that street into the

Grotemarkt in front of the town

hall. The bridge over the Dijle had

(re)construction works with a

huge placard detailing millions in

EU spending. When I got to the

square, I realized that I could

have taken Brouwerstraat in-

stead; as a more direct route.

The Town Hall was immediately

recognizable. It was the most op-

pulently-decorated building in the

square. The cathedral opposite

only had size to give it any prom-

inence. From a placard on the

bank building on another side of

the square, I learnt that Leuven

had been almost totally devastat-

ed during World War I, which re-

inforced my nagging impression

that I was seeing a Disneyfication

of the past. The square wasn't

exactly over-run with tourists.

When I follow a road off the

square to Oude Markt, I see a



Leffe is an excellent beverage

that has its traditional home in Overijse.



long square, with restaurants

lined alng both sides; on terraces

to the left. There are hundreds of

tables and thousands of chairs.

And a dozen tourists. Or so I

thought. It's lunch time. What's

eaten Leuven?

As I walked past, one of those

sitting in a group of two occupied

tables asked me to take his pic-

ture. He (let's call him "Sam")

must've "guessed" that I was a

tourist. In a brief conversation,

Sam told me that most of the

people in his group are locals; not

even students; and that the stu-

dents almost all abandon town on

the weekend for e.g. mums' cook-

ing. The fed and freshly washed

students then return on Sunday

evening.

Sam wrote his email address onto

a beer coaster so that I could

send him the picture. I carried on,

further inspecting the desolation

wrought by mums' cooking.

I was almost prepared when I

saw the vast plaza in front of the

University Library. One could

have shot a post-apocalypse

movie. If the Belgians weren't so

tidy, then they'd have plastic

"tumble weeds" like the commer-

cial part of London has on Bank

Holiday Mondays.

With my feet wearing thin at

about 3 p.m., I headed back to

the car, keeping the general di-

rection but snooping down differ-

ent lanes. Some parts of town are

genuinely old; others are definite-

ly faux traditional. I can't really

see the point in the latter. It de-

values the genuine. It chooses

only a few elements and often

omits the nuances.

I packed my gear into the car and

set off back to the hotel. But off

to the side of the road, I saw the

Stella Artois brewery. I made a

detour down to the surrounding

industrial area, much of it waste-

land. A few new office blocks,

mostly vacant, were just off the

canal. One old, multi-storey fac-

tory fascade is supported by a

steel frame; perhaps trying to

honour the industry of the past or

to shame the indolent of the pre-

sent.

Even the Golf's diesel's exhaust

note found little resonance in this

territory. A gentle cruise along

the canal reminded me that na-

ture will erase the successes and

failures of man's industry without

discrimination if efforts to im-

prove do not persist. That wasn't

a sullen tune for which I was

looking when I took the detour. I

had hoped to see signs of innova-

tion and industry, building on the

past. That wasn't to be.

I get back to the hotel and work

out that it must be the maid's day

off. A nearby eatery comes to

mind but when I get there, my

appetite has abandoned me. I sat

in the car in the shade, enjoyed

the breeze and tried not to think

of how good things could be if we

weren't so obsessed with solving

imaginary problems.

Training Week 2

This was a new course, a different

instructor and a change of some

students (more geeks). Other-

wise, is was largely a replay of

the previous week. One morning,

I slept through my alarms and

had to skip breakfast so that I

wouldn't be very late. Traffic con-

ditions were kind. Adrenalin is not

a good substitute for caffeine.

It was not a matter of enduring

the week as trying to get as much

done as possible during that

week.

On Friday morning, I packed most

of my stuff into the car early, be-

fore my last breakfast. After es-

sential ablutions, I grabbed what

was left in the room, checked out

and settled the bill. Good bye to

Tombeek.

The final day of training was only

approximately a replay of the pre-

vious week's. I had it in front-of-

mind to leave before 6 p.m. so

that I could get back to Herne in

Germany before dark.

continues ...

Copyright © 2012 Bernd Felsche, Perth, Western Australia

PART THREE TO FOLLOW...


The VW Club Committee is pleased to announce this

series of articles as the...

Member Story of the Month for November

2012. For this Bernd wins a $50 fuel

voucher….



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