Back in 2005 the BDC in Perth, WA organised the "Across Australia Tour" from Perth to Terrigal in NSW, about 6000kms. which was billed as one of the last great road trips in the World. My co-driver, navigator Jenny who is also my long suffering wife, well what Bentley tragics wife is not, and myself were lucky enough to participate and we completed that event. At the euphoric final celebratory dinner and probably fueled by alcohol, that WA stalwart Dennis Lingane declared, "its the last frontier and one of the most challenging road adventures as yet unexplored by the Bentley boys!!!" proposing 2009 as ideal timing.

There were 20 proper cars on the tour and 5 of those WOs were from Down Under, we had one 3 litre, a 3/4.5 litre and three 4.5 litres dating from 1925 to 1929. All Australasian cars finished the tour without major mishaps or major mechanical issues and only one WO failed to finish a 4/8 litre... so WO cannot be blamed as it was not a standard Cricklewood designed or manufactured car! Incidentally, four modern Derby Bentleys from the 14 that started did not make the finish line, a real standout result for the reliability of our vintage machines.

Start

Getting to the start in Canada was the easy bit, just pack our car in a container in Brisbane and pick her up in Vancouver, the tour started in a similar way, nice welcome dinner, Canadian CMP Police, TV and newspapers, politicians, all wishing us bon-voyage. A few reasonably easy days of "only 200 plus miles" during the first week through all the fantastic scenery that British Columbia has to offer, with overnight stays at 5 star hotels in Whistler, Salmon Arm, Lake Loise and Jasper and a rest day Banff, with nice sunny summer days thrown in, all luring us into a false sense of complacency... this is easy, no worries, cars all going well, only 7000 kms to go, no worries!

The Glazier Highway to Jasper and Rogers pass were really spectacular but the temperature was dropping to just a few degrees as we headed North, the sun was hiding and the to-date wonderful roads were deteriorating too. But no worries!! Jasper brought a very cold start and the "anti freeze" was definitely needed as hoses on our car started to weep in sympathy with us. We headed North into Alberta, through the towns of Grande Cache and Grande Praire, home to the annual stampede, a big event in this the largest city in NW Alberta, with its 47,000 hardy souls. It was also the last major stop before our arrival in Dawson Creek BC, and the famous mile "0" of the "Alaska Highway", our route North and a major 1671 mile wartime achievement, linking the USA and Canada with the Arctic and creating a supply route to its Russian Allies in WW2. The construction of this magnificent road was completed in just 8 months by approx 400 officers, 11,000 US soldiers and over 7500 US civilians who used 11,000 pieces of machinery in the appaling winter conditions, through a mainly unmapped and extremely harsh environment, often in 40deg below conditions... as the Bentleys burbled North we had a small taste of minus 2 degrees in the mountains and our admiration for this amazing engineering feat was much enhanced by the ice on our car and the start of frostbite on our fingers!

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Adrian & Jenny Cook	WOB 29... resting with John Grants Derby as backdrop	Jenny driving with a BC skifield as the backdrop!
Nugget resort Watson lake, no ensuites here, not quite 5-star!	The well-used tour luggage van	Raining and long traffic free road
Dawson City a real frontier town!	Dawson City	Dawson City
Dawson City	The Aussies in Dawson	The Aussies in Dawson
An interesting sign?	Overlooking the Yukon river	Heading to Top-of-the-World Highway & US Customs!
To Top-of-the-World Highway...	To Top-of-the-World Highway...	To Top-of-the-World Highway...
Jenny driving, wild , wet & cold	Jenny at the wheel, wild , wet & cold	Jenny - wild , wet & cold
Jenny at the wheel, wild , wet & cold	Gitanyow Indian totems enroute to Prince Rupert	Gitanyow Indian totems enroute to Prince Rupert
A Bald Eagle (6ft wingspan) in Port Hardy	BC ferry transporting Bentleys & crews from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy	BC ferry transporting Bentleys & crews from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy
The finish at Parliment House Victoria BC	The finish...	The finish...
The finish...	The finish...

Back into BC and the fur trading and frontier towns of Fort St John, and Fort Nelson were reached and then quickly forgotten as we headed ever further North , in several 300 mile plus driving days. The nights became days as the daylight hours now stretched well into the night, and as each hotel was reached, bed, food and drinks with our fellow Bentley drivers seemed a blur as we were off again for another 8-9 hours of driving, next to Whitehorse the first real Gold Rush town, with a real frontier feel and Paddle Wheelers on the river to boot.

Things were getting interesting now as this Bentley adventure unfolded, we were now in the Yukon, a huge vast mainly unpopulated area of forests, lakes, mountains and animals bigger than many counties. Its bears, caribu, moose, goats, deer, wolves and eagles abound and outnumbered Bentleys and drivers by a big margin. These animals are not shy either as we encountered black and grizzly bears on the road and were actually chased down the road by two wolves who showed no fear of a WO going at speed, we also carried "Bear Spray" in case of attack, large cans of capsicum spray, fortunately not tested at the optimum 15ft from an angry bear!

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This is Gerties Saloon in Whitehorse. The badge is from the BDC of Australia the oldest Bentley club in the world... we think this is the most northerly an Aussie badge has been?	All the aussies crews	Dawson City
Love!	International friends with Bentleys	Wet and cold again!
Wet and cold again!	Finish	Finish, Victoria
Lake Louise line dancing drivers	The Cooks at Lake Loise	The Cooks at Lake Loise
On the road again	Jenny	Gerdies group
Yukon, a heatwave... no jacket!	Let's go home?

On to Dawson City before crossing the Yukon river by ferry, one of only two crossing points in its near 2000mile length. The BDC of Australia boys organized an Aussie night out at Diamond Tooth Lils saloon and gambling hall, where dancing, wine, women (ours) and song were the order of the night. Money was gambled, lost and won, honky tonk pianos tinkled, grubby bars served into the wee hours. The cowboy swing doors, horses, unsealed streets and wooden buildings from the late 1800s confirmed we were really in this Gold Rush frontier town with our "modern" cars, and reading a newspaper at midnight was easy...

Onwards to our northern most point, almost at the Artic Circle as we drove the Top of the World Highway into the USA and Alaska at Poker Creek 4127ft the most northerly US land border with a population of 5. The fog and snow climbing to the crossing needed the windscreen folded down as visibility was down to just a few metres and we were very conscious of big drops either side of the road... never saw them but top of the world views we are told!

On to Chicken, Alaska and its music festival, then Tok and finally after a last 387 mile/623km days drive we had made it to Anchorage. Wow the car and ourselves had made it all the way from Australia, those last few days on sometimes poor unsealed roads had been tough on the car and its passengers, but we had made Anchorage, Alaska in just 13 driving days. Now we just to get back!

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No one can really describe the Alaskan Glaciers, after several grey wet days a super cloudless sky greeted us for a day on the ocean looking at these awesome sights, huge icefields, culminating in ice cliffs plunging into the ocean, whales, otters, seals in abundance and icebergs small and large abound... its indescribable and the drivers and navigators had an amazing day. Being out of the drivers seat was short lived as at crack of dawn we were off on the return leg... roadworks and frost heaves, big cracks in Aussie are marked by very small red flags, usually noticed after the springs bottom out and the passenger returns to the car after a short spell airborne, slow progress and the Cohen average of 45 mph is hard to maintain. But Tok, Watson Lake, and Bell II are duly achieved, the later a Heli ski base with luxury cabins and a great chef with after 300 miles of tough mountain roads only enough beds for half the group, the WOs were given exclusive use, quite right of course, and the Derbys, etc, had a further 100 miles to go to find their hotel, as accommodation, people and petrol are scarce round here. We had a WO only party, lots of fun, Trevor Eastwood doing a fine job of the Aussie speech, singing by the Bentley Boys choir, music, guitars, a few prizes, even some good Aussie red was found... A really good night.

Things were getting serious now, our cars had cracked windscreens, lost oil, lost gauges, one modern car actually had eleven punctures by this stage and we were all in survival mode, only one WO had failed with terminal engine issues, but the excellent support team had been unable to fix 2-3 Derby cars and each day the trailer seemed to have another resident.. Could the Aussies all survive? Onward to the beautiful Prince Rupert and a ferry ride of 15hrs down the fantastic coastline of BC between the mainland and Vancouver Island, a great new ship carrying all our cars and us in real comfort at 25 mph, what a wonderful trip, passing the land very close and seeing the Indian communities and the now defunct Salmon canneries, along with the ever present forestry, ocean coastline and mountain scenery. Two years ago the previous ship saw land far too closely, as it ran aground, hitting an island at full speed and immediately sinking, fortunately with no loss of life, or Bentleys, but strong rumours still abound about the captain being pre-occupied with a female officer. Scandal indeed.

So on land again the cars burbled, and the weary occupants pressed on, heading south down Vancouver Island, now on nice well sealed roads. Good hotels in Port Hardy, Campell River, and Chemainus all hosted us, some amongst the group found time for fishing, but for the WO boys and girls the increase in people and traffic signaled our trip was nearing its end. After a total distance of 5000miles/8000kms we finally drove into Victoria the capital city of British Columbia in bright sunshine accompanied by CMP police motorcycle escorts and preceded by a 1930s police car, we wound our way around the waterfront and through the city to be welcomed at the magnificent Parliament Buildings to a big crowd, music and sparkling drinks...

59. Finish

We had done it. A final night and a final dinner at the World famous Empress Hotel to conclude the tour. We had conquered the last great frontier, at times it almost conquered us, it left us with a great respect for the country, its pioneers, its roadbuilders and finally the tour organizers David & Adele Cohen for accepting the challenge to organise this the longest official BDC international Tour ever held, and the first ever in Canada or Alaska, what an adventure, thanks indeed. When the cars and our own bodies are serviced the Aussies are heading back to North America for a "little" tour of Eastern USA this September, it is certain we will not find the open roads and wilderness we have just experienced... Once in a lifetime, that truly was the last great frontier!