Audi 2006 Annual Report Download - page 54

52 AUDI 2006 ANNUAL REPORT
Sept 8: Tibooburra,
New South Wales
The deeper into the bush we go, the
smaller the towns become. Tibooburra
is a tiny outback settlement with
two pubs, a handful of houses and not
much else. By erecting our tented city
on the edge of town we’ve practically
doubled the local population. Our
support crew have got off to an excel-
lent start; providing food, shelter
and sanitation for upwards of thirty
people over such long distances is
no easy task. Campsites must be ready
when we arrive, and for the crew that
means staying ahead of the convoy –
not easy in two fully loaded vans
towing trailers packed with camping
gear.
The afternoon’s drive is an exhila-
rating 200 km roller-coaster ride
over the parallel sand dunes of the
Strzelecki Desert. As we enter the
desolate plains of the Moomba gas
fields a sandstorm blows up, slowing
the convoy to a crawl. It was near
here that an earlier trans-continen-
tal attempt – the ill-fated Burke
and Wills expedition of 1861 – came
to its tragic end. What would Burke
and Wills have given to exchange
their camels for a couple of Audi Q7s?
Camp Audi. The support crew became experts
at dismantling thirty tents, transporting them
hundreds of kilometres and re-erecting them
at the next campsite ready for our arrival. How
they managed it remains a mystery.
Sept 9: Innamincka,
South Australia
We break camp just in time to avoid
a rainstorm, and around 70 km out of
Tibooburra the road crosses a vast dry
lake bed. The temptation to floor it
across the cracked clay surface is
too much for some, and the convoy dis-
integrates in a cloud of red dirt as
half a dozen Audi Q7s break ranks and
accelerate towards the horizon in
all
directions. Once discipline is re-
stored we press northward to Cameron'
s
Corner, a remote, sun-scorched
junction where the state boundaries
of New South Wales, South Australia
and Queensland converge. The couple
who run the ‘Corner Store’ sometimes
go weeks without seeing a customer,
so they’re delighted to see thirty
turn up at once. In a matter of
minutes we clean them out of tea,
cake and souvenir beer coolers.