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I joined up with the convoy somewhere in the
middle of the earth, in a place called Uluru National
Park in the Northern Territory of Outback Australia.
To say this place is remote is to say Manila is
congested. This is a place so isolated and quiet,
it is where silence comes when it needs to think.
Just to put that into perspective for a car guy, let’s
just say that it took me almost 1,000 km to realise
I was driving a left-hand drive vehicle in a right-
hand drive country, because without context,
there’s really no way of telling.
After enjoying cocktails at sunset by the world’s
largest rock, the group was treated to dinner
under the stars before being sent off with a full
tank of gas, 80 litres of reserves in four jerry cans,
two spare tires, one “Our Father,” a “Hail Mary,”
a “Glory Be,” and an iPad that came preloaded
with a custom-built map that was created just for
this trip.Initially, I felt humbled by the grandeur of
it all until I realised that, in a way, it was the last
supper. They had to be as nice as possible. Because
while it may have all been recon’d by Kalmar’s team,
this was still the great outdoors at its most open.
Anything could happen.
Preparing for a road trip like this conjures up feelings
you may never know you had before. While I had been
on hundreds of international media drives before,
each one of them completely awesome, being out
here, where the variables could not be controlled by
corporate, it heightens all the senses.
The convoy rustled to life around 7am, although
the crew had been up much, much earlier. They had to
vulcanise every spare tire they had after bursting 11 tires
in 10 minutes due to a particularly harsh patch of gravel
and sand the day before. How these cars remained
screwed together after that brutal jaunt across the
desert remains up there with whatever happened to
Amelia Earhart.
If there was ever a testament to the durability
of a Porsche, this would be it. Simulations are
great, but there’s no better test than having to get
somewhere and being in the only option for it.
The Cayennes delivered in shovel loads and ate up
every obstacle in their way with a smirk that said,
“you want fries with that?”
The Drive to Perth was separated by about
1500kms of red dirt roads punctuated by
overpriced gasoline stations. Seriously. Plus, you
need to pay US$20 per vehicle for them to unlock
the padlock of the cage that surrounds it. Seriously.
Fuel is precious out here.66 philippine tatler. august 2018