From Sydney To London…By Bus!
In 1968, Jan Ward was young and adventurous as she boarded a double-decker bus in Sydney, Australia – bound for London!
Iwas a naïve 23-year-old nurse who wanted to travel, and catching a bus from Australia to the UK with 13 other travellers seemed a good way to start my new and adventurous life!
My fellow travellers were a real mix and I made friends immediately with two of the girls – Gail and Diana.
Albert, as the bus was called, looked like a traditional London bus but he now had bunks on the top deck with a dining area, seating and galley kitchen downstairs.
We left Sydney in a flurry of publicity, balloons and streamers. As I waved goodbye to my family, I never gave a thought to what might happen to me or when I would see my parents and siblings again.
Driving across India in a double-decker bus was memorable! Many people had never seen a doubledecker bus, or Europeans, before and they would stop and look at us in wonder.
Albert wasn’t the most comfortable mode of transport. The windows didn’t shut properly, the starter motor was broken so we had to push start the bus, and the suspension clearly wasn’t meant for such bumpy roads!
Perhaps the most bizarre part of our journey was crossing a floating bridge. We were doubtful if Albert would make it so we all volunteered to take photos from the riverbank, where we were joined by hundreds of local people who were equally convinced the bus would sink the bridge!
Albert made it to the other side and we reached Delhi by Christmas. Gail and I were in charge of the cooking and made curried goat for Christmas dinner, followed by more traditional Christmas pudding and custard.
We often had to make diversions as many of the bridges were too small for Albert, including a bridge at Dozan on the north-west frontier of Pakistan, where the diversion involved an 800-mile detour or driving along a river bed for miles.
The riverbed route worked a treat – until we reached a railway bridge that Albert was unable to squeeze under. We had to dig a six-foot deep, 30-foot long trench so the bus could drive under the bridge, which took six long, bitterly cold days.
As we drove north across Iran and Turkey, the temperature continued to drop. The bus had no heating and I wasn’t prepared for such freezing cold, although it was lovely to see snow for the first time.
Ice was a real problem, especially driving through the mountains, where the roads were very narrow and winding, often with a sheer drop at the side.
Once we were in Europe, we were able to speed up and, on February 24, 1969, we finally arrived in London. We’d done it!
We went our separate ways, only to meet up again in 2013, when we had a wonder ful reunion in Sydney – complete with a guest appearance by Albert, who’s still going strong!
The bus had no heating and I wasn’t prepared for such freezing cold!