The World's Longest Taxi Ride

This is the true story of the world's longest taxi ride, covering 12,000 kilometres, right through the Australian desert from Victoria to Darwin. I guess I better tell the story the proper way, from the beginning ...

Once upon a time, in the 1930's, a very rich Australian heiress stopped a taxi one day and asked the driver, whether he was willing to take her on a long journey, from Victoria all the way to Darwin, in the era when there were no motorways in existence yet. The journey had to go on mainly desert and dirt tracks, across rivers infested with crocodiles and all kinds of hash elements.

12 weeks later, and after the Hudson convertibles had consumed 2,000 litres of petrol, but without having suffered a single breakdown or any kind of damage, the expedition concluded with people and machine safe and sound in the longest taxi ride in world history. Miss Ada paid the the taxi driver the equivalent of some 20,000 € which took him out of the most difficult period of the Depression and enable him to buy a service station.

Neither the children of Miss Ada nor those of Mr. Charles Heard, the taxi driver and owner of the Hudson, had consciousness of the magnitude of that adventure. A simple man of few words, upon his return, he only said that "the journey was good, without big problems." He had left it like that for the rest of his days. But now, the grandchildren had found an album of photos and a diary that recorded the Odyssey, stayed hidden for more than 50 years under some shoe boxes in a cupboard. Without anybody recognizing the significance that this episode constitutes an interesting little part of the history of Australia.

Steve Heard, one of the grandchildren of the taxi driver, had told the story to the British newspaper the "Independent" and, had announced that they themselves are going to embark on the same journey in a similar vehicle, but with a backup truck full of water and provisions, and followed by a television team to record the whole experience in a documentary.

That safe and successful adventure with no mishaps whatsoever to people nor vehicle seems like a miracle, no doubt attributed to Heard's capability of organization and survival skills. (He had combated in France in WW1) He would send telegrams ahead to remote townships en route to order petrol and provision. For the very dangerous crossing of rivers, he would go in first to test the depth while one of the 3 women was to use the binoculars to check whether there were crocodiles in the horizon.

The Hudson returned to Melbourne with the original 4 wheels and the motor in perfect condition, despite the many occasions it was bogged down in water and mud, more than a few times having to count on the help of aboriginals pushing them out of it's predicament.

Steve Heard said it's ironic that his grandfather made the 12,000 kilometre journey in a convertible on mud tracks, while city people today use all terrain vehicles to do supermarket
shopping and collect children from their schools.

Tags:TaxiRide,Australia,Hudson

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