Short Stories & Articles

Our OKA No 200

An OKA is an Australian built vehicle. During the 1900’s 500 were built in WA for the mining industry. They required a robust 4×4 vehicle that would be larger than a SUV but smaller than a bus. Most had seating… Read More

1956 Standard 8 Nullarbor Adventure

Standard 8 Adventure 1956 By Lang Kidby When my father was state manager for Standard in Western Australia in the mid 50’s, we did a trip in a Standard 8 from Perth to Melbourne and back for the Christmas holidays… Read More

2020 Getting out of Calcutta

Those who looked at my trials and tribulations in India a few months back would know we flew out of Calcutta on Air Asia (an airline now struck off my “preferred suppliers” list) Having bought a few bits and pieces… Read More

2019 Bus Trip to Dallas

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Saving Mike a 3 hour drive each way, I elected to try the famous Greyhound bus on a trip to Dallas from Abilene to catch my flight. Fumbling with my phone… Read More

2014 “Man Up” Article

2014 Another Prostate Cancer Awareness Trip around Queensland In 2010 Lang, Carl Neilsen and I did a trip around Queensland promoting Prostate Cancer awareness. This trip was prompted by the fact that Carl had had a good outcome following the … Read More

2013 Listening to the Radio in Texas

Listening to the Radio in Texas. 5,000 kilometres through Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado is an auditory nightmare. There are hundreds of radio stations, many with a range of just a few miles, so there is constant searching for… Read More

2005 The Chinese Motoring Experience

The recent survey trip to China for the 2005 Peking to Paris expedition may be of interest to some motoring enthusiasts. A vehicle was organised for me by Jason Li, the NRMA manager in China, to survey the 1907 car… Read More

2002 Aussies Can Do it Too

Lang Kidby In the eternal struggle to put a Vegemite sandwich on the table occasionally, I have begun leading Around Australia flying trips for Mal Shipton’s GOANA Flying Safaris. Mal has been extremely successful in this operation and now owns… Read More

2001 Churchill Fellowship Report

Report on Study Tour of European Air Museums General During April/May 2001 an investigation of the management methods of Air Museums in 9 European countries was undertaken. The object was to gain information to assist Australian Air Museums improve their… Read More

2000 An Indonesian Odyssey

Lang Kidby The totally expected transport-arrangement debacle took place and the expedition finally got away just on dark, instead of the planned 6.00am departure. I had a 500-kilometre/12 hour journey in front of me, from Ujung Pandung (the old city… Read More

1996 Voyage of Kris – Bali to Brisbane

1996 Voyage of the Kris by Kevin “Hub” Jones Lang and Bev purchased a 49ft yacht in Bali during a trip to Indonesia in 1995. She was called the Ocean Lady and was… Read More

1995 It’ll Be Alright On the Day

Lang Kidby There was no way my backside could have survived a 4,000km trip to Townsville and back in a Jeep so I started looking around for something a little more comfortable. Ken Hughes in Kingaroy had an ex-army 1942… Read More

1992 Acushla Voyage

1992 Voyage of the Acushla Written by Dan Daley Not long after I bought the Allen Hotel I bought this beautiful wooden boat, I got talked into a marina berth in Townsville marina because they were going cheap from the… Read More

1985 Collecting is Fun

Written by Lang 1985 when he and Mick Reynolds were living and working up in Bowen while in partnership in their marine construction business East Coast Marine There is a law in the North of Queensland which says “All old… Read More

1980 Vanuatu Pipe Band

A few days before the Independence parade I took Barak Sope, the crooked Deputy PM-elect, down to Tanna from Vila. This very active smoking volcano island was leaning towards another politician for their electorate. Anyhow in the interests of something?… Read More

1980 Memories of a Vanuatu War

During 1980, as Ops Officer/2IC of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Air Transport Squadron, I had the pleasure of commanding the air element of the force sent to Vanuatu to suppress the rebel forces attempting to disrupt an orderly… Read More

1979 A Close Shave – Kar Kar Island

Kar Kar Island is nothing more than a huge active volcano thrusting out of the ocean about 100 kilometres north of Madang, part of an extensive chain of volcanic islands extending from Indonesia to the Solomons. Several minor eruptions have… Read More

1979 “Katibi” Down the New Guinea Coast

I first saw “Katibi” on a crude slipway beneath the volcano on Kar Kar Island north of Madang in New Guinea in early 1979. The lines of her 50’ hull were those of a large traditional yacht with a full-length… Read More

1976 Army Adventurers Trek to Sandy Blight and Neil Junctions

Lang Kidby This story was written in the days long before GPS and navigation was by map and compass. Towards the end of 1976 we decided that our trip through Central Australia at the peak of the summer heat would… Read More

1972 Finding a Jeep in New Guinea

Lang Kidby What I needed was a Jeep! The Inter Scout was good to drive, but the visibility was lacking and it took more than a few black hands to pull it out of the mud when she got stuck… Read More

1971 Animal Tales and More

The terrible visibility in the Fly River district during 1971 caused a number of problems for the 183 Recce Flight pilots as the smoke from a thousand fires, during the driest spell on record, made navigating in this featureless country… Read More

1971 Assorted Flood Adventures

In February 1971 the call came to save the population of Northern NSW from inundation by the worst flood in 25 years and a huge effort was mounted by the Army and the RAAF, operating from Moree and Dubbo. As… Read More

1970’s The Truck Train

With the opening of the final stretch of sealed road between Adelaide and Perth, in the mid 1970’s, an era of Australian transportation received its death sentence – The Truck Train, from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie. Prior to this the… Read More

1970 An Underwater Adventurer’s Paradise

During nearly four years of continuous conflict between 1941 and 1945, New Guinea was a major theatre of operations resulting in a marine archaeologist’s wonderland, heavily seeded with hundreds of wrecks of ships and aircraft. Many exciting hours can be… Read More