In 2011 John asked Ros if she would like to, “go for a drive in the B”. Ros said “yes, of course” and 15 months later they set off from Cape Town for what they thought would be the ‘Trip of a ;lifetime’. And so it turned out to be.
At the start of the trip the B was christened ‘Goldie’ (Camino Gold in colour) as this became the car’s radio call sign.
Three and a half months later, having travelled the length of Africa and from Turkey to England they arrived in Abingdon, the home of the MG.
John and Ros were hooked on the excitement and adventure of long distance MG touring. In 2013 they returned to England and spent seven weeks touring England, Ireland Scotland and Wales.
In 2015 they were off again, this time to drive from Santiago in Chile to Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world, and from here to pick up the Pan American Highway and drive north, the length of South America to Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast of Columbia.
2016 saw the mighty Goldie cross the Australian continent from east to west, traversing the Nullarbor and then touring Western Australia for seven weeks.
John had been fascinated by an earlier trip undertaken by some of the Africa group – driving the fabled Silk Road. So, having rounded up the Herliheys from the South America trip, planning began for the 2017 Silk Road journey.
John and Ros live in Sydney and are both involved with the MG Car Club, Sydney. John is the immediate past Treasurer and Ros the current editor of the club magazine, Opposite Lock, a 40 page full colour A4 magazine which is published eleven months of the year. They have owned Goldie since 1987, bought when their children were three and a half years and six months old respectively! When else in your life do you buy an MGB?