{"id":9107,"date":"2026-10-09T15:21:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T04:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/?p=9107"},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T04:21:59","slug":"wheels-across-a-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wheels-across-a-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakfast With Dad: Why Wheels Across a Wilderness Still Matters. Asking dad; What Was Your Favourite Trip?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dad, of All the Trips You’ve Done, Which One Was Your Favourite?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Considering how much of Australia Dad has travelled over his lifetime, I thought he might have to think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWheels Across a Wilderness.\u201d<\/strong> 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of all the adventures, all the kilometres and all the places Dad would eventually visit, it was that journey across Australia with his brother Mike that stood out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when you think about what that trip represented, perhaps it isn\u2019t surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Wheels
Steep Point the starting point for Wheels Across A Wilderness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wheels Across a Wilderness<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Long before I came along, long before Leyland\u2019s Australia<\/em>, and before the Leyland name became so closely associated with travelling this country, there were two young brothers with an enormous sense of adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1966, Mal and Mike Leyland set out to cross Australia from west to east through the centre of the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film that came from that expedition was called Wheels Across a Wilderness<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the strange thing about sitting down and talking with Dad now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I get older, I\u2019m increasingly conscious that there are questions I want to ask him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not simply, Where did you go?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to know what it actually felt like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you frightened?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was there ever a moment when you thought you weren\u2019t going to make it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did Australia feel like out there in 1966?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What made that journey different from everything that came afterwards?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I asked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Wheels Across A Wilderness Expedition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas Mal Leyland Frightened During Wheels Across a Wilderness?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The simple answer was yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Dad explained that the overwhelming desire for discovery and exploration outweighed the fear of what could go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They tried to think through every possible situation that could cause them trouble and put contingencies in place so they were as prepared as they could possibly be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of their greatest fears was a mechanical breakdown that could leave them stranded in the desert, particularly if they began running out of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They carried a Royal Flying Doctor Service<\/a> radio for emergencies. A modern EPIRB certainly would have come in handy back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, no emergency occurred that they couldn\u2019t eventually get themselves out of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there were certainly moments of concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas There Ever a Moment When You Thought You Weren\u2019t Going to Make It?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dad told me there were times when they had to get very creative with mechanical repairs just to keep moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one particular memory has stayed with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Foot Steps in the dunes – Wheels Across A Wilderness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During one breakdown, while the others were working on the vehicle, Dad walked away from camp and climbed onto a sand dune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood there and looked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just endless sand dunes stretching into the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for a moment, a thought crossed his mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if something goes horribly wrong and this is it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From where he stood, there wasn\u2019t another soul in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just him and the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then he realised he wasn\u2019t surrounded by complete silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could hear the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could almost see it in the tiny grains of sand swirling through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He heard the rustling of a small lizard scurrying from beneath a bush growing near his boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as he looked across the vastness of the desert, he had the extraordinary feeling that he might be the only person there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only indication that he had ever been there at all was the trail of footprints in the sand behind him, showing where he had come from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can picture him standing there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young man in the middle of Australia, with no idea that the journey he was on was about to determine the direction of the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Mal inspecting another breakdown on the Wheels Across A Wilderness Expedition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Did Australia Feel Like Out There in 1966?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dad didn\u2019t need many words for this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazing. Exhilarating. Breathtaking. Inspirational.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia was enormous, remote and largely unknown to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they wanted to see more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Made Made Wheels Across a Wilderness Different From Everything That Came Afterwards?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt planted the seed,\u201d Dad told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seed that he wanted to do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spend his life exploring this country and experiencing Australia at its very best \u2014 and, hopefully, somehow find a way to make a living doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we all know that he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Dad\u2019s Adventures to Mine<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t there for Wheels Across a Wilderness<\/em> in 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m incredibly grateful that earlier this year I had the opportunity to experience the 60th anniversary expedition<\/a> of that journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, I got to do it with Dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty years after that original adventure, we were travelling through some of the same country together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Wilderness is full of wildlife – Wheels Across A Wilderness Expedition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy Is Wheels Across A Wilderness Still Your Favourite?\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There was one final question I wanted to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After everything Dad has done, why does Wheels Across a Wilderness<\/em> remain the trip he remembers as his favourite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His answer was simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it was the trip \u2014 and the film \u2014 that made everything else possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad and Mike realised they could actually do what they had set out to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps even more importantly, when they showed the film in theatres, they discovered something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australians loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People wanted to see more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wanted to experience places they might never have the opportunity to visit themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Dad and Mike realised they could give them that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went on to spend years showing Australians their own country through the lens of a camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remote places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the extraordinary landscapes that existed beyond the places most people knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That journey in 1966 wasn’t simply another adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than sixty years later, Dad still remembers standing on that sand dune, looking out across what seemed like an endless wilderness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the only evidence of where he had been was a line of footprints disappearing into the sand behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither he nor Mike could possibly have known just how far those footprints would eventually lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I certainly have plenty more questions to ask him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Carmen Leyland<\/strong>
Red Dirt and Beyond<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dad, of All the Trips You’ve Done, Which One Was Your Favourite? Considering how much of Australia Dad has travelled over his lifetime, I thought he might have to think about it. He didn\u2019t. \u201cWheels Across a Wilderness.\u201d 1966. Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","travel-monster-post","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9107"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9124,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9107\/revisions\/9124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leylandstravelaustralia.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}