Elderly couple's 20-hour airport drive

[Ray!]

A SIMPLE drive to the airport turned into a 20-hour road trip for an elderly Melbourne couple, who sparked a state-wide police search.

Ivan and Catherine Fry, aged 86 and 84, reached the far eastern town of Bairnsdale while trying to return to their home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs after dropping their son at Melbourne Airport on Sunday night.

The couple left their Wantirna South home at 7pm (AEDT), but after they didn't return at 9.30pm, a concerned family member reported them missing.

Police issued appeals for public assistance yeserday, and a man contacted police after seeing the couple travelling in their Ford Futura at about 40km/h along the Burwood Highway.

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/05/29/488275_latest-news.html

Memo to family member: When son needs to go to the airport, take a taxi or let family member do the driving, not an 86 year old.

Cheers

Ray

[Oldmate]

" he was just driving, and he really lost his melons". Gold!!!

[Jacket_1985]

do'h, just missed em, i was coming back from orbost at lunch time, would have passed thru Bairnsdale at around 1:30pm.

[gottheshits]

Hehe old people rock.

It wasnt you was it Ray and posting this is just a cover????

[Ray!]

Hehe old people rock.

It wasnt you was it Ray and posting this is just a cover????

I still have a few years to go and I hope that if I ever get that bad, someone takes away the car keys.

Cheers

Ray

[Glort]

WTF??

Didn't this guy have any martes that could drive him? Had to get old, old folks to give him a lift. What were the other family members thinking ?

As well as getting lost, driving at 40 wouldn't exactly make the Journey any quicker..

And if they are like a lot of oldies, they probably stopped every hour for a cuppa and visit the bathroom and whatever for an hour at a time there. .

Even though they got lost and did 500 km, the fact it took them 20 hours to do that distance says a lot.

On open roads and going through towns, any more than 8 hours to do that distance is a worry in itself.

I remember going places with my grandparents that were literally a full day trip and the day always started at 4am " To beat the traffic".

I go along the same unchanged roads now and remember certain places where we always had to stop for a rest and laugh at how that spot was only an hour and a half into the trip or from the last stop.

I can do the same journey now and always have been able to since I have been driving in 4 hours tops.

My grandfather wasn't a slow driver, ( even had the mighty HD Holden with the big block 186 upgraded to X2 spec twin carbs!) 55- 60 Mph was the "right" speed to him on the open road.

I have long since realised it was all that damn stopping and pulling out the primus stove to make tea and have the cake or scones my grandmother always packed that made the trips so bloody long!

[Chris]

_{Maybe they just got sick of little glort in the back seat yelling 'are we there yet' 'are we there yet' so had to pull over for a calming tea lol.}

[Chris]

My 93yo grandfather unfortunately still holds his licence. My dad has only managed to convince him to only drive in emergencies in the local area. But there is no way we can get him to sell the car.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Chris

[GU3Tray]

haha.....reminds me of my fathers father! Nan never drove and when they went anywhere it was always foot to the floor with nan sitting in the passenger seat, Wide eyed clasping her bug and not saying a word, whiile grandkids (myself and sister 10 and 12 yo) played corners! We used to get thrown from side to side so violently it hurt when we crashed into each other!

Luckly we only endured this once a year when we visited them in Qld. Mermaid beach used to be a blur out the windows! ahh good times.

BTW this was in a datsun 180B, He used to flog that thing. It was 80ks and above everywhere or it was nothing, side streets, main roads, open road, did not matter!

[Glort]

haha.....reminds me of my fathers father! Nan never drove and when they went anywhere it was always foot to the floor with nan sitting in the passenger seat, Wide eyed clasping her bug and not saying a word, whiile grandkids (myself and sister 10 and 12 yo) played corners! We used to get thrown from side to side so violently it hurt when we crashed into each other!

Luckly we only endured this once a year when we visited them in Qld. Mermaid beach used to be a blur out the windows! ahh good times.

BTW this was in a datsun 180B, He used to flog that thing. It was 80ks and above everywhere or it was nothing, side streets, main roads, open road, did not matter!

Classic!

Reminds me of my elderly neighbours sister who would come to visit her almost every day.

She had this pale Blue 180B and always when she arrived, she would open the boot and take out her handbag and when she left she would dutifully put it back in there before driving off.

I never understood what was with putting this small handbag in the boot instead of just putting it on the passengers seat or floor beside her.