When I was young, about 10 years of age, our family was friends, and for a while farming partners, with our local veterinary surgeon and his family. Fred, the vet, was a wonderful man, memorable for the way he could fool us kids and make us laugh at the same time, as well as being a great vet. Constantly travelling from farm to farm, mostly on gravel roads or worse, as ours was a dairying community, Fred wore out cars pretty quickly. Fred's brother had previously moved to farm near Esperence, West Australia, about 3700 km from where we lived in South East Queensland, and, not withstanding 3 kids and a lot more gravel, off they all set to travel across Australia, virtually East Coast to West, on a family reunion holiday. The chariot was the work car, a newish 1965 Austin Freeway Station Wagon, but this one had a clever modification devised by Fred. Inside the engine bay was a plate of just the right size and location, which was supposed to use the heat of the engine to cook a steak while travelling. Fred proudly opened the bonnet to show it to us before they left. On returning from their travels some four weeks later, there were more eye-rolls and sighs than enthusiasm from Lorna, his wife, and the kids, about the engine frypan. The things a bloke tries to do for the family!