Jason Becker and Danielle Hart were participating in an event called Back to the Track, as a convoy of historic vehicles travelled from Alice Springs to Darwin to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the end of World War 2.

While their journey was recalling the war against Japanese forces from 1941 to 1945, the driving duo felt as though they were running from a present threat: COVID-19.

"It was almost like we had someone on our tail the whole time," said Mr Becker.

The great escape from COVID began before Mr Becker and Ms Hart left their lake home.

For more than two years they had been planning to join the Back to the Track convoy. The 75th anniversary event in 2020 had been cancelled due to COVID, and it seemed the pandemic was about to knock the wheels off the Lake couple's participation in this year's rescheduled Back to the Track.

They were due to leave from western Lake Macquarie with three other local military vehicle enthusiasts on Saturday, July 24, with the plan to drive leisurely to Alice Springs for the start of Back to the Track. Then, on the Thursday at 11am, Mr Becker heard Queensland was shutting the border with NSW at 1am the following day.

He phoned his wife at work and told her, "We're stuffed. The holiday is not happening."

"I said, 'Why can't we leave now?,'" Ms Hart recalled. "I just thought, 'We've still got the hours to get there, and if we don't even attempt it, will we always be going, If only we tried'."

At 1.15pm, the Lake contingent set off, heading for the Queensland border in three old military vehicles, with Mr Becker and Ms Hart in their restored 1940 Chevrolet truck.

Usually the Chevrolet trundles along at no more than 70 kilometres an hour. Jason Becker had his beloved truck going 90 km/h.

"I've never driven that truck at 90 km/h," Mr Becker said. "Very loud! She was screaming all the way to the Queensland border."

"We were just crossing fingers, hoping we could get there," Ms Hart added.

They did, crossing the border with 45 minutes to spare.

"The adrenaline was still pumping the next day," Mr Becker said.

But there was still another border to cross. Into the Northern Territory.

Unbeknown to the travellers, the NT Government had announced it was closing its border to Queensland. By luck, they crossed the border just four hours before it shut.

"We were like, 'Can we beat any more things?!'," Ms Hart said.

What they couldn't beat was the red dust as they pushed on towards Alice Springs. That dust has provided a souvenir of sorts; the new tarpaulin covering the Chevy's back is still tattooed a dusty red.

From Alice Springs, the couple set off with about 45 other World War 2 vehicles that had travelled from all over Australia for the 1600-kilometre drive along the Stuart Highway, which had been created during the war as a vital connection to Darwin for transporting men and supplies north, and bringing the wounded south.

More than rolling through history on Back to the Track, Mr Becker and Ms Hart were experiencing it, for the route was dotted with the ruins and reminders of wartime, when thousands of Allied servicemen and women were stationed in Australia's heart.

Jason Becker was surprised by the amount of military infrastructure that had been in the Northern Territory, from camps and hospitals to munitions stores and airstrips, where US bombers would take off and land on long-range missions against Japanese targets.

"You think of the war in the Pacific, and you don't really think of Australia that much," he said. "Just realising how big the war effort here actually was."

"It was the airstrips that really shocked me, in the middle of nowhere," said Ms Hart. "One [the Fenton Airfield] was more than a kilometre long.

"The history was incredible. I actually never realised there was so much between Alice Springs and Darwin."

For an outback road trip, a more comfortable vehicle than an 81-year-old truck may have been the go. After all, the Chevy has no air-conditioning, no power steering, no plush seats, and no music player.

"Even if you had a CD player, you'd never hear it, because the truck is actually that loud," said Ms Hart. "No modern cons at all, and I think that's great."

And each night, they camped in the back of the truck, where there was a concession to comfort - a double bed. And a mirror, installed by Mr Becker for his wife.

"So she can look in the mirror and do her hair every morning," he explained.

"That was very kind," Ms Hart responded. "But I don't think we used it."

The couple's Chevrolet and the other vehicles in the convoy, including a World War 2 ambulance that had been driven from Lake Macquarie, aroused interest in each community they passed through. They stopped at schools and local landmarks, with the tourists becoming instant attractions.

"It is like you're driving a mobile museum, and everybody wants to come up and talk to you about it," Mr Becker said.

While they revelled in being part of the historic event and seeing extraordinary scenery and wildlife, the couple figured COVID restrictions would catch up with them somewhere along the way. And they did, in Darwin.

They were in lockdown for three days, before it was lifted. However, Queensland had applied a block on those travelling from the NT. Just as Ms Hart and Mr Becker were planning for a long stay in the back of their truck, that restriction eased as well.

"If what is happening now in NSW had happened in the Northern Territory when we were there, we'd still be there," Mr Becker.

COVID restrictions were not the only drama on this historical journey. On the long drive home, in a remote part of the NT near the Gulf of Carpentaria, a member of the Lake contingent's party fell ill and had to be airlifted to Darwin. The two Lake women on the trip then drove his 1942 Dodge truck 2000 kilometres to Winton in north-west Queensland.

"I've never driven one of these trucks before - ever," said Danielle Hart. "A few grinds [of the gears] to start with."

It was all part of the adventure that has Jason Becker and Danielle Hart already planning for the next Back to the Track in four years in their reliable escape vehicle, the 1940 Chevy.

"In the whole 11,200 kilometres, she did not miss a beat," Mr Becker said.

"It was amazing," said Ms Hart of their six-week journey. "We both commented on the way back, 'I could have continued for weeks, if not months, longer'."

Her husband added, "We had the time of our lives."

IN THE NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: