Allan Gray is 84 years old and known for his cheeky one-liners and when we caught up with him and Jillaroo Jess the banter flowed fast and funny.
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Allan Gray is the Head Engineer for Terrain Tamer 4WD Parts in Melbourne and has found a rapidly growing fan base when he flew around Australia as part of the “Ask Allan Series” for a national magazine.
He was lovingly dubbed “The Engine Whisperer”.
In 2017, Allan and nephew Andrew touched down in Karratha to meet Jess Edwards – better known to many as Jillaroo Jess.
Jess is a self-confessed “road train driving, cattle wrangling, snake handling, horse riding, can-do cowgirl” and just as quick with the one-liners as her counterpart, Allan.
The trio joined forces, filming in workshops and cattle stations around Karratha to create the “Terrain Tamer Meets Jillaroo Jess” video series, teaching fans and viewers how to reliably prepare a 4WD vehicle for long trips.
Now with filming underway in the Mount Isa region, the next video series “Terrain Tamer Goes Mustering”, will feature the rebuild of a BJ70 Toyota Land Cruiser as a mustering vehicle that can withstand the harsh demands of our conditions.
Allan flew into Mount Isa on Monday morning and after a tour of the town said he enjoyed checking out the scenery.
“What caught my attention was the steam engine on the median strip up the road - great piece of machinery,” Allan said.
“I haven't been to Mount Isa before, so we went out to a local site, the Rigby Falls I think, on the edge of town.
“It was incredible, I didn't know so many stars existed. Jess is used to seeing the stars clearly in the sky but in Melbourne it just doesn't happen.”
Jillaroo Jess drove from Western Australia with her kelpie Bungie to meet up with the film crew after first detouring to Melbourne to meet her mum.
“I did a tyre near Wolf Creek and everyone was too scared to stop and help me, it was funny because as they drove past they’d just keep looking forward,” she laughed.
“And I hit the edge of Cyclone Marcus as I was heading south of Katherine, that was hairy for a bit.”
The new video series will highlight the Mount Isa region and some places of interest as filming continues for the next 10 days.
“It’s good for tourism for the region as we get well over 300,000 views of the video series on our social media sites,” Jess said.
“We also travel around Australia to speak at 4WD shows and highlight the area we have just been filming at so the publicity and promotion reaches far and wide.”
