An organ grinder and his wife driving around Australia in a 1923 Citroen with a top speed of 50 kilometres an hour - strange but true.

Lois and Tom Newsome are doing just that.

Tom is not just an organ grinder; he makes the small pipe organs and sells them in kit form.

Their car is a 1923 Citroen 5CV Type C that they call Matilda and there is not a lot of room for luxury on board.

Although it was getting only about 11 kilometres to the litre when the couple hit Kununurra, they were hoping new carburettor jets would take it back up to 20 kilometres to the litre.

Their trip is in celebration of the first car to travel right around Australia - a 1922 model of the same Citroen.

Noel Westwood, an evangelist, made the first continuous trip around Australia in 1925, leaving Perth in January and returning at the end of December.

He had completed 10,700 miles averaging 43 miles to the gallon.

Westwood had stuffed his tyres with grass and gum leaves after his tubes became unrepairable.

Lois and Tom passed through Kununurra last week, staying overnight with Bernice and Bevan Spackman, before heading on towards Katherine.

Lois and Tom and their Baby Citroen

They have no backup vehicle and relatively few tools but they expect to be back home in Northam for Christmas.

For information on their trip and the history of the first car to complete the trip visit their website at www.castlewoodorgans.com/matilda