sharing stories… sharing lessons… shoring up the future
It’s been seven days since my last post. Seven days during which we have waited with bated breath as Alfred wandered around like an old man, seeming to forget where he was going, soaked us all and finally blew himself out well inland. There have been some places much more affected than this community. We…
If you’re reading this in the UK, cyclones probably sound exotic and vaguely tropical – even exciting perhaps. If you’re in Queensland, you’ll know all about them. They’re a bit of a nuisance. Alfred is our most recent, forming on 23 February 2025 in the Coral Sea. Townsvillers have said they’ll still play cricket…
Just finished a mammoth five days and nights that I won’t get back! It’s been all about trying to turn Land Rover 2 into a mini service station. Any desert driver will tell you a good way to avoid bogging is to let the tires down. Traction in sand is all-important and the greater the…
Between 1987 and 1990 the Australian Army’s Project Perentie led to the production of approximately 2,500 4×4 Land Rover 110 vehicles. Two of them now live in Moggill, on the edge of the Brisbane River. In October 1989 Australia’s Maintenance Engineering Agency released a Perentie Special Edition of their newsletter, aimed at the soldiers who…
It’s said that no plan survives contact with reality, so this is really a triumph of optimism over experience. We’re planning to go 10,000 kilometers in 45 days – ish, and I’ve mentally broken this down into four phases. Phase 1 is ‘Do these vehicles really work?‘ This is an easy phase, basically driving a…
Final servicing on Peter found this. Almost no brake fluid in one reservoir. A slight stain on the internal tyre wall gave a further clue. As the wheel came off, things looked dirtier and grimier – and this is the offending item cleaned up! A gremlin must have got into the wheel cylinder and gnawed…
I started this blog with a rush to get another Land Rover. But I didn’t say anything about the first one. If you have a family with no interest in camouflaged 4-wheel drive vehicles, its best if they have names so you can tell them apart! These are named after my parents who enabled us…
Time to get to work! Vehicle stripped back to basics, and 34 years of mud and grime washed off. The mud covered a multitude of other problems, like opening Pandora’s box. Corrosion on the galvanized sides, a weeping wheel hub, rubber seals that didn’t, a radiator full of rust, and tyres that looked, well, tired.…
So, we’re going to the Simpson. In two Land Rovers. Well, we’d better look for another…! This one came from auction, transported up from New South Wales. On the surface it looked ok – nice paint job, canopy a little worn perhaps! But on the inside it showed evidence of a harder life. Serious dings;…