Thread: Bush Tucker Man in a Land Cruiser!

Originally Posted by tjupurula

Hi Bob
Mulan is next to Lake Gregory, about 300km SE of Halls Creek. I regularly go to Kununurra though, as it is our closest major shopping centre, only 7 - 8 hours from where I am. The reason it takes so long is that half of it is the Tanami Track, and that is not a track to speed on.
I have been riding horses since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and I have seen some people go through interesting times trying to learn how to ride. I think the best was an American young fella, who put his foot backwards in the stirrup, kicked the horse in the neck trying to swing his leg over, and got bitten on the rump for his effort. He was fuming and we were laughing so hard we almost cried.
Incidentally, Norforce now use a mixture of Landrovers, Toyotas and Nissans, so I guess they can't make their mind up.
Regards
Tjupurula

GDay Tjupurula Reminds me of Slim's song about Texas Jack and his saddle with bulwarks fore and aft.
Cheers,
John.

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

I asked him once if he really did like landrovers and he told me that he thought they were the best four wheel drive. That is many years ago but I don't see why he wouldn't have thought that, we all do!

I used to work for Malcolm Douglas a long time ago and he told me that he thought landrovers were the best. He drove toyotas when I worked for him but he told me that he did because they were given to him by Toyota as sponsorship, he said if landrover gave him vehicles he would drive them.

Landrover is largely responsible for their demise in Oz.First their public relations budget was meague compared to Toyota and Nissan.Their philosophy was that they had a hard and fast clientele that would buy Landys but they grew old and the younger generation was blasted by Toyota sponsoring everything with some ads being blatant lies ( the Snowy River ads which were run both here and overseas).Land rover have never really tried to regain where they were due to I think dealerships that just couldn't care and charge like wounded bulls for service and parts.IMHO of course.

Les drives a D4, His partner, a defender 110. Bob

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Vehicles

Well there are no prizes for guessing which vehicle I drive out bush.
These days I am travelling in a Land Rover Discovery series 4 and loving it. I have had it decked out for bush work by adding a dual battery, Bull Bar and winch, as well as boat loading roof rack and a snorkel.
You can see the get up in the attached photograph. The trouble is that these vehicles are not cheap, and I must admit I tend to shy away from poking its nose into the bare uncharted bush too often although the odd scratch I’ve collected does tend to polish out.
That said, I must admit that I have on a couple of occasions gone into Arnhem Land and pushed along a very very washed out track system that had clearly not been used for many a year. With one or even two wheels of the ground at times it just crawled across the country, which is a bit different to what I was trained on in the Army (Land Rover series IIa).
This Discovery has had an interesting evolution. It was originally produced when Rover was wholly owned by the Brits, I think it was a British Aerospace Company back then. Anyway BMW came along and took over Land Rover which force fed and injected a production standard that was long overdue. Of course the Brits and the Germans are very good at fighting one another and so that relationship didn’t last all that long. Next came the Yanks and they had past form in dealing with the British workers and the word “efficiency” came into play. Under their watch, the Series 4 Discovery was conceived and I think even born. Anyway, Rover now belongs to the Indians via Tata.
To counter the problem of going bush, I have come to a decision. When I go bush these days, I tend to set up a base camp and use it as a research base to gather information and photographs etc. That’s how I earn an income and at the same time enjoy myself, doing what I love doing. The Disco tows my off road van with ease along the roads and tracks, so there is no problem there. But these days I want to explore the waterways and river systems as well as the coastal estuary areas, so a bigger boat is required from a safety point of view. Obviously I can’t tow a boat and a caravan, although I often wonder why not, so the answer is to look at a second dedicated vehicle.
Now my other half, Sandy, loves the shape and style of the traditional box Land Rover. She says it always reminds her of Armand and Michaela Denis filming in Africa. So we went and had a test drive after which Sandy was sold. We have ordered a five door Land Rover Defender which should arrive around mid-2012. That will be Sandy’s vehicle as she loves driving it, gear changes and all. That’s fine with me as I get to drive the Disco which quite frankly is the best vehicle I have ever driven, and I’ve had a few, including some notable German products.

Having recently used a D4 and being the owner of a Deefer I have to say I am glad Les's old bones are travelling in the Disco. I couldnt believe a big 4x4 could be so comfortable. Just a great car. Not cheap though.

He popped in our camp near Starke, late August or was that early Sept, for a cuppa. Only two of us there out of 5 camping. He was in a Brownie looking D4 and wasn't set up for camping. Had a nice chat and left. He did mention a Camprite that cost a lot. Not sure if it is a trailer or trayon type. Looking at my 1998 Defender as he was leaving I reckon I would also prefer the D4. By the by, the road to Starke was brilliant. Soon as you cross the Ck it turns to to two wheel tracks.


Cheers,

Originally Posted by rijidij

A few weeks ago we were parked at the Cosmos Center in Charleville in our Isuzu Countys and a D2 when another guy in an Isuzu 110 pulled up to have a chat (as you do) It turned out, the 110 he was driving was the actual Perentie from the Bush Tucker Man series which he had bought from Les Hiddens.

Cheers, Murray

ARN 48-001 apparently....
I read in an article a couple of years back.

edit - here's the article:
http://www.outbackspirittours.com.au...famous-vehicle

Transport guys in Norforce HQ Darwin told me that the LR was parked up and couldnt be used as it was modified to much. They pointed to a 110 parked up in the transport compound.

This was about 16 odd years ago. Not sure if it was fact or fiction.

I have meet Les Hiddens a couple of times.
1 was when I was waiting for delivery of our then new D3, he was at the dealers to get some part or other but had to wait around.


During our conversation he told me I had mad an excellent choice & that he loved his.


Mad me feel a bit better about spending all that $.
Jonesfam