1974 Series 3 SWB

Whilst I would like to say the next leg of our journey was one of my favourites, and it was, that would be suggesting that I enjoyed some parts of our trip more than the other parts, and that just isn't true. We had a ball the whole time and travelling in the landy made the trip that much more of an adventure. I don't really know how to properly capture the sentiments here. The best description I can come up with is this - I am not sure we would had considered our trip an adventure if we had been traveling in a rental Hyundai i30.

Next Leg - St Helens to Coles Bay

We awoke in St Helens to another beautiful day. The plan was to make it to Freycinet. What made this leg of the trip so enjoyable was the coastline we got to enjoy all the way down the east coast, and the many little beaches and bays we stopped off at along the way.

First things first however, there is none of this "just turn the key and drive off" business in a series land rover. No sir. I was beginning to form a bit of a routine of morning checks and inspections. Truth be told, I spent a lot of the time marveling at how much real estate remained in the engine bay (you can see the ground!), even after the 202 had been put in there, and also how simple but robust the little landy had been designed. The morning checks (dreamy gazing) had begun creeping up in duration. My wife began to think that the length of time I spent inspecting the landy was directly proportional to the unreliability of our chosen vehicle for the trip.

Checks complete, everything in order (save for the little coolant leak on the top of the radiator - note made to keep an eye on the temperature gauge and check the levels each time we stopped). With that, we were off and running.

Plenty of stops as we headed south down the Tasman Highway, including a headland in Scamander (photo location from first picture in this thread), Bicheno, Friendly Beaches, Ironstone Brewery and Freycinet Marine Park, just to name a few, all before arriving at our home for the next few days in Coles Bay.

Now, the first landy issue presented itself - coolant on top of the radiator. I figured it must have been coming out through a small hole under pressure. No worries, I think to myself, I'll crack the radiator cap to reduce the pressure. Good idea? Nope. I can't get the radiator cap to budge (still can't as it turns out). Right then. Plan b - plug the hole. I'll grab some knead- it from the servo come general store. Good idea? Nope. Nothing like that in store. Convenience store in Coles Bay? Nope. No knead-it either. Bugger. They did have some gasket sealant though...

Gasket Glue + Coke Can + Stubbie (for inspiration of course) = landy repair kit.

A quick risk analysis was undertaken- if the plan doesn't work, it's the same as doing nothing. Not really an option. If the plan works, car completes trip and I have a story to tell. Decision made.

..

After a very relaxing few days in Coles Bay sightseeing and eating too much seafood, it was time to move on. Next destination - Port Arthur. But before heading off it was time to fill up-

Fuel Log
Location - Coles Bay
Gauge - 1/16
Tripmeter (Total) - 298mi
Odo - 74,453mi
Tripmeter (Tank) - 161mi (257.6km)
Litres - 33.5 (7.4 Gallons)

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
21.8 7.7 13

(The landy really didn't like some of the hills in the national park - the fuel figures prove it!)

Pictures

Morning Checks
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/284.jpg

Cracking Tassie East Coast
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/285.jpg

Magic Smoko Stop
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/286.jpg

It is only a little leak...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/287.jpg

Landy repair kit
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/288.jpg

Running repairs
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/289.jpg

(Fixed) Kind of...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/290.jpg

Ready for the next leg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/03/291.jpg

I cannot decide if I want to complain or not! I wait for each installment of the trip, read it, check out the pics and turn green with envy! Then hang out for the next post!
I think spacing out the installments makes it better! But the waiting still drives me mad!
Great idea, Great trip!
Keep the posts coming at whatever pace suits you!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by flyinglandrover

I cannot decide if I want to complain or not! I wait for each installment of the trip, read it, check out the pics and turn green with envy! Then hang out for the next post!
I think spacing out the installments makes it better! But the waiting still drives me mad!
Great idea, Great trip!
Keep the posts coming at whatever pace suits you!

---

Thanks mate. Don't worry, it annoys me too!

It hasn't helped that my trip notes are spread across my work diary, my iphone and the back of various Tasmanian travel brochures. Or that the trip photos are on 2 different computers and a hard drive! But probably the biggest problem of all is - every time I read the notes, or look at the photos, I can't help but start day dreaming about the trip and thinking about the next adventure!

And we're back.

Next Leg - Coles Bay to Port Arthur

We were at a real risk of never leaving Coles Bay. It is a beautiful small town, there appeared to be an endless supply of seafood available at our doorstep and the people we encountered were lovely. Luckily for us, the weather gods made it a little easier to leave, as we experienced our first bad weather for the trip, a very wet and windy day. So we packed up the landy and headed for our next stop - Port Arthur.

It was on this leg of the trip we discovered that the windscreen wipers work. Which was good, because it was raining. However, we also discovered that the windscreen wipers in a series land rover (at the very least, our series land rover) don't work very well. Which is less good. Because it was raining. A lot.

It was also at this point of the trip that we realised the heater didn't work. However, given the amount of 'natural ventilation' available through the body work of the landy, I figure you'd need something a kin to a wood fire to keep things warm. In reality, it probably wasn't that cold for Tasmania. However, for a couple of Queenslanders, we found it quite fresh. Wearing long pants and a few extra layers (a novelty in itself for us Queenslanders) seemed to suffice.

As the landy was already fuelled up, we fuelled ourselves up with a final coffee from Tombolo (the local coffee shop which turns out a good brew) and headed north to re-join the A3 before heading south towards Port Arthur.

We stopped for smoko and fuel in Swansea (and took an opportunistic photo in front of the Morris General Store, which made the Landy look like it had taken a step back in time).

We also stopped in for a look at the Tasman monument in Dunalley, which is conveniently located next to the Dunalley Waterfront Cafe and Gallery. The cafe also happens to be the cellar door for Bream Creek Wineries. Given the proximity we thought we'd take the opportunity to toast Abel Tasman's naming of Van Diemen's Land. Good job Abel.

Suitably refreshed we pushed on to Port Arthur where we would be spending the next few days.

Quirky land rover fact learnt from this leg of the trip - Land rovers have holes in them. A lot of holes. When traveling at speed (okay, it's all relative - at speed for a land rover) air is forced through these holes. And in Tasmania that air is cold. Very cold. Being a Queenslander, this would usually be a good thing - air conditioning. Less so in Tasmania, when the air being forced through the house in the transmission cover is as cold as ice. At one stage I was sure my legs were going to freeze. On the plus side though, the blasts of cold air coming through the floor were acting as a demister...

Note to self, I need to find a way to plug holes on the transmission tunnel. (I'm not sure if I am running more holes than I should (maybe an overdrive was fitted at some stage of the Land Rover's life).

Fuel Log
Location - Swansea
Gauge - 1/2
Tripmeter (Total) - 382mi
Odo - 74,538mi
Tripmeter (Tank) - 84mi (136km)
Litres - 21 (4.6 Gallons)

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
18.4 6.5 15.4

Pictures

Visibility: Average
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/307.jpg

Time travel
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/308.jpg

Tailgate tea time
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/309.jpg

Sampling the local drop
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/310.jpg

Abel Tasman Monument
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/311.jpg

Land rover driver rite of passage
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/312.jpg

Next Stop - Port Arthur

We spent the next few days in Port Arthur. Our base camp for this leg was the Norfolk Bay Convict Station B&B. Whilst we didn't know it at the time we booked our stay here, our booking came complete with a complimentary historian - the owner and host - Lynton. What Lynton didn't know about Port Arthur and its rich history, probably wasn't worth knowing. He also made Jam. Really good jam. I am fairly partial to a preserve on toast for a weekend breakfast, so for this reason alone I thought Lynton was alright. His tour guide advisory service was just a bonus as far as I was concerned.

With glucose levels peaking, we spent our time checking out the Port Arthur Historic Site (including an evening ghost tour of the ruins), the Eaglehawk Neck Historic Site and the Coalmine Historic Site. I am embarrassed to say that I had been completely ignorant of the significant role Port Arthur had played in our convict history. I had known Port Arthur for all the wrong reasons. The locals don't speak of the tragic event that occurred there so not as to diminish the rich history of the place.

Right, with that bit of history/culture out of the way - quirky land rover lessons learnt on this leg - of which there were two:

1. Plan your fuel stops

This tip really only concerns people who have not properly planned their fuel stops, driving a series land rover with a 45 litre fuel tank, in an area where petrol stations are sparse and the driver doesn't know where the nearest petrol station is, all while running dangerously low on fuel.

So basically, this tip really only concerns - me.

Somewhere along the line, whilst zipping (land rover translation: chugging) around Port Arthur and its surrounds, I lost track of how much fuel I had used and the gauge was perilously close to empty. Fun fact about Port Arthur - petrol stations are not in plentiful abundance. We were literally spluttering as we pulled into the general store in Premaydena.

2. Series Land Rovers save lives

Our guide from the ghost tour advised that Port Arthur (in addition to most of Tasmania) suffers an alarmingly high number of animal strikes. Mainly wallabies, possums and other marsupials. The guide said that a lot of the time, the animals get caught by the headlights, are temporarily blinded by the lights, stop in their tracks and are hit by cars because the drivers cannot pull up in time due to their speed. The guide concluded the tour by asking us all to dip our headlights if we saw an animal on the road, sound our horn and slow down on our drive home in the dark.

I informed the guide that I didn't need to follow these directions because I was driving an old land rover home. She queried why. I told her that the headlights on the landy were a couple of candle power at best, I wasn't sure if I had a working horn (or in fact a horn full stop) and given the average speed of the landy, the animals would probably have enough time to have a sit down meal before the landy got anywhere near them.

She didn't get it.

It seems you are either a land rover person or you are not.

Fuel Log
Location - Premaydena
Gauge - EMPTY
Tripmeter (Total) - 538mi
Odo - 74,693mi
Tripmeter (Tank) - 155mi (248km)
Litres - 41.2 (9.1 Gallons)

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
17.1 6.0 16.6

Pictures

Norolk Bay Convict Station B&B
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/157.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/158.jpg

Landy Parking
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/159.jpg

Coalmine Historic Site
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/160.jpg

Land rover windbreak for smoko
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/161.jpg

Like an oasis in the desert...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/162.jpg

Next Leg - Port Arthur to Hobart (READ: Landy rest stop)

The next leg of the journey took us to Hobart. This leg saw very little driving as we utilised other methods of transport to see the sights. Consequently, the little Landy earned a very well deserved break. Its reward for faultless motoring thus far was the ability to drop oil in the one place for the next 4 days - the car park of the Old Woolstore apartments.

We sampled a lot of the food, drink and culture that Hobart has to offer during our stay. Our travels took us to Mona, Salamanca markets and a large number of the eating and drinking establishments all around Hobart. We particularly liked the Elizabeth Street Pier precinct, given its proximity to our accommodation, which was convenient, given the large amount of time we spent where we were not in a state where we could lawfully operate a motor vehicle...

Driving in Hobart was also the first time we were driving the Landy in a city environment. It was an awakening experience on a few occasions - some other motorists were not familiar with the acceleration properties of a series land rover. It was also the first time on the trip that other motorists were using their horn for reasons other than acknowledging a friendly "Landy" wave...

As a consequence of the travels being largely on the foot falcon, there were very few Landy lessons to be learnt from this leg. However, there were two -

1. Know your driving environment.

City drivers are less likely to acknowledge that you are driving a "Classic" piece of motoring history and see you more as a motorist in the way of their destination. However, most situations can be defused with a smile and a calm Landy wave.

2. Series land rovers attract attention, even when stationary.

Notwithstanding the Landy was resting in the carpark of our accommodation, it attracted plenty of attention from other guests. The old truck is like a magnet and a great conversation starter. Despite me telling people how well it was running, I suspect some people were questioning my glowing reviews of its performance - especially when the Landy didn't move an inch for 4 days...

Fuel figures Fuel Log
Location - Hobart
Gauge - 1/2
Tripmeter (Total) - 629mi
Odo - 74,784mi
Tripmeter (Tank) - 91mi (145.6km)
Litres - 20.5 (4.5 Gallons)

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
20.2 7.1 14.1

Pictures

Elizabeth Street Pier Landy
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/501.jpg

Elizabeth Street Pier
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/502.jpg

Floating Fish n Chips Shop
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/503.jpg

Lunch
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/504.jpg

Utilising a non land rover method of tranpsort
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/505.jpg

Someone knocked this up out of some left over reo...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/506.jpg

Turns out God doesn't drive a land rover...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/507.jpg

Hobart to Strahan

Part 1 - Hobart to Derwent Bridge (including "Land Rover Ownership Initiation")

After a good stay in Hobart we were ready to hit the road again in the Landy. The next leg of the trip was going to take us to Strahan on the west coast. When we were planning the trip, we measured the distance from Hobart to Strahan at roughly 180km through some pretty hilly terrain. To make things a little easier on the Landy (...and our marriage) we planned a stopover in Derwent Bridge to break up the trip.

It was also on this leg of the trip that we had our "Land Rover Ownership Initiation" [READ: Mechanical Failure].

We stopped in Hamilton, which is probably a little under half way to Derwent Bridge from Hobart, and found a neat little park just off the Lyell Highway to have our morning smoko. A picnic table in the park relieved the Landy's tailgate of performing table duties on this occasion.

Shortly after our smoko stop, I noticed that the little red charge light on instrument panel was on. What was a little bit embarrassing was the fact that I had no idea how long the light had been on. What was a lot more embarrassing was the fact that I had no idea whether the light was normally on or off. Not sure as to whether the light should be on or off - I kept driving. After all, the Landy was still going.

As we continued hurtling down the road I thought to myself "I wonder what that charge light is meant to indicate?". I didn't know whether it meant that the alternator was charging or whether it meant the alternator wasn't charging? [SPOILER ALERT - It means the alternator isn't charging]

We rolled into Derwent Bridge and proceeded to check into our accommodation. From here it was onto the road house, the Hungry Wombat Cafe, for a feed of their signature beef burger. Aside from the road house and our accommodation, there was very little in town, which was good for us because I had a charge light issue to resolve.

So the Landy has an aftermarket voltmeter in the dash which you think would be helpful to resolve the issue right? Wrong. The gauge ranks from -60 volts to 60 volts (apparently it is a gauge from a substation?). This helped me see there was more than 0 volts when the Landy was running but less than 15 volts. Not to worry, I had a voltmeter in my tool roll. That should be helpful right? Wrong, well, sort of. The voltmeter worked. The fella reading it didn't...

Landy off. 12.4 volts. Beauty, that's good. Landy running. 12.4 volts. That's good too, right? Astute readers will realise that this is not right. Sadly, I did not realise I should have been punching out somewhere around the 14 volt mark. Until the next day...

Landy lessons learnt on this leg -

I am an idiot.

Fuel Log
Location - Derwent Bridge
Gauge - 1/4
Tripmeter (Total) - 745mi
Odo - 74,901mi
Tripmeter (Tank) - 117mi (187.2km)
Litres - 26.1 (5.7 Gallons)

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
20.4 7.2 13.9

Pictures

Smoko stop in Hamilton
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/372.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/373.jpg

Newer shorty spotted whilst we were in Derwent Bridge
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/374.jpg

Unhelpful voltmeter
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/09/375.jpg

7.2L/100 from a series.... wowzers.....

wait... I can't read... sorry....

Still impressive figures, I never got close to that from my 186 engined LR.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by debruiser

7.2L/100 from a series.... wowzers.....

---

No, 13.9 L/100 - 7.2 Km/L. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chad79

Usage
mpg km/l l/100km
20.4 7.2 13.9

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by debruiser

7.2L/100 from a series.... wowzers.....

---

Actually 13.9L/100km
Or 7.2km/L
Or 20.4mpg

Aaron