[Tony Wheeler]

For those patient souls who've managed to follow the story thus far I shall present the final chapter in the next few posts, then move on to present day projects in waiting.

It's April 1974, and with my resto project now driveable and resident at Wesburn, the temptation to take to the hills and explore the maze of FWD tracks therein was irresistible - notwithstanding my complete lack of driving experience, let alone a driver's licence! So we set out one fine morning from Wayne's sawmill, and within a few minutes drive found ourselves winding through pleasant mountain scenery on one of the better secondary roads, as seen in pic 1.

With the benefit now of half an hour's experience driving a blitz on good flat road, it was time to get a bit more adventurous and put her through her paces on one of the many sidetracks which beckoned invitingly. Selecting what appeared to be one of the less challenging tracks, which from its name one might assume to be suitable for ladies out walking, we duly turned onto it. Proceeding along comfortably up a gentle slope whilst enjoying the wonderful gear whine in 3rd low, with the canvas top rolled up for better viewing, this pleasant leafy track at first lived up to its name - as can be seen in pic 2.

Pretty soon however the track began to steepen dramatically (estimated by Keith at 40 degrees in pic 3) and became distinctly more narrow and overgrown (pic 4) which quickly put paid to the flimsy wooden frame I'd built to hold the canvas roof up!

In addition we started to encounter obstacles in the form of fallen tree branches (pic 5) and in several places, fallen tree trunks lying across the track. In the absence of a chainsaw, the largest of these tree trunks presented considerable difficulties, for we soon discovered that even with 12.00 x 20 tyres, a blitz will not clamber over an 18" log whilst climbing a 40 degree slope! We found however, that with a little encouragement, in the form of a run up, she can be made to crash over! Provided you're still in the cab after this manoeuver, you can continue on your merry way!

That's pretty much how I remember our first "test drive" - merrily exploring fire tracks, having not a clue what I was doing, with Keith hopping in and out to photograph the occasion!