The Scout made it to Townsville....and so did I.

Well, we hit the first leg of our journey.  All the way to Townsville.  I want you to know that I/ME drove the Scout all the way up.  The 'pampered' lady drove the Scout.  It's interesting to see some of the faces checking out the Scout on the way up.  Quite a few guys looked at the scout and you can see in their faces..." What the heck IS that?'' 

As for driving it,...well,.. give me a luxury vehicle any day.  While the Scout DOES provide fun for camping trips and off road fun, it's not exactly a RELAXING vehicle to drive.  There's very little room to move your feet and legs, and the pedals were up a bit high, so I had to LIFT my WHOLE leg to shift gears.  I drained the wrong sub tank of petrol into the main tank, AFTER it was '' ALREADY explained'' to me.  The window handle fell off on to the floor.  After 3 hrs of driving, my foot kept slipping off the pedal, so I had to readjust it regularly.  At some point while going gently over a really rough patch of road on a SHORT WHEELBASE  AND  trying to keep the trailer inline,...Chris pipes up on the walkie talkie and says, '' you can step that up to a 100 now"...sure buddy, sure. 

It was fun at times like when the wind was blowing through my hair, the music blasting out of the stereo and my arm out the window, ......along with the air conditioner freezing the left knee cap and occasionally it stir up enough that you could actually feel it AROUND the cabin.  So at the end of each of the two days, I have a cramp in my butt, cramps in both legs, my foot cramping from the odd position of trying to stay on the pedal, a sunburn on my arm and a funny sensation of temporary deafness.   But I made it.  THAT'S always a good point. And as I got out of the scout, the door seals were coming away from the body,  the lock on the door was loose because of the rust around it, and the seat cushion came away from it's frame,.... And as for the Scout?...well,....let's just say Robert was VERY EXCITED about taking it home.  Me too,.. as I made my way back to the Landcruiser where I could stretch my legs out from that unnatural position of a pretzel.  I'm still curious about a man's fixation on this beast of a car, but I guess it's one of those " Mars/Venus" things.

AND to end this leg of the journey, we got to meet Casey, Rob's new SERIOUS girlfriend.  Very nice young lady she is too.  I'm looking forward to seeing Robert again and getting to know his new sweetheart while we stay up here for the week.  Pictures are on the way.