Camping, Tramping and changing wheels

In the run up to Christmas I got some new tyres and the front wheels aligned. the budget wouldn't stretch to a full set, so I put some new ones on the back and moved the rear ones up front. They're Goodyear Ventura R14 195x65 which are supposed to be decent in the wet. The rolling diameter is a bit smaller than the 185x75 that were on before, but my calculations say that it means the speedo should now read correctly. There is a bit of a mismatch for now between front and rear tyres, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

On Christmas Eve Ella and I headed off for an unusual Christmas holiday. It's midsummer here and supposed to be fairly warm, but it was rainy and very windy on the three hour drive north to the start of our three day walk to 'Frenchmans Cap' and back. The walk is recognised as one of the more difficult alpine walks in Tasmania, and it certainly proved hard work.

We slept Christmas Eve night in the Triumph with the seats reclined, and despite the constant rain managed a good 8 hours kip!

... The next chance to get out and use BOB was a couple of days ago. We went for a drive on some of the 'fun' roads in the south west of Tassie. Low and behold we found some forestry roads ... about 60kms of very quiet, but rather rough tracks. The car was faultless, but one of the brand new tyres now needs replacing! Once back on tarmac we noticed a one inch wide piece of timber lodged in it, and had to change for the spare. Currently the car looks rather odd, three extremely dusty tyres and rims, and one spotless.

Next job on the list is to replace the front seats - they may well be good for sleeping on, but they're not that great for driving in. I'm going to go over to a breakers yard nearby and pick up some modern seats ... Saab, Volvo, Subaru, BMW, whatever looks best, is solid and fits well. We're due some new oil as well, and now we're in colder climes I'll think about using something a little less thick than the Queensland blend I put in last time (Penrite 40/70).