farewell to a faithful friend

The dear old cream Brumby has hauled it's last load of oysters up from the shore.

The photo above was taken about 18 months ago, during it's better days - rust and all. These little utes (pronounced 'yute' - short for utility vehicle, 'pickup truck' to the rest of the world) are so incredibly good for the terrain they have to traverse just to get from the shore to the campsite where we grade our stock and prepare our harvest. Back and forth they trundle, easily slipping into 4WD as required despite growing rust and wear.

However, on Saturday the cream one died. Well, got stuck in second gear, has supports in the rear axle rusted through as well along the exhaust so it sounded like an eighteen wheeler truck. Unfortunately the white one, seen in the background of the top photo, is not too good either. It doesn't have as much rust (yet) but has lost it's front wheel drive. Therefore it has to be driven in four wheel drive which really only means rear wheel drive, make sense? Thought so....
Now these cars are known as Brats to the rest of the world. They're called Brumbies here after the wild mountain horses found in the Victorian and New South Wales highlands, I've found a bit of a history lesson here for those wanting to know more. I love the fact that Subaru gave it a name that appealed to a sense of Australianism.

So you may be thinking "why be so sentimental about a crappy old ute?". My answer is that you won't know until you've used one. Ant's had them on and off since he was about 22 (I think), as each one becomes un-roadworthy they are 'retired' to the oyster lease, and for our method of farming you couldn't ask for a better vehicle.

We still have the red Brumby, hopefully it will be a long time before it becomes a 'lease vehicle'.