Discussion: Darwin

Don't get stuck there! Apparently it's common to go to visit and never leave (especially when you already have a job up there) .

And it's below freezing down here.

Thats just one side of the story. Most give up on the place eventually and migrate back where they came from.

Are you going to buy a new car? Another forester? This trip is going to give you a stack of great stories...

That's the plan at this stage.

Buying another subaru after the last one let you down so badly? Time for a change I reckon. Do they sell fiats up there?

Younger readers may not know that I owned a Fiat in a past life (in which the Hoggster would, I imagine, have travelled to quite a few events). It didn't take long for me to discover why FIAT is reputed in the trade to stand for 'Fix It Again Tony'.

I now have an enhanced knowledge of what Subarus can't do, but to do anything about that would require a full-sized 4WD which doesn't interest me in the least, and the Forester's been an excellent car otherwise.

Perhaps you should buy a Red Bull. They are pretty reliable these days (even in the wet), and I've heard that they go pretty fast.

Subarus just don't have the clearance to do things which proper 4WDs can do. Much as I love my Impreza, it was a bit embarrassing to get it bottomed out in Coffin Bay NP on the high bit of sand which 4WDs leave between their wheel tracks...and more embarrassing to get it pulled out by a little Suzuki jeep-like thing!

Wasn't a problem back in the early to mid 80's when the Subaru Leone (whih turned into the sportswagon) had adjstable suspension, so you could jack it up yorself temporarily if you had a spanner handy. Why do they get rid of so many good features when they update cars?