Thanks guys.
The biggest pro of living up here is the climate! The weather is perfect all year round and I will certainly miss being able to wear shorts and flip flops every single day and never feeling cold.
But decent work is very hard to find here on the Gold Coast and most companies only want to employ people on a casual basis so no holiday pay, sick pay or job security.
There is decent work in Brisbane and lots of people have to commute each day but the idea of spending 2.5 hours a day stuck in traffic really isnt very appealing.
Then theres the 4wd opportunities, or lack of!
Yes there are some amazing beaches and in particular islands to go 4wding on like Moreton, Fraser and North Stradbrook but they all involve ferries and lots of expense
There are a few 4wd parks you can go and camp and drive around, for a fee.
But non of these destinations compare to the vast, amazing, Vic High Country!
Down in Melbourne there are so many National Parks and State Forrest's that are packed full of 4wd tracks and awesome camping spots!
+ To be working back at Piranha will be amazing, I'm so excited! It will also be so much easier to finish the 78 and restore LJ's new soft top body and get the V8 running working there. Literally within half a mile of Piranha HQ there are shot blasters, powder coaters, electro platers etc. all willing to do cash jobs at very reasonable rates!
Another major bonus is I will be able to put both LJ and the 78 on club/historic reg (road tax) and pay a few hundred dollars a year, versus the $800 the 78 would cost up here and the $1000+ LJ would cost (with the V8 engine)!
I dont regret moving up here and giving it a go, as if we hadnt we would always be wondering what if!
We have acquired a lot of things during the past 18 months such as Lexi, the soft top body and V8 for LJ, the 78, my motorbike, a trailer, lots more tools and machines such as the engine crane, pillar drill, parts washer, industrial pedestal fan and a load of smaller tools. Bec has got her new car and we will have a son by the time we move.
But all of this adds to the logistical nightmare that the move will be.
I'm thinking I will drive the Subaru down with Bec, our son and Lexi, just after xmas and we will spend a week or 2 in Melbourne getting a house sorted, sadly another rental to start with as the bank arnt keen to give us a mortgage while Bec is on maternity leave.
Then I will hire the biggest truck I can, again. Drive up to the GC, fill the truck and drive back down.
Then I will fly up, possibly on my own and drive the 78 back down with LJ on a trailer behind it.
I want to sell my Astra, sell my little box trailer and buy a new trailer big enough to put LJ on.
Thinking of getting one of these locally made ones, once my tax return money comes through. Probably go for the 12" x 6" 2000kg one.
http://australiapacifictrailers.com.au/category/products/car/
Then I want to fully reassemble LJ with the V8 engine in the chassis and soft top body back on with all the doors, seat, dash etc. all fitted. Ready to go on the trailer behind the 78.
Depending on how I go for time I'd love to get at least the engine bay painted on LJ so that the body wont have to come off again, but we will see.
The 78 is sadly taking a lot longer than I would have liked.
) do you know where the child seat top tethers are in the 78 and Soft Top 70? I know in my 73 they were on the "roll bar" ( I wouldn't trust it as a roll bar - I think it was more a case of somewhere to tether the seatbelts to...) Toyodiy show 3 tabs on the roll bar in the FJ73 I had, so I would suspect that the factory rear bar in the 70 would have had the same.
