Happy Place

Deano Heads Bush In The Defender With A Couple Of Mates.

- Dean Mellor

A MATE of mine (Matt) has owned a Discovery 3 for about a year, so I was surprised when I bumped into him at a pre-Christmas barbecue to find out he’d yet to take it off-road. We planned to resolve the issue with a run through Meryla State Forest sometime early in the New Year.

My brother-in-law Josh, who’s a Southern Highlands local, decided he’d tag along in his Navara, and so it was that we met up one warm morning in January just past Moss Vale for a day in the scrub.

But I’m getting ahead of myself…

MORE MONEY

AS I MENTIONED in the last ‘In The Shed’ update, the Defender had a leaking injector pump and, as my wife was getting sick of the slippery diesel stain on the driveway, I decided to book it in with my local diesel specialist for a pump rebuild. After they’d worked their magic on it, the rebuilt injector pump looked like new, and my wallet was significantly lighter as a result. Who would have known owning an old Land Rover could be so expensive, eh?

Since the pump was rebuilt the Defender has been running like a dream, which isn’t really surprising considering all the other items that have been fixed or replaced over the past couple of years, but I’d much rather spend money on preventative maintenance than repairs, so I shouldn’t complain.