b' Cover storyThe Good Old Days?Perhaps not!Greg Rose remembers the Golden Age of four wheel driving. the Good old days!When I was quite young, in the 1950s, my father joined the the bridge at Rosedale was unnerving as the steering wasCommonwealthPeaceOfficerGuards,thatbecamethe so terrible that keeping on my side of the road was difficult.CommonwealthPoliceandisnowtheAustralianFederal The rear differential howled, the engine misfired and every-Police.WewereinBendigo thingseemedtorattleorwherethereweresomegov- squeak.Manyhours,days,ernmentfacilitiesandmy weeks, were spent in the work-fatherusedtopatrolina shopatCentralFourWheelSeriesILandRover.Asa Drives in Maffra, owned by mysmall boy I was fascinated by friend Mal Trull. We just aboutthevehicleanditsmultiple rebuiltthetiredLandyandleversstickingupfromthe completed the task by repaint-floor.TimewentbyandI ing it. endeduplivinginMaffrain What followed the rebuild wasCentralGippsland.Ihadthe a fantastic period of exploringopportunitytobuyarather everything to our north. Everytired Series III short wheelbase weekend we would head bushLandRover.Ihadowneda in our two Land Rovers, mineshort wheelbase Land Cruiser withHolden186powerandearlierbutsolditwhenI MalswithaValiantengine.movedtoMelbournefora Occasionallywewouldbeshorttime.TheLandRoveropenedupallthetravel joined by other locals with Land Rovers in varying degreesopportunities the central Gippsland foothills and southern of unreliability. fall of the alps had to offer.Our adventures were in the late seventies. The hills andThefirstdayIhadthevehicle,drivingithomeafter mountainswereverydifferentbackthen.Therewerenopurchase, revealed some significant issues. Driving across seasonal closures, the Alpine National Park did not exist and14 SEPTEMBER2021 TRACKWATCH'