The end of an era

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Big Green Magna, you’ve been good to us.  In 2007, after a cushy year with the Treasury Department no doubt moving the 2 suitcases full of cash (which contain the entire budget of the state government), you went to auction and ended up with us.    You were so shiny, so new…so clean..

You immediately had to endure a baby and a toddler and everything that comes with them - strollers, portacots, baby seats, nappy bags and mysterious stains.   We’d load you to to the gills with gear, then put the roof-box on top and load you up with even more.  Along with the luggage you moved around kilos of crumbs and soggy food, lost socks, moulding water bottles & empty diet coke bottles.  

As the kids got bigger, the baby stuff was discarded and replaced by muddy, salty, sports items - bikes, boards and of course my surfski - dripping corrosive salt water each and every time I loaded it on. You even survived a trip with the surfski over the bridge in winds of almost 100km an hour (mostly due to good luck, not good sense). You sheltered us in times of heavy rain, and you only needed to get towed out of mud once, although we did once sort of run you aground on a large rock and require a tow.    We’ve run down your battery more times that we’d like to remember, but you’ve never broken down on us.

We’ve covered you with dust, driven you through entire states without stopping and floored it on that hill after Bagdad every single time we’ve driven to Campbelltown. We’re sorry.

 You've taken us on countless adventures, and lulled kids to sleep during the long drives this has entailed..

You've been a sight for tired legs on the Bruny Island Ultra..

And you’ve travelled the backroads and byroads from Forbes to Adelaide and of course all around Tasmania. You’ve been an outstanding vehicle, more than a vehicle.. a ship of the road.

But now at 285000 k, it’s time to say goodbye.   We’ll miss you, but we’re looking forward to having a car with remote central locking , a non-broken ariel, back windows that can be opened without fear of them never shutting,  and not having to tape up the back door to prevent the road noise and rain coming in.