Mid this year I was able to buy the car of my dream! It is a 1975 Range Rover called "Mervin". Powered by a gas guzzling 3.5 litre V8 from a 1985 Land Rover 110, it is an awesome off-road vehicle. Pity I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to daring off-road adventures. The thought that hangs in the back of my mind is the cost of repairs if I do some real damage to the vehicle. Many people have teased me about owning a 4wd while being a poor student (yeah! that means you, Gareth!). I look at it like this; I can _just_ afford the ownership of one. As long as I can keep it in good running condition while doing a bit of off-roading now and then I can save up enough money slowly until I can do some improvements on the vehicle and do some more adventurous trips. Hey, when you are poor you have to do things slowly. If I can't afford explosives to blow up a boulder then I'll bloody well chip at it with chisel and hammer until I can roll it away. So there, nya, nya!

Anyway, enough of that. Here are some pictures of Mervin, front view, side and interior. I have just been to a trip with Sarah Wheaton and Gareth Thomas in my vehicle. For the first time I have a passenger that can document parts of the trip. Gareth took some pictures and hopefully they will be developed soon and I'll put them on this page.

If you're interested in chatting with other Land Rover owners you can try the British Bulldog site. They have a real time chat room with some very friendly people. Most of them are Americans with the odd Brits or kiwis (well, actually only one so far) thrown in for good measure.

If anyone has any stories or photos of their trips or vehicles please mail them to me. The address is at the bottom of this page. I also welcome any interesting links to other LR sites you may find.

*NEW* 16Oct - Well, the above mentioned photos have been developed and scanned. I put together a page for the photos. Follow this link if you wish to see some New Zealand mud! Enjoy!

*NEW* 4Nov - Readers' Contribution page added. I was planning to keep it to New Zealand adventures. But if anyone else has stories and photos from other places, feel free to send them to me. Thanks to Paul McCauley for the first contribution!

*NEW* 25Nov - Mugshots of BB chat regulars. Land Rover owners who meet to talk about LR and other related stuff. I've always wondered what they look like.

*NEW* 28Jan - The first BIG DAY OUT for the new University of Canterbury 4WD Club.

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