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A trip to  the Gold Coast Queensland

One week to go and I fly to Qld. with a friend , John Clifford, to first meet and stay with John (Rusty) Dyson who is picking us up from the airport and supplying accommodation. The next day its down to Corporate Commanders to see Glenn Griffen who has a couple of Centurions 169075 and 169120. Also there are two more, owned by Ian Holm, a friend of Glenn's. These two are 169100 and 169131.

We hope to have a little play with them and take some photo's and also some video.  Alas all the best laid plans can go astray. I knew that 169100 and 169120 were not goers, and just before we went up 169075 decided   her battery's were beyond their lifetime and needed replacement. But we still had 169131. She started up and we all climbed aboard. It was a couple of miles to where we were going to run her, and it was a fairly slow trip as it appeared the clutch was U/S. Still I thought we could manage with stick changes, as the lack of a  clutch is not a  stopper. 169131 still had something up her sleeve. On arrival we stopped and so did 169131. And over the next hour there was no way we could restart her. So it was a walk back and spend some time taking photos and looking over Glenn's project

Glenn also owns a very nice Stuart

169075 looking very nice. This is one of Glenn's centurions This is a runner but at this time its waiting on new batteries

169120 Glenn's second Cent. This one is not a runner and Glenn is not sure if he should repair her or just keep her for spares.

169100 at this time, 01-10-03, she is not a goer This one belongs to Ian Holm. 

This one has been used for spare parts and sadly I do not think it will ever run again

Its sad to see  -  I would paint her up and use her as a gate guard at the entrance of the property

169131 this one is most definitely a goer, Ian's second Centurion but at the moment has a shot clutch

Note the mud under the tracks, its been there a long while. There was no sign of grease but I have yet to see one that was serviced correctly, which is sad.

Just warming up 169131

Signage in the paddock

We arrived at the paddock and found a good place to stop, we could just walk off the hull

We stopped her and that was a bad mistake

She decided to stay stopped    Nothing would make her fire up. I felt we were out of gas but was not game to suggest it. I was told many months later that the fuel pump was faulty so in fact my guess was correct

Good shot of the Crew Commanders ammo storage rack showing the section in the middle that held the infantry radio also  the clips at the rear where the .30 cal was stored when not mounted up. I have never seen one in the clips, wonder why? 

Crew Commanders IR sight in the Cupola

A closer shot of it

A new IR light, note the colour near the cover, dark green. The cover has been pulled back a bit for the photo the blue grey section was also  dark  green, its just faded in a couple of months.

Showing how the IR light was bolted to the mount

The Memorial for the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam at Canungra

Close up showing the names--there are also plaques on the side walls

The base of the wall

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Canungra

It was a very nice peaceful area