THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

I bought a copy of this from the Australian seller. It's a documentary about some guys who have a motor boat adapted to carry a Haflinger and a skiff, modified to take the Haflinger ashore. They travel around the top end of Queensland in what looks like the 1970s or maybe 80s, living the sort of life that's hard to find nowadays. Plenty of fishing and lobsters, as well as what I suspect is a fake dubbed engine note for the truck. It's obviously been transferred from Video to DVD and the quality makes it look like Youtube, but I enjoyed it. The title mentions Pinzgauers (which is why eBay emailed me) but it only has a Haflinger in it (albeit as one of the 'stars').

If any of you fishers ever came across the 'big fish down under' series of Oz fishing videos from Malcolm Florence, it's a lot like that.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Call-of-the-W ... 3ccdb7d138

The DVD reached the UK from Australia four days after purchase which was pretty quick. I have no links of any sort with the product or the seller. I just thought it might be of interest.

Tony

I have seen copies for sale on ebay as well, so you think it was worth the $20 then?

If you can live with the fact that they think Haflinger is Swedish, then yes.

The quality is as poor as old VHS tape onto DVD suggests, but I enjoyed being transported into a bygone world, complete with things I find enjoyable (mainly tropical fishing).

The top end of Queensland 30 or 40 years ago seems a fantastically raw place. At one point after eating nothing but fish for weeks they shoot a wild cow and butcher it there and then. No notion of having to seek permission. Great footage of what would be a five hundred pound Goliath Grouper feeding at the back of a boat on left overs. Driving for miles across virgin scrub in a Haflinger on balloon tires with an aluminium skiff tied to the roof to float the truck across rivers too deep to ford. Camping on beaches and fighting off the giant egg laying turtles wandering over their gear. The sorts of things that are simply impossible anywhere near here. Maybe they're not possible over there now either.

Anyway, it was worth it to me simply to allow myself to daydream about what a month or two of that life would be like. You can probably find clips from it on Youtube and that'll give you a better sense of it than I can.

The bit about shooting a cow when you're hungry was surreal.

Tony

Have just watched the second half, which is across the Torres Straits in Papua New Guinea. Not so inspiring. Lots of depressing scenes of commercial over fishing. And they left the Haflinger at Cape York rather than brave the Straits with an extra half ton aboard a thirty foot boat.

Still, for $20, I'm happy.

Tony

The sorts of things that are simply impossible anywhere near here. Maybe they're not possible over there now either.

Still like that in some places......but we are getting more "civilised"

In Victoria (South Eastern State of Australia) 40 years ago we could pretty much 4WD anywhere we liked, but nowdays we have winter closurers, no-go areas etc......I guess we are still lucky (especially in comparison to places like NSW) as we have 1000's of km of bush tracks we can still use freely, but like most areas and indeed many things, it's all more regulated/"restrictive" in today's world.

What was probably missing in that video were the crocs. At that time they had virtually been wiped out. I was working in that part of the world at about the time the video was made and you could safely swim in the rivers and sea (the sharks are not a worry) but since crocs have been protected that situation has changed as they have come back and it is now dangerous to enter the water - the crocs love munching on tourists.

I saw the DVD when it was broadcast on TV in the 70s and have not seen it since - I have just ordered a copy as well.

Garry

I just viewed the Call of the Wild - was actually a different movie than I thought it was - made later and their swimming in the lake etc would be a bit of a worry with all the crocs. It brought back a few memories as I had been to all the places shown on the Cape - I had worked on Australian Patrol Boats operating in the area in the mid 70s.

It is a shame about the price of the dvd though - a bit much for a pirated illegal recording from the television.

The doco I was thinking off was made by the Leyland Brothers who did a similar trip in a Haffie - they also demonstrated the Haffies propensity to want to fall over in the rough stuff and have a little sleep. I will have to try and find it.

Cheers

Garry

G'Day Gary, I don't believe the Leyland Brothers ever used a Haflinger in their series, rather an ex US Military M274 Mule (which "kinda" looks like a stripped down Haffy), but I'm willing to be proved wrong

I did ask Mike Leyland about Haflingers some years ago when he came to a Land Rover Club meeting (the Club re-ran a Leyland Bros east to west Australia trip and he went along on it) but unfortunately he was suffering Parkinsons (and died not too long afterwards) so I can't be too sure of his answer.

You may be right - it was over 30 years ago that I last saw it - definitely was a Haffie and not a Mule - someone has suggested I may be getting confused with Malcolm Douglas and his doco called "Follow the Sun" where apparently he also used a Haffie.

As I said it was a long time ago and I am now getting on a bit so the memory is not what it used to be.

Garry