Yes perhaps I will see my way clear to take up flying... one day, I have given it some consideration as it fits well with my engineering/machinery building passions, and no doubt i would fall in love with it. There just is never enough time or money, also it seems (from what i have read) your regulator CASA is trying to regulate rec flying out of existence in OZ. This might be a difficult time to start flying as a beginner... perhaps in retirement:cheezy grin:
... interestingly i have found maintenance for these vehicles far simpler than mainstream offroaders, nothing on them breaks, the build quality has to be seen to be believed and spares are cheaper than nissan/toyota and even my suby utes because of NOS ex military stock suppliers, also almost everything is still in production for them from the genuine parts sellers. As far as being "heavy metal" goes at 2.5 ton they are only a little heavier than many other off road vehicles, and feels lighter driving them...some pics of my 3