Trip Report - Abercrombie River National Park

Held together with Duct Tape, the 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser 60-series, fitted with the 4.0L diesel engine, had clocked over 700,000km.

Toyota Land Cruiser 60-Series

Its leaf suspension flexed as it kept pace with a new Jeep Rubicon mounted on 35” mud terrain tyres as we traced fire Trails around NSW Central tablelands Abercrombie River National Park.  Gazetted in 1994, this park protects the largest intact patch of open forest in the area and offered us an exciting weekend away traveling the steep fire trails and exploring the various campsites.

Western Sahara Convoy - Departing Tuesday and Friday!

Have you ever needed to wait for an overland convoy, anxiously completing endless paperwork and passport checks simply to continue your overland adventure?

Bike Brothers - Convoy

Today, there is no need to join a convoy to complete your trans-Africa overland adventure.  The closest gathering of overlanders, in a very loose sense, is a convoy on the Wadi Halfa route.  Twenty years ago, it was a very different story.

A convoy had transitted about six weeks before but nothing had happened since. Some people had been waiting the full time - Under African Skies

After four days of paper work we can join the convoy that will take us to Mauritania. It is an international group of travellers. Germans in a Unimog, Australians in a Land Rover, Spanish in an old Peugeot, Dutch in a very old VW bus and we on our Suzuki motorbikes - The Bike Brothers

What a fantastic experience the convoy was - Hujambo Africa

Welcome to The Atlantic overland route heading South through Western Sahara towards Mauritania.
It is worth noting that this was not the primary route South during the early 1990's, with majority of overlanders opting for the route South across Algeria and into Niger.  It was, however, a route gaining popularity especially after Algeria closed its borders mid 1990's thus forcing overlanders to keep West along the Atlantic.

In this blog post, I highlight a decade of commentary on the route.

Notorious Overland Routes: Nigeria to Cameroon

As overlanders, we generally love the challenge of tough routes.

BigSky Adventures

We love finding alternative ways around political conflict zones and sometimes even those unnerving border crossings.  As overland travelers, we will always find a way.  Sometimes though, there is only one way...

Welcome to the notorious Ekang, Nigeria to Mamfe, Cameroon road...

A few quotes to set the scene:

18 hours after crossing the border in Cameroon we eventually reached the town of Kumba - David Priddis

Reports from other overland travelers said that it was bad, very bad - Tale of Two Travelers

Too describe it as a road is misleading. It is a track hacked through the jungle by locals and others desperate to pass - Adventurous Spirits

Report: Sydney Overland Meetup

How do you recover an overland prepared Land Rover Defender from a muddy river?

@davidpriddis

Sounds easy, doesn't it?  Well, how do you recover it when the clutch plate has disintegrated and the vehicle has no gears?

Hosted by Daniel (Expedition Centre), the 1st Sydney Overland Meetup attracted a like-minded bunch of overland enthusiasts who were keen to hear the stories, like the one above, from fellow overland travelers.

David Priddis was our first guest speaker.  He is a veteran overlander having completed a trans-Africa (Defender 200Tdi) and recently Asia and The Americas in his Land Rover Defender TD5.

Sydney Overland Meetup - 1st June 2013 + Google Hangout

A quick shoutout... Expedition Center and Overland Live will be hosting an evening with David Priddis (Walkabout 2408) on Saturday, 1st June 2013.

David Priddis - Walkabout2408

David is a veteren overlander, having completed Africa, Asia and recently The Americas.

Come along and here his stories...

David Priddis - Africa

 We eventually got free by using the winch, and it was not long before we used the winch again to free an old jeep stuck in the mud and blocking our way. This set the theme for the rest of the night. Driving, winching and digging our way along the piste, with various peoples help. We decided to carry on through the night as we were covered in mud, and would only get more gear dirty if we stopped to sleep. 18 hours after crossing the border.

David Priddis - Mongolia

Venue:
Expedition Centre
69 Anderson Road, Mortdale NSW 2223

Please bring a chair as we will be hosting the event in the Expedition Centre garage.

Time:
4pm till 7pm
David will be giving a talk from 5pm

Google Hangouts
Join us via Google Hangouts from 5pm (GMT+10).  Link to event: Sydney Overland Hangout

Contact:
Martin - 0417 759 357 - martin.solms@gmail.com
Daniel - 0438 183 507 - daniel@expeditioncentre.com.au

Please contact us if you will be attending so that we can ensure that we have enough catering.

Infographic Planning by @T2T_Trace

How much planning do you do before your trans-continental overland trip?

T2T Africa Infographic

Do you spend hours researching countries, cultures, events before departing?

How do you document your pre-trip findings?  Traditional highlighter pen in a guide book or typing endless notes on your computer?
Or do you simply wait until in-country before quickly referring to the guide book for things to do?

Regardless of how you plan, here is a neat idea from Tracey, a team member, of the Tsitsikamma to Tataouine Expedition:

Tracy has researched the various countries that the team will be traveling through (departing August 2013) and have created a set of infographics for each country:

An example of the Tanzania infographic highlights the official language, time zone, plus a few other interesting stats like the top award winning Tanzanian beer.

Tanzania Infographic by T2T

Rooftop Tent - Very useful modification: A balcony

Roof top tents are practical - but they are also very impractical.

Roof Top Tent - Table

Where do you keep your shoes after climbing up the ladder?  What about that first morning brew? Who gets the job of exiting the tent and making a cuppa before climbing back inside?

Wes Craiglow, owner of Central Overland, recently blogged about a wooden shower mat that he had been given.  Thinking through the endless possibilities of the design, Wes started modifying the original shower mat - first he turned it into a table, but then started thinking how this modification could be used as a 'balcony' for his Eezi-Awn tent.  He blogged the following:

in addition to its use as a table, I have developed a way to attach the AJIK mat against the front edge of my Eezi-Awn roof top tent using some string for support and two 3/8″ steel rods secured by four similarly-sized pipe straps as braces.  It basically creates a “balcony” for dirty shoes and sandals just to the left side of our ladder.  (I can’t tell you how nice it is to not bring them into the tent anymore.)

 Read the full blog post: This Shower Mat is a Jack of All Trades

This simple and very practical roof top tent modification will benefit any traditional style rooftop tents but won't work with the 'Tourer' style tents.

Thanks to Wes Craiglow for the use of his photographs and for 'thinking outside of the box' and coming up with this unique idea.  Be sure to visit the Central Overland website.

Mercedes G Entdecker Expedition Vehicle

Looking for an alternative overland expedition vehicle?  Fancy something like the Mercedes G-Class or G-Wagen?

How about a fully kitted vehicle prepared by a team in Germany and Austria?

Head over to Mercedes G Entdecker Expedition Vehicle website for some inspiration (Updated 2013).

As described on the website:

“ENTDECKER” is German for explorer and discoverer.  An appropriate name for a vehicle designed, accessorized and built in Germany/Austria and created by a team with over 30 years of  experience in G-wagen based overland adventure travel. 

My Land Rover Memories...

Land Rover is currently celebrating its 65th birthday since the launch of the iconic Series I. I thought I would add my Land Rover ownership to the mix...

I had my first Land Rover experience as a kid growing up in Namibia.  A friends dad picked us up in his new Series III.  I can still recall the white, five door station wagon.  With no seat belt restrictions, the two of us jumped across from the rear bench seat into the back tub and chose a spot on the rear side facing seats.  My friend mentioned to his dad that we should bounce the Land Rover - I had no idea what he meant, but recall his Dad doing a u-turn on a tar road and the Land Rover bouncing in the turn. I know now that he must have engaged the centre diff and performed the u-turn, causing a major wind-up of the axle and the outer wheels bouncing to remove the tension.

$99,000 Toyota Land Cruiser Ambulance

Got a spare AU$99,000?  If you do, Ebay Australia has a Toyota Land Cruiser Ambulance available...

Toyota Land Cruiser Ambulance

My search for an alternative vehicle for overland travel has lead me to Ebay searching for 2nd hand ambulances.  I am aware of the older Land Rover 101 Ambulances, the few Land Rover Defender ambulance models plus an old Range Rover.  But my knowledge of Toyota based Ambulances is rather limited...

Listed on Ebay Australia for a mere AU$99k, this 2008 vehicle has just about everything you would need to turn a Toyota Land Cruiser 78 Series Troop Carrier into a neat expedition vehicle

Fitted with the Toyota VD Engine (V8 4.5L diesel engine), this will cover any terrain that you might encounter.