OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
Trip Start: Trip End: .
Well it’s only been nine months since we returned to the UK so it’s about time we finally got around to completing the expenses and itinerary. Actually, Megan completed them months ago but I’ve only just got around to finishing off the blog. There’s no excuse I can give as to why it’s taken so long… well… no excuse that…
Finally after four months, a detour to Baltimore and an extra bill for two and a half grand the Landy’s back! And do you know what? ………started first time! Get in! I will have a little update in the next few weeks, but I thought I would let you all know as no doubt there was growing concern as to…
Thanks for waiting, apologies it’s taken nearly three weeks to get the latest chapter out, finding the motivation to write what is possibly the final blog has been hard to come by. Actually, I’ve been trying to get Megan to do this one but she’s having none of it, apparently my standard is too high, well that’s what I’ve told…
Look, it’s been a while, I’ve heard the terms ‘lifetime’ and ‘eternity’ bandied about but it’s only four days late…. It”s going to be a few more days yet I’m afraid before you can get a trek to oz fix, as we only have three days left in Oz and about five days worth of jobs to do. But it…
We made to the tip, the top of Australia and the furthest north you can go on this mighty continent. It was an achievement for us, the last couple of days before the tip were spent doing running repairs to the Land Rover and to finally reach our goal was a very proud moment for us. It was also tinged…
Megan’s penchant for swearing like a sailor is back, I don’t know why really, but the other day the list of profanities that came forth in the space of a two minute rant was simply shocking. Maybe it’s the heat, or perhaps the tuna pasta has finally got the better of her, or maybe it’s the fact that the other…
And we finally come to the highlight of our entire trip, the reason we packed our jobs in for a year, said goodbye to family, friends and hardest of all, fish and chips. Why we drove for a whole year in a Land Rover, crossed eleven or so countries, spent nearly 30 grand and lived in a tent for around…
Half way up Cape York (check our map). Roads are bloody awful. The car is shaking itself apart. Dust everywhere. (Including ears, nose and… well…. err…. other openings) Just thought you would all like to know as no doubt you are having sleepless nights worrying about us. I’ll give two rings when we get to the top. …
Why do people buy Land Rovers? They’re not cheap, they’re about as comfortable as a church pew after a two hour sermon, and about as reliable as a hot British summer. So why do people, me included, spend £1000s of our hard earned cash on these relics of the British motoring industry to drive around the world in a car…
Just a couple of updates this time. I’ve finally finished some facts about Thailand and Laos in the Useful Information Page. Honestly though, if you are not driving you car through Laos or Thailand then it’s not all that useful, more interesting. Who knows, at the next pub quiz you may be asked ‘do you need a Carnet for Thailand?’…
Right off the bat let me make two little apologies: first off for daring to suggest we might go around the US in anything but a Land Rover (the reason for this is will be explained below), and secondly for the mild rant about the comment situation at the end of the last blog. It was meant to be a…
How to stretch a week sitting in a campsite into a blog… It’s going to be a push but I’m going to write in a really big font, use double spacing and put in lots of silly pointless pictures of the car, like this: Since last leaving you in the Whitsundays we have in fact done very little. The weather…
What’s this? A Monday morning blog? The third blog in seven days you say? What’s going on Maple? Well it can only be on thing; yep that’s right, it’s update time! Updates included in version 7.0 of www.trektooz.com include: 1. Updated expenses for Australia so far (almost down to the £65 a day mark!) 2. Updated itinerary in the ‘where…
There are very few things in this world that actually excite and interest me; travel, Land Rovers, Megan (had to put it in), sailing, Sandra Bullock and now TimTams. I bloody love TimTams. For those of you who aren’t clued up on what a TimTam is, it’s like a Penguin biscuit, in fact it’s exactly the same as a Penguin…
Brisbane, famous for having the only fort in Australia with a moat, and XXXX beer. We did the tour of the brewery naturally, and had to partake in the free samples afterwards, as to turn down free beer is one of the most serious ways to offend an Australian, fact. We didn’t make it to the fort. The tour was…
Yes I know it’s been over a week, and lately the thrilling instalments are taking longer and longer to reach you, but basically I’ve used my all my good, hilarious material and am struggling to finish blogs worthy of the Maple name. Plus someone (no names but it wasn’t me), spilt an entire litre of water over my laptop, so…
The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hurray! Yes, it’s finally got warm and we are back under canvas; camping has become enjoyable and there is no need to break the ice in the kettle before we have a cup of English Breakfast. It took a couple of days and around 1000 kms but we are hopefully…
Bit of a delay in this one, no excuse really, just lazy, apologizes. We have become trailer trash. As the temperature dropped to 2 degrees ‘tenting it’ just lost all remaining enjoyment. I can put up with rain, but when one wakes up not able to feel anything from the nipple down we decided to bring life under canvas to…
Just a couple of updates for you; Megan’s watch the wedding so I spent the time wisely, although I did get sucked into it (loving the dress). 1. The Itinerary has been updated in the ‘Where are we now’ menu. 2. David, the very nice guy we stayed with in Adelaide is doing his own Land Rover 130 expedition, which…
Neighbors, Home & Away and Crocodile Dundee collectively lied to me. They paint a lovely picture of an Australia that’s always warm and sunny, where jumpers are items needed for other countries and where no one has heard of an umbrella. The reality is nighttime temperatures of 3 degrees and constant rain for three days. I’m thinking of writing a…
We, and by that I mean Megan, have updated all the expenses so you can now all go and look on the expenses page and see how poor we are. Food parcels will now be gratefully accepted. No tuna though, man do I hate tuna……
I have a bit of a confession to make: it’s something that happened in Perth and has been on my mind ever since, and the time has come to get it off my chest. Although it will make me look foolish my hope is that others will learn from my mistake and, in time history will judge this as the…
Disaster has well and truly struck, and on so many different levels; Disaster 1. The air conditioning has broken Disaster 2. The fuel pump will cost $1000 to fix Disaster 3. Still can’t fix the water leak Disaster 4. We have a rodent hitchhiker! The first couple of problems we are going to ignore and hope that the leaks get…
I’m in constant amazement at just how much stuff can leak on a Land Rover. The day before yesterday I mentioned to Megan that we had five separate leaks going on, the only thing that wasn’t leaking out, I stupidly said, was water. The next day the radiator top hose started leaking. It’s got to the stage that if I…
I knew the GPS had it in for me. Ever since I told it to ‘shut the *@%$ up’ when it ‘helpfully’ suggested I make a u-turn in the middle of a motorway at 100kph, the damn thing has been plotting against me. I had sensed a slight undertone in its voice over the last few days, Megan thought I…
As you may remember in the last blog I stated that my feet were itching. This turned out not to be an urge to start traveling again but instead a mild fungal infection that had flared up, just thought I should clear that up before we go any further. We have the car back!! But the biggest surprise was that…
£7 for a box of Rice Crispies, I couldn’t believe it! I showed Megan; she passed out right there on the supermarket floor and got run over buy 2 trolleys and a pram. Such was my state of shock that I didn’t even notice. We had been told that Australia was expensive but nothing could have prepared us for the…
Did you know that my phone bill last month was well over £200? Of course you didn’t, I didn’t until I checked the old online banking. It doesn’t sound that much I know, but it should have been zero, and had it not been for Mr Lloyds TSB canceling my cards every second day for a couple of weeks it…
What up peeps! (I’m going ‘gangster’ in order to appeal to the younger readers, I want to top 50,000 hits you see, it’s all about the numbers these days.) Right off the bat I’d like to make a thousand apologies for the delay in the blog, I know a lot of you have come to rely on our blogs as…
I’m upset people, upset and embarrassed, so much so I’m going all preachy in a bid to feel better about myself. A couple of days ago we visited a place called the Cope centre. There we learnt all about the massive unexploded mine issue that effects Laos. During the Vietnam War America waged a Secret War in Laos and in…