WRAP UP {EDITION 19}

HELLO + WELCOME to a Wrap Up of what’s been happening live on the road as we the Aussie Overlanders have begun an epic expedition from Sydney to London. Overland. Via the guts of Australia and Africa.

Let’s dive right in.

THE SEND OFF OF ALL SEND OFFS

Sydney put on a spectacular show and at 10am on the 23.03.13 we began the expedition.

A motley crew of legends gathered to send us off on this big drive throughout the World. Of course this was preceeded by plenty of catchups and boozey nights saying ‘see you soon’ to our people.

The day was full-on. Emotionally we were both pivoting on huge waves of happiness, sadness, excitement and nerves. So much had gone into making this one day happen.

Our ‘one day’ had arrived and as we camped our first night (on Kirst’s Grandad’s property) it felt incredible.

^ McMahons Point, Sydney – the morning we departed. Shot by our incredibly talented friend Paul English. The Troopy can be seen on the point.

Departure

^ Moments before jumping into the car and heading off on the expedition

Departure Solmsy

^ Us with Martin Solms, the main man behind the incredible Africa Overland Network. It was quite a moment for us to have Solsmy there. He is an epic expeditioner and has inspired us so much over the years through his website. Also a true friend in our preparations for getting on the road. Thanks so much Martin! As he said on the day “The evolution of overlanders! Young and free to kids and dogs”.

A massive thank you to everyone who came to send us off. It meant so much to us that YOU were there.

And to everyone who sent us incredble messages of support online… thank YOU. They filled us up with so much joy and excitement! Legends.

SPONSORSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT: TRUE BLUE OUTDOORS

We are very proud to announce we have teamed up with True Blue Outdoors – an outdoors business that create quality Aussie canvas gear. Days before we rolled out of town they helped us put the very important finishing touches on the vehicle.

We were trying to source a quality canvas rear wheel bag. Preferably one that was made locally. We found True Blue Outdoors. Aussie to the core. Excellent, premium quality. You just touch the canvas and you KNOW it’s high quality. It feels tough. Right down to the thread, stitch and the zipper.

True Blue Outdoors have also fitted us out with a range of organisers, cargo barrier bags and map holders. We’ll get some photos up soon of how it’s given the Troopy it’s final makeover and got us organised for the journey ahead.

Head over to their online shop at www.trueblueoutdoors.com.au and tell Pete we sent you!

12 DAYS DEEP

We are 12 days deep into the expedition and Australia has already put on quite a show.

From Sydney we hot-footed it down to Victoria through the high country to the Snowy River. Then in Melbourne jumped on a 9 hour ferry to Tasmania. We moved fast in time for Easter and Kirsty’s birthday.

FINAL TOUCHES

In the final push to get on the road a lot of final touches went onto the vehicle to make our home on wheels the best it could be. Watch the blog over the next week for a feature post on all those spiffy details.

EXPEDITION STATS

^ Image source

We are keeping detailed stats of the expedition. And would love to publish a monthly statistics summary.

The key stat we are looking at right now is ‘How many showers in rivers?’ 4! Already!

But also more serious stat stuff that looks at fuel costs and kilometres.

As always, thanks for being here guys.

It makes it all the more exciting knowing we get to share the adventure with everyonone else on board in sprit.

We hope everyone had a great Easter break and are doing well.

Now get out there and explore.

Cheers