Getting there....Slowly but surely

Over the last couple of weeks we have been really busy working on and ordering things for our adventure. It’s been exceptionally exciting to return home after a drab day at work to discover huge parcels containing adventure goodies.

Our home for the next two years has arrived, our roof tent of choice is a Maggiolina Airtop; this should offer enough protection from the elements whilst still being practical enough for daily use.  Our possessions inside the car will be equally protected inside Flatdog Wolf Boxes; which are a great cheaper alternative to the many more expensive boxes that are available.

We have also purchased our new wheels and tyres; we have chosen to replace the impractical, but incredibly cool looking 33 x 12.5 fatties on alloy rims with more sensible 265/70 R16 BF Goodrich A/T’s on steel rims. These new tyres have a much stronger sidewall and can handle all the extra weight we will be carrying. This size tyre is also readily available anywhere around the world whilst the 33 x 12.5’s are tough to come by.

Our food and drinks will be nicely chilled inside our Waeco CF-40 fridge freezer whilst the Coleman Duel Fuel stove takes care of the other end of the temperature spectrum. The car will also be fitted with a Bushranger hot water shower, so we can keep nice and clean(ish), that we purchased from the lovely people at Taubenreuther.

All our auxiliary electrical goodies are going to be powered by an Odyssey PC1500 battery, which provides a unique combination of deep-cycle and high-current performance. This ‘house’ battery is isolated from the car batteries leaving the fridge, camp lights to run all night without flattening the starter batteries; It can also act as a jumper battery if the starter batteries fail.

We have slowly been buying various ‘soft’ items too, clothing, sleeping bags, bedding etc. We have been well impressed with the quality of Berghaus clothing and are totally loving our –10 °C sleeping bags; although judging by the weather in the UK this week we might need a few blankets too.

Andy