Ron & Viv set for the next leg, Overland through South America, with their trusty Patrol and Tvan.
The start of their Overlanding experience - Ron & Viv at Cape Agulhas, South Africa, the southernmost point of Africa and the beginning of their adventure in 2007.
Ron & Viv, Neil & Helen, and Kate at North Cape - the northern most point of Europe.
Next stop the southernmost city in the world Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego.
SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA OVERLAND &
NORTH AMERICA OVERLAND
Our plans ... and previous travels.For our latest blogs and lots of pics as the trip unfolds go to: www.travelpod.com/members/ronamoon.
Check out some of our articles written on our travels on the Expedition Portal (Overland Journal) web site:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/adventures/featured-adventures/1654-the-dempster-or-the-dalton-a-comparison.html
For more mudane details (but important if you want to do an overland trip like ours) on shipping, insurance, planning and preparation, LPG gas, medical, security, etc, etc, check out our Planning and Preparation pages.
Loaded at Last & Ready to Ship!
Our next adventure is beginning!
Back on the 9th Dec 2010 at Kaymar 4WD Accessories (see www.kaymar.com.au) in Lilydale, we loaded our vehicles into a container for shipping to Chile. It takes about 37 days for the ship to go from Melbourne to Valparaiso – via Sydney and Panama before being transhipped for the hop-scotch run down the South American coast.
Bryan and special rims to get his Iveco into the 'high top' container
Chaining the Patrol down in the shipping container we had a bit of help - thanks guys!
Bryan and our two locked containers - hopefully they'll be in Chile when we get there!Our rough plan is to travel south from Santiago, Chile, to the southern most tip of Tierra del Fuego then north for the long haul thru’ Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil.
From Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon, we’ll head west along this great river across the Andes into Bolivia. From there it will be north through Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela and on to Central America and Mexico.
We’ll end our journey in LA in the USA in mid October. We’ll return to the States in April 2012 to continue our drive north through Canada and Alaska to the northernmost oil town of Barrow. After that who knows???
We’re taking our stretched Patrol (veteran of our Africa and Russian trips as well as many journeys in Australia) which has been checked and overhauled by the team at Outback 4WD in Bayswater (www.outback4wd.com.au).
Along with many of the ARB accessories we have had fitted to the Patrol over the years we have recently changed our suspension to their latest OME Sport shock absorber and fitted their latest air compressor (see: www.arb.com.au).
For a bit more … no, a lot more … comfort, we are taking a Track Tvan to the Americas with us. For this long trip we’ve just upgraded to our third Tvan over the 10 years they have been manufactured, and this one is their top-of-the-line Murranji camper that has just been developed (see: www.tracktrailer.com.au).
Both the Patrol and the Tvan are fitted with, what I reckon, are the best, toughest 4WD radial tyres on the market – Cooper STT’s (see www.coopertires.com.au).
We also needed some welding done on rear suspension brackets and on the support rails to the Candy Camper canopy. This was a pretty big job as the canopy had to be removed and flipped over to be able to be worked on. Luckily we ended up at Advanced Engineering & Fabrication in Boronia (ph: (0488) 228 951) and Brendan Dowdle there did a great job.
With us on this trip will be Neil and Helen Cocks in their well set-up Ford F250 and who travelled across Africa and Europe (see: http://www.guidebooks.com.au/Africa%20Overland/index.html) and then Russia and Mongolia with us (see: www.guidebooks.com.au, and follow links to Russia Overland).
Joining us also for the first leg of the South American jaunt will be our old friends, Bryan and Fran Jackson, who have travelled extensively in Australia by Land Rover and an Iveco Camper as well as overseas. In 2007 they travelled across Russia the year we were driving across Africa (we met up for a few days in Switzerland!). Since then they have been travelling around the UK, France, Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Just recently they shipped their custom built Iveco camper back to Melbourne to join us. But, with a hold up in Customs they have now ended up taking their other Iveco camper (doesn’t everyone have two Iveco campers?) to South America – finishing all the custom work the night before it was due to be loaded. Talk about cutting it fine!
We reckoned we could do a better job at loading and tying down vehicles than what we’ve seen in the past – just using chains had to be better than the rope and fabric straps we have had foisted on us when shipping to Durban, South Africa and from Vladivostok in Far Eastern Russia. Still it took us a few hours to get them all in and tied down – Bryan & Fran’s rig rolling in (just) on ‘special’ wheels.
And while we have shipped our vehicles before, closing the container door on them, knowing … hoping … we’ll see them in 5-6 weeks time in a distant country, is always a little daunting!
About Us
Our Little Travelling Group
Ron and Viv Moon
After spending 20 years in the Australian Army, Ron (and Viv) have been writing guidebooks on Australia as well as writing for a wide range of magazines. For 15 years Ron was the editor of 4x4 Australia magazine and is now their Editor-at-Large, which is something like an escaped prisoner, but in this case we've just escaped the office and the deadlines.
You can see more about who we are and what we do at: www.guidebooks.com.au .
For details on our stretched Nissan Patrol check out the 'Our Vehicle' page on this website.
There is more than just us again in our little group heading through South America. We've convinced a couple of friends to join us on this great adventure.
Neil and Helen Cocks
Neil and Helen have been travelling the remote areas of Australia for many years and there would be few more experienced desert travellers in the country. Neil is a retired surveyor so we'll be able to stay on track with his skills and experience.
Their well set up Ford F250 has been tested and proven in cross country trips in the Tanami, Little Sandy and Great Sandy Deserts (to name just a few) as well as elsewhere in outback Australia. Accessories and mods to the Ford include:
ARB bullbar
Warn 15,000lb winch
Ford snorkel
ARB Air Locker front and rear diff locks
Rhodes Automotive canopy and rooftop camper
Outback storage system
LRA fuel tank and water tank
Tradesman roofrack
Kaymar rear step and tyre carrier
Bryan and Fran Jackson
Joining us also for the first leg of the South American jaunt will be our old friends, Bryan and Fran Jackson, who travelled across Russia the year we were driving across Africa (we met up for a few days in Switzerland!). Since then they have been travelling around the UK, France, Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Just recently they shipped their custom built Iveco camper back to Melbourne to join us. But, with a hold up in Customs they have now ended up taking their other Iveco camper (doesn’t everyone have two Iveco campers?) to South America – finishing all the custom work the night before it was due to be loaded. Talk about cutting it fine!
Head to the Trip Diary pages to read all about the trip.
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Ron & Neil outside the RAC
centre in Bristol at the end of the Africa trip, sorting our Carnets.
