overland-underwater.com - A Charity Drive UK-NZ

Home Page

martin — Fri, 27 May 2005 18:03:21 +0000

OUR GREATEST ADVENTURE...

Two years in the planning, four friends teamed up to organise the ultimate lifetime experience... over a year and a half raising money for CARE International by undertaking a challenging journey of 65,000 km to drive from the United Kingdom to New Zealand.

Our journey started from the UK at the beginning of August 2005 taking in as many amazing sights as possible, driving overland across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia, visiting 27 countries before arriving at our final destination of New Zealand in February 2007. Our aim was not to make it a race and we spent as much time as possible experiencing the many varied cultures, meeting the people and enjoying the true essence of adventure inherent with such an expedition.

The group are also enthusiastic scuba divers who dive regularly around the UK, so as well as the excitement of driving a convoy of 4x4's halfway around the world, we visited many of the popular, as well as off the beaten track dive destinations en-route... a pleasant change to the English Channel... so overall quite an overland-underwater adventure!

Registered Charity No. 292506

As was the rest of the world, we were particularly shocked by the tragic effects of the December 2004 tsunami and as our route took us through many of the affected regions, we were fortunate that we had the opportunity to offer something back to these communities through the money that the expedition raises supporting the work of CARE International. See their web site here: http://www.careinternational.org.uk

Please visit our donations page to help us achieve our £25,000 target. The entire expedition costs were funded by ourselves, with the kind support of a few product sponsors so ALL donations go straight to CARE International. (CARE International are proud to state that 93p in every £1 donated to them goes directly to their work in the field.)

Please explore our website for further details of the expedition and we will keep it updated with photographs and diary entries as we continue our adventurous journey to New Zealand.

Thank you for visiting! Please stop by the donations page and leave a message in our guestbook or contact us!

The overland-underwater team

Alex, Maz, Max and Martin

P.S. If you would like to link to our website please check out the contact us page.

P.P.S. Due to an excess of spam postings (normally 10-20 per day) no more comments can be left on this page or the Guestbook page. Please do contact us using the links on the contact us page.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Long Way Round

overland — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 17:38:48 +0000

The Long Way Round team wishes us luck!

Setting off from London in April 2004, actors Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor rode their BMW motorbikes through Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada before arriving just over three months later at their final destination of New York, going the "long way round".

Along the way the intrepid pair encountered Kalashnikov-toting gangsters and extreme cuisine, survived numerous motorised scrapes often whilst traversing non existent roads days from the nearest hospital and found themselves alarmingly close to a hungry grizzly bear.

The guys kindly offered the overland-underwater team the following words of encouragement:

The Long Way Round team wish Alex, Maz, Martin and Max every success with their epic adventure. Whilst on the road, remember to look up and look around every so often to take in and appreciate the surroundings. Take the time to meet the people - this is what makes the journey really special and will be some of your most cherished memories.

In today's busy life it's fantastic and really important that people take time out to experience the world and to undertake such a journey. The trip will be both fun and arduous, but will be undoubtedly gratifying. To undertake this adventure whilst at the same time raising money for CARE International to help their work in the developing world is a very worthwhile achievement.

Be safe, take care and most importantly don't do a Russ and end up with the car on its roof!

Thanks guys!

For more information on Charley and Ewan's adventure check out their website http://www.longwayround.com or buy their excellent book and DVD which kept us entertained for many hours.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Visas

overland — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 09:11:09 +0000

The table below shows the best information we have been able to find so far. We have found the internet to be a very useful resource for finding information from other travellers who have gone before us, and of course we have got information from more official sources (embassies, tourist authorities etc.) but we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of it.

For most countries we cannot apply for the visas in the UK before setting off as they would expire before entering the country, so we have had to research which is the best place for us to apply for each visa. Entries in blue text are what we currently think are the best options for us and the less suitable options are shown in grey text, but we have left them in the table in case it's useful for anyone wanting to jump on a plane to come and join us! Black text means no visa is required.

(Note: all of us are travelling on United Kingdom passports!)

Country	Req	Issued By	App Time	Docs Needed	Entry Within	Valid For	Single	Multi	Comments and notes from previous travellers' experiences
France	no
Italy	no
Slovenia	no
Croatia	no
Serbia & Mont	no
Bulgaria	no
Turkey	yes	Border	Immed	passport - valid for six months	Immed	3 mo	£10
Syria	yes	UK	7-10 days	2 app forms, 2 photos, letter from your employer confirming occupation, passport - Need to get visa from the country of residence	3 mo		£32	£54	If you have visited Israel you will not be granted entry into Syria
Syria	yes	Turkey	Same day	2 photos, passport	Single 3 mo, multi 6 mo	2 wks			Long distance travellers can obtain a visa in Istanbul, in Ankara or in Cairo
Jordan	yes	UK	3 days	Application form, 1 photo	3 mo		£11	£21	Private vehicles registered in other countries will be permitted to cross the border in accordance with existing regulations concerning type of vehicle permitted on each country's roads.
Jordan	yes	Border	Immed	Passport	Immed	3 mo	10 JD	20 JD	No point applying to Jordan Embassy in Damascus, often refuse to process a visa - should get one at border. Can only get a single entry visa at border. If you need a multi entry, need to apply at Embassy. Single entry visas are easy to obtain. Must "register" at main police station within 2 weeks of arrival
Eygpt	yes	UK	2 days	Application form, 1 photo			£15	£18	All visitors to Egypt must register with police within 7 days of entry. Registration often carried out by the hotel or tour operator, but should check that it has been done as there is a fine for not registering.
Eygpt	yes	Jordan	3hrs to 3 days	Application form	3 mo	1 mo	12 JD		Can be obtain on the ferry between Jordan and Sinai
Iran	yes	UK	2-8 weeks	2 application forms, 2 photos and passport	3 mo	7-21 days	£54		Ladies must have the head, arms and shoulders covered in the photographs.
Iran	yes	Turkey	10 days		60 days	30 days	60 USD		An Iranian visa was not available at the Turkey/Iran border. This visa must be obtained in advance of arriving at Iran in Istanbul. A simple, but lengthy process. Advisable to wear conservative clothing to the Iranian consulate and keep legs and arms covered, women must wear headscarfs. If you fail at Istanbul, try Ankara and nearer the border at Erzurum.
Pakistan	yes	UK	2 days	Application form, 2 photos, passport, guarantee letter, bank statement, copy of tickets	6 mo		£40	£54
Pakistan	yes	Iran	3 hours		3 mo	30 days	30 USD		The consulate at Zahedan is a small, friendly and an 'informal' one. If you are not British or American your Visa will cost $1 - $3!
India	yes	UK	1 day	Application form, 2 photos and passport	6 mo		£30		If travelling to any restricted areas please contact us for further advice
India	yes	Iran	7 days	Application form, 3 photo	Immed	6 mo	370000 rials	50 USD	Not available at the Pakistan/India border, must be obtained in advance of arriving at India. The visa validity is Immed i.e. the 6 month duration starts as soon as the visa is issued. Also this visa is not extendable.
Nepal	yes	UK	1 day	Application form, 1 photo	6 mo	60 days	£20	£55	Visas can also be obtained on arrival from the Immigration authorities at all entry points (in US Dollars) provided travellers are in possession of valid travel documents, two passport photos and the relevant fee.
Nepal	yes	Border	1 hour		Immed	60 days	30 USD		Pleasant & relaxed border. It is in the extreme west of the country and you can drive along the spectacular Mahendra Highway along Nepal to Kathmandu.
China	yes	UK	4 days	Application form, 1 photo and passport	3 mo	30 days	£30	£45	The Embassy will no longer accept postal applications direct to Embassy. Require government travel agency to issue necessary permits & also organise a guide to accompany you during your stay if in self-drive vehicles. Expensive..!!
Laos	yes	Border	1 hour	Application form, 2 photos. Return/onward ticket and all docs req for next destination, Certificate of Bank Statement (min. USD 400.-) or life insurance policy, Has a contact/confirmed hotel reservation in Laos.		15 days	30 USD		The Department of Immigration in Vientiane will only extend tourist visas for one day. Sometimes possible to get an extension for an additional 15 days by submitting an application through a tour agency. Foreigners who overstay in Laos risk arrest, and they will be fined $5 for each day upon departure.
Thailand	yes	Border	3 days	Application form, 1 photo and passport, departure ticket	3 mo		£25		No visa needed for tourist visits of upto 30 days providing you can provide exit ticket
Philippines	yes	Border	5 days	Application form, 2 photo, bank statement, passport, proof of departure	6 mo	30 days	£22		A Visa is only required for a stay of over 21 days as long as you have proof of departure
Cambodia	yes	UK	5 days	1 application form, 2 photos, travel confirmation or itinerary from tour operator, passport	3 mo		£15
Cambodia	yes	Border	1 hour	Passport photocopy, 1 photos (3 x 4 cm)	Immed	1 mo	20 USD		Entry through Aranyapathet-Poipet Border and Trat-Koh Kong Border of Thailand
Malaysia	no
Singapore	no
Indonesia	yes	UK	3-5 days	2 app forms, 2 photos, passport, bank statement, ref from employer, travel confirmation	3 mo		£35		If staying less than 30 days you can obtain at most borders on arrival. If stay is more than 30 days then visa in advance
Indonesia	yes	Border	1 hour	demonstrate sufficient means to live during stay in Indonesia, not listed on official blacklist of individuals prohibited from entering the country	Immed	30 days	25 USD		Also beware of the 30-day counting trap! Immigration officials count the 30-day period as: you arrive on the 1st day with a 30-day VoA, and you must leave on the 30th day (not the 31st day or the first of the next month etc.)
PNG	yes	UK	7 days	application form, 2 photos, guarantee letter, stating dates and places of entry to exit passport	3 mo		£38	£78
PNG	yes	Airport	1 hour	The applicant must complete a Request for Entry Permit (Form 1), evidence of return tickets		60 days	25 PKG (7 USD)		Visitor visas are available upon arrival provided onward tickets are carried by bona fide tourists. Only PGK payment is accepted by Immigration so where possible have PNG Kina handy.
Australia	yes	UK		Full name, Date & place of birth, Passport number & expiry date & credit card details		3 mo		20 USD	ETA VISA - This visa is issued by your agent/airline or Travcour (UK) It is an electronic visa (not visible on your passport). Valid for 3 months but valid for multi entries for 1 year
Australia	yes	Web	1 day		12 mo	3 mo		12 USD	http://www.fastozvisa.com/system.htm
Australia	yes	Web			12 mo	3 mo		20 AUS	http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/
New Zealand	no

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Sponsors

overland — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:21:21 +0000

Sponsors

	Wipac are a highly regarded manufacturer of driving lamps, spot lights and wiper blades, of which they have generously offered us a selection. Our trucks will look like something out of Close Encounters by the time we set off, thanks Wipac!
	Peli Products UK were kind enough to supply the expedition with a selection of their Peli cases. Well known for their reliability, performance and durability, with the legendary "you break it - we replace it" guarantee (excludes shark bite, bear attack and children under five!) perfect for use in the harshest of operating conditions... now that sounds like a challenge for the team!
	BOC Guildford, were kind enough to include our nominated charity CARE International in their 2005 Christmas charity collection in order to help us towards our target and raised a staggering GBP 2060. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all at BOC in Guildford for their superb efforts
	MaGlobe provide a pre-paid internet access service with local call access from more countries than any other service we could find (all countries except Iran!). We offered to thoroughly test the system for them and they have generously offered us a LOT of free internet time. Thanks to them we have no excuse if we're slack on writing our diaries!
	Arab Bridge Maritime operate a fast and reliable passenger and vehicle ferry service between Aqaba (Jordan) and Nuweibah (Egypt). They have generously offered passage for ourselves and our vehicles on this route.
	Luis Wee founder of the Rainforest Challenge for donating a fantastic prize to be raffled off in aid of CARE International... two spaces to join the 2006 Rainforest Challenge (25th Nov 06 - 4th Dec 06) as a Touring Adventurer (Spectator).
	Insight Marine Services in Singapore for taking care of all the organisation of the complicated task of shipping our vehicles and ourselves from Singapore to Sumatra, Indonesia.
	AP Valves are manufacturers of the leading Buddy range of BCDs and other scuba diving accessories. They have offered to send us some new equipment and to service our existing equipment free of charge.
	Margnor (Fasteners) Ltd supplied us with a huge number of nuts, bolts, washers, grommets, jubilee clips, widgets, thingummyjigs and doodahs. They liked Alex's visits so much that they refused to take his money any more (or gave him a stock to make him go away, we're not sure which).
	The Robens Institute generously waived the charge for the multitudinous vaccinations for the team.
	Laptop Safe custom-made some security cages to perfectly fit our Peli cases to provide extra security for our camera stuff etc. Quality engineering job done and no charge to us - thank you very much!
	Sartech have lent us an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon ("EPIRB") for the duration of our trip. We hope that we'll never need to use it!
	James Bryan Opticians have kindly offered the team sunglasses so that they won't need to fix our eyeballs after months of driving in the deserts and the Himalayas. Cheers Jim!
	Co-ordSport is a well established and successful motorsports and performance parts wholesaler/retailer. They have offered us some JR Air Filters and cleaning solutions, which should give better performance than stock and being cleanable means they are perfect for those dusty environments.
	Time for Citizenship made a generous donation to Care International in return for us distributing some promotional pens to children in Eastern Europe and Turkey.
	Lind Electronics kindly upgraded a power adapter for Alex's computer and shipped it out to Egypt for him when he had problems with electrical doodahs on his car and broke the one he had before
	Garmin came to the rescue when our GPS suffered a breakage. Via a number of calls, emails and a pick up by Maz's brother, we had the replacement part couriered over to us when Damien visited in India. Thankyou for your great customer service
The Stoke Pub, Guildford	Offered us a discounted rate for booking their function room for our leaving party. We appreciate the gesture and everyone had a good time!
	Roundhouse Entertainment gave us a special rate on a DJ for our leaving party. Thanks Roundhouse!
	GraphicMaps.com have kindly given us permission to use their maps on our website.
	Cameras Underwater were very helpful when they received an urgent call for help after one of my Sea & Sea strobes flooded. They quickly supplied all the replacement parts for Max to courier over. Thankyou for your great customer service
	The guys at my old company mro software were very helpful when they heard that our HP laptop had given up and died. They arranged for a spare laptop to be donated to the cause, which was couriered out to us by Rob when we met up in Bangkok. A BIG thanks to all the guys there that made that happen and allowed us to get back onto website admin and diary writing!
	ARB have been extremely helpful when we reported some running issues we were having with their Old Man Emu suspension which is fitted to both vehicles. Even though we've been running a shade over the operating tolerances, they have been in regular contact to help source some replacement shock absorbers, which proved tricky as we were never in one place/country for long. Many thanks Lachlan for all your help in getting us back up and running
	The Empire Hotel have very kindly helped us by donating prizes in our Brunei 'Lucky Draw'
	Sheraton Utama have very kindly helped us by donating prizes in our Brunei 'Lucky Draw'
	The ferry company Dharma Lautan Utama for kindly helping us negotiate the longest (35hrs) of our many Indonesian water crossing, by arranging the ferry from Makassar, Sulawesi to Surabaya, Java and treating us to a VIP cabin
	Cost Effective Maintenance for kindly supplying a range of their engine maintenance products to give our engine a thorough internal spa to help improve our fuel efficiency for the long trip around Australia. We've definitely noticed a great improvement in fuel economy
	Speedy Wheels Australia for coming to our rescue and helping to supply a full set of steel wheels to replace the US Wheels which were continually cracking under the load.

Activities

	Sergej Valerijev of Diver Sport Center in Rovinj, Croatia.
	Nadi of Nadi Scuba in Rovinj, Croatia for a great dive on the Baron Gautsch.
	Dorota of Nautica Hvar on Hvar Island in Croatia offered us some great wreck diving!
	Dragan of Diving Center Marina in Montenegro who sorted us out some nice wreck diving
	Corinna Siegle & Cahit of C&C Scuba Diving in Kalkan, Turkey for the diving, lots of food and many cups of tea.
	Bulent Genc of Aqua Age for the diving in Kemer, Turkey. No thanks for all the raki!
	Royal Diving Club for some surprisingly nice shore diving on their house reef near Aqaba, Jordan.
	Andree of Sinai Divers in Dahab, Egypt for arranging our dive at the blue hole.
	Wolfgang of SeaMax Diving Centre in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for the diving, the barbecue and letting us stay in his home.
	Constanze Conrad and Ayman H. Taher of Blue Heaven Holidays in Marsa Alam, Egypt for their kind welcome and great evening chats. www.blueheavenholidays.com
	King Snefro in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for some great Red Sea diving and donating the whole week's liveaboard's Nitrox proceeds to Care International!
	Thanks to Venkat at Barracuda Diving at the Goa Marriott Resort, Goa, India for a good day's diving.
	Barefoot Scuba in the Andaman Islands, India for the diving and a great fundraising effort on behalf of CARE International.
	Earthbound Expeditions organised a 6-day trek for us in the Annapurna region of Nepal with guide and porters.
	Christian from Kolanta Diving Center for an excellent and relaxing stay on Ko Lanta, Thailand with a great days diving.
	Pip Gower of Scuba Cat in Phuket, Thailand for hosting the team on a liveaboard to the Similan Islands and diving from Phuket
	Andy of Aqua Vision in Krabi, Thailand for looking after the team when we visited Krabi.
	Patrick Cotter of Siam Adventure Divers in Khao Lak, Thailand for hosting the team on a fantastic liveaboard to the Burma Banks. Also a huge thanks for donating a superb prize to be raffled off... two spaces aboard their liveaboard for 4 days of diving around the Similans. At only £10 a ticket you can enter as many times as you wish… GOOD LUCK
	Shalini Negi of Black Tip Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand for inviting the team across to Koh Tao for some diving and relaxation. A BIG thanks for the 140ukp donation to CARE
	Sue Horwood of Mermaid's Dive Centre in Pattaya, Thailand for getting us wet on some of Thailands wrecks :o)
	Thanks to Big Blue Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand for the turtles, sharks and rays.
	Richard of Jungle Trekker Holidays for organising our own version of the Rainforest Challenge and getting well and truely stuck in the mud of Thailand. Many thanks also for your kind hospitality and letting us spend a few nights at your home whilst doing some running repairs to the car. www.jungletrekkerholidays.com. A HUGE thanks also for your very kind donation of 150ukp to CARE International.
	Jeff from MORE (Malaysian Off Road Explorer) for looking after us in Malaysia and guiding us into the rainforest for some off roading and bush camping. Jeff has been extremely helpful in organising things for us in Malaysia, so a BIG thanks to him from the team
	Erika Antoniazzo from Coral Sky Divers for a great and relaxing time in Pulau Perhentian off the east coast of Malaysia. Thankyou for an enjoyable 2nd wedding anniversary and a massive THANKYOU to Coral Sky Divers and all who dived during the charity 'Dive for CARE' day when an amazing 100ukp was raised..!!
	Michelle and Jeffree from Eco Divers for their extremely friendly dive centre at ABC on Pulau Tioman off the east coast of Malaysia. Jeffree has to be the most easy going fun loving dive operators there is and everyone is sure to enjoy their relaxed company. We really enjoyed participating in the 'Crown of Thorns' cleanup weekend. A HUGE thanks to Eco-Divers for their fantastic GBP60 donation to CARE.
	Martin Ritter from B&J Diving Centre for looking after us when we visited Pulau Tioman off the east coast of Malaysia. A special thanks for the tow back from diving after our boat suffered a small engine misbehaviour!!
	Scuba-Tech International for looking after us when we unexpectedly visited Brunei and allowed us our long overdue fix of rusty metal on some superb wreck divers..!!
	Rob and Linda from Divers Lodge Lembeh for letting us stay at their extremely relaxed lodge and showing us the same personal service they treat all of their guests to and of course taking us beneath the waves to the bizarre underwater alien world that is Lembeh Strait!
	Jim and Cary from Eco Divers for making our long windy drive up to Manado well worth all the effort. We were treated to the best of two worlds... superb wall diving in the national marine park of Bunaken and visiting the wierd world of Lembeh Strait for some unsurpassed MUCK diving! A huge thanks also for arranging our stay at the fantastic Tasik Ria Resort in Manado and then the infamous Kungkungan Bay Resort in Lembeh Strait
	Danny from Tasik Ria Resort, Manado, for two nights of complete luxury and indulgence which were more than 5* up from our normal camp accomodation!
	Steve and Miranda from Kungkungan Bay Resort, Lembeh Strait, for a few days of paradise and the best room in the resort with superb views across the strait.
	Lisa and the team from Kararu Dive Voyages for a fantastic opportunity to join them on an amazing exploratory 13 night live-aboard around the Banda Sea, Indonesia.
	Reefseekers for donating a superb diving package in the Komodo National Park for us to raffle off, watch our home page for details.
	FreeFlow Diving in East Timor for great diving outside Dili and lots of info on what's REALLY going on in the country!
	Allan Powers Dive Tours for showing us the incredible diving around Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, especial the fabulous wreck of the SS President Coolidge. A superb place to go diving
	The Beachfront Resort for their generous hospitality and making our small holiday 'away from life on the road' a real treat and a one to remember
	Solomon Airlines for helping us jet of to explore Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

In addition we would like to thank the following people without whose help the planning of the trip would have been much more difficult, or the fundraising less successful (in alphabetical order):

Nahed Al-Gazaz, Pranab Bhadra, Zoran Birimisa, Niamh Bresnihan, Susan Burrell, Marion Creagh, Tomi Dolenc, Stefaniya Duncheva, Siavash Farhangi, Mandy Hensman, Imran Hussain, Gary Jones, Damien Kelly, Siobhan Kelly, Behnam Koleili, Svetla Kostova, Carolyn Medland, Rachel Mercer, Emma Nicholson, Bas Poppink, Shazia Rahman, Elise Roders, Relina Ruan, Hikmet Sevdican, Ken Srisutraporn at EQHO Communications Ltd, Branko Tadic, Kerry Tuckett, Rowena Vale, Anna Vaughan, Davorka Vunic, Prill Walshaw, Jac White, Rob Whyte, Kylie Williams

If we forgot anyone we're really sorry, please let us know and we'll add you!

We'd also like to thank the following companies for their generous donations to the raffle at our fundraising leaving do (in no particular order):

Purple Labs, Molton Brown, Jo Shmo's, Waterstones, Mexx, O'Neill's, Pizza Express, Tesco, Spectrum, Bar Ha Ha!, Lakeland, The Pier, David Steel, Loch Fyne Restaurant, Sussex Stationers & Bookstore, MRO

We'd also like to thank the following companies for their generous donations for our Brunei 'Lucky Draw' (in no particular order):

The Empire Hotel, The Sheraton Hotel - Utama, Sugar & Spice, The Mall Cineplex

Finally the following people or organisations we met along the route also deserve thanks for their help:

Croatia: Autocamp Peros in Zaton for advice on what to see and do in the area.
Montenegro: Goran from Triftar his help organising the Tara River rafting
Bulgaria: The Hill family for their kind welcome at their home in Sofia
Egypt: May Elsoda of CARE Egypt in Beni Suef. Fayek F. El Rezeiky of Rezeiky Camp in Luxor.
Iran: The girls from Kerman for the wine, the rave and the accommodation on what would have been a cold camping night. No names but you know who you are!
Pakistan: Basically everyone we met through the Offroad Club Karachi! There are too many of you to name but we love you all. Major Tanveer of the Frontier Corps for making our Balochistan trip possible.
India: Arun Varma in Amritsar for his welcome. Bubbles and Mrs. Bubbles of Amritsar for the barbecue and welcome in their home. Froagh Ahmed Jami and Alok Rathore of CARE India. Neeraj Pathania for coming to our rescue and treating us to true indian hospitality.
China: Mark our guide for putting up with our antics (ps sorry about Max ;o)
Laos: Xong for showing us the real Laos - an amazing experience!
Cambodia: Hear Bunla for talking about the HIV & AIDS projects CARE International does in Cambodia
Thailand: Anchalee for organising a fantastic field trip around the CARE International Tsunami projects in Thailand
Malaysia: Zaiham Family: Jeff for his excellent hospitality and treating us like family; Shima for some superb home cooked food and cakes to die for; Jazli & Syamim for giving up their beds and letting us stay :o) Assir (aka 1 dollar) for arranging our shipping at the last minute and his hospitality for letting us stay at his home and dining us every evening - nice satay! Luis Wee (founder of the Rainforest Challenge) for donating such an exciting prize to be raffled off for CARE. Stiven Sim (One of the Petronas Adventure Team) for looking after us at his 4x4 workshop. Faruk (Another of the Petronas Adventure Team) for his excellent advice regarding our onward journey around Borneo. Karamul for looking after us in Kota Kinabulu.
Brunei: Paul and Alison for their kind hospitality, letting us stay, showing us around and letting us relax at the Yacht Club. And a BIG thank you for all their help in running the Brunei 'Lucky Draw' which raised a great GBP300, it is really appreciated. Abdul Yusrin Salleh for letting us stay with the Scuba-Tech staff. Farid Abdullah & the Princesses for letting us use the Empire Hotel as our second home and playground :o) The Brunei 4x4 club for entertaining us, doing a bit of sightseeing and giving up to date advice on Kalimantan. Mo Radwan & Hjh Zaidah from Sugar & Spice for treating us to a fantastic Arabic feast... a real flash back to our days in the Middle East
Indonesia: Sapta, Benny, Fahmi, John, Hairil & the guys for letting us tag along and follow you into Kalimantan - many thanks, we'd have been incredibly lost (and probably still there!) without you! Sapta and family for letting us stay a few nights with you in Palangkaraya and giving the car a thorough good washing! Edy, Dewi and family for your delightful hospitality during our stay in Banjarmasin - many thanks for the excellent souvenirs which will take pride of place. Uvan for arranging our ferry from Balikpapan, Kalimantan to Palu, Sulawesi - even though you weren't in shipping as we'd assumed when we were given your contact details - just a fellow 4x4 enthusiast!Jefry of Ud. Sentosa Jaya Motor for looking after Tinfish when we arrived a little forlorn in Manado. Swartin, Moses, Anti and especially Bertin Bedang for finding us in our rooftop tent in the delightful Toraja then through sign language insisting we stay with them the following night in their traditional tongkonan house an unforgettable experience. Ahyar for your kind help during our brief visit to Makassar, Sulawesi as we waited for our next ferry to Surabaya, Java. Boy for all your help as we arrived in Surabaya, Java after a grueling ferry crossing... our longest yet and hopefully of the trip. Maria and Ronald at Care International Indonesia for Martin's visit to the BERSIH project in the Jakarta suburbs. Butet Luhcandradini for looking after Martin in Bali and trying her best to get press coverage for the team. Andy Taylor of Absolute Scuba for sending on the kit that Martin stupidly left behind! Reefseekers in Flores/Komodo for another superb prize for us to raffle off in aid of Care. Edwin at Lavalon Bar and Guesthouse in Kupang for great tourist info and free internet!
East Timor: Henry at 231 Backpackers for putting up with Martin's kit all over the place while cleaning the car for Aussie quarantine. Wayne and Ann at FreeFlow Diving for great stories, great dives and many beers, hope to do it again, I felt really welcome! The Dutch Pickle for his help in cleaning Tinfish and keeping us sane when we collapsed back to the backpackers.
Australia: Chrissie for allowing us to escape Darwin whilst we waited on Tinfish being repaired and treated us to a few weeks staying with her in Sydney. Justin & Kristie for letting us chill out and stay at Parry Creek Farm whilst sharing a few beers, some excellent food and a few good travelling yarns before we set off down the Gibb River Road. Paul and Pam for the cappuccino at the best kitted out ranger station in the middle of no where. Wayne who we met fishing at Steep Point, WA for his generous handout of fresh, filleted and frozen Spanish Mackerel - they were delicious! Kirsty and Hamish for letting us stay with them in Perth over New Years, even though they already had friends staying they very kindly squeezed us in :o) Thanks to Phil & Tess who we had a great time with in Denmark. Thanks also to the fisherman we meet at Emu Point, Albany for his kind gift of a gigantic deep sea crab and lobster - fantastic tucker!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Vehicle Preparation and Equipment

overland — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:18:31 +0000

Vehicle Preparation and Equipment

Preparing a vehicle for such an expedition is a major undertaking. Doing all the work yourself is time consuming and unless you have your own workshop and are mechanically minded you need to invest the help of the 'professionals'. Choosing such a specialist preparation centre is not a decision that should be taken lightly as they will have your pride and joy tucked up in their workshops whilst making the modifications and asking for sacks full of cash! You therefore need to find somewhere you trust and who can be relied on to do the job properly first time and within a reasonable time. Although shake down trips are obviously advisable, there's no going back when you're somewhere in Asia!

Between the three vehicles, two cars used Frogs Island 4x4, whereas the third later decided on Footloose 4x4 after discussing the experiences of the first two. Reading between the lines I wouldn't say we were particularly satisfied with the quality of work undertaken by Frogs Island 4x4 and the prolonged amount of time it took meant we weren't able to progress with our own modifications. Although they were prepared to try and resolve most issues, this takes repeat visits to the workshop and further time. On the whole Footloose 4x4 stuck to their time estimate, thoroughly discussed the options available and advised where they thought expense un-necessary modifications were being requested. Apart from a few minor exceptions the work has been to a good standard and they've been very helpful when a problem was identified.

These are just our own experiences and there are many overland specialist preparation centres out there, so do your homework and choose wisely!

Many hours have been spent slowly converting the Land Cruisers to overland expedition vehicles. A special thanks must go to Gary for his help and for letting us loose with his range of cutting, welding and drilling toys! The equipment and manufacturers have been chosen as we felt they represented the best available. Often for the Land Cruiser this meant shipping components in from Australia or South Africa. The pictures on this page are of "Tinfish" - Alex and Maz's Land Cruiser. We are endeavouring to prepare all vehicles to the same specification however inevitably there will be slight differences between each individual Land Cruiser. Detailed below are some of the main modifications made:

	Roof Tent: As this was to be our main sleeping accommodation for the 18 months, we wanted a certain amount of comfort, so chose a roof tent for their ease of use and foam mattress! Of the available models two vehicles were fitted with tents from Hannibal and the other Eezi-Awn, both companies from South Africa and long-experienced in the requirements of a rugged product for safaris. The advantage of these tents is that they can be erected within minutes. The disadvantage is that you can't just pop down the road for some milk without packing down first.

	Roof Rack: We had a lot of fun and games securing the roof racks. We wanted the expedition size rack for the space they offered. Hannibal were the favourite, unfortunately they aren't well stocked in the UK for the Land Cruiser and are subsequently expensive. We ended up with a combination of Hannibal and Patriot racks. http://www.offroadstore.co.uk

	Snorkel & Breather Kit: Although the rule seems to be when overlanding that if the water is deeper than the wheels, find an alternative route, we still felt it would be an advantage to add snorkels. This not only helps when wading, but also keeps the air intake higher when driving through dusty condition. Land Cruisers however have a very good air intake, which draws from the wing and allows the engine to run for a time when submerged. We were impressed with the ARB range, so fitted their Safari snorkel. http://www.arb.com.au. We also raised the gearbox and differential breathers to keep water out when wading.

	Suspension: With the extra weight of all the modifications and our kit, the suspension needed to be upgraded. Old Man Emu is well known within the 4WD community on an international basis and hence it was the obvious choice. http://www.arb.com.au

	Auxiliary Fuel Tank: Fuel management is critical with the distances planned on our route. The choice was to have either a copious number of messy jerry cans, or else fit an auxiliary fuel tank. Although an expensive option, it also keeps the weight low when full and hence the centre of gravity is also lower, which is very important for handling, rather than a similar weight on the roof. We decided to fit the 160 litre Long Ranger Fuel Tank by ARB. http://www.thelongranger.com.au

	Bull Bar: Protection to the vehicle is key as it's bound to take the odd bump or two. The standard bumpers are plastic, so don't offer the same protection. The integrated bumper/bull bars are far better than the aftermarket bling ones you see on many 4WD vehicles which are more for show, being stronger and allowing a better approach angle and a place to fit a winch. We have a mixture of TJM and ARB bumpers. http://www.tjmproducts.com.au

	Winch: A winch is a very useful tool for getting you out of all sorts of mess when the vehicle has become bogged down and simply won't budge. Initially we only had two vehicles both of which needed to be self-sufficient, so a suitable winch was a high priority. We ended up with a combination of Toyota factory fitted and Superwinch X9 winches. http://www.superwinch.com

	Driving Lights: Although driving at night is to be avoided - you never know what is going to be in the road - it is worth being prepared for the occasions when it cannot be avoided. A good pair of driving lights really helps and Wipac were kind enough to offer us a range of their vehicle lighting. http://www.wipac.com

	Automatic Transmission Fluid Radiator: In addition to the standard cooling for the A/T fluid it is highly advisable to fit an additional A/T radiator. Even with this additional source of cooling, as the cars are so heavy we still even now have to occasionally stop and open the bonnet on steep uphill inclines as the A/T overheating warning light comes on!

	Steel Wheels: Although alloy wheels add that bling, they aren't so well suited for this style of expedition. Should a wheel get buckled, alloys tend to crack if hammered back into shape. Steel wheels are both stronger and can be hammered if necessary so at least you can limp on to the next town. We used a combination of Bronco4x4 http://www.bronco4x4.com and Mangel steel wheels. http://www.mangels.com.br/index_ing.html Tyres: We are currently running BF Goodrich tyres and are impressed with the reputation they hold within the off road community. We will be changing all the tyres for brand new All Terrain 265/75 R16 tyres before we leave. (NB: these tyres proved nigh impossible to find on the road so would change to 285/75R16) http://www.bfgoodrichtyres.co.uk

	Battery Management System: Our model Land Cruisers came with two batteries as standard, however on two of the vehicles we wanted to fit a third auxiliary battery to drive the additional electrics such as fridge, water pump, etc. For this we fitted 2 red and 1 yellow Optima batteries http://www.optimabatteries.com, with the National Luna battery management system http://www.nationalluna.com. To fit all the batteries the battery tray needed to be customised and the whole installation was an expensive addition. This does mean we have a comprehensive power supply, however the third vehicle opted to stay with the standard 2 battery configuration.

	Compressor: Deflating & inflating tyres is a fact of life for the off roader. Deflated tyres offer greater grip and traction, so helps in all terrains, from rock and sand to mud. Of course once deflated the tyres need inflating before travelling on tarmac and this is where a compressor is needed. There is quite a choice available, but we were recommended the Viair range of compressors and have installed the 400 series, both fixed to the vehicle and the portable version. http://www.viaircorp.com

	Water tank: Water is obviously the most precious of commodities and having sufficient supplies is of paramount importance. We designed a system using an 80 litre tank and fittings supplied by Boab, who know everything you ever wanted to know about water systems in 4WD's. http://www.boab.biz This tank fits nicely between the rear wheel arches and beneath the shelving.

	Water Pump: To deliver the water to the taps and showers we installed a suitable water pump. The Shurflo pump is well specified for this type of application. These water pumps are self-priming and employ three independent pumping chambers to pump water smoothly and quietly. Built-in check valves rated to 200 psi prevent backflow into the tank and they deliver water at 10.6 LPM. They can even run dry without damage. http://www.shurflo.com

	Water Purifier: Water quality is extremely important in order to avoid disease and infections, so a suitable filter is required to remove impurities and bacteria. We chose the Nature Pure Water Purifiers, which are designed to make drinking water safe and pure. Effective against microbiological, chemical & aesthetic contaminants, including chlorine resistant parasitic cysts like cryptosporidia and giardia, water-borne bacteria, viruses, odours & lead. http://www.generalecology.com

	Hot Water: There is nothing quite like a hot shower to wash away the grime after a hard day's driving. So we fitted a couple of the vehicles with a heat exchanger to allow us to have hot water, which is supplied when the engine is running. A little bit of luxury, which will be gladly appreciated! The shower unit attaches to the side of the vehicle. We imported these Twine units from Australia. http://www.twine4wdshowers.com.au

	Taps and Shower: We have a number of various outlets for the water, both at the rear in the 'kitchen' area and at the side for the shower. Both have an inline isolator to prevent accidental leaks!

	Storage: You only have to unpack the back of the car once to find that item you've been looking for at the very bottom of all the kit, to realise that a suitable storage system is important to prevent yourself from going mad! We designed and built a shelving system based around the water tank, storage Wolf boxes, cooker, tool boxes and our other bags for collapsible chairs, tables and clothes. This gives us a very neat and tidy rear to the Land Cruiser. View our design for the metal support frames here: upper shelf (225KB image), lower shelf (242KB image).

	Safe: Living out of the car means that we'll have a lot of important documentation that needs to be stored securely. A safe has been security bolted to the steel of the shelving system to provide a safe place for those all important documents.

	Fridge: Food storage will be important and the best way to keep food items fresh is within a fridge. We needed a fridge that could endure the rigours of off road driving whilst still keeping our food chilled. Engel come highly recommended, so we bought the 40 litre fridge with jacket. We removed one of the rear seats and secured the fridge into the space with the Engel slide-lok fixing.

	Cooking: The rear of the Land Cruiser converts into a kitchen and will be used to prepare and cook our food whilst on the road. A simple system has been designed to use a standard gas cooker, which stores neatly under the shelf when not required. When needed for cooking, there is an inline quick connector, which connects it to the gas cylinder. The cooker simply sits on the rear tailgate, having removed the carpet and replaced it for a sheet of stainless steel.

	Gas Cylinder: Required for the gas cooker, it is inadvisable to store the gas inside the vehicle in case of leaks, so the roof rack is the obvious choice. We bought a holder for the bottle, which is bolted to the roof rack. The gas bottle is then clamped into the holder.

	Roof Storage Boxes: These boxes are for lighter items that need a home. We have fitted two to the roof rack. Primarily they will contain vehicle servicing supplies and recovery gear. The boxes are bolted onto the roof rack and are padlocked shut.

	Awning: Although we are hoping for perfect weather all the way, undoubtedly there will be times we need to get out of the rain or sun, so a suitable awning is needed. We'd heard that the style that are permanently attached to the roof rack, although being very convenient, tend to be battered by the elements and shower you in dust when in use. We opted for the Front Runner awning as it was considerably cheaper and it rolls up into a self-contained bag, which can be placed inside the vehicle. It also means the awning can be attached to any side where there is a mounting rail, so it can be moved from the side or over the rear 'kitchen' to suit. http://www.frontrunner.co.za

	Jerry Cans: With fixed water and auxiliary fuel tanks in place, it is still however necessary to have additional spare water and fuel. This allows for sharing between vehicles or for when the vehicle can't get close enough to the supply we can still replenish both fuel and water - if not a little manually! These are held within a Hannibal jerry can holder, which is bolted to the roof rack. We chose this holder as it held the cans securely unlike others where the jerry cans could be removed even whilst 'securely' padlocked in place! The last thing you want is to lose your spare fuel and water.

	High Lift Jack: An essential part of every 4WD recovery kit. These jacks are however heavy and bulky, so finding a suitable place to store posed an interesting problem. We ended up storing in a very convenient location by bolting it to the side of the large roof box.

	Roof Lighting: We've fitted a number of lights to the roof rack to give us additional lighting when camping. Wipac again were kind enough to offer us their range of lighting products. http://www.wipac.com

	Shovel: Useful for a multitude of applications, from digging ourselves out when stuck, to visiting the woods! Chose a pointed blade with a long reach handle. It fits securely to the side of the roof rack and is padlocked into place.

	Cargo Nets: You can never have enough storage space and the use of elastic cargo nets is a great way to keep the inside of the car organised.

	Fire Extinguisher: Safety is obviously of paramount importance and so we have mounted a fire extinguisher in a prominent and easy to access space to the side of the centre console.

	Glass Hammer: Again for safety measures we have fitted a glass hammer in a prominent and easy to access space to the side of the centre console.

	GPS: 65,000 km is a long way to drive! To help us navigate along the route we are using a mixture of GPS units by Magellan and Garmin. These have been fixed to the dashboard for ease of use and have external antennas to improve the signal reception.

	EPIRB (406 MHz): (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) Hopefully this device will never be used in anger, but if activated it will send out a distress call via satelite (406 MHz) to alert the emergency service of our distress, which can then be used to pinpoint our exact position. This unit was kindly donated by Sartech http://www.sartech.com

	Satelite Phone: Contactable anywhere! Rather than a excuse for missing our mobile phones the Sat phone sould be usable pretty much everwhere we are going, so makes an ideal emergency form of communication. We are using a Motorola 9500 which we got cheap on ebay!

	CB Radio: Driving in convoy we need suitable comms between the vehicles and a CB radio is the obvious choice. From the many available we chose to use the Midland Alan 78 Plus Multi. These sets are designed primarily for long-distance truck drivers. The Multi sets can switch to suit the frequency allocations in different European countries, so when you are in these countries, you have access to that country's FULL CB allocation, not just the common European band on FM. http://www.midlandradio.com

	Ladders: With all the stuff up top on the roof rack we added a ladder to the rear door. You can clamber up over the spare wheel, but the ladder makes the job far easier.

	Light Protectors: To avoid stone chips the vehicles have a combination of Perspex covers on the front headlights and metal grills on the rear lights.

	Vehicle Security: We have employed a mixture of security measures such as the more visible and physical deterrents such as wheel locks http://www.autolok.co.uk to the remote alarm and immobiliser http://www.autowatch.co.uk. We are also installing a satellite tracker system.

	Entertainment: With 65,000 km of mud, sand, rock and tarmac ahead of us, musical entertainment whilst on the road is going to be very important. Between the vehicles we have a mixture of audio components all of which can be used with an mp3 player which is where all our music will be stored.

	Inverter: We fitted a 12v DC to 220v AC inverter in a couple of the vehicles in case we had anything that needed 220v and couldn't be run off 12v. Due to the inefficient and noisy nature of an inverter we managed to source 12v DC power adaptors for all our electrical accessories so the inverter will hopefully just be there for back up.

	Furry Dice: No vehicle should leave home, let alone drive 65,000 km to New Zealand without them!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Choosing the Vehicles

overland — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 20:09:51 +0000

Choosing the car!

After the BIGGEST decision was made to actually take an 18 month career break to drive to New Zealand, the close second most important decision was which vehicle we should take! The concept of the expedition meant that the team would be absolutely reliant on the vehicles for the entire duration of the adventure, providing us with transport, safety, accommodation, cooking, cleaning and storage of all our possessions. In short, the vehicles are the heart of the expedition.

Starting from the UK, the obvious choice would have been to choose Land Rovers and nothing conjures up the romance of overland adventure better than the classic LWB Land Rover. However having spent time overseas, we already knew of the reputation Toyota Land Cruisers maintain for their dominating presence throughout the rest of the world and their ability to tackle most terrains with ease. Unfortunately, their presence within the UK overland and off-road community is minimal, more often seen on the school and supermarket run, which meant preparation would be all the more challenging! So we could not immediately decide the better vehicle for the expedition.

Our criteria needed the vehicles to be reliable, capable and comfortable for 18 months and 65,000km. It was a prolonged decision and we could argue either way for the Land Cruiser or Land Rover. However, although we anticipated preparation would be more challenging for a Land Cruiser, the tide was firmly swaying in their favour and Chris Scott's excellent book Sahara Overland helped consolidate our decision, to quote:

"Toyota Land Cruisers have set standards of reliability and durability to which all other 4WDs are compared."

"Your series Landrover will let in water, cook your feet, freeze other parts, deafen and shake you and suck dust like a hoover - learn to live with it."

Having now bought three Toyota Land Cruisers for the expedition we've never looked back and despite the additional aggravation of having equipment shipped from either Australia or South Africa, or even custom made, we are 150% confident we have the best vehicle available to undertake such a gruelling journey. Our warm up sessions around the UK have firmly convinced us of this fact, with their ability and durability astounding the Land Rover community that we've practiced with and the vehicle's reputation quickly grew from... "Are you sure you'll be okay, we are going off-road" to "bl**dy Land Cruisers" as we pass a broken down or stuck Land Rover...

Toyota Land Cruiser VX 80-Series 4.2L Turbo Diesel (Years 1991/1992/1993)

Technical Specifications:

Dimensions: 4780mm (L) x 1930mm (W) x 1875mm (H)
Weight: 2100-2300kg
GVM: 2960kg, towing: 750kg (unbraked)
Turning radius: 6.4m (to wall)

Diesel: 1HDT 4164cc, 6cyl, turbo-charged, 4v/cyl, SOHC
Bore: 94mm Stroke: 100mm, CR: 18.6:1

Transmission: 4-speed automatic, full-time 4WD (centre diff).
Diff Locks: front/centre/rear

Suspension: beam-coil/beam-coil
Brakes: disc/disc, handbrake acts on rear wheels
Tyres: 265/75R16 (NB: these tyres proved nigh impossible to find on the road so would change to 285/75R16)
Fuel-tank: 80L (standard) + 160L (auxiliary)

Service Schedule

It took quite a bit of hunting around to put together a service plan for the cars. We asked Toyota for their help in providing this along with a suggested list of spares, but they unfortunately didn't want to know! The schedule we settled on is a combination of information found in the Haynes manual 'Toyota - Land Cruiser (diesel) 1980 thru 1998' and 'Toyota Landcruiser 1990-2002 Diesel Engines' by Max Ellery.

Notes:
1. Range of oil viscosity depending on temperature. For best fuel economy and cold starting, select the lowest SAE viscosity grade for the expected temperature range
2. Change every 25,000 if operated in heavy city traffic where outside temperature regularly reaches 32C; or in hilly or mountainous terrain frequent trailer pulling

Spare Parts List

We took as much advise as we could gather and put together a 'must have' and 'optional' list. Carrying spare parts is a fine balance between having the most likely parts available to hand and the cost, weight and storage space required! This is the list we decided on for two cars and only ended up taking the 'must haves'.

Some useful part numbers that you'll need regularly:
(make sure you use Toyota GENUINE)

Brakes - Front: 04465-YZZ53
Brakes - Rear: 04466-60020
Filter - Fuel: 23303-56040 or 90915-30001
Filter - Oil: 90915-30002
Bearing - Outer (Front or Rear): 90368-45087 (LM102949)
Bearing - Inner (Front or Rear): 90368-49084 (JLM104948-N)

Must Have List

Optional List

You can also download a copy of the service excel spreadsheet which contains all this information.

We found Milner Offroad a good source of spare parts, but a word of warning - stick to the Toyota brake pads - they're more expensive but with such heavily ladden vehicles far far more durable (as we unfortunately found out too late!)

If you find any of this information helpful, please don't hesitate to stop by the donations link on the left..!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Diving

overland — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 19:57:29 +0000

The idea was to post details when we had an intinerary of locations where we were aiming to go underwater but this never happened. Maybe one day it will...

...in the mean time please follow this link for some previous dive expeditions undertaken by members of the group.

http://www.overland-underwater.com/diving/Diving.htm

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Vaccinations

overland — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 18:39:21 +0000

Vaccinations

This table shows the results of our detailed investigation into what vaccinations and prophylactics we will need to consider throughout our route. We will feel like pin cushions by the time we set off...

Original post blogged on b2evolution.