Starting from Scratch

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Well, here we go . . .

First of all, let me confess that we haven't actually gone anywhere yet, however we've managed to spend a bucketful of money - amazing how that happens isn't it?

So here's the Big Plan:

June 2007 - depart Melbourne in purpose-bought ute and camper/caravan of some type and head up the Interior towards the Top End (Northern Territory for any international visitors); spend a week trying to shoot pigs, get hot and dirty and drink lots of beer, drive over to the Kimberleys in WA, and then head back the way we came back to home. Try not to get divorced along the way. (Note: Big Van probably a good idea - separate beds a necessity, you'll know why later, I promise!)

We're planning on 75 days which sounds like forever but will probably disappear in a flash.

So what' s happened so far?

Well, we've got the Ute. It's a 3.0 litre Toyota Hilux 4WD Turbo Diesel, and it cost us about $51,000. Ouch. However we did have a trade. A 2003 Kluger, which was my baby that I loved, but just wasn't suitable for this use.

We figured a Turbo Diesel was the way to go, the Outback being not terribly friendly towards petrol these days, and diesel is everywhere. Plus we're getting amazing consumption out of it already - it averages 7.8litres/100km on a combination of town and country travel, admittedly without a load but it's a good start.

Fuel tank is 76 litres, we plan on replacing this with a 145-litre tank from ARB, which should cover all bases even if we don't plan on going too far away from the main routes.

So far we've added a pair of Recaro sport seats as we are old and have bad backs, and the bullbar and towbar. Next up is the spotties - we do a lot of paddocking for foxes at night, so a good set of Hellas is coming from eBay if our Snipe program does what we ask of it.

Next: Choosing The Van - what a minefield.

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Photos

The Ute
We agonised between this and a Navara or Pathfinder. Finally decided Toyotas just get there more reliably.