Captains Log

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After a later than planned start due to packing taking a couple of hours longer than I planned, I got on the road.  By this stage Neal and Amber were two hours ahead of me in their truck Brienne, an ugly blond hilux that may be familiar from the #RescueRanger entry.

I made a quick loop North to Joondalup and grabbed some last minute supplies (beer and food) and then started the drive proper, overtaking mining equipment that was going around 30kmh whenever I could. The next stop was Dalwallinu for fuel, where a local kindly pointed out the turn off for Great Northern Highway in the next town along. This was to be my last turn for the day. Continue reading “Captains Log”

Truck Prep – Part 3

New shoes!


Today the truck got some shiny new black shoes. I ended up getting six new tyres and two spare wheel rims, upgrading the steel spare to the standard Ford alloy.  After a bit of a chat with Scott at Richard’s Tyrepower in Osborne Park I’ve ended up going for new Mickey Thomson rubber.  It’s the first time I’ve had Mickeys, however all the online chat says that they’re pretty good.  Hopefully they’ll prove themselves on the road.

The tyres are a 285/70/R17 Baja ATZ P3.

Gibb River Road

I’m about to head off to the Kimberleys in far North WA.  The rough itinerary is to drive from Perth to Karijini, Broome, then onto the Gibb River Road and Mitchell Falls, before heading back via the Bungle Bungles and Wolfe Creek Crater.  All up its about 130 hours of driving covering 8000kms over a three week period, however this is likely to be a bit more as a lot of this is over 4WD tracks.

I’ve added some publicly available photos of where I’m going, hopefully I can add some more that will highlight just how beautiful this part of the world is.

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Karijini National Park Continue reading “Gibb River Road”

Photography Kit

I have a variety of camera kit that I’ll be taking on my trip, ranging from action cams through to a couple of DSLRs. None of this kit is particularly new or exciting, but I thought I’d share the line up.

First up is the ubiquitous GoPro, and I have a couple some I’m hoping to get a couple of decent angles.  I’ll be using one of these inside of the truck throughout the trip to the Kimberlys.

Next up is the Kogan action cam. These are a lower cost version of the GoPro and I’m ok if these get damaged or lost on the trip. One will be on the roof rack, and another on the bullbar.

After this is the iPhone/iPad/Samsung tablet for quick photos. Continue reading “Photography Kit”

Land Rover Experience Day

I’ve spent a lot of today in the picturesque Avon Valley in the better halfs Land Rover Discovery Sport.  The day was run by Land Rover Australia and was a lot of fun, with the point of taking new Land Rover owners off the black top and into the bush.


The day kicked off with homemade scones at Moondyne Convention Centre, a brilliant spot that I hope to get back to soon. After a safety briefing it was onto the gravel and then into a field for our first challenge. Balancing the car on two wheels. There were a lot of nervous people who had just spent significant amounts of money looking at our instructors Ray and David as though they were nuts. Everyone had a go, and then the discussion was how easy it was. After a couple more run throughs, playing with the different modes on the car each time it was onto a gravel pit, then back to Moondyne and a fantastic lunch. Continue reading “Land Rover Experience Day”