Tuesday 31 March 2009
THANKYOU
Gary & myself would just like to say a massive THANKYOU to everyone who made it to our party,what an amazing night,so many fantastic costumes, thankyou so much all of you for going to such effort, you all made it the most memorable night ever. Also a big Thankyou to everyone who has sent good wishes & love. We have both been overwhelmed by people's love & encouragement. We are both very lucky to have such wonderful family & friends in our life, I'm sure we will see alot of you again and hope that you all know you are welcome to come & stay in Oz when we do eventually get there. Thanks again guys & please keep in touch. Our Skype name is of course YOUNGTRIPPERS.
Thursday 26 March 2009
Hi all, I have more good news, for us anyway. We have our Carnet DE passage at last, this was absolutely vital to our trip and has been granted today,this means we are all on track for leaving April 1st as planned.
We are both so relieved that all our plans are coming together after all our hard work.
Unfortunately for some reason the Gazette didn't run our story this week but who knows maybe they will publish it next week.
Our immediate plans are to pack the last few bits and bobs that need to go to Australia, the shipping company arrive on Monday to pack all our belongings. Tie up all lose ends with the stacks of paper work that we have.
A few last things to do to the vehicle,C.V joints and seals need fixing,it's just had a full service and a few extras and is pretty much ready to rock and roll.
We are both really looking forward to our send off on Saturday and are very excited about seeing everyone,especially in fancy dress. Well that's about it for now don't want to bore you too much with the boring things.
See you all on Saturday.
We are both so relieved that all our plans are coming together after all our hard work.
Unfortunately for some reason the Gazette didn't run our story this week but who knows maybe they will publish it next week.
Our immediate plans are to pack the last few bits and bobs that need to go to Australia, the shipping company arrive on Monday to pack all our belongings. Tie up all lose ends with the stacks of paper work that we have.
A few last things to do to the vehicle,C.V joints and seals need fixing,it's just had a full service and a few extras and is pretty much ready to rock and roll.
We are both really looking forward to our send off on Saturday and are very excited about seeing everyone,especially in fancy dress. Well that's about it for now don't want to bore you too much with the boring things.
See you all on Saturday.
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Yippee,after the third attempt we have had our bank guarantee granted, at last. Now we can get the Carnet de passage for the van, which for all of you out there who don't know what this is basically it's a passport for the van that you have to get stamped when arriving in a country and stamped when leaving, with out this we are up the creek with out a paddle but fingers crossed it looks like we will get it and on time for our departure on April 1st.
Monday 16 March 2009
So as you can see from some of the photo's I have posted we did indeed make it down to Lynmouth on Thursday evening and camped inside the Land Cruiser. After a couple of beers to christen our new home, which we have called Equinox as on the day that we found the Land Cruiser on EBay we also found out that our cat Equinox of 14 years had had to be put down. Anyway as I said after a couple of bevvies we rolled out our 3inch memory foam mattress, fluffed up our 13.5 tog duvet and settled in the van for fingers crossed we hoped would be a good nights sleep and all in all it was,apart from the fact that we had to venture out in the middle of the night several times as mother nature called. I have to say there is something very liberating about a fresh air wee in the middle of the night though.
Gary got up at about 5am to check out the surf and it was perfect, unfortunately still too dark to actually be able to go out and surf, it's one thing looking down on waves in the dark but actually being out in the sea it's impossible to see the sets coming & I certainly wasn't going to offer to sit deeper and shout to Gary when I set was coming. By the time it was light enough to see, the tide was to high so the waves don't break.
So after cooking up porridge & tea we set off to Barnstaple to look for a couple of camping chairs & some walking boots for me. Back to Lynmouth after a successful and cheap shopping trip and Gary manages to get in two surfs while I give the van the Kym cleaning experience, umm now it feels like home. We manage to set up the roof tent very easily and without any bickering, very unexpected. I cooked up a hot chili and it's down the pub to warm our bones and have a couple of night caps.
Well the first night sleeping in the van was great and the second was like being rocked to sleep like a baby, the wind picked up and at one point we had to get out of the tent and put the awning away as we felt like we might take off,that done we both had a relatively good nights sleep. The odd boy racer came passed and did doughnuts in the car park at 3am but that's about as eventful as the night got.
When we woke we opened the side window of the tent and felt very blessed to be waking up to the view we had (photo to follow).
Saturday and we have the roof tent safely put away and found it was as easy to put away as to set up, we are both very impressed with our new home.
We heading back up the hill onto Exmoor and down the other side of the valley to Doone valley where we will spend the day and night at a great campsite called Cloud farm,it's a lovely spot right at the bottom of the valley and a river runs right next to where you camp,this was going to be the opportunity to get a hot shower and also to really set up the whole caboodle,roof tent, canopy and the windbreak have a B.B.Q and have a big camp fire. We timed ourselves and it took about half an hour to set up most of the camp which left us plenty of time to enjoy my new walking boots so we set off through the Doone valley for a couple hours walk and it was breath taking a gloriously Sunny day and we both felt so happy and alive.
Back at camp we'd just made ourselves hot tea when our friends Axel & Clare arrived,lots of hugs,kisses & plenty of excitement. The guys set to making a fantastic camp fire,got the bar-be-que going and kept us fed watered and warm all evening. I think the funniest moment of the night had to be Gary's hat,if he hadn't said once " I wish I'd bought my hat "he said it a million times so he decided that maybe he could make one, the only material to hand was tinfoil & indeed did the job of keeping his head warm although if there was a gust of wind he kept losing it so out came the head torch to hold it down, well to say he looked like a plonker was an understatement but his head was warm & he was happy, I'm afraid to say at this point my camera's battery had run out so I didn't manage to get any photo's of the designer item.
Another good nights sleep the coldest yet but still we were warm,I actually wore my hat to bed & I'm pleased to say Gary didn't wear his.
The next morning an early rise to yet more sunshine, fried breakfast,packed up camp and made our way back to Taunton where with only half an hour before our lunch date with 17 of our dear friends we both looked tired and weathered but it's amasing what a shower,a hairdryer and some makeup can do.
We then had such a wonderful end to a truly wonderful few days, lunch and too much drinks with great friends,lots of laughs and a few tears (Gary !!) not me as you would think. I walked home while watching my husband look like he was learning to walk all over again while scaring old men on bikes in alley ways and banging into every possible lamp post between The Plough and home, god I giggled so much, he then promptly sat on the sofa and fell asleep. But to his credit he got up this morning walked to Tesco (hopefully missing all the lamposts on the way ) got home and cooked a full English, sat on the sofa to eat it & there he has stayed. I feel bad for all those of you who had to get up for work this morning.
Well that pretty much sums up my version of our first camping trip,I'm pleased to say every thing works as it should and we are pretty much equipped for most eventualities.
Gary got up at about 5am to check out the surf and it was perfect, unfortunately still too dark to actually be able to go out and surf, it's one thing looking down on waves in the dark but actually being out in the sea it's impossible to see the sets coming & I certainly wasn't going to offer to sit deeper and shout to Gary when I set was coming. By the time it was light enough to see, the tide was to high so the waves don't break.
So after cooking up porridge & tea we set off to Barnstaple to look for a couple of camping chairs & some walking boots for me. Back to Lynmouth after a successful and cheap shopping trip and Gary manages to get in two surfs while I give the van the Kym cleaning experience, umm now it feels like home. We manage to set up the roof tent very easily and without any bickering, very unexpected. I cooked up a hot chili and it's down the pub to warm our bones and have a couple of night caps.
Well the first night sleeping in the van was great and the second was like being rocked to sleep like a baby, the wind picked up and at one point we had to get out of the tent and put the awning away as we felt like we might take off,that done we both had a relatively good nights sleep. The odd boy racer came passed and did doughnuts in the car park at 3am but that's about as eventful as the night got.
When we woke we opened the side window of the tent and felt very blessed to be waking up to the view we had (photo to follow).
Saturday and we have the roof tent safely put away and found it was as easy to put away as to set up, we are both very impressed with our new home.
We heading back up the hill onto Exmoor and down the other side of the valley to Doone valley where we will spend the day and night at a great campsite called Cloud farm,it's a lovely spot right at the bottom of the valley and a river runs right next to where you camp,this was going to be the opportunity to get a hot shower and also to really set up the whole caboodle,roof tent, canopy and the windbreak have a B.B.Q and have a big camp fire. We timed ourselves and it took about half an hour to set up most of the camp which left us plenty of time to enjoy my new walking boots so we set off through the Doone valley for a couple hours walk and it was breath taking a gloriously Sunny day and we both felt so happy and alive.
Back at camp we'd just made ourselves hot tea when our friends Axel & Clare arrived,lots of hugs,kisses & plenty of excitement. The guys set to making a fantastic camp fire,got the bar-be-que going and kept us fed watered and warm all evening. I think the funniest moment of the night had to be Gary's hat,if he hadn't said once " I wish I'd bought my hat "he said it a million times so he decided that maybe he could make one, the only material to hand was tinfoil & indeed did the job of keeping his head warm although if there was a gust of wind he kept losing it so out came the head torch to hold it down, well to say he looked like a plonker was an understatement but his head was warm & he was happy, I'm afraid to say at this point my camera's battery had run out so I didn't manage to get any photo's of the designer item.
Another good nights sleep the coldest yet but still we were warm,I actually wore my hat to bed & I'm pleased to say Gary didn't wear his.
The next morning an early rise to yet more sunshine, fried breakfast,packed up camp and made our way back to Taunton where with only half an hour before our lunch date with 17 of our dear friends we both looked tired and weathered but it's amasing what a shower,a hairdryer and some makeup can do.
We then had such a wonderful end to a truly wonderful few days, lunch and too much drinks with great friends,lots of laughs and a few tears (Gary !!) not me as you would think. I walked home while watching my husband look like he was learning to walk all over again while scaring old men on bikes in alley ways and banging into every possible lamp post between The Plough and home, god I giggled so much, he then promptly sat on the sofa and fell asleep. But to his credit he got up this morning walked to Tesco (hopefully missing all the lamposts on the way ) got home and cooked a full English, sat on the sofa to eat it & there he has stayed. I feel bad for all those of you who had to get up for work this morning.
Well that pretty much sums up my version of our first camping trip,I'm pleased to say every thing works as it should and we are pretty much equipped for most eventualities.
Thursday 12 March 2009
Setting off for our first camping trip.
Today we are about to set off for our first camping trip in the Land cruiser. It was suppose to be tomorrow but now there is a possibility of surf so we are going to stay in the car park in Lynmouth this evening so that Gary can get up at first light for a surf, it will also give us the opportunity to try sleeping inside the truck as we won't get there until it's dark and I really don't feel we need to chuck ourselves in the deep end and try to set up the roof tent for the first time in the dark.
After an early surf for Gary (fingers crossed ) we are going to make our way over to the Doone valley where there is a great campsite at Cloud Farm, you can camp right by the river and are aloud to have open fires,they also have hot showers and toilets yippee. It has to be said that I am very grateful for the toilets as I haven't mastered the Sheepee yet !!, I think it's best that we ease ourselves in gently to this camping business. Photo's to follow.
After an early surf for Gary (fingers crossed ) we are going to make our way over to the Doone valley where there is a great campsite at Cloud Farm, you can camp right by the river and are aloud to have open fires,they also have hot showers and toilets yippee. It has to be said that I am very grateful for the toilets as I haven't mastered the Sheepee yet !!, I think it's best that we ease ourselves in gently to this camping business. Photo's to follow.
Tuesday 10 March 2009
The preparation.
Well I'm going to attempt to write a little bit about the preparation so far for our overland trip.
We have been back in the U.K about four weeks and have made more phone calls and filled out more paper work then I think we have had in a life time, but it seems we are making some sort of headway.
The vehicle has been bought and kitted out. A new 13.5 tog duvet for those cold night's, a girl's priorities and every practical thing you could possibly think of for minimalist camping for six months has been bought.
We have applied for new passports, International driving permits, a carnet de passage, a bank guarantee, Iranian code in order to apply for a visa, Australian vehicle import letter of compliance and I think that's about it so far.
The rest of the prepartion has involved mainly hours of internet research.
Will update as and when more happens.
We have been back in the U.K about four weeks and have made more phone calls and filled out more paper work then I think we have had in a life time, but it seems we are making some sort of headway.
The vehicle has been bought and kitted out. A new 13.5 tog duvet for those cold night's, a girl's priorities and every practical thing you could possibly think of for minimalist camping for six months has been bought.
We have applied for new passports, International driving permits, a carnet de passage, a bank guarantee, Iranian code in order to apply for a visa, Australian vehicle import letter of compliance and I think that's about it so far.
The rest of the prepartion has involved mainly hours of internet research.
Will update as and when more happens.
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