Kapp 2 Cape - Nordkapp to Cape Agulhas 2012

Hi all!

Hopefully this really is the last preparation journal entry ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Disclaimer: extreme tiredness and lack of sleep may impact coherent thought and writing.

So, this is our final week of preparation, and I thought I’d share the mid-week emotions. It would be very easy to tell you how everything has gone to plan, and it has been nothing but sunshine and rainbows all week.

Rather, I thought I’d share the truth of the last few days.

Firstly, the torrential rain towards the end of last week revealed a very ugly truth: while the tent itself is waterproof, the cover of the tent when it is all folded very definitely wasn’t. We discovered to our horror that the mattress was wet, and the mattress cover was soaked through. So, the long process of finding a leak began. (And, drying out the mattress in charming UK weather also started)

Using Duct tape, all visible holes and cracks were sealed. The rain co-operated by giving us another chance to test the water-proofness. A little successful, but largely unsuccessful. More holes and cracks, sought, found and sealed. Another bit of moisture proved we were heading in the right direction … but the Duct tape isn’t actually waterproof, and water was seeping through. Finally, Tenacious Tape was brought to the rescue. This seems to have stopped the major leaks, but we didn’t have very much. More is on order, which really needs to arrive tomorrow. 　(After 3 days, the mattress dried out …)

We continued in the house: sorting, packing, charity shop etc. We unfortunately discovered that, despite the best laid plans, we have a little more to go into the vehicle that we want, or realistically have comfortable space for. We absolutely did not want to start the trip bursting at the seams, because it just makes for frustration is locating items. 　Sigh. Our ‘luxuries’ have obviously meant we need to made other sacrifices. So, the stress this week has been about what still needs to go into the vehicle. We will now have a box of ‘random’ items which will be sorted once we hit Denmark.

Yip, we should have started earlier with the actual packing …

I had my first - and hopefully only - real feeling of wanting to bail on our dream. The lack of sleep, exhaustion, continual decision making have really worn me down. For a few hours, I seriously reconsidered our decision. Seriously thought that giving up our jobs, our house was a crazy idea, and what were we thinking. For a few hours. 　And then I got stuck into the tasks at hand.

Then the reality hit me: dreaming a dream really is the easy part. Having the guts to follow through on a dream …

But it hasn’t all been negative. The movers arrived today and 3 hours later we were standing in an almost empty house. Far from being a stressful experience, it was liberating to watch. And it seems that all our hard work of reducing our belongings, vacuum-packing our clothes has paid off: we reduced our worldly possession to 45 boxes - or 1 transit van. But we have agreed - never again will we own as much as we did.

We moved out of the house earlier in the week, and moved into our friends’ place - the same friends who are fostering our furballs while we are travelling. The furballs have settled into their new home very well (huge relief) and giving ourselves distance from our house is helping us adjust to our new nomadic lifestyle.

We are both exhausted, and looking forward to a few nights of much needed sleep. That may, however, need to wait until we reach Denmark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See you all at the Show!

kind regards
African GirlChild

Good to hear your nearly ready for the off see you at the weekend

Hi all ...

This is the post that should never have been - but hey ho, that is life!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life gives you what you need, rather than what you want.

This should be written from the campsite in Denmark, as we make our way northwards.  However, Life has given us a few extra days in the UK … and this is not a bad thing at all.

The Adventure Overland Show over the weekend was fantastic.  We were overwhelmed by the support we received from so many of you who have been following our preparation.  Many people came past to see us - it was great to finally put faces to names.  There was lots of chatting, and a chance for people to have a look at the preparation on the vehicle.  We also gave a talk about the ups and downs of our preparation so that future travellers may avoid our mistakes.  

The biggest lesson we learned was that we started packing the vehicle too late, and discovered that our rear suspension wasn’t up the task.  Fortunately, as we were at the Adventure Overland Show, we were in the best place to find help!  And Julian of Overland Cruisers is our knight in shining armour. Yesterday, he ordered in new heavy duty coils, and today he and Viking Explorer are making the necessary coil switch.

This meant that after our fabulous send-off from the Adventure Overland Show, we had the afternoon to catch our breath.  We grabbed a quick bite (eating being something we didn’t really manage to squeeze in during the busy days at the Show) and enjoyed a slow drive back down to Basingstoke where the Aussie Scottish Twosome opened their home to us and gave us a warm place to sleep.

Amazingly, we received a call from the ferry company to check if we were still planning to travel, as the ferry was departing in 15 minutes and we hadn’t checked in yet.  What customer service!  I had been unable to get hold of them during the day to postpone our departure, so was delighted by the phonecall.  Nothing was a problem - they moved our ticket to Wednesday with no charge or fuss.

In reality, this was exactly what we needed.  We were so rushed in the last weeks that we never had a chance to stop.  We took the day to dump some items from the vehicle, enjoy some quality time with our friends (something we haven’t done in far too long) and just catch our collective breathes.

And, for the first time, I am starting to feel the butterflys of excitement!  Let the adventure begin!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And hopefully the next post should be the first edition of the adventure diary!

kind regards
African GirlChild

It was good to bump into you at the show on Sunday morning, I for one will definitely be checking out the blog.

Good luck and enjoy !!!!!

Thanks wideformat!

I'll continue to post the blogs here too ... as long as I have reliable internet connection!

rgds
African GirlChild

Technically, we are on the road ...

last 'preparation' post ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh finally!

This is the infamous blog from the Danish campsite!  We are finally here! The adventure has begun!

The ferry ride over was particularly calm - the North Sea looked like a mill pond, and the sun was shining.  Yes, it can actually manage that.  It was gorgeous.  The 18 hours flew by: dinner, a bit of sleep, and breakfast, and suddenly it was time to disembark.  

We have decided to forgo our initial plans of wild camping in Scandinavia - African GirlChild has turned out to be more of a cold weather wimp than initially anticipated.  We thought we would take advantage of the fantastic camping facilities that mainland Europe has to offer, and have stopped in Odense to savour Danish camping: indoor kitchen, heated ablution facilities, another heated room for eating / watching TV / catching up online.  Quite luxurious by UK standards.

As with any house move, it takes a little while to settle into the new accommodation, and work out what goes where to make for simple living and easy access.  We continue to tinker with arrangements, moving lesser used items lower down, and more used items closer to hand.  You just don’t know everything that falls into each category until you are on the road!

Learning for today - jeans are a big no-no in colder camping.  I nearly froze when camping in the UK due to wearing jeans after the sun set.  As a result, I decided to invest in another pair of long johns (the first pair being employed as pyjamas).  These, together with lined tracksuit bottoms, have vastly improved my ability to be outside as the temperatures plummet.  Happy camper now!

And so our first night was celebrated with a glass of wine (reducing the weight in the vehicle) and meatballs! Tomorrow we leave the Danish shores for our long trek northwards up through Sweden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... and now, please head over to current trips to keep following the story!

rgds
African GirlChild

GirlChild wrote:

The biggest lesson we learned was that we started packing the vehicle too late, and discovered that our rear suspension wasn’t up the task.  Fortunately, as we were at the Adventure Overland Show, we were in the best place to find help!  And Julian of Overland Cruisers is our knight in shining armour. Yesterday, he ordered in new heavy duty coils, and today he and Viking Explorer are making the necessary coil switch.

Think you're doing our Tuggy a bit of a disservice Sheelah, for if I'm correct, it was he who first noticed your saggy bottom.

Strange at it looked sound to me, but I had to agree the back end of the Landcruiser needed some attention!

Sorry Tom, Sorry Tuggy. I bit of poetic license slipped in.

The full story goes something like this:
1. We loaded the vehicle far too late, and discovered at home that we were sagging.
2. Arrived at the Show, and Tuggy was one of the first people to come and say hi! (Thanks!)
3. I showed Tuggy our saggy bottom and asked if he could help us with fixing it when we got to Spain.
4. I think this is where Viking Explorer got involved and African GirlChild stepped back.
5. There was some discussion between Tuggy and Viking Explorer ... and I think this lead to Tuggy helping Viking Explorer meet Julian.
6. Fortunately Julian was interested in looking at the the problem, moreso than the people who did the initial work.
7. African GirlChild and Viking Explorer had some discussions about having the work done in the UK or Europe (with Julian sending the parts). Decided UK was a better option.

So, thanks to Tuggy for helping us find Julian. Thanks to Julian for solving the problem. You are both our knights in shining armour. (And thanks to Tom for making sure both were at the show!!!)

... but never fear, we are still plannning to visit Tuggy in Spain, so there is still plenty of time for Tuggy to yet again repeat his performance as a knight in shining armour!!

Sorry if anyone felt we were missing them out. Truly, the overland community came together to help us get on our way. You all have earned a round of applause!

kind regards
African GirlChild

No problem, you quite rightly have you mind on far more important things than singing the praises of Tuggy or myself, just wanted to set the scene for others. I didn't even know the sequence of events until now, so I've been enlightened as well.

As long as you get sorted, that's all that matters.

Always time to sing praises ...

Ahhhhh ... bless.