Expeditions 7: Two Years Around the World on all Seven Continents.

[ttora4runner]

Nice.

 

[Scott Brady]

We have completed the Canning Stock Route segment of our Australia adventure. What a beautiful, rugged and remote track. Most impressive though was the incredible group of people I traveled the CSR with, a hard working and positive team of friends.

I plan to add a bunch of details in the coming days, but overall the Land Cruisers were perfect, save for a few minor issues (mostly related to trail damage from sticks). By some miracle, I didn't get a flat and we only had two total in the group. The trail was more difficult than I expected, but still moderate on the whole. What makes it so difficult is the distance, frequency of obstacles and extreme remoteness. Imagine driving from Los Angeles to Yellowstone NP on a Jeep two track! As far as we could tell, we are the first group to complete the track this season.

The adventure wouldn't be complete without some serious stucks! This one took us four hours to get through and 10 MaxTrax at one point - so fun.

Thanks for all the well-wishes and support.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

We have completed the Canning Stock Route segment of our Australia adventure. What a beautiful, rugged and remote track. Most impressive though was the incredible group of people I traveled the CSR with, a hard working and positive team of friends...

Spot on, what a team we make!

 

[Scott Brady]

What happened to Sherpa I? Did I miss that part? I picked up what I believed to be an allusion to problems with it in Russia, but didn't see any further details.

Is this a case of saving it for the magazine, not airing dirty laundry, or just hadn't posted about it yet?

Thanks for the question Arya,

Sherpa One was a "stop gap" vehicle, waiting for the new WorkMate Double Cab VDJ79 to be available. Sherpa One is a great machine and never let us down, but was quite a different vehicle, different motor, even different spare wheels. With the HZJ motor, it struggled to keep up with the VDJ powered 78s on North American and European highways. We are shipping it back from Europe and it will be featured in Greg's Land Cruiser Heritage Museum.

The VDJ79 Double Cab was purchased in late 2012, when it became available in Oceania. Now the lineup is complete and nearly all the spares are the same, shocks, wheels, tires, suspension, motors, transmissions, etc. etc. I am sure glad Greg likes Land Cruisers! They have served us well around the world once; lets hope for the same on lap two.

 

[grimbo]

So where to next? How are you making your way back to the east coast?

Which continent is next?

 

[Scott Brady]

So where to next? How are you making your way back to the east coast?

Which continent is next?

I am just now in Alice Springs. Have some service scheduled for the Land Cruisers. Mostly fluids and filters, but all three trucks encountered some wiring damage from the unrelenting sticks and dead trees on the Canning. All three had rear locker loom wiring damage. One had a primary fuel tank sending unit loom damage.

I will be in Melbourne around the 20th or 21st, then will be in the area until the end of the month preparing the trucks for shipment and some additional items (new tires, etc.). We then put them in containers for Africa.

It would be great to say hello while I am in Melbourne. I plan to do some light exploring with a Patrol, maybe a hike up Mount Kosciuszko. The trucks will be at ARB for a few days for full suspension inspections, so I plan to get out and see more of the south.

 

[grimbo]

Interesting about the damage did you encounter problems like that on any of the other trips?

Catch up for a beer, coffee when you're in town sounds good

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Scott, if you're down south, and have not driven the Great Ocean Road preiously, I highly recommend it! It's rather touristy in some ways, but worth seeing nevertheless. It's been 6 years since I made the trip, and I can't recall if we drove it in one or two days, but definitely worth it if you have the time.

 

[grimbo]

Hit Robe in South Australia for some fun beach driving. Then head along the Victorian coast doing the Great Ocean Road. Robe to Melbourne via the GOR is probably better as a nice two day drive

 

[Bruce Dorn]

Cooling my heels in Broome, missing the rest of the Team, and remembering all the awesone moments of the past few weeks.

Banking in to refuel the AS350 in the Absolute Middle of Nowhere will be a hard memory to top. I hit the end of my safety strap hard enough to be very happy I wasn't just secured with the parachute cord from Scott's tactical bracelet - an idea we floated before ace pilot Andy Muir showed up at Derba Springs with the HeliWest chopper and a proper harness...

Andy is an artist with both pedals & stick! I sure wish I knew how to post pix - maybe my MateShip Bro, Scottie, will post something in my behalf...

 

[Bruce Dorn]

Hope this worked...

 

[nwoods]

I sure wish I knew how to post pix - maybe my MateShip Bro, Scottie, will post something in my behalf...

Bruce, the photo you just posted came through okay. But I offer some simple advice on posting more, for self motivated reasons, I want to see more of your work!

If you have a website to park your images, Smug, Flickr, etc.... Post them there, copy the link to them, then post the link here, inserted between two image tags, like this:

If you happen to use SmugMug, their CameraAwesome app makes doing this from iPhone images very convienent and easy.

Cheers!

Nathan Woods

 

[Honu]

View attachment 155170
Hope this worked...

Aloha Buddy !

and whats up with the heli new shooting platform to get some cool angles I hope !

 

[r3run33]

bruce if you are in broome check out the beautiful beaches there; its amazing scenery!! and scott melbourne is a great city beautiful architecture and art museums.

 

[Bruce Dorn]

Thanks Nathan

Nope no such accounts - those services have a habit of trying for copyright grabs now & then so I don't participate. Thanks for the solid suggestion, though

I've been posting a lot to Facebook so reach out with a friend request to see earlier images...

Aloha Honu!

I wondered if you'd pop up. Yep, I was riding the skids to get some aerial footage along the Stock Route. Great pilot, fun flying...

Thanks for the advise on Broome! Yep, lovely beaches and very friendly folk. Quite a contrast to the Stock Route!

Unique travel circumstances mean that I'll be here for a few days and I suspect I'll eventually investigate every nook. & cranny before I bug out...