Jeep Gladiator Build Thread - 18 months around Australia with The Road Chose Me

[Dan Grec]

Absolutely loving the Tasmania videos Dan! The west coast is really epic - is it mostly public land? national park? or just undeveloped private land ? I know you're visiting in summer, any sense of how brutal it gets down there in winter?

It's mostly National Park and UNESO world herritage land.. so there are not a ton of roads all over the place, but enough to get remote!

YOU have credibility..... we know this is not spin. Very cool.
On the marketing thing..... how do you separate, define those "editorials".

Thanks! - sorry, I'm not quite understanding the question.. ?
Do you mean how do I handle writing (or videoing) product reviews?
To be honest, I only ever review products that are genuinely battle tested and good.

I get two emails a week now to get a free Jackery power thingo as long as I review it. I've seen a few reviews that say it's crap, so I have no interest, and I'll never do videos or articles about products I have not battle tested myself and come to love.

-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi Everyone,

I'm loving the wilderness on the West Coast of Tasmania, and set out to tackle the Sandy Cape Track - known for it's river crossings, beaches and quicksand (yes, really).

It did not disappoint, and is maybe the highlight of Tassie for me!

In this video I tackle what is easily the longest river crossing I've ever attempted -


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi All,

I strongly believe suspension should be the LAST upgrade on any overlander, and in my latest video I run through the whys of what I've chosen.
After months of planning and research, I just upgraded the suspension on my Gladiator.

It's impossible to choose the correct suspension package without knowing the weight of your vehicle, and you can't know that until it's complete.

Getting this right has completely changed how my Gladiator handles on and off road.


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi Everyone,

With my Dad as stunt driver we drove back up into the Victorian High Country to tackle over 30 river crossings in a single day on the famous Crooked River Track.
The river zig zags back and forward while the old mining exploration track basically goes straight, crossing the river every hundred yards for a handful of miles.

This is the kind of adventure I dreamed of when I came to Australia, and I'm so happy Dad and I did it together.
I'll never forget this one as long as I live.


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi Everyone,

After Tasmania I swung back through Dad's place and together we worked on a ton of little fixed, improvements and changes to the Gladiator setup and camping/overlanding gear.

These little tweaks make life on the road so much more enjoyable, and most importantly more convenient.
That means I spend more time each day enjoying my trip, and less time setting up and tearing down camp - which is super important to me.


-Dan

 

[billiebob]

Great video.... I cannot believe anyone goes camping for the joy of setting up camp. For 60 years the goal is always minimize the "camping setup experience". 5 years ago I was told my Grandson wanted to go camping....... I built a square box in 3 weeks. ZERO setup, the bed is always made. Park in the dark, roll into bed. Wake to rain, roll out of bed and drive. I've considered swag like a Cabellos Camp Cot..... but way too much money.

PS, I'm coming to Auastralia for 2 things now.... beer..... and sausage sizzle....

ps, what is with the rapid flasking lights

 

[clydeps]

what is with the rapid flasking lights

Not Dan, but it's an artifact in the video. The lights are apparently being driven with pulses (perhaps PWM) at a rate too high to see with the naked eye, but the video frame rate is close enough to it to cause strobing.

 

[billiebob]

Hi Everyone,

I'm loving the wilderness on the West Coast of Tasmania, and set out to tackle the Sandy Cape Track - known for it's river crossings, beaches and quicksand (yes, really).

It did not disappoint, and is maybe the highlight of Tassie for me!

In this video I tackle what is easily the longest river crossing I've ever attempted -


-Dan

From the video....

Dan, this is one of the reasons I LOVE Australia, and this is one of the biggest weaknesses of North America..... today I was at a beach in town and a guy had a rifle out.... not a gun range where all the angles are accounted for, just a beach within the village limits, 100 people walk dogs off lease here daily. With no idea of why he NEEDED a rifle we turned back. And called the RCMP And walked into the Village Office..... In Canada this is "not acceptable" or legal, this is rednecked stupidity.

Canada is always leaning to be the right side of the law unless the right side of the law is kinda left wing liberal like gun laws....... my response from the RCMP was "We talked to the guy and he understands not the right place"........ I LOVE Australia because you guys will not be sidelined by some silly political "trend"..... We in the America interpret left/right too extremities..... You Aussies focus on the issue, no breaks regardless of the political stance.

I love Australia, and Australians You guys have it figured out. KUDOS proud you guys actually post signs.

 

[moderndaynorseman]

From the video....
... today I was at a beach in town and a guy had a rifle out.... not a gun range where all the angles are accounted for, just a beach within the village limits, 100 people walk dogs off lease here daily. With no idea of why he NEEDED a rifle we turned back. And called the RCMP And walked into the Village Office..... In Canada this is "not acceptable" or legal, this is rednecked stupidity ... my response from the RCMP was "We talked to the guy and he understands not the right place"

Just throwing this out there, but under the Firearms laws in Canada it is perfectly legal to have a rifle/shotgun with you so long as it is non-restricted and unloaded. Not saying the beach is the right place for a firearm either, but he was within the law. Where things start getting sticky is if the firearm is loaded and whether you are in an area that allows discharging the weapon. As long as he hadn't loaded the weapon, perfectly legal despite being socially questionable.

"
Handling of Firearms
15 An individual may load a firearm or handle a loaded firearm only in a place where the firearm may be discharged in accordance with all applicable Acts of Parliament and of the legislature of a province, regulations made under such Acts, and municipal by-laws.

"

Storage, Display, Transportation and Handling of Firearms by Individuals Regulations

Federal laws of Canada

laws-lois.justice.gc.ca

 

[nargun]

Hi Everyone,

With my Dad as stunt driver we drove back up into the Victorian High Country to tackle over 30 river crossings in a single day on the famous Crooked River Track.
The river zig zags back and forward while the old mining exploration track basically goes straight, crossing the river every hundred yards for a handful of miles.

This is the kind of adventure I dreamed of when I came to Australia, and I'm so happy Dad and I did it together.
I'll never forget this one as long as I live.


-Dan

Just found your videos hidden in the Jeep directory.

I've owned Nissans and Landrovers and currently a Mitsubishi. Why would I be looking at Jeep content?

46 years ago the Bairnsdale High School Bushwalking club did a day walk the reverse of your drive; down Bulltown Spur to the Crooked Rver and along the track to Talbotville. Bulltown Spur is steep, your video only shows a bit of it but the calf muscles were complaning by the time we reached the river,

Rather than walk down to the bridge shown in the opening scenes, we fashioned 2 rafts to put our day packs to and floated down the river from Talbotville to be picked up at the bridge. A couple of Teachers walked with us and Mr Snowdon drove his early model Nissan Patrol along it, The track was far more overgrown then.

Was camping at a Mallacoota a fortnight ago; as i was alone without any other vevicles I hesitated going up some of the tracks you went down. but I did spend some time at Shipwreck Cove

Love your camerawork. You manage to get the colour of the sky in the High Country exactly right, the muted colour of the horizon is correct and the dull greens of the far trees are spot on

I love Victoria's High Country.

Going up there 6 months after the Black Summer fires was incredibly depressing burnt trees as far as the eye could see, the Bush is slowly reclaiming the scars

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi Everyone,

After the fixes and adjustments to our gear in Dad's Shed we hit the road again, and made it as far as Robe in South Australia.

This place is famous for it's baech driving and massive sand dunes, and now I know why!

We spent a couple of days driving south from Robe to Beachport - in the huge dunes, on the beach and in the smaller dunes just back from the ocean.
It was incredible, and a lot more adventure than I bargained for.

It was great to get the Jeep stuck a few times in the deep soft sand a get a feel for how it behaves, and how hard it is to get unstuck (really not bad) - even though it's big and heavy.


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi Everyone,

We've moved West to what is virtually the center of Australia East to West - I saw a sign that said Perth was 2000kms West and Sydney was 2000kms East. (about 1250miles each way)

Over here we've now moved directly north into the red center, and tackled Goog's Track, where we had to cross 363 sand dunes as we moved through the barren desert.
This is an awesome "warm up" to our Simpson Desert crossing that will be coming in a few weeks where we'll be WAY more remote for WAY longer.

Goog's Track was a whole lot of fun, and I wish it had lasted longer!


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi All,

People often ask me what do you really 'need' to go overlanding, and for a long time I've always thought the most important thing is a srong reason to get out there.

WHY do you want to get out remote and explore?
Maybe it's fishing, hiking, hunting or learning new cultures and languages.
Maybe you just want to buy mystery meat on a stick in a random street market for fifty cents and enjoy.

Whatever your reason, that is what will drive you to find better sleeping solutions, tolerate the bugs and the cold nights and get up before sunrise simply to enjoy it.

As you know, I'm a hot spring nutcase, and that was originally my reason to explore Canada and the USA in my first Overland vehicle.
Now I've taken it to another level, and I paid a visit to the only Radioactive hot spring in the world.

The water coming out of the ground here is heated by the decay of Uranium, which none others are.

It was a rough, hot and dusty adventure, and it was worth every second.
Checkout my latest video for all the adventure:


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi All,

We've been out exploring the Flinders Ranges for the last week.
This wilderness National Park has hiking, 4x4ing, aboriginal rock art, tons of wildlife and absolutely stunning Rocky Mountains, canyons and dry river beds to explore.

It's starting to feel like we're getting "Australia remote" now!


-Dan

 

[Dan Grec]

Hi All,

Australia has been experiencing unprecedented rainfall, which is causing massive flooding in many parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of homes have been lost.

Even in the desert there is way more rain than usual, and we got stranded for days waiting for one of the famous outback tracks to open.

I fully expected the Oodnadatta Track to be hot, dry and dusty - and I was utterly wrong!

We went out the minute the road opened and found plenty of slippery mud pits to keep us busy, springs, friends and plenty more.

Less than 24 hours later they closed the road again because it was too bad.

Checkout the latest video over on YouTube to see all the fun.


I knew Australia would be an adventure, but as usual it is not the adventure I bargained for!

-Dan