WH(WK) Expo to Iceland with family August 2013

[jeepgc]

Some Land Rover pics:

 

[jeepgc]

Jeep's turn:

 

[jeepgc]

With the extra weight pressing hard on the rear, we went with Old Man Emu shocks and springs 2.5" lift, heavy duty on the rear, standard on the front.

 

[jeepgc]

Ready now:

 

[jeepgc]

 

[jeepgc]

So, from February this year to now, the Jeep and our family are ready for our trip which begins in 5 days time, Saturday 3rd August.

Our Jeep wouldn't be anywhere near the level of preparedness it is now without Russell Offroad and Oakleaf conversions.

A big thank you to them for helping us and going that extra mile to get the Jeep ready.

Exterior designed and created by: http://www.russelloffroad.co.uk/index.asp

Interior designed and created by: https://www.facebook.com/OakleafConversions

 

[csclifford]

Sounds like the trip is going to be an amazing time! Also, your WK is looking very capable..I love the storage solutions in the rear.

 

[jeepgc]

Thank you cs, we're all really excited and a little daunted at the same time.

 

[jjohnson1892]

Wow...that trunk storage space is beautiful and the rest of your WK is great as well, love the swing out in particular

Looks and sounds like some amazing trips coming up, I'd love to make a trip to Iceland someday

 

[Tony LEE]

Have a few weeks to kill so went about a third of the way up road 35 the other day just to see what has changed in 6 years. Bitumen goes a bit further north of Gullfoss and there are three lots of pony rides, glacier walks, boat trip+glacier walk, hostel, restaurants, nice campgrounds, regular scheduled passenger buses, heaps of tour buses and heaps of bigfoot jeeps all mixing it with a stream of bike riders, motorcycle riders and small 4wds plus a lot of small sedans doing their best not to void their insurance and of course a regular stream of small and medium motorhomes. AND two graders doing their best to fill in the connected potholes with fist-sized rocks spread right across the road to give the bike and motorbike riders something to concentrate their survival instincts on. Certainly a lot harder to feel you are the only one within a 100km than it used to be. We pulled up for coffee at one of the very few laybys, and within a minute we were joined by two full-size passenger buses, a motorhome and two cars



Talked to a Swede who hired a Suzuki Jimney and he had just made it down F25, albeit only by driving across one river that came up to the bottom of his windows. Takes all kinds! He said that river had a ranger stationed there to tell the drivers the best way across to avoid the deep holes and big rocks.

Yes, looking at the tour guide info I think you will be happy to be able to concentrate a fair bit of all aspects of Iceland into a relatively short time.
Have fun.

 

[jeepgc]

Wow...that trunk storage space is beautiful and the rest of your WK is great as well, love the swing out in particular

Looks and sounds like some amazing trips coming up, I'd love to make a trip to Iceland someday

Thanks JJ, those guys put a lot of thought and effort into their work.

You can't quite see it in the pics, but that swing away matches the curve of the rear fender exactly and there's also grip tape on the bar above the registration plate as you use it as a step to load the roof box.

The interior was also designed to lift out when not needed.

Check out their sites and you'll see lots of interesting projects, Russell Offroad also has a Facebook page too: https://www.facebook.com/RussellOffroadLtd

 

[jeepgc]

Certainly a lot harder to feel you are the only one within a 100km than it used to be. We pulled up for coffee at one of the very few laybys, and within a minute we were joined by two full-size passenger buses, a motorhome and two cars.

Yes, looking at the tour guide info I think you will be happy to be able to concentrate a fair bit of all aspects of Iceland into a relatively short time.
Have fun.

Thanks and will do Tony - from your previous post I didn't realise that you were still in Iceland, how long have you been there for and how long are you staying?

 

[Tony LEE]

Been here about 5 1/2 weeks and have 3 1/2 left. Probably a couple of weeks longer than we really needed because we covered the main sights 6 years ago and apart from some pretty major improvements in infrastructure to cater for the normal tourists, the actual sights haven't changed, but at least now we can say they are very few roads in Iceland that we haven't been on. Well, apart from the real "F" roads that is, because although I do give some of them a good try, I'm severely limited in clearance and traction in this vehicle - running out of duct tape to reattach the rear skirt which keeps getting ripped off on dips - and am getting plenty of practice reversing hundreds of metres to find a spot to turn around in.

 

[jeepgc]

Wow, that's a trip, fantastic.

I was looking through more of your pics on Picasa and just realised that you put your tour dates down.

Have you got a thread on this site covering your trip? You have hundreds of pics on Picasa for Iceland.

I don't envy you for the troubles you've had with your motorhome, but it does make an interesting story

 

[jeepgc]

Back home now after an incredible trip.

Jeep took Iceland in its stride and came back fully operational, only damage done was the front registration plate, was pulled off by the river current during a deep river crossing.

Will post up trip details, pics and some video very soon.