2010 December » 2Taylors

First Post!

Posted by Elizabeth at 8:16 pm

Dec 012010

Trip start – April 3rd 2011!

We have started planning our 6 month trip through Southern Africa.

Our plan at this stage is to spend 6 months travelling through the southern part of Africa – South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzani and Kenya. If the money holds up, we’d also like to take a flight up to Egypt from Nairobi.

This will be our third trip to Africa, but this time we will be on our own and have the luxury of time to travel at a much slower pace and to stay where we want to when we want to. Travelling on our own though means there are so many things to organise before we leave. From a vehicle, to 4wd driver and recovery training, first aid, vaccinations, route planning, GPS, satellite phones, budget, maps, insurance – the list goes on! Hopefully we can share some of our learnings on this website.

Driver Training

Posted by Elizabeth at 8:47 pm

Dec 052010

Last weekend we undertook our first 4wd driver and recovery training with the Toyota Land Cruiser Club at their Willowglen property near Goulburn.

The weekend was fantastic! We tackled roads that we would never have even contemplated attempting previously. We learnt how to negotiate steep, walled creek beds full of rocks. To traverse steep tracks full of deep holes and covered with gravel, wind our way through the bush and do water crossings. Recovery training was also part of the weekend and we learnt how to winch, use snatch straps and hi-lift jacks.

On top of that we met some great people and will hopefully be putting our new skills into practice with some club trips before we leave. (We are doing a trip in September with them).

I think we both feel a whole lot more confident in our ability to make our way around Africa and tackle the roads ahead!

Leave approved!

Posted by Elizabeth at 7:40 pm

Dec 132010

My leave has been approved, so I officially have a job to come back to!

My flights are booked using frequent flyers and I managed to get a bargain price for Wayne’s ticket, saving $800 off the price of a return flight to Johannesburg. We’re definitely committed now!

Car Booked

Posted by Elizabeth at 9:08 pm

Dec 152010

We have finally committed to hiring a vehicle, have made the booking and paid the deposit. Just have to hope now we have picked the right company and everything will be ok! (I’m sure it will). I’ve added an update to the vehicle page to explain how we decided to hire rather than buy a vehicle.

Sand Driving

Posted by Elizabeth at 11:16 am

Dec 192010

This weekend we did a sand driving course with the Toyota Landcruiser Club at Stockton Beach. We had a great time! Once again, it is amazing what our cars can actually do. Whilst I don’t think we’ll be driving over sand dunes in Africa, we will definitely be driving on sand tracks and the course has certainly helped us to understand the basics for sand driving.