After some delay we're officially starting our It's on the meter series today! The team left from London in Febuary of 2011 and has been traveling ever since - we'll be picking up with their adventures as they're leaving Australia, and heading to the United States. Don't forget to check their website for nearly an entire year of stories and backlog from the road.

Bird Murder in the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef and Women with Big Feathers

Obama was in town, there were soldiers and police on every corner, our taxi was not technically road-legal and the windscreen was spider webbed with cracks. We tried desperately to look cool and not draw attention as the cab slowly pulled out of Darwin, catching the smallest glimpse of Air Force One in the tiny airport.

Last week was busy for Expedition Portal - We started our week at the 2012 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, and ended our week at the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City. Personally, this was my first 'OR' show, and there were some things that caught me a little bit off guard. First off - it's like walking through a giant candy store filled with every outdoor product you could ever dream of. Second - after about 3:30, magic happens, all of the sudden, beer appears from behind the shadows and by about 4:30, everyone has a drink in their hand. I was confused at first and couldn't comprehend why (insert large outdoor company here) had a keg just sitting there, for free. This is definitely a 'Work Hard, Play Hard' industry, it was great to sit down, and have a beer with some of the most knowledgable people in the industry and find out what was new and great for overlanding.

Here's the coolest products we found at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market for overlanding.

There's been a lot of Mercedes Geländewagen talk going on around here since we posted our Entdecker Article earlier this week. Since it's incredibly difficult, if not nearly impossible to get an Entdecker into the USA - Here's a more basic G-Wagen to get your adventures started.

Here's a 1991 Mercedes-Benz W463 3 Door Geländewagen for sale on eBay Motors that appears to be in pretty good shape for a 1991. It has cloth Recaro seats, 3 locking differentials, and the seller also claims a recently replaced engine and transmission. It even includes a winch. We'll be curious to see what it sells for.

via West County Explorers Club: This first generation Montero, a 1990 LS model, has been transformed from stock into a fantastic looking overlander with very well-thought-out features that I haven’t seen on other trucks. To say I “spotted” it though is to give myself too much credit. Greg showed it to me when Natalie and I met with him in San Francisco to discuss our then upcoming Overlanding in the Land of Twain trip. I was immediately impressed. Here’s what Greg has done. (Mouse over the names of the mods for links to sources.)

It's Wednesday, January 25th, and I've already completed my holiday shopping for next season. Every single one of my Land Rover enthusiast friends will be receiving what is quite possibly the best shirt ever made in the course of human history. It's about time the Land Rover Freelander was immortalized in Hawaiian shirt form.

Lets just hope the shirt doesn't have a virtually un-replacable liner to drop and ruin the whole thing.

6000 miles, five weeks, 10 states, and one province. Those are the parameters in which we thoroughly utilized the Kakadu Bushranger tent trailer. In that June and July of 2011 conditions ranged from camping in the snow at temperatures close to freezing, to 40 degrees Celsius in the Nevada desert. Following is our dual-perspective review of the Kakadu Bushranger based on that trip. Marianne will give you her views on the tent trailer as a parent needing to manage a campsite that is packed and moved every day. Ray will comment on some of the technical aspects of the trailer.

If you're a National Park with a lack of visitors, and you're scared of the words "National Monument" here's some motivation to become more majestic. Bob Janiskee has recently written an article about some "Gone and Mostly Forgotten" National Parks on National Parks Traveler. It's a list of 26 National Parks that were pushed to the wayside by the National Parks System.

Entdecker: Discovery Without Limits

Overland Journal tests one of the finest Geländewagen ever produced - the Entdecker. 

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