Overland Adventure - UK, Central Asia, SE Asia, Oz, South America

So far the launch of OverlandSphere.com seems to be a success,

We have had many overlanders in various stages of their trip sign up, whether completed, on the road or planning, which has given us over 400 new posts in the first 2 days, with hundreds more to come.

Notably several members of this forum have contributed, Lost World Expedition , The Road Chose Me, From A to B , Drive Nacho Drive, Going Overland, Land Rover Overland, Overland Nomads, PanAm Notes, and others.

We have had great feedback on the site so far and believe the site will become a great resource for all, (although no feedback on this post :-(...) ?
We are looking forward to the New Year, bringing you continuous new material, and building a unique overlanding resource, in addition to working with WikiOverland.org and Expedition Portal!

To make this happen we need your help!! to spread the word,

We need new overlanders to join to have fresh feeds and content, but we also need the help of those who have completed their trips to contribute too to help build the archive behind the site.

You can help us @ OverlandSphere

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Martin & Nicole
 
Preparation for south America – Roof tent or Not

Hi All,

Roof tent or Not?

We are currently starting our preparation for the South American stage of our trip.

We have so far travelled from the UK to Oz without a roof tent , and if we were do the same trip again we probably would not buy one the following reasons:

• Along our route we found there was a lot of good quality and reasonably cheap accommodation,
• When we did camp we used pop up ground tent which took little time to set up.
• Where we found it was not suitable to set up a tent because the location / ground / time of night we were able to sleep in the vehicle
• In many areas due to safety it was not really an option to camp in a ground tent or to sleep in the vehicle / roof tent,
• Climate, in several countries due to the humidity or cold again it made more sense to use cheap accommodation.

For South America we are trying to weigh up whether we continue as we are using a mixture of ground tent, sleeping the vehicle or using cheap accommodation or to invest in a new roof rack and Roof tent. If we were able to make use of the roof tent regularly and found other accommodation expensive it would porbably make sense.

It would be great if others could share their experiences of using or not using a roof tent in south America.

i.e. how many nights a month would you use the roof tent vs staying in paid accommodation, even though you were using the roof tent would the location you camped at be suitable for a ground tent, did you find using a roof tent drew unwanted attention etc. etc.?


Many thanks

Martin & Nicole
 
This is a very debatable topic. I almost would rather not reply :)

I'll give you my opinion based on what you mention... It sounds to me like you would be fine without a RTT. If you have traveled this long without one I truly don't think SA would make you change your mind. You will find reasonably priced hotels in most areas that you will visit (depending on your budget and tolerance for younger party backpackers in some locations). A RTT will be nearly useless in Patagonia due to high winds. In many places that you can camp in a RTT you can just as easily camp in a ground tent. Our main gripe with the RTT is once you park and setup camp it is a PITA to disassemble if you want to take the truck somewhere.

That being said, our favorite spots throughout the nearly 3 years we have been driving around the America's have been places we camped on our RTT. I would never trade my tent for a ground tent, ever. It takes no time to set up and our bedding is always in it. I really like sleeping off the ground; you get better views, no worried with rain, easy to clean your feet, etc. I would much rather stay on my thin mattress than any hotel within our budget and many nicer ones... We are actually staying at a nice hotel in Nasca, Peru at the moment (camping in their parking lot :)) The only thing we have been drooling over lately is an indoor living area (about sprinter short chassis size :))

Good luck!

BTW When are you planning on arriving to these shores


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Hey Luis,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think if we have the oportunity to buy one from ebay at a good price we will, otherwise it goes back to the bottom of the wish list.

We are planning on leaving Australia at the end of September however shipping takes around 60 days,

Look forward to sharing a beer or two!

Martin
 
Sounds good! We are going to leave the LandCruiser in Chile this June while we go work in the U.S. until December. The coffers need some refilling in order to continue our trip.
We should be back in Chile and on the road December 4th... it sounds like we may be able to have a few beers or perhaps some pisco sours then.

Cheers!
 

landcruising

Adventurer
In many areas due to safety it was not really an option to sleep in the vehicle / roof tent,

Where and when was this?


We have been sleeping 75% of the time in our RTT from the Netherlands to Vietnam in 3 1/2 years.
In the last 5 years in South America we have been sleeping less then 25% in the RTT. Mostly sleeping inside the vehicle, climate wise and the RTT getting less weather proof due to aging.

I am with Luis, and say that if you have survived without a RTT for so long, you are not going to want one now for South America.

Adventurous greetings,
Coen
 
Hey Coen, thanks for the feedback,

Where and when was this?Coen

Mainly through the Stan's and parts of India, for example most places on Kyrgyzstan were 100% safe when were there and ideal for camping, however in Osh there had been recent ethnic tension which resulted many deaths so it would not be advisable to camp in the local area, the locals even suggested not to go out at all at night..

Same with Pakistan, Northern Pakistan felt safe with sparse population, however once you start heading down the KKH towards Besham, or you are in the more populated cities we did not feel comfortable camping, again India many safe places to camp however if you are in the more populated cities, is not such a great idea,

There are even parts of the UK I would not sleep in my vehicle, let alone park the vehicle overnight in the street, Essentially it comes down to what you're comfortable with…
 
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ARB Photo Comp

Hi All

If you like the pic below would you mind supporting us and voting for our picture in the ARB photo competition, by clicking the following link and pressing vote?

http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/262013/voteable_entries/55798340

1203__590x360_IMG_3297Web.jpg



Many thanks

Martin & Nicole
 
Hi All

We are currently travelling around UT & AZ, and require some spare parts to be sent over form Australia,

we were wondering if anyone who lives near Flagstaff or is going to the Overland Expo would let us have the parts sent to their address,

Any help would be really appreciated.

Many thanks

Martin

Ps we are still travelling, we have just spent 3 great months in NZ, (Lots to write up) and we have now started the Americas leg of our Journey, if someone from the Expedition Portal could move the thread back to in progress it would great!
 
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aleks77

New member
Totally down to have a beer with you guys, we are in Vancouver, BC. Can maybe even show you some awesome remote camping spots! PM Sent.
 
Back on the road again! in New Zealand

After an extended stop in Australia, we are finally hitting the road again, deciding our next destination should be New Zealand!
As our carnet had reached its expiry date, we had shipped our vehicle out of Australia several months before leaving for NZ via a roll on roll off vessel operated by Höegh Autoliners. *We used Seaway Agencies as the agent for the shipping.
New Zealand, just like Australia, has very stringent quarantine rules whereby the car has to be free from any mud, seeds or insects. During the shipping process from East Timor to Australia we had the car stripped down and cleaned. Unfortunately the car was not properly put back together again.* This time round we had decided to fully clean the car ourselves.
 
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