51st Traverse - UK to Vladivostok & Australia

[Sirocco]

Thought I better start a new thread for our 25,000 mile adventure leaving the UK on the 26th January 2013

Our route takes us immediately north through France - Belgium - Netherlands - Germany - Denmark - Sweden - Norway

In Norway (around the Arctic Circle) we will be meeting up with Jason and others then taking the long drive to Nordkapp at around 71 degrees north. Temps up here in February are regularly -15 to -20 without factoring in windchill so a lot of preperation has gone into clothing choice and preparation of our Land rover. Far more than I initially realised after accepting Jason's invitation to join them. Leaving the guys in Northern Finland we plan to stop for a day of dog sledding in Lapland. From here we head south (quickly) to St Petersburg then through the Baltic states (Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania), Poland, Hungary, Solvenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

In Turkey we will pick up the remaining Visas in Ankara for Central Asia. Driving through Georgia - Russia - Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Tajikistan. We will pick up our GBAO permit in Dushanbe then head along the Afghanistan border high into the Pamirs and maybe even dip our toes into Afghanistan if the embassy in Khorog will issue visas.

From the Pamirs we head north through Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan into the Altai region of Russia then onto Mongolia and the Gobi desert.

Hopefully we will exit Mongolia around early August which will give us a full 2 months in Siberia to take on the BAM road and the Old Summer Road (Road of Bones). Both highly challenging routes in their own right made known by Sibriski Extreme (Walter Colebach) over on ADV Rider and the HUBB

Returning to Vladivostok we will take the RoRo ferry to South Korea and ship our vehicle to Australia from there and aim to start a new life down under.

Vehicle? A Land Rover 90 with expedition prepared modified Sankey Trailer. I will add some photos when I have finished servicing the truck and hitch it all up.

Photos and film will come from my Nikon D90 and Gopro hero 3

Comms will come from a Sonim Sentinel mobile/cell phone with local simcards along with an Iridium 9555 Sat phone. Sony Vaio laptop will take care of internet stuff and a 10" HP tablet will do navigation up front and provide a backup laptop. Garmin GPS60cx running OSM will also be used when we want some room back in the cab.

You can follow on the website and/or facebook. Facebook will likely get more updates as its easier to send sms messages home for family to update facebook.

Links are in my sig

[Les Brock]

Now that's a road trip....

I was meaning to ask how you fitted the Maggi RTT to the SD Cage before the trialer came along ?

[o_teunico]

That is what I call an Epic Journey! Good luck and enjoy!

[elbekko]

Quickly into Russia? :hysterical:

Looks like a nice trip!

[FridgeFreezer]

Wow, that's several of the trips I'd like to do all in one, plus a load more!

Make sure you have a Hesburger in Finland.

[Sirocco]

Now that's a road trip....

I was meaning to ask how you fitted the Maggi RTT to the SD Cage before the trialer came along ?

I had 4 tabs welded on (Its a Whitbread cage) for my old Safari-Equip RTT. The mag worked ok with the 2 front mounts direct over the front hoop tubeing. The rear required a bit of fabricating to make it to the other tabs, it was never great and I generally had a ratchet to hold it down offroad as there was a little too much flex. Much better on the trailer now.

Quickly into Russia? :hysterical:

Looks like a nice trip!

Quickly through Finland as its going to be proper cold there

[honitonhobbit]

Good luck Gareth; e-mail me when the Warn breaks and I'll send out some of the parts I have stockpiled

[Sirocco]

After 3 months on the road we are in the Caucasus. Currently in Tbilisi, Georgia I thought I would update this thread with a few bits for those who missed it 1st time around.

Links to our blog posts are below, with more content on our website www.siroccoverland.com

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/02/18/norway-to-nordkapp-the-northern-lights/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/02/18/finland-dog-sledding-with-hetta-huskies/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/02/27/through-sweden-to-gransfors-bruks-axes/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/03/06/germany-bavaria-neushwanstein-castle-2/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/03/13/slovenia-from-lake-bled-through-to-skocjan-caves-and-the-mediterranean-coast/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/03/13/croatia-the-istria-peninsula-and-plitvice-national-park/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/03/28/bosnia-herzegovina-mostar-to-sarajevo/

http://siroccoverland.com/2013/04/20/serbia-nothing-against-serbia-but/

Stacks of photos on Facebook also

I wont bore you all with any more pics...

G

[elbekko]

Nice!

[Boydie]

Let me know when you arrive in Oz

[tweetyduck]

When you get into Korea go North to Sokcho (if the ferry isn't broken down or it is indeed actually running !) go to the national park and climb the mountains.....they have metal stairs !!! You will surely be going North and across to see the DMZ.....(although that may be closed if the North is still farting about)

The hotel in the park is pants and I'm not sure you can camp inside so if you fancy a splurge go to the Kensington with the red double decker. Its not expensive. You have to pay for the park though. If your feeling lazy go up the cable car to the other side of the valley.

You will love Korea !!!! Its my favorite place in the whole world ! The food is amazing and the people are just fantastic.

Enjoy your trip.....When you get to Vlad you'll really appreciate Korea once you arrive. PS there's a Pizza Hut in Donghae.....I bet you have one !

[western]

I'd love to do a lifetime trip like that,

[Sirocco]

When you get into Korea go North to Sokcho (if the ferry isn't broken down or it is indeed actually running !) go to the national park and climb the mountains.....they have metal stairs !!! You will surely be going North and across to see the DMZ.....(although that may be closed if the North is still farting about)

The hotel in the park is pants and I'm not sure you can camp inside so if you fancy a splurge go to the Kensington with the red double decker. Its not expensive. You have to pay for the park though. If your feeling lazy go up the cable car to the other side of the valley.

You will love Korea !!!! Its my favorite place in the whole world ! The food is amazing and the people are just fantastic.

Enjoy your trip.....When you get to Vlad you'll really appreciate Korea once you arrive. PS there's a Pizza Hut in Donghae.....I bet you have one !

Thanks Neill.

We may actually be skipping Korea now as my contact there for shipping isn't proving too reliable so we may just go from Vlad now instead. will note your details though, thanks for the tips! Pizza Hut? for sure! There is only so much of the 4 meals on offer in Central Asia you can take!

G

[Sirocco]

Finally got some good WiFi in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan so thought you may want some more photos from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan:

[Fatboy]

What breathtaking photographs! Thank you for sharing..

[tweetyduck]

The ferry is running. Theres some korean guy on Horrizons getting info for another guy. Try there.

If you need help with that my mother is Korean so she might be able to call somebody if you get really stuck.

[Sirocco]

Just an update. We made the local news here in Siberia

Video link here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153189639135068&set=vb.161256027233509&type=3&theaterhttps://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153189639135068&set=vb.161256027233509&type=3&theater

Some Siberian Bridges here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152590395463306&set=vb.161256027233509&type=3&theater

and here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152590199318306&set=vb.161256027233509&type=3&theater

Mongolia here:

Siberia Here:

Plenty more over on FB and I missed a few countries also, sorry!

G

[elbekko]

Awesome pictures as usual!

[FridgeFreezer]

Jealous!

[Daan]

keep the updates coming.

[Bowie69]

Wow, stunning photos, truly stunning.

So jealous.

Thank you for sharing

[Sirocco]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1382982_733082113384228_1186665144_n.jpg

So we made it to Magadan, down to Vladivostok and the truck/trailer are on their way to Melbourne.

26,200 miles (42,000 Km) driven, 248 days on the road, 116 nights wildcamping, 176 nights in the roof tent, 22 countries, 16 International border crossings and 4 vehicle services.

I cant find a way of displaying photos on our tablet, I tried the about bit it just links. and I have a bit of a backlog due to shipping the laptop with the truck. More photos on facebook though.

Currently in Indonesia trying to live cheap while we wait for the container to land. Once we set up in Aus a lot more content will follow and you will probably see me more active on the forum again!

Thanks to those who have followed our 10 month journey from the begining. Its been pretty special and is still difficult to take it all in. We have only just started to see other travellers here in Indo so only now really talking about the trip to other people.

The rig is going to need some TLC next month!

G

[garrycol]

You are going to be hitting Aust at the wrong time of the year - temps in the interior will be dangerous and unbearable - in the north it will be in the rainy season with very hot humid temps and many roads blocked and places to see closed.

Down south, temps will still be high but rather nice weather.

Welcome to your upcoming arrival.

Garry

[steve b]

What a trip , you are very lucky to do it .

How did you get on cleaning it all for entry to Australia?

Looking forward to seeing more pics and reading more tales from the road

cheers

Steveb

[Sirocco]

Garry, it's not a problem we're staying for 12 months and likely longer if/when I can get a sponsored job. No plans to return to the UK so we have mant summer and winter cycles to look forward to!

Steve - not cleared yet. Ship arrives on the 5th Dec hopefully, we fly out of Indonesia on the 23rd.