Trek to Oz

We all knew it would happen, even with all the planning, all the precautions, all the money thrown at it and still the Land Rover breaks down with 3 days to go. Well perhaps that’s not fair, it was running but the turbo, yes it has a turbo, was blowing more oil than air around the engine. I’m not very mechanical but even I realise that might be an issue. Currently it’s back at Douglass Motors awaiting a new turbo. It’s all very upsetting but we are trying to be upbeat and look on the bright side: at least we can enjoy the British summer for a few extra days,oh wait…….

Other than the turbo things are on track;

The Indian Visas have been issued

We have travel insurance!

We have car insurance from a company in Holland that will cover our whole trip and only costs £500 instead of the 3 grand we were quoted in the UK. This even covers the European Green card, bargain!

The the Carnet has been issued.

We have both been injected with Tetanus and Yellow Fever.

So it’s all slowly slowly coming together, which is lucky seeing as we have very little time left. The big day is now set for Thursday the 19th August, any one wishing to come down to Dover with fireworks, banners and sandwiches will be very welcome and we will see you there at 5am for the ferry!

Thanks to my brother’s friend John Wool and his company ‘Mr Sticker’, (quaility name by the way), we now have a sticker to put on the side of the truck. I’m very impressed and it almost gives the impression that we have some idea of what we are doing. (We don’t.)

With a little over a week to go things are getting a little frantic.

Outstanding items:

1. Carnet not yet received from RAC

2. Still trying to source a water filter for the drinking water supply

3. Rear brakes on the Land Rover to fix as they have just started leaking, brilliant

4. No travel insurance

5. No car insurance

6. Still waiting to hear the price of shipping the truck from Iran to India

7. International driving license

8. A number of Lonely Planet guides still outstanding.

Hopefully by Wednesday of next week we will have a big tick next to 90% of the above items. If not, Megan and I might not be talking to one another, as apparently I should have done most of these things months ago, but that wouldn’t be the Maple way. Last minute panic, that’s the way I like it.

Just a word of warning to those of you contemplating a similar trip; we had a few issues at the Indian visa office today.

1. You can’t get a full one year tourist visa unless you are an Indian national (why would you need one if you already have an Indian passport?!) or you have a full itinerary with exact dates and airline tickets, not really practical for an overland trip.

2. If you want to exit India and go to Nepal (or anywhere else for that matter) you have to stay out for 2 months before you can get back in to India! Doh. However if you have a fully planned itinerary, which we don’t,  you might be able to get back in sooner.

So not really a good day, we are going to be very tight on time in India and may not be able to go to Nepal……….

With 2 weeks to go we thought it would be a good idea to start packing. August the 16th, our off date, is fast approaching and with the exception of our visas, injections, Carnet, international driving license, passport photos, tent, a finalised route, ferry ticket and tea bags we’re good to go!