Ireland to New Zealand Adventure

[Vaughanm20]

Your name: Michael Vaughan
Your Cruiser: 2008 Swb Commercial LC
Mods on your Cruiser: Black, Beige Leather, Aircon, Dvd
Plans for your Cruiser: No Plans yet because I am on the look out for 80 Series LC
4x4 Experience: 2000 Isuzu Trooper, 2008 LC Swb
Anything else you think is interesting or relevant:

I am planning a trip for Janruary next year where I drive from Ireland all the ways to New Zealand. I am a proud 2008 Landcruiser owner already so I know how good they are. I have it from new but as it is swb commercial it is not practical for the trip. I have been researching the right vehicle for this adventure and every corner I take brings me back to the 80 series Landcruiser....

Now my problem is to find the right one that is in good condition that I can kit out for the journey. i have no problem paying that extra bit for a good LC but all costs have to be considered for the whole package.

 

[Bob]

Hi Michael, welcome to the forum. Good to have more Irish members
Quite envious of your planned trip, have been plotting to drive my own to Sydney for a long time, but the lack of €€€'s always gets in the way. (Have managed a few trips to the continent)
You'll find plenty of support for buying an 80 on here, but i've always believed my 90 would be more than capable of the trip. (3 lads did Dublin to Sydney in a 1995 BMW 3 series a few years back.). Your LC being swb would prevent you from sleeping in it or adding a roof tent i suppose. I've thought about the kit for that kind of trip so many times...Keep us updated of your plans

 

[Vaughanm20]

Hi Michael, welcome to the forum. Good to have more Irish members
Quite envious of your planned trip, have been plotting to drive my own to Sydney for a long time, but the lack of €€€'s always gets in the way. (Have managed a few trips to the continent)
You'll find plenty of support for buying an 80 on here, but i've always believed my 90 would be more than capable of the trip. (3 lads did Dublin to Sydney in a 1995 BMW 3 series a few years back.). Your LC being swb would prevent you from sleeping in it or adding a roof tent i suppose. I've thought about the kit for that kind of trip so many times...Keep us updated of your plans

Cheers Bob,
Good to hear from you. Are there many Irish members here?? Any Irish meets planned? Its hard to get across the water but hopefully I will soon..
Ya, I am still trying to figure out all the aspects of this site. I am learning alot from everybody here.
There is alot of planning and organising for this trip but I will keep everybody updated as I go.

 

[Bob]

Theres a dozen or so I think, but most are very quiet. An irish meet would be great. Difficulty I've seen is theres plenty of hardcore off road guys like Leinster 4x4 and the like, but not many interested in overseas trips or subtle modifications and that. Then most cruiser owners in Ireland don't really care too much about this sort of thing.

Then also the guys in the UK have a heap of green lanes they can drive all the time, but very few public access tracks here. You wouldn't bring your daily drive where the 4x4 clubs here go.

 

[Graham]

Your LC being swb would prevent you from [strike:mpi95woi]sleeping in it or[/strike:mpi95woi] adding a roof tent i suppose.

.
Not so sure about that.

I think a roof tent would go on a 90 SWB.

Terrain vehicles Roof Tents

Tent set up size 240 x 140 CM

Folded / packed away size 120 x 140 x 35

Weight total with ladder 55kg

Gra.

 

[Rob]

Hi Michael, any idea on what route you are planning on taking?

An 80 is a good vehicle for the job but the only downside is "worse" handling due to the SFA. Never driven a IFS cruiser but I have been told that if you decide to overtake a Kamaz and hit a section of badly patched up previously melted tarmac at 70mph your front axle will not loose contact with the road and therefore you will still have the ability to steer . Or you could drive a little slower in the 80

Apart from that the 80 is an excellent vehicle for the job, spacious, reliable and will easily take all your gear including emergency fuel and water (2-300kg) and 2 bikers panniers (100kg), 2 backpackers with their ridiculously heavy bags (200kg) and driver and passenger (140kg) which brings it way over 3 tons if needed. This is on +200kg suspension on the back and +50kg on the front and most of that if not all is taken up by roof tent and mods. I think that the load lugging ability of the heavy duty LCs is key on overland trips as you never know when you will need to take on more weight than originally planned for.

 

[Vaughanm20]

Your LC being swb would prevent you from [strike:15qj50aq]sleeping in it or[/strike:15qj50aq] adding a roof tent i suppose.

.
Not so sure about that.

I think a roof tent would go on a 90 SWB.

Terrain vehicles Roof Tents

Tent set up size 240 x 140 CM

Folded / packed away size 120 x 140 x 35

Weight total with ladder 55kg

Gra.

Ya it may be possible alright Graham but for such a long distance a LWB would be much more suitable for storage and passenger space, etc...

 

[Vaughanm20]

Hi Michael, any idea on what route you are planning on taking?

Ya the whole thing is still under planning but roughly here goes;
Ireland,
England,
France,
Italy,
Switzerland,
Austria,
Germany,
Poland,
Lithuania,
Latvia,
Russia,
China, (depending on car and visas)
Vietnam (depending on car and visas)
Cambodia,
Thailand,
Malaysia,
Signapore,
and than ship maybe to Australia or straight to New Zealand...

There is so so much planning involved, I may be slightly in over my head haha but I will keep going anyway..

 

[Vaughanm20]

Oh this is my current LC

 

[Graham]

Hi Michael, any idea on what route you are planning on taking?

Ya the whole thing is still under planning but roughly here goes;
Ireland,
England,
France,
Italy,
Switzerland,
Austria,
Germany,
Poland,
Lithuania,
Latvia,
Russia,
China, (depending on car and visas)
Vietnam (depending on car and visas)
Cambodia,
Thailand,
Malaysia,
Signapore,
and than ship maybe to Australia or straight to New Zealand...

There is so so much planning involved, I may be slightly in over my head haha but I will keep going anyway..

.
Hi Mike,

They will all be easy, except China.
Have you found the web site called HUBB ?

Any way, --China-- can be done, but could swallow the same costs as all the other countries put together,,,,,and some.

Gra.

 

[Vaughanm20]

Hi Mike,

They will all be easy, except China.
Have you found the web site called HUBB ?

Any way, --China-- can be done, but could swallow the same costs as all the other countries put together,,,,,and some.

Gra.[/quote]

I just found it literally 10 minutes ago, everything seems easy enough except for China alright,
Do you know if it is worth so much just to drive it or maybe save it for a later holiday and just fly there???
Also I am not sure but what I hear is that Vietnam do not let foreign vehicles drive through there country, have you heard anything like this??

 

[AndyCook]

Check out Charlie and Nina's blog

http://www.nojobwilltravel.co.uk/

they did a trip a couple of years ago in a Landcruiser Colorado
which included China and Vietnam
and it was great following their progress and adventures at the time

they met and know some of the members on here

 

[Graham]

Hi Mike,

It's very difficult I am afraid.

Here is a plan I have

Firstly, do some thing similar to what Rob, has done here.
Rob drives to Mongolia

Then into Ulaanbaator
Then to Erenhot.
Park the 'cruiser in a secure parking
Visit China for 2-3 weeks by train etc.
Back to Erenhot. (Border of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, "China")
Drive home again.
Except, your wanting to go to Aus.
Then drive around China to Vladivostok, and ship from there.

I honestly don't know, I just made that last part up about ship from Vladivostok

I can't see China opening up any time soon, in relation to foreigners driving through as easily as other far east countries.

Gra.

 

[Gav Peter]

Nice shortie Mike - lovin' the sounds of your trip

 

[Vaughanm20]

Ok, I am now coming to the reality check, that selling my LC means taking a ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE hit on what I paid for it first day.
Would it be a completely insane idea to take it for my trip or would a LWB be a lot more practical...
Are roof tents for the SWB easy to come by and will storage and passenger seats be a problem???

 

[Gary Stockton]

Can't answer you on storage but for a roof tent best go with a fold-up ala Howling Moon and have it open out the side. That'll fit on roof-bars or preferably replacement Rhino bar set.

Cheers

 

[Vaughanm20]

Can't answer you on storage but for a roof tent best go with a fold-up ala Howling Moon and have it open out the side. That'll fit on roof-bars or preferably replacement Rhino bar set.

Cheers

Cheers Gary,
I will look into that..

 

[Julian T]

I see no reason why a folding roof tent, howling moon, hannibal or eezy awn would not work on a SWB, if you are travelling alone then you might find the hannibal impi roof tent more to your liking, I have seen them on SWB landy's, (wash mouth out with soap) there are lots of images of different combinations out there, it just depends on what suits your taste/wallet, have a look at Devon 4x4 online shop under expedition equipment if you want an idea of costs.
As for interior storage that's dependant on how much kit you feel you need, I know a gent who crams a surprising amount of kit into a SWB Landy (yuck more soap), there are a lot of items that can be secured to your vehicle externally, high lift jacks, jerry cans, spades and so on. but beware of making your vehicle too attractive

 

[Gary Stockton]

Or too heavy - remember it's weight that (usually) damages overland vehicles - it's all too east to exceed the GVM limits so be aware, is all.

I'd rip out the back seats and put in a platform similar to the one that the Black Widow Storage Solutions provide. And some roof-slung nets for little things you want available but out the way.

 

[Vaughanm20]

I see no reason why a folding roof tent, howling moon, hannibal or eezy awn would not work on a SWB, if you are travelling alone then you might find the hannibal impi roof tent more to your liking, I have seen them on SWB landy's, (wash mouth out with soap) there are lots of images of different combinations out there, it just depends on what suits your taste/wallet, have a look at Devon 4x4 online shop under expedition equipment if you want an idea of costs.
As for interior storage that's dependant on how much kit you feel you need, I know a gent who crams a surprising amount of kit into a SWB Landy (yuck more soap), there are a lot of items that can be secured to your vehicle externally, high lift jacks, jerry cans, spades and so on. but beware of making your vehicle too attractive

HaHa Julian, your mouth is surely clean by now.....
but to be fair my SWB has been a super machine up until now and as they say, hind sight is a great thing...
Travelling myself would be grand too but the other half might have something to say about that....
So an extra bit of room would be more suitable as I am 6' 1...
If I could stay away from strapping to the outside because of security reasons and aerodynamic purposes as I reckon the roof tent will take up most of the top storage except for maybe a Jerry can or something tidy...

But as I do appreciate your advise considering your mouth constantly filling with soap