2017 The Lap

It's been full steam ahead for the past while - we've been getting the Prado ready - the fridge slide and drawers fitted, a second battery installed under the bonnet to take care of the fridge etc and ensuring our recovery gear is all in order. The house is a mess with all our stuff that we'll need to load into the car when we head off to pick up Q in Caloundra in the next few days. Some lovely time was spent with our friends Judy and Ian at Phillip Island over the past few days and as always, it was fabulous to catch up again.  It's great to get ideas and learn from others who have done some outback travel. We've borrowed a sat phone from our Toyota 4x4 Club and we'll get the PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) in the next few weeks once the battery has been updated and the cover refurbished. Hopefully we won't be in need of it, but it's better to be prepared - just in case. We got (probably) our final update photos from AOR today:  So the pop-to...

We continue to research different places to go on this big trip, but we're also a bit excited with the progress of our beautiful new unit.  We're thinking we'll call it "Q".  "Ranger II" following on from our camper trailer doesn't seem to do it justice. There's a written note on the chassis of Q that had me stumped a little - "for the beat - plan for the worst": We realise it's due to John's name, Hoppe and they clearly think it is pronounced, "hope". Therefore, "Hope for the best, plan for the worst"!  Some funny boys there at AOR!