Overland with Kids

Vehicle Preparation

We bought a 1998 Land Rover Defender 110 CSW 300TDi - 12 seater bench seat standard base vehicle with no modifications during November 2007.
We thought long and hard about our chosen vehicle before buying and then about how we wanted to modify to suit us, our children and the more longer-term trip to Australia. [...]

Well, we sought advice, did some research, asked some questions and bought the books but thought a little bit of ‘hands-on’ professional vehicle mechanics training and familiarisation would definately be in order. We also decided against evening classes for two reasons:
A) The courses we came across were not specific to our own vehicle and
B) We wanted the freedom to go a level [...]

Over Easter, we brought our vehicle along to Foley’s to discuss requirements. We need to have fitted out in time for our summer shake down trip. Following a meeting and some ball-park figures, we’ll have a final discussion once we bring vehicle plus caravan along during May for LR servicing and fit-out. Following is the list [...]

We finally managed to get our Jurgens Xplorer off the driveway since we bought last year and take it out for a bit of a spin.
We have never towed anything in our lives before so opted for some professional assistance from Dean at MK Towing who took us through our ‘learner’ paces.
This was to ensure [...]

For anyone wanting to know more about our “Gypsy” caravan capability, a chap call Rob Thijssen kindly sent us this youtube link which shows the ‘off road’ Jurgens Xplorer caravan, that we have, being taken through it’s paces is SA. In addition, anyone wanting to see more detail about the caravan, please see our previous posts. We [...]

We  have finally found a mechanic who we think will be able to help us learn more about our vehicle. Our vehicle is now with him (Roger) for MOT and replacement fuel pump. Coupled with the help of a fellow ’sometime in the future’ traveller Richard Allen who has been providing tips, here is an [...]

We have learned some bits and pieces but things are a bit slow to us novices and we are still really no further forward getting familiar with our vehicle engine. So, have now purchased a workshop manual specific to our vehicle. Arrived on Friday and the engine layout etc. now makes much more sense to us [...]

Based on our choice of vehicle, we are anticipating that issues will definitely arise with our trustee LR Defender en-route which may immobilise us. In fact, given the ‘which vehicle?’ debate - we are counting on a problem or even a series of problems, based on past travellers experiences.So - for us total novices at [...]

We have had some useful email correspondance regarding vehicle choice and considerations from the drive to oz team (www.drive-to-oz.com) - Graham and Eirenne and their 3 children who are currently in Laos, travelling from UK to OZ using a Toyota Land Cruiser. The following represents 3 email exerts over the past few days between ourselves which, [...]

During beginning May (bank holiday weekend), we undertook some professional training in order to familiarise ourselves with our Land Rover better and understand how to get the best out of our vehicle. Up to this point, we had only ever driven ‘on’ road and didn’t really understand the vehicle 4×4 capability in any great detail.
Not that we’re planning on [...]