Maybe because when we do post https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=2297059&postcount=5 no-one says a word, and y'all carry on taking about the US a Canada, so there 
Overseas (non-US) Expedition wheelers.... the wild stuff!
- Thread starter e9999
- Start date
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Hi e9999 -
I happen to have spent most of my childhood summers on European, Asian and African roads (some 6,000 miles a month) aboard the high-clearance vans my father equipped from scratch, so I have some ideas that have been percolating for a while
.
This would be my ideal Cruiser-based expedition rig. Mine would need to accomodate 2 adults and eventually 2 young children.
- A diesel, with a long-range tank, allowing for more than 600 miles without refilling. I'm thinking HDJ 81, HZJ 105 or HZJ 78.
- Low or medium height, medium or heavy weight suspension as clearance isn't the key when it deals with long routes. Those Cruisers are already outstandingly capable on most off-road conditions anyway.
- The keystone to my opinion is: compact on the road, roomy when you stop, and easy transformation in between. This would imply either a rooftent for four (Eezi-Awn) or a Westfalia-like sleeping system, two adults sleeping "upstairs" and two kids "downstairs".
- A 30 gallon-tank of fresh water.
- A sink, a crapper and a cooler.
- Some body armor under the engine and gearbox. Aftermarket bumpers look nice, but lots of African rigs survive without those expensive items.
- A good HU receiver and a stack of CDs/8 megs iPod. To my opinion, every other electronic junk is cool but not paramount. Maps, common sense and ask-a-local work wonders.
In short, I like that one, from Switzerland:
And I'm always fond of the story of this couple who have been travelling the world for 25 years in their BJ60 (edit - FJ 60
):
http://www.weltrekordreise.ch/
And most of all, here's where I'd like to drive to once my dream-rig comes true (someday...)
From Europe:
- Ispahan, Iran
- Muscat, Oman
- Leptis Magna, Libya
- Aswan, Egypt
- Gonder, Ethiopia
- Damascus, Syria
And last but not least, Taghit, Algeria:
I happen to have spent most of my childhood summers on European, Asian and African roads (some 6,000 miles a month) aboard the high-clearance vans my father equipped from scratch, so I have some ideas that have been percolating for a while
.This would be my ideal Cruiser-based expedition rig. Mine would need to accomodate 2 adults and eventually 2 young children.
- A diesel, with a long-range tank, allowing for more than 600 miles without refilling. I'm thinking HDJ 81, HZJ 105 or HZJ 78.
- Low or medium height, medium or heavy weight suspension as clearance isn't the key when it deals with long routes. Those Cruisers are already outstandingly capable on most off-road conditions anyway.
- The keystone to my opinion is: compact on the road, roomy when you stop, and easy transformation in between. This would imply either a rooftent for four (Eezi-Awn) or a Westfalia-like sleeping system, two adults sleeping "upstairs" and two kids "downstairs".
- A 30 gallon-tank of fresh water.
- A sink, a crapper and a cooler.
- Some body armor under the engine and gearbox. Aftermarket bumpers look nice, but lots of African rigs survive without those expensive items.
- A good HU receiver and a stack of CDs/8 megs iPod. To my opinion, every other electronic junk is cool but not paramount. Maps, common sense and ask-a-local work wonders.
In short, I like that one, from Switzerland:
And I'm always fond of the story of this couple who have been travelling the world for 25 years in their BJ60 (edit - FJ 60
):http://www.weltrekordreise.ch/
And most of all, here's where I'd like to drive to once my dream-rig comes true (someday...)
From Europe:
- Ispahan, Iran
- Muscat, Oman
- Leptis Magna, Libya
- Aswan, Egypt
- Gonder, Ethiopia
- Damascus, Syria
And last but not least, Taghit, Algeria:
Last edited:
In short, I like that one, from Switzerland:
I stumbled across a company overseas that makes these pop-ups for 80s, just like the one above and not an Innovation Camper. It looked pretty neat, but it appears to only add head room and no sleeping quarters. I'd really like to do an Innovation Camper conversion to my 80 for an expedition rig. There are a couple of other euro companies that use Land Cruisers to build Expendition rigs. I'll start a thread once I'm back on my other computer with all of the links.
- Thread starter
- #44
Maybe because when we do post https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=2297059&postcount=5 no-one says a word, and y'all carry on taking about the US a Canada, so there
even worse than that! strangely or perhaps not so strangely, I can't find that post anywhere with the search function... this is taking low key to a new low...
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Woa, and i thought i had a ton of crap on my rack!
New defintion of rolling gas station!
New defintion of rolling gas station!
cruiser_guy
Out of Africa / North Africa
If this is what folks call "expedition" which is something I'm attempting to find out in my post https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=165961 then I'd be happy to post up what I've done and how I do it since that seems to describe what I tend to be doing.
Woa, and i thought i had a ton of crap on my rack!
New defintion of rolling gas station!
As much as I admire his journey Ive always considered his rig a rolling petrol bomb ,apart from the fact that it must be so top heavy.
I suppose he adjusts his speed to cope with it,but one blown tyre on the side of a hill and its the big red one for him
Rest of the world
Hi,
Does a three week trip from the UK through France across the Mediterranean, through Tunisia and into the Libyan Sahara count as an expedition?
We took two HDJ80s both with 155 litre long range tanks, 2" OME lifts, 9.00 x 16 Michelin XZLs and roof tents. We had a fantastic trip and can't wait for the opportunity to go again.
Travelling in Africa is often as much about meeting people as seeing amazing places. That said, we spent five days crossing the desert and in that time saw just one other person, a camel herder. He was probably 140 km from the nearest settlement - a true nomad.
More photos here.
All the best,
Toby
UK
Hi,
Does a three week trip from the UK through France across the Mediterranean, through Tunisia and into the Libyan Sahara count as an expedition?
We took two HDJ80s both with 155 litre long range tanks, 2" OME lifts, 9.00 x 16 Michelin XZLs and roof tents. We had a fantastic trip and can't wait for the opportunity to go again.
Travelling in Africa is often as much about meeting people as seeing amazing places. That said, we spent five days crossing the desert and in that time saw just one other person, a camel herder. He was probably 140 km from the nearest settlement - a true nomad.
More photos here.
All the best,
Toby
UK
- Thread starter
- #50
Hi,
Does a three week trip from the UK through France across the Mediterranean, through Tunisia and into the Libyan Sahara count as an expedition?
We took two HDJ80s both with 155 litre long range tanks, 2" OME lifts, 9.00 x 16 Michelin XZLs and roof tents. We had a fantastic trip and can't wait for the opportunity to go again.
Travelling in Africa is often as much about meeting people as seeing amazing places. That said, we spent five days crossing the desert and in that time saw just one other person, a camel herder. He was probably 140 km from the nearest settlement - a true nomad.
More photos here.
All the best,
Toby
UK
yes, that would count as an expedition, and then some...
cruiser_guy
Out of Africa / North Africa
Well you can read the links in this thread https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=165961
I'll also post up more when I have the ROTW on the '60 forum in a couple of months. I'll have more trips by then.
Yup, I never realized that, in fact that's the downside of using a gasoline Cruiser vs. a Diesel: poorer mileage.
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Best trip ever, or at least the most memorable - 10,000 km (around 1/3 on dirt)
in 7 weeks about 25 years ago.
My mate & I had been on a couple of 3 - 4 week trips out bush before that, so we had a pretty good idea of what to pack and how to 'pace' ourselves.
But, this was going to be the 'big one' and we'd taken our 4 week annual leave and taken a further 4 weeks unpaid.
Starting from Perth (W. Aust) headed up to Newman.
Across to the Wittenoom gorges.
Up to Port Hedland and on to Broome and then to Derby.
Gibb River road up to the Mitchell Plateau and to Port Warrender.
Then back to the Gibb River road and on to Wyndham.
Then on to Darwin (NT) and some of Kakadu.
Back south to Alice Springs (SA), then to Ayres Rock.
From there across to Warburton, Laverton and to some of our favourite haunts in the goldfields. Then on to Kalgoorlie and finally back to Perth.
2 guys in one diesel powered 4wd. Stock other than suspension, roobar, barwork,tyre carrier, roofrack and minor tweaks here and there.
The key was packing - we spent upwards of 2 weeks on the Gibb River road and Mitchell Plateau area and at that time there was 1 fuel stop and we covered around 1200km between 'stops'. Getting the essentials packed in a fashion that didn't require stripping the whole vehicle down to get to a screwdriver is an art in itself.
Choice of food, drinks, water were probably one of the highest priorities. Decent tool box with useful tools rather than the kitchen sink
Capability to repair tyres & tubes was essential.
Creature comforts, solar shower, reliable tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, chairs, fridge etc are a good thing on a long trip. We also learnt how to slow down and take the time to stare at clouds on those 'boring' days and search for shooting stars and to spot satellites in the night sky.
On that trip we learnt how to make bread and cook cakes in a camp oven - something that has been a highlight of camping since.
On the longer legs you need a reliable vehicle and to be comfortable in camp with a good mate that you get along with
We only planned a few spots that we wanted to visit, the rest was unsheduled and we just stopped (sometimes for a week) at neat places as we found them. Some of the great places we visited were due to taking our time to talk to locals or fellow travellers as we casually cruised along.
The mindset of not have a fixed itinerary has been something that all subsequent trips leveraged. I can't think of how many trips I've been on since where we planned to visit some particular place and we never got there since we got 'distracted' by some other track. Any trip less than 2 weeks is just "going out for a drive"
Lennard Gorge - just off the Gibb River road - no one there but us and a couple of fellow travelers that we convoyed with for a while:
Bottom tier of the Mitchell Falls:
Trusty old bus:
cheers,
george.
in 7 weeks about 25 years ago.
My mate & I had been on a couple of 3 - 4 week trips out bush before that, so we had a pretty good idea of what to pack and how to 'pace' ourselves.
But, this was going to be the 'big one' and we'd taken our 4 week annual leave and taken a further 4 weeks unpaid.
Starting from Perth (W. Aust) headed up to Newman.
Across to the Wittenoom gorges.
Up to Port Hedland and on to Broome and then to Derby.
Gibb River road up to the Mitchell Plateau and to Port Warrender.
Then back to the Gibb River road and on to Wyndham.
Then on to Darwin (NT) and some of Kakadu.
Back south to Alice Springs (SA), then to Ayres Rock.
From there across to Warburton, Laverton and to some of our favourite haunts in the goldfields. Then on to Kalgoorlie and finally back to Perth.
2 guys in one diesel powered 4wd. Stock other than suspension, roobar, barwork,tyre carrier, roofrack and minor tweaks here and there.
The key was packing - we spent upwards of 2 weeks on the Gibb River road and Mitchell Plateau area and at that time there was 1 fuel stop and we covered around 1200km between 'stops'. Getting the essentials packed in a fashion that didn't require stripping the whole vehicle down to get to a screwdriver is an art in itself.
Choice of food, drinks, water were probably one of the highest priorities. Decent tool box with useful tools rather than the kitchen sink
Capability to repair tyres & tubes was essential.
Creature comforts, solar shower, reliable tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, chairs, fridge etc are a good thing on a long trip. We also learnt how to slow down and take the time to stare at clouds on those 'boring' days and search for shooting stars and to spot satellites in the night sky.
On that trip we learnt how to make bread and cook cakes in a camp oven - something that has been a highlight of camping since.
On the longer legs you need a reliable vehicle and to be comfortable in camp with a good mate that you get along with
We only planned a few spots that we wanted to visit, the rest was unsheduled and we just stopped (sometimes for a week) at neat places as we found them. Some of the great places we visited were due to taking our time to talk to locals or fellow travellers as we casually cruised along.
The mindset of not have a fixed itinerary has been something that all subsequent trips leveraged. I can't think of how many trips I've been on since where we planned to visit some particular place and we never got there since we got 'distracted' by some other track. Any trip less than 2 weeks is just "going out for a drive"
Lennard Gorge - just off the Gibb River road - no one there but us and a couple of fellow travelers that we convoyed with for a while:
Bottom tier of the Mitchell Falls:
Trusty old bus:
cheers,
george.
That would have been a great trip George before the tourist industry got in there.
I was in Broome and Derby in the late 70s and it was much different than it is today. I dont think they even had TV in them days. People in the norwest towns had to socialise for entertainment
That old Patrol must have been brand new or close to it.
I was in Broome and Derby in the late 70s and it was much different than it is today. I dont think they even had TV in them days. People in the norwest towns had to socialise for entertainment
That old Patrol must have been brand new or close to it.
Best trip ever, or at least the most memorable - 10,000 km (around 1/3 on dirt)
in 7 weeks about 25 years ago.
My mate & I had been on a couple of 3 - 4 week trips out bush before that, so we had a pretty good idea of what to pack and how to 'pace' ourselves.
But, this was going to be the 'big one' and we'd taken our 4 week annual leave and taken a further 4 weeks unpaid.
Starting from Perth (W. Aust) headed up to Newman.
Across to the Wittenoom gorges.
Up to Port Hedland and on to Broome and then to Derby.
Gibb River road up to the Mitchell Plateau and to Port Warrender.
Then back to the Gibb River road and on to Wyndham.
Then on to Darwin (NT) and some of Kakadu.
Back south to Alice Springs (SA), then to Ayres Rock.
From there across to Warburton, Laverton and to some of our favourite haunts in the goldfields. Then on to Kalgoorlie and finally back to Perth.
2 guys in one diesel powered 4wd. Stock other than suspension, roobar, barwork,tyre carrier, roofrack and minor tweaks here and there.
The key was packing - we spent upwards of 2 weeks on the Gibb River road and Mitchell Plateau area and at that time there was 1 fuel stop and we covered around 1200km between 'stops'. Getting the essentials packed in a fashion that didn't require stripping the whole vehicle down to get to a screwdriver is an art in itself.
Choice of food, drinks, water were probably one of the highest priorities. Decent tool box with useful tools rather than the kitchen sink
Capability to repair tyres & tubes was essential.
Creature comforts, solar shower, reliable tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, chairs, fridge etc are a good thing on a long trip. We also learnt how to slow down and take the time to stare at clouds on those 'boring' days and search for shooting stars and to spot satellites in the night sky.
On that trip we learnt how to make bread and cook cakes in a camp oven - something that has been a highlight of camping since.
On the longer legs you need a reliable vehicle and to be comfortable in camp with a good mate that you get along with
We only planned a few spots that we wanted to visit, the rest was unsheduled and we just stopped (sometimes for a week) at neat places as we found them. Some of the great places we visited were due to taking our time to talk to locals or fellow travellers as we casually cruised along.
The mindset of not have a fixed itinerary has been something that all subsequent trips leveraged. I can't think of how many trips I've been on since where we planned to visit some particular place and we never got there since we got 'distracted' by some other track. Any trip less than 2 weeks is just "going out for a drive"
Lennard Gorge - just off the Gibb River road - no one there but us and a couple of fellow travelers that we convoyed with for a while:
Bottom tier of the Mitchell Falls:
Trusty old bus:
cheers,
george.
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Yep, it was a great time to go up there and definitely pre-tourist lunacy. I hear there are helicopter rides from the Mitchell Falls area now and it's turning into a national park or something. When we went the mining company was still there, with caretaker & his wife. They told us that there were free range cattle that we could 'snack' on. Found the ex-butcher of the mine site camped near the creek that you hike along to get to the falls and he did us a favour of choosing something tasty for us
I haven't been up north for at least 12 years now and I'm scared to think how much tourist activity has occurred sine we were up there.
The Kal goldfields have become my 'sanctuary' for short 2 week trips when I visit Perth every year or so. At least there's nothing much to attract the tourist crowd and worse the tour operators!
Yeah, the Patrol was just a couple of years old at the time and did well on that trip and being a reasonably thrifty diesel definitely helped on the long stretches. Memories of topping up from drums at the barnett station.
When camped at Port Warrender we were with a couple of other vehicles that we convoyed with along the Gibb River and they had a dingy and punt, so we got to check out a couple of the islands and go up the Lawley river a few miles till the end of the tidal area. Saw some crocs and discovered (the hard way) about the tides and depth (or lack of it) of water near the entrance of the Lawley river when the tide went out and we were stranded for a while...
A few days later one of the guys managed to drive a big triple hook (fishing for shark) into a finger. Call on the flying doctor radio that one of the guys had in his vehicle and we drove up the next day to the airfield at the mining camp and the flying doctor made a landing, opened up his finger, removed the hook, stitched it up and was on his merry way. Turned out the pilot said the doc hadn't seen the falls so they were going to do a small detour and fly over them before heading back to Wyndham. Bloody good service!!!
Definitely a trip of a lifetime - we were in our early twenties and invincible
cheers,
george.
I'll try again
Read more here... http://www.landcruiserclub.co.za/cms/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34
Read more here... http://www.landcruiserclub.co.za/cms/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34
I'll try again
Read more here... http://www.landcruiserclub.co.za/cms/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34
And I thought the mosquitoes in our camps were bad
I'll try again
Read more here... http://www.landcruiserclub.co.za/cms/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34
Great trip and pics Teebag
