Somehow it has been six months since my last blog post, and an update is well overdue. Writing in mid-May, COVID felt like something that would be "over and done with" within a matter of months, especially in Australia where cases where diminishing fast. As the year went on, our hopes that COVID would just be a minor blip slowly turned into acceptance that we would not be able to complete the trip as originally planned.
On the 20th January 2020, we completed the first leg of our trip: driving from the UK to Singapore. To celebrate, we thought we would publish a slightly different blog post, reflecting back over our 306 days on the road.
After the success of the mini-practice runs, and the knowledge that we can survive up to a week of camping without any issues, it was time to step up our game. We persuaded three others to join us. The plan: three weeks exploring Morocco.
So in case it isn't obvious, Australia is really far away. This is going to be a pretty big trip. I still haven't entirely realised myself how big this will be. Whilst nothing can really prepare anyone for spending 18 months driving across the world on a very limited budget, we did try to do a few more practice runs before we left.
After 6 months of dating, and more importantly, preparing Natalie, we were ready for our first solo practice run. A slightly smaller scale adventure; driving to Northern Ireland.
A pretty essential part of driving to Australia is to have a car. Full disclosure: if you're expecting a highly detailed commentary on the technical ins and outs of this car, you are in the wrong place. Natalie is blue. She is a Land Rover. She has lights that look like she is a vampire hunting car from the movies. She can drive down very steep hills all by herself.
