The container has now been transhipped and the ship is currently making it’s way into the Java Sea where it will start heading South to weave it’s way through the southern Islands. It’s due in Fremantle on 8th February before embarking on the final leg to Sydney to arrive on the 16th February.
There’s a YouTube clip of the “new” ship – the OOCL Houston from this time last year…
Singapore
The ship has now docked in Singapore, not far to go now !
Arabian Sea
Position updates have been a bit sporadic due to the ship being away from any land based monitoring stations but got a ping this morning that shows it in the Arabian Sea, presumably heading towards Southern India/Sri Lanka.
Crete
The ship is just passing to the south of Crete and looks to be on schedule to enter the Suez canal sometime tomorrow.
Mediterranean Sea
The ship (and hopefully the container !) is now well into the Mediterranean having passed Gibraltar last night/this morning.
Southampton
Been watching the tracking for the ship, it’s at in the channel at the moment, waiting to head into Southampton. Rather them than me in the current storms we’re having ! It seems the container will be loaded on the ship in Southampton as we’ve now got the location for the container as well as the ship.
Update
While searching for some info on the container ship (APL Qingdao) we happened on a YouTube clip showing the ship leaving Southampton with our container on board…
Hamburg err
Have had confirmation this morning of the ship and container details for the 90. The ship is currently in Hamburg and is due into Botany Bay a week before we arrive.
It’s gone !
The Land Rover is dwarfed by the transporter lorry.
The transport truck arrived this morning and the 90 is now on it’s way down under. Hopefully we’ll meet up again in Sydney 🙂
Still going over and over things in my head trying to think of anything we might have forgotten although anything we’re missing now will either have to be bought when we arrive or taken in our luggage… let’s hope if there is anything it’s not too big or too heavy !
Nifty Lift up body on the transporter
Although we don’t have a route or schedule planned for the trip, preferring to take things as they come, we’ll be compiling a list of places we’d like to visit, things we’d like to do etc… while we’re there and will post the list up here. Now the 90 has gone we might get some spare time to start some rough planning. So far the only fixed point in our trip will be the Melbourne GP as we have tickets booked for that already.
The end is nigh !!!
Well, the 90 is cleaned and packed with (hopefully) everything we need, all ready now for the truck to turn up tomorrow morning so it can be loaded up and sent on it’s way.
The last couple of days have been spent packing, unpacking, packing again and in the process we’ve added a number of additional tie down points so all the heavy items are strapped down and secured now. The dining room, which has been used as a “staging area” for the last year is looking very empty !
A few random pictures from my iPhone…
Progress Update
As the final week of prep seems to be flying by we do seem to be making some progress. All the external cleaning with the pressure washer and hand washing is now done and the bodywork has been polished.
After dithering over making a decision on the power steering box leak I finally decided that I would replace it with a reconditioned one. The final deciding factor was when I realised that the current box is missing a dust seal on the output shaft. The reconditioned one is now fitted and seems to be leak free, let’s hope it stays that way !
Today was spent cleaning out the front passenger area of the vehicle, doing more under bonnet cleaning and a couple of maintenance jobs including replacing the serpentine belt with a new one. We’ll have spares with us but no point in starting off with one that’s already well worn !
By the time we ran out of light the front interior was all cleaned and put back together again and I’m banned from getting in the front now unless I’m wearing a forensic suit. The engine compartment is all back together again so tomorrow we’ll finish cleaning the rear cargo area and I’ll probably spend the day underneath it with a torch, some cleaning rags and a bag full of zip ties 🙂