We finally managed to take Dino into Foley's, the most highly recommended Land Rover garage in the UK. We had sort of avoided taking him in as the journey was over two hours for us, meaning to take him in and bring him back would add up to a total driving time of 12 hours (email us if you can't figure out the 12 hours ;) ). But after not really feeling satisfied with a couple of the garages we'd used or spoken to we decided to bite the bullet, and boy was it the right thing to do. Straight away Stuart Foley took time to explain to us what we did and didn't really want to be considering. We always felt that they were considering us and our trip rather than a quick profit, and we certainly feel like they are in it with us for the long run. Paul, Stuart's brother rang me several times whilst doing the work that we asked to be done, and always explained what he was doing and why. He also took the time to explain other details of the trip where they had experience. All in all I could not recommend Foley's enough, and if you are thinking of doing a similar trip I was suggest you at least ring them, but try your hardest to pay them a visit with your vehicle. Thanks guys, we look forward to bringing Dino back to you.

• Shower, pump, filter and water tank fitted to vehicle
• Split charge and wiring
• Clamp batteries in
• Hasps on front doors
• More checkered plating on roof
• Sand ladders attached to side of the vehicle
• New front prop, yoke and UJ
• 2nd hand brake from 300tdi
• 2nd hand spare tyre

Internet Buddies

One of the reasons we are able to do this trip is that if you have time and the inclination you can find whatever information you need on the Internet. On top of this you can communicate with people who are doing or planning similar trips, and this has been a great help for us. Last weekend we met up with Vicki and Nick who are planning a similar trip as us, but via Africa.. They are also documenting their trip on the web and have met up with quite a few fellow overlanders. They both were lovely people, who seem to have similar thoughts and ideas about the trip as us. They have the luxury of Salisbury plain on their doorstep, and via kindly took us out exploring. Again we had great fun, and are now feeling so much more confident with our off road driving. We have realised it's time to understand GPS more than just using TomTom type applications. That's now next on Ollie's list.

We've had quite a few people visiting our bulletin board and website, and it's been great fun chatting with lots of different people about their various plans and trips. One of the best websites out there for information is Nessies Adventures and we've had lots of great tips directly from the monsters mouth, so a big thank you to Rose and Dave.

Website Development

Finally Ollie has got off his big bum and made some changes to the website. He has added a Sponsors link, now that we actually have one :) Our very good friend Ian has agreed to design our logo, and his company, Decor Bristol Limited are sitting proudly at the top of our sponsors list. Check out their website to see what amazing things can be done with plaster! Thanks Ian