True Aussie Adventurers: My Aussie Travel Guide

Grant & Linda – My Aussie Travel Guide

After having an opportunity in 2010 to do some travelling, we really haven’t stopped since. Initially taking 18 months to do a lap of the map, it was really running a blog to record our travels on that trip that fuelled our passion for travelling and freelance writing.

With WA’s Kimberley region constantly calling us for nearly 10 years, we find it’s a region we just can’t get enough of. But in those early days of visiting, we longed for our own personal travel guide…someone who would tell us information such as history, attraction information, points of interest, and suggestions for what to bring. But when you can only take a few weeks for holidays and don’t have time to read pages of reference material, what do you do? Well, in our case, we did a few years of research and produced an audio travel guide, to help realise the dream for many Kimberley visitors that had little time to do the research for themselves. What better way to get the information you need right there and then when you need it, simply by listening to some audio while you are driving along. So you’re really getting the commentary as if you’re on a bus tour, but completely in the comfort of your own vehicle.

And that’s how My Aussie Travel Guide (MATG) came about. We love nothing better than getting out there to inspire others to explore Australia to have their own amazing adventures like us! With other audio travel guides in the pipeline, life for MATG is definitely not dull. And when we’re not off travelling, we write about our travels through various magazine publications.

So whether it’s visiting one of the country’s remote desert regions, taking a back track through the Kimberley, or some old stock route through outback Queensland – it doesn’t really matter to us, as they’re all vastly different. It’s just the fact we’re out there and able to experience Oz that drives our passion to continue travelling.

Vehicle Upgrades

Our Toyota 79 Series Dual Cab LandCruiser is a work in progress and mods seem to be ongoing! In readiness for our next trip to Cape York, here’s what we’ve done:

• • Upgraded our tyres and rims by adding a set of 16” Cooper STT PRO tyres & Dynamic offset rims that are matched to our camper and can be interchanged. Having two spares now is a real big bonus! Our last set of Cooper S/TMAXX tyres lasted well and we’re keen to try out the new STT PRO’s.

• • We’ve fully refurbished our vehicle’s canopy and started from scratch to maximise storage and make it our perfect tourer. It’s undergone sandblasting and painting, had new 12v electrics installed supported by 2 x 100a/h lithium batteries, a storage fitout, and we’ve added an upright fridge.

• • On the outside, we’ve added a Lightforce lightbar and a couple of rear spotlights to the vehicle to make things a bit brighter at night.

• • Lastly, as tyres and pressures are so important to us, we’ve added a tyre pressure and temperature monitoring system to all 8 tyres (vehicle, camper and spares) – that’s real insurance for when the tracks get rough!

 

Camper Upgrade

Our Ultimate Camper is a new addition to our set up this year, so we haven’t needed to do much to it. The only upgrades we’ve made include 2 x 100a/h lithium batteries (in addition to the lithium batteries in the vehicle’s canopy) and a 150W REDARC Monocrystalline slim panel to keep the camper fully self-sufficient.

Trip Itinerary

We’re looking forward to visiting Cape York again for its natural beauty and tackling many of its adventurous tracks. But as we’re starting from Alice Springs, we’ll also take the opportunity to explore some of the East MacDonnell ranges which we haven’t previously done, before heading up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and further on to the Tip.

We still have a few mods to finish off and finalise packing before taking off. Not long to go now!

Trip Update: Cape York Bound