3. Barnaby the Bighorn

Q. What car / 4wd goes do you buy to travel across the World?
A. Barnaby the Isuzu Bighorn

The Vehicle had to try and fulfil the following criteria...
1. It had to be big and strong to fend off some of the worlds craziest drivers.
2. It needed to carry all our essentials (roof tent, jerry cans of fuel & water, supplies, etc)
3. A maximum budget of £5,000 - I wish it was more, but its not.
4. It had to be a fairly, no, very reliable vehicle - neither Zowi or myself know any more than how to change the oil or a tyre.
5. It had to be on a Used Car forecourt next to the pub, so that when I came out drunk on the Friday night and trip into it, I would know that it was a sign, and buy it the next day.

I'm aware that there is a huge debate over Landrover or Landcruiser for such an Overland Expedition. I have read several blogs in which people mainly took Landrovers for their "Romantic Value" and the fact that they are "so British" - but they also seemed to take so many spare parts with them, and then some more parts just in case, and then the cautious / realistic would carry just a few more "essentials" just in case! - Worse still was that most of the spares were needed along the way.

A Nissan Patrol and a Shogun / Pajero also appeared as options, we looked at a couple of Shoguns, although they were well within budget, they seemed "tatty" to our untrained eyes.
We almost bought a '94 Patrol, but we missed out by just a couple of hours. Shame really as this Patrol seemed to have been really well looked after.

We then got back on track and started hunting for an 80 Series Landcruiser, we were advised that we should be able to get a good 'un with around 100,000 miles on the clock on a 93/94 plate - but I sware that they went into hiding as soon as we started looking, and the 3 that we looked at were c**p.

It wasnt looking promising until one night when I stumbled out of the "Thatch & Thistle" pub in Southport after quite a few beers. Across the road from the Thatch is Steve Newman Car Sales, and on his forecourt I spotted a large LWB 4wd. I wasnt able to tell the make of the 4wd due to the darkness and drunken stupor, so I went in for a closer look. It was love at first sight, especially when I saw a huge rusty winch on the front, I knew this vehicle was ready for some real action.

We went to look at Barnaby the next day when I was sober for a closer look and a test drive - we werent let down - Steve wouldnt budge from the £2,000 price, threatening to keep Barnaby for himself if we didnt cough up the full £2,000. Steve made a mistake, he said that we had to decide before the 3pm kick-off as he wanted to watch the match in the pub. We went back later at 2:50pm and you could see in Steve's eyes that he wanted to be in the Thatch watching the match with a beer in hand. "Will you take £1,900?" Zowi asked, "Yes!" Steve quickly replied "If you let me go and watch the match!" - The deal was done - Barnaby was coming home with us.

Barnaby is an imported 1996 Auto LWB Isuzu Bighorn - similar to the Isuzu Trooper here in the UK, and similar to the Holden Jackaroo in Australia. Barnaby has a (virtually) indestructible 3.1TD engine with only has 61,000 miles on the clock, Lotus Handling and a 9000lb Winch to help get himself out of trouble when things get interesting. He also has Air Con for when it gets too warm, Heated Mirrors & Seats for when it gets chilly.

Barnaby has his own email address and loves receiving emails from friends across the world. If you would like to be friends with Barnaby, send an email to Barnaby@zo2oz.com

Barnaby - What a Car! What a Star! Barnaby Rules?

2. The Route

Its not as easy it looks - the world is really quite big! China? Stans? Silk Route?

Google Maps came out to play here and we listed all the places that we wanted to visit. The route isnt set in stone and I know it will change frequently, hopefully because we will want to see an additional place, and not because of any tension in any area.

There is currently an outline plan for the route as follows...
Southport (England)
John O'Groats (Scotland)
Newcastle (England) - (ferry to...)
Stavanger (Norway)
Kristiansan (Norway)
Oslo (Norway)
Stockholm (Sweden)
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Hamburg (Germany)
Bonn (Germany)
Nurburg (Germany) - (To do a lap of the Nurburgring)
Brussels (Belgium)
Paris (France)
La Rochelle (France)
Santander (Spain)
Lisbon (Portugal)
Algeciras (Spain) - (ferry to...)
Ceuta (Morrocco)
Casablanca (Morrocco)
Marrakesh (Morrocco)
Ceuta (Morrocco)
Valencia (Spain)
Barcelona (Spain)
Monte Carlo (Monaco)
Zurich (Switzerland)
Rome (Italy)
Bari (Italy)
Patras (Greece)
Istanbul (Turkey)
Ramsar (Iran) - my Dad worked in Grand Hotel Casino here!
Bandar-e-Lengeh (Iran) - (ferry to...)
Dubai - (ferry to...)
Bandar-e-Lengeh (Iran)
Lahore (Pakistan) - see border closing ceremony http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeSX6AZ5xEI
Chennai (India) - (ferry to...)
Malaysia
Thailand
Laos
Thailand
Singapore (Malaysia)
Perth (Australia)
Melbourne (Australia)

Phew! - it has felt like ages just typing this, and it has reminded me that it will be a long journey, but it should be an amazing experience!

1. In the Beginning

(Rich) - The plan is simple, to drive from my hometown of Southport in the North-West of England to Zowi's hometown of Melbourne in Australia.

My name is Richard, I'm 33 years old and my day job is working as an IT Desktop Technician. I was born in Southport in 1974 and have spent most of my life here until the year 1997, when I was 22 and left for Australia on a 1 Years Working Holiday Visa, returning to the UK in 2002.

Zowi is my Aussie Girlfriend in her late 20's (30 in November). We have been going out together since Nov 1997. Zowi is a Registered Nurse who currently thrives in the A&E Department when most people there arent!

The idea of completing such an adventure first happened in early 1998 when a friend in Australia suggested that he may drive from Oz to the UK. We parted ways so I dont know if he did the journey in the end! - but this time its our journey so we are determined to help each other make it happen.