Dear Beast Crew

G'day for the last time from down under! The temperatures in Australia are plummeting, the leaves are falling off the trees and it is time that the Beast is heading off to sunnier climes.   The past few months have been stressful for Alexis and Greg trying to get the Beast squeezed into a container for the long shipment (50 days) to South America.

A very big welcome to all the Australian's added on to our mailing list.   If any of you don't want to be on our Beast Crew Adventure mailing list then just drop me an email and I will take you off.   We need to say a thank you to Hans who sent us a missing Netherlands sticker for the side of the Beast.

So it is time to leave the land of Shapelle Corby and the Bali Nine, 'Today Tonight', the Socceroos, kangaroos, cockatoos, utes wheel spinning down the road, open desert, green rainforests, surfing, sea and the good life for the next chapter of the Beastly Adventure….

April – July 2006

The start of the new adventure has begun.

Greg spent many months negotiating prices for the shipment of the Beast to South America from an alarming US$6,000 for a RORO (Roll On Roll Off) to a more reasonable $2,000.  In reducing the price we had to reduce the height of the Beast to squeeze her into a 20' container and reduce the height of the car from 2.70m down to 2.28m. Our headache was further enhanced by comment that had been made by a mechanic when the Maggiolina and tyre rack were put on, who said that neither would come off as they were firmly glued on.  After a month of stressing about the excessive price of a larger container, we worked out that the roof appendages had been attached with sealant and could be easily removed and we lost a total of 20cm from the height of the vehicle.

We still needed to lose about 20 cm in height to get the vehicle into the container.   The options available to us included lowering the tyres, putting the hubs on some wheeled trays and rolling her in or making some custom made wheels.   Talking to various mechanics and Alexis's Dad, lowering the tyres was ruled out due to the bulging and distortion of the tyres.   A conversation with a fellow 101 driver, lead us to Anthony of the British 4WD garage in the outskirts of Melbourne.   The effervescent Anthony managed to source some wheeled trays which unfortunately wouldn't support a 3.5 tonne lump of steel and aluminium.  Anthony volunteered to make up some small metal wheel rims and to help stuff the Beast into the container.

The stress of the past few months has all culminated in one day at the Melbourne Docklands.   At the beginning of July, Alexis, accompanied by Anthony and Bill, put the metal rims and we drove the Beast into a 20 foot container.  She was strapped down in the container to stop rolling and prevent being smashed against the side during the sea voyage.   We braced the rims with wood to stop movement backwards and forwards and we closed the door.   The Beast now has to endure a 45 – 50 day trip encased in a big metal shipping container to Buenos Aries in Argentina, South America.   The massive container ship, the Golden Wattle, will travel up the coast of Australia via Singapore and onto Buenos Aries where we will have to battle with customs to get her released to conquer the Mayan, Aztec and Salsa nations!

Adriano is still slaving away to write down the aboriginal languages of Western Australia .   He managed to find 50% of the one of the groups who refused to help him write down the language but then found the other 50% of the population.  They unfortunately refused to help, so the only 2 people that speak one of the aboriginal languages are going to let it die out.   He is still putting together children's books and enjoying weeks out in the bush.

Alexis and Greg have now headed home to the UK for family weddings.   They will fly out to Argentina to meet and reassemble the Beast in September for the next leg of the trip across to Chile, down to southern Argentina before heading north to Brazil and across to Ecuador, Central America and then the USA and Canada.   Hopefully Adriano will join them later in the year.  We will update you all when we head south to the southern hemisphere again, and tell you of the scenes from the cracking ice floes in Ushuaia to the snow capped mountains of the Andes and on to the forests of the Amazon.

Thank you to all our Australian mates for accepting the travelling Poms into their lives, showing us your wonderful country and we hope you will all keep in contact with us. 

Notes from Australia: