How to see my blogs?

NB – Many of my blogs are not yet indexed...

If you want to discover my trip, you need to rewind time/my blogs.

Important: in order to see previous stories, at end of a page, 
in the bottom right corner, click on “Older Posts”.

April 2020 - Coronavirus strikes is here
March 2020 - New Zeanland is under construction...
February 2020 - Shipping my Roamer to Australia is here
December 2019 - Short trip to Sri Lanka is here
November 2019 - Indonesia 2 (Lombok, Bali, Java) is here
Sept - Oct 2019 - Indonesia 1 (Sulawesi, Flores, Sumbawa) is here
June-August 2019 - Borneo is here
May 2019 - Vietnam is here
March 2019 - Singapore is here
February 2019 - Malaysia Peninsular is here
December 2018 - Thailand is here
November 2018 - Laos is here
October 2018 - China is here
September 2018 - Mongolia is here 
August 2018 - Kazakhstan and Russian Federation are here
July 2018 – Kyrgyztan is here
July 2018 – Pamir highway (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) is here

July 2018 – Tajikistan is here

June 2018 – Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are here

May 2108 - Iran (second trip) is here

April 2018 - UAE and Oman are here

March 2018 - Iran (first trip) is here

February 2018 - Departure and Eastern Europe is here

Enjoy without moderation!

Welcome to the Land Roamer's blog!

I created this blog to keep my family and friends informed about the Land Roamer’s 
preparation, planning for the trip and later to keep in touch during my overland adventures.

Having had both a Land Rover and a Land Cruiser, I decided that I would call my 

4x4 camper-truck, a Brimont Brutt (more info here) "Land Roamer".

To roam: "To travel purposefully unhindered through a wide area. It suggests wandering freely
 and often far afield."  Etymology: Middle English, 14th century, Merriam-Webster.  

"Live for the JOURNEY, not the Destination!"

Coronavirus strikes - Flying back to Switzerland

Australia’s tourism is in “lockdown” mode : CLOSED! 

I shall return for some months to Switzerland...

After dropping my Land Roamer at Jakarta harbour on 20 February 2020, I flew to New Zealand to visit parts of the 2 islands with a small rented campervan. I kept monitoring the Corona situation and when I read that many borders were closing, I dashed to Auckland, returned early my rented camper, bought a ticket and flew to Melbourne on 19 March, 24 hours later Australia’s borders were closed to all foreigners!

I had to do a mandatory 14 days of “self-isolation”, I stayed in an Airbnb room during that period.
When my quarantine was over, via Couchsurfing, I was able to stay in a nice house.

The ship carrying my Land Roamer arrived in Melbourne on 13 April, my truck (and it’s contents) passed successfully the rigorous “bio-security” inspection and was delivered to me on 22 April.

Because winter was coming to Southern Australia and because tourism was completely banned for many months to come, there was absolutely no reason for me to stay any longer in Australia. Much wiser to fly home to Switzerland and enjoy summer in Europe with family and friends. I would like to return to Melbourne mid-September and start my discovery of Australia later this year.

I rented a parking space in a big shed for long term storage (with boats and campers), drove my Roamer there on the 23rd and flew out of Melbourne to Zurich on the 24 April. From Doha, there were no more direct flights to Geneva, so I flew to Zurich and took the train to Nyon and back home.

Due to the worldwide Corona pandemic, air traffic almost came to a standstill. 

The trip back home was REAL strange, in DESERTED airports and aircrafts… 

A BIG thank you to Qatar Airways, which was one of the very few airlines

 still flying to and from Australia under the motto: We will get you home!

Doha hub: ONLY 13 flights for the WHOLE day!

Shipping the Land Roamer from Jakarta to Melbourne

1/ February 2020: Cleaning and painting in Jakarta

Every vehicle entering Australia has to be spotless: 

no dust or vegetal matter is allowed in the country!

A VERY strict "biosecurity" inspection is done upon arrival. If anything forbidden is found, additional cleaning will be done by the ad-hoc authorities at an extra cost and delay to the owner.

To this effect, during 30days, I shall clean EVERY component  of the Land Roamer (and it's contents) and repaint the chassis, before having the Land Roamer taken to the harbour.

I was lucky to be hosted by Hauwke (an extraordinary overlander from Jakarta) and could use his workshop and staff during the day and use his office as my night quarters.

=> The tent is because of the nasty moquitoes !

A wad of cash to pay for the supplies and staff. It was a SUPER good deal.

Thanks VERY MUCH Hauwke and team for your help and kind assistance!

2/ Dropping the Land Roamer at the harbor

As the city roads are quite muddy because of frequent tropical rains, it was necessary to carry the Land Roamer to the harbor on top of a heavy-equipement tow truck.

 19 February 2020

3/ March-April 2020: On a RORO ship to Melbourne via Singapore

My camper van will be driven onto a Roll On - Roll Off ship, first to Singapore, then on a different ship (Goliath Leader) to Melbourne. 

Due to some administrative issues, the original shipping date was missed and it took almost 2 months until I could receive the truck.

Real-time tracking of the Goliath Leader !

 22 April 2020

4/ March 2020: Coronavirus strikes!

The whole of Australia is in a tight "lockdown" mode, it's impossible to travel!

Who knows when it will open-up again?

5/ April 2020: Long-term storage for my Land Roamer

I decide to put my Land Roamer into a long-term storage shed and to fly to Switzerland for the next 6 months... 

When Australia opens-up again to foreigners, I would like to return to Melbourne in October and start my trip around the island...