August 21st: Take off!

Apartment is rented out and just two days after we leave, a family moves in.
Our Landcruiser made it already through the Suez Channel and tracking will become difficult since the vessels will disappear from the radars to reduce the risk of an attack by pirates.
Luggage is ready. We said good-bye to our loved ones... time to set the plan in motion!
Over and out!

August 2nd: Good news...

Shipping agency called again with a far better message... the ocean carrier provided now alternatives. Next chance is departure from Antwerp at August 7th, dropping off the container on September 12th! That's even a week earlier than the initial plan. And even 6 days in Singapore to change the vessel. Much better!

And apparently, we have also a family that plans to rent our apartment starting two days after we take off from Zurich. Looks like a perfect match for both sides.

That's the last of the three key things to sort out before departure: Car in container - done. Cat found a new home - done. Flat rented out - on track!

July 28th: Bad news...

The shipping agency contacted us today to inform us, the mother vessel will not leave as scheduled on July 31st and the next feasible shipping date is 2nd half of August... leading to roughly a month of delayed arrival in Brisbane. Could cry out loud! All the pressure to get things ready for shipment for nothing and the container is parked somewhere for the next couple of weeks?! But on the otherside, that will give us some more time in NZ...

July 22nd: Transfer to SBB Cargo

We just drove back to Basel to follow also the next step - and the last one we can until we get reunited in Brisbane - eventually... from now on we can only track our car on the computer screen.

Daniel the truck driver is awaiting us at Birsterminal to "pick-up" our car. The crane is lifting the container and loading it on the trailer in no time, the staff locking the bolts to fix the container. Only a few minutes later, the truck leaves the terminal through the gate and we follow it.
At the SBB Cargo terminal in Basel, we climb the truck cabine to end up under the Portainer.
We can only climb out of the cabine to see how the car/container disapears amongst the hundreds of containers awaiting a journey! Fare well buddy, have a safe trip to down under!

Lifting the container in the Birsterminal on a truck.

10 minute ride to the SBB Cargo hub.

First time in a truck cabine - not only for our son!

Gone within seconds - last sight of "our" container.
We will meet again in Brisbane (eventually).

July 21st: "Boarding" the container

Two very busy weeks after inspection ending up with the moment when the empty container is in front of you, awaiting the "boarding" of the Landcruiser. But if that was not enought for that day, we had a 07:11 AM appointment with the registration office. Again. And at 1:30 PM the deadline approaching for boarding the container in Basel at the Port of Switzerland, Birsterminal. That is leaving us a few hours only to load the car with all equipment we need for one year on the road. Uff! After several days with few hours of sleep only - not an easy one.

BTW, did you know that Switzerland has an own container port? But we were told the container is deviated to the cargo train to Antwerp because the Rhein river water level is too low due to the extrem heat currently in Europe. The maximum load of the vessels is reduced so the don't run aground somewhere.

A very emotional moment to drive the car inside the container - even more when your son is with you in the cabine! Wheels blocked with wooden wedges, strapped down, doors closed, sealed, weighted - done!

Ready for take-off. Almost. Another appointment with license office at 7:11 AM to
uplift max weight from 3035 kg to 3450kg. Approved! What a great achievement!

July 20st: Ready for loading

Long list of to-do's still (but a project like that is never 0-pendings) and one by one to tackle.
And whatever not finished can be done as well in Australia, we expect to have enough time for that. But still some work needed on electric installation, the furnitures, etc... finally, morning of 21st, ready to load!

Last picture before collapsing into the bed: 02:00 AM, the car is ready to load. New upholstery, new furniture on the right side - the first time we see the result of our hard work in the final assembly (And happy to see that all fits well!).

July 15th: Registration office messed up with car license

The inspection was done by another branch of the registration office than usual. The Zurich office had to take over the edits but completely messed it up, so the new car license was useless. It included even less details then before. Subsequently, we had to sit down with the officers from the registration office and one by one, correcting the entries again. Very friendly, very supportive - that was an impecable service! And we have now all entries to drive this car legally in Switzerland. And elswhere.

Too many entries for a regular license - so a separate sheet in the car license necessary.
From snorkel to exhaust, all covered now.

July 7th: Vehicle Inspection passed

Achieved an important milestone by passing offical vehicle inspection by the registration office. All modifications approved and not a single thing left in semi-legal state. Uff!
We are approaching the next milestone very soon: Driving the car into a 22ft container and send our buddy away from Basel via Antwerp to Singapore and from there to Brisbane!
Exciting - but tought timeline!

On the way from the car inspection, a little detour to enjoy the
view from the Chasseral!

June 24th: New Suspension, new Range Extender (150l tank), 270° Awning...

Last step in the process to prepare the car for long and demanding road conditions of Australia is to replace the old suspension (ARB Old Man EMU) and mount a range extender with 150 liter capacity (LRA). Finally, to protect from Sun and Rain, the ARB Awning (270° Shadow Awning).

June 3rd: Finally, the roof is on!

May 29th: For the last time a cabriolet! The "Alu Cab Hercules" arrived and will be assembled this week (Uff!).

Progress of the last couple of weeks: Come-up Winch with synthethic rope in position. New side windows mounted, water system incl. filter upgraded and stand heating tested. A strong "LAZER Linear-18 ELITE" LED bar is affixed to the bull bar to support the original tee candles. The recovery gear, namely the Hi-Lift is revised and ready to go and last but not least - the heavy Alloy Recovery Sand Boards incl. the bulky holders are replaced by ARB TRED Recovery Boards.

More to come!

April 27th: Noise cancelling

April 21st: Will we get ready? Car returned from body work - looking like new (almost).

March 12th: Getting ready for the body work (Broke A-Pillar amongst others since 2012)

Landcruiser Cabriolet!

Here