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"Bort er bra hjemme er best"

A famous norwegian quote away is good but home is best.

At last we are home, we waited 50 minutes from when the plane landed until the luggage arrived,  not bad when 4 international flights arrive at once.

Good to be home, now to colect the last family member.

Sleep whats that ????

The good thing is, that we have landed at Schipol airport Amsterdam, 35minutes early. The bad thing was a plane change, and our seats backed onto a toilet, which was in constant use during the night.

So we didnt get to sleep much the last night.

We are eating a "breakfast" for the kids at BurgerKing, at least they have coffee :-)

The last stage of the journey home starts in 1 hour, so in a couple hours we are home :-)

Glen

Only a couple of hours left :-(

We have spent the day at Sandton, looking at the Nelson Mandela square and Sandton towers shopping centre.

Last night we went to "Tribes" a bush themed restaurant, checking the menu and pictures on the net it looked good.

We arrive at "Emperors place" where the Restaurant was located to find a mini Las Vegas complex.

Dinner was OK, I suspect the Kudu steak I ordered had said moo before as it tasted like beef to me, but never having Kudu before I´m not sure.

Tired we returned to the city lodge where we had a good nights rest, unfortunately the cleaning lady knocked on the door at 08:00 and wondered what time we were leaving, in all my travels, I have never experienced that.

We checked in early at the airport and I´m glad I did as they had no record of my extra prepaid baggage, I was happy to have a PDF of the receipt, so we got it sorted it the end but it took time.

We are all wondering around the departure hall waiting for 22:30 so we can start the boarding of the aircraft so we can start the long journey to Schipol.

Bergen here we come.

 

Time to start heading home.

This is our last day in South Africa, its a sad day, the trip is over, but the experience has been unbelievable. So many sites sounds, faces and names....

We returned knirken to Bushlore yesterday, I was sorry to see him go, a good friend, he had over 140´000 on the speedo, and nearly 4000km of those were ours.

He had got us out of a few toughspots, through deepwater, and some very very deep sand. I never filled a drop of oil or water in 3 weeks, some minor problems like a loose steering box, battery terminals jumping off, but almost perfect.

Bushlore have over 120 vehicles so they have many on the road. Some niggles like gas bottles with warn out threads and lights not working, but all in all not a bad service.

Would I do this trip again, absolutly, but I would allow more time, less driving, we had a mad dash to get to Kasane in Northern Botswana, and it wasnt before 6 days into the trip that we had time to relax.

We had a good day on Thursday at Maropeng  and the Sterkfontein caves.

We met ZS6HKR - Henry and his wife Cheryl for dinner at Glenburn lodge, we all had a good night.

We were up early for a suprise hot air balloon trip. (borrowed picture, but I will post my own later).

This was amazing, slowly moving across the countryside, we saw Rhino, giraffe and zebra on the trip.

Today we take a trip to Nelson Mandela square and check out Sandton. We were recomended not to visit Downtown Jburg.

Glen

Back in SA

We are back in South Africa, at the Glenburn lodge site, a day earlier then planned.

We felt the road to Kubu Island would be hard on everyone after the tough road to the Nxai pan.

We decided to head south and crossed the border last night at Stockport border post.

The battery problem is back on the Land Rover and sometimes the battery pole jumps off, I have fixed it bush style, with an axe. :-)

We stayed at a hotel in the middle of no where last night with a no nonsense gun toting landlady.

We pushed on early today and got through the traffic in Pretoria and made the hotel in time for lunch.

All is well.

Glen

Lazy days...

Well a late start and a full english breakfast, how good live is in the hotel, comfortable beds, shower and no dust / sand.

We had a late dinner, that will say it took a very long time to get food almost 2 hours, I think the rest of the guest must have thought we hadn't eaten dinner in a month, but we were hungry after a long day on the road.

Today we went to Maun to sort things out.

We have had the steering box tightened, refilled gas, although we had to buy a new cylinder as the threads on one were totally warn out.

We have filled diesel and picked up spares for the cookers and spare mantles.

We have bought alot of dry food for the last few days in the bush.

We are back at the lodge relaxing recharging our batteries and souvenir hunting.

Life is good in Botswana :-) 
 

Maun

We made to Maun, a day early and are roughing it at the Thamalakene river lodge :-)

Its been a fantastic trip so far, we have seen many game and experienced elephants right next to the rover.

The Land Rover has been renamed to kirnken he groans and creaks alot.

Will write more tomorrow.

Some pictures amongst the 160+ GB...

Into the bush

This is the last blog post for 8 days unless I can get mail to Roar in North Norway.

We will be in touch again once we reach Maun.

Glen

Hetic days

A few days without internet, we are in Kasane north in Botswana. Since the last post we have stayed overnight in Baltimore in SA, then we crossed the limpopo river and arrived in Botswana. We drove to Nata, after a short stop in francistown. We arrived in Kasane and took a river cruise where we have seen Elephants, buffalo, hippo, crocs and fish eagles... Today was a trip into Zimbabwe and to victoria falls. Back at the Chobe safari lodge everything ok with us.... Updates to follow. Glen

Hotels hotels.....

a good night sleep, travellers arrived at 01:30 very noisy guess we will make alot of noise when we leave :-) Breakfast next....,, Wifi was expensive so have a 4 hour access so all entries will be pre written. Glen

We are in africa...

We have arrived safely in Johannesburg, staying at City Lodge at OR tambo airport.

Some confusion with the bookings, so we don't have inter-matching rooms as ordered, starting to understand that a booking is a not all ways what it seams and everything costs a little extra.

All the baggage arrived, and no problems in customs or passport control.

We had a little tour around the airport to find the connecting bridge to hotel, but the SA police are friendly and helped us on our way.

But we are in africa and the trip has started.

A long day.

Hours to go.....

Ever wonder why no matter how much time you think you have, its not enough ????

I do, and I though every thing was under control.

So bags are packed, weight transfered between bags, some are heavy some are large....

well in 5 1/2 hours its time to get up and in 6 1/2 hours the taxi will come.

So this is the last blog entry before we travel, not sure when the next entry is time will tell.

Tomorrow the journey begins....

Bergen to Botswana.....

Checked in now to pack.....

We have now done the check in process online, boarding tickets are printed,  now I think we should pack....

At least the radios are packed, just need some clothes now. :-)

The children & Hjørdis are excited,  what have I got us into this time :-)

Now there are only a few things left to sort out today.

Early start tomorrow up at 04:00 Taxi at 05:00.

More good news

The rental company called today to offer me an upgrade to the Defender , they have offered me a Toyota, I call that down grading.......

So I maybe looking for a new rental company, I told them in December that I will have a Defender or forget it.....

On the bright side, most things are done now, just a few last points to fix.

The radio bag is packed, I ordered 23 kg extra baggage and  the radio bag weighs in at 22,5kg weight on 2 scales.

So some last minunte packing to do today and taxi´s to book tomorrow.

The regional restrictions on the debit card have been removed, and the last fews items have been bought.

Books are loaded onto the kindle ready for the off.

Lets hope for good news tomorrow.

Altitec has come through on delivery as agreed upon so they are definitely never getting a order from me again character 1 on an scale 1 to 10   :-( 

36 hours to the off.......

Good and bad news :-(

So today, I got the operating liecence from Bocra (Botswana telecomunications authority).

My application got lost, but thanks to ZS6HKR / Henry, he has sorted this out with daily calls.

The bad news is that the rental company are telling me some of the campsites are double booked and we lost out. so the route is changing, we will not get what we wanted, and I thought everything was sorted out in December.

 I am not fully sure of the impact yet I need to check. Just when you thought the plan was fixed. updates to follow. G

An older picturer taken by EiRRik 4.6HSE on the Norwegian Landrover Form.

This is me testing the buddipole in the field from the back of the Discovery.

I was struggling to reach Oslo and Bergen this day.

Its called "ET phone home"

Just 1 week to go, most of the things have now fallen into place. (I hope)

Some annoying things have happened this week:-

 I ordered batteries for the Gopro and a charger from Altitec battery shop, they have not informed me that the charger for the gopro is delayed and won't be available until after we travel, they could have told me 2 weeks ago when I ordered, this is not the first time this has happened with this company.   The first time I thought it was bad luck, but the 2nd time, I am sorry to say I cannot recommend this company, if they cannot look after there customers.

Bocra the Botswana telecomunication authority has lost my application for my amateur radio licence, thankfully Henry in South Africa is chasing this for me, its only taken 10 weeks so long to get it.

International driving licenses have been sorted, so now its only the packing to go.

The 80 meter coil from Buddipole has arrived so I am in good shape antenna wise for the trip.

I have had some great help on the south African 4x4 forum, the members are very helpful with lots of advice.

I think I have covered everything but time will tell.

Bushlore the car rental company just moved offices so I need to reprogram the GPS and make new trip notes so that the map reader can get us less lost.

Glen

Only 2 weeks to go......  

Wow,  the last  6 months have gone so quick,  now its the small stuff to sort out.

All the CD's have been ripped, the tablets programmed with music and video.

Memory cards purchased, battery for the video and Gopro have been ordered still waiting on the Gopro batteries.

USB power packs for the long flight have been purchased.

The Buddipole for the low frequncies has been dispatched yet so I am a little anxious there, if it doesnt arrive then it doesnt arrive.

Most of the actions left are simple things to fix now, like activate the credit cards for africa region and charge the camera batteries and dump the memory cards so we start fresh.

Lots done this week...

Shoes and sandals at 50%.
We ordered Malarone, but some how the kids doses have got lost so we have to go back to the GP and get a new prescription.
Binoculars have been purchased for Frøya, more memory cards and battery for the camcorder have been ordered.
I have ordered a meat package to pick up in Kasane for our trip to Maun.
All serial numbers for photographic equipment and passport numbers have been recorded.
The post office has been informed to hold the post, now just the newspaper is left.
The kernel has confirmed Simba´s booking.

On the radio side, I have set up and tested the buddipole at the cabin, I was lucky with the conditions and was bringing in Greece, Italy and Spain on only 5watts of power.

Monday I was at LA1B and we set up winklink an radio email service over HF. I have also tested the service on UHF and it works fine.

I have installed APRS Droid on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet, so if I have WiFi at a lodge or cafe, I can post our postion with out using the radio, makes life easier for me.

Equipment for APRS over HF should be here soon I hope as this is a little tricky to set up.

On Tuesday we were working on a direct connection from the Garmin GPS62 to the Winlink radio program to try and post grid coordinates directly on the winlink map.

Otherwise the laptop is glowing trying to rip all the CD´s so that the kids have sound books on the trip.

Glen

Got the buddipole today, and put it up on veranda, and tested the SWR it was 1:14 at best and 1:3 at the worst, I will be doing more fine tuning before the trip.

An LDG tuner arrived today, I will use this with a dipole I am going to build as a backup antenna for the trip.

I will test the radio and buddipole on Sunday to hear the NRRL QST.

The helicopter trip is booked, but needs to be paid for.

The Land Rover hire has been now fully paid, so we are committed as we won´t get a refund.

I spoke to the engineering depart in the Botswana telecoms authority and have come a step further in the process to allow me to use the radio in Botswana.

Was going to get the malarone today, but the aircondition stopped and I had to wait for the repairmann.  result = we need a new aircondition unit :-(

Still lots of things to fix and do....

Another busy day...

Today has been busy.

I picked up the mefoto tripod today, happy so far, maybe I should have choosen the model down... its well built.

Lots of bricks have fallen into place.

Got a mail from Buddipole,  my antenna for the HF radio has shipped and they sent me the number.

I checked the number and found out that it arrived in the postoffice today.. wo hu.

I will be testing this at the weekend... watchout 20meter band...

I picked up the cover for the Garmin GPS today, just need the 12v lead so I kan power it from the vehicle.

The bill from the car rental arrived today So I pay that tomorrow...

I will go to the chemist tomorrow and order the malaria pills as we dont need problems getting hold of that.

We are having problems getting hold of Rand and Botswanan Pula from banks here.

USD is ok, but more exotic cash is proving hard to get.

Time goes quickly, yesterday I picked up the Sigma 150-500mm and Gopro helmet camera from Japanfoto in Bergen.

I also picked up 2 microfibre towels and a pair og hiking books.

I got word today that the tripod from Mefoto has arrived at the postoffice.

I have to pick that up tomorrow.

I was testing the D800 at the weekend, and have found out that the 3rd party battery grip doesnt like the battery it was supplied with, original works OK.

Just need to test the other 2 batterys work OK.

Tomorrow I go to the chemist and pick up the malarone maleria medicene.

Glen

A small teaser of what is to come....

Some very good youtube video's from the area's we are travelling to.

The first one is from Chobe, I think I will take the video camera with me and not rely on the nikon...

And from the Nxai (pronouced Nei) pan.

Hotel confirmed.

Confirmed the hotel today at Glenburn lodge,  and we contacted bosveldskerm and they have been really good refunding the deposit for the booking. They answered the mail extremely quick. So I looking forward to meeting them on the first night we are on the road.

I ordered a bean bag today to support the camera on the Land Rovers window when taking pictures with the big lens on.

 Bushlore the vehicle renters will be filling up the fridge and getting other groceries sorted for us, so we can be on our way pretty quick.

 Just checking out sim card providers in Botswana so we can use local rates, we will have a satphone with from Bushlore for emergencies. . 6 weeks and 2 days to go now..

 I hope we can experience this......


 

Changes changes.

 The route back has now changed, but only the last days drive. We will now stay at Glenburn Lodge in krugersdrop near the craddle of humankind heritage site.

 We choose to change the place to stay as we want to visit maropeng

 and the sterkfontein caves.

 

 These are only 30 minutes from where we drop the car off we decided to push on and drive almost to Johannesburg.

 We still need to sort:-
 A camera lens.
Power leads for the GPS.
Some antenna's for the HF radio.
permission to use the radio in Botswana and South Africa.
 Go Pro.
Shoes & sandals.
Binoculars.
There's much more too, but the most important is Malarone (anti malaria) tablets.

7 weeks to go

In 7 weeks, at this time, we will be getting up, and are on the way to the airport. We will be heading to Johannesburg with KLM via Schipol airport. We are still not quite ready but most of the major items are ready. We have been planning the trip for 6 months now. The blog will be updated when possible, in the bush it may take us a while so bare with us. Follow also our webpage www.froyson.com. Glen