October 2026 / Portland New South Wales
Every Adventure Starts Somewhere. This one starts with a slightly questionable idea.
There’s something rather amusing about spending eight years driving a Land Rover Defender around the world, only to come home and decide that the next adventure should involve something older, smaller and considerably slower.
But here we are.
The vehicle in question is a 1965 Land Rover Series IIA. An 88-inch soft top with very few creature comforts, not much room for luggage and a top speed that should give me plenty of time to appreciate the scenery.
And that’s rather the point.
The first journey taught me that the best experiences rarely came from sticking to a schedule. They came from the unexpected detours, the breakdowns, the people I met and the places I hadn’t planned to visit.
So this time, I’m deliberately keeping things simple.
No enormous expedition build. No attempt to squeeze every modern convenience into a tiny old Land Rover. Just the essentials, a few things to make life a little more comfortable and hopefully enough mechanical sympathy to keep everything moving.
THE PLAN. SORT OF.
The idea is to leave Sydney in early 2027, take the backroads through New South Wales and Queensland, spend some time exploring before shipping the Land Rover from Brisbane to Singapore.
From there, the journey continues north through Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, eventually making its way across Asia, through Central Asia, over the Caspian Sea and into Europe.
The destination is Goodwood in the south of England, with the aim of making it in time for the Goodwood Revival.
The route will undoubtedly change. That’s almost guaranteed.
THE TO-DO LIST.
Between now and departure, there’s a fair amount to organise.
The Land Rover needs preparing, equipment needs choosing, shipping arrangements need making and there’s the small matter of visas, border crossings and figuring out which countries will actually let a 60-year-old Land Rover through.
There will also be a few shorter trips to see what works, what doesn’t and what falls off.
I’m expecting all three.
WHY DO IT AGAIN?
It’s a fair question.
I suppose the simplest answer is that I’ve never really stopped being curious about what’s around the next corner.
There’s still an enormous amount of the world I haven’t seen, people I haven’t met and roads I haven’t travelled.
And while the first journey was an adventure that happened to take eight years, this one is about enjoying the journey from the very beginning.
There’s no particular rush.
Well, apart from trying to reach Goodwood on time.
More Series. Less Serious.