Russian Visa application submission

So, in a slightly mad rush, we’re trying to get my visa application submitted tomorrow.  We now have the original letter of initiation, the completed application form. No offence intended, but I blacked out anything that could be personally identifiable. For your reading pleasure, you will be able to read the Russian destination list. Left to right, Moscow, Vladivostok, Magadan, Ulan-Ude and Chita.

The consulate in Canberra is open from 9-12:30 and hopefully it goes off without a hitch. Two things that could snag me:

1) Visitors are not typically eligible for a multi-entry business visa, unless you have had a Russian visa before.
2) To avoid the ‘you won’t have enough time’ discussion, I’ve specified my entry date later than the visa support document. It shouldn’t be a problem, because it is less time, but it may mean they won’t issue a twelve month one.
It’s all getting a bit annoying to be honest. All this expense and paperwork for nothing so far, I just want ONE visa under my belt before I tackle any more. This Russian one is most important (seemingly obviously), as without it we can’t (responsibly) book flights, accommodation, shipping or even coordinate other Visa’s. It all hangs on the Russian visa…. and what more, we need to repeat this for Cassie as well. We’re doing them separately so that if mine is knocked back, it means we’ve only wasted ~$500 dollars not ~$1000.

ugh… Now, enough of stuff that’s out of my hands onto something I can do something about.

Today I picked up one of these blue weatherproof/dustproof boxes. It weights 11KG empty, is lockable and about 100mm lower than other models which is nice. It doesn’t look so obvious and allows easy access from the sides. I ordered another one as well, but it probably won’t arrive till early January. Every day I fix/build something on the camper, I can’t help but think “how the hell could I have done all this if I’d have bought it mid September” as I had initially planned.

I used stainless steel U-Bolts to fix it front and back, and really thick rubber grommets to keep it dust/weather proof around the bolt holes. Initially I had planned to hook the U-bolts over the roof rails, but it wasn’t going to work out nearly as neat as this solution.
The whole idea of using the U-Bolts was to keep the security of the boxes, inside the boxes. i.e, you need to be able to open the box to unbolt it.

The esky is now decommissioned which is a great relief as it was impossible to fix in place properly. As you can see, the ‘lower and flatter’ approach is a dream to load an unload as rarely anything is stacked on top anything else.
I’m struggling to find a spare wheel for the camper. I need a 265 75 on a 16” rim, with 5 stud. The tyre doesn’t have to be that great but would be better if it was a worn off-road tyre, as opposed to a brand new on-road tyre.