It’s always darkest before the dawn

Cassie is as we speak writing a post about the toils of shipping. It goes without saying that ‘this better be worth it’. There is a hint of truth to that expression in this instance. I can’t help but wonder if after the immense expense, frustration, stress, fights, sweat and tears… will it be worth it?! I can’t help but romanticise it and assume “yes, from what I’ve seen, it will be”
But every financial and bureaucratic blow makes it hard to remained focused on the goal. My only escape from it is to become involved in the technicalities of the car and equipment.

This picture is a bit of a flash-back. This is the waterproof fuse panel I installed in the beginning. Well, as you can see the stark contrast between the filth that is outside and the pristine internals means it works perfect. The reason for having this panel off is to install the GPS. I’ve set it up to be triggered by the accessories position of the ignition switch, but is actually powered by the auxiliary battery.

This was captured from a video at night, so it’s not real clear. But the just of it is, and pretty much the main purpose of it, is to provide direction when there is no obvious roads…. MONGOLIA!
You can see by the yellow and red line pointing straight up. This points to our next waypoint which in this case was 13613KM away (i just dropped something on a world map to make it work). This combined with the virtual compass, it gives us some great sense of direction. I have since customised all these screens to really make it handy. We have some beautiful maps of Russia & Mongolia which is nice to have all setup already. I need to calibrate some more maps because when I did the rest of them, we were not driving from Vladivostok. Don’t be alarmed by the reliance on this system. It’s going to be very reliable, but we have a printed Mongolian atlas on its way to us which we will update frequently with our position.

It’s amazing to think there are more than enough maps on this memory stick to travel two thirds of the circumference of the world…. or across the largest continent… which ever way you want to look at it.
We also picked up some waders which I have a picture of Cassie wearing in our lounge room which is far too embarrassing to post here. But that aside, they are cool. Not only will they facilitate safe evaluation of rivers before we cross, they will allow us to get some cool camera angles from half way across, low to the water, or from the other side. Sounds like every TV show you’ve ever seen right? but they had to get the camera man to the other side somehow to get that shot. We have since learnt that you don’t store water in clear bottles because mould forms. So we need dark, light proof ones. These ones should be lightproof and also fit our campers plumbing without modification.

I genuinely do feel a bit crazy undertaking this trip. Everyone has that blank look on their face when you talk to new people about it. Almost a ‘I wouldn’t think that is possible’ or ‘surely you’re mad, why would anyone want to do that?!’ but at the moment, I even agree with their logic.
I try and think of this like an investment (odd I know, but hear me out). It’s a huge capital outlay, it’s fraught with risks (95% of them are just financial), it takes a long time, and we don’t even know if it’ll work. We have however read all the books and researched everything possible. If it is a success, it will pay out ten fold in life experience… but hey, even if it only ‘breaks even’ we’ve still done something that maybe one in a thousand people would ever do and maybe one in ten dreamt of.
But two little inspirational punches to get me back in the spirit are:
“A lifetime of regret awaits the man with an unpursued dream” – Someone awesome.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn” is obviously an old saying, but is timely as it’s also a lyric from a great song by Florence + The Machine.

How do you ship a car to Russia?...

How do you ship a car to Russia?... With a lot of help from people who know more about this stuff than you do, and a dash of stress.

It's me, Cassie, typing up this blog post. Officially my first post for the epic TwoMagadan trip. Some might say it's about time I contributed something to this blog and the trip. I shrug in their general direction. I have been quietly doing my little bit towards this trip behind the scenes. I think my realm of capabilities are in dealing with the paperwork side of things. So, I'll be doing the paperwork and coordination of the visas and organising the shipment of the car whilst Graeme concentrates on getting the car up to spec (that's been a mammoth task), navigation system and paper maps sorted and of course the technology we'll be taking with us.

The reason for this post is to let you all know some things about shipping a car to Vladivostok, Russia. First thing you need to do is contact Bill Nicoll at SilverWind - silverwind@pacific.net.au. He's the man to know when it comes to all of this. If he doesn't have the answer he knows someone who does. SilverWind is basically THE international shipping company in Vladivostok - that we've managed to find anyway. There is also  another shipping company, FESCO, but from what we can gather from our research they're best for local Russian national shipping only.

Something else to keep in mind about shipping is that rules, regulations, costs and timetables are constantly changing. We're currently in the process of setting a shipping date in concrete, but there's always the chance of unforeseeable problems such as strikes, port congestion, problems with the ship, customs etc. Hopefully our shipping experience will be a boring one - ie: no problems!

We learnt today that recently a regulation was changed around the shipping of "hazardous materials". Well, the battery in a car is considered hazardous so that was always going to have to be disconnected. Annoying but fine, whatever. Today we learnt that fuel in a car stowed on the vehicle deck of a ship is considered fine so long as the fuel tank has a maximum of 25% in it. But...and this is the illogical, irritating, money grab by whoever is responsible...if your car is in a container, like ours will be, the fuel in that is considered a "hazardous material" so you've got two choices: completely drain the fuel tank(s) or pay the US$150 hazardous materials surcharge and notify every port between Sydney and Busan, Korea that there's fuel in the car. I have a problem with that for a number of reasons: 1) the car is a diesel which means if the tanks are emptied the car needs to be re-primed - doable but a laborious task. Also runs the risk of damage to the car when someone goes to start it. Which brings me to number 2) how the heck are the port staff/customs meant to start the car to unload it from the container for us if we drain the fuel? der!; 3) the car is also full of a crap load of oil, as all vehicles are, which is no more susceptible to spontaneous combustion than diesel is. But, the oil in the car is not a problem; 4) what about all those vehicles in cargo that aren't in a container and are exempt from this unreasonable rule - go figure; and lastly, 5) what on earth do they think the ship runs on!?!? Arrrgghh brain explosion!

That's my information rant done. On another related topic, my Russian letter of invitation is on it's way from Moscow and should arrive any day now. In a couple of weeks I shall be joining the ranks of those who have a Russian visa!