Two Magadan Afternoon

Ok - I've taken this afternoon off work to get some concrete ideas about Two Magadan.

My Work

In order for most people to get 4 months off work, they just submit a form. Because I work for my own company, I need to make sure that the business will run flawlessly for the 4 month period while I am gone. I can arrange a bookeeper which is easy to make sure bills are paid, and invoicing gets done. I do however need three more people (and the workload to support them) to see that the company has enough people to cope with

A) me gone, and no work output from me

B) a person sick

We've just built a new website which will bring in more new work, and are intending to sell off some clients which should streamline our workload, and make training new staff easier.

'Mothball' the Pajero
An interesting thought occurred, cars cost money, and wear out when they are used - so why not just stop using it? I suspect it would save $5 grand a year just in fuel. Damage that is likely to occur will also be a thousand, tyres, clutch - the list goes on. So potentially I can save a minimum of $5000 per year (8-9ish grand from now) if I just stop using it. I'd imagine I'll keep it registered and insured $1000, but that will allow me to go on OCCASIONAL, low wear trips to Stockton beach, brindies and so on, but also take it to places as preparation (new tyres, servicing, test trips, fitting accessories etc). The hidden benefit is I would have to ride or walk to work which would get me fitter, and potentially in better condition for the trip.

Savings
It almost sounds stingy, but we need to get smart with our money - Sure I can rip money out of the company, but that is such short term thinking - the company IS my asset. We must be able to do this trip on just my wage.
So far I'm pretty confident that the trip will cost $35,000.
So far I've saved $11,000 towards this trip, and I estimate there is roughly 20-22 months to go, but lets budget on 20.
$20,000 / 20 means a grand a month. or $250/Week.

I've just played with the spreadsheet, and it could blow out to 40K, so should we budget for that?
I'm currently covering all of the household expenses. Mortgage, electricity, rates, food, entertainment.
Cassie is covering her schooling expenses which will exaust her savings by the end of her study.
Our household expenses are $300 a week.

The Car

OK - so this is a trip across a big distance in a car. Lets be specific about the car. We had intially planned to take my '96 Mitsubishi Pajero - however the more I think about it, the one way shipping expenses would justify buying a car over there. I plan to share with you options as they have come up - There is a few

Buy something in the UK:
Cons:
Won't know it's history or little intricacies.
Chance of being sold a lemon
High cost due to exchange rate

Pros:
No cost of shipping
Still have a car when we return


Take my car but sell it in Magadan:
Cons:
Cost of transfer to UK
Sad feeling leaving it in Magadan
Chance of partial/total loss if unable to sell

Pro:
Know it's history and little intricasies
It's got a low value (shouldn't attract much attention)
I will have got 3 years use out of it

Thoughts:
It'll be worth nothing in 3 years time. With many cosmetic bumps and scratches it won't be worth anything to an Australian buyer.

Long Way Round - final thoughts

Just thought I'd quickly jot down a quote that Ewan McGregor said at the tail end of LRW.

"I hope it will inspire people that it's possible. A lot of things in life, people don't do because of the 'what-if's'. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if you run out of petrol?... And it stops us doing things. and in actual fact the what if's and the might-be's are what makes it so exciting. Every time we got in to trouble, or your bike broke down, we met people that helped. It's a really optimistic view of the world that I have now... All the people that we have met all 'round the world have incredibly generous, nice people."

Most days, it definitely feels too hard, and totally not achievable. But one out of ten days i will wake up with such vigor and conviction that this is possible. I need to learn how to keep that spirit more often.

How oh how

Just finished watching Long Way Round up to where they reach Magadan. We've taken numerious notes to try to choose the best time to travel through russia to avoid the minus 50 celcius temps, but also stupidly high rivers. But most of all, how the hell are we going to make this happen.
Saving this much money, getting the time off work, but also just my continual thought, that this is taking us 40K behind everyone else our age... I'm not so sure.

This weekend

Hello. We've just come back from our weekend in Sydney where we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I've climbed it twice before, but I must say, I struggled much more this time.
Perhaps I didn't have the same self-preservation as before, perhaps I was fearfull of Cassie been upset, either way I wasn't overly impressed with myself.
I did however appreciate the exercise, it made my back feel much better today.
It's Anzac long weekend, and I'm kinda bored - I wish I had my SPOT messenger to play with, but that should be arriving on Tuesday. I was keen to get a weatherproof little HD handheld camcorder for $100 off all classifieds, which would be excellent for video diary, and 4wding, but these things happen for a reason. I think financially we're getting further behind our target. Although a fair bit of Twomagadan savings is tied up in shares, it still feels like we're a long way off. Little purchases like this will proove costly in the long run.

The tour gide told us a story of Lennie Gwyther, a nine-year-old farmer's son, rode his pony, Ginger Mick, 600 miles from Leongatha in the Gippsland region of Victoria to Sydney to witness for himself the celebratory opening of the Harbour Bridge on Saturday 19th March 1932.

In case you missed that - the kid was 9! I'm 25 and I would still struggle with such an expidition. What an amazing feat. It makes me realise how soft we are these days - and perhaps how with media influence, we think the world is a bad place - obviously, and sadly it wasn't always like this. I long to find the comfort and freedom to leave doors unlocked but I don't think i'll see this in my travells or in my lifetme.

Do I have the maturity?

This weeks concern is that I may not have the maturity to go through with this. I'm not sure if you call it homesick, but I just get tired of not having some things in my day being easy. I need to drive to Dubbo tomorrow (another 1000km round trip). I would have driven today, but my camera is still in for repair, so taking a day, taking it slow isn't so appealling without it. Plus I have to stay somewhere.
It's this thinking that makes me doubt I have the maturity for a 3 month trip. I'd be inclined to take my swag but I have nowhere to shower (and it is important because I'm seeing clients).
I watched an amazing documentary on Stress made by NatGeo. It highlighted that two comparable studies with monkeys in Africa and the UK public service both experienced different health issues based on their position in the pecking order. Well, the top dogs didn't have any health issues, but the bottom ones were continually plauged by it. Needless to say, it's imperative for my health that I get to, and stay at the top.

I guess that the next two years will 'provide' the maturity for such an adventure, but really, I need to do something about it. I'd imagine I could build this maturity by taking on adventures on my own, such as a few weeks away from Cassie, home, family to really find myself. Then I imagine I would return wise, quiet and well developed. I'm continually pulled to do such a thing, to make sure twomagadan isn't the test, it's just an activity that I will do with skills that I already have - not learn along the way.

Four day weekend

I've typed this blog in Microsoft word this time so that I don't have to use the shift key so much - my little fingers are really getting sore. We have a lovely four day weekend and we are going to drive to Stockton beach, just out from Newcastle to go for a tiny dry run - it's the furthest we've driven in the Pajero - which sounds crazy compared to Two-Magadan. 1000km compared to 20,000km.
It's only Friday and I've already fixed the biggest annoyance on my car so far. At precisely 3000rpm this awful rattling noise happens. It sounds like it comes from the tail shaft BUT it happens when the car is moving, or standing still, with the clutch engaged or disengaged. This perplexed me for a long time. It's the not knowing that is a bad feeling, is it a dropped valve, timing belt backlash, something clanging around in the gearbox or transfer case. Turns out it was this:

This is a unique doo-dad that is meant to reduce vibration... ironic isn't it. See the crack on the right hand side. At precisely the right rpm this vibrates and makes an awful noise. I'll try get some better pictures tomorrow.
It's now been removed and the vibration is a little better - so I might put it back on and weld it and the 80kph-90kph vibration may disappear?
Oh well. That's enough for tonight.
How about these chairs?