It is the 4^th of February 2008 and I am once again typing on Rob’ laptop. No fridge this time for I am sitting in ‘Daphne the Defender’ and Rob is driving Daphne is a 2000 petrol 2.8 BMW engine defender 90. Her brakes are good, she has acceleration, the gears flow, she has air conditioning, an awesome sound system, a rev counter and she’s ours!

Let me give you a walking tour of Daphne…

Beneath the vehicle gleam two new Front Runner long range fuel tanks with specially modified running boards that were almost sent to the scrap heap in frustration! In the rear springs nestle two bright red Air Lift Airbags that help to take some of the topple factor and give us a steadier ride.

The roof of the vehicle notifies all that we are hardened overlanders with a Front Runner expedition roof rack (in black to match the colour scheme), Front Runner gas bottle holder, Front Runner double jerry can holder donated by the lovely combo of James and Kay and Ziets. The piece de resistance is the Howling Moon Tent complete with ladder extension donated by the kind David Frasier.

In the front we have 2 seats separated by a cubby with space behind for shoes, waterproofs and other essentials. The seats are covered in rather attractive blue and black canvas covers that sport all manner of pockets for the storage of lip-balm, maps, she-wees and documents. The dash has some rather funky new switches with places gouged out for them using various drill bits, hole saws and Stanley knife. There’s a switch for each of the long range fuel pumps, a switch for the GPS, a switch for the spot lights and a switch to control the voltmeter to tell you whether the batteries are charged. Behind the passenger seat is a rather wonderful inverter holder (complete with inverter) designed and made painstakingly by Georgie when Rob was so busy with the spot light electrics that he didn’t notice her picking up the drill with that gleam in her eye.

In the back in the newly designed storage system made from aluminium plate and steel box sections and slides. We made 3 removable structures. On the right hand side of the vehicle we strapped a 50l water tank above the wheel arch and built a pivot shelf above this with elastic cord and hooks to hold our belongings in place. Above the window we placed a steady shelf complete with cord to hold our chairs.

On the left hand side of the vehicle we have filled the wheel arch space with spares and covered these with a hinge shelf and cord. Above the window is a steady shelf to hold the roll up table.

In the centre of the back in a draw system. We began by making a cubed frame, 1m by 1m by 50cm (so far so good). We then covered the frame in aluminium checker plate (getting heavier). To this we then attached 4 pairs of steel slides inside the frame and to the slides we attached specially made mild steel draws. This was a rather time consuming affair in which we discovered that not only was our frame a little skew but so was the flat bed trailer that we were working on. This invariably resulted in wonky draws that wouldn’t open past one another. We drilled out the rivets and found a flatter surface – Jane’s veranda and measured the gaps between the draws with carefully placed aluminium sheeting and bar. Eventually the draws were in place and all that was needed was a tad of filing and jot of grinding to get everything flowing smoothly. All that was needed were the aluminium checker draw fronts and the addition of black plastic handles, by comparison an easy task. By this time the draw system weighed an absolute ton and it was a daunting task placing it in the vehicle. With a lot of puffing and panting, shrieks and scratches, resting and the use of a bottle jack – we had her in place.

We stood back and admired our handy work only to discover that only one of the draws would open. The other three were obstructed by various Land Rover parts. Pushing away the urge to cry we set upon that back door with a vengeance and removed wire protectors and hinge protectors. Hacked pieces out of our up till then beautifully cut draw fronts and filed till the blisters showed on our thumbs.

We are now the proud possessors of a draw for clothes (full already so no shopping for me!), a draw for tools and recovery kit, a draw for cooking equipment and finally an entire draw for food. We made the mistake of shopping in Macro Cash and Carry and have therefore stocked up on 12 cans of baked beans, 6 packets of fire lighters, 18 packets of instant yeast etc…

Finally on the back door Daphne sports a Front Runner (noticing a trend yet) swing away spare wheel carrier complete with spare wheel.

Complete all this with Logos on the doors donated by the Ethekwini Banner and Signs team in Pinetown and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Africa here we come!