Rokin Around Oz

At last I received a call that our new car was ready to be picked up. We had been looking forward to the call for a few weeks, since deciding before Christmas that we wanted a dual cab ute to travel around the country.

It was also time to farewell our old faithful Terracan, the car that introduced us to four wheel drive touring, took us to some magical places, and encouraged us to dream of heading off next year for a lap around the country.  The car that indirectly lead to this blog - through all the support at the Australia4WD forum.  Wow.  Our next set of wheels would have some big shoes (tyres?) to fill!

Terry, as the Terracan was affectionately called, was given a final wash, filled with fuel and taken into town. The dealer was surprised when I handed over the car with all the receipts, papers and both sets of keys. I hope some other family can have as much fun exploring the region in Terry as we did.

Terry all cleaned and ready for a new life.

But of course reminiscing is short lived when your next new toy is parked in the same lot. Our new set of wheels was sitting there, with a monstrous steel tray and tow bar ready for work.

It will never be this clean again.  

So we decided on the 2012 Volkswagen Amarok Trendline.  For the purists it is 6 speed manual, with the 2.0 litre twin turbo engine.

And I must admit it is impressive. It is big, there is no denying it is much broader, longer and taller than Terry was. The cabin is very comfortable, however it has a few quirks. The indicator stalk is on the left, and the other odd thing is the stereo doesn't have speakers in the rear doors, or aux input. We will change the stereo in due course, and get used to the indicator stalk!

The boys were thrilled with the new ride when they saw it, clambering over all of it - including the new tray!

It is a big big tray - 1900 x 1800mm!  Dog isn't so sure though!

And it dwarfs the Subaru (which is parked on a slope too!)

And so now the list of jobs just begins.

The done list (very short):

• Sandgrabba floor mats - Installed and great

The wish list (very long and expensive):

• Anderson Plug and wiring (including voltage sensitive relay and circuit breaker).  Equipment ordered through AutoElec on eBay: http://myworld.ebay.com.au/autoelecau/
• Rubber Mat (with no extra charge for the additional size) for the Tray ordered through Mat Shop on eBay: http://myworld.ebay.com.au/matshop_aus/
• ARB Bullbar: http://www.arb.com.au/
• Siekel Snorkel: http://www.wolf4x4.com.au/seikel-snorkel-vw-amarok-polyethelene/
• Zenec head unit (radio / gps / blue tooth / mp3) etc http://www.zenec.com/cz/products/ego/volkswagen-seat/ze-nc2011d/

But perhaps the most important right now is a canopy for the back.  I basically am looking for an aluminium canopy with two gull wing doors that is water and dust proof.... But it too has to be big.....

The best I have found so far is by M2O (Made 2 Order)  http://www.m2otoolbox.com.au/  - A Melbourne based company who are looking at doing something like this for me:

http://www.m2otoolbox.com.au

Of course the wish list and the reality will be somewhat of a compromise, but a man can dream can't he???

Perhaps I need to do a bit more research, get some more serious equipment and head to Oallen Ford only to come back once I have made my fortune!