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News

We wish you a happy festive season!

Our plans:

We intend to stay in Europe (mainly in Switzerland) until the end of May 2012.
From June 7. - 10. the OKA will be displayed at the 4x4 Ausstellung in Bad Kissingen at the stand of Alu-Star.
Mid of June we will catch a Grimaldi-ferry from Hamburg to Buenos Aires to start our South America trip.

28. November 2011

Thanks to a tip from the Grimaldi agent in Ashdod and a few emails to our agent in Germany we manage to get on another Grimaldi ferry that only takes 6 days to Italy.
On November 22 early in the morning we leave Ashdod and travel via Alexandria and Salerno to Savona where we arrive on November 27.
Thanks to this we manage to reach Switzerland in time for Ruedi's mum's birthday on the 28.

What a joy!

November 2011

Beginning of November we take the ferry from Suakin (Sudan) to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). There we are informed that we will not be able to drive around with the OKA as it is right-hand driven. So the OKA is loaded onto a truck and driven through Saudi Arabia to the Jordan border over the end of Hajj and the Eid al-Adha holiday.

In Jordan we receive the bad news that our Grimaldi-ferry from Ashdod (Israel) to Monfalcone (Italy) due to leave on November 14 will only leave on the 20th .... which means that we would be too late to reach Switzerland in time to be there for the 88th birthday of Ruedi's mother.
We rush to Ashdod and try to catch the ferry that leaves before but without success.

Our 2. journal of Namibia is ready ... yes, we know, that was a while ago, but it is still nice to read it .....

October 2011

On the last day of our trip with Simon we have trouble with one back wheel ... we just make it to Nairobi. A part in the hub is broken and the whole hub must be exchanged. Luckily BAE in Johannesburg reacts really quickly with sending the spares and only one week later we are ready to leave Nairobi and head north.

On the Marsabit - Moyale "road" we get caught by rain. With a lot of luck and thanks to our snow chains we make it to Moyale and Ethiopia.

In Addis Ababa Ruedi has to repair part of the hub again. Luckily he has the required parts in his spares ....

We cross Ethiopia. The country is one of the prettiest ones we have seen in Africa, but the people (especially the children and some young adults) are a pain ..... thanks to the aid organisations all they know is to scream "you you you ... give give give .... my money". What a shame!

We reach Sudan and enjoy the very friendly Sudanese people. What a contrast to Ethiopia!
In Khartoum we manage to get the visa for Saudi Arabia.

September 2011

On Monday, September 5, we leave Johannesburg again and drive north through Zimbabwe and Zambia.
On Saturday morning some 250 km north of Lusaka Ruedi changes the oil in the rear differential and finds a piece of safety wire .... we have no other choice than to return to Lusaka!
Over the weekend the diff is inspected and repaired and on Monday morning we are mobile again.

We cross Zambia and most of Tanzania and arrive in Moshi on September 16.
Driving approx. 4 500 km in 11 days and that on some pretty bad roads with large potholes and kamikaze drivers in buses and trucks is not really a pleasure but we make it in time to welcome Simon when he descends from Mount Kilimanjaro on Sunday ... and that is the main thing!

After picking up Simon we enjoy a great time in the Massai Mara and some parts of Kenya.

August 2011

From Windhoek we travel via the Etosha National Park and the Caprivi Strip to Zambia.

First stop in Zambia is Livingstone and the Victoria Falls.

On the way to Lusaka we travel along Lake Kariba.
According to the map there should be a road ..... but it does not really exist anymore .....
The way the locals react when they see us we must be the first vehicle that comes through here in a long time.

From Lusaka we choose the Leopard Hill Road down the escarpment to the Lower Zambezi.
It has some tricky parts with nasty tilting sections.
(Except for the main road Livingstone - Lusaka the roads in Zambia are rather adventurous).
The animals found at the Lower Zambezi are great .... hundreds of hippos and elephants.

When leaving Lusaka towards the South Luangwa National Park we feel a small yank .... then another one ...... and after only some 12 000 km of usage this is the end of the back spider gear .... and the front one is on the way out too ....
We have no other choice than to change the OKA to front-wheel-drive only and drive some 1 900 km south to BAE in Johannesburg.
There both spider gears are replaced.

July 2011

We travel to Swakopmund, then via Cape Cross and Messum Crater to the Brandberg, then across the mountains to Windhoek to pick up some spares.

June 2011

We travel through the south of Namibia and enjoy the Fish River Canyon and Sossus Vlei.
Then we head across the mountains to Windhoek to get some repairs done.

May 2011

We travel from Addo Elephant NP via Baviaanskloof, Swartberg Pass and Karoo NP to the Namaqua 4x4 Track.
At the end of the track we have trouble with the back axle again and limp back to Johannesburg to BAE, the manufacturer of the axles.
Read about the axle story and our trip to Lesotho.

April 2011

Ruedi updates the technical OKA-pages.
Details can be found under:

- OKA NT

- OKA Backsection

We travel from the Blyde River Canyon via the Drakensberge to Mountain Zebra National Park.

March 2011

Beginning of March we head north from Durban to the Kruger National Park for our 14-day EcoQuest Training Course in the Karongwe Camp in the Hoedspruit Area.
We loved it!
In the 2 weeks we see far more animals than we ever hoped to see. Read the journal for some details.

February 2011

After an 11-day trip on the container vessel "Buxmelody" we are now in Durban, South Africa.
You can read up on the "Buxmelody " and there is a journal of the trip.

On February 27 the "Morning Courier" with the OKA on board arrives. It takes 3 days to get it through immigration and customs .....

December 2010 - January 2011

After a stay in Switzerland for Christmas we return to Perth to get the OKA ready for its travel to South Africa.
On January 25 we drop the OKA at Fremantle port and head over to Queensland to visit Susi's brothers.

October -
November 2010

Back in Perth the OKA is made ready for its trip around the world and sits on stands in the factory .... which makes us "home-less".
But we don't really have time to relax and take it easy!
There is a lot to be done from carnet de passage to international driver's license to all the vaccinations etc. etc. etc. .... but we are getting there!

August -
September 2010

We head up to Carnarvon and enjoy our own home (the OKA fits perfectly in the driveway ...) while a tenant is being found for it.
Susi gets busy in her garden and Ruedi has many small jobs to do like e.g. fixing the small windmill in front of the house ....

July 2010

For a month Susi travels to Switzerland with her brother while Ruedi stays in Perth and is busy getting the OKA ready for our planned world trip.

The web page is completely revamped.
- a new navigation is built from scratch adding an extra level to enable for the structuring of visited countries by continents.
- the galleries "animals" and "vehicles" have been redone

May - June 2010

We drive to Exmouth (about 1'100 km north of Perth) to meet some friends. Then we head back to Carnarvon (about 800 km north of Perth) where we buy a small house. It will be our save heaven after returning from our planned trips to the African and American continents.
Until then the house will be rented out - will say: there is for the time being no such thing as "visiting Schoenslebens in Carnarvon".
Sorry guys!

April 2010

For Ruedi's 60th birthday an OKA-Rally is organised at Glen Mervyn Dam in Western Australia.
Click here for a short report and some pictures.

March 2010

We are fixing, renovating and cleaning the OKA.
After 4 years of travelling it needs a bit of attention.

We are also planning our trip around the world.
Looks like we will start it in Southern Africa .....

February 2010

No travelling with the OKA as Susi flies to QLD to visit her brothers and Ruedi spends his time composing songs .... for the next movie ...?
We will see .....

December 2009 - January 2010

Christmas break in Switzerland with looooooots of snow!

October 2009

Heidi and Peter leave us in Darwin. They are now travelling back to Perth where they will ship their Toyota back to Europe and return to Switzerland.

We travel through Kakadu National Park and then in direction of Alice Springs together with our honeymooners Petr and Reni.

September 2009

Together with Heidi's son Simon we travel through the Gregory National Park, Nitmiluk National Park and the Kakadu National Park.
Originally the Litchfield National Park was planned next but the OKA's back diff decided to give up on us ..... 5 weeks too early, it was due for replacement in Perth in November!
Sometimes we wish Murphy wasn't soooooooo active on our trips!!!!!

You can find the journal Kununurra - Darwin here.

August 2009

After stops in Karratha, Port Hedland and Broome we travel through the Kimberleys visiting all the beautiful gorges. A challenging detour brings us to the Walcott Inlet where we can see big tides and lots of large salties. By the end of August we reach Kununurra.

July 2009

On the way to Yulara Ruedi discovers broken leaf springs in the back which forces us to deviate to Alice Spring to have it fixed.

Then we go bush again.
We follow Len Beadell's markers from Yulara north on the Sandy Blight Junction Road to Kintore, then west on the Gary Junction Road to Kunawarritji, then south on the Canning Stock Route from well 31 to well 23 and west to Newman on the Talawana Track.

Next we visit some parts of the Karijini and the Millstream - Chichester National Park and have a bit of a break at the beach at Hearsons Cove (Burrup Peninsula near Dampier).

June 2009

Heidi and Peter are back from Switzerland.
We travel through the Flinders and Gammon Ranges to Innamincka on the Strzelecki Track and visit the Coongie Lakes.
Then we cross over to the Birdsville Track on the Walkers Crossing Track hoping to see the birds at Goyder Lagoon.
But the birds are gone further north as the waters are already drying up fast.
So we travel south to Marree on the Birdsville Track then north on the Oodnadatta Track and have a short rest at Dalhousie Springs.

May 2009

After finding a leaking front diff in the Flinders Ranges we head down to Adelaide and repair the seal.
Then we head north to Port Augusta where we wait for the return of Heidi and Peter from Switzerland.

April 2009

At the beginning of April Simon as well as Heidi and Peter return to Switzerland and we head north.

Together with Peter and Margaret from OKA 196 we head out to Lake Eyre see if there is any water.
Over Easter we meet up with David and Genine in OKA 131 and visit the Flinders Ranges.
Have a look in the journal to see if we found water in Lake Eyre ....

March 2009

Together with Simon, Heidi's son, we visit the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians, the Wyperfeld, Murray Sunset and Mungo National Park.

February 2009

We visit the west of Tasmania with the very pretty forests, mountains and lakes. .
While travelling through the eastern part of Tasmania sadly our differential finally gives up its life and we have to return to Melbourne a week earlier than planned to have it repaired.

Tasmania is one of the parts of Australia that from what we have seen up to now like the most.

January 2009

We are back in Australia.
The weather in Melbourne is less than impressive, it is actually miserable cold and this in the middle of summer!!!

After finishing the repairs we flee the cold and head north to Mt. Buller to test the OKA.
North of the Great Dividing Range the weather is much better, it feels like summer!
Have a look at the pretty Victorian Alps, the many flowers and clear rivers.

On January 25 we catch the ferry to Tasmania.

December 2008

We enjoy Switzerland, snow and white Christmas.
(Christmas just has to happen in winter. We just cannot get used to having a BBQ as Christmas dinner ....)

November 2008

The OKA needs some work to be ready for the mountains in Tasmania.
It takes a bit longer than expected to get all organised and fixed.
So there is no time left for any additional trips before we head to Switzerland for the Christmas visit.

September - October 2008

We head up to Cape York and have some great adventures.

As the journal is not finished yet here some movies to wake your appetite:

- Palm Creek (file type: .wmv, size: 4'522 KB)

- Cannibal Creek (file type: .wmv, size: 7'952 KB)

- Gun Shot (file type: .wmv, size: 3'459 KB)

- Pascoe River (file type: .wmv, size: 19'078 KB)

August - September 2008

We tackle the long drive over to Queensland.
It leads us to Cairns on the Savannah Way.

August 2008

On the 5th of August Ruedi is sworn in as an Australian citizen of Cockburn in Western Australia.
Thanks Australia!
Details can be found at the end of the Finke River National Park journal.

Middle of August Heidi & Peter return from their stay in Switzerland.

July 2008

We spend July as volunteers at Palm Valley (Finke River National Park) and take some off the load of the rangers as cleaning crew.
As "Thanks" we can go along to areas of the park that usually are off-limits for tourists.
We can also participate on some Spinifex burning.
Follow this link to the journal of it.

June 2008

Heidi and Peter fly to Switzerland to visit the parents.
This gives us a bit of time for some volunteer work: collecting rubbish at the Finke Desert Race.
Have a look at the Finke Desert Race journal, it contains many movies ....

In addition Ruedi is really busy:
All Checklists are now available for download as PDF-files
(see: Tips n'Infos > Checklists ).
He adds some helpful unit conversion and emergency number tables for download as PDF-files
(see: Tips n'Infos > Data sheets )
In the technical section he updates the diagrams of the electrical-, water- and floor-heating system
(see: The Challenge > Vehicles > OKA > description back-section ).

April - May 2008

We travel via the Connie Sue Highway and the abandoned section of the Gunbarrel Highways to Alice Springs .... 800 km through rocks and desert, no refuelling possibilities, no water .....
We also travel through the Western and Eastern MacDonnell Ranges and find the Cattlewater Pass and Ruby Gap to offer some pretty hairy tracks to drive.

March 2008

The south of Western Australia with its pretty beaches and the large forests is much to our liking.
We also unintentionally test how much we can tilt the OKA ... have a look at the journal .

January - February 2008

Together with Heidi and Peter we travel north into the soft sand.
Yes, we have to use the shovels.
The journal to Steep Point has some nice footage of it ....

December 2007

Our second Christmas-visit to Switzerland is pretty exhausting.
So many of our friends want to see us and have a look at the movies of our adventures in Australia during 2007.
Well, Australia still is the flavour of the month for many Swiss ... no surprise to us.

October 2007

To escape the Perth winter-rain we travel to Kalgoorlie on the Holland Track.
On the way back to Perth we drive on some abandoned tracks and have a bit of fun on the Woodland Tracks.

September 2007

Towards the end of September our "partners in crime" arrive ... Ruedi's sister Heidi and her husband Peter come to Australia and bring their Swiss vehicle along.
They will stay here for the next 2.5 years and travel mostly with us.

August 2007

Roger (who travelled on the "CMA CGM Matisse" through the Panama Channel with us in 2005 ) and Katarina come for a visit.
We travel to the Goldfields, where we visit the large mines .
On the way back we concentrate on nature, visit a few National Parks, Monkey Mia and its Dolphins and drive through flowers, flowers, flowers ....

June and July 2007

We leave Alice Springs and travel to Coober Pedy via the Old Andado Road and Dalhousie Springs.
On our trip back to Perth we choose to travel on parts of the Oodnadatta Track.

May 2007

We are busy in Alice Springs, three new diaries are ready for you to read.

Read of a visit to Darr River Downs Station, a large cattle station in Outback Queensland .
Do you know what a "Picnic Race" is?
Or have you heard of the dinosaur stampede at Lark Quarry Conservation Park ?

April 2007

In Mornington (Melbourne) a large OKA-Rally is held.
Of course we have to go there!
Details of it and also the diary of our trip to the Gold Coast via Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney can be found in the journal.

March 2007

The OKA-NT 1 story is printed in the March edition of the Overlander 4WD magazine ( www.overlander.com.au ).
We are so excited!

Click on the PDF-symbol to download the PDF-version of it. (size: 10'220 KB)

For questions regarding our OKA truck or the back-section which are not already on our web-site please feel free to contact us.
Our email address can be found in the "About us" section.
Thanks.

For enquiries regarding the OKA truck please contact as follows:

December 2006 -
February 2007

Over Christmas we travel to Switzerland and for the first time see Switzerland with the eyes of a tourist.
And we fully agree with the tourists, Switzerland is very beautiful.
But if one is used to the Australian Outback Switzerland is very small and crowded.

November 2006

Back in Perth we work with Ian Glover from the Overlander Magazine, the largest 4WD magazine in Australia, on the story of our OKA-NT 1.

October 2006

We travel on the Great Central Road to Kalgoorlie where we team up with OKA 196 to explore the Holland Track.
Spring has arrived in Western Australia and the flowers are just incredible.
The Holland Track journal is a MUST for flower lovers!

September 2006

We travel on the Savannah Way to Alice Springs for the OKA's first service.

August 2006

Finally the plates arrive.
We drive from Alice Springs to Perth (2951 km) in 3 days to pick up our baby.
The welcoming-party and baptism is held at the Windjana Gorge in the Kimberleys.

June - July 2006

We are still waiting for Canberra and the plate ......
Due to the delay we take off on our planned trip to Alice Springs in a rented Bushcamper and explore the area around Alice Springs in it.

May 2006

The OKA is tested in Kalbarri , all works fine.
Now we only have to wait for the compliance plate from Canberra.

January - April 2006

The Alu-Star-team arrives in Perth to finish the assembly of the cabin on the OKA.

December 2006

Due to delays in the production of the OKA the plans have to be changed.
Instead of shipping the OKA to Germany and have the camper finished there, the cabin is shipped to Australia.
The Alu-Star crew will fly to Australia in January to assemble the camper on OKA's premises in Perth.

September - November 2005

On September 17th we embark on a trip halfway around the world.
Our ship the "CMA CGM Matisse" leaves Hamburg in direction of New York .
After visiting Norfolk and Savannah on October 7th we cruise the Panama Channel .
From there we continue on to New Zealand via Tahiti.
The last part of our trip takes us to French Caledonia and then via Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to Perth.

May 2005

The cabin is shown at the Abenteuer-Allrad in Bad Kissingen .

July 2004 -
August 2005

The back-section of the OKA is being built.
The work in progress can be followed in the diaries.

January 2004

The decision has been taken:
We will leave Europe by ship in direction of Australia on 17.9.2005.
We have booked a passage on the CMA CGM Matisse, a 195 m long container ship.

December 2003

We travel to Australia and buy "our" OKA.
We measure out the whole truck at OKA in Perth and Ruedi designs the camper .

June 2003

Greece is calling again ....

January 2003

We change our plans and go back to the original design: an OKA

April 2002

Our first trip in to the desert takes us to Tunisia.

2001

Our LandRover Defender 130 " The Millimeter " is built.
We travel to Greece (sorry, not translated to English yet) to test it.

2000

We work out some general specifications of a camper and different models.

1999

We commence the realization of Stage 3 by buying the hiking- and trekking equipment.

1998

We find Bushtracker , an off-road caravan builder, and design "our" caravan.

1997

We begin working on a plan , the 3 "comfort stages" model is born.

1996

Again in Australia we start dreaming up our first plans of a camper.

1995

On our first trip to Outback Australia (sorry, not translated to English yet) we find the thought of owning a camper and travel the world with it quite intriguing.
We start fantasizing ....