First; Okibi; that is basically what I have in my head, but probably with the HT at the back to avoid things flicked up from the car breaking my window. Im also in half a mind to put the soft top on the trailer too, to use it as an actual part of the trailer. not secure, but much awesome, double convertible!
Excellent photoshop skills, exhibit a:
fixed: it takes 30 seconds to drop a trailer, a further 10 seconds to attach one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/2912096 ... 107&chn=ps people do it on motorbikes with trailers, i really didn't think doing it in an mx5 would be that much of a system shock to people!
davekmoore: physics-wise it'll be safer than a bloke in his twilight years in a patrol on all-terrain tyres towing a two ton mobile home. reaction-time-wise it'll be a great deal safer. insurance wise it'll be somewhere between a grey area and impossible. legally, well, who knows, if you've got a good enough lawyer even murder is legal, but definitely more legal then a meth-head in a commodore on 22's and chopped springs. as for other people putting me in a position of danger... i drive on bendigo roads every day:
(this was at easter this year, no photoshop, driver had a suspended license, passenger was "known to police and taken in for outstanding matters" and there were kids in the back seat.
i do need to point out at this juncture I'm not planning on travelling at roadster speeds with the trailer on, there will be two distinct modes of travel being employed: "covering distance and looking at scenery" and "driving and looking at apexes" - one will be at the speed limit or whatever those little yellow signs recommend with the UHF on finding out what's going on around me. the other will be, well ... "roadster speeds" ;) but I do know people in most states, so i do have the option of some bases of operation scattered around the country, but ultimately, without a destination there's no hurry
jeo: i plan on documenting the excursion somehow, via written blog, or youtube, or something -- don't know yet!
As for the "why" - short answer is I lost both of my parents in the last 12 months, lost my job in there somewhere too, and gained a whole lot of depression. i was discussing this idea with dad before he passed away, but then he went and had a heart attack unexpectedly, and so fuckit, i'm going to have a look around this place i live. neither of my parents made 60, and i'm about to turn 32, so there's a large amount of mid-life-crisis-ness going on, combined with an overwheling urge to get some things done so when i do expire i don't have anything left to regret - to quote the start orbital track "satan":
"Daddy, what does regret mean?"
"Well son, the funny thing about regret is, it's better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done."
(the rest of the song is sh*t for the record)
PAU61L: I've actually been discussing teardrop trailers with my aunty, and a cousin from a different part of the family tree, we might end up building one yet!
I spent several hours today in camping shops talking to the poor sales people about my journey. If i travel like a hiker I can actually get a lot of things into lil red, tent/mattress/sleeping bag would all fit into the boot with the spare still in there, and room for 10L of water and fuel. I think the key point there is "don't take a swag, take a small tent" - it'll be a lot more setup / teardown time for each stop, but it'll give me something to do while I wait for the kettle to boil
So now If i can get the trailer idea off the ground, it's going to be more of a "support vehicle" - small generator, engel fridge, fishing rod, large-ish esky, extra "stuff" - i'm not as attached to the idea as I was yesterday, but i'm still going to do everything in my power to make it happen - like i mentioned somewhere along the way, i'm still planning things! but the trailer will come in somewhere between 500kg and 600kg fully loaded, so it's not going to be a huge amount of weight (i've towed a territory on a trailer behind a falcon ute, THAT was interesting!)
The basic "guts" of the excursion will be solo, but I plan on picking up randoms on ride-sharing websites and stuff if I can't decide where I want to go, and one thing I have learnt in previous travels is that backpackers from overseas have seen more cool sh*t in this country than 99% of the people that live here. taking them random places means I go random places too! they pay petrol, i get free holiday r&d, win - win
....aaannndd this has taken me almost two hours to write, bed-time! lol
