We organised a party in Cleaver Square, Kennington for friends and neighbours to come and say their farewells, have a tour of Biggles, and find out more about Amani, the Children's Home in Tanzania we are raising money for. We've been overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and are really looking forward to spending time at Amani to see how the money we raise helps the children.

It was difficult saying goodbye to friends and family who we won't see for 9 months - but it also made us really excited at the prospect of the trip.

The following day, with rather large hangovers, we drove up to Oxford to meet up with the lads from the Drive Africa website we'd been in contact with. They had just got back from a 6 month trip and we wanted to chat to them to pick up any bits of information we could. We had a lovely Sunday lunch in a pub and spent the whole afternoon hearing about stories of their travels. They seemed to have a great time and had no real nightmares (probably helped by the fact that Lawrence seemed to be an expert mechanic - someone we don't have onboard!) We then introduced Biggles to The Colonel, (named after their numberplate KFC) and bought some second hand gear off them including spare parts and an intrepid medical kit. We really enjoyed meeting other people who were just as excited about expedition land rovers as us and equally as nutty to want to do such a trip! Thanks very much to Tom, Bryn, Lawrence and Rob (www.driveafrica.org)

It was then down to Alresford to Camilla's parents to pack up the car and complete all the little unfinished tasks that seemed to be mounting up....lots of early mornings and late nights to get ready for the off....