Following a great weekend and a beautiful wedding in Ireland Fintan and myself are recovering. As it's a bank holiday, there's not much we can do. Fintan doesn't feel great anyhow.

Waiting on hearing from the Uzbek embassy via VisaHQ. They are a visa application company. You send off your application, passports, photos etc and they do the embassy visits for you. If they work out well for this one, we might use them again for the Chinese visas next month!

So we pulled out all the gear from the car, and now we're looking at a huge pile of stuff in the entrance hall of Fintan's parents house. So I thought I'd go through a packing list, as it is at the moment:

• Obviously, the car - add ons to that have been, the long range fuel tank, water tank, new suspension, belly plates, new tyres, 2 spares on the back, a cargo barrier (never underestimate the stuff you have that could end up a missile), drawers system in the back, engel fridge freezer and pull out shelf for this. Work light on the back, bull bar and high beam lights on the front, winch, roof rack, canopy, safety glass covering for the windows and tinting on the back.
• Tent, including foam mattress, sheets, pillows, sleeping bags
• Table and chairs,
• gas stove,
• cool box,
• plates,
• chopping knives, chopping boards, pots and pans
• cups and travel mugs,
• washing bowls,
• walking boots,
• High visibility jackets,
• road breakdown kit - warning triangles etc!
• Emergency first aid kit including Quikclot, bandages, sharps kit,
• Everyday first aid kit with plasters, allergy pills, betadine ointment,
• Guidebooks and maps,
• Satellite phone,
• Breakdown repair kit,
• Glass breaking hammers,
• clothes - for warm and cold weather, including long shirts and dresses for covering me up. I'd rather spend a few months with baggy clothes than end up in a situation for attracting the wrong attention,
• Things to entertain us - kindle, laptop, dvds... after all it's a long time for just the two of us!!