At last we are ready to hit the road for our long trip this year in our new 4WD and camper, heading for the Centre.

A few months ago we sold the Nissan Patrol with all its gear and its rooftop tent. We've tried most setups over the years: tents, rooftop tents, campervans, camper trailers - in fact, pretty much everything except a caravan which appeals to us not one bit.

We have come to the conclusion that we need a combination of four-wheel-drive capability plus comfort when camping. Campervans lack the heavy duty four-wheel-drive which means restrictions on where we can go; towing a trailer and spending a lot of time getting set up (not to mention packing it all up again) every day is just too much effort; the tent ditto - all that setting up and dismantling; the portability and readiness of the rooftop tent was countered by the climb up (and down in the middle of the night for 'comfort breaks') and the lack of anywhere else comfortable to go when it's pouring with rain.

After much investigation, the right slide-on camper on the back of the right four-wheel-drive vehicle seemed our best option. With vague ideas about shipping the set-up overseas in the future (back to Africa perhaps?), we settled on a combination that fits most of our needs and wishes and which will fit into a standard shipping container.

So now we have Betty, our 4WD Mazda BT50, a dual-cab tray-back with an Active slide-on camper. Russ has spent the last few months upgrading and adding all the bits and pieces we can't do without: bullbar, driving lights, more electrical outlets, reversing camera, radios, gauges, tweaking the storage etc. So far in short trips around Sydney and up the north coast, Betty has performed well, though it is a constant struggle to resist packing all and sundry - we need to keep the weight down! The camper is comfortable with everything we need inside: stove, sink, hot water, fridge, dinette seats and slide-away table, queen-size bed kept made up. The roof lifts on a hinge, and we are set up, sitting in our chairs with cool drink in hand in well under 5 minutes. Packing up is similarly quick.

Now we are ready to head off on our first long-distance trip in Betty. At the beginning of July we join a group in Alice Springs to travel south and east into the Simpson Desert ending in Birdsville in the far south-west of Queensland. After a day's rest, we take off back into the desert, to the west briefly, then follow the Hay River northwards and finally east to the Diamantina finishing the trip in Winton. On the way to Alice from Sydney we'll be detouring to 'the Rock' and the Olgas and taking a loop to visit Kings Canyon, Palm Valley and other marvels of the Territory. At the end we hope to explore the 'dinosaur country' around central Queensland before heading home.

There may be some long stretches between blogs but I'll endeavour to keep up to date with posts when I can. There is a distinct lack of communications facilities in the middle of the Simpson but that remoteness is one of its chief attractions. So here we are, eager to get started on our trip to such an iconic destination in this vast country of ours.