Masai Kit

I have started to purchase some additional equipment for the Landrover.  My first foray into the aftermarket accessories was to purchase a steering guard and heavy duty spare wheel carrier from Masai.  I particularly like their panoramic windows and will, in time, upgrade my 110 to include these on the rear of the car.  I decided to get the spare wheel carrier because the after market versions all mount on to the chassis rather than hang on the door hinges.   I also wanted the steering guard, because it seemed sensible to do so.

So my journey into online purchasing of kit for the car began.  One Saturday evening recently I purchased the two items mentioned and by the Monday morning I had an email confirming that the order had been received.  Then rapidly after that I received another email saying the order had been dispatched and by Wednesday the items were in the country and snarled up in Customs!  I was pretty pleased with that level and speed of service.  It was not until last Monday that the parcels actually arrived at home, the boxes looked a little worse for wear, but the contents were fine.

Now the items are fitted, they look great!  I especially love the 'bash plate.'  An unforeseen benefit of the spare wheel carrier is that the wheel is set lower and slightly more off centre towards the drivers side, this means that I now have better rear view vision than I did with the factory fitted wheel carrier in place.

I have now ordered a light bar for the front of the car from Terrafirma... and that will be arriving in a couple of days.  Once fitted I will then be able to install the aerial for the UHF radio and then think about the 50" LED light I want to fit to the light bar...

Solihul production line

This video, without any commentary, shows how Landrovers are produced today, well until the end of the year!

Valentine's Day Gift - Priceless!

This is a great PR stunt by Land Rover NZ, well done guys, real heart warming!

The End is Nigh...

Desert Defenders Winter Woolies - video 3

Here is the final installment our trip to Waiouru and playing on the NZDF land courtesy of Desert Defenders Off Road Club and their Winter Woolies Variety Club fund raiser.

Desert Defenders 3 - Land Rover edition from David Kinane on Vimeo.

Two great products

I use LightRoom to edit my images and so am intrigued by the iOS app that is now available.  Adobe have put together this marketing video on Vimeo.  The choice of transport...? 

Lightroom Mobile - Iceland from Aaron Grimes on Vimeo.

Maungatautari Ecological Island

Having got back to Taupo in the dark on Saturday night, we quickly ate and crashed early.  It had been a long and exciting day.  On the Sunday we decided to detour our way back to Auckland by re-visiting Maungatautari Ecological Island, just outside Cambridge, if you have not been there I highly recommend it.

We spent three hours in there and managed to take the following images:

Kaka

North Island Tomtit

Fantail - piwakawaka

One of the primary reasons for purchasing the Defender was to enable us to get to places where we can observe and photograph New Zealand native birds.  You can see more of my bird images on my Flickr page.