4wd Action Mega Portable Fridge/Freezer Review

There is a huge debate on what the best portable fridge/freezer is to fit into Expedition vehicles.

With so many choices and the amount of money being spent, much research is usually done before picking something out.

I personally am very happy with my combination of my old Engel 29lt Fridge with a TwoZone compartment on top (with a few custom modifications).

Custom Engel 29lt Fridge with 21lt TwoZone Compartment

4WD Action Magazine did a huge review of the main portable Fridge/Freezer Manufacturers in Australia and is the most comprehensive review I’ve seen.

The fridges tested were:

Engel Portable Fridge-Freezer and TwoZone Compartment Review

Engel is a legendary name in 4wd Expedition circles.  They have been producing portable fridge freezers now for over 40 years and their reliability is second to none.  There are stories floating around of them being on the back of utes in the outback for years and even though the external cases have been damaged through weather and abuse they work perfectly inside.

I picked up an old Engel MRFT-530 portable fridge/freezer for a bargain second hand.  It’s capacity is 29 litres and it runs on both 12 volt and 240 volt. This model has been around for almost 30 years now and the particular one I got had a few battle scars from signs of a lot of use but was still running strongly.  I tested it and it got down to -18 degrees Celsius on the maximum setting – this was good enough for me!

Original old Engel MRFT-530

I decided to strip the case back and respray it. I spent some time sanding it back with wet/dry sandpaper and gave it a good wipe down with oil/gum remover to make sure I had the best surface to work with before spraying.

Harvey – Chilly Winter Escape

After our recent trip into the outback to Ninghan Station we all decided that the next Austrekkers trip would be a bit closer to home.  The Fawcett Track had opened recently so we all headed down to Harvey for an overnighter.

Harvey is about 130km south of Perth and is a sleepy country town famous for its oranges and dairy produce.  During winter the surrounding bush is lush and green and the rivers and creeks swiftly flowing.

We all met at a respectable 11am and after some GPS issues Tristan finally found us and we set out onto the trails a little after 12.  It was easy going along unsealed dirt roads until we came to the start of the Fawcett Trail.  A few muddy puddles and rocky hill climbs later we managed to find an ideallic campsite right on the Murray River and promptly setup camp and cracked out first tinnies.

Star Trail Photography

It’s only recently that I’ve taken an interest in star trail photography after reading this great article over at Naturescapes.net.

A few friends have asked me about it so I thought I’d go through my method when I’m out shooting.

Coleman 533 Sportster II Dual Fuel Camping Stove

Being a keen cook both at home and camping, it has always bothered me that I haven’t been able to find a good portable cooking solution. I tried gas but soon got tired of lugging around gas bottles and refilling them. I also tried the cheap butane stoves which were handy, and cheap but didn’t burn very hot. Neither gas or butane was satisfactory in my opinion.

Well I bit the bullet today and finally went out and got myself a dual fuel camping stove. I ended up going for the Coleman 553 Sportster II Dual Fuel model. It’s a single burner that runs on unleaded petrol or shellite/coleman fuel.

I followed the basic instructions outlined on the burner itself, filled it up, went through the steps to light it and it was up and running in no time. I found it to be incredibly hot and it boiled my billy in just over 3 minutes – something gas or butane has never been able to do.

Photography – My Weapon of Choice

I’ve had quite a few people ask what I shoot with so I thought I might go through my kit.
I have the incredibly small Nikon D40 body. It’s a great little body but three things have made me want to upgrade:

• It’s small – with the lenses I am using it sometimes feels a bit off balance. Plus I think I personally would prefer to grip something slightly bigger.
• It doesn’t have a focus motor in the body which restricts your lens choice (I manual focus one of my lenses because of this)
• It lacks a second dial – which would be handy because I shoot in manual mode mostly

Featured in 4wd Custom Action Magazine

Earlier this year I was contacted by Brendan from Australian 4wd Action Magazine. They had been following the build up of my Mitsubishi Challenger and were very keen to feature it in issue one of a new magazine they were releasing – Australian 4wd Custom Action. They felt it was very unique and had been itching to feature it for sometime.

In February they sent over there head photographer – Mr Tommy Salmon who shot my car for the magazine (along with some others from Western Australia). Photos in this post were all taken by Tommy and they are fantastic (wouldn’t expect anything less).

Ninghan Station Timelapse Video

Timelapse photography has become an interest of mine recently after seeing Ross Ching’s awesome Eclectic 2.0 (breathtaking timelapse movie).

I decided to give it a go on this trip. The equipment used was an old Canon G3 on a tripod, hooked up to an old IBM laptop both powered from a generator. My friend John took the picture below:

Jon setting up the timelapse gear

Ninghan Station – Welcome to the Outback

I recently returned from leading a trip to Ninghan Station with some friends from the Austrekkers 4wd Club over the June Foundation Day long weekend.

Ninghan Station is located approximately 380km north-east of Perth, along the Great Northern Highway. It’s a working station property (sheep and goats) that allows 4wd enthusiasts to camp and explore the property. It stretches over a vast area of land (over 1/2 million acres) and there is no shortage of things to see (you could spend weeks driving around and exploring).

We had an early start to the trip, departing from Ginger’s Roadhouse at 6am. Good time was made and everyone was treated to an amazing sunrise. We took a shortcut before we got to New Norcia and stopped in Dalwallinu for a stretch of the legs. It was then onto Wubin to top up the fuel tanks. Wubin is the last fuel before Ninghan Station (98km away) so it’s a good idea to fill up your tanks and jerry cans here.

The roads become flat and straight from here on out and you know you’re really in the outback once you pass this sign:

A leisurely 98km from Wubin you will find the turn off to Ninghan Station on the right – it is well sign posted so you won’t miss it. The station itself is open between the hours of 8am-6pm.

Why?

Why?

I’ve tried to blog in the past without much success.

Lately I have been feeling creative and have so much information buzzing around in my head that I want to share this with some of you.

You can look foward to trip reports from around Western Australia and the world, gear reviews, photos and just my random rambling.

I hope it turns out to be useful and inspires some of you to pursue your outdoor passions and pursuits.