With no change in Nick's situation following our annoucement that the expedition had been temporarily postponed, it's time to take a fresh look at the expedition and set a new course for the future. After all, there's a 1977 VW camper van just itching to drive to Sydney and it's not going to get there on its own!

Needless to say, my own enthusiasm and commitment to the expedition is undimmed, and with so much hard work already having been done, there's no way the expedition is going to be allowed to lie fallow. All that is required is for a group of dedicated people to come together and take the project on to a successful conclusion.

So I'm currently working on the slow and careful task of assembling a new expedition team. Once the team has been formed, we'll be able to begin building on the excellent foundations already laid and working towards our twin goals of a successful overland expedition to Australia and raising money for our chosen charity Cancer Research UK.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors for their continued support and understanding, everyone who's given so generously to Cancer Research UK, and all the people who've been behind us every step of the way.

I look forward to announcing a new team and new departure date sometime in the not-too-distant future. Thank you all once again for all your support. Stay tuned for more news!

A few weeks ago, Nick informed me that, for family reasons, he would not be able to join me on the road to Sydney at present. This news was obviously a big blow to the expedition and since then I've been pulling out all the stops to try and keep everything on track. But now I've got to admit that we're just not going to be able to honour our original departure date.

Given the terribly short notice, it has proved impossible to find anyone to take Nick's place on the road with me and for various reasons (safety being one of the major ones) setting off alone is not really a viable option.

It's been a very difficult decision to make, but it has become increasingly clear that the best course of action for the expedition, our charity work, our sponsors and everyone who's been supporting us, is to temporarily postpone the expedition.

We are, of course, bitterly disappointed at the moment but we want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who's offered us their help, support and encouragement since the expedition began, especially our sponsors and everyone who's given a donation to Cancer Research UK on our behalf. In fact so far we've raised over £1000 for CRUK and we've been delighted to pass every penny of that directly to them!

There is no way that the expedition is in any danger of being cancelled, so do keep an eye on the website for updates on our progress. Better still, make sure you're on our mailing list so you're the first to know as soon as we have some more news!

In times like these, there seems to me to be only one option and that is to turn the situation into an opportunity. We'll be making the best possible use of the delay, so when the London2Sydney expedition does leave, it'll be bigger and better than we ever thought possible before!

Pursued by excited shouts of "It's Squiffy!" from some of the boys who must have been paying attention during my presentation earlier in the week, I gently eased our expedition van through the mingling punters and parked her up underneath the School's climbing wall.

Opening the van and raising the roof, I spent a very rewarding few hours explaining about the expedition to boys and their parents, answering people's questions and demonstrating the marvels of Squiffy's rock-and-roll bed.

Special mention must be made of ten year old George, who bounded into the van at the first opportunity and listened intently to my early guided tours. Once he had satisfied himself that he was sufficiently briefed on the details of the both the van and the expedition, he politely reassured me that I could safely chat to boys and parents outside the van while he conducted tours and expertly answered people's questions from within. I have to pay tribute also to his sterling work with the Cancer Research UK charity tin, as I'm sure that he was personally responsible for the vast majority of the donations received that day!

Thanks to the generosity of the boys and their parents, a further 37 pounds and 73 pence was raised for Cancer Research UK which was wonderful, especially considering that the boys' own stalls and exhibits at the Extravaganza were all raising money for the School's own nominated charities.

Thanks to everyone who came to look at Squiffy and offered words of encouragement and support. Thanks to all the boys who climbed up to have a look inside, and to everyone who gave something for CRUK. My only regret was that due to the interest in Squiffy I didn't manage to get a chance to have a proper look around at the Extravaganza, although I did see what looked like an ingenious hamster racing course on display which had drawn a large crowd of cheering punters. I have fond memories of the times when it was my friends and I who were painstakingly constructing and dutifully manning the stalls arranged around the school's playing fields.

To wrap up, I just wanted to offer some words of reassurance to the lad who sat open-mouthed in Squiffy, staring all around him and asked me "How will you manage without a telly?" We'll cope, I promise!

One phone call I received was certainly a pleasant surprise: the voice on the end of the phone was that of Phillip Lewis, a teacher at Bedford Preparatory School, who once upon a time had the dubious honour of teaching me history. Having read about the expedition in the paper, Mr Lewis was calling to invite me to come and address the school at their Wednesday morning assembly. I was delighted and honoured to accept and so, on Wednesday morning, armed with a slide show of images of scenes along our route, I clambered into Squiffy and made my way through Bedford back to my old school.

It is a strange experience visiting a place that has filled your head with so many memories. It is an even stranger experience drinking coffee with some of your former teachers in the once-mysterious and forbidden realm of the school staff room!

Mr Lewis and I teamed up to give an interview-style presentation, and me the opportunity to give the boys some more information about the expedition. It was a delight to see so many keen faces! Once especially keen boy even approached me afterwards to enquire about the address of the expedition website!

As chance would have it, next Saturday is the day of Bedford Prep School's Summer Extravaganza, an annual event which sees the boys of the school, including the inevitable but eternally popular "throw a wet sponge at a teacher" stall. Mr Lewis asked me if I would like to bring Squiffy along to the event, show her to the boys and try and raise some more money for CRUK. I was delighted to accept his invitation, so next weekend, Squiffy will be performing her first public engagement!

I thoroughly enjoyed coming back to visit the school and speak to the boys, and would like to thank Phillip Lewis for giving me the opportunity of doing so. A full report on Squiffy's trip to the Extravaganza will be up after the weekend!

Quick note: There's more about Andy's visit to Bedford Prep School in this news article on the School's own website!

At a chance meeting with Nick a few weeks ago, Powerhouse vocalist Sam Vaughan had mentioned that she was planning a charity concert to benefit CRUK and, on hearing about London2Sydney she suggested that we join forces.

With styles ranging from rock, funk and soul all on the menu, the program included a wide variety of acts showcasing Powerhouse’s hottest young musicians and included such classic floor-fillers as James Brown’s Sex Machine, Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music and Ocean Colour Scene's The Riverboat Song.

The interval provided another great opportunity for fundraising as, thanks to the generosity of a number of local businesses (and to Nick’s sister Clare for getting in contact with them all), we had a great selection of prizes to give away in a charity raffle.

• Marks & Spencer - bottle of wine and box of chocolates
• Tescos - £10 store voucher
• Debenhams - two teddy bears
• Chambers Newsagents (Brickhill Post Office) - box of chocolates
• He Keech & Son Green Grocers and Fruit Sellers - box of fruit
• Sports Interactive - Championship Manager 03/04 & fluffy football

And a glow-in-the-dark Mosque Alarm Clock from an anonymous benefactor!

With the Powerhouse musicians back on the stage, the dance-floor quickly filled up once again and we were treated to another dazzling and energetic set, and two rousing encores.

The event was a great success, raising a total of £200.52, and as always with London2Sydney, every penny of that will be going straight to CRUK.

A big thank you to everyone involved and everyone who came to support the event and create such a great atmosphere and wonderful spirit of support.

For me, the two years since the London2Sydney expedition came into being and we started raising money for Cancer Research UK have been littered with poignant reminders of why the charitable aspect of the expediton is so important. I had yet another one of those moments when talking with Myrren Daly, one of the Powerhouse vocalists.

Her sister, Bryony, has been battling cancer since the age of 9 and as she is no longer responding positively to conventional therepies, our National Health Service is unable to offer the treatments that she needs. Bryony’s family have set up a charity to help not only her, but others like her, and I’d encourage you to take a moment to visit the Yes To Life website www.yestolife.co.uk to see if there's anything you can do to help.

There are so many deserving causes out there, but events such as the charity car painting and the Get Up! Get On Up! concert have really brought it home to me that when a great number of people come together, it only takes each of them to give a little for much to be achieved.

In her past life, Squiffy probably had two roof clamps but one had long since fallen off and the one remaining clamp was in a rather sorry state.

Removing the old clamp and catches revealed a rather unsavoury mix of old paint and rust, so a quick lick of Hammerite paint was applied to the area to help protect the underlying metal.

Time then to fix the brand new clamps and catches that we took delivery of back in January and time to play with a new toy in the London2Sydney toolbox: the rivet gun!

This neat tool made a simple job of attaching the new clamps and catches, even if between us we didn't make a simple job of putting them on in quite the right place at first...

However, two smart new padlockable clamps was a much more satisfying end result than one disintigrating old one, so we felt that our cup of tea at the end of the day was well deserved.

To mark the occasion of me and my house-mate's departure from these shores, friend and work colleague Chris' birthday and because, as everyone knows, any day is a good day for a party, a large and merry band assembled at our house in Princeton, New Jersey.

A gloriously sunny afternoon set the scene for a fantastic afternoon. And against a backdrop of a sizzling BBQ, a well-stocked bar and games of volleyball and horseshoes partygoers vented their creative spleens all over my car and helped London2Sydney raise even more money for Cancer Research UK!

In exchange for a donation to CRUK, keen punters got the chance to grab paint-brush and spray-can and adorn the long suffering car with whatever designs they fancied, leading to some interesting results!

As the evening drew in, the throng assembled inside our house to be treated to some outstanding musical performances by several of our friends, many of whom had travelled many miles to be there. Big shouts out to Ras Ujimma and the Black Circle Symphony (Wahkiba, Melshawn, Isaac & Israel) playing their congas, Daniel (saxophone), Misha (guitar), Anna Marie (vocals), Rick (guitar), Olivier (guitar) for making it a truely special evening.

Even with all the instruments packed away, the music and dancing went on and the party continued well into the small hours!

Thanks to the generosity, enthusiasm and general keenness of everyone at the event, $237 was raised and, as with all the money we're raising for charity, every cent of it is going directly to Cancer Research UK! A big thank you to everyone who contributed!

Despite my excitement at the thought of being back in the UK in less than a fortnight now and being able to spend the next two months concentrating on the expedition preparations, I've got to say that it's not going to be easy to leave such a great bunch of friends. Thankfully, the memories of all the events we've had like this one will take a long time to fade.

But meanwhile, the expedition planning continues apace and with plenty of work for Nick and I still to do, the next couple of months promise to be busier than ever!

Oh, and note to self. Try and fit the roof clamps asap so that the roof doesn't pop up when you're driving the van along.... :o)

The van will now complete an MOT and be taxed. Action pictures to follow.

We'd been puzzled as to why the engine wasn't rotating freely in the van when it did outside of it. This meant the starter motor couldn't turn the engine over as the flywheel wouldn't turn through 360 degrees. After much puzzling and thinking we somehow hadn't got the engine in correctly (or had fitted it at an angle somehow), we realised that the precision balancing had meant that two nuts were protruding further than usual from the flywheel. These nuts were then locking against the inside of the gearbox casing and causing the engine to stop turning. To fix this problem, Lee got grinding.

We took the engine out, ground some more of the gearbox, put the engine back in, found it still didn't turn 360, took the engine out, ground some more of the gearbox, put the engine back in... On the third attempt however the engine turned full circle! The delight was obvious. Much thanks have to go to Lee for his patience and Ricky and Tom (VW enthusiasts) for taking time out from their own projects to help with shifting the engine in and out of the van today.

Tomorrow should be a case of simply putting the starter motor, fuel line and tinware back on. However, as I've learnt this week, never expect things to run as smoothly. I won't be holding my breath, but should the van be running tomorrow I'll be the happier than the Easter bunny! It's been a long and frustrating week at times (and I seem to have spent most of my time in Lee's workshop) but it's been good fun too and I feel I've learnt a lot more about the van's mechanics at the same time.Cheers Lee.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow folks. Have yourselves a Happy Easter.

With some tidying required by the eagle-eye of Lee...

After much pruning with the angle-grinder, we finally managed to fit the heat-exchangers (and then had to take one off again as we forgot to put on the engine bar). The studs which protrude from the engine casing can be very fragile and we were extremely lucky that they stayed firm. Lee told us that had they broken, the whole engine would have had to have been stripped again! Not what we would want to hear!!

Once we'd fitted the fuel Andy's last action before heading for the airport was to help lift the engine off the work bench and onto the trolley jack. Needless to say it was incredibly heavy and needed all three of us. Simply pushing it off the bench and letting gravity do the hard work was unfortunately not an option....

With Andy gutted at having to leave with the project so near conclusion, Nick carried on the good work. Once on the jack, it was a matter of jacking the van up to allow the engine to be rolled under the engine bay and then jacking the engine into the van. This is not as easy as it sounds. For anyone who has never put an engine back in a VW (or any vehicle for that matter I guess), it takes a lot of wriggling and pushing to get the crankshaft and clutch aligned with the gearbox. With Lee pushing and jiggling the engine and Nick operating the jack, we eventually managed to get it in the right position.

Then, with the van lowered again but the engine still supported by its jack, Nick set about the task of bolting it all in place.

Three hours or so later, the engine was finally fitted. The engine bar had been secured (after an inital problem with one of the brackets) and Nick had bolted on the remaining tinware. (Tinware, as you'll remember from previous posts, is the metal which funnels air over the engine). The nastiest job had been fitting the fuel line. Even with the line clamped as tight as possible, lying under the van and a removing the plug to fit it to the pump means you get petrol dribbling down your arms. Nice! Here's the mole's eye perspective...

With Lee putting the final touches to the van today (tuning and fitting the new exhaust back-box), Squiffy should be ready to come home on Thursday evening. I can't wait!

Come back for more news on Friday!

Nick and I set to work sorting through the jigsaw of tinware pieces (exchanging many quizzical glances and shrugs--it's quite an exercise in spatial reasoning!). Meanwhile, Lee put the final touches to the beautifully prepared long block (the heart of the engine).

Only one thing stood between us and Squiffy with a purring engine at the end of the day, and that was... a badly fitting oil pump! Unfortunately, despite hours of grinding, hammering, blow-torching and cut fingers, nothing would make our oil pump fit properly to the engine, until we eventually had to swap the part out for another which, mercifully, fitted perfectly.

It was starting to look like we wouldn't be able to reach our goal of having the engine back in the van and running by the end of the day, but after a quick lunch, things began to pick up and progress was rapid. On went the rest of the tinware, the engine's fan and the very business-like carburetors which Lee then carefully set-up.

Despite valiant efforts, the absence of a few of the key components of any good engine (erm spark-plugs being one!) meant that we had to call it a day for today. But we're not beat!

Will Lee and the London2Sydney team be able to get the engine back in the van before Andy's 4pm flight back to the US...? The challenge begins 0900 hours, L.A. Performance's workshop. Check back tomorrow to find out!

Due to Squiffy's previous oil leak, much of this shrouding was absolutely covered in oil and several years of general dirt and gunge. Armed with some GUNK (http://www.gunk.ca/), several cloths, some surgical gloves, some soapy water and some black spray paint, Andy and I tackled the tinware with a vengence. Let me tell you that there is nothing more satisfactory that taking a piece of dirty metal and restoring it into a glistening example of VW precision engineering. Erm, is there?

And so tomorrow we head for LA Performance, ready to bolt the tinware onto the engine and put the engine back into Squiffy. Watch this space! Tomorrow could be a momentous chapter in the L2S story! We're excited!

Meanwhile, a spot-the-difference competition. Answers on...an e-mail!

Meanwhile, with all the talk of engines, petrol and carburretors, this is one picture we hope not to be taking when on our way to Sydney...

:o)

Here are a couple of cheeky snaps I took of the engine over at LA Performance today.

Lee has taken lots of photos of the engine being rebuilt (everything from cleaning to balancing) and I'm hoping to have these on the website as soon as possible. Right, now I have to think about cleaning some of the tinware so it matches up to the shiny new engine.