The memory upgrade for my old T41 arrived today – an extra 1GB of RAM to take it to a total of 1.5GB. It’s a small module (less than 5cm long and only a couple of millimetres thick) … ThinkPad memory typically comes in a 10cm long cardboard box, and they had packed this in a 30cm long box – and it was delivered by a truck large enough for us to move house with – talk about overkill!

Anyway, only took a couple of minutes to upgrade and the performance boost was immediately noticable – I think the T41 will do well (although I would have loved to get a new X61!). Now I just have to load all the software I’ll need and make sure I’ve got it set up to handle the data requirements. I also need to make sure I can download the photos and have a backup drive available. I’ve already upgraded the internal hard drive to 80GB, and I’ll take one of two spare 80GB 2.5″ hard drives as backups – paranoia is a good data management strategy I find.

I ordered some gear from the REI in the US, including some pants, some more ExOfficio boxer shorts, a Leatherman tool, and a water filter. When I asked them how long to expect for shipping, they told me 4 – 6 weeks for delivery to Australia. It arrived in 4 days (although it took a week for them to get the order ready for shipping). I was pretty impressed – and very relieved … if the pants didn’t fit or there was something else wrong, I needed time to either send them back and get them replaced, or else to find a replacement.

I’ll write more about the gear we bought while on the trip – but so far I’m happy with the pants, and of course, I love the boxer shorts.

Our order of gear from GoGoGear.com.au arrived today – including a travel sheet to test (I’m not sure if it is going to be wide enough for me or whether I need a double sheet), a daypack, water bottle, packing cubes, lightweight LED torches, and a travel towel.

I won’t write detailed descriptions of them now – I’ll wait until we have used them on our trip before writing reviews of each item and identifying whether it was worthwhile spending the money on them.

Another Sunday spent in Adventure Alley – Kent Street Sydney. Our goal for today was to decide on the shoes we wanted and to start looking at travel packs.

We didn’t start so well – we went to Paddy Pallins and I tried the Hi-Tec Multiterra Mid WP again, but decided to rule it out – I’m sure I would regret buying them – I’ll end up with bruised feet, unable to walk properly. However, there were some other Hi-Tec’s which I’m sure weren’t there before – the V-Lite Fasthike Mid WP. Unfortunately they didn’t have it in my size, but I tried the low cut version and it fit well. I tried a size smaller for the mid-cut and it was pretty good – not a lot of slippage. I asked the people and Paddy Pallins if they could get them in – after a few calls, they tracked a pair in my size down at one of their other stores. After paying a refundable deposit, they arranged to have them sent in and held for me. Looks like my goal of buying shoes this week is not going to happen.

Leanne decided to buy the Hi-Tec Multiterra Ultra Mid WP – it’s a nice solid waterproof shoe with a Vibram sole. A bit stiff for my liking, but seems to suit Leanne well.

I bought some tops from Paddy’s some nice lightweight quick drying t-shirts and a shirt. I’ll also need some cold weather gear- it can get very cold (high wind chill factor) where we are going. I couldn’t find any pants that fit me – hopefully the stuff I’ve ordered from REI will do the trick, otherwise I’ll be stuck with jeans and cargos – not ideal if they get wet!

We finished off the day trying on some packs. We had already tried some Mont and One Planet packs a couple of weeks ago, I quite liked the One Planet Exact Fit harness – so it was a useful benchmark for comparison. After trying packs in several stores, we gave up, neither of us could find anything that came even close to being comfortable. I seem to have a problem where regular harnesses are too short and long harnesses are too long. It’s looking like the One Planet harness might be my only choice.

We gave up near 5pm and headed back to Gloria Jeans at Darling Habour for our post-shopping sugar fix  before heading home.

Visited some of the travel stores in Chatswood tonight – found some nice tops in the new Paddy Pallins store that actually fit me! I didn’t buy any – but I’ll look in town on Sunday when we go in to buy some shoes.

Ended up in Mountain Equipment where Leanne tried the Asolo Voyager boots again to decide whether she liked them or not. I tried the Garmont Flash XCR II mid-cut once more to see if I was happy with the decision. I’m still not 100% sure – a bit too much slippage in the heels, and I can’t seem to tie them in such a way that minimises that. I decided to leave it until Sunday when we head into town again – I’ll compare them to the Hi-Tec Multiterra Ultra Mid again. Leanne decided to leave the Asolos too – our goal for Sunday is to decide on some shoes and start trying packs.