Throughout the series, you’ll notice Pat drives the new Nissan Patrol. It’s a 3.0-litre common rail turbo diesel 2009 model, with plenty of grunt to tackle the toughest tracks in Australia. In Pat’s words: “The beauty of this Patrol is that it combines a bulletproof drive-train with real aftermarket bolt-ability. You can bolt a whole lot of goodies to this fourby to make it an even better touring four-wheel drive. Of course, straight out of the box it’s one of the most capable 4WDs you’ll find. In fact, I can’t think of a tougher 4WD out there.”
Pat’s Patrol hasn’t been extensively modified, but it has some primo modifications done by the aftermarket leaders in Australia.

ARB GEARProtection equipment is ultra-important in the Aussie outback, and the nose and radiator of the Nissan is kept safe thans to an ARB colour-coded winch bar. Mounted inside the winch bar is a Warn 12,000lb electric winch – the gold standard in winches. The bull bar also features IPF Sport driving lights and two aerials. The middle aerial is the ICOM UHF aerial, while the driver’s side aerial is a HiTV digital television aerial, but more about that later.

With a family of five, fitting all of your gear inside becomes problematic, so the only way is up. An ARB steel roof rack was installed here, and it has provided 20,000km worth of trouble-free touring. ARB now offer these roofracks in aluminium construction, and Pat will be trialling that next season.

Underneath the Nissan is a Long Ranger long range fuel tank. It replaces the standard 95-litre fuel tank, and increases total fuel capacity to around 160 litres. The fuel tank is manufactured by Out of Town 4WD who have been making auxiliary fuel tanks for over 30 years. The tank is tough too, being made from 2mm aluminised steel.
Suspension performance is always critical when you’re loaded up and on outback roads, so ARB Wentworthville led by 4WD guru Cosmo Scarpin, installed a heavy-duty Old Man Emu suspension kit. The heart of the suspension is Old Man Emu Nitrocharger Sport shock absorbers – the most tuneable and best performing shocks on the market. And to carry the loads, heavy duty coil springs were also installed, giving the best combination of great handling, a superb ride and brilliant load-carrying ability.

The Callinan’s tour as a family, and that means three children (aged 4 to 8) riding shotgun. To keep the little dudes and dude-ette amused, a HiTV Twin-View system has been installed. This involves two new headrests (supplied with the installation), and there are hundreds of different fabric and leather colours available, so it looks like a standard vehicle part. The screens can play both digital television (when in range), and DVDs. To install the DVDs you simply flip the screen forward and pop in the disc. This allows two different DVDs to be screened at once – perfect with different ages and boys and girls. And the best part? Wireless headphones with switchable channels, so the kids can tune in. And if mum and dad want to tune into the sound, they can through the FM radio. Cool.
To talk to the film crew or other travellers, Pat has chosen an ICOM UHF CB radio. The CB is fitted to an Outback overhead console from 4WD Interior Accessories, mounted on the inside roof of the Patrol. The overhead console is a real boon, as it not only holds and powers the ICOM, it also has a nice big swing-down hatch, where Pat stows his Pivotel satellite telephone.
Yep, the Patrol is a cracking touring vehicle, made all the better with these top accessories.