Khabarovsk to Vladivostok

We've made it!! 25,000km since London and we're finally here. Both just a little tired of sitting in the car, so we will enjoy a few days break in Vladivostok while we get the car sorted and shipped to Australia. It will be quite a change travelling by bus and train through China!

It's been a long, long drive from Moscow. Like Australia there's hundreds of kilometres of the same!... But we're glad we've accomplished it. We have been pleasantly surprised by the very few issues that we've had. Apart from a few exhaust welds that we've needed along the way, the car has held up very well. No flat tyre at all for the whole trip! And personally, apart from a few minor complaints, we're doing well too!

Russia is definitely not the dangerous place it's made out to be. Follow the rules, be polite and no one will bother you!

Chita to Khabarovsk

Distance: 2165km

This was the part of the trip that I had been dreading. From what we'd read, there was an 810km stretch that was unfinished, with large rocks and mud. Turns out the Russians have been busy as this stretch was the best we've had in Russia. Brand new, tarred road. They were still painting the white lines. There was only about 20km of gravel. A few hundred kms out of Chita there was a big party marquee tent and a map showing how much of the road was completed. We got out, took a photo of the sign, had a brief chat with one of the guys there, but then the boss came over and shooed us away. We have since learned that Putin was not far behind us, which explains why there was a marquee, and they were still working at 9pm... and why we had trouble finding accommodation in Khabarovsk and Chita. In Khabarovs, the Check-in process for the third-rate hotel we ended up finding was quite lengthy, she had to make a phone call because she was concerned we hadn't registered our visas for almost a week, and needed to see all our hotel registrations. Wehadn't had that anywhere else. Once you're checked in we got a hotel card, then had to go up 2 flights of stairs to get the key to the room... odd...

So, the fact that we've had a better run than we thought we would, is good for the car and good for our backs, but, may now have had the few extra days in Mongolia, ah well.

Not much to report otherwise on this stretch... lots and lots of forest, lots of random people popping out of the forest or just standing next to the road in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.

The approach to Khabarovsk is really pretty, lots of wetland, stalls on the side of the road selling fruit and veg... and we had a nice sunset... long bridge across the Amur River into town

Irkutsk to Chita

Distance: 1206km
Had a cruisy start to the morning in Irkutsk, loaded some photos to facebook, enjoyed the breakfast buffet, complete with Vodka Orange! On the way out of town accidently ended up heading down a bus only street and inevitably got pulled up. Got away with it because the policeman eventually got fed up with us not being able to speak much Russian and being non-plussed when he went to put Matt's drivers licence in his coat pocket.
From Irkutsk the scenery really starts to improve, much less industry spoiling the landscape. We drove around the bottom of Lake Baikal, which, to use a phrase from Gavin and Stacey which we have just finished watching from start to finish, hilarious, is 'immense'! More like a sea than a lake. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and very windy and cold so didn't go in for a dip, and didn't get much of a sunset.
There's still very little tourist development around this area of the lake, and there's a large area of nature reserve so was difficult to find somewhere to camp. We ended up staying in a basic soviet-era hotel near Babushkin, a couple of kilometres off the main road. It was 1740 for the room plus 100 for parking, so wasn't expecting much. Pleasantly surprised that we had an ensuite bathroom, with a cast iron bath, though the cold water wouldn't stop running so had to turn it off at the tap. 2 single beds that we could fee the springs of the mattress through, and a full-sized fridge. So, basic, but did the job. It was a nice little area with quite a few jetties, stalls selling birch bark boxes, a few kiosks, but getting into the hotel carpark was more like getting into Fort Knox! Least we knew the car was secure.
Had to get some yet more welding on the exhaust done, rear muffler mount, then had to get some brake pads replaced in Ulan Ude... Fingers crossed that's the end of the car complaints, though that split in the tyre wall from Morocco has gotten a touch bigger....
On the way to Ulan Ude, we took a bit of a detour off the main road to stay along the lake shore for a while longer. Glad we did, the villages along this route were really pretty and well-kept, and there was a great long sandy spit where people were fishing and kite surfing, just a pity it was so windy!
Just South of Ulan Ude the scenery was absolutely beautiful, lush, green rolling hills, meandering rivers, really really pretty.
Saw lots of overloaded vans on the way to Chita. The roads have a pretty good surface but are pretty bouncy, even the new bits! There was no room at the inn in Chita, so we had a nice meal in a Kafe with old wooden benches which was quite nice, but then started the trek out of town towards Khabarovsk, and the unknown quality of roads!
Went to the Supermarket to stock up on a few supplies, but found it quite difficult to find much veg and meat, and the food markets had all closed for the day... So for the next couple of days we're eating some kind of frozen rissole things and tuna pasta. Can't wait for a change of food in China!

Omsk to Irkutsk (via Tomsk)

Distance: 2673km

Starting to lose track of what time it is! Have crossed quite a few time zones, and are now at Moscow + 5 hours. We think! Lucky I'm keeping a diary or I would have no hope of knowing what day it is!

Officially in Siberia now. Lots of wetlands and marshes. So experiencing lots and lots of mosquitoes. Even just stopping for a quick loo stop you're likely to get bitten!! It is very flat. I think I was expecting more mountains. The traffic has started to thin a little bit, but the roads are definitely not what I would call quiet.

Where the M51 ends and the M53 starts near Novosobirsk, there were roadworks so we had to come off. But the detour wasn't very well sign-posted so ended up in the city and coming out the wrong road. We're working on 1cm = 15km map so didn't have much detail!. We ended up having to go cross country otherwise we would have had to take a further 150km detour to Kemerovo (we wanted to go to Tomsk, otherwise that wouldn't have been an issue). It was an 'interesting' drive, though not ideal at dusk and then dark... The road eventually thinned out to dirt and corrugations, with lots of potholes. About half-way we needed to ask directions on which road to take out of the town (which surprisingly given it's location had lots of high rises and quite heavily populated). Almost everyone was intoxicated! But friendly and willing to help. One wanted to get in the car to show us the way, but thankfully we don't have room!

Tomsk is a nice university town. There's a concentration of nicely refurbished wooden buildings and good places to eat and shop. Was a good place to have a break for an afternoon and we stayed overnight in a hotel to update our registration. We ate at a place near the hotel called Pastamama, and were a little surprised to see prices for Vodka and other spirits, not just per 100mL but also for the whole bottle! Although the road to Mineersk looked like a minor road on our map, it was pretty good. It was only gravel for about 20km, where there were also some nice, well-kept villages.

The road is getting progressively patchier. Some parts are great, others are none existent, particularly where the new road is being built. Quite muddy and rocky in places. Where the landcruiser overtakes all the little jap cars. Right-hand vs left-hand drive cars are now just as common as each other.

Some other Overlanders - We usually see at least one other 'Overlander' a day. Usually they are sensibly doing the trek in the other direction.

Yekaterinburg to Omsk

Distance: 1086km

Not much to report on this leg of the journey! Lots of wheat farms, and again changeable road conditions. Roads were really good for the first few hundred kilometres from Yekaterinburg but then there were long bumpy and rocky stretches which were 50 zones. So some of it was quite slow going.

Stopped for some 'Maclo' (oil) to do the oil change and as we were pulling off noticed a bad noise from the exhust. Turns out a weld had come sheer off at the base of the extractors. It was Saturday (town day) so had trouble finding an open mechanic ('CTO'), but did eventually. Had some fun trying to have broken English/Russian conversations with a few of the locals while we waited.

Have been eating mainly at Kafes on the way, preferably ones with at least a couple of trucks parked out front. We're starting to pick up a few words, but it can be hard to decipher the handwritten cryllic so often just point at something random on the menu!

Moscow to Yekaterinburg

Aug 17 to Aug 20 via Kazan and Perm
Distance: 1881km
We left the comforts of our hotel at approx 10am on Tuesday, heading East into the unknown. Weren't sure to what extent we would be impacted by the bushfires, it was hard to get exact locations of affected areas, only that the Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan regions were all alight to some extent. There was a lot of traffic heading out of Moscow so we didn't get very far very quickly. Stopped off to top up on some groceries. As we'd expected some items not as cheap as you might expect. In particular 1.5/2L bottles of water are around 25-30 Roubles, at least double what we had been paying through Europe.
We took the M7 and did see a lot of smoke, particular near Nizhny Novgorod, and quite a lot of smouldering embers and back burning. No raging fires in sight. So one area of concern now dealt with!
The quality of the roads vary considerably, and there is a lot of roadworks and towns to slow down for. The worst area would be between Kazan and Perm, the best between Kungur and Yekaterinburg. Though where the roads are good, there is also a much higher concentration of police!
Came across a group of cars from France who were on their way back having driven to Beijing. They had a total of about 60 cars, everything from Patrols, old jaguars and even motorhomes, with local guides for each section. Thought we were a bit crazy doing it on our own! Stopped at that cafe for a coffee... very very sweet, have since discovered that without milk the coffee is quite tasty.
First night we camped in truck parking for 70 Roubles. Locked gate so felt quite secure. Second night we bush camped, well attempted to bush camp on the road between Ishevsk and Igra. We pulled of the side of the road and down a little track. Were well hidden from the road with a field the other side. Cooked our dinner and set up the tent and went to sleep. Problem was, a couple of hours later I needed to get up to use 'the facilities' and could see a light coming over the field. Could swear it was a car and big torch coming directly for us. Had to wake Matt up and in the end we packed up and moved on... at 2am! In hindsight, the road probably curved around and it was just headlights I was seeing, or there are lots of oil rigs in the area, could have been lights from one of them. Drove about 1/2 an hour up the road to a truck area and tried to get some sleep in the car. Needless to say we didn't get much. Damn me and my paranoia! So we were very, very, very tired on arrival in Yekaterinburg, after 3 pretty full days of driving and a bad sleep. We tried to find camping on the outskirts of town, though "Kemping" or camping as we know it, is not camping. That or they didn't want foreigners, we got turned away. Ended up at the brand new Ramada Hotel on the road out to the airport. We were able to use their free wi-fi connection in the carpark outside the hotel to double check the rates, and this was one of the cheapest places in town at 4,500 Roubles. Good hotel, free parking and wi-fi and that rate includes taxes. The rates you initially see on hotels.com or other booking sites do not include taxes but get added on when you go to pay. The Ramada price was cheaper walking in than on booking sites.
In terms of touristy highlights. We stopped at a little town called Bogolyubovo just outside of Vladimir, where there is an old church quaintly positioned next to a river, and floodplain. Kazan's Kremlin is very pretty, with white-washed walls and beautiful church and Mosque. The town itself is also generally very pretty and much more well-kept than other places we have been. It is the capital of the Tatarstan Republic which we discovered held on to much of its autonomy during the soviet era so was able to keep much of its wealth internal. Around Ishevsk, Perm and Kurgan there are many prisons, very depressing looking places. Along with Siberia, a lot of political prisoners were sent to the Urals during Communist times. At Kurgan, there are some ice caves, that were quite interesting, and it was nice to get out of the car and have a bit of a walk! Entry is 300 Roubles each with a guided (Russian) tour. The guide seemed quite good, everyone was laughing and nodding... we caught the odd word.

Had originally planned to spend 2 nights in Yekaterinburg, though the weather isn't great, so we saw some of the main sights, like the church of the blood and the site where the Romanovs were murdered, all by car then wandered the markets and the main street (Lenina) by foot and had a pizza for lunch. Was only 3:30 so decided to make a start on the next day's driving.

Terehova (Latvia) to Moscow

Aug 15-16

Distance: 619km

Crossing the border from Latvia, at Terehova near Zilupe, to Russia was a pretty painless exercise, but very very long. 8 hours in total.

We arrived in Zilupe mid afternoon hoping to buy the Russian car insurance before entering, turns out you can now only buy it at customs. [Once you are cleared through Latvian customs you can park and enter the building to purchase the insurance which cost us about 2300 Rubles. For vehicles up to 3.5 tonne, the premium is based on engine size]

We went to check out the queue at the border and while there were km and km of trucks waiting, there were very few cars, so after a couple of beers with some of the drivers we decided to head off somewhere to cook some dinner and try and get a couple of hours sleep. Our Russian visa didn't start til the next day.

That was a bit of a mistake! We got back to the border at 10pm Latvian/11pm Russian time and the queue had grown significantly. It seemed they were prioritising the trucks at this point, because our queue moved once after half an hour, about 6 spots up, then about 6 more after an hour and so on... 4 hours just to get to the front of the queue!

Border process

1) Once you pass the traffic light go up to the first booth and pick up a slip of paper which has a stamp of which number car you are through for the day. We were number 69. They had a computer which had hundres of licence plates and you have to identify which one is yours. Not sure where it got scanned, but the number plates seemed to be in order of arrival at the gate.

2) Shuffle up a bit further and go through Latvian passport control. Matt was able to take both passports up to the counter

3) Customs - Took a cursory look over the vehicle, in the boot. Didn't seem too concerned with us. Most other cars they even checked under the bonnet.

4) If needed, buy Russian auto insurance from the building at the Latvian customs. There are places to park once you've been cleared.

5) Drive up to the next booth where you need to hand back the slip you were given at the first booth.

You're now in no man's land!

6) First booth you come to you will need to show passport and pick up a migration card. Fill this out while you are waiting for a spot to be available at passport control

7) Passport control do a thorough check of the passport and the visa. They seemed to check that everything on the visa was exactly as per how it is written on the passport, so make sure there are no spelling mistakes on your visa!

8) 2 booths up is then customs. There is a form that needs to be completed, all in Cryllic. We were lucky that the Latvian driver in front of us was nice enough to translate the form for us. Still we had made a mistake but the border guard changed the form for us! We found all the border guards to be polite and helpful. All were interested in our journey. We experience none of the issues we were afraid of. Hopefully the process at the other end will be just as smooth.

The car got another cursory look, and the vehicle importation stamp and passports are double checked at stations on the way out (we had to wake one of them up, they'd fallen asleep - don't blame then) then we're in Russia!

The queue to get out of Russia looked just as long.

We took the M9 into Moscow, straight-forward enough. The road is very very bumpy though. Some big pot-holes and deep ruts from the trucks. The other thing to watch out for is the constantly changing speed limits, sometimes for no obvious reason. Being tired we missed that we'd just entered a town. Sure enough there were police waiting there. Smiley smiley but we did get fined. Paid about £4 and lesson learnt! We saw about 3 more checkpoints, got stopped at 1 as we entered the main motorway into Moscow near Volokolamsk. Just a routine check of drivers licence and insurance and we were on our way.

We stopped at a Kafe on the Motorway, looking out for one with plenty of trucks. Good hearty potato and meat stew and we were on out way. For those that are interested we did see a few camping grounds, mostly attached to a petrol station, but there were a couple that looked to be set up on a river and looked relatively decent.

Road conditions on the Motorway were great but the drivers got a bit crazier! We stayed near Izmailovo Park so took the ring road all the way around, huge big apartment blocks with crazy electricity cables going between them, big retail centres and one very space age looking building. 5 lane freeway all the way round - that's what the M25 needs to be!

Got to the Hotel (Izmailovo Vega) and just crashed. Including stops for fuel and a quick lunch it had taken us 10 hours to travel 600km. The restaurant at the hotel had exorbitant prices so we ate at Taverna nearby. Slept very very well.

While it is a bit hazy here, it is not very smokey. Apart from when the wind blew up a little bit we haven't been able to smell smoke at all.

We have only had one day to look around Moscow. The Red Square and Kremlin (St Basil's Cathedral is so unique and something really worth seeing) were obvious highlights, as were the pastries from the self-service supermarket in the GUM department store! We spent a few hours wandering through Arbat, Katay Gorad and Tverskoy. Ate to My-My (pronounced Moo-Moo) where the service is buffet-style and prices are really reasonable, it was recommended both by some people we met in Lithuania and Lonely Planet). We also stopped at a placed called Bar BQ in Tverskoy, only for a coffee, but the food there is also reasonably priced and look good. It is only a short walk to the Gallery.

Heading further East tomorrow. Would love to spend another few days in Moscow to explore the galleries, but am more keen to get going, want to know what's around the next corner! It also makes sense given we only have a 30 day visa to get to the other side and ship the car and Moscow is also expensive!

The Baltics

Aug 5 to Aug 15

Weren't quite sure what to expect of Lithuania and Latvia, hadn't done a lot of research and weren't sure how long we'd be here for, but we have loved it so far. Not as busy as the rest of Europe so we've been able to relax a bit.

Our first stop was Trakai in Lithuania, about 20km east of the capital Vilnius. It was a 'top' campsite (to use the phrasing of our lonely planet) about 5km north of the town on the opposite side of the lake. Trakai is a beautiful little place with 2 castles on the lake. We hired one of those paddle boats and took ourselves for a little cruise, having a well-deserved beer afterwards!. Nice to have some sunshine again after all the rain we've had for the last couple of weeks.

Went via the Akropolis (as in the shopping mall chain) on our way into Vilnius. That's one thing we've noticed here, there are retail parks and big shopping centres with huge hypermarkets everywhere. In Latvia especially, there are a lot of run-down buildings and apartment blocks, but there's plenty of places to shop, everyone dresses well and there's not a lot of old cars around. It's a little hard to tell what the financial situation of people really is here.

Vilnius has a nice old town centre as well, a few market stalls, selling amber (which we have since seen absolutely everywhere) but again, so quiet, nice to be able to stroll through the streets in a little bit of peace!

From Vilnius, we were heading west towards the coast, and Trakai was a little out of the way, so decided to check out the Vilnius city camping. It was literally in a disused carpark behind what looked like some retail or light industrial buildings. If you had a tent, you had the 1.5 - 2 m space between the rows of carparks. There is so much green space not more than 3 or 4km from the city centre. Hopefully it's not too long before someone sets up something a little better. In the end we took the detour back to Trakai.

The Hill of Crosses was quite something, particularly given the history of it being bull-dozed a number of times in the Soviet era. People lay a cross in remembrance or in asking for Mercy as a show of their faith. The crosses were stacked so densely on top of each other.

We ended up on the Neringa Spit, a small stretch of land from Klaipeda down to the Russian-governed area of Kaliningrad. Sand dunes, wooden fishermans houses, beaches, a perfect place to recuperate for a couple of days. We got some pretty heavy storms, but we just ate at the bar those nights, which actually had some great Chinese!

We met some great people from Moscow who have given us some really useful tips, phrases and places to visit while we're in Russia. They did seem a little more concerned than we are about the journey itself though :)

Straight around the coast from Klaipeda to Riga. The roads became a little worse on entering Latvia, though there is plenty of European funding being used on development. There was a large stretch of road around the tip to Kolka (the geographic centre of Europe) that looked like it was about ready to be tarred.

Jurmala, about 20km west of Riga is a Spa resort town that became popular in the early 1900s. Not my kind of place. There was a very, very long pedestrian street packed with markets, with restaurants and bars along the edge. Once you got past the first few stalls, it all started to become the same. I loved all the old wooden buildings though, but this area seems to have a lot of money (there weren't many here that were rundown). We think you're actually meant to pay a 1 Lat (about £1.20) entry fee to enter the town, though we must have missed that sign. Ooops

Now in Riga, which is really beautiful. Enjoyed a cocktail on the 26th floor of the Radisson which has a great view over the city.

Feels a bit strange now. We've kind of finished our tour of Europe and tomorrow, Saturday morning, we head East for the Russian border. We plan to camp just outside the border for a few hours and enter just after midnight. It's about a 700km drive to Moscow and we have accommodation booked for Sunday night. I know! A proper bed!!

We have been keeping an eye on the fires and the smog in Moscow. The situation seems to be improving, but we will keeping watching for updates. Fingers crossed all goes well at the border!

Deutschland

24 July – 27 July

 

Had never been to the Eastern side of Germany before, so really enjoyed our quick trip to Dresden and Berlin. Particularly for the history. Spent hours reading all the billboards on Berlin’s history both at Checkpoint Charlie and Alexanderplatz. Really interesting, and hard to imagine the limitations on people’s travel and movements, that it was only 20 years ago that the wall came down and Germany formed the Republic it is today. Both Dresden and Berlin are beautiful cities, lots of parkland, beautiful buildings...  Really enjoyed it, even got a day of sunshine to enjoy Berlin! Randomly found a Russian bookstore where we were hoping to buy some maps, which they didn’t have. Got to try out some of my Russian though and she understood me... so have a little more confidence now!

 

We need to enter Russia on 15 August so still have 3 weeks left... weren’t sure whether to spend more time in Germany or in the Baltics, but then met Marek from Poland who insisted we visit lots of places there, so looks like about 10 days in Poland! Looking forward to it.

Polski

From 27 July and still there

 

First stop was Poznan, which if it wasn’t for Marek from Berlin we would have driven straight past. A beautiful little city. Has a lovely old market square with buildings with different coloured and styles of facade. Enjoyed sitting and having a coffee and watch the world go by. Easy to see in a couple of hours. We ended up staying 2 nights. First day it just rained so caught up on a bit of my travel diary, did some washing (free clothes dryer) , worked out a bit of a plan for the rest of our days in Europe, just chilled, then rode in to have a look around the town the next morning. Stopping off at the Westfields like shopping centre on the way back for a few supplies.

 

Stop 2, the religious centre of Czestochowa, which is home to the miracle of the Black Madonna (the one with tears). So many pilgrims, bus loads and bus loads just kept on arriving. We didn’t queue to see the Madonna up close, but did see it from a distance.  Only stayed the one night then further south to Krakow. A bit like Prague, a beautiful city with a great old market square and a castle, but again rain and groups on hens and bucks parties. Again, great if you’re there to party but not for a peaceful stroll around town... Why is it that we always end up in these places on a Friday night?!!

 

Then further south towards the Tatra Mountains and the ski resort of Zakopane. Would be a great spot in the Winter. In Summer it just rains! We could only see to the first group of mountains, only about 30% of the way up when we looked at the postcards. But a very lively town. Lots of street markets and performers. Lots of hikes you could do as well. Unfortunately no mountain bikes allowed in the national park though.

 

Random stop last night, again at what seemed like a popular spot for the locals. Near a lake called Roznowskie. We ended up having to do a bit of 4WDriving to get there as part of the road we were heading along had been taken out by a mudslide. AutoRoute came in handy to show us the local road around, which turned into grass and then mud, with a big locked gate blocking the entrance at the other end. Small steep gap between that and the tree.. got round it eventually, with a ‘Bravo’ from the guy who was picking fruit nearby.

 

Now in Warsaw, haven’t been into the centre of town yet. Need to catch up on a few things, like an oil change and find the Russian and Mongolian embassies to get a bit of admin sorted out.

Czech Republic

20 July – 24 July

 

Our first stop in Czech was a great spot for lunch. A lake about 30km South of Cesky Krumlov, suggested to us by a random Austrian man who had sought us out in a supermarket after seeing the Aussie car in the carpark. The lake was a big local tourist area, also looked like it would be popular for the ski season. Lots of people out cycling, rollerblading...

 

We headed to Cesky Krumlov for the afternoon, on what was finally a nice sunny afternoon. A beautiful old town, lovely old buildings, cobbled streets, people rafting along the river through the town. We ended up camping a little way down the river just out of town. Was nice and quiet and watched as the rafters continued on down past us.

 

Then to Prague, which I have to say was a little bit of a let down, just didn’t get the ‘wow’ factor that I was expecting. I think with a group it would be more fun, checking out the bars and clubs... and maybe it was the weather (very hot, humid, and stormy)... or the groups of English lads after out for the bucks weekend... It is a very pretty city, but as I think I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve become a bit of a travel ‘snob’, after 2 months through Europe you get to the point where a castle is just another castle, a beautiful old bridge is just another bridge. Which is terrible I know. Really enjoyed our cycle though. For anyone who’s been to Prague, you know the hill the castle is on? Our campsite was 3km further up so the cycle back from the centre of town took quite a lot out of us. Collapsed next to the car when we got there.

 

We had a little Czech cash left so picked a random town, Karlovy Very (Karlsbad) West of Prague. It’s a town with natural springs, where the water is meant to have great healing properties. I tried it, tasted horrible, but now I must be healed from whatever it was that I had. The springs got hotter and hotter the further up the river you went, to the point where it was too hot to touch the pipe. A great worthwhile stop, even the random campsite we found where we felt like we were in someone’s backyard. Felt a bit sorry for the group on a canoeing trek whose dinner got washed out. Yep. Raining here too!

Osterreich (Austria)

Jul 18 – Jul 20

 

Again, a short but sweet stay.

 

Stayed in a campsite across the river from Wien, in Neue Donau. Had heard bad things about the Wien campsites, very narrow plots. This was true, but they are quite long, and the ground was not very full so there was plenty of space. Even the Contiki group that turned up on the second night didn’t spoil it. They were very quiet, must be near the end of their tour.

 

Rode the bikes in again. Vienna is built for bikes so it was a really nice ride in. Had to cross over 2 bridges, one of which had a crazy spiral bike ramp to go up 3 stories onto the bridge. Then through a nice green park... and onto the wide streets of Vienna. Should of eaten at the Aussie bar we stopped at for a beer. We ended up at the Rosenburg Cafe opposite the Sacher cafe (which we ended up at later for some torte and coffee). Not cheap and not good quality food either. Ah well... live and learn.  The souvenir shops have lots of “we’re not Australia” trinkets. Like “Austria. No Kangaroos” street sign shirts, glasses etc. Austrian Kangaroo, ie. Cows, stuff...  you get my drift.

 

Weather wasn’t great, so didn’t ended up spending much time in Austria... moved on to Czech Republic

 

 

Slovenia

Jul 16 – Jul 18

 

Lake Bohinj. An outdoor person’s paradise. It has everything. Great hiking trails ( I did a short 45min walk up to a waterfall while Matt ‘watched the car’!), mountain biking, paragliding and plenty of water sports. Campsites are crowded (it’s illegal to free camp in Slovenia) but they’ll fit you in. We arrived quite late having driven up through the mountains from Venice. A great drive, very steep in parts, but there were also lots of cyclists. I am still amazed at the cyclists. Both the ones that ride on these crazy mountain passes and the ones that cycle 170km a day with all their clothes, tent etc strapped to the bike. I’m proud when we do our 20km!

 

Our day on Lake Bohinj consisted of a ride along the lake into town and back, a swim in the lake, a hike and a stroll around the town of Bled before finding a campsite on the other side of the river. So cruisey! Unfortunately torrential rain spoiled our plans of a nice bike ride up the mountain the next morning. Instead we got chatting with some of the other campers. Campsites generally have such a great friendly atmosphere. Can pretty much start chatting with anyone about their car/camper or their travels. And everyone has an interesting story or good advice. Definitely one of the few pluses compared to travelling in hotels J. Though I spose it is a big plus. [Can you tell I’m getting just a little bit sick of the car J]

 

So our stay in Slovenia was short. Just 2 nights, but it’s a beautiful spot. If we weren’t on a longer trip we would have spent time on some of the many 4WD tracks or rafting/canyoning or if I could get over my fear of heights, the spot where they were paragliding looked amazing.. Couldn’t really risk damage to car or selves. Only ½ way though.

Italy

July 4 – July 16

 

Aaahhh Italy. My third visit to Italy, but I am just as sure as the first time, that it wont be my last. Can’t quite pinpoint exactly what it is about Italy, but I just love it. Everyone is so laid-back, beautiful towns and scenery and of course there’s the food and coffee.

 

We headed North-East from Southern France through the Piedmont region to Milan. The area is known for it’s gastronomic delights, including Barolo wine, truffles amongst others. But for some reason everything was shut. Couldn’t work out if it was a public holiday or if everything is normally shut on a Monday. Either way, wasn’t good for my mood! Until that is, we found a great little co-op that was open... heaven. Except that because of the heat, the fridge isn’t working the best so couldn’t risk buying too much food.

 

Not much too Milan unless you’ve got a deep wallet and a big wardrobe to fill with beautiful clothes. I had to do with browsing and window shopping. The Duomo and the surrounding streets are beautiful, but a few hours was more than enough for us to get around. We rode our bikes in from the campsite, about a 25km round trip. Nice and flat so a relatively easy ride but so so hot. Lovely sweat patch on the back from the bag once we got back.

 

Next Stop, Lake Como. Again, loved it. Didn’t spot any famous faces, but then I’ve been known on a few occasions to walk directly past and even bump shoulders with quite famous people and not notice. Our campsite was right on the shore of the Lake, about 10km from Bellagio. Awesome view. The Espana v Deutschland match was on while we were there. A crowd of about 60 crowded outside watching a little tv. Great atmosphere, especially with quite vocal fans from both sides.

 

Could spend a week just exploring all the villages around the lake. Although the area is known for it’s famous locals, it just doesn’t have the same pretentiousness as the Southern coast. Much more relaxed. I was also surprised at how quiet the lake was. Maybe we caught it on a slow day, but was expecting to see a lot more boats and other watercraft on the Lake.

 

Como is also known for its Silk industry. My Lonely Planet (2010 edition) suggested a local silk producer to go and visit. The guide even had an interview transcript with the owner discussing how the Como silk industry will never die out, as people are aware of the quality etc etc. Turned up at the factory / outlet... It’s closed down. Moved to Switzerland. Another Aussie couple had turned up when we did, though they’d walked up from the town, not driven like we did, so were not impressed at all that it was not open. Strangely, the cafe inside the non-existent gallery is still open for business.

 

Cinque Terre (5 towns). We stayed in a town, Moneglia, just North of the Cinque Terre National Park. Prime land demands high prices, accounting for the steep camping prices for very little space. Suppose when there are cliffs and steep hills down to the sea it’s a bit hard to sprawl out. We walked to 4 of the 5 towns, only missing out on the last one, Monterosso. Really wanted to do the whole 5, but it was just a little too hot and the legs were starting to feel like jelly. It is a great walk though. Magnificent views and beautiful towns along the way to catch your breath and fill the water bottles up. Thoroughly enjoyed the swim in the bay at our last stop, Vernazza, as well. If I didn’t have to get on a train to get back to the campsite I would have walked straight into water fully clothed. Which is pretty much what Matt did, and forgot to empty the pockets J

 

Drove through beautiful Tuscany via Chianti and Florence on our way to Bologna. Where we stayed 3 whole nights. The most time we’ve spent in one spot since England. Bologna is not as touristy as most other places we’ve been so far. Most likely why we liked it. Not too many historical sites either. It’s all about strolling through the markets, particularly the food markets, drinking coffee. Two of my favourite past-times! We also learnt how to make hand-made pasta at La Vecchia Scuola. No machines involved, just flour, eggs, a rolling pin and lots of effort with the arms! Enjoyed eating the pasta (Tagliatelle, ravioli, tortellini) afterwards as well, which they served with 2 bottles of wine, an orange liqueur, coffee and chocolate cake. Yum Yum. Looking forward trying it out again at home.

 

Bologna is also where we were to watch the final of the World Cup, Holland v Espana. Nice close game, was hoping Holland would win or that it would at least go to penalties.. oh well... There was such a huge Dutch crowd at the campsite too, am sure they would have gone crazy.

 

Final Italian stop was Venice (after a brief stop at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello), where we caught up with Garry. Didn’t do too much sight-seeing having been there before. Caught the ferry into town, wandered around, got lost, ate gelato. Actually I think that’s exactly what I did last time I was there!

 

#End

A little bit of France (and Monaco)

Jul 3 – Jul 5

 

Had a couple of days in Southern France. Got to St Tropez around dusk and funnily enough had difficulty in finding reasonably priced camping grounds. We ended up in what we think was a dam catchment area, about 50m off a small local road. A surprisingly busy road it turned out, mostly due to some guy in his Ferrari taking some friends for joy rides up and down the street. We had a boar come visit as well... actually made me feel safer, less likely to get other unexpected visitors... just so long as I didn’t need to get up and go to the loo in the middle of the night.

 

Drove into St Tropez the next morning, for coffee and croissants. Ended up just getting takeaway. Felt very underdressed and unmanicured even at 7:30 in the morning! There was a great little bay just outside of town where we had a morning swim... even had sand. I remember Southern France as having only rocky beaches, but turns out that’s only from Nice Eastwards.

 

Spent some time in Monte Carlo, got a few photos of the car outside the casino next to the Ferraris. Camped just inside the Italian border at a dodgy little campground, whose owner pretended to speak bad English. Dinner in a quaint little town, Mataro (between Monaco and the Italian border). Great, reasonably priced cafes and a night market that was still going at midnight when we drove back past.

 

Unfortunately didn’t win big at the casino...

Hola Esapana!

We ended up spending a bit longer than originally intended in Spain, for relaxation, the sights and in part made necessary as repairs were required on the car.

 

First stop was the Costa del Sol where some kind friends let us stay for the night, which turned into 3 as it took a few extra days than planned to get one of the front trailing arm bolt replaced. This was mainly because it was a public holiday in Benalmadena where we were staying (though oddly only in that small part of the Costa del Sol, not the towns neighbouring). The San Juan Festival. There was a night of drinks dancing and fireworks on the beach, along with some odd traditions, swim as it turned midnight... walking over hot coals... There was also a night where lots of women were wearing traditional dresses, and we saw a local flamenco show in the square.... Thanks to the Greenans for showing us around town and for having us stay!

 

 

From there we headed North, to Grenada where we had a great look around the Alhambra...

camped in an olive field (and visited by the farmer in the morning as a bit of a hurry along we think J)

 and on to Madrid via Toledo.

 

There were 2 highlights for me of Madrid... firstly the Museu de Jambon in the centre of town.... really good Tapas... from 1EUR. We just stood and ate in the deli downstairs but there was a constant queue for the seating area upstairs... very, very popular and little wonder....

2^nd highlight was seeing a bullfight. Didn’t really intend to go. We got off at the Metro stop just to have a look around the ring itself, to compare to the one we’d seen in Sevilla, but as we exited we noticed there were ticket queues... as Matt was checking prices, someone was a bit too slow noticing an available ticket booth and Matt jumped in and bought the cheapest tickets available (in the sun, at the back). I’m glad to have been... if only to confirm that I didn’t like it. I like the theatrics of it, the skill of the Matadors... but I could not watch the swords and daggers strike the bull... or the bull charging the horses (that are now armoured).. we left after about 40 mins... though we definitely weren’t the first.

We stopped in Zaragoza (nice quaint town) and Montserrant (odd rocky mountain range) on our way across to Barcelona.

I loved Barcelona, but Matt preferred Madrid. I loved the Gaudi architecture, all the little shopping streets and that city beaches were within a couple of kilometres of the centre. Loved sitting in a little bar in a quiet part of town and watching the Spain v Portugal match with the locals. Didn’t so much enjoy realising we didn’t have much time to get the last bus back to the campsite and having to really power walk/run across town! Given that Spain had just played, the city was strangely quiet. Perhaps because we were in the touristy part of town, or they watch the matches at home.

After breaking down on the highway leaving Barcelona and spending a night in a hotel in Mataro we started heading to France and Italy. Stopped in Girona and Figueres on the way and bush camped next to a dam near the border. A really nice spot, including the 4W-Driving required to get down there!... and finding the tarred road the next morning. Got interrupted by some police who were looking to get rid of some people spear fishing, but other than that, probably the best free camp so far.

Leg 2: Waypoint tour of Morocco

So. We're computer mobile again after picking up a bit of tax-free bargain in Gibraltar (If you're nearby - Gibraltar is also worth a visit for £5.95 1L bottles of Jim Beam, oh and also great views from the top of the Gibraltar Rock where we spent some time with the Barbary apes - make sure you've got some pounds (the currency kind) on you cause they really stitch you on the exchange rate and lots of places dont take card. There is border control for those who were wondering. We got searched on the way out).

Morocco - Where to begin. Well given it's me that's writing this I'll start with food! Our Waypoint Tour began on 6th June at La Casita camping San Roque (a good town to get lost in) Spain with a great BBQ (braai) and meet and greet. Nice change to have someone else preparing the meals for us! and I have to say no one ever went hungry that's for sure! We had nothing but great quality food the whole trip. Everything from tagines, to kebabs, Nandos spiced chicken yum yum. The only times Barrie didn't cater were once in the desert where we got caught in a dust storm we ended up eating in a restaurant in the Kasbah we were camping in - though the tagine there wasn't a patch on his, and most definitely not the same portion sizing; a lunch in Tinehir where we had stopped for the day so the cars could rotate through the garage to fix various issues - we had a couple of kebabs on a roof top terrace overlooking the markets. and Pizza in Marrakech - again the food was a let down there - but we had a great position overlooking the main square, watching the sunset and the crowds growing - great atmosphere. So definitely no complaints on the food! Did miss my cereal for breakfast but most mornings we were up and going and i much preferred the extra 10 minutes kip to a proper breakfast.

The tour was a lot more than we expected. A lot less time spent on tar roads than even we imagined! We had everything, rock crawling through beautiful gorges, steep ascents and descents on very tight, bumpy tracks through beautiful valleys and cedar forests. Then there was the desert driving, sand dunes, salt beds and those bloody corrugations! No way we ould have navigated this ourselves without having done a significant amount of prior research. Taking seemingly random tracks in the middle of plains, no signs in most places. Only once did he miss turn off. We ended up driving through a farm. Good 4WD, but obviously we felt bad driving through their fields. It was difficult to get back onto the track as there was a deep drain to get across. Some kids helped us navigate our way out and thankfully they had already done their harvest so didn't do any damage.

Kids.... that was actually one of the things I will remember most from Morocco. Unfortunately a lot of kids would just come to the car asking for "Bon Bon" "Stillo" (actually took us a day or 2 to work that one out... thought they just thought everyone's name was Stevo). They would see us coming and in some cases run for a good couple of hundred metres just to be able to get to the road and try and wave us down. Some of them would clear the road up ahead of rock (usually really small ones) .. like hey.. I've helped you... in one town they kids started showing off their martial arts and cartwheeling skills in a hope to get a bit of a 'present'.
At the end of first day off-roading we were airing up our tyres, right across the road from a school just as they all started running out at the end of the day... Started off with just a few kinds checking out the cars, saying hello. But in the end there must have been about 50 kids. All good fun to begin with - blasting the air-compressor at them. Trying to explain we were from Oz... they all had a good laugh at Matt when he bent down to do one tyre and showed a little too much! But then one kid decided to throw a stone at the car... then another and it all started to get a little out of hand. Matt cracked it when one hit the car and took off, almost literally - scaring a few kids out of the way!! Shame that a couple of kids wrecked it for everyone else.

I mentioned car issues before. Trevor, one of the other travellers on the trip, decided on day 1 to start an issues log. It made for interesting and lengthy reading by the end... over 40 issues, luckily mostly minor , by the end of the 14 days. We, personally had cracks in the tyre sidewall, bash plate for the gas tank fell off, bust in a pipe for the auto-transmission cooler - not good when you've just started through the sand-dunes, fuse for the dash and the alternator (were glad it was just that and not the alternator itself) ummm.... overheated on climbs when we had the air-con on (had to do away with that luxury).. think that was it... others had flat tyres, broken leaf spring, cracked steering rack, Pete's dodgy exhaust on his Discovery kept falling off... so all in all.. our cars definitely kept us on our toes!

We also camped in some spectacular spots. In a riverbed, in the dunes, in the forest... every now and then (and more regularly than I had hoped for) we camped where there were toilets and showers. The Kasbahs were quite cool... Drove through a fortress looking entrance to an open area then a building that had internal courtyards as well... Would love one day to be able to afford to build my own house like that... one can dream.

Didnt spend a lot of times in the towns themelves, but when we did, we had fun. Wandering round the food markets in Tinerhir and other towns, a lot more authentic than what you get in Marrakech. But that was good as well. Would love to furnish my house (when I have a home that is larger than 2m wide by 5m long) from the antiques shops in the soukhs. Some great stuff, everything from rugs, to lamps to pots to chests... loved it all... maybe when I have that dream house I'l be able to fly back for a special shopping trip :)

So thanks to Barrie of Waypoint Tours, and our travel buddies, Peter aka Tom/Jerry/Ralph/Stevo, Sam aka Pedro, Trev and Nick... we had a fantastic time in Morocco - a great start to our adventures through Europe and beyond.
Now in the Costa Del Sol... soaking up some sun... sorting out some admin things, catching up with friends and need to get the car looked at... it's making cranky noises, even after we've washed it (we thought that may pick up her mood).

Quick Update

Just a quick update from a Cyber Cafe in Cascais Portugal, near Lisbon.
 
Can´t believe it´s been almost a week already. Had a great send off from Epping, Essex. Bacon "sarnie" and all!. Thanks to Rick and Viv for their hospitality for our last week in England. It was great!
 
Headed off on LD Lines from Dover, after picking up some last minute supplies on the way... some clean fuel for the fuel stove and other essentials like that!
 
We spent 2 nights in France, one camped in the bush right on the ocean which was nice. Have been avoiding the toll roads so travelled through some really quiant little French villages... great meal and vinho in Bordeaux :)
 
From there a couple of nights in Northern Spain, Basque country. Absolutely beautiful scenery... really enjoyed wandering around San Sebastian.
 
We headed south-west from there... I got to drive the really, really, steep bits... across some very very high bridges... not good when you´re scared of heights!
 
We wandered through Salamanca... enjoyed the great architecture
 
Now in Portugal... Have visited Coimbra, the beaches of Nazare, spent a nice afternoon drinking Super Bock in Sintra and are now in Cascais near Lisbon.  Had a great meal last night at a restaurant overlooking the sea... pity that while we were enjoying the meal and the vinho, the car got broken into... Laptop was stolen and a few other little bits and pieces... but they´ve caused us more hastle than the value of the items... oh well....
 
Off to fix the lock of the car now, have already had the fun of lodging a police report in a foreign country.... then the joys of insurance claimn. Will need to find a more secure way of storing a computer... Kensington lock through a bolt to the chassis was not sufficient. Not the way I wanted to spend our last couple of days in beautiful portugal. Them the joys of travel I spose. Just glad we had backups of everything... ... Will write a better update before we head off to Morocco on Monday.

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We're Off

3 Continents; 20-ish countries and who knows how many kilometres… The journey starts from Epping, Essex in 1 hr!

 

The dream has been in the making for a few years now, but in the end all the organisation has been very last minute! Getting visas, fitting water tanks, sorting out foreign currency, these last few weeks have been absolutely non-stop. The enormity of the journey has really only just dawned on me, haven't had much of a chance to stop and think about what we're actually doing until now! [Which may be a good thing as I may have chickened out!]

 

A few people have asked for an itinerary, but really we only have a few fixed dates. A tag-along tour with Waypoint Tours through Morocco from 7-20 June and Russia as our time there is dependent on the dates of our visas… but the general plan is…

 

1 week in Northern Spain and Portugal

2 weeks tag along tour in Morocco

3 or 4 weeks in Spain and Northern Italy (we love food… hence why so long here! Looking forward to doing some cooking classes!)

3 or 4 weeks through Eastern Europe and the Baltics

1 month driving across Russia (with a detour through Mongolia) to Vladivostok. We will ship the car from Vladivostok and make our own way in to China and down to Hong Kong… back in Oz at the end of September… Ish!

 

Our first stop will be – somewhere in France – how far we get will really depend on how tired we feel once we reach the European continent. We are on a 1pm ferry from Dover.

 

That's as detailed as our itinerary is at the moment! Feels great knowing we don't have many fixed deadlines. We can just go where the wind takes us!

 

So we say farewell to the UK. We will miss the rolling green hills, the diverse and vibrant capital, the pubs, the multitude of travel opportunities, and of course our family and all the new friends we've made along the way. You all have a place to stay in Oz!

 

We will keep in touch as often as we can!

 

Here goes…

 

Tracey and Matt

aussie-cruiser.blogspot.com

 

 

 

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Northern Ireland - March 12 to 14

We spent last weekend in Northern Ireland having got some relatively cheap Ryanair (£40 each return including all charges and taxes) tickets to Belfast. This is despite me having said I would never fly Ryanair again! Although you really do feel like a herd of cattle, it was only a 50 min flight and Ryanair flies into Belfast City airport which is only a 10 minute (£2 bus ride on route 600) to the city centre. Easyjet flights were about the same price but they currently fly into the International terminal which is about 45 minutes out of town, though I think they may be switching to the city terminal later in the year. Just something to watch if you’re heading to Belfast.

We met at Stansted airport straight from work. Me on the Stansted Express (quite expensive at £16 one-way, and that’s at a £2 discount if you book online at least a day ahead) along with hundreds of other people jetting off after work and lots of groups of guys heading off for their “Stag Dos”. They’re not Bucks parties over here... Matt had driven and parked in the long-term parking, which again, is significantly cheaper if you can book a couple of weeks in advance. It was certainly a lot cheaper than my ride on the Stansted Express! We had a whole ½ hour to spare before our flight so had time for a quick drink at the Stansted Wetherspoons.

We stayed at the Europa Hotel, which I discovered after booking has the great reputation of being the most bombed hotel in Europe. It’s meant to be one of the best hotels in Belfast, though we got a great deal on Booking.com (perhaps now I know why!) so didn’t pay the price! (We always use this site and hotels.com. Hotels offer different discounts on the sites at different times so it’s always worth checking both). After checking in around 9pm and immediately managing to lock our passports and cash in the safe without resetting the pincode, oops, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was “ok”. There wasn’t actually a lot nearby in the way of food that looked open, but the dessert was absolutely yummy.... choc vanilla crème brulee mmm !!

On the Saturday we headed out on a 1 day Paddywagon tour to the Giants Causeway and L/Derry. This a really good value trip (£18 each), particularly if you’ve only got a couple of days in Northern Ireland. While it is a little rushed in parts, you do squeeze a lot into the day. We left Belfast about 9am and headed straight for the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. It was kind of billed as this really wonky rope bridge over a gap between 2 islands that was used by salmon fisherman to get out to the best spots. They’ve obviously done it up a bit since those ‘old times’ cause even I, who is a bit scared of heights, had absolutely no trouble with it! The bus driver did have stories of people who had had complete melt downs on the bridge or who had got over but wouldn’t come back the other way... So I wouldn’t go there thinking you’re going to have an adrenalin-filled experience, unless you’re really bad with heights. But I would recommend it for the views. Really stunning. We could see all the way across to Scotland! We spent about an hour there, it’s a 1km walk from the gate to the bridge, with some quite step steps in places, so that’s probably the minimum amount of time you would want stay there. I imagine it would get quite busy in Summer too and there may be queues to cross the bridge. NB: Entry of £4.90 per adult is not included in the paddywagon tour price.

From here we jumped back on the bus and headed along the coast to the Giants Causeway where we stopped for 1.5 hours. We were quite blessed with the weather. It was relatively cool and a little windy, but it didn’t rain! So we took the longer walking route across the top of the bay, then down some steps to the causeway itself. The story goes that the steps were started on both sides of the waterway by 2 giants, Fionn McCool on the Ireland side and Benandonner on the Scottish side so that they could meet for a fight. One was tricked into thinking the other was a larger giant than he actually was and retreated back to the other side smashing the stones as they went (I’ll leave anyone who’s visiting the area to work out the story). I was expecting to see stepping stones out to sea, but they’re all actually small hexagonal stones connected to each other, all pretty similar in size and shape. Really unique and different, but not quite living up to what I had built in my imagination! The scientists explanation of the rock formations being a result of volcanic activity probably makes more sense unfortunately.

After our long walk (combining the Rope Bridge we had now walked about 6km today... Pretty good for us!) we went into the pub for our Irish stew, which we had been advised by our driver to order before we went for our walk. It was really yummy... as was the Guinness we enjoyed with it! We had about 30 mins to eat... those that came in about 15 minutes after us must have wolfed it down!

I actually slept a bit on our drive from the Giants Causeway to Londonderry/Derry. A combination of the full warm lunch and the sun in my face... Luckily we had headed back inland so wasn’t missing too much scenery! The driver did explain quite a bit about the history of Northern Ireland. Really quick on the older stuff and spent more time talking about the more recent ‘troubles’. I didn’t appreciate how tense relations between the 2 groups still were in some areas. In some towns, the gutters are still painted in various colours denoting which side they support. The “London” in Londonderry is blacked out on a lot of signs. And as we drove through one town, a guy walking along the street made some ‘gestures’ towards our very green bus.

We didn’t have a lot of time in Derry. We got dropped off near where the Bloody Sunday events occurred and walked around looking at all the murals and memorials. It feels like a really dreary, unwelcoming place... didn’t feel unsafe but it’s just such a contrast to the beautiful Irish countryside that we’d just driven through. I say I didn’t feel unsafe, but just this week there were a string of bomb alerts in central Derry... mmm. We caught the end of the Ireland v Wales 6 Nations game before jumping on the bus back to Derry.

It was a long day, but the driver had pointed out some of the best bars/pubs in Belfast.... 2 of which were right across the road so had to give them a go, even though we’re getting old and don’t go out late anymore! The Crown is really decorative with lots of booths.. a great place to enjoy a couple of pints. Next door at Robinsons the music is a bit more lively and through the back there’s this pub called Fibber Magees which has quite good Irish music. But being a Saturday night, and just after the Irish had won the rugby, the place was absolutely jammed... couldn’t move! So we spent most of the evening with a couple of pints and a meal at the Crown!

On our 2nd and last day in Belast, we did one of the Belfast Black Cab tours, which took us round all the key areas to do with ‘the troubles’ in Belfast. Again, neither of us were really expecting a huge wall to still be up between the Catholic and Protestant areas, let alone hear that the gates still get locked each evening. We didn’t see any trouble whatsoever, and I think most people just want to live their lives peacefully, but as our driver said, still too soon for the wall to come down. There’s still some tension and at the moment the wall just takes the edge off any risk of that spilling over into violence. It was a really interesting tour and well worth doing if you’re in Belfast. It’s only £25 for the cab and lasts about 1 to 1.5 hours, depending how many questions you ask!

Nothing opens in Belfast until 1pm on a Sunday so wasn’t much left to do while we hung around and waited for our flight back to Stansted. Just enjoyed a coffee and checked out the view from the top of the Victoria Shopping Centre. All in all Belfast's a fantastic place to go to get away from the rat race that is South-East England for a while!

Arsenal v Bolton January 20, 2010

We were able to get tickets to Emirates on one of those rare occasions that tickets go on sale to the general public and aren’t snapped up by all the members. We saw a Arsenal v Bolton game. I had been told our tickets were near the back... fair enough... so we found the right entrance and started trundling up the stair to our seats... turns out “near the back” means second row from the back!... It felt like a long way up but I was doing ok... until I turned around to sit down! Knees went wobbly... thought I was going to fall! Took me about 15 minutes to settle as all the visions of me falling down the stairs / stand collapsing all went through my mind! Then was able to enjoy the atmosphere! The crowd never lets up.... and this was a game against a lowly ranked side! Was a closer match than expected with Bolton going up 2-0... but right result in the end with Arsenal winning the match 4-2. The fans are amazing – can’t believe the enthusiasm and commitment they have for their teams!

Getting out of the stadium was actually a better experience than I was expecting too! Everyone cleared out pretty quick and headed for the tube where barriers had been put up to control the crowd - pretty well organised I thought. A lot of the houses along the way had little stalls set up selling arsenal supporter gear.. food... was such a good atmosphere even out of the stadium

Was a great experience seeing our first ever Premier League game and something I would recommend to everyone, even those not particular interested in football/soccer (as is case with me!)

New Years in Cologne

We stayed in Cologne for 6 nights and used it as a bit of a base to see the area from there.

I found Cologne similar to Belgium... similar architecture... dominance of beer halls... What I liked about the beer halls here was that they served the beer in 200mL glasses.. small I know... but they come around with a replacement as soon as you’ve finished unless you indicate you don’t want another by putting your coaster on top of the glass... I liked it... and meant the beer was a lot fresher!

We weren’t blessed with great weather for our time in Cologne... it rained most days... So our first day there we decided to do the big bus tour... It started at the Cathedral which dominates the skyline, and which I found quite scary and ominous... the hotel was over the river directly opposite the cathedral so had to make sure the curtains were shut at night or I couldn’t get to sleep.... really eerie... anyway... the bus took us past all the sites, of which there are few.... and we jumped off at the chocolate museum... heaven! It was a lot more sophisticated and interesting than the little museum in Brussels... It must have either been sponsored or run by Lindt cause there were Lindt chocolates being made on the line.. taste testing was definitely a highlight! As were the old confectionary vending machines... found them quite cool...

We took a day trip to Maastricht, Netherlands, where my grandfather grew up. We took the train... we managed to get on different trains at Cologne – cause the others had first class tickets through their Eurail passes, and I was just in second class – I was on the right one... didn’t realise in time that there were actually 2 trains on the same platform! Still we ended up in Maastricht only 45 mins apart... funny....

Again, weren’t blessed with the weather which was a real shame. Maastricht is a great little place, not yet too overcome with tourists... and the shopping is really good amongst all the little streets – so probably a good thing it wasn’t a good day to be strolling around! We visited the church where my great uncle helped design the stained glass windows... the house where my grandfather grew up... I had been before, but it was nice being there with mum and showing Belinda and Tash around.

The rest of my time in Cologne was really chilled out... for New Years Eve we had dinner at a little Italian place that didn’t require bookings then had a couple of drinks in the hotel room watching the crowd gather on the river front... what I love about New Years eve in Europe compared to Australia is that everyone is still allowed to set off their own fireworks – so the fireworks started about 7pm!! Funny watching people scare other people with bungers as they walked past!... Just before 12 we headed down to be amongst the crowd and it started snowing – was a really nice fun atmosphere... I’m not sure if there were actually any public fireworks displays but it was good all the same!

From Cologne I said good bye to Bel and Troy as they headed to Frankfurt for their flight home... Mum and Tash got the Eurostar back to London and I flew –there was a bit of delay on my flight because of weather... so took almost the same time as it would have taken on the train! (But it was cheaper!!)

Christmas in Switzerland!

I was worried there wasn’t going to be any snow in Interlaken itself given it’s only about 600m above sea level... but it was absolutely covered and the snow was bucketing down! Matt and I stayed in a place called the City Oberland, smack bang in the middle of the town. Right above a Latino bar which was a bit worrying – though I think given it was winter there wasn’t too much noise... I could imagine in Summer it would be quite loud. Mum had booked a Riverhouse which was great for all of us... Somewhere to lounge around and we took it in turns to cook dinner which was handy. First afternoon we organised our ski lessons and ski hire.... really straight forward, only shame was that we were staying about 30mins from the ski fields (Grindelwald) but at the same time it was good to be based in Interlaken for the shops etc .

First day of skiing I found very frustrating and painful! It took me pretty much the whole day just to learn how to stop properly! And the boots I got were way too tight on my foot... right length but I’ve obviously got a very fat foot! Lost all feeling in my toes after about 15 mins!! Not good! I was definitely the slowest learner out of the group... (Which even though we booked group lessons ended up being just us which was pretty cool)... Tash was better than she thought she was but lacked the patience of climbing back up the 3m hill to go down again... cause we were beginner beginners we didn’t get a lift .

I thought that when I took my boots off that afternoon my toes were going to be blue... but they weren’t which was a good thing I spose...

Next day was much better... Had exchanged my boots for a wider pair... and while it was still painful, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad... And we got a lift today (one of those rope ones where you just hold onto)!! We spent half the morning revising what we had learnt the day before... and there were a ‘couple more runs for Tracey’ before we were allowed down the proper beginner slope... he was very concerned about my stopping ability!!!.. Once we got going down the main slope everything we’d learnt came together and it was a lot more fun. I did manage to fall almost every run... and it was amazing how quickly our instructor could move when we were in trouble!... I found when the proper stopping method didn’t work, falling onto your bum did... I think there was a bit of a running joke going between the instructors and the lift operators about whether or not I would make it down the run (particularly that last steep bit) without falling... By the end of the third day I had really got the hang of it... but a lot can be said for doing some fitness preparation before going.... my legs had absolutely nothing left in them by the end....

First day of lessons there were 6 of us... then 4... then Belinda had a cold and she couldn’t continue just as she was really getting the hang of it ! So on day 3 there were 3... Matt was a bit more capable than I... though he was the first to manage to stack it getting onto the lift.... and Troy.... you’re just a show off!

It was sooo nice to relax the next day, Christmas eve... just wandered around town... had coffee (it was near closing time in this bakery and they had leftover croissants they had to get rid of for free.. it was sooooo hard to polish them off!!)... Kurt and Shreya had arrived the night before and Matt and Troy ended up taking them up to Grindelwald to show them around and sort out ski gear.... the 4 of them were keen for a Christmas Day ski... the rest of us just followed up on the train for lunch... it was great having the White Christmas... In the snow... gorgeous views.. snowball fights.... but overall it didn’t feel particularly ‘Christmassy’ but it was great having most of the family around. Didn’t realise just how much I was missing everyone!

We went to a restaurant in Interlaken for our Christmas Dinner.... Belinda and I ended up sharing a 3 course fondue... 1st course cheese. mmm... 2nd course was meat.. this was a bit too much to be honest... just dropped bits of meat into oil to cook... so was really heavy on the stomach... but 3rd course, of course, was chocolate!.... yummmeee.. Matt and Troy are of course quite used to all us McLeods by now... but hopefully we didn’t scare Shreya off too much!!

Boxing Day again was really relaxing... late brekkie... pack the bags... lunch.... dinner.... Bit of souvenir shopping... and lots of chilling!!

Unfortunately from here we split up a bit... Matt had to come back to the UK to work... and Kurt and Shreya were heading to Berlin for New Years... I was flying to Cologne where I would meet back with the rest of the crew who were travelling by train.

Kurt and I were both flying from Zurich about the same time and we had a couple of hours in Zurich which was nice though it was very very quiet...

Just as Kurt’s plane took off it started snowing quite heavily... my plane was about ½ hour delayed but thankfully we did get going and got to Cologne without a hitch....