BootsnAll Travel Blogs

new zealand

arrived in Christchurch at about midnight and jumped straight on a shuttle bus dropping me off at the door of Kiwibase hostel. My bed awaited.
Next morning (Saturday) I had a walk down to the city centre: I had no idea that the destruction from and due to the quake was so bad: the town feels like a ghost town and the centre is completely off limits (apart from a bus tour at weekends apparently)

I walked around and took a few photos. Had a coffee at the new ‘container’ village: a new shipping centre made mainly from shipping containers with windows!: it works really quite well too!
I found a car rental company and did a verbal deal with the guy for a $40 car to be picked up the next day and with that I went back to the hostel – via a curry house….for maybe the worst curry in the southern hemisphere. Heyho
chatted to a Chinese girl that night, but had an early night due to the late night before
Sunday morning and off to the rental place for 9. a Nissan Sunny is mine for a week 🙂

I drove back to the hostel, packed and headed east along the Banks peninsula to Akaroa.
Fab drive over the tops with a great view into Akaroa harbour/bay – with a couple of cruise ships in there too
I booked into the Dolphin hostel and had a nice walk around the- packed- streets. I booked up for a jet boat ride around the bay and to the caves: turned out to be a lorra fun: very fast twin V8 boat and a handful of 180 degree spins in there for good measure

I was the only person in the hostel so got a bit bored ….treating myself to a pizza and couple of local beers to cheer myself up 😉
Up at dawn, packed and now head north thru Christchurch to Kaikoura
…very rainy day and bla’ain a hooley too, so when I got to Kai, I quickly booked into the Fish Tank hostel and then settled down with a couple of the other guys to watch a DVD or 2: Old School and 40yr old virgin. Very funny movies and a good night to go with it

Next morning, Lars (German guy who had arranged the DVD’s) had a chat and I decided to join him on a fishing trip! ….. after a couple of false starts we got sorted with a guy for an afternoon session: just me, Lars and a Chinese couple. Beautiful day for it – blue skies and very sunny, so we got down to the fishing – WITH ELECTRIC REELS!!
I tried a normal reel first, but in the 100m+ depths it was too much like hard work bringing the fish in: and we brought a LOT of fish in! mostly rock perch but also blue cod and Ray’s bream.
twas a good day out. the skipper filleted out fish and packed them for us and gave us 2 Crayfish too. Back at the hostel, we boiled the crayfish and bbq’d th other fish and then fed us and at least 3 other hostellers! …another great night!
Next day, Lars, another German guy ‘Tobes’ and myself drove out to a short walk to a viewpoint up Mt. Fyffe. Not a great walk but it was fun anyhoo, then we dropped Tobes off to continue north hitchhiking and me and Lars went for coffee & cake…as you do.
Then Lars went for his bus north and I settled down to more photo taking at the beach. A quiet night with photoshop ensued.

Hanmer Springs was the next stop: quite a nice little ski village serving a cheap and tasty bacon and egg muffin and ‘flat white’, with a nice little hill at one end called ‘Conical Hill’ I walked up it and took some average photos
Back in the car I stopped off at a bridge over the Hanmer river and had another coffee whilst taking photos of the engorged river (recent very heavy rain) then it was Wet towards Greymouth…picking up Julien, a French hitch-hiker on the way.
I stayed at the Neptune hostel that night and chatted to a stranded biker (Ducati rider …say no more) and then Julien who also turned up at the hostel! had a bit of a chat with a Swedish guy (Gustav) too and heard him talking about the Copland track walk.

South next, to Franz Josef glacier town. I had a nice little walk to the glacier (more photos) and walked up the moraine at the side, then back in town I booked into the Franz Josef hostel…managing to get a whole 6 bed dorm room to myself for $25 🙂
I headed into the common room that night for some of th free soup and lo and behold…met Julien again! crazy!
I also booked up to do the Copland Walk the next day: its a 17km, 7 hour walk up a valley to the Welcome Flats hut and hot pools and then a walk back down again the next day.
Up early, I dropped my lappy and camera off in the hostel for safe keeping then drove to the start of the hike. It starts off with a baptism straight away as you have to walk across the glacial river before a great walk thru a rain forest along the river. Many bridges and wading’s later, I arrived at the hut …in 4 hours and 55 minutes …very please with myself 😀

I changed quickly and headed straight into the pools in front of an amazing view of snow capped mountains and glaciers …and a couple of canny avalanches thrown in for good measure!
…a little later more peeps turned up including Gustav the swede. We all dipped in the pools again then chatted in he hut as the temp dropped.
Up early and Gustav and I headed out before the threatened rain arrived……unfortunately, with only a few km to go, my calf muscle tightened up – which wasnt so bad, but I must have walked oddly to compensate as my knee started playing up too

I dropped Gustav off in Fox Glacier village and headed north across Arthur’s pass to Arthurs Pass village, where I stayed at the YHA for the night…desperate for a hot shower I jumped in, only to find there wasn’t any …..a bluddy cold shower ensued 🙁
More rain the next day and I headed East towards Christchurch to swap rental cars. The drive over the pass is fab: incredible views and a couple of great rainbows too.
As I got into the city, I rang a few rental companies eventually finding a car for $25 …instead f the $40 I was currently paying. They picked me up from my original rental company too, which was nice.
Another day in the city and with a different skyline too – they’ve demolished a lot of tall central buildings that were around only a week ago. After checking into a hostel that was run by an old guy and his Chinese wife I checked the net nad found that Harry Escott was running a boxerfit session in the city’s Hagley Park that night …so I went
nice surprise to see Harry ….. and a funny old class with 91 peeps attending …despite it being DAMNED cold and bla’ain a hooley.
I had a chat with Harry and then he invited me to his wedding the next week-end!!!
crazy!

back to the hostel for some photoshopping and then an early night chatting to a strange south African woman in the bunk below me.
Up early (again) and heading south to Tekapo lake: a FABULOUS place: blue blue waters and amazing snow and cloud covered hills. Lots of photos (with Mount Cook in the background) and then a walk up Mount John to the Observatory cafe ….and a coffee.

Back down and I camped down on the shores of Lake McGregor, which was as close as I could get to Tekapo. a great place to camp …and more photos of Tekapo. Next day I headed down to Twizel where I shopped with crew from the Hobbit film, bought a couple of lush Danish style pastries and then headed further towards Mount Cook…stopping for a coffee and one of the pastries at the side of the road. Mount Cook is a little ski village nr the bottom of Mount Cook. I stayed in the campsite and walked part way along the Hooker valley track -but couldn’t go further due to my ongoing knee issue. lovely view of Mount Sefton from the tent. good deed for the day was jump starting a guys car in the carpark.
Next day we headed down thru Twizel again to the sea at Omarou driving along Tyne street in the historic area, then continued south to Moeraki via the coastal route (and a chicken Caesar) Moeraki is a fabulous little fishing/tourist village with a beach holding metre diameter absolutely spherical rocks! …a bundle of the things lie in the mid tide area….making some canny photos
couple of beers there and a night amongst a plethora of rabbits and I was off north again to Christchurch, where I ought a much needed polarising filter for the camera and got a couple of T shirts printed (Boxerfit on the front and ‘Doctor’ and ‘instructor’ on the back) for Kim and Harry.
Checked into the Fish Tank hostel at Kaikoura again.

a short drive today back to the same cafe as before in Hanmer Springs…this time for poached eggs on toast ….then a walk up conical hill (to see if I could …poorly knee) then back down and waited for the wedding party……who climbed up on a different route! ..luckily I got there in time.
Great wedding ceremony and great to meet Kim and her family, then back to their rented house for the party …at which I ate and drank too much and eventually dropped happily into bed just before midnight. Next morning I was up before 7 – only to find the newlyweds already up!!!! and tidying!!! Eventually after tidying, brunch was made and some of yesterdays gusest reappeared for brekky and chat. Many of them giving me phone numbers to meet up or for stayovers, which was nice.

I left there a happy fella leaving a very excited pair of newlyweds getting ready for their 6 month honeymoon trip thru Asia. I meantime headed Wet thru Greymouth and then down to Fox Glacier staying in the holiday park there. a short walk to Matheson Lake and some lush photos from Reflection Island with a german couple.

Next day I was up early and walked to the glacier terminal (more photos) and then packed my tent and headed south via Haast pass (amazing scenery) to Lake Hawea where I camped for the night ….jump starting a couples camper after failing to get it started by pushing it – and towing it – around the site.
Today I passed thru Wanaka and Queenstown, to get to Te Anau where I booked camping for that night and then a dorm bed for the following night…and an early morning 6 hour kayak trip …………..IN MILFORD SOUND!!!!!!!!!

its 120km to MS from Te Anau and the first 80 or 90 km is nice but nowt special …..and then all hell breaks loose …AMAZING AWESOME scenery as you approach the mountains! …waterfalls everywhere, glaciers and impossibly step mountains. a mountain tunnel is included for good measure. Lots of stopping and photo taking …and jaw dropping. Eventually I made it to the Milford Sound Lodge and set up camp. Then I drove to the end of the Sound itself …BLUDDY HELL! ..its like a cartoon: someone drew a scene with every possible dramatic scene in it: 1800m almost sheer cliffs, 160m waterfalls, glaciers and lake …absolutely AWESOME!!!!!

A good warm nights sleep and then I was up at 5:15 ready for a 6-o-clock getaway in the kayaks ..except Jimmy (our guide) was late …so it was actually 6:30. Didn’t matter though! …the sky was blue and the wind was blowing us along the sound, so we raised a sail and rafted along for a while, then after meeting up with a penguin, we took it in turns to paddle into the bottom of the Stirling 151m falls! ..repeatedly! …the draught, cold and pain was terrific! ..sooo much fun! …we crossed the Sound into the sun and then drank a sugary hot drink in the kayaks as we watched seals playing 2-3m from us on the rocks and in the water. Then we chased some dolphins and cruised right out of the Sound and into the Tasmin Sea …21km of kayaking! …I’ve never had so much fun for…..too long!!!!
We then got picked up in a taxi boat for the trip back to base. at base I opened up a bottle of champagne given by Harry at his wedding and we all drank to a great day.

I said goodbye to the Sound (twice as I had to go back to pick up some stuff I left in the kitchen!) and drove all the ay back to Te Anau where I celebrated with Eggs Benny and a flat white. Then headed all the way south to Invercargill and booked myself in to the Stewart Island Backpackers and an open ferry ticket across. by 6:30 I was in room 49 of Francoise’s hostel and drinking the last beers from Harry.I had a little walk up to Observation Rock, but my knee is very bad on downhills, so no more walking for me on the island I think.

Early morning sent me off to Ackers Point on the peninsula from Oban town and some nice photos of the lovely scenery along the way.
Not much during the day (sitting in the sun doing Sudoku mostly!) then a walk at night to see the penguins (fail) and then for kiwi(another fail)

8am on Saturday and I was back at the ferry and on my way back to Bluff, where I had a drive up the hill viewpoint (nice) and then headed East towards the Catlins. After stopping at a lighthouse and some great bays and beaches I booked into the campsite at Porpoise bay. a trip down to Curio bay to see the petrified forest and a fleeting glimpse of the rarest penguin in the world – the yellow eyed.
back to the hostel for lunch then back to the bay again late afternoon ….eventually a penguin appeared out of the surf and I headed over, sitting on a rock about 30m from it – and waited. After an age of preening itself, it set off across the rocks….RIGHT PAST ME!!! within 2m!! got some nice photos too 😉

Back to the camp and a short drive around to the village and some more photos and then back for a good nights kip.

A windy a grey day greeted me next: I headed NE and after stopping a couple of times I headed into Owaka’s visitor centre, were the volunteers working that Sunday made me a coffee and chatted for an hour or so about nowt in perticklier. Though they did recommend he converted hospital which was now the YHA and backackers….so there I went: great old place which still has lots of fixtures and fittings from the hospital days…including beds. I pitched my tent, and headed into town for a sunday meal but as the weather worsened and there were no facilities in town for cash, I eventually paid for a dorm room on my card …..there wasn’t anyone else staying at first, but eventually two other guys did. I posted on Fb saying I was gonna be in a hospital bed but the idea was to admit later how/why …unfortunately the net failed!!! …so I couldn’t explain meself! ..lots of explaining to do the NEXT day! Anyhoo, had a bottle of wine with the owner and some cheese to eat, then photoshopped the day away

Another grey day greeted me so I drove slowly to Cathedral Caves – a great linked couple of caves and I caught them just as the tide released them from its grip. Very nice area…then I drove to Cannibal bay…no idea why its called that …not much to see there eiher. Next it was to Nugget point: great lighthouse right on the promentary leading to nowhere …..
Next it was to a coffee shop and a chat with some dutchees. Then off again heading to Dunedin…….or so I thought
In the middle of nowhere, the car overheated and I had to stop! …I hitched a lift off a woman back to town, filled my water contaner then hitched a lift from another woman back to the car. Filled the rad and off we went, getting to Dunedin without further issue.
Dunedin is a strange old place: great beaches, great peninsula and a kinda nice town – but VERY scottish/English! After an Eggs Benny lunch, I met a guy in the street cleaning his ZX6R race bike…turns out to be Michael Lee racing on plate 33 and came 3rd in the Superstocks at Invercargill street races. Nice old chat with the guy.Next I drove along the peninsula checking out the sights (very nice)
That evening I took a bottle of wine and some cheese to the beach, drank and ate then walked along the beach taking photos and then ran back …pulling a calf muscle en route!

Next day was cloudy but patchy sunny – until I drove along he southern shore and hit fog …which then raced me back to town. I shopped a bit and had coffee, then headed back to camp to eat lunch and photoshop. Another foggy afternoon had me in Smaill Bay for some more photos, then a quiet night back at camp …and a chicken wrap ‘kebab’ 😉

Up early and head north to Christchurch (again) to get the car sorted out and extend the rental for another 15 days ,,…..and book the interisland ferry.
Unfortunately, the car overheated AGAIN heading north afterwards, and I had to stop at Cheviot town in a motel. A quick drive back to C’church next morning (car overheating JUST as I got to the rental place)and a swap of cars to a Mazda Delmio …horrible little car……but it doesnt overheat.
Back north again to Blenheim …very rainy day but managed to stay dry in the tent overnight in a holiday park.
Friday and a noisy morning – the site is near a road and a railway – and I’m off to Picton to change the car details on the ferry booking and then on the Queen Charlotte drive into the hills ….still raining though, so I booked into a DAMNED expensive hostel for the night. ($65)

Next morning I blasted straight back down (110km) to C’church …after filling with water again – I JUST got there as the car started to overheat again. They agreed I get a new car so I swapped into a VERY smelly Mazda Demio – at least it doesnt overheat…and the radio works! Straight back north again to Kaikoura and beyond, along the coastal route, stopping at Blenheim for groceries and to camp at what turned out to be a noisy campsite (next to a main road AND a train line!) still raining all day, but at least the tent was dry inside. Nelson is getting hammered by rain so there’s no point in going on. I popped into Picton and changed the car details on the ferry booking and had a little walk around what appears to be a nice little place. Back to camp and an early night.
Back thru Picton next day and on to the Queen Charlotte scenic drive…which is exactly that: apart from the rain. Stopped at Havelock for coffee and then back to a turn off in the road that takes me into another Sound. There I found a $40 hostel (arent I the lucky one)so I booked in for 2 rainy days. Some nice scenery around, but cant see it for the rain and cloud!
2 days of not a lot later 🙁 and I returned to Picton, had an egg Benny brekkie and then a walk around ….in the rain. Then it was pinch some wifi time ;)…only to ifnd out I’m jus about broke! …bugger! ….feeling a little subdued I was first onto the ferry and commiserated with a coffee, which I drank on the front of the boat, ,checking out the scenery (the rain has stopped!) I also got chatting to earth mother ‘Lucia’ a dutch lady and spiritual person. She was canny so we spent eh ferry crossing chatting about earth and other matters of great import.
On arrival in sunny Wellington (YAY!!) I was first off the ferry and headed north up the west coast, eventuall stopping at a canny little camp site for the night.
After doing my laundry next morning and chatting to a woman from the Isle of Bute, I headed north again, thru Whanganui and to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mount Taranaki or Egmont is in the background, but covered in cloud, until evening, so I had a beachy walk then headed partway to the mount for evening photos. In the morning I headed around the mount a little to some falls getting some nice photos of the mount en-route (JUST clad in snow and with a whisp of cloud around the summit) lovely walk down to the falls that morning and a great drive into yyyyyyyy listening to music on ANOTHER FM transmitter thingy Ive bought (so nice to have music tho) Then I continued on the ‘Forgotten World’ highway which is a fab drive over hills and dales generally with a view of Taranki in the background. I had coffee, cheese and biscuits at one ‘saddle and after chatting to a travelling german, I then had a chat with a german pilot as we watched a few helicopters flying around (mysteriously)Onwards and upwsrds thru a fab gorge on a gravel road and then into ZZZZZZZZZ where I camped in a site run by a guy from Settle! A really good night ensued with a dutch couple, a yankee couple and a young german guy …and some free bbq food from a party that was ongoing. At 9 that night, the yankees, german and me went off for a drive to see the glow-worms in a fairly local abandoned railway cutting ….lorra laffs and a great sight – there were MASSES of the things!
Next it was on to Taupo – except I decided to do the Tongariro Crossing walk (that had been talked about a lot the previous night) so after booking a shuttle bus, I camped in QQQQQQQQ for the night. I met a dutch guy here who was also doing the walk, the next day: Bart.
Up at 5:30 brekky and pack a small bag and I drove off to the END of the walk to drop off the car, then was picked up by the shuttle, taking me to the START of the walk.
WHAT A FABULOUS WALK!!!! I set off at a canny pace as there were so many people doing the walk: I had to slow a lot at the climbs (poorly calf muscle still, meant I had to walk flat footed with my right leg) but I got to the bottom of LOTR Mount Doom in good time and chatted to a couple of yankee guys there, then off across Red Crater and nto the next climb where I got chatting to a couple from Blackpool…we walkd together to the high pooint of the climb and all decided to walk the extra bit to the summit of Tongariro ……one of the yankees joined us too. A nice walk left me climbing (properly) the last few metres after trying to take a different route to make it easier on my leg! At this point I realised how warm the rocks were (we’re at 2000m I think) and there was steam coming out of the crater edge we were on. …I also had phone signal (eh!) so text Tucker back home to tell him where I was.
Back down to the crowds and on to Emerald lakes which were fab! (as was the steam vent just above them) I had a bit of lunch and then headed on by myself….however it was downhill now and my legs were both hurting – one from the calf muscle and the other from my knee. It was a long decent, but I got there in the end and headed across the carpark, only to be passed by the dutch coupld from the other night and then to see Bart on a shuttle bus. Bart joined me and I drove us back to camp, then to a supermarket to get supplies AND BEER to celebrate the walk (and a Boysenberry pastry) back at the ranch we shared the beers with a german girl in the ‘lounge’.
Bart had told me about a hostel in Taupo which was cheap to camp in and was doing a bbq for christmas, so next day (23rd) I headed there. Got booked in, set up camp in the carpark, the headed down to the lake for photos …nice plce Taupo, I like it.
Nxt day, I went to the Huka falls and the craters of the moon geothermal area (very nice)When I got back to camp, Bart had arrived, so we headed to town to but food and beer and a secret santa prezzie. Then we went to the Huka falls and river walk for the afternoon. A good night in the hostel tha night (Xmas eve and a big day for the germans …..then we headed to town for a pub quiz: me, Bart, a swedish girl, german girl, irish guy and german guy. A good night was had and then I fell asleep.
CHRISTMAS DAY! I had a walk to the falls and river again, with Bart then back to the hostel for champagne breakfast (free) then messed about a bit beofre the free bbq! …great food! ..I like this hostel! Then we wandered around a bit before more beers in the hostel (though not for me) I rang me ma, to chat for xmas morning and then skyped her too (skype wouldnt work at first, typically)

I finally took the plunge and booked a trip to Oz!
cheap flight (cheaper than train OR bus!) to Heathrow from NCL and an overnight stay at a nearby hotel on the 2nd Sept. left me with a short trip and a couple of coffees 😉 for the Saturday morning and a loooong flight to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific. Twas a pretty uneventful flight and I arrived pretty well shattered in HK airport: I wwalked away from everyone in the terminal to find a couple of seats to sleep on ….Gate 66 seemed good enuff, so I slept there for a little over an hour and then walked all the way to the centre of the terminal to try some airport noodles (velly nice) …only to then find that the gate I needed for the connection to Perth airport was back at …yes, you guessed it: gate 66!!!! dammit!
Another fairly long flight and a chat with a Malaysian fella next to me and lo and behold we’re in the land of promise – I was a little concerned about customs (thanks TV’s Border Patrol) but in the event, the guy never even spoke a single word to me as I passed thru! Once at the other side, I met Shaun and Maria who drove me in a Ford Falcon back to his mum’s house.
It took us 2 days before I REALLY saw a Kangaroo ……I’d kinda seen glimpses, but then me and Shaun had a walk up the hills behind his mums house and there was a the grey fella staring at us before bounding off into the bush! ..YAY!!! a ROO!!!!!
few days later and we had one (Fred, apparently) asleep in the garden!
damn things are EVERYWHERE!!! …a drive after sunset is a dangerous thing with them bounding all over the roads
the 3 of us (Shaun Maria and myself had a roadtrip down to Hyden to see Wave Rock …very nice rock…shaped like a wave. then we drove down to Hopetoun to met up with Shaun’s bro Chris (seeing a Echidnae on the way) …and a bit of a heavy drinking session (Newky Brown!). Next day we drove to Esperance to pop in to see Chris’s wife and then on to Esperance which has the BEST beaches!!! ..incredibly blue water and incredibly white sand!…pertickly in Cape le Grand’s Hellfire Bay.

Next day we drove north to Kalgoorlie/ Boulder towns in the Goldfields ….we ahd a quick trip to the Big gold mine to see Tonka toys which were actually 240T trucks …just WAAY down in the depths of the mine. Then a couple of beers in the bar that night …served by a ‘skimpy’ ..basically a chick in not a lot (or less if you pay)
Next day and we were heading back to Perth …fairly uneventful …unless you call a $700 fine for speeding, an event :$ I also bought a CAN of Latte coffee ..it self heats when you open it! …it wasnt nice tho 🙁
Maria was at work the next day, so Shaun and I headed north on our own – driving the Indian Ocean Drive thru Lancelin and on to ‘the Pinnacles’ an amazing place with pinnacles of ‘calcified tree roots’ or summat (they havent really decided what they are yet) Then we wer off again as far as Geraldton, where we struggled to get somewhere to stay ..until we got a crummy old caravan in a park for an extortionate price (dont like Geraldton) Still, it was only a one night stay on our way to SHark Bay. We stopped a night at Hamelin Farm Stay which was very nice (nice chat with the manageress, about where to go travelling) we went fishing and caught little fishies, walked shell bay (5m deep in shells!) and spied on the Stromalites.
The final leg of the trip was to Monkey Mia where we watched the dolphins come in to the shallows and get fed by some tourists ..then me and Shaun walked a few metres away and started swimming…only for one of the dolphins to come over and swim past us! …fantastic!!!
We fished the nearby jetty and had a ray jump out of the water near us and then a turtle swam around the jetty legs below us for a while! …we caught a few little fish too and I almost caught a monster fish which swam past us but while ‘sniffing’ at the lure, wouldnt chew on it 🙁 We stayed in the ‘resort’that night – MUCH cheaper than we thought it would be and very nice it was too!
After an Egg Benny breky the next morning we were off again down to Dongarra where we popped in to the ‘puzzle cafe’ again before staying at hostel where we chatted to a local electrician who’s family come from South Shields!!
The very next day, Maria dropped me off on a long road full of car shops and after about 3 hours of trapesing up and down I found a nice Toyota Surf 2.4TD SSR Ltd for $5800 …well ….nice apart from the dodgy roo bars, auto gearbox and a tailgate that doesnt open! …still …..shold be right 😉
Due to problems in banking (again) Shaun and Maria lent me the money to pay the guy, till I can get the money out of the bank and pay them back (arent they nice!)
…after giving the car a service, sorting out the 4×4 ADD system plumbing and swapping the rear passenger window motor for the one in the tailgate, I have a fully functional car! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!

Our first road trip was the 3 of us, driving down to Busselton: a nice safe, slow trip down there and all is good. a good walk along the old jetty and a bit of fishing…paying £6 for a pint of beer(!) and a cheap brekkie after a night in a motel and we drove the long way home ….a success! ..the car is genuine!!! 🙂 I celebrated with a ‘veryberry mud cake’ …nice 😀

After waiting a week for the Oz version of the DVLA to send me a registration reminder (I have no other way of proving my address in Oz) I drove in desperation to their office…..to find out that its already IN my name and I only have to pay the $100 tax for the purchase! …kewl

with registration docs in hand, my roadtrip can start tomorrow: 29th Sept 2011
Up at 3:15 to say goodbye to Shaun and Maria on their way to work (yikes) I then set off at 6:30 heading south, past Busselton and on to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, and watching dolphins, seals AND southern Right whales from the cliffs! ….lovely
On the way south from there, I headed along a gravel road and spotted a group of tricked up 4×4’s coming out of another adjoining track ….so I tried it. OUCH! …twas a PROPER 4×4 track! ..driving over felled trees and their roots, down a cliff made of rock steps and along a deep soft sand! …about 40km of it! ….my poor car …but it survived (kinda …see my time in Point Lowly)
I continued down to Contos beach and camped near the beach in a lovely spot with beach and rocky shore. – though I did freeze overnight in my ‘summer’ sleeping bag.
Further south the next day to Leeuwin lighthouse and then across inland a little looking for somewhere nice to camp ……eventually finding a site which is also a roo refuge so I got to see them close up complete with Joey’s in the pouch.
I froze overnight again.

back south to the coast and onto Albany where I bought a Doona (OK, OK …a duvet) YAY! ..no more freezing (when used in conjunction with my sleeping bag) … a timely purchase as I stayed in beach camping at Point St. Annes where it was “bla’ain a hooley” and freezing cold – though I did get to see whales again in the bay.

Time for Esperance again …more photos at the beach and a good walk along the sands. However I had to stay in a cabin in a holiday park as its school holidays and theres no spaces anywhere! ….still, I had a nice chicken Caesar to celebrate getting there 🙂

An early start in rain and poached eggs on toast at a cafe, saw me fit to drive north to Norseman and the East on the famous Nullarbor highway…which is actually very boring (it includes Australia’s longest straight section of road at 146km!!) and incredibly expensive diesel at £2.05/litre. I got to the Cocklebiddy roadhouse after 641km and slept in the car overnight as it as too windy to pitch the tent.

Still on the Nullarbor I passed lots o Emu, Roos and 20+ police cars in convoy (apparently they were escorting ‘bikees’ out of the state) I rolled into the ‘head of the bight’ which is another whale watching location, though now I’m in South Australia (and in a new time zone…for the 2nd time today!)
I stopped for the next 2 nights at Fowlers bay…a tiny little place with a nice jetty and big dunes which are threatening to bury the town.
….I also found that I had a snapped shocker on the front left of the car …presumably from the off-road escapade a few days ago :O

Next stop was Streaky bay …just after Smokey bay! (named after bacon perhaps???) I bush camped on the edge of some cliffs in a really nice place …very happy night there.

Port Lincoln was next where I managed to buy a pair of new shockers for the car. stayed at teh foreshore holiday park and got some great photos of the pelicans there. I managed to change the one shocker but couldnt get the other one off! …and neither could the local garage (I got there late and he didnt have time to get the cutting torch out) I also bought an mp3 FM transmitter for the car so I can now listen to my phone mp3’s on teh car CD player!! YAY!!!!!! happy days!!!

At Point Lowly – a great place RIGHT next to the gas/oil terminal (but its fine if you dont look that way) and I stayed 2 nights here…I also cut off the other shock with a handheld hacksaw blade, on the beach and replaced it with the new one.
I also had my first proper fishing success here, catching a lovely little Australian Salmon from the rocks, which I duly cooked on a hot rock in a driftwood fire on the beach …….very happy evening.
Very strange place Point Lowly …it ‘misses’ tides! every now and then it has a high (or low) tide for a full day! …apparently theres only 2 other places in the world where this happens.

A long drive now, thru Port Augusta and down to the winelands, stopping at Morgan (famous ferry crossing and all)….not much else to report: lots of vineyards is all.
Next day I headed further SE to Boundary Bends …a great little spot of bush camping on the banks of the Murray river ….no-one else around and lovely bird-life …and great mist on the water in the morning.

Still further SE and stop at Castlemaine for the night: quite a nice little town but NO BREWERY!!!!!! dammit!
another chicken caesar and coffe for lunch and a HUGE apricot danish thingee too, mmmmmmm
Next morning I woke at 6 …thats o-clock AND Celsius!!! so cold that the butane in my stove wouldnt light!!!

not too long a drive today: I’m only going as far as PHILIP ISLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOTOGP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I paid a fortune 😉 for 4 nights camoing trackside and obviously entry to the track too. Feels great to be here and the weather is good too!!!! I bought a slab of beer and then shared it with ‘John’ a BMW rider who was camping a few metres away.
first practise day on teh Friday was SOOO hot! ….blazing sunshine all day ! …great to see the bikes here and how fast they are at the end of the straight…. its a great track ..pertickly turns 1, Siberia and 10 & 11.
More beers that night with JOhn
Qualifying day and still great weather: not quite as hot but warm. great qualifying with Sic falling off 3 times at turn 10. that night we had a bit of entertainment with 125cc riders and Wayne Gardner…… and more beers

RACE DAY! ..u[ early and as soon as the track opened I walked around to turn 10/11 …there was already a crowd there when I got there, but I got to the front with my chair and settled down with a coffee. Gale force winds today and shockingly cold rain as well ….very unpleasant – obvioulsy not suiting the riders judging by the amount of fallers too. Lorenzo fell off due to rain at the end of warm-up and lost the end of his finger! …..meaning he couldnt race!!!
Tho the race was mainly dry, with 3 laps to go, it rained and quite a fw riders struggled: Bautista fell off in front of us as did Rossi(shame, he was doing well) Stoner won the race by a country mile …..meaning he also won the championship AND it was his birthday! …Sic came 2nd with a great performance too

had some good rides thru August – mainly with Tucker on his panzer and joined by a few of the scots lot:
We headed up to Selkirk where we met up with Grumpy, Alzo and Macfazer. The ride continued on the well worn path thru St. Marys loch (not literally) to Moffat for lunch and then after some deliberation on which road was being shown as closed on the signposts (we all read the same first line and no-one actually got to the 2nd line that had the road number written on it!) up the A7 (and a passed Selkirk a gazillion times) to Leith, where we joined Chyrel and Macfazers wife
We had a night on the tiles starting with a good meal at a local bar, before heading to a gay bar (I kid you not…. well OK its not normally a gay bar…..oh hang on, that doesnt sound right either…) was a good night anyhoo
next morning, Chyrel produced the usual fabulous breakfast (was it 2 or 3 types of ‘black’ pudding this time!?)
then we chilled for a while and watched the motogp, before saying our goodbyes and heading back down thru the borders
Tucker and I hd a few good runs round the usual MiT/alston loop including a really nice run one evning with a stop for fish & chips in MiT (and meeting his aunt and her friend) …sadly I found I had a flat tyre on the way back..tho that didnt stop me getting my knee down on the roundabout in Shields
……what it did mean was that I needed a new set of tyres, seeing as the flatty was due to 3!!!!!! punctures in the rear!….. a trip to Hunters relieved me of £169 and left me with a set of Maxxis new Diamond tyres on my bike
…within a week I had just about 1300 miles on those tyres….. LIKING them too! ..for a budget priced tyre, they grip and seem to have low wear too
Another trip up to Selkirk ensued thru the borders…stopping for coffee at NCL airport, then the buddhist monastery in Jockland, at Selkirk and then St. Marys loch! ..all before lunchtime too! when we eventually arrived at Moffat, we met up with Grumpy, Chyrel and Rhino on his Trumpet.
lunch kindly paid for by grumpy and after they all swapped bikes and congratulated themselves on having great taste 😉 and we were off again for a very quick ride thru the usual culprits including a trip thru Kelso which was new to me. With time getting short (I had a night out planned, Tucker and I set off south and had a very quick ride down from Carter Bar, after cching a gixxer and R1 who were a bit ponderous thru th bends….I passed them only for them to tag on behind me…not wanting them in front I went faster and fater till we were averaging 110…GREAT ride, very exhilerating.

Finally, Tucker and I headed down to Brough to meet up with Kenny and then scoot down to Cadwell Park for the BSB meeting. A good day out, if a little cold.
Back in Brough for a few drinks that night (and a nice meal from Pam) WE kipped in the conservatory that night, then headed down to Cadwell again for Race Day. a lovely day weather wise and a good tun out to watch some great racing. Gordy was there and so were Chez and Dougie.
Very sadly a young rider was killed on the Mountain as he fell and was hit by other bikes. quite annoyingly, the death wasnt broadcast till the end of the day, despite it being announced on TV (and therefore everyone knowing from friends who were watching at home texting)
Tuxkr and I set off home in the dark that night….which was nice using the HID lights on both bikes, but not so great for Tucker with his tinted visor!

3rd of July had me heading back out to Botswana on Emirates airline again: This year there are two schools coming to Tuli – one group of 12 from one Kwa Zulu Natal school for a week and then another group of 52 children from another KZN school the following week.
an uneventful trip got me to Joburg and an overnight stay at the Dove’s Nest (as usual) before meeting Martin (ACE) and Anton (driver) for the trip up to Tuli. we shared the vehicle with a number of students Olly and EMily and Marla who will be staff at Mohave camp helping the new coordinator there.
It was great to be back in the land of dust and see Stuart and Annalien (and Ruby, Edward and William 🙂 )
I had a couple of days to acclimatise – and meet the student coordinator: Andrew …a GIANT of a man who makes the Landie look like a toy car!
I headed up to Mohave camp on the Saturday night for a few beers with the ‘gang’ but was delayed by Wild Dogs on the Mohave highway!!! a really nice view of 3 dogs wandering along …I love those things!
Back to work and there was cars to repair and a trails camp to erect. The new idea of ripstop canvas replacing screencloth is perfect: making the camp look professional and yet ‘bush’ too.
Friday morning and it was a drive up to Pont Drift border to pick up Pam, Pete and the 12 kids from the first school. We had a great time with these kids: they saw lions and leopard and my group had an encounter with a little elephant!: the little guy was out front as we approached a small ellie group at a drainage line. As soon as we stopped it stood tall and displayed its huge ears (actually not huge at all cos it was such a little guy!) then he started to charge the vehicle …slowly at first and then getting braver and braver the closer he got, till eventually he was stopped about 1ft from the front of the car!…all we could see was the top of its head and top of its ears poking above the car bonnet!!! ….sooo funny!!! 🙂 it was less funny when mummy came around the Mopane tree to see what the fuss was all about …but it turned out she was quite chilled.
The kids also had a sleep out under the stars and did their own watch duty too – 45 minutes of sitting quietly and protecting the rest of us as we slept!! At Eagle Rock there is a new Verreaux (Black Eagle) eagle chick in the nest …just a tiny ball of white fluff at the moment (it only hatched the previous week) and the dutiful parents soared above us as we looked on.
The trip (the first for this school) was very successful and without any mishap ….so successful in fact that they have booked again already for next year!!!
A couple of days inbetween school groups for more car maintenance and to help out with the students (Andrew was having a day off to take his girlfriend down to Pietersburg) I let Marla drive and run the day, with me just sitting in for support. A nice group of students with good mix of girls and boys keeps the entertainment high.
The night before the Clifton school group arrive was party night: the other guides had arrived (Rob, Steve and Craig Beaton ) so we had a good old chat and a few beers ….sadly I was drinking vodka and was therefore carried unconscious to bed (oopsie!)
School arrival day and I was soooo ill !!! I puked a few times on the way to camp with the staff and Steve had to drive for me!
The Hilux broke down again on the way back from the border with the children ,…..this time it was an electrical fault: a wire had snapped the previous week apparently and Stuart had made one of his repairs …so it snapped again quite embarassingly!
Never mind, they all made it safely to the house and after a prep talk, the vehicles wer loaded up to take them to their respective camps. I was sharing the Trails camp with my group and Craig and his group too ….the camp being run by Gaby (YAY FOR GABY!!!)
I had a great time with each of the groups: running a morning drive with a group that would leave me that lunchtime, then an afternoon and evening drive with the new group that would stay with me overnight.
Each night we had lions around the camp being very vocal and with lions mating on the edge of camp on one night!…… that was the night I had to cack the group out for running around after ‘lights out’ despite repeatedly telling them to get in the tents!
on night drives we saw Bat-eared foxes (numerous families) aardvarks, spotted hyaena (long time since I’ve seen one) …despite the kids falling asleep within an hour on one night!
One morning, I went for bush pee before leaving camp, so walked to the edge of camp to do it in some privacy. Then after loading the kids on the Landie, I drove out of camp and found Sebatana lying just on the edge of camp watching the proceedings from about 10m from where Id been standing!!!
lots of fun with the teachers too: George for instance: had to invite me to the shower with him …he – ALLEGEDLY- couldn’t turn on the shower….he said….It wasnt even tight! …he tried the same trick a couple more times, but I was wise to him by then 😉
The highlight of the kids week was without doubt the Leopard capture! ….Andrew and the normal students had been laying baits in traps over a couple of weeks and one morning were succesful! …..they had caught a large adult male in a trap at the end of the Great Wall. Once we had waited for Andre to arrive, we all drove ver to the spot and Andre darted it (actually 3 times as it was a ‘proper hard’ leopard! then after removing it from the trap, the kids were all trouped over to see it as Andre measured, weighed and generally recorded everything we could, before giving it a collar for future telemetrising. a truly awesome experience for the kids (AND ME!!)
We drove the kids back to the border at the end of their week and it was a pretty sad moment for both sides I think: they’d been a good group and it was a great week.
We had a few beers to celebrate the end, then a sundowner, before Stuart got his gear together to head down to SA with the family the next day.
I spent the next couple of days with the students and Andrew, in Stuarts absence.
Stuart reappeared on the Tuesday night and then I headed back down to Joburg the next morning on the usual student transfer.
At Joburg, I should have been staying overnight before flying out on the Thursday, however I managed to get a seat on a flight that evening so shared a beer in an airport bar with Olly and the scots guy before heading out.

a varied month: a trip down to the Motogp at Silverstone with Tucker, Steve and Martin: lorra laffs and some great racing (in the ‘smaller’ classes) despite horrific wind and rain.
…….Steve is THE ham sandwich maker.
Numerous rideouts on my own or with the nephew Little Michael as pillion….. and of course generally with Tucker.
A birthday party in Patterdale for my cuz Mitch, followed by a ride down to the Peak district; stay at a hostel with Trish and then a ride around the area the next morning (including coffee at Sids Cafe, Holmfirth and then heading home.
A night out in Whitley Bay with Tucker and Mags to the Avalon hotel…for an evening with RANDY MAMOLA!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! I paid £20 to Riders for Health and that gave me the pleasure of sitting on Randy’s 500cc 2 stroke Cagiva from the 80’s!!! VERY kewl. Bradley Smith was also there and came aross very well in his ‘chat spot’
I had a school reunion (Mortimer comp.) at the Westoe pub. Despite being let down by a couple of friends, I had a great night catching up with some old friends and got wasted at the Smugglers pub.Next morning I was going to see the BSB round at Knockhill in Scotland: Tucker range the bell at 7 as arranged, only for me to still be drunk – AND asleep. I managed to get into his car eventually and he drove us up there – stopping to allow me to puke at the roadside! Once there, the racing was great, although spoiled a little by the weather and organisers. (nice to see Jarse there too)

A solo trip over to Norn Iron was on the cards: to see Col and Maureen and also head north to watch the NW200 motorcycle road races.
a 5am start on the bike had me heading over to Stranraer via the ‘Queens road’ which was a bit of an average idea, as the road was very wet from heavy localised rain and quite twisty, so my average speed dropped quite a bit from the earlier blast across the pennines.
Still, I arrived early for the ferry and waited patiently for boarding ……though thinking that it looked a slightly different port from the last time I sat there. The crossing was quick and easy…however it was as we approached Belfast port, hat I realised WHY the Stranraer port looked a little different: I had booked a different ferry! I thought I was booking Stranraer to LARNE, whereas in fact I had booked the Stranraer to BELFAST ferry! ..hey ho! …at least it meant my ride to Col’s house was a little shorter!
Was great to see Col and Maureen and share coffee and beers …and be hen pecked by Mrs. M 😉

The ride up to Bushmills is a beautiful winding road along the coast – great curves and straights and sensational scenery too. I arrived at the Finn McCools hostel at the Giants Causeway to be met by a couple of south african guys running the hostel (which I thought was a bit odd, but cool) I unpacked and headed to the local bar for a couple of quiet beers. back at the hostel and there were quite a few bikers come for the racing including another SA guy, a Cumbrian and a jock. We all dined on free pie and chips supplied by the hostel that night …which was nice!
The cumbrian, jock and myself set off next morning to Portrush for the racing and settled in – in the rain – at the Juniper chicane. the rain was steady and the wind howled, so we tucked in under a shop canopy and ate irish stew and drank coffee while we waited for the racing to start. After some delays for rain, the first race (supersport) got underway….the chicane proved to be a great place to watch from as you get to see the riders hard on the brakes, ‘jink’ thru the chicane and then accelerate out again…from a fairly close vantage point too.
Sadly for us and organisers, there was further delay due to a hoax bomb scare which evacuated the paddock. then on restart – again delayed for rain – Ryan Farquhar’s bike dumped oil all over the track from Portrush up to us. The organisers were woefully unprepared for such a spill and took hourse (literally) to clear the track using what appeared to be a weed spray and a big tank of detergent.
Eventually after a prolonged, confusing and frustrating wait they admitted defeat and all further racing was cancelled!!! great! …..what a waste of time
We trudged back along the road, bought a T shirt and watched a shoplifter steal a T shirt and then get chased by local ‘heavies’
Back at the hostel and we were again offered a free meal and this time even free beer!!!! AWESOME PLACE!!!!! Next morning it was time to leave, so I headed down to Ballycastle with the Cumbrian fella and after a nice coffee we fortunately met up with Colin (GS rider from alps trip 2009) a quick chat and fuel top up and we headed down te coastal route to Carnlough for more coffee…and rain.
Back to Belfast and the Cumbrian headed straight into the ferry port while I headed on to Hannahstown to see Col and Maureen again ..and sunday dinner ..mmmmmm
Next morning and we were being battered by a storm ….so bad that that early ferries were cancelled, however I rang and confirmed my ferry was OK for that afternoon and headed down there. Eventually arrived at the port – after almost being blown off the bike a fw times – to be told that the earlier ferry hdnt left yet and boarding was on a first come/first served basis!! and I was WAY down the list as the morning people were stil there! I waited and waited in the rain and howling wind until the morning ferry left and eventually the afternoon ferry arrived, we were shepherded onto the the large CAT ferry – which was out of use, to get a free meal and drink and dry off a little (thanks very much Stena! 🙂 ) but after watching the afternoon ferry STILL trying to land at the berth almost an hour later, I decided it would be a better idea to head back to Col’s for the night – pertickly as Colin was at Larne and had been told that there wouldn’t be ANY ferries out of there until the next afternoon due to damage to bikes on the earlier ferry!!!
MORE coffee and beers at chez Col and Maureen.
The wind had dropped markedly the next morning so I got the early morning ferry, enjoyed a chat with a Belfast rider and had a smooth crossing. a lovely ride home in sunshine and only slight wind was my reward for hanging about in Belfast fro an extra night!

Just back from Israel and its time for the annual Scots Memorial ride in memory of Has2 – a fallen ninja rider.
Tucker and I rode down to Middleton in Teesdale for coffee and to meet up with the suthern softies riding up from doon sooth.
they eventually arrived after we’d feasted on bacon sarnies and fresh coffee…..JUST as the rain arrived too.
We had a fairly brisk ride thru to Alston and then up to Hartside. Unfortunately we were a couple of riders short when we got there!: Gaz (bless ‘im) had run out of fuel! ….and the exhaust on Emma’s (Shezza) bike had separated into its component parts! An easy fix for both and after another coffee and lunch, we set off North past Kielder, and Bonchester bridge, to Hawick for a petrol stop, then Selkirk and the dreaded A7 up to Edinburgh.
At Edinburgh we lost a couple of riders at traffic control lights etc. but eventually – in the rain – we all managed to meet up at Davy/Grumpy and Chyrel’s house in Leith.
A goodly old night out in town that night with a smashing meal (mmmm blackpudding starter) and a bizarre cross-dressing local and it was ime to fall asleep in a chair somewhere 😉
Next morning, Chyrel produced one of her amazing breakfasts and after watching – and waiting for – Big Al to clean his rear wheel….. we set off to Stirling services to meet everyone else.
The weather was perfect and was so good to meet up with Jarse, Glenmac, Alzo, Davy and to meet Gayle.
next we were all off to the Green Welly, where we parked up in a layby and waited for nothing in particular to happen……thats when I noticed my fork seal was leaking again! …2nd one this year!!! hey ho.
Off to Oban next, for chips and for Glenmac to feed the seagulls. Tucker and I set off fairly sharply from here and rode alone to the petrol station at Glencoe. Eventually everyone arrived and after saying farewell to the masses, some of the english contingent set off further north to Eilan Donan castle. A fab and very quick ride got us there in double quick time (that road is sooo grippy) and after a petrol stop and a gander at teh castle, we headed off again north to Ullapool – our destination for the night.
Some of us were a little later than others to Ullapool 😉 but we all got there safely…complete with broken luggage rail, destroyed tyre, lost bag cover etc. etc.
Me and Tucker were in a hotel whilst most others were in the hostel and a couple were in a B&B
We had a nice evening – though I had to cut it short to sleep again 🙁 then a good sleep and great brekkie and we all met up again. I decided to hang around for a day or so, whilst the majority were heading to Inverness and then down the Lecht road to Edinburgh to stay at Grumpy’s again …one fella had to ride straight home with the canvas showing thru his tyre!
I headed thru to Lochinver and then north again to Durness right on the north coast, before having to head back to Scoura for petrol. Then a slow almost walking pace ride down some single track thru awesome scenery back to the main road back into Ullapool – great day ….fab roads…and lush coffee!
Next day I as up with the larks and had a walk around the harbour, before waiting for the petrol station to open at 7:30 and heading down to Grantown on Spey, where I HAD to stop for coffee and a hot sandwich – I was sooo cold on the bike, I hadnt put my jacket on over my leathers and paid the price dearly …. shivering uncontrollably inside the cafe.
After warming up, it was south on the Lecht road past the ski resorts – incredible road…very fast and very scenic too. I stopped at Breamar for coffee and had a chat with a lady on an SV. Then further south till I turned off for Dunkeld, where I sat at teh side of the river after dining on chicken salad and coffee.
West from there, thru Milton, Aberfeldy adn then along Loch Tay to Killin, where I found a great hotel with B&B for £43 !! … a couple of beers and a chilli later and it was time to rest up till the morning.
I decided to ride thru Dunblane next day to see what I could remember from staying there in 1985 (?) ..not a lot was the answer! ..I was thru it before I recognised anywhere!, then thru Stirling and into Edinburgh for petrol, then down the A68 towards home.
AS I crossed into England at Carter Bar, I came up on a caravan and a couple of cars …one of which looked a little suspicious – an unmarked, white Volvo. yep, the Rozzers. End of ride…I thought.
But not quite! ..at a suitably clear point in the road, the Volvo sped off. hmmm I thought …if an unmarlked car displaying “driver under training” can do that, then so can I! ..so I followed…..for the next 60 miles or so to Ponteland, we travelled at a minimum of 95mph – with the copper occasionally going over the ton (I decided discretion was the better part of valour and stayed <100mph 😉 ) was a great ride! …never thought I would sit behind a copper at those speeds!! 🙂

Israel! The Holy Land Crusade….
Well, I was bored in the UK, and Shir had wetted my appetite for a trip to the Holy Land, so on 28th March I flew from Manchester airport to Tel Aviv!
After getting the 3rd degree from the immigration police, I was met in the airport by Shir and Eli (her partner) a quick ride into Tel Aviv proper in Eli’s works Hilux (its the same the whole world over!) and we arrived at their apartment in Givatayim.
For the first 4 days I spent my time wandering the streets of Tel Aviv and nearby Jaffa, chillin and checking the coffee shops. Of course there was also time for Falafel, Shawarma, Lafa, Shabish, Schnitzel, beer and playing pool
Tel Aviv is a typical Mediterranean city with plenty of high rise and a bit of history – and great beaches. Jaffa is the city joining it which has much more history in the buildings and coastline. It also has a great flea market – the way flea markets SHOULD be!
The only issue is the cost of everything! ….very expensive for food and drink (including coffee)
On the Shabbat before I left TA, we had Jachnoon (jachnun?) rolled bread with green and red chilli dip and brown eggs (eggs, still in the shell cooked for a loooong time, till they go brown inside) VERY nice! (so good I had them again on 2 more Shabbats)
then I rented a car from Hagar …was supposed to be a little Getz, but it wasn’t ready …so they asked me if I wanted a Lancer instead! …errrrrr…. difficult one, that 😉
Off I went: I went East past the top of Jerusalem and then down the side of the Dead Sea, stopping at Qumran to see a little of the caves (theres not much to see there, truth be known) then down to En Gedi, where I slept in a sleeping bag at the beach. A good nights sleep ended at 6:30 when I jumped out of ‘bed’ and into the dead sea ..how odd! ..you float so high, its really difficult to swim or even move properly! …and dont go in if you have any cuts…or BLISTERS! …they HURT!
Once dried, I was of in the car heading South ….stopping at Massada -the ancient temple and fort where you can see the Roman seige machine (camps and an enormous ramp up against the side of the ‘mountain’) I climbed the mountain (OK, I walked up) and was completely knackered by the time I got to the top. But it was worth it – fabulous place with history oozing at you.
I got the cable car back down again, when I was finished 🙂
to finish the day I headed further south to Neve Zohar, where I arranged a room for the night.
Next day and up early again, heading north this time past the sea to Jericho. Jericho is Arab controlled and feels very different to the places Ive seen tat are Israeli controlled: its very run down and doesnt have a good fell to it at all. I stopped at Hishams palace. A nice place but again very obviously in need of money – there was pottery literally underfoot as I walked around. Some lovely parts though with the circular stone window and the Tree of Life mosaic floor.
On leaving Jericho, I drove straight into Jerusalem and miraculously (as I didnt have a map) drove right up to the old city at Jaffa Gate and got parked there! …I must only have been about 400m from the Citadel hostel I was booked into, and only 100m from the pedestrianised area!
The hostel is build in almost a cave like fashion, with little nooks and crannys -I was supposed to be staying on the roof, but it was raining so I had to make do with a dorm bed.
The old city of Jerusalem is incredible: very narrow streets filled with street sellers selling ..well, anything! And of course fast food outlets and coffee shops. But of course what I’d really come to see was the history and religion…I got that in spades when I happened upon the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – the church built on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried. Without any qetion this is the most atmospheric place Ive ever been to. I stood for ages inside wandering around and just trying to take in the fact that this was the most holy place in the Christian Religion.
Afterthat walking around is a whirlwind of history and religion: the Western Wall (foundation of the mount or even the actual Solomons temple) the most holy place for the Jewish religion and of course the Dome of the Mount and the mosque which are 3rd most holy place in the Moslem religion! For me, all that AND the fact that these were te walls that 1000 years ago our armies came to ‘protect’ in the Crusades was VERY ……I dunno …….humbling, I guess.
After 4 days in Jerusalem I had eaten and spent my fill, seen all the sights and spent a long time in and in the courtyard of the CothS. It was time to leave and head North.
Unfortunately I had decided to take the Road 60 north – thru the West Bank (arab controlled) this went well, until I reached one of the many checkpoints in Israel – the soldier suggested I couldnt go thru and must head to Tel Aviv! ….I turned around and ten headed back on a little side road, effectively bypassing the checkpoint. However when I got to a town, no-one seemed to know where Road 60 was! I took a road that seemed right and headed on. Before long I wasnt really sure where Iwas and no-one else seemd to know either ! ..bizarre! ..eventually an old fella told me I wa son the road to Afula – which was fine …..and could he have alift….so I gave him the lift ad he immediately started asking for money for his 7 children…..he didnt get any 🙂 I dropped him off at his destination and carried on thru arab villages until I got to a MAJOR checkpoint. They seemed bewildered that I had got there and proceeded to turn my bags inside out and give my car a full checkout too …all with Uzzis and M16’s pointed in my general direction! Nice!
Despite the fact I had 3 torches which they weren’t happy with, they eventually let me thru and I instantly saw a roadsign showing I HAD been on Road 60 all the time!
Before long I arrived at Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee…..but as its very touristy, I carried on to a place called Magdal (home of Mary MAGDALene?) where I had the most enormous lunch which just kept on coming! …I only managed to eat about half of it before giving up! Then I headed around the sea/lake passing the mount of Beatitudes, until I found a disused camp site on the shore side. I sat for a while taking it all in, and then had a little swim before settling down for the night …on a concrete picnic table …and a good nights sleep it was too!
I left early in the morning and headed further around the lake passing Ein Gev and back to Tiberius again, where I breakfasted on coffee and croissants. Although the lake/sea is a nice place, its very green and I much prefer desert environments nowadays, so I headed off to Akko/Acre on the shore of the Med.
Again a fantastic place with so much history (it was the Crusader capital in the 12 century) and still has a remarkably well kept Crusader hall (which I managed to get in to for free 🙂 ) there are fab sea wall defences and the ruins of the Crusader fort too. I had to stay in a nice hotel here which was a bit expensive, but I’d slept rough for a while so I figured I deserved it.

Back in the car again and South on the Coast road to Caesarea: An ancient city designed and built by Herod to find favour with Emperor Caesar (hence the name, tha knows) there are still remnants of the original port, the Hippodrome, theatre and palace. The archaeology is amazing – pertickly for me seeing a section thru the ground absolutely filled with pottery showing the styles thru the ages (Roman, Christian, Muslim and Crusader). Everywhere you walk, you’re treading on pottery sherds. Just outside the port city, I met an Israeli guy (Elad) who was starting the Israeli trail (a walk which covers the length of the country) we sat on the beach at one end of the roman aquaduct and sewer system. He made a coffee for us and we shared an apple ‘tart’ thingee. Then Elad continued on his way, whilst I built a small wall of roman blocks and various pottery pieces, laid my sleeping bag behind it and after watching eh sun sink, I fell asleep on the roman beach.
Next day I walked along a length of the full height aquaduct which stretches along the beach – but didnt get any photos as my camera failed on me! 🙁
Back on the road and heading slightly north to an ancient harbour – according to the map. There wasnt much to see (very little archaeology digging done so far) and there’s nowhere to stay as the builders and decorators seem to be patching all the lodges, hotels and campsites. I passed a turtle carcass on teh beach and then headed south and back into Tel Aviv, for a surprise visit with Shir.
After a chat and coffee (as usual) I headed south into the Negev.
I stopped at a small lake nr the town of Yeruham for the afternoon. Feasted on dry crackers and apples – with a bit of hummus too. then walked around the area to see what it offered: some rolling rocky ridges, gave way to a dammed lake. I walked off track and found a porcupine den in a shallow cave, which was nice. back to the car and after taking a few photos inbetween the masses of plastic bottles, plates, bags and other trash, I snuggled up in the car to sleep -not a great sleep either as I was obviously close to an air force base judging by the low level planes and helicopters buzzing around all night.
Early start, before the sun rose and I reached the rim of the Large crater – not actually a meteorite crater, but the result of a form of erosion. This is actually the mid sized crater of 3 in this area of the Negev desert. I got some nice sunrise photos and saw my first wild camel walking along the side of the road here.

From here I drove to Mitzpe Ramon, which is the town overlooking the largest crater. Theres a viewpoint here called Camel viewpoint with amazing views over the crater from a point on the very edge. I also got to see various Air Force fighters buzzing thru and around.I continued down into the crater and across the other side, before stopping to walk to a geological point of interest…..which I never found! ..I walked for 2 hours and decided that I should turn back before the sun got too high and I dehydrated (I hadn’t taken any water with me, thinking it was just a short walk!) As my camera still wasnt playing (it was locking the memory cards) I drove all the way down to Eilat to find a camera shop.
Eilat was terrible! …an Israel Blackpool basically with masses of people around. The first camera shop I tried had very surly staff, who were pertickly unhelpful, so I left and popped into an ‘electronics’ shop, where I found the owner was a glaswegian!!! …really nice guy and his chum, who sorted my cards out on their laptop. They also gave me some pointers on where to stay in Eilat – but really, I’d seen enough…even the beaches are in an industrial area with cranes and dockyards etc. I stopped at a small beach almost on the Jordainian border, where I sat for a while, had a swim in the Red sea, then jumped back in the car and headed north, up to the Timna park.
The nice lady at the gate told me I could stay overnight in a large shared tent in the visitors area. So I headed in, walked around the Spiral rock and across to the egyptian carvings and rock paintings before taking more photos at Solomons Pillars. I managed to get basically a full tent to myself that night to which was a bonus! Next morning and I went ofr a long walk thru the rocks and valleys in the park, before heading out and north again to Mitzpe Ramon. Passing a gazillion MkIV Merkava tanks ‘playing war games’ in the sand at the side of the road. In Mitzpe Ramon, I stopped at a coffee shop where the fella gave me some pointers on where to stay. I picked the Ramon hotel and got a lush room with brekkie etc. …it was quite expensive but again I’d slept semi-rough for a couple of nights so thought I’d treat myself.
the rest of the day was pretty chilled: Dropped my laundry off at an industrial unit – no reflection on the state of my laundry! 😉 – then just walking along the edge of the Great Crater and watching IDF F16’s flying thru. The evening was spent at a local bar/restaurant drinking beer and eating most – but not all- of a huge plate of chips.
Lovely brekkie the next morning (at the second attempt: it didnt open till 8 and I got there at 7!) and then I drove North to the Avdat city ruins: this place was a major trading place eons ago and consists of cave dwellings, temple, palace and roman fortifications. very interesting, though again, this place was being ‘repaired’ so as it seems with lots of Israel, its not as original as you might expect.As I walked around, F16’s flew over and a number of Apache AH64 choppers flew across. I left in the car following 3 IDF Hummers (theres a whole lot of military stuff going on in this area!)
Next stop was a little further north at the En Avdat waterfall and ‘canyon’. Lots of Ibex around…and lots of children again too (must be school holidays or summat) Its only a short walk from teh carpark to the waterfall, but very scenic. I met an Israeli fella and his missus …and chatted about dog food, politics and life in general under the searing midday sun.
Back to Mitzpe and pay 35NIS for my laundry (which was done really nicely, thanks ladies) I had a bit of a nap, and then drove down into the Crater, left the car and walked into the landscape. I walked to a little basalt tower on a small mound. parked my butt and sat there for a couple of hours, watching the desert…..well….not do a lot really! As the sun sank, I returned to the car, and drove to the ‘sculpture park’ to take some photos.
I checked out of the hotel the next day and rove north again to Yeruham to get a WIFI signal and check my emails. The continued on thru the Large crater to the Small crater. I walked to the edge of this and sat for a while, then ran down to a prominent formation of rocks and took some more photos and built a little cairn. Very hot today, so I returned to the car as the time hit midday. I drove down the Scorpion Descent to leave the area: a great road used during the Israeli Anglo war (troubles?)
Next I stopped, parked up and walked a few k’s to the Zin water holes …..was a canny walk thru wadi’s and into tall grass and reed ‘oasis’ areas …but there were gazillions of mozzies, so after a brief rest, I got out of there chop chop! I decided to head back to Ein Gedi on the Dead sea, so drove East to the Tamar ruins, where I had a 5 minute stopover for a snack, then drove past Mount Sodom and continued into Ein Zohar, where I tried to get lodging for the night – but failed -despite the help of a lovely old woman who sat me down in her house while she rang everyone she knew who had tourist accommodation ..they were all full though, so after a drink of water, I continued up to Ein Gedi, bought a mud coffee at the ‘stand’ and then bivvied down on the edge of the sea again.
An early morning cappuccino and then a walk into the Ein Gedi oasis itself. got a nice shot of an Ibex on a rock and then some dassies, before walking to the David Waterfall, which was very nice. Then up to the source of the oasis spring, which was a great walk with fabulous views of the oasis and the dead sea. I returned to the visitor centre and ate a Magnum (mmmmmm Magnum) before returning to the sea and chilling for a while. Then a walk along the sea edge to find the ‘hot tubs’ that a few people told me about. I thought Id found them – but they were only smelly hot tubs full of sulfurous water….got some nice photos and was gonna bivvie here until 2 local Rangers passed by (cute chicks actually!) and advised tha bivvying was illegal there. So I upped sticks and walked with them back to the hostel as the sun set. I walked back to my little spot at the side of the Dead sea and slept soundly…again.
After an early morning cappuccino, I drove to Wadi Keld and after turning down a ride on a donkey (do I look like Jesus) and borrowing a pair of over-trousers to cover my shorts, I entered the Greek monastery built into the hillside. Very atmospheric place, so I hung around for a while, just chillin, before getting back to the car and driving into Jerusalem again…bit unnerving on the way into the city as it was the Sabbath and also Passover, so there were absolutely NO cars on the roads! ..very odd feeling! I drove intot he centre, and parked up on a street, before walking quite a way to reach the Israel Museum …I approached it from the back and almost turned around thinking it would be closed as there were no signs of life around, however as I passed near the front a couple of coaches headed into it …so I did too! …fortunately I just followed the peeps getting off the bus and walked with them in to the ‘free’ museum – only realising as I left the museum that I walked thru the ‘prepaid’ tour entrance and bypassed paying the entrance fee!! YIPPEE!!
The museum was incredible. First thing I saw was a scale model of Jerusalem from biblical days, which was very interesting. Then I went into the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit – which I’d wanted to see for a long time. Shame was most of the scrolls on display are copies 🙁 still, great to se so much history there. The rest of the museum is organised into large halls of artifacts – from EVERY possible religion and civilisation stage. Excellent musem, well worth a visit! I grabbed a cappuccino outside then headed back to the car and searching for a cheap hotel …CHEAP hotel …..like maybe the YMCA, you might think? ..well, the Jerusalem ‘3 Arches’ YMCA is a fabulous building on King Davids Road ..but it costs £98 per night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so I didnt stay there.
Instead I found a little hotel called “A little house in Rechavia” which was a bit cheaper and was a nice enough room. I had a long walk around the area that evening – trying to find somewhere to eat, but again, it was the Sabbath, so nothing was open …until eventually I found a Macdonalds (no way!) and then a little mini market across the road, where I bought crisps, apples and crispbread.
At breakfast next morning I met an american family that were touring around a little – they were from New Jersey and very nice too (Jackie (the mum) had a great ‘New York’ accent)
I left Jerusalem and headed West reaching Modine, where I chilled by walking around the olive groves for a few hours…taking a few pics and checking out the local flora. By the end of the walk I felt quite knackered …not sure why but not a lot of energy today. I continued on driving to the Ben Guiron airport just outside Tel Aviv where I bought some pistachios and milk, then sat on a nice green area to gorge on them…very pleasant!
Then it was back to Eli and Shir’s apartment. After dropping my gear off, I walked to the mall, drank cappuccino and bought some beers. Headed back toe the apartment and watched tv, ate a Sabikh (pitta with eggplant, veg, mayo and humus) before dozing off.
Next morning I had to get the car washed (queued for almost 2 hours!!!) and then said goodbye to my Lancer. When I paid the bill, I got the car even cheaper! ….costing the equivalent of £19.70 per day!! LUSH! I then walked to the Elite Tower (highest in Israel) and had cappuccino and chocolate croissants. Then I had a long walk thru the Yarkon Park, which is a really nice, large park in central(ish)) tel Aviv.

February 2010
with only 18 more miles on the clock of the bike (crappy weather for months now) Ive finally got a permit to reside in Boswana
…so 9th Feb, I’m offski
arrive Joburg and transported up to Tuli YAY!!!
Stuart left on a much needed holiday the next day, so all alone in the wonderworld that is Tuli Wilderness! …apart from the students that is,….
One day later and we see the first leopard of the year – just a fleeting glimpse, but hey! …thats kewl
A week later and I need to take the students that are leaving down to Polokwane (Pietersburg) for a transfer and to pick up Stuart on the way back. All was good till we got back into the Tuli area and were driving thu VERY heavy rain…..we’d had to stop a couple of times for the water running across the road to subside a little, but then as crossed another ‘river’ Stuart drove too far to the left and the whole front of the 80 series Cruiser dipped under water in a huge hole!!!! …luckily it powered thru and came out the other side!!!….the water had ran over the bonnet it was so deep!

March saw us find two carcasses on the same day: one was a zebra that appeared to have been killed by a leopard (very strange)

the other was an actual LEOPARD carcass!! ..quite rotten so not able to tell what had happened to it, but it was also collared and therefore one of the Mashatu known animals (the collar had failed some time previously, so we still were no closer to finding out the story)
4 days later and we have BUFFALO in the area! …this shouldn’t happen as the area is protected against bovine diseases which many buffs carry, but these two we came across on a night drive, had escaped from somewhere in Zim. We kept quiet about it, but Chris saw tracks, reported it and the animals were both sadly shot a few days later (not on our property)
Later in March we were on a night drive, just myself and two students, when we picked up the lions. Followed them for a while, then sat in the dark with engine and lights off as Sebatana appeared to be stalking a group of Wildebeest we knew were just to one side of us. Minutes later and the Gnu’s started grunting and then stampeded right in front of us! ..we put the spotlight on them and lo and behold, there was Sebby RIGHT in the middle of the herd!… she pulled down a Gnu right in front of us and then struggled to hold on as the two spun round and round in a death battle, then just as the Gnu broke free, ANOTHER one ran in and collided with the first, they both then scattered, whilst Sebby stood apparently stunned by the goings on! As we flashed the spotlight around, we could see the rest of the herd had returned and were formed up in a semi-circle as if they were going to attack the lion too! …crazy goings on and ALL video’d!!! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1329112100970

April saw the Wild Dogs make an appearance on Mohave highway, right next to the road. WE left them until that afternon and then caught up with them again (more or less the same place) and waited until they started moving…we followed them along the road until they stopped at their morning kill – a Kudu – which they all tucked into again. All within 3m of the vehicle …and a slightly scarey moment for Paddy on the tracker seat as one of the dogs appeared to be able to se e him and got ‘interested’ I talked to it and dissuaded it from getting any more interested!

I managed to get 7 days leave in April, so drove down to the Lowveld area, staying at Hoedspruit, Graskop (spending some time in the Bikers Rest bar) and Sabie. All good except the weather was terrible with heavy rain. Though there are some fab sights in that area (Gods Window, Wonder View and the many waterfalls of the area

Back in Tuli and the news is: Mabella, our HUGE lioness has had cubs!! ..there appears to be tracks of at least 2 and possibly 3 cubs, but the bad news is that she is now INCREDIBLY aggressive! Attacking the car at every opportunity.

May was a quiet month for students….so quiet that we actually shut up shop for the month and concentrated on much needed car maintenance…. and I started demolishing walls inside my new house, just around the corner from mohave camp – its an old house from the cattle post days, with a thatched roof – story goes that the last inhabitant was killed by an ellie!
I also got away to Joburg for a couple of days to watch the WSB round at Kyalami -free ticket courtesy of KFB of the mcnninjas (ta, everso) great racing and a nice track …man, I love the sound of an in-line 4 bike engine…..wish my bike was here…..

June saw the arrival of our new co-ordinator Massi. Italian South African guy, with great experience and a nice guy to boot! It also saw the arrival fo a hippo to our coffee spot below the Sycamore Figs, on the banks of the Limpopo: we were having coffee and idling about, when a ripple appeared on the water and then a hippo surfaced a few metres from the bank – and us – snorted then trotted off down river! …LUSH! The month also gave us views of the lions (not the cub tho) and one Eland carcass was heavily populated with lions, leopards and both spotty and brown hyaena! – tho not all at the same time.
Ju e was also the start of my summer break: I used the trusty (sic) 2.4lHilux to drive up to Nata and stay at the Nata Lodge where I stayed a night before driving up to Hunters Road – an historic road used for centuries by hunters: it winds its way up north along the Bots/Zim border. I drove thick sand for 40km to get to it, but was rewarded by seeing a leopard jump out of a tree within 5 minutes of getting on the road! After that I saw plenty of ellies and giraffe, zebra and Kudu etc. before winding my way back to the Elephant Sands campsite, where after towing a couple of people int the camp, I was given free tent, beer and food for the night! ..CHEERS!
The next day I realised that the local ellie population use the camp swimming pool for drinking water, with incredibly close meetings with family groups of ellies all day! …got some great photos there…so I stayed an extra night! <img src="” alt=”ellie” />
Next night was full moon and just by chance I had intended to drive down the Makgadikgadi pans to Lekhubu island…so I did. Paid to stay on the island surrounded by Baobab trees and star chestnuts, set up the tent and then went for a walk down onto the pan. Was a beautiful place spoilt by a number of peeps and their Cruisers/Prado’s/Fortuners doughnutting in the salt. But finally, the sun set and the beautiful full moon slowly rose above the salt desert. Incredible sight.
Next morning I was up early and set off walking across the pans! ….though I had plenty of water and a GPS, I walked without drinking and trying to use the sun (and he occasional pelican egg!) to keep a direction. It worked pretty well, but after I’d walked 11km, and passed a couple of skeletons (one deffo a zebra, the other I think was a pelican) and then coming across fresh hyaena tracks, I decided that was enough and headed back…deciding that it would be kinda nice to run, I upped pace until I was doing a canny jog along the . Arrived perfectly safely some time later and sat under a Baobab tree to drink and recover from the intense heat. Fabulous day!
Next day I drove North to Gweta and Planet Baobab where I stayed for the night and watched England lose in the World Cup… Off to the Nxai pans the next day which were canny, but accessed by a nightmare of a rutted, corrugated sand road. Nice to see Baines Baobabs there though. I then carried on to Maun and a flight over the Okavango Delta in a little Cessna thingee with some overlanders…expensive but apparently the Delta as more water in it now than its EVER had! Incredible views and quite a lot of animals down there too! I stayed at Audi Camp for the night, where I had a couple of beers with the manageress. Next day, I sorted accommodation at 3rd Bridge camp site in Moremi (Okavango Delta) and then arranged my park entrance accordingly – the camp site only had space for 2 nights but they assured me there would probably be space for a third and I could amend my park entrance there with them. Off I trotted (in the car) and diverted north to Xakanaxa, to avoid the washed out road thru 2nd bridge, from there you head down over 4th bridge to get to 3rd bridge ..HOWEVER, I arrived at 4th Bridge just in time to see another hilux submerge down to its windows as it crossed the ‘bridge’. The guy offered to wait this side and make sure I got across, which I did, but again, the water was flowing across the bonnet as I went thru!. A fairly uneventful but nice stay at 3rd bridge without any predators but with lots of ellies and various antelope and my first sight of a hippo out of the water – it trotted across the grass in front of me on its way to the water early the 2nd morning. I also spent one of the most pleasant 4 hours of my life, sitting surrounded by a group of giraffe, whilst completing Evening Telegraph cryptic crosswords.
The day I left, I drove down thru 2nd bridge as the water had subsided: turned into a good decision as I came across an old male lion that had obviously just eaten. It sat watching me for a few minutes and then stood up walked a little towards me and then turned sideways and ROARED! …delicious!
On my return to Tuli, the thatchers Magazine and Sox arrived and started the rethatch of my new house . At about the same time, the cylinder head gasket failed in the Hilux (that I’d just been on leave in) so I had to remove that, Stuart got the head welded up and machined flat again the water galleries had corroded) and refitted it OK ….just more mechanical woes to add to the usual long list! (and a bit of an argument with Stuart over blame…)
The next month or so was a whirlwind of lion spotting, wild dogs, Eagle Rock walks and fab game drives as we carried on with the conservation work and got MAssi up to speed with the area, sights and roads and how we actually undertake the conservation work.
August came and with it was 2 weeks of leave: I flew back to the UK to meet an old friend…..Shaun who emigrated out to Oz when we were 20 (I think) and who I havent seen since. Was fab to meet up with him and his lovely wife Maria. We had a few drinks in the County hotel for old times sake on the first night, along with Stu and David Meikle and Lesley (from the old party days) and her fella Brian. After that we had days at the Metro Centre, Durham and Holy Island and at least one night at Lesleys. Was sad to see them go home, but I’ll meet them again, soon – hopefully IN Oz !
September onwards: and back in Tuli – with FAMILY!! …Big and little Michael Gilmore (my brother in law and his son – my nephew) arrived for 2 weeks. Great to have family over to see the place – and despite not seeing any lions while they were here, we had great views of a Brown Hyaena (Hyaena brunnea) eating an impala carcass one night (with little Michael on the tracker seat) lots of ellies, a few Solifugids….. and managed a few walks to Eagle rock etc.
We also played with ellie poo in the Mohave river and watched little guy skin his knees on the rope swing 😉 free time was mostly spent playing Uno with our Spanish/Belgian student and her german friend.
The camp boma was also being rethatched by Sox and Magazine, prior to the rainy season, so the kitchen and table were repositioned under a canopy in the ‘car park’. It made the place very rustic (even more than usual) but also kinda nice and ‘colonial expedition’ stylee.
Despite not getting much time with the Michaels, they both managed to get a shot at driving he Landie – and both did very well too.
We didnt have many students during the rethatch (which was prolly a good thing) but those we had were a pleasure! …Michael (the gadget man) and his lovely wife Emily were here for 2 weeks and though there were no predators around, we were elated to find a very young giraffe one morning in a drainage line, with is mum watching us from above. Sadly, we found its carcass the next morning in the same drainage line 🙁 We thought it had died from leopard attack (there were puncture marks on its neck and a trail of blood from its mouth) however when Michael checked his photos from the previous day, there was blood from its mouth then too. We camped out to see if any scavengers would come to it overnight, but despite checking early in the night and again much later, nothing was seen…..and the next day the carcass had completely disappeared! …annoyingly.
We also had out first Isreali student: a girl called Shir. Despite being a veggie 😉 she turned out to be a really nice girl – very interested in the whole conservation experience and pretty knowledgable about the animals/ecology too – summat to do with her uni studies, no doubt. Anyhoo, THE most remarkable thing about Shir was…….. her cake making skills! ….YAY! Fantastic cakes in the bush! Together with Claudia (a swiss lady) we walked a whole lot of the area and had a lot of laughs doing it – well done Claudia!
Yet another girl arrived late in the year: ‘Stig’ ….an Ozzie girl. At this stage there were only the 3 of us: Shir, Stig and myself so we had a lot of work to do to keep the data records going! …we also had a lorra laughs as we drove and walked around the place. INCLUDING one drive thru the central area with the girls singing as I drove the Cruiser….just as I manouvered thru a narrow and deep drainage line and with the girls singing loudly, I realised that Sebatana was standing looking at us just 20m or so in front! …..obviously amazed at the singing, she eventually waltzed off into the bush.
Even more incredibly was the next realisation: STIG MAKES CAKES TOO!!!!!! can my life get any better than this??
Now it was time for my next leave – so I left at the same time as Shir and hired a car to drive down to SA. I spent time a night in Polokwane and a day eating lemon meringue and drinking cappuccino (how else am I gonna spend my hols???) then drove down to Hoedspruit and a night in ‘Trackers’ accommodation up on the mountains there. Next day was into Kruger via Orpen gate, where I saw plenty of Buffalo, giraffe and hippos and got fined R500 for speeding!!! (embarrassingly) Next was down to Hazyview via the ‘Panoramic’ route and a night at Perrys Bridge Hollow …a very nice hotel place with a lush room and great eggs benedict for brekky – they even have staff that knock at your door at 7pm with a ‘goodnight’ card, a biscuit for your bedtime drink and a copy of the next days weather forecast! …now THATS service!
Swaziland!
`I drove thru the Reef border post and stayed the first night at Phophonyane Waterfall Ecolodge, followed by a drive down to Maguga Dam where I stayed for another night and walked to some San rock paintings with the local guide, who I shared melon with when we got back to the car.
Next day and back into SA with a drive thru Carolina and Dullstroom before arriving at Graskop and staying at the Blue Swallow – nice place and quite cheap. Of course I had to have beers at the Bikers Rest bar that night 😉 photo opportunity at Berlin falls, then on to Sabie before returning to Graskop for the night. My next day was a drive north stopping at Bourkes Luck potholes before returning to Hoedspruit for the night. I had a day at the Blyderiverspoort dam which was very nice and relaxing and nice salad and coffee at the Eden garden, which was a lovely place to sit – next to a banana plantation and gorgeous gardens. That night I drank at the Sportsmans bar where I got chatted up by the OLD `barmaid (she was nice though)
After that it was back to the wonderworld that is Tuli.
….and only 2 students! …Stig was still there, and she had been joined by an american south african guy called Rodney (hereinafter renamed Rodders) Well, we had a lorra fun for a few days on the conservation project proper, but then we joined in as Mentors on the Limpopo Valley Children in the Wilderness charity event on the property.it meant early starts (5am) and late finishes, but we had a great time playing games with the local kids from Lentswe le Moriti and Motlhabaneng villages. Was great to see them warm to us and the event and eventually have a great time. Lots of fun!
Once the CitW event ended, it was back to packing up for Christmas and a Christmas party with much dancing and drinking
And then ……. it was time for me to leave Tuli. Very sad, but it seems to be my only real choice at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be back 🙁

so,

Ken and I were gonna try and get on the train from Kapiri (Zambia) to Da es salaam (Tanzania) which is a 46 hour trip, more or less…depending on how many times the train breaks down, I think! ..but at the ticket office, the nice lady told us that all 1st class accommodation was taken …and that I was fat.

so STUPIDLY, we decided to get the bus …..that afternoon. Which meant a return to the hostel, grab my still wet laundry and then head back to the bus station for the 24 hour trip

…our bus came with TV and free soft drinks, which was nice …nobody mentioned that the ONLY TV was at the front of the bus, was maybe a 10″ screen and would only show one music video (so bad it DID actually hurt) and 2 movies …both Nigerian ……..and painful does not  BEGIN to describe the hurt they did to all my senses! The free drinks turned out to be a can of orange pop and a bottle of water thrown at us a few minutes after we left Lusaka!

The bus itself was circa 1976 complete with flock wallpaper, leaking windows and lumps of soap thrown/stuck to the windscreen to clean the glass as we drove.

we got started 2 hours late for no apparent reason and then stopped – still in Lusaka – to pick up a spare wheel at someone’s house (!) Amazingly, we drove thru the first night and successfully made it to the border wth Tanzania, where we duly had our passports stamped and bags checked. after re-sitting on the bus for another 10 minutes or so, we discovered a note stuck to the windscreen: NOTICE OF SEIZURE. We eventually discovered that someone on the bus was smuggling womens clothing into the country and one of our drivers or his apparent horde of helpers has secreted the stuff n the engine room and thats why they impounded the bus. A couple or 3 hours later and after most of the passengers harassed the border guards enoug they let us – and the bus – thru (tho the driver had to drive with the notice of Seizure still stuck to the window, directly in front of him!)

Eventually, the driver pulled over at 11pm on the 2nd night …when we asked another passenger why, they advised that they always stop here for dinner <!>

so out we got, they opened up the kitchen anad we ate rice and meat or chicken

back on the bus and we find out that the driver has to stop at 12 midnight anyway, as he cant drive between then and 3am!!! so we found ourselves pulled over in the middle of nowhere to sleep for 3 hours…which I did, whilst Ken went off and drank beer in a bar somewhere!

3am and we bizarrely got stuck in a traffic jam with all the other bus and lorry drivers and then eventually headed off

Ken left the bus just outside Dar, so he could get a connection to Arusha…I stayed on for the rest of the trip – which tallied up at an epic 42 hours by the time I arrived at the bus station.

At Dar, I jumped into a taxi for the drive straight to the airport, to fly back to Heathrow ….the taxi driver knew someone at the airport who started the process of getting me a ticket. Sadly none of the airlines from Dar accept Visa …so I tried to get cash from an ATM…….but they would only give me 300 of the $800 I needed! ..so I got another taxi to Dar and found a room at the YWCA. that night a friendly taxi driver took me to Coco beach and had a word with the staff of the bar to make sure I was comfortable …so I sat and watched the sunset under coconut palms with copious amounts of Kilimanjaro and Safari beer …eventually getting joined by Valencio (the taximan) …a VERY nice way of ending a HECTIC 48 hours.

NExt day and I booked a flight on Emirates – only to find that the webshite wouldnt allow me to pay – and I must collect the tickets and pay for them at the Emirates offices! …I couldnt believe my luck when the girl in the net cafe told me that the offices were actually upstairs!!!!! – at last!!!! …something went right!!!

3pm and I’m on the flight, sitting next to an Indian guy in mourning for his mother …I think he’s also suffering from Swine Flu judging by the coughing, wheezing, spluttering and sneezing he was doing! ….but that was nothing to the drunken state he got into ..so bad the stewardess wouldnt serve him any more (he even asked me to get him more drinks!!!) he eventually fell asleep …with his head on my lap…and didnt even wake up when I picked his head up by his hair and shoved him back onto his seat!!!

oh joy

in Dubai (transfer) I sat with an Islamic Imam from London who was a very nice guy offering me crisps and teaching me a little about Islam …which was nice. Shame I never got his name.

Finally I’m in London! ……-2 degrees, no flight, no train and no bus…and struggling to get a car hire too. trapesing around the carparks to each of the hire companies was no joke in ony a T shirt and wearing open sandals in 3 inches of snow!!!

Welcome back to the UK, eh? 🙂