After another cold night we pack up and head out towards Istanbul. The back of the truck was freezing, I had packed up my sleeping bag and was huddled in one of the blankets that Lara had left on the truck, loaned to me by AK as there was no way I was fighting to fit my sleeping bag back into my well packed bag again! (thank god we had been robbed of everything otherwise we would have had no hope in packing our bags!) We drove through snow and the temperature dropped, and dropped and dropped, so much so that a few were able to engage in a few snowballs during one stop. Spencer, ever the scientist, brought a snowball into the truck and sit it on the floor, it didn't melt a bit!
We drove into Istanbul with heavy hearts and frozen fingers, I was sad to be saying goodbye to a great group of people (and one tightassed wanker) and wondered how some of the 'west coasters' were feeling after 43 weeks together.
Spencer and I headed off with all our gear in tow. This was the first time in three months we had to carry everything and our gear had tripled! We track down our hotel, we had managed to get a great deal on it and it was very flash, we got inside, turned the TV, heater and every other appliance on and rested for the afternoon. That evening we caught up with everyone for some beers, for me those beers hold a great memory, the last beer to be taken into my body (been almost three months now since I drank). After tea and beers and sheesha and beers and more sheesha Spencer and I headed back to our hotel and all the luxuries it contained.
The next day I was suffering a sheesha hangover, and realised that I had sucked way too much sheesha into my non smoking system, I downed a red bull in the hope of feeling marginally better but a super size redbull downed fast on top of a hangover and too much sheesha was not good. After Spencer warning me about drinking after my New Years Eve effort I wasn't in a spot to complain and just had to 'suck it up', much like I had the sheesha the previous night.
That day we wandered around all the main sights in Istanbul then met up with all the remaining others in Istanbul for a last feed at a local place. The following day we were out to the Airport headed for the warmer climate of Doha.
We arrive in Doha to rejoice in warm temperatures and being one step closer to being home, we see the main sights and clock up a fair few kilometers of walking. For one of the last times we miss our lonely planet guide and our GPS that were stolen when we 'misplace' our self. The wonders of technology have us sitting on a footpath in the dark with the laptop tuned into google earth for directions back to the hotel (we couldn't remember the name to get a taxi!)
 |
| Doha immigrant transport, in stark comparison to the luxury transport of the locals |
The last day we spend the last of our dollars on a new pair of shorts for me, Spencer looks for a new pair of footy boots, much to my disgust, I get a feed of sweet and sour fish, some face cream and a small north face duffel bag and we head back to the hotel to pick our gear up before heading to the airport.
Now I have seem some airports in recent years, the good, the dirty, the ugly and then Doha...it's a hole. Limited food outlets, one which had a line close to 100m long for hours upon hours! And all I want to do is get on that plane and get myself out of there! and home! I head the boarding call, Spencer is at the duty free trying in earnest to do a deal to get rid of some ridiculous amount of change on a magazine, then we head down to the bus out to the plane and wait, wait, wait.
Qatar Airways are good to fly with but don't live up to their 5 star advertisements, their food was good, service OK, but they had me a little nervous when they started asking for their blanket back! And we hadn't seen their blanket! honest! (may be similar to one we have at home...errr, I only said similar!)
Arriving back in Australia close to midnight we have the federal police board the plane as something has been stolen mid flight (I said that the blanket is similar! not the same!) then we realise that Rafael Nadal is seated in the row in front of us and the dickhead behind is hassling him then we are finally allowed off the plane and manage to get through customs and immigration (one positive thing of our robbery was Spencer getting a new micro chipped passport, so we were through in minutes, instead of me having to wait for him). Customs didn't even want to look at my wooden crocodile or ask about the multitude of internal parasites I brought back into the country, just welcomed us back and let us through whilst yelling at the man behind us for ducking under the same barrier that we had minutes before! You just gotta love returning to Australia!
 |
| "errr, where you been Red?" Red m&m man returns with a tale to tell... |
We return to Victoria as most of the place is flooding, including the creek and dam in my parents bottom paddock, the paddock across the road had 1m of water flowing through, The next day we hear that my folks static display at the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally site has had 6ft of water through it causing irrepairable damage to most of the old engines and home wares.
 |
| The creek near my folks house |
 |
| Caledonian Creek |
 |
| The paddock turns into a river |
The following morning we were up and about and into town to check out our new car, yes, we had managed to purchase a new Nissan Navara from Turkey (well we were in Turkey, the car was not!) Of course that didn't go smoothly (nothing has for us lately) and several days later we are driving the car out of town towards Darwin when they ring us to tell us that the finance had been approved, they had stuffed up after someone had got the story that I had been on maternity leave (oh dear, I must have left someone in Africa!) and the finance was stalled. The dealers were too worried to tell us we couldn't get the car on that day as they knew we had to get back to Darwin so they let us take it without the finance being finalised (gee we must be trustworthy!, although it may have something to do with my mother having a reputation for accountability and her working only 50m away!) 50km from home we are diverted around floodwaters and end up taking the long way around...we are starting to think if we will reach Darwin at all!
So we get the big, black Nissan Navara with tinted windows, (looks a bit like a mafia vehicle), but we have no rego plates on it as be purchased it in Victoria and had a permit to drive to Northern Territory. So all good, until they tell us that we can only drive the car between the hours of 7am and 7pm and we have 4000km to do in 3 1/2 days! arghh! And my driving is struggling from lack of practice, so badly that I hesitantly admit to Dad (with massive embarrassment and a loss of respect on his behalf) that when I took his patrol into town the car salesman had to back it out of the park for me as I had a couple of issues (hey it's got a big canopy on the back and I couldn't see!, besides the first issue was with the immobiliser!)
 |
| Navara through the fisheye |
 |
| Somewhere in Central Australia |
 |
| "Navarus" gets his Territory Plates |
We spend the first night with friends in the Adelaide Hills and get an early start the following morning, managing to pull the swag out on the side of the Stuart Highway 40kms south of Alice Springs that night....not bad for 12 hours of driving! And great to be back in the Northern Territory, we did have to have a stop at the border, wee and photo and a discussion of how anyone could steal the territory emblem off the border sign! (all in about one minute!) Around this time in the dark (hmmm, maybe it was dark just before we stopped driving at 7pm because of our permit he he or maybe we made a mistake with our clock when we added on the extra hour when arriving in the NT...) a bird was the first victim to the Navara and the Navara was the first victim to the bird. Spencer and I were just glad that it was something else that put the first scratch in the new car! We didn't have to argue about who was responsible for it! The following morning we wake up, me half out of the swag, to the sounds of dingos howling nearby, we are in the car and waiting at the pumps in the Alice Springs service station by 6am ready to fill the beast up with diesel, and comment about how cheap the Navara is to run! Excellent.
I indulge in a 'territorys own' iced coffee, oh dear, how I had dreamed of that moment for over six months...don't usually drink coffee, but there is nothing better that a Paul's Iced Coffee when in the Territory. We are now driving at 130km/h up the Stuart Highway loving the green outback and the flooded rivers and claiming our love for the NT and looking forward to seeing our friends and not looking forward to work the following morning!
We are amazed to see Tennant Creek flowing... and glad at the superb handling of the Navara when I drive into a mirage that turns out to be floodwater over the road! "what the f&*k! we are in the outback!" "Oh yeah, mirages don't usually have a warning sign besides them!"
That afternoon we really test out how far a Navara can run on empty, turns out a long way as we coast into Katherine in the rain with the fuel needle well below empty and the alarm buzzing! Fill it up again and we are off, three hours out of Darwin, the final leg in an epic adventure.
We arrive into Darwin at about 9pm that evening, breath a sigh or relief and congratulating ourselves on managing to survive-
- 13 1/2 months travel together
- 21 countries visited
- 15,000 kms in New Zealand
- three months of living in a van
- six months of living in a tent
- 30,000 kms in Africa
- one robbery
- one hospital visit
- one wild animal incident
- about $20 000 lost in rental income
- about 500gb of photos taken
- countless shitty toilet visits
And the last 4000km sprint to home.
As I said in a previous blog post that I have had good luck in my life...well with good luck comes bad luck too and we were to have more of it.
Our tenants were evicted from our unit and destroyed it in the process, ink poured on the couch, TV stolen, mattress destroyed, crockery smashed, linen ruined, damage over $15,000.
Our gear in storage damaged, much of it went straight in the bin, even things like our esky were victims to the humidity, cracking and crumbling.
After a couple of weeks we are hit by Cyclone Carlos.
I spend weeks upon weeks tracking down a copy of our South African police report, thank goodness for contacts at school, turns out a lady that I work with has a brother who knows the head of Tourism Safety in South Africa, whallah! One police report!
My health declines and they find that I have contracted a rare strain of Dysentery not heard of in Australia, the doctors still haven't given up their search for Bilharzia, nine negative tests and they are still certain that the worms are in there somewhere! They have found and killed three other types of parasites already.
Spencer smashes his shoulder whilst losing his football grand final, his doctor is amazed that he is still well when I seem to be a Noah's ark for parasites
Our travel insurance laid the final blow, bastards! Who dares to tell me that my brand new Middle East Lonely planet is worth $12 less!
2010 really was the year of liquidation!
But....my red crocs and red zebra t-shirt followed me home...true survivors!
See the photos on www.untamedoutbackimages.com
 |
| Tree across the road down, Cyclone Carlos |
 |
| Two days of no electricity, Cyclone Carlos |
 |
| Rain, Cyclone Carlos |
 |
| Damage, cyclone Carlos |
