Harvey's African Adventures: The gypsy wagon is begining to run out of steam....Turkey; Gallipoli, Selcuk

We left Gorome after indulging in one last breakfast at the Rock Valley inn. The back of the truck was cold and only got colder as we drove. It didn’t take long for most people (including myself) to be huddled up in sleeping bags, I had mine zipped all the way up and the hood on, exposing only my eyes and mouth to the world. After a few toilet stops and checkpoints we pulled up for our last bush camp of the trip at an abandoned service station. Son and AK were on dinner that night and whipped out a huge batch of minestrone soup with pancakes and hot chocolate for desert, perfect for when the weather is so cold. I indulged in too much hot chocolate and had an upset stomach so went to bed early.

"Bush Camp"....

Breakfast on the truck

We woke early to the sound of rain, not a good sign when our tents are to be packed up for the final time. We had breakfast as we rolled along in the truck, including the left overs of last nights hot chocolate.

We had a few toilet stops along the way, (due to a combination of cold weather and hot drinks on the truck), arriving at Pamukkale for lunchtime. There were a few upset people onboard the truck when we pulled up in a camping ground, some people have summer sleeping bags and have suffered from the cold in the past couple of weeks. The truck was only parked in the campground until Mark found us some accommodation, warm rooms; hot showers at a nice little place right off the main street. Myself, Ronald, AK, Ish, Son and Yoich wandered into the world heritage site of thermal pools and old ruins up the hill. There was an initial hesitation at the 20TL entry fee (more than the pyramids) but it was well worth the coin and the barefooted walk over the calcium soak to get to the top of the hill. The ruins were not all that impressive (yeah usually I would be a little more inspired about it, but I have just seen way too many tourist sites lately) the most impressive sight was the huge amphitheatre which is still in quite good condition. We had dinner and a few beers before heading off to bed; Spencer and I were in a room with Burbs and Daniel. The room had about two beds too many in it, there were three single beds all against each other, another against a wall and no floor space to think of, but it was very warm with a shower and toilet next door, so it felt like luxury. Burbs didn’t even snore that night, the last time we had shared a room with him I kept thinking that he was dying in his sleep and taking his last breaths....at one stage I though it was Spencer snoring and smashed him over the head with my pillow only to see that Spencer was actually awake and not very happy with me!

Gee, no one else quite has the ten of an overlander...

Ish cools (warms) his toes in a thermal pool

AK wakes up the local dog

Pamukkale, World Heritage site

We had a good breakfast for New Years eve and loaded into the truck bound for Selcuk, once we arrived we had the task of cleaning and drying our tents ready for them to be packed up for over two months until the truck arrives in West Africa ready for another adventure. We set our tents up in the street, a couple of the boys even set them up on the roof of the truck (I think they just wanted to see if it could be done!) after scrubbing and brushing and re packing the tents we headed inside for a sleep and then out to dinner. Mark very generously shouted the group dinner for New Years Eve at a local Turkish restaurant which dished up a really tasty vegetarian dish. We all piled in there and took full advantage of BYO alcohol. I ended up suffering through a bad bottle of Turkish red wine that had so much sludge in the bottom that you couldn’t see through the stuff, and then started on a raspberry wine which tasted far too like lollies for my liking. The boys handed around a few too many shots of red wine (the wine that was purchased for Christmas day to be mulled) and before we knew it the time was nearing on 12.00, we legged it our of the restaurant and down to a local park where someone decided that hedge surfing was the thing to be done, hedge surfing is just that, throwing yourself into a hedge, I have to say that it looked like good fun.

From there my memory of the event fades, but the evening went something like this (as editor I uphold my right to leave out some details.....errr, well maybe MOST of the details...) We went up to the rooftop of the pension where we were staying, someone started us on shots of whiskey, we were too loud and asked to leave, we went to a pub, I somehow fell and hit my head on a table, just how this happened I am not sure about, there have been reports that I was getting thrown around by Gab, I left that place and went home (Thanks to Ish and Son for aiding me on the journey) Everyone else continued onto another pub and arrived home later. There were very few of us who ate breakfast the next morning, most people stayed in bed until about 5pm....err, Spencer and I are included in that. We eventually drag ourselves out for dinner, Turkish pizza and Coca-Cola, just what is needed.

The following morning we wake up feeling much better in health, after breakfast we walk out to Ephesus, old Roman Ruins. Usually I would be a little more impressed by such sights, but unfortunately I have grown a little travel weary and am just not that excited about things that I would usually be quite impressed with, at this stage I am just excited about the number of days until arriving back in Australia shrinking. The most impressive sight again was the amphitheatre which held 24,000 people back when it was used, it is currently getting restored.

Front of Library, Ephesus

Amphetheatre, Ephesus

Library, Ephesus

After returning from Ephesus I started on my washing, Spencer has decided to stick with his dirty clothes until he gets home; I haven’t washed since Damascus over 2 weeks ago and had really run out of clean clothes. After scrubbing clothes in one of the truck hand wash tubs whilst kneeling on the floor of the shower I then had the task of finding hanging places for all my items in a small room, turning the split system onto 30 degrees and the fan right up, for an hour or so I almost felt like I was back at home in Darwin!

The next day was pretty uneventful, life on the truck was cold, so I climbed into my sleeping bag from the word 'go' and was asleep most of the day! We arrived in Canakkale to take the ‘ferrybot’ or what we call a 'ferry' across to the Europe side of Turkey. As we arrived in Europe the temperature dropped further, very close to 0 degrees, we quickly gathered our gear for the night and clambered out of the truck for the warmth of The Crowded House Hotel, which is clean, neat, and new and has hot water, towels and pillows that are actually pillows and not sandbags in pillowcases! After a hot shower Spencer, myself, Burbs (now our roommate for a third town), Ronald and Mark headed off in search of dinner. We didn’t loiter long, it was way too cold for that, first place we saw got our custom! There was not a great deal of vegetarian food on the menu, so I made do with soup, asking for some beans and potatoes on the side, a little later I asked for salad on the side, only to be greeted with one bowl of soup, bread, one bowl of beans, one bowl of rice and a plate of salad! No worries though, finished it all off easily! (I guess the last five months of overindulging have been put to good use!

After a later start the next morning we headed off to explore Gallipoli, in freezing temperatures! It could not have been any warmer than one degree and with a slight icy breeze was almost unbearable. Standing at the place where so many Australians battled and died was almost surreal, although not as moving as standing at the Sandakan memorial in Borneo or on Brigade Hill on the Kokoda Track (or maybe it was the effort to lug myself and pack up Brigade Hill?) We had a guide on the truck and stopped at all the main sights; I was quite surprised to see that there is a lot of vegetation covering the ground now, and that the climb up to the sphinx is a lot steeper than old photos that you see. Past the Australian memorial at Lone Pine you can walk through many trenches which are still evident in the ground, the temperature up here was even colder and all I could think about was how lucky we are to not have had to fight in any war in these conditions with the poor equipment and clothing that the diggers would have had.

Only another 6 days until we land back in Australia, I sure am looking forward to it. I think most people on the truck have their minds in other places the past few days, most people are starting the homeward shift from here and everyone has been trying to fit the contents of their locker into their bags, similar to a game of Tetris or that sum in year 8 maths that you could just never figure out.....