Moldova

Buna!

The Moldovan border looked deceptively calm when we arrived at it, and all was going well until we got to the last desk - Moldova customs, which was a man who insisted that we fill out all these forms (in Crillic Russian) that he knew we wouldn't understand just to be awkward I think. He wouldn't budge, so in the end we had to get one of the other gaurds to let us past the gate into the stalls on the Moldovan side, to find someone who spoke English and could help us with the forms. After two trips back and forth from Moldova to correct insatisfactory entries, the second time coming back with the ladies who were translating for us who also didn't understand what what he wanted from us, he smirked, put our forms in an empty drawer, stamped our label and waved us on...

Oh well, we're in Moldova now, and it looks very nice. The roads are cool, bumpy, but wide and deserted. We will see what Europes' poorest country has in store for us, but an hour in we get off the main road and settle down for the night. That can wait for tomorow!

Moldova is a captivatingly interesting place, poorer again than Ukraine, but still everyone seems to be very busy and working hard...that is apart from the people that work in offices and hotels who have nothing to do! Another interesting thing is that in every villiage that we went through, each house would have a bench infront of it by the road that the villagers would just sit on, chat, and watch the world (and gawp at us) go by. Every house also has a well outside it, and it's amazing to see all the different colours and styles that people have made their wells, from the very basic to the very elaborate with ornate houses built around them! Everywhere you look there are big beautiful horses pulling carts, working the fields, or just tethered at the side of the road chewing grass. A silly thing to say, but they are such a magnificant animal, so much better than oxen or donkeys which you might expect to see in its place. The pace of life seems slower here, and everything simpler, and they are very much less accustomed to seeing western tourists. Wherever you go where communication might be a problem, they normally manage to find someone in the village or family member who speaks English, and ropes them in to translating for us.

I think they knew we were traveling to India when we got to Moldova, as we have just driven through a town called 'Balti', and the word for 'Hello' in Moldovan is 'Buna'! Rhona got them mixed up and kept saying 'Balti' to everyone she met!

We went to visit a monastery overlooking a river that had been carved into the side of a rock cliff by Orthodox monks in the 13th Century. We were the only people there, and the lady in the exhibition centre, with whom French was our most common language, after showing us round all the archaelogical finds, told us to go on up to the monastery on the cliff. We didn't quite understand where she was telling us to go, so we just decided to head off in what we thought was the right direction, which took us down all these terrible dirt roads through villages and eventually up to the bell tower on the cliff (which is the only bit of the monastry you can see above ground apart from windows in the cliff face). When we got up there one of the kids from the village playing about the tower gave Rhona a bunch of soft grasses that he had been collecting - how sweet! The inside of the monastery was incredible, with sleeping quarters for about 12 monks, a chapel with ornate carvings and artwork, and a door out onto a rock balcony halfway down the cliff draped with rugs and candle stands. Incredible, and all hand carved out of solid rock!

We decided to take refuge that night in a nearby hotel with great views out towards the monastry. It certainly made us laugh; The hotel receptionist didn't speak any English or French, and infact didn't really say anything. She kept ushering us to the phone whenever she wanted to tell us something so that her daughter could translate, even when we'd just walked into the room. In all our other countries we've managed to get by using our lonely planet language guide, however there is no section for Moldova!! - not good! We managed to ask for a double room for the night (through her daughter translating on the phone), but turns out you don't get sheets and you have to ask for towels. We tried to order lunch, but eventually she just pointed a dirty finger at one thing on the menu, then shuffled into the kitchen to make it for us which turned out to be lovely chicken noodle soup with bread. When it came to ordering dinner, she once again pointed at something on the menu, and we got the same soup again! - oops!

For breakfast we were half expecting to get soup again, but she said 'omelete', and came out with 2 fried eggs, slices of cheese, and about a quarter of a sausage each, along with the same stale bread we had the night before, Lovely!

Off to Chisinou after that, which is where we sit now posting this blog, so you are completely up to date. Sorry about posting 3 countries at once (don't miss Slovakia and Ukraine below), but we obviously are not as skilled at finding internet spots as we thought we might be! Off to Romainia this afternoon, and yet another language to learn.

Orheiul Vechi night: 103464

Ukraine

Zdrastvuyte!

Well the border experience was quite something. We had a couple of hours drive before we arrived at it, so we were there at around 11am, and the queue was already starting to lengthen. There was an awful lot of waiting before we were ushered in to fill out lots of forms, to be interrogated (in Ukrainian) and have the van searched several times. We had numerous stamps grudgingly placed on a slip of paper by various different officers that we were shuffled between. It was quite a strain, as there was not a common word between us, and we just had to imagine how it must be for a Ukrainian to turn up at the British border control and expect them to speak Russian. Eventually after three and a half hours we were set free on the Ukrainian side of the border into the unknown. One thing we realised was that we were not sure if we had got the right insurance for driving a car in Ukraine (no one at the border spoke any English, and they said we had everything we needed; we weren't convinced...), and we were worried about being pulled over and taken to prison. To combat this we have adopted a 'police check avoidance procedure' which involves tailing a truck as we go through a police check, so that by the time the police see us it is too late to pull us over! ha ha! You laugh, but it has worked so far!

It seems to be another step poorer than Poland, but there is obviously a lot of hard work going on, and everyone has plantations in their gardens to grow veggies. It seems that everyone in the family from the youngest to the grannies contribute to the farming of crops and looking after the cows, goats, horses or chickens! Rhona particulary loves the horses used for pulling carts and for working the land. It felt a bit like going back in time.

The roads here are consistantly bad, no good bits, not many terrible bits, but just bad everywhere, which made going a bit slow. We arrived at L'viv by late afternoon, and drove straight into town. The entire city centre is cobbled, busy with crazy drivers, and ancient electric trams and busses. The old cobbles have been all but destroyed by the cars and lorries that drive over them, and the streets have been made into a big rumble strip, which shakes our van like a hungary baby's rattle. We decided that we didn't have enough time to explore the city fully that day, so we tried to find a hotel to stay in where we could park the van securely, and tour the city's old town (which we have been looking forward to for a while, and have come a long way to see) in the morning. This always takes a long time, Friday night aswell = no spaces anywhere. Eventually we pull up outside the fancy **** 'Hotel Spudnict' with a definate creak to the rear suspension from the battering it has just received from the cobbles. A bit more expensive and out of town than we were hoping for, but it was getting late, and we were getting hungary. We really went for it for dinner as well, the food is so different here and you want to try everything, lots of pickled meats, fishes and vegetables, marinate cabbage, and lots of garlic! The cooked meats were invariably Kiev-like in style. Still it cost us hardly anything.

Breakfast was another experience with raw fish, hams, salads, pancakes (filled with meat or cottage cheese), meat fritters, but it filled us up for our long day ahead of us. We started our tour proper of L'viv with the hour walk from our hotel into town, and then headed into the old town. We took photos galore, it is so picturesque with many stunning 12th-18th Centry buildings (mainly Catholic Churches), and narrow (cobbled of course) streets. A lot of the buildings are in a state of disrepair, but as soon as you go inside of one the detail is just stunning with incredible paintings all over the cielings and walls, ornamented golden pillars and cornices, and all different periods of archetecture. The city was very important during the 12-16th centuarys, being on both the main trade route to the west, and from Byzantium (Istanbul) to the north seas. There are a lot of outdoors cafe's one in which we enjoyed a sandwich for lunch, although I think we have decided that bread is not a Ukranian speciality!

After lunch we decided to get back to the van (we were starting to miss it!) and get a couple of hundred miles done towards Kamyanets-Podilskyy which is a fortress town built on a buttress of rock in the middle of a gorge towards the Moldova border. We get lost trying to get out of L'viv, but eventually head out in the right direction. Navigation is a nightmare here, as all the signs are in the cryllic alphabet, and the maps we had were in our (normal) alphabet, meaning that none of the names tied in together. You really have to get to grips with the cryllic if you come here! We nearly reached Kamyanets-Podilskyy when we decided to pull over for bed at another beautiful spot down a dirt lane in the middle of the Ukrainian countryside.

The following morning we arose to people walking past us on their way to church in their Sunday best, and made our way to Kamyanets-Podilskyy. This city has an old town that was built on a rock island in the middle of what seems to be a convergance of deep limestone gorges. You get to it by going over one of two dizzyingly high bridges Which you can bungee jump from if you like (and we saw people rock climbing on the cliffs which looked tempting). At the end of one of the bridges, there is an enormous (and still very complete) fairytale castle which you can look around, and go through all the tunnels in the walls, and under the ground. Very cool. This place is still very un-touristified compared to L'viv (which is meant to be the undiscovered treasure of the east), which was nice, and we enjoyed walking around the old towns' squares and streets. There were more multiple weddings here. I think we forgot to say that for the whole time we were in L'viv you could not get away from Brides in meruang dresses. It could be because we visited a lot of churches, but even in the central city square there were always a good handfull at any one time having their photos done. We inadvertantly gate crashed a couple of weddings whilst we were looking around some churches just as a bride happened to start walking down the aisle. We thought we were in a wedding comedy film. Shortly after lunch we headed off for the Moldova border an hour or so away.

l'viv night: 102978
kamyanets podilsky night: 103175
moldova night: 103343

day 9: 119 miles
day 10: 197 miles
Day 11: 168 miles

Still only about 16 degrees in the day and 6 ish over night.

Slovakia and Poland (again)

Ahoj!

Our Last night in Czech Rep was on quite a high altitude pass between Czech and Slovakia and was a cold one, about 2 or 3 Celcius I think, which for an unheated van is a bit chilly! I'm glad we took Mam's advice and took two blankets and a duvet instead of just one blanket! In the morning we willed ourselves out of bed, and headed across the border into Slovakia which is a very beautiful country. Even though it was raining heavily all day, you could really get a sense of the majesty of the highest mountain group in the Carpathians. This is where we are headed, the High Tatras, and we arrive at the resort town of 'Stary Smokavec' which is instantly apealling. It's a bit of an out-of-season ski resort, but has everything you could want, along with some beautiful old wooden buildings and and old-mixed-with-new feel. Slovakia already seems to be a bit more sophisticated, clean, and has finer scenery than Czech. We then settled down for the night on a side road with amazing views of the Tatras.

Our basic routine so far has been to wild camp for two nights, then find a camp site for the 3rd so we can use the showers, washing machine, fill up with water and empty the portaloo etc. It seems to work quite well, as the van recharges itself when we drive (which is quite a lot), and every night we can boil the kettle, charge the laptop etc to our hearts content. The only thing we can't do is run the fridge all night, so the milk gets a bit confused! That reminds me, milk is still very diffult to get hold of around here, ever since Germany, I don't know what the locals have with their wheatabix, but it sure aint cerstve polotucne!

On Wednesday we climbed up Slavkovsky Stit, which at 2452m is one of the highest mountains in the Tatras, and the highest you can climb without being obliged to hire a mountain guide (and without requiring technical climbing skills). What can I say but perfect mountaneering weather! It was glorious sunshine all day, and despite layers of suncream, we still managed to get ourselves burnt! We weren't quite ready for the epicness of this mountain, and we were walking for 9 hours before we got back to the van absloutely knackered! It started off quite hot through the forest at the bottom, then from halfway up we were wading through patches of waist deep snow, and the whole top was just capped in deep, crisp unbroken snow. We saw one other person (from a distance) for the whole day, other than that, the mountain was ours. It was good to get the crampons on, which Rhona particularly enjoyed as she "just sticks!". The views from the top were absolutely amazing, all jagged snowy peaks on one side and open space on the other. What a day! (but very tiring!). We found a very dubious campsite that night, had showers and went to bed exhausted.

We think it is quite amazing that since we left the UK, we have had quite a lot of rain(storms), infact it has been every day apart from the two days that we have been out treking, which have been spectacular sunshine all day. How about that!

We had a bit of a change of plan at this stage, and we decided that instead of going through Hungary, Romania, and then Bulgaria as origionally planned, it would be far more interesting if we missed out Hungary, and detoured east back into Poland, and into Ukraine, then down into Moldova, getting back on course in Romania again. It would add a little extra distance, but a lot more excitement!

So the following morning we headed off into Poland and towards the Ukraine border. This would be our first 'proper' border crossing, as so far we have just been driving through EU countries and you just drive over with out stopping. We've heard that it can be very tricky negotiating the Ukraine border, as the ex-Soviet regime has left behind a legacy of corruption, and you are certain to be harrassed for bribes at every corner(border crossings being the worst!). Moldova is similar, but we have been assured that the muderous separatists are in east Moldova, so we won't need to go there.

I think we will start eating out a bit more, as we had a big slap up lunch with drinks in a fancy hotel in Poland today and it cost us a grand total of £7.50. Great, and it's gonna get cheaper! I love a bargain!

So for now, end of day 8 we are stopped at a beautiful spot, up a steep windy road in south eastern Poland near to the Ukrainian border. Goodnight!

PS. We didn't sleep loads that night, it turns out that after this very popular spot is Used by couples to have long deep discussions, it is used by rowdy men in vans doing whatever they might want to do in a secluded spot in the middle of the night?

Slovakia dirt road mileage: 102662

smokovec night: 102672

poland night: 102859

day 7: 10 miles

day 8: 187 miles

Czech Republic and Poland

Dobry den!

Well, we got out of Prague fairly easily considering that there are only road signs on about one junction in four, and they are all in Jibberish to me anyway, and headed in the direction of 'Hradek Kralove' which took us most of the way there to argue on how to pronounce it. We shouldn't have bothered though, as the last word we used our combined brain force to decide on how to pronounce was the Czech word for thankyou: 'dekuji'. We decided on a fairly plain der-koo-gee, but it was after we had said it to about 6 people with varying quizzical reactions that we decided to ask someone...how embarassing, it is pronounced completely differently, more like 'ye-ku-ee', so no wonder we got some funny looks!

I think that so far our main resentment is that we haven't ever made an effort to learn more of the worlds languages; in the van coming into Czech Republic, we managed to remember hello, thank you, 1, 2, 3, yes and no, but we're into Slovakia in a couple of days, and that has a whole new language, as does every country we visit, some with many more than one, so that has been a little belittling for us. I think that we were expecting English to be a bit more widely spoken that our experience has led us to believe, infact no one has spoken any English to us until our fourth day at the campsite.

I love all the really old Skodas and Fiat 500's you get in Czech Rep, I think my next trip would have to be buying one of these and driving it home! I was very temped...Rhona not so sure!!


The next day we treked up to Sniezka which is the highest point in Czech Rep at 1602m. This is part of our sideline atempt to climb higher and higher mountains as our trip goes on. This all started in Arran in Scotland with Ed and Lyd when we climbed Goat Fell at 874m. We'll see how that goes..maybe end with a biggie in Nepal? It was a beautiful beautiful day and the scenery was lovely. Pleanty of snow still at the top and fairly deserted of people....that is until we reached nearly at the top to find a paved road going from some huge huts going up to more huge huts, restaurants etc on the top, and crowds of people brought up on the chair lifts to walk up it. That kind of spoilt it a bit. We both felt like we were on some sort of pilgrimage towards the end. Specially amazed at one girl who was attempting the steep, slippery ascent in high heels!!

From the Czech people that we have met so far, they seem to be a little quiet and grumpy, but then that's what you get for going to Tesco Prague I suppose! Lots of Lidls here as well.


We spent our fourth night in a campsite near the mountains in a place called Vrchlabi. It was lovely and we were the only campers there. It gave us a chance to have showers (well needed!!), wash clothes and refill our water tank. Unfortunately we could not use the electric hook-up to recharge all our batteries which would also have been nice but not essential. The showers were interesting though, they kept going off every few minutes and only stayed hot for about a minute! Hmm, not the best but hey, we ended up clean! We also had breakfast for Ł2 each, which was a really lovely continental breakfast.

So after our little re-cooperation, a morning trying to figure out how to dry our washed clothes,a while spent waiting for me to pick up the courage to give myself my final rabies injection (this is Rhona), at the campsite we headed off again.

We headed towards and over the Border into Poland for a brief little drive through. It was again quite different from Czech Rep. The buildings and houses are very run down, although some are very interesting. Then back into the Czech republic once again to return to our original planned route which was to head on down into Slovakia. We managed to cover quite a lot of ground and found a place to camp at the side of the road just before the Slovakian border. The landscape around the border area is absolutely stunning, with vast forested areas and beautiful, large houses built on the sides of rolling hills. Spring time seems to be a good time to visit as well as there are loads of blossom trees all in full flower and fields of yellow rape seed and little spring flowers!

Nachod night mileage: 102220
Vrchlabi night mileage: 102306
Slovakia border night mileage: 102532

Day 4: 86 miles
Day 5: 226 miles

Max temp 18
Min temp 3

Poland Diesel 0.90 GBP

PS we are posting this from Stary Smokovice in the High Tatras of Slovakia, but will write a full report on Slovakia soon.

The Adventure Begins!

Well as promised, we set off from Hastings at 8:20 in the morning on the 1st of May 2008 for our ferry from Dover, and away we were into the great wide world!

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic getting things sorted out with the flat and all our belongings, all of which we have now either sold or given away, side from a van load which we took up to Scotland to put in Rhonas parents loft! Thanks Mam and Dad! It really was a last minute ordeal, I was actually on the phone on the ferry frantically trying to phone all of our utilities to tell them final meter readings before my signal ran out halfway across the channel!

We had our circuit of the UK a week before we left, which was a great success. The van drove wonderfully all the way up to Aberdeen and back without a hitch. We spent our very first (cold) night in the van in the Yorkshire Dales on the way back, although the van was still so far from being livable in. We were so busy with sorting out flat things, and tiying up loose ends for leaving the country that we didn't do anything else on the van and we conceded that we would have to leave with it in a half finished state, having tested next to none of the gear on board and just stuff all of our worldly belongings in with my tools, and we'll sort it out on the way!

I think on hind sight we were a little ambitous for our first day to try and get through 5 countries from UK to South Germany including the ferry crossing, but we arrived in a campsite in Saarburg in Germany near the Luxemburg border just as night was drawing, and the rain was setting in. I thought it was a little unfair after having driven all that way, to then have to rifle through the huge piles of our things in the back that had no place to be put away yet, and try to 'organise' them! We just kind of moved them around so that we could find some food to eat and get the bed out and go to it!

The next morning was very fine though, we were planing on driving to Czech Republic, but we hung around in the very pretty Saarburg until around 3 o'clock to prioritise sorting the van out before driving a few hours to near Nurnberg in South Eastern Germany for a night in a forest near the motorway so we could get going early in the morning for Prague. Really enjoyed Saarburg, it was set at the foot of some steep hills and was quite picturesque. when we got up we ventured into town to see if we could find some milk for our Wheatabix. But could we find milk anywhere?! We found nearly everything else including delicious bread (which we ended up having for breakfast!), meat, some pretty old, battered apples and bananas... but the only milk they seemed to have was UHT or sterilised! Germany is definately not a place for fruit and veg lovers, but its great for bread, cheese, and of course all sorts of meat! Most of Europe so far has been fairly similar, very green, lots of forests and little farming towns. We have spent a lot of time on the motorway so far though and not really explored much as was the plan until we hit the Czech Republic. Si I think was a little jelous of the cars managing to whiz past us at prob over 120mph on the German motorway which of course has unlimited speed. We managed to hit 80mph a few times in our little van!!

We are now just finishing this off in Prague whilst having a coffee. Looks like a lovely city in places, but would need a bit more time to explore properly. For now we are going to head a bit further North East into the mountainous area - Cool! We are planing on BBQ'ing some Czech sausages tonight then go for a hill trek in the Krkonose mountains tomorow. Until then See ya later. I've included some trivial info for you muse on. Enjoy!

Mileages:

Day 1: Hastings to Saarberg: 400
Day 2: Saarberg to Nurnberg: 238
Day 3: Nurnberg to Prague: 255

Start mileage: 101228
Saarburg night: 101628
Nurnburg night: 101866
Prague: 102121

UK Diesel: £1.20
France diesel: £1.10
Belgium Diesel: £1.10
Luxembourg Diesel: £1.00
Germany Diesel: £1.20
Czech diesel: £1.00

Highest Temp: 21 (France)

Lowest Temp: 6 (Saarberg)

Unemployed!!

D-day is fast approaching, and things are getting a little scary now. Our flat is almost void of all furniture, and it is starting to hit us that in a couple of weeks we will be homeless, and living in a van... We are already unemployed, Rhona finished her work on Friday, and we have very little time left to organise everything.

So, what's the plan then? Well, We've got this week sorting things out in Hastings, then on Sunday we are going to spend a week doing a round circuit of the UK up to Aberdeen and back to say goodbye to parents and brothers, and to test the van out on home soil. We've then got a few more days in Hastings to iron out any creases before setting off for New Zealand on the 1st of May. We have 4 1/2 months to get to New Zealand before my pilots training course starts in September..that is assuming that I get on the course, it's not been confirmed yet, but will be on the 1st of July. Let me in Nelson Aviation College!!

Talking of the van, it's in the garage again getting all the belts changed, oh and transmission oil is leaking all over the rear wheel hub, and the wipers have stopped working...oooh it'l be fine!!! As far as the rest of it is going, well it's going rather well actually, we have a folding bed, a fridge, work top, gas hob, portaloo, big water tank, water filter system, storage, blacked out windows, curtains, roof rack, and an auxilliary power supply consisting of a couple of car batteries linked up to power our kettle and fridge and a few other things. Cool! All I need to do now is cut a hole in the roof (yikes!) to put the spinney roof vent in and we're away! Rhona's still picking letters off the side!

Thanks for all your comments, and as Mr Pickering helpfully pointed out, the lines on our map do infact not line up correctly in New Zealand, with the van going to one place, us another, then us in the van going between them. Thank you for that, and I'm glad we can now take the time to clarify the point that all things considered, WE ARE A BIT HAZY ABOUT OUR EXACT ROUTE AT THAT STAGE OF THE JOURNEY!! But I think you will find that if you look very closely there is a very thin green line suggesting that we swim north to meet the van... You Crazy!!

Chris, If we make it to Slovakia, we will be in touch! Can't believe we went up to Scotland the one week all the snow was melting! Hey, we had snow in Hastings last Sunday..amazing! I thought I would drive the van up a hill to really experience it, then quickly realised that the hill was quite a bit steeper than origionally anticipated when the van started slipping backwards down the hill again!! Oops, close one, we're planning on driving to New Zealand, and it was nearly all over in Hastings..lets be a bit more careful next time shall we!

To the Manc lot, any of you are welcome to visit whenever you like, we will probably be there for a good couple of years, maybe more depending on how it goes. I don't know really who's idea it was origionally to do this, we sort of egged each other on trying to prove that we were so much braver than the other, and ended up with this! Thanks for visiting Martin and Becky!

Other exciting news is that we have our Iranian visas stamped in our passports, WAHEY!!! Thanks to Zohreh at Magic Carpet Travel for sorting that out for us, as they are notoriously difficult to get hold of unless you happen to have a sister who is Iranian...nope, not that I know of. We need to make a trip up to London this week to get our Pakistan and India visas stamped in. So it's all starting to happen. Needless to say, we are extremely excited, and very reverant of the opportunity to partake in such an outing.

Until next time...over and out...

Howdy!

Well quick update! Not much changed since last entry, however van really starting to take shape and money quickly depleting (savings being dipped into now!) I'll let Si fill u in on the details, all I know is its starting to look really cool! I got an e-mail this morning from Geneva Health to say that there are ICU vacaincies in Nelson and they are going to send them my cv! There is also a Diabetes specialist nurse part time job which i've been shortlisted for and will be interviewed for soon - that would be different, and maybe because its part time i could do a bit of both? Our Iranian visas are now ready for collection so our passports are off to be stamped. So things are slowly but surely starting to happen. I'm in the process of organising an agent for our flat rental, and there is also another tenant possiblility through a work contact.

My registration is still a slow process. Just waiting for my completed police check to come through so I can get that sent of and also a reference and signature from Brian!! (not naming or shaming by the way!!) We love u Brian!!!x

My Turn!

Hey Rhona here! Just so u all know, whenever I post it'll be in pink!! Well Si's just off to B&Q and Halfords to get stuff for the Matatu (van). He's desperate to sleep a night in it and my worry is that tonight might be the night. (wonder if he'll feel the same after a few months in it?)
My jobs at the moment are to sell our lovely Peugeot 306, find tenants for our flat, and try to peel off all that lettering on the side of the van!! - a tedious job i'll tell you. Wouldn't be surprised if i'm still doing it when we head off - how about a number or letter every country?!!
Really feels like its happenin' now! My last day at work is the 11th of April. We're packing and selling up furnature and bits n'bobs, so if u need anythin give us a call, we probably have it for u!

Converting the Masses

So on 15th February 2008 we bought a 1996 Toyota Hiace Compact 2.4 Diesel panel van with 98882 miles on the clock for £1550 (incase you are interested...probably not, but I'm going to tell you anyway!! ha ha!). The previous owner in Stevenage assured me that the extremely loud noise coming from the back (which I thought was the rear diff on the way out) was just the exhaust pipe rubbing on the driveshaft, so he took a couple of hundred quid off, and we bought it... Then the starter motor which worked fine when we test drove it, just stopped working, and we couldn't start it...doh! not a good start (no pun intended). Well we got it back to Hastings and to the garage: new starter motor, and as I was previously convinced of otherwise, a new rear diff required... Doh Doh!! It's gonna cost a grand to fix.. At this point we were starting to have serious misgivings towards the whole trip, but we got the van back and it ended up being only £400 which was the first bit of good news, and it's been all good from then on in!

The van is great!!!! We have called it "Matatu" due to it's resemblance to the 'African mini-bus' that all who have been there know and love! Sweet engine, sweet gear box...Yes!...this is going to get us to NZ!!

The next task is to get it ready for our expedition. We need a lot of storage space to carry loads of water, food, spare parts for the van, tools, spare wheels, extra diesel, clothes, other equipment for camping/treking, a cooler, gas tank and stove, porta loo, a folding bed, solar shower, electric inverter so that we can charge our laptop and other electrics from the vans battery, other cooking equipment, Lonely Planet guide books, and much more!

I started by paneling the walls and floor with ply wood, and insulating behind it to keep us cool in the heat of mid-summer Asia. We bought a futon for £22 off ebay, and I bolted it in so that it can swing easily down to make a bed, and be secured safely in the 'sofa' position. What fun!

Many thanks to Dan and Andrea for donating their portaloo and roofrack for our use, and in the case of both items I think it's safe to say abuse!

This is Clive. He doesn't have the internet therefore won't ever see this, so I thought it would be funny if I put this picture up and we all had a good giggle at him behind his back?

To New Zealand in a Van!!

Greetings and salutations!

Welcome to our blog about our trip to New Zealand in a van! This is mainly to keep family and friends updated with where we are, and also as a useful journal to document all the exciting things that are going to happen to us on the way! You are welcome to just browse the posts that we put up, but we would be delighted if you left comments on the different posts to let us know to what degree you think we have been/are being stupid!(click on 'comments' tab at the bottom of each post). You can also subscribe to the blog by clicking on the 'subscribe to:' tab at the bottom of the page, and you will get an email whenever we post something up (I think), so you don't have to keep checking it to see if it has been updated.

As this is the first proper diary entry I'd better tell you what we are doing, why, and how! Basically my (Simon's) current career (Recording Engineer and Songwriter) isn't going very well, so instead of persevering with it, I'm going to hands-up-and-quit, and re-train to become a pilot which I wanted to do since I was little anyway! It seems that New Zealand is as good a place as any to do this (much better than UK anyway), and as we quite fancy going there ourselves, we decided to make that our destination of choice. Next up we decided that just 'flying' there was far too boring (despite said career choice), so as we normally drive everywhere anyway, we just thought it would be natural to drive there....to New Zealand...

"What a great idea" we started congratulating ourselves, until we realised that Iran is one of the hardest countries in the world to get visas for, Pakistan is in a state of emergency and has regular suicide bombings, both of which we have to go through. We have to go very close to the borders of both Iraq and Afghanistan, and to get anywhere past India overland, you have to go through either Burma (war torn, and you're not allowed to drive through it) or Tibet (rioting separatists) where to drive through it, you need Chinese residency, a Chinese driving licence requiring each of you to take a theory test - in Chinese, re-register the vehicle in China and give it Chinese number plates, not to mention all the local permissions. This alone would cost thousands.

So the plan at the moment is to get to India from where we will ship the van in a container to Australia, then fly ourselves up to Hong Kong, and make our way down through South East Asia to Singapore via buses, trains and boats, where we will catch a flight to Australia to meet up with our van which will hopefully have arrived! Then we will drive through Australia, and finally ship the van and fly ourselves to New Zealand to set up more permanent camp.

Well that's the short of it anyway. We will be filling in the gaps along the way, and hopefully finding out lots of interesting stuff about the different countries that we travel through, the things going on that we should know about, and some things that we shouldn't know about, so watch this space! Please don't be worried if some time goes by without us posting anything, as we are not taking satellite phones or anything, and we probably can't get any Internet access at that point.

I've put a map up so that you can see our intended route which may well change along the way but it will give you a good idea. Click on it and it'll come up full size. Coming up: the ongoing saga that is the van and getting it ready to go! Enjoy..