Changing Gears: January 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Western Australia - Pictures

In Perth, we had an opportunity to take a 4 wheel drive trip for about a week into the Outback with our friends Roland and Penny.

One of the out-of-the-way tourist spots in Western Australia: Wave Rock

Surfing the rock

Scouting for the campsite

dragon

Narrow track that we drove for days. Absolutely nothing man made out here... except the trail.

Two Toyota Landcrusiers out in the bush

Ancient Aboriginal water hole

Fire good. Sausages good. Beer good.

Almost everything was cooked over, around or in the campfire

One seriously decked out Landcruiser. Yes that is a refridgerator.

Lisa happily driving a stick shift on the wrong side of the "road"

If you ever travel to the Outback, bring a headnet. Flies were our constant companions

One wild ass

If "nowhere" has a middle, this is it

Exploring a cave for aboriginal art

Who knew 100 year-old telegraph poles in the middle of a dried salt lake bed could be so much fun?

On the go!

Barreling down a red desert track

Cape Arid National Park

Road? What road?

Roos

Stopping for lunch on the beach - Cape Arid

Huge Banksia flower

Early in the morning rolling out of bed. The best place to sleep is on top in the swag under the stars. Comfortable mattress, sheets, pillows and nothing poisoness wanting to crawl in bed with you at night.

Emu and babies running away

200 series Landcruiser on the beach in Cape Legrande National Park

This is seriously what it is all about

Blue tongued lizard

Even Landcruisers get stuck in the deep sand

However with an electric winch on the front getting stuk is only temporary

Dropping straight down into the river bed

And up the other side only to get stuck very deep in the sand

After driving 20 miles down the beach, we need a stretch

Roos on the beach

Australian Christmas Tree

Gives new meaning to the phrase: "how do you want that cut?"

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Turkey to Perth, Australia - Writing

Customs through Perth was amazing! I even checked "dirt" on our entrance card because I forgot to clean the bottoms of my cycling shoes, and the woman still waved us to the green arrow! None of our boxes got searched, we cruised right through the go line. Yes! Poor Ryan still had to spend 3 days in our tiny hostel room, but I'm guessing we probably would have been checked had we not been prepared. Isn't that the way it always works? Our friend Azza was waiting outside the doors to welcome us to Perth. Thank you, Az! We spent the first 10 days, (wow, I can't believe that was 10 days!) with Az and Curl and could not have had better hosts. These are two of the most fun and kind people we know. They opened their house, entertained us and introduced us to their wonderful group of friends. Having such a close knit group of friends, which of course was great to see, made me miss my friends and family even more. Traveling is extremely wonderful and we so fortunate to be able to live such extraordinary experiences, but it is difficult at times to be so far away. So yes, if you are reading this, chances are I probably miss you. Probably:-)
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Istanbul, Turkey - Writing

Having a map on our camera for directions to our hostel in Istanbul (rather than constantly buy maps, we take a photo of a map with our camera, sometimes of the cities and sometimes of the entire country, and can zoom in. Maybe not the best way, but it works), we started riding from the ferry just as the sun was setting. We had about 45 minutes to find our way through a new city, which in the past has shown to be a bit difficult. Maybe it's the lack of maps? To our surprise, and possibly the first time ever, we found the hostel relatively easily, only getting lost once, and using the help from two friendly locals. The hostel was quaint and was chosen mainly because trip advisor gave it great reviews; friendly staff, cheap and clean. We knew our room was going to be exceptionally small, but man oh man, this room was tiny. The girl working the desk suggested we keep our bikes on the roof, but we (Ryan) had to clean and break them down to checked baggage size for our flight to Australia. This room was small onto itself, but adding our bikes and luggage left us literally no room to walk besides the one step it took from our door to the bed.
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Bandirma, Turkey - Writing

At the end of September while in Rome, we talked about our plans for the winter months. We knew we wanted to be somewhere warm and were hoping to housesit for a nice break from riding. Being on the bikes is simply fantastic, but having a kitchen, bed and toilet for a stint are such luxuries. Back in Germany when we met up with the Aussie's, Ron, someone Ryan has known since the early 2000's, offered for us to housesit his home in Queensland, Australia. As much as we loved the idea of heading to Australia, we were inclined to head to South America after Europe for the weather and the financial aspect. Our minds were changed after seeing pictures of Ron and Cathi's place and realizing, "why would we ever pass up house sitting since we have been hoping for this opportunity since before we even left Boulder?" We opted for beautiful Australia. The email exchange with Ron was absolutely fantastic. Neither Ryan nor myself knew much about Queensland, but here are the two emails sent from Ron:
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Running out of daylight in Turkey - Writing

Riding our way through Turkey, and unfortunately encountering our first ever experience with bedbugs, we were apprehensive to stay in another "cheap" room to say the least. Opting to not shower a few nights before, by the time we arrived in the city of Balikser, we were both quite, well, pretty utterly disgusting. Almost two weeks without a real shower and riding everyday can get a bit overwhelming. Balikser being a fairly big city, we thought we could find a decent place to sleep for the night with a shower. A few hotels later, no luck. Of course we were comfortable staying at the nice hotels, but those were beyond our budget. A quick stop at the grocery store and we were on our way. Surprisingly, the grocery stores in Turkey are enormous, and the selection is quite interesting. They are a one and all store, from shoes to fruit to lawn movers to fresh coffee and restaurants. The bathrooms are spotless and the areas are well kept. It was a nice way to "shower" along our way when we were desperate.

Western Turkey - Writing

Arriving into Turkey, we had no idea what to expect. Would I get stared at for not wearing a burka? Would people speak English? How developed were the towns? We took the boat into Ayvalik, Turkey and got a room in a disgusting little place that sat right off the downtown strip. Strong winds in our face and a chance to customize ourselves with Turkey was needed, but Renting a single room in a house was absolutely terrible. Our first experience in our lives with bedbugs. Gross. We slept in all our clothes and were out the door as early as possible the next morning.
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Turkey - Pictures

On board the ferry to Asia!

Great pastries and very friendly staff

They were very impressed with Lisa

Waiting in line at the Turkish Bathhouse

Getting clean, really clean for the first time in weeks

At the Turkish barber... goodbye beard

Ryan quite happy with the straight razor shave

Clean shaven and styled up... very strange

Harbor on the sea of Marmara

Fishermen returning to port

Iskender Kebap being carved for us

Delicious Iskender Kebap - Famous food of northwest Turkey. Thinly cut lamb covered in tomato sauce over pieces of pide bread with melted sheep butter and fresh yogurt.