Category Archives: Wildlife

Day 19 – Drifting around

The Forest Park was a nice spot and both kids were keen to go back to the playbus. So we took our time this morning to blog a little, let the kids play and go on a walk through the forest. The small loop track that Flo had picked didn’t lead through the forest unfortunately but meandered through the Arboretum of a now-abandoned manor house. Not quite what we had in mind for this morning.

Both kids absolutely loved the short walk through the forest. Number 3 made up fairy stories about their houses and furniture

From here, we went back to the coastal route. It was nearly lunch time already. After stocking up on groceries in a tiny supermarket (and gummybears. Always gummybears. Grandma had given a tiny bucket full of them to the kids before we left and it needs to be refilled regularly), Flo followed a roadside viewpoint sign to Carrigafoyle Castle. Another lovely picnic spot for us plus a “castle” for Number 3 to explore. It was actually quite cool to see how much of the ruin you could still explore.

Further down the coast we went, now in the county of Kerry. Kerry is full of things to do and see…just not right here. So we continued until we hit Tralee. The Lonely Planet recommended the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre as an activity plus a location for coffee. We got to the parking lot, plugged in the charger and nearly collapsed. With the sleeping kids in the back, we seriously considered just taking a nap. Instead, Flo and I planned the next campground. The response we got was encouraging, basically saying “no need to book there will be spaces on the day”. This is our preferred way of travelling so I’m quite happy we can just see how far we get and then check for campsites there.

the one lauched maybe 4m from us

Finally, we went in. It was actually quite lovely to just walk around in the wetland. We saw a heron and a moorhen with chicks and lots of things that are common in Ireland. Number 3 had a sheet with all the flora you could see and the Agent had a sheet with all the birds you could spot…both of them took their jobs seriously.

Getting coffee was a harder task. The cafe in the Wetlands Centre was closed, the first recommended cafe in Tralee as well. In the end, we wandered around and had coffee in one of the many coffee places the pedestrian zone had to offer.

Our next scheduled campground was at Inch Beach at the start of the Dingle Peninsular loop. It had been a weird day without any real highlight but a lot of things to see anyway, so I was happy to just hit the campground a little earlier than we usually do.

bit heavy-handed on the god ray shader

It is right opposite the beach. The weather was still fine and I opted that we’re going to see the beach in sunshine. Flo protested meekly because going to the beach now meant we couldn’t cook dinner and had to improvise. However, the kids ran around ecstatically so this time, Flo also put his feet in the ocean.

On the way back, we chose convenient dinner from a fish & chips food truck at our campground. Expecting the usual grub, this one pleasantly surprised us with its quality. They only need to work on their trucks presentation a bit …

Day 296 – The bear necessities

It was cold. Even with a real roof over our heads, the night was cold. Given that the temperature in Kars was shown as 9 degrees last evening, it might well have been below zero in the night. Without heating, that’s cold even in a house.

much better weather this morning

much better weather this morning

So we took our time in the morning, hoping for things to warm up a little before we left. Our hotel didn’t include breakfast so we ate bread with all sorts of remaining things (cream cheese, honey) in our room. The plan was to ride to Ani, the former Armenian capital, about 45km from Kars before heading further north and towards the Black Sea.

Kars, however, had charm when we stepped outside in the sunny morning. What looked grey and dreary in the rain and cold last night, now looked friendly and busy. Flo decided to fix our problem with mobile data right here and then so we searched for a Turkcel shop. Driving up and down one of the main roads, many honey and cheese (real cheese!) shops caught our eye. We just finished our pot of honey this morning and when was the last time we had real cheese? Not cream cheese, not feta, but the real thing? I sent Flo in one of the bigger shops where he purchased a 500g jar of honey and two different cheeses for all of NZ$10. He jumped out once to give me some cheese to try which was very nice and then suddenly, the owner looked out of the door, beckoned to me and said “çay!”. Again, we were invited to a glass of tea after a successful transaction. Slightly odd for the taste, we got more slices of cheese to try with our tea. Buying a fresh loaf of bread at the store on the opposite side, we were all set for a great lunch at Ani today. Continue reading

Day 285 – Assassini, assassini!

On the road to the mountains

On the road to the mountains

Rejuvenated, we left our guest house in Hamadan in good time to tackle the 340 km for the day with little worry. I was looking forward to some more camping, but if we had to stay in a hotel, I wish it would always be like this one.

The road started out really flat, with only the occasional hill to hop along the way to Qasvin, the gateway to the Alamut valley. We reached it in time for a slightly late lunch and settled in our hurry for an overpriced restaurant in town, only to end up with kebab and salad once more.

All the more reason to leave for the mountains – not least to escape the heat. On our way out, we grabbed some of our now standard dinner / breakfast fare of bread and cheese. Once more, the local baker could not be persuaded to take our money.

Great views from the road

Great views from the road

There are only two sealed passes from Qasvin over into the valleys – we decided to take the western one in, and work our way east to take the eastern one on our way out. That meant the first point of interest would be Lamiasar Castle, one of the famed castles of the Assassins.

But before that, the pass itself was the first real attraction. Rising steadily from 1200m to 2300m, this narrow mountain road was just our cup of tea. When we first dipped over and saw the snow-capped peaks of the Alborz Mountains, we slowed down and started exploring a bit. One of the dirt tracks leading off to a particularly epic lookout / picnic spot lead us right into another Persian encounter. A family seemed to have arrived shortly before us and was getting ready for their picnic. The spot was so nice that if it were not for them, we probably would have camped right there. Instead we took pictures and got invited to tea right away.

A better look on the affair

A better look on the affair

We once again did not share any language, so conversations were had by pointing and gesturing a lot. We got treated very kindly and had to take the chance to leave at an opportune moment, just before the chicken skewers over the fire were done or we probably would have spent the rest of the evening up here. We could not, though: there was a castle to be seen. We were not even stopped by the swarms of crickets trying to suicide themselves on the road in droves.

It looked even more like Altaïr in reality :)

It looked even more like Altaïr in reality 🙂

It was a nice but exhausting climb up to the ruin of Lamiasar Castle. Not much is left up top, though. The Mongols really knew how to raze a castle. We still enjoyed climbing around the impressive site all on our own in the afternoon light.

Soon enough, it was time to look for a camp spot. Our first try further up the side valley was a nice ride, but did not score any good site. Instead, we headed back for the main road and towards the next point of interest from the guidebook. After maybe 3 more tries, we did find a lovely and secluded patch of green near the road but just out of view for anyone around. This time, we really appreciated the longer days further north, as we got everything set up just in time to have a sunset dinner …

Day 255 – Turtle-y awesome

Oh blissful sleep in a real bed. How we had missed you (and showers)! Not that we had any lack of sleep on the road. Going with the sun gives you plenty of that. But there is something to be said about having more than 50x180cm piece of inflated foam the thickness of my thumb for a resting place. Best of it all, we did not even have to pack anything until tomorrow!

Looking along the coast further west

Looking along the coast further west

Under such good starting conditions, it was not even too hard to get motivated to go on an excursion to explore west of Salalah. We thought of going about 75km towards the Yemeni border, where the mountains meet the sea once more. It was still relatively early but already sweltering hot. After some initial confusion that landed us near the harbour, we were on our way along the coastal plain baring west.

The first spot were some active blowholes at Mughsail, right where the first limestone cliffs meet the sea. In the end, the blowholes were nice but not overwhelming. What really got us squealing like school kids were the sea turtles feeding off the rocks right below one of the viewing platforms. The spectacular view westwards helped as well. Continue reading

Day 254 – The edge of the world

Perfect timing, just as we packed the last bits away

Perfect timing, just as we packed the last bits away

Our camping spot in the oasis remained lovely until we left. For once, we didn’t sweat packing the tent as the sun only peeked over the rocky outcrops when we were ready to leave. It was a hungry morning: We didn’t have enough water left last night to cook our pasta (I was against using the lake water) and we were also out of breakfast cereals. Thus, we really needed to get to Hasik which was about 40km away.

The road there was beautiful again so we just had to have a couple of photo stops. The cliffs continued to one side while the sea joined us on the other. All bathed in the early morning light.

Hasik was a bit of a divided town with a large block of newly built residences with wide streets but no shops and the old center of the village with tiny unpaved alleys but sporting coffee shops. Continue reading

Day 253 – 30.000 km of wow

Night-time experiments but the moon was just so bright

Night-time experiments but the moon was just so bright

A day of riding – a day on the road. Quite fitting for the day we surpass 30.000 km traveled on this trip. Yesterday ended up being one of the top three days in terms of distance covered, 520 km. Today, it was going to be one of the most impressive.

We got up with the first light, again, and methodically started packing the tent. Even though we’d spent some time last night to take another round of starlight pictures, we were packed and ready to go as early as ever.

At first, the ride continued the way it had ended yesterday. Almost perfectly straight on a vast gravel plain, few features as far as the eye can see. Something to mix it up were the two dry fords that had been completely washed over recently and had the road covered in sand. No fall to report, though. Continue reading

Day 251 – Sur la plage

Our first sunrise! Haven't camped in a while...

Our first sunrise! Haven’t camped in a while…

Waking up with the first light of dawn can feel so natural. Especially when you went to bed at 8 pm the night before. 🙂 Although this was the first time in a long while, all our hard-earned camping reflexes were still working. I got our breakfast ready while Nina started packing inside the tent. It all worked out nicely to give us a lovely sunrise just as the kettle was boiled, so to speak. Our spot had been great, too. No disturbance or other nuisances to report.

By 8 am, we had covered the few short kilometres to Sur, ready to explore. If the Lonely Planet was anything to go by, forts would be the things to see. So we started with one right away. This one, Bilad Sur Castle, was a bit inland. It was built to protect the town from raids coming from the country’s interior. Nowadays, it has been completely absorbed by a suburb – which makes it look slightly out of place coming round a row of restaurants and shops. Continue reading

Day 214 – Tat Kuang Si (7th Month-i-versary)

Lovely French couple travelling the world in their Defender

Lovely French couple travelling the world in their Defender

Adamant that he is up to riding the bike today, Flo decided that we would go to Kuang Si to see the waterfall (even if we wouldn’t swim in it) and so that I could see the bears at the bear rescue there. We had originally planned this visit for an afternoon but Flo’s sickness made it fall through.

The ride there was about 30km long. We stopped once at the roadside when we thought that a modified Defender from France had a problem (which wasn’t the case) and stayed for a short chat with the French couple who spend their retirement travelling the world. They were very cute. 🙂

As I said, tourists are around

As I said, tourists are around

Parking the bike, we entered the “park” where the path leads you through the bear rescue first. We saw a couple of them but then they were called into the closed off part for food so we went on to see the waterfall before coming back for the bears. The waterfall is amazing! I know it is touristy and yes, many tourists are swimming in it but…it is so beautiful. The water has a turquoise colour. You approach it from the bottom where the water runs over some low steps and swimming is allowed here. Further up, the steps become even lower looking how I imagine the pink and white terraces in NZ would have looked like before their destruction.

The actual Kuang Si waterfall

The actual Kuang Si waterfall

The last view you are treated to is the actual, tall waterfall. Again, it’s a beautiful sight. We were very happy that we went on this detour. To make the visit even better, we managed to buy yummy and cheap rice paper spring rolls from a local lady in the park rather than sitting down in the expensive restaurant. So we took our little packed lunch close to one of the waterfalls and happily munched away before returning to the bears.

On the way there, we saw the French couple again, waved shortly and recommended the local lady for lunch. Luckily, Flo remembers way more of his French lessons than I do so it was actually okay to talk. Back at the bears, ALL of them seemed to be out and about, looking for hidden food or just hanging out. One of them gave his best impression of a bear skin rug while a super fluffy one sat at a “table” eating something.

A snap shot of a butterfly on the way out

A snap shot of a butterfly on the way out

It was already 1pm when we left so the 360km to Phonsavan were out of the picture. However, we just started on the journey to see how far we would make it. Not wanting to retrace our steps for too long, we now took the old road down from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. This one is in worse repair as it is significantly older than the “new” one we had taken on the way up. It is also more frequented by tour buses and apparently made for scooters as it twists and turns so sharply that it even effected us on the motorbike…at least speed-wise. Still, the landscape was pretty to both sides.

Somewhere on this road, we passed a sprinter with an Austrian number plate. This is usually a good indicator for overland travelers so we stopped at the next opportunity. And yes, the sprinter pulled up right behind us. Werner and Susi (www.naglwitz.com, it’s in German though) are travelling from Austria to Australia but in intervals of 6 to 8 weeks before returning home to their jobs. This way, it took them more than two years to get to Laos but they didn’t have to completely quit everything at home. More importantly, they didn’t have to save all of their travelling money in one go.

The great view from our abandoned guest house

The great view from our abandoned guest house

At 4.30pm, with the sun already low above the horizon, Flo saw a roadside guest house by chance. He liked the look of it as it sat on the hillside, having a view so we stopped and asked for a room. Being on the cheaper side, we paid and asked for food. This ended in a rude-sounding conversation between two of the ladies and then the answer that food was not available. Slightly caught on the wrong foot, we looked around. The nicer one of the ladies than explained that we could eat out somewhere else in the village. First, we had trouble finding the place before it turned out that it really only was up the road from the guest house. Serving up a delicious vegetarian noodle soup, we then retired to our room.

No one who we had identified as the owners was still around, the shop tightly shut and really, it just looked abandoned when we were back. The only other person, also staying in the guest house tonight, was a dude with a Kalashnikov on his back who was busy putting his scooter into the hallway when we arrived. A dark, almost empty guest house didn’t feel too nice but it seemed to fill up some more before we went to bed.

The room turned out to be not so clean in the end as Flo had to dispose of a big spider before we realized that the bed or at least the pillows were molding. 🙁 Again though, I forget to take a picture as an example of one of our shabby cribs along the way.