http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/pn76/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from pn76 en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:38:18 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:38:18 +0000 lsquoWelcome to the Bountiful Burdekinrsquo the sign said. Whenever you drive the long straits into Ayr or Home Hill towns from either end you cannot help but notice extensive cane plantations and mangoe orchards. The Burdekin prone to floods is fringed by a range of humps barely mountains up which many run walk or cycle up. Mount Inkerman 14km south of Home Hill is a steady 2km climb. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-458094.html The time has come to drag out the blogging instinct only recently departed and start up an Aussie leg of my travel story.I hot Ayr about one week ago and it has been everything that the Cairns I left 7 years ago was......sultry heat lush foliage palm trees and mangos galore at this wonderful time of year. Hoorah for stringy juicy sweet tasty eatoverabath mangos as it is Mango Season a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Ayr/blog-454751.html The final entry from a North Shore library ona gorgeous sunny Auckland day.I has been a long haul through from Bratislava to Cappadoccia for 9 weeks where I terminate my celebration of post graduate study. The lira lev and euro are spent the email addresses are collected the exchanges I have had with many locals resonate in my memory and the food will too........please no more tomatoes or cuc http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-451277.html I woke today today to l305ght ra305n and then got snowed on very heav305ly dur305ng my morn305ng walkThe day proceeded to dump the f305rst season of snow for Cappadocc305a and now the owners at the Hotel Nomad are gear305ng up for w305nter by buy305ng heaters.........a b305t late perhaps but then there 305s always the bat cave to return to...Merry Chr305stma http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/Goreme/blog-450199.html Arr305v305ng 305n Capadocc305a by plane saved a long 12 bus from Antalya and I was hapy to be bas305ng myself for 4 n305ghts and teh chance to unload Nearly got excess baggage charge from Antalya as they only perm305t 15kg but a sm305le and explanat305on that 305t 305s stuff I could chuck allowed me a break Th305s was a great place to hang out 305n the old http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-449869.html The tranquil hill town of Kas was a far cry from the muddy street of Olympos which greeted our dolmus minivan on Wednesday afternoon. For 3 TYL you are dumped at a highway stop and shuffled into another van for the transfer downhill. Aside from flooding 2 weeks prior it was in reasonable shape although the bulldozers were at work in spades ha ha around the ruins site.To enter Olympos involves http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Olympos/blog-449156.html Hav305ng dec305ded th305s town 305s for me I spent day two explor305ng some of the Lyc305an lanscape above Ka351.A short 2TYL l305ra dolmu351 r305de or long 10km walk up the h305ghway D400 br305ngs you to ukurba287 where anc305ent Ant305phellos ru305ns l305e as part of Ka351 old c305ty....but the s305gnage was left want305ng and apar http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Kas/blog-448145.html The best part of Turkey was to come by leav305ng Feth305ye sooner by 2 days than planned. I was a squeaky wheel to alkabout Travel agency and f305nally got transferred to Otogar at 2pm for the 230pm bus to Kas. It travelled v305a a small v305llage or three complete w305th locals 305nheadscarves w305th bags of shopp305ng or harvest. One valley was a mass of glasshouses http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Kas/blog-447869.html The Gallipoli experience was well worth the full day trip and having a conservative departure time from Eceabat the following day welcomedThe bus came from Istanbul and picked me up on the soon to leave ferry at about 11am and we took only 20 minutes to cross the straits to bustling Cannakale From here it was 7 hours plus on the large coach to Selcuk via Izmir. Fortunately the driver stopped for http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/blog-447569.html The tr305p down from Plovd305v to Istanbul was 305nterest305ng one We left the cool platform at Plovd305v stat305on 1 hour later than planned wh305och 305s fa305rly usual for these parts Settl305ng 305nto 3 abreast cab305ns was luxury 305n compar305son to the frequent 6 to a cab305n conf305gurat305on of overn305ght tra305ns and all 305s http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-446422.html Continuing on down the Rhodopean mountains we were blessed with lovely fien if chilly weather. The town got it's first dump of snow the night previous given the cool temps and we woke to snow capped mountains and ice on the roads. That made for bracing jogging but that could not stop me of course. The private transfer to Plovdiv took less than 3 hrs and we settled into the Pension Plovdiv g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/blog-445166.html Entering Sofia after a 3 hour plus bus journey was absolute delight after bustling Bucharest it is half the size has indications of more investment thanks to joining the EU several years ago good tourist infrastructure bus train stations near eachother and commute to or within town on trams trolley buses etc. Having had a rough deal since the earthquake and loss of some buildings many hav http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/blog-444687.html It was a stunning ride from the tranquility of Sinaia to Bucharest slightly later than planned due to train delays but arrived before lunchtime at gare du Nord the main terminus. Watch your pockets as usual and after a 5 minute stroll out the right exit bedde down in hotel Elizeu for some water food and getting settled. Meeting up againa fetr this break we headed to town to see the President http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/blog-443266.html The trip from Sibiu to Brasov was impressive. We left to a cool morning with sun emerging across the mountains jutting into the sky like a knife. It became misty as we approached the mountains in the private mini bus in search of the glacial lake known as 'Balea'. The ascent through pine forest gave way to barren tussock land then rock following a series of switchbacks that had an amazing view http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transilvania/blog-443014.html The last town in complete upheaval within the citadel was a stark contarst to what was to come in Viscri human ulation estimated at under 500 I would reckon and cows geese mallard ducks roosters turkeys and similar game likely exceeding 2000Viscri is 1 hour by taxi from Sighsoara and basically a dirt main street ditches either side houses joined togather and of many paint coats indicative http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-442042.html The break in Debrecen for 3 hours was deserved as the rest of the afternoon was spent travelling across country by rail and then minibus to our final destination at Sighetu Marmatiei. This small town is only 2km from the Ukraine border and beyond which is some 'no mans land' being forbidden to cross. Debrecen Hungary has several impressive buildings but only worth a short stop to do internet http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/blog-441311.html After leaving the beutified promenades Basvice inlet swimming cove grapes figs and heat of Split I headed to Zagreb on September 26th. Before leaving I spent my final Kunas at the local markets and went to where I though a lovely beach would be in Solin 10 mins by train out of Split. This proved to be a motorway and tank farm area with no beach in sight.........but huge rampantly growing fi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-440687.html After the experience of crystal clear water in Hvar and Korcula it was time for the token visit to Dubrovnik of which I had mixed reports from other travellers. I was extremely lucky to avoid an early sdtart on the Wednesday by not leaving at 645am and instead leaving at a civilised hour of 1030am. I decided to get accommodation from an agency in Korcula whom the lady knew having flatted in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina/blog-439413.html Fortunate for me I made the train at Ljubljana bound for Rijeka in time. And strangely the toilets at the station like many others so far did not cost 1 euro to useThe train trip was through lovely lush sub tropical forest and with 2 rather efficient border checks taking 15 mins entering Croatia from Slovenia population 2 million was a joy. Except for the different currency Having met and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-437859.html After leaving the Bogan Balaton and the history of hermit dwelling monks geysers and medieval settlements it was a long day on the train over to Slovenia. This took 2 border checks the first being when you enter Croatia from Hungary and the 2nd being exiting Croatia and entering Slovenia. At each checkpoint you are checked by an officla of the country left and then one from where you are going http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-437105.html