Arrived late to the campsite just out of Arusha and put our tents up in the dark……interesting exercise considering we’d never put them up before. Had drinks that night in ‘Ma’s Bar’….a rough shack with as much paraphernalia as an outback Aussie pub. Went into town the next morning for money exchange and to buy ‘snacks’ for the days ahead….something that would contribute to the ’extra baggage’ we would eventually take back to Australia with us. That afternoon headed out to a campsite in a small village just outside of the Ngorongoro Crater. The campsite was an add-on to a flash hotel and we were entertained by a local dance troup that night. Rising before the crack of dawn we headed off up and into the Ngorongoro Crater arriving at the top of the crater just ... read more

We could say that due to some technical error or trouble in cyberspace our travelblogs since last year have been lost but that would be a big lie. Truth is we have been slack and haven’t been keeping up with entries. Not much of an excuse we know but it works for us. So what have we been up to? Lots and it started on our re-entry into the UK: Clancy tells us she’s had enough….. We entered the UK via Calais and spent a few days at Canterbury seeing the sights, recovering and doing some repairs before storing Clancy for winter while we continued travels. We left Canterbury sitting in the front of a tow truck (again) with Clancy on the back! In one of those shit happens moments she blew a head gasket just ... read more

Unfortunately with time running out, our Dutch experience was limited to a night out and a day in Amsterdam. We really are doing the Contiki tour now…no time to stop and smell the tulips for us! We arrived in Amsterdam early afternoon and checked into a camping ground on the outskirts of the city. The city of Amsterdam is very bike-friendly, actually bikes rule the roads really, and we found getting around town on our bikes very easy and quick. Went into town on the first night for a night out for two. Visited a coffee shop early in the evening and spent the next three hours wandering around lost as all streets seemed to look the same and our sense of direction was somewhat skewed. We’re sure Amsterdam was purpose built for the legalisation of ... read more

Jason crossed the border into Czech in the early morning on route to the Ardspach-Templice Rocks. Spent around 4 hours walking the trails here exploring the impressive rock formations. Arriving back at camp I was told by the very friendly car park attendant that I had left my lights on! Fortunately the car started however it decided to buzz immediately when I tried to leave. Hoping the diesel on the wires theory was correct (see previous blogs!) as the injector overflow cap was leaking a little, I tried wiping the contacts and wires clean again. It didn’t work of course and the oil light continued to buzz at an ever increasing frequency. With Kirstyn en-route to Prague , the prospect of getting to the airport in time was looking dire. To keep going without incessant buzzing ... read more

After getting horribly lost trying to drop Kirstyn off at the airport in Vienna, I hit the road to Slovakia with renewed fear and doubt about travelling the lesser developed Eastern European countries on my own. Crossed the border uneventfully and managed to find a servo selling the motorway vignettes. First hurdle down, did a relatively big drive up into central Slovakia dropping in at the small village of Bojnice to admire its fairytale like castle. Things were looking pretty quiet at this stage having seen several closed campsites already so I decided to head to one that we knew would be open nearby in Nitriansko Rudno. Found it with not too much hassle but to say it look deserted would be an understatement. Luckily there was someone inside the enormous bar who after checking with ... read more