An Australian in the Mist

There’s a few movies I now need to watch – the first is obviously ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ and also ‘The Last King of Scotland’ in relation to Uganda. I could also easily rewatch ‘Hotel Rwanda’ and just for fun – ‘The Lion King.’ Wish I had the soundtrack on my ipod.

Lake Bunyoyi

Usually this trip camps down by one of the deepest lakes in Africa (6,500 feet down) but with all the rain our tour leader and driver made a fantastic decision not to take the truck down a crazy hill. We instead stayed in Kigale proper and since it was a hotel and there were rooms that only cost about $15 I decided to upgrade and get my first bed and own shower this trip. Was very nice…

Since we had arrived in Kigale around mid-afternoon, we hired some vans to take us down to the lake. Was a pretty scary road in the mud but a beautiful place once you were there. A group of us went swimming to get rid of the mud from the morning until another storm came through and everyone retreated to cover.

Getting out of the valley was pretty exciting, much like a theme ride without the harnesses. Got back to the hotel for more fantastically cooked food and went to a local bar. Pretty quiet one and watched some more football. Missing knowing what’s going on sport wise back home since haven’t had internet for a while now. (EDIT: Got internet but all bad sport news… boo…) Should be getting it in Rwanda.

Rwanda Border Crossing

Used my first visa that I had got in London – saved tons of time since the other poor Australians had to wait forever to be cleared. Had to change some money into Rwandan francs since not many ATM’s in the country and since still had 20 pounds from London got rid of them. Dodgy guy tried to give me Euro rate but after surviving Balinese money changers wasn’t going to be fooled that easy!

Kigali – Genocide Memorial and Hotel

Rwanda is known as the country with a thousand hills and that couldn’t be more accurate. Our driver commented that you never go in a straight line in Rwanda. You’re either going to the left or the right, and either up or down. It’s a beautiful country and some of the vistas are amazing. We headed to the capital and a genocide memorial/museum. Was another moving experience but was very impressed with how the memorial was organised and how it mapped genocides that occurred around the world. Don’t want to go into all the gory details but a few things impacted me.

1. The U.N. and international community really dropped the ball on this one. [See Srebrencia]

2. There were some incredibly brave people protecting the persecuted in Rwanda. Makes you reflect if you were safe from the horror would you take a risk and protect the innocent knowing you could be killed.

3. The division between the different tribes came down to how many cattle you owned when the colonial forces did a census. 10 or more cattle and you were one group, less than 10 you were the other one. Totally arbitrary.

4. The French are trouble… I thought the Belgians would get a bit of a black eye from how it all went down but more was mentioned about the French training and supplying the army, as well as giving them an escape route into DRC near the end. Couple this with the lack of mention of the holocaust in Paris’ World War 2 Museum and it’s not pleasant. It was interesting talking to a German who is also travelling with us – they are continually bombarded with all this stuff during schooling and just get sick of it. Reminds me a bit of Australian kids being forced to go into a fair bit of detail regarding Aboriginal history which results in them being totally uninterested in the topic.

But overall, you get a sense of ‘moving on’ from the disastrous past and trying to integrate and embrace a new future. Even the different tribal names shouldn’t be used in Rwanda so I haven’t included them in this blog. The people who live in Rwanda are just Rwandans and they are a fantastic group of people.

Had to visit the actual hotel the movie was based upon. The movie was filmed in South Africa so it wasn’t exactly the same but still got a sense of it all. And had my best bathroom experience so far in Africa…

(Hotel Rwanda – ‘Hotel of a Thousand Hills’)

Volcano Hike

After leaving the capital we headed to our base for 3 nights (so special spending 3 nights in the same place!) in Ruhengeri. Got to stay in dorms here – no tents – and had to decide what activities we wanted to do on our spare day we weren’t going with the gorillas. A group of 4 of us decided to climb a volcano. Didn’t really know what I was getting myself in for but it was a great experience. Had to wake up really early and head out with our guide, 2 porters (I paid for 1 to carry my bag – they rely on tourists for their income now their homes are a national park) and 4 gun-toting army guys. Was an easy start to the climb but soon it got fairly steep and the path was extremely muddy. Tried to keep my shoes clean to begin with but just gave up and was squelching through the slop knowing my white socks were a lost cause.

Another problem I found was that the altitude started playing havoc with my breathing. The steep climb got my heart rate racing and when I stopped for a rest it felt there wasn’t enough air. I wasn’t in trouble or blacking out or anything but just felt very unfit and slow. Wasn’t the slowest climber (there were two randoms who had joined our group of 4 who were very ill prepared for the climb – wouldn’t recommend wearing converse shoes on this hike like they did) and definitely not the fastest but got there in the end.

(Top of Volcano with my Porter)

The top of the volcano had a crater which had filled with water and become an amazing lake. This mountain also was part of the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a fair way round and I really wanted to walk around the top so I could say I’ve been to Congo but our guide wouldn’t let us. Had lunch at the summit which was unfortunately covered with cloud/mist the whole time we were there so couldn’t get any photos of the view but still glad we made it.

Headed back down with the porters and army guys giving us all a hand. The funniest thing was when I would slip over by myself the porter would say ‘sorry’ as though it was his fault he hadn’t stopped the stupid and clumsy tourist from landing on their backside. Luckily the mud was soft and we got down fairly quickly (but not cleanly). It was overall one of the most strenuous things I’ve done – beating even the 12 hour Rogaine of ’07. One of the people on the hike said it was harder hiking then the Inca Trail due to the mud. Slept extremely well that night.

(In front of Volcano with my rough wooden staff – it’s a [common] item)

 

Gorillas!

After the exertion of the day before I was hoping to get less of a hike finding the gorillas. Managed to swap into a shorter walking group (the guide recommended telling the organisers we had climbed the volcano the day before) and headed off to track the Hirwa group. So obviously the question for this blog is what is a group of gorillas called?

The Hirwa group was a newly formed group so had fewer gorillas then some other ones (especially the biggest one – Susa) and just had one silverback who was supposedly quite the gentlemen. He’d managed to steal 6 females from other groups in a relatively short space of time (which was somewhat incredible) and one of these females had twins. After our guide had joked with our group that we had a 4 hour trek ahead of us (the older couple with us did not look impressed, even after he said he was joking and it was only 20 minutes away) we headed into the jungle and came across them.

The permit costs $500 US and it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent (the $10 to the porter yesterday for the volcano hike was just as good…) and I couldn’t recommend the experience enough! There’s talk of raising the price to $1000 but even so it’s such a unique experience. There were so many amazing moments I’ll just focus on the best two.

The first would have to be seeing this.

(Mum breastfeeding twins)

It’s not fully clear from the photo but she’s got the twins on both breasts. One of our group is a mid-wife and was suitably impressed with how easy the gorilla made it look. It was such a surreal moment with her nearly posing directly at us and so close. After a few minutes she got up and we saw the twins grab hold and hang on as mum wandered right past us. Got video footage which is my favourite record of this trip.

The second highlight was right near the end when we went searching for the silverback. We had seen him briefly before hand but were wandering around until eventually we had to backtrack a bit.

We climbed up a bit of a ravine and then right at the top on the side the silverback was just lying there – about a metre away. This photo was taken later since we weren’t allowed to stop near him but you may be able to make out the ramp in front of him we had to walk up.

(Silverback in background)

As we were taking photos the kids arrived and play wrestled around dad as you can see in the photo. Totally magical moment. Even though this was a smaller group there was heaps to see and they were moving around and so interesting.

Lake Mburo – Uganda

Well, this had turned out to be a long blog so will just skip through the rest – nothing too exciting compared to the previous days. We left Rwanda early and headed to another national park in Uganda. (Had to pay another $50 to re-enter Uganda… rip-off…) Got there in time for a late afternoon game walk where we would hopefully see a leopard but no luck. Saw lots of zebra and antelopes. A joke going round the group is that whenever we see a relatively boring animal (like a waterbuck) we’ve got to call out something exciting. (Due to false alarm early in the trip – some people are a bit premature in pointing out animals.)

(A pack of Lions – I mean, waterbucks…)

Had a sleep-in the next day (7 am) and now heading to Jinja for some exciting times.

Week Ahead

Fri, 23rd of Sept Jinja

Sat, 24th of Sept Eldoret, Kenya

Sun, 25th of Sept Nairobi

Mon, 26th of Sept Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania

Tues, 27th of Sept Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park

Wed, 28th of Sept Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park

Thurs, 29th of Sept Mto Wa Mbu

It’s My Birthday and I’ll Hike if I Want To

Who knows when this blog will be uploaded but at least it’s being written fairly currently. Celebrated my last 20-something birthday and not thinking about the next big birthday. Been having some amazing days here in Africa but also getting very acquainted with my truck seat.

Another Day, Another Travel Day

To get from Kenya to Uganda is quite a distance so we had 3 long days on the truck. The last got us to near Kibale Forest National Park. We are at a really picturesque campsite which has hot showers with no roof. Took a photo of the view from the showers.

(Shower Photo)

Chimpanzee Hike

Luckily my birthday fell not on a travel day but one of the best days so far on this adventure. We got up early and headed to a national park where guides help you go and see some chimpanzees in the wild. After dividing into small groups, the other 3 groups headed off but our group had to wait for a spare guide. Eventually she arrived and we headed off. The people our guide had been with before had been extremely lucky to see the chimps and monkeys fighting that morning, so their normal routine had been messed with by the time we got there. We were still able to see quite a few, and the noise they make is incredible.

(chimp)

Our guide controlled how close we went but since this was the wild, the chimps could choose to come closer to us as long as we stood still. One chimp came racing towards us and climbed a tree about an arms-length away from someone from our group. Got this photo with a chimp that was having a rest.

(me & chimpanzee)

It was a nice hike around the rainforest but there were some evil safari ants who attacked a few of our group. The ants are sneaky devils because they walk up the outside of your trousers and then sneak into your mid-section around your shirt and then start biting. Not fun for that bit!

Village Hike

Headed back to our campsite (which had been invaded by a school group – so glad I was on holidays – poor teachers) and had the option of going for a walk around the local village. Headed off with two guides and then got caught in a rain shower in the middle of the village. The guide led us to a local’s house where we took shelter and waited out the rain. Kinda cut short our hike but got to see some great tea fields (everything is just crazy green here) and one of the smoothest lakes I’ve seen in a long while. Unfortunately the rain hung around for a while and it was a bit tricky having a shower since it was open to the elements. Had to wrap my dry clothes in my rain jacket and then enjoy having a warm shower outside while it was raining.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Left our campsite and kept heading towards Rwanda (even might have re-crossed the equator back to the Southern Hemisphere) and arrived at the great lakes of Edward and George in the Great Rift Valley. We were booked on a boat cruise along Kazinga Channel which connects the two major lakes. Headed straight to some elephants and got pretty close from the boat. Now only missing leopard to complete the Big 5!

(elephant – No.4 of 5)

This cruise was also a fantastic time to see hippos and more buffalo. They certainly seemed to be enjoying the water and just relaxing out of the heat.

(hippo yawning)

Blog Competition – Hippopotamuses

We were on the boat for 2 hours and saw heaps of birds, a few alligators (which don’t photograph at all well) and some more lions. There was a male lion in the bushes but my camera couldn’t really get a clear enough shot. Also finally saw a hippo stand after most seemed happy to wallow in the mud. Which leads me to my question for this blog – what is a group of hippos called?

(hippo standing)

Headed back to our campsite and a cold shower which was actually quite refreshing after the heat of the day. Our campsite was approximately a kilometre from the lake so we thought most animals wouldn’t make the trek up the hill. But as a couple were heading back to the tents from the covered area they nearly ran into a hippo. Hippopotamuses are known for being dangerous to humans (Mainly fisherman if they’re caught between the hippo and the river) so they certainly were a bit surprised and ran back to the group. The hippo didn’t like having 5 torches shone on it so it waddled down to the river and some people didn’t sleep as well as they were expecting.

Since it was so warm we had kept our windows on the tents open but then after midnight a storm came through. Pretty much everyone woke up and closed the tents and the rain really bucketed down . So much rain fell that our truck driver thought it would be better to move the truck to higher ground out of the mud to make it easier to leave in the morning.

After packing up our tents in the rain (not much fun – looking like I might upgrade tonight) we climbed into the truck and headed off. Due to the rain and the slight tilt in the mud road, our truck slipped off course and got stuck. Repeatedly. We had left camp at about 7:30am and it wasn’t until 10:30am that we were finally heading off. Wasn’t much fun having to try and push the truck out but eventually got there after some heaving digging by the local support.

We’re now travelling onto Lake Bunyonyi but the rain has followed so don’t know what’s going to happen when we get there. Been travelling on the bus today with dirty feet from the mud near Queen Elizabeth N.P and the amount of clothes hanging inside the truck makes it feel like a laundry. Fingers crossed the rain stays away!

Week Ahead

Sun, 18th of Sept Ruhengeri, Rwanda

Mon, 19th of Sept Gorilla Trek?

Tues, 20th of Sept Gorilla Trek?

Wed, 21st of Sept Lake Mburo, Uganda

Thurs, 22nd of Sept Jinja

Fri, 23rd of Sept Jinja

Sat, 24th of Sept Eldoret, Kenya

Lions, Rhinos and Birds… Oh My!

I had to get this title out of the way – just keeps jumping into my head. It’s been a great start to this adventure but I’m unsure how much internet access I’m going to be able to get to upload these blogs. (EXTRA EDIT: Tried a couple of times to upload this – photos are kinda impossible so just doing text and will add back photos later I get better access – may be 60 days away)

 

Flight to Nairobi

As mentioned in the previous blog, had to leave at an unfortunate hour from London. Hopefully didn’t wake up my flatmates but at least one good thing about driving to the airport at that hour there’s not much traffic.

Had a nice breakfast at Heathrow (thanks Star Alliance Gold) and got on the short hop to Zurich. We got delayed out of Heathrow which seems to be the norm so my 50 minute transfer window shrunk dramatically. Had to swap terminals and there was a group of us running to make the plane. We arrived late but they had held the plane and then had problems counting how many people were on the plane. Finally got going and after 2 and a bit movies and a wink of sleep we arrived in Nairobi Airport.

Had no problems getting the visa at the airport but the lady in front had old American dollars which they wouldn’t accept. It came down to her missing $2 which seemed a bit extreme to stop her entering the country so I gave her some of mine. Don’t know why American notes that come from before 2003 are dodgy.

Found my name on a placard and got dropped at the hotel and joined the group. Crashed pretty early after a long day of sitting down.

Saidia Childrens Home Project

We were introduced to the vehicle that we were going to spend a lot of time with and were each given a decent sized lockable locker to store our possessions. We’ve got a full truck/bus load of people but it’s reasonable comfortable (ask me again in 30+ days…) and the Kenyan tour guide, driver and cook are all amazingly helpful and friendly.

One thing I wasn’t expecting was how cool the temperatures are – as we left Nairobi there was a mist around and it’s been a pretty pleasant overall temperature so far. Our first stop was an orphans home that Interpid sponsors. Had a talk from the Lady in charge and then each of us got a personal tour guide. My young boy didn’t speak much English but had fun playing football at the end. Was a well maintained orphanage and so fantastic these kids have a chance now with the support of the locals on the ground and foreign help.

New Competition for Blog Readers

One question that keeps bugging me is what the correct term for different groups of animals. The one I remember is a group of crows which is called a murder. So without using the internet/google I’m going to name an animal I saw and see if anyone knows what a group of them are called. (honesty assumed – points for creativity over accuracy) The animal for this blog is the claim to fame of this park – the flamingo. So I saw a ___________ of flamingoes!

Lake Nakuru National Park

After leaving the orphanage we headed to a town outside the national park for a quick shopping trip. I bought a full-sized pillow following some smart advice and I reckon it’s going to be one of the best purchases on the trip. We got to our campsite which was surrounded by baboons. As our guide says, they’re naughty – I’m sure you can come up with some more appropriate names for them – but they were jumping on our tents, stealing food out of people’s hands that weren’t watching and generally being a nuisance.

After having lunch and setting up our tents we headed off on our first drive in the park.

Safari Drive 1

Lake Nakura National Park, compared to other parks fairly small but is well known for its flamingoes. One of the tour books said there were an army of flamingoes but they must have been invading another country because we only saw a few around. There’s been some unseasonably heavy rain around recently so the guide thinks that may have affected them. There were massive amounts of pelicans so maybe there was a coup d’état recently over the lake.

(A not-quite_________ of flamingoes)

We got to see some Buffalo (Animal 1 of the Big 5), zebras and tons of other herbivores that I didn’t learn the name for. We were lucky to see from a distance a rhino but the guide was pretty sure it was a white rhino. (How do you tell a white rhino from the much more scarce black rhino? It’s not the colour… The only visible difference is the mouth, with the white rhino having a wider mouth then the black. You can blame the Dutch for the confusion since their word for wide sounds like the English white so that’s how the story goes.)

 

Some heavy rain came through just as we got to a look-out over the lake so we closed up the truck and weathered out the storm. So glad we had got our tents up already and they were sealed. We started heading back to camp and saw some giraffes. Got lucky and saw a baby giraffe which was pretty cute. Some other giraffes wandered a bit closer so rather than the single pixel the baby turned out to be here’s a better photo.

(Giraffe)

And to put the icing on the cake about 200-300 metres from our camp we saw a pack of 5 lions just wandering around the road. (Animal 2 of the Big 5) None of them were male lions with the huge mane but maybe mum with some adolescent kids.

(Lions near camp)

Our campsite didn’t have any fence around it so there were a few concerned campers but no one was dragged off during the night. Had a fantastic meal – there was soup waiting when we got back and I thought that was tea done when I finished, but that was just the entrée. Baked veggies and chicken was certainly well appreciated. Definitely not going to go hungry on this trip!

Safari Drive 2

After an early night since no power at the campsite and not much too see we had an invigoratingly early start to the day. Headed off on another drive and ran (not literally) into the lions again not too far from camp. Our guide was amazed that we saw the lions and to see them twice was fantastic. Got tons of photos but as ever (and even more so on this trip with some serious photographers and gear) my photos don’t do it justice. They were just so unbelievably close. The lions were following the road and with the few safari trucks stalking them they somehow got separated and mother lion had to come back and regroup them all.

 

After the lions we headed around the lake, seeing even more birds and animals. Even saw a solitary hyena prowling around. Luckily he was on the other side of the lake to the baby giraffe. Another new animal was the ostrich. Was surprised how massive it was.

(ostrich photo)

We headed close to the lake to see more pelicans and there were a couple of buffalo in the water. Another safari drove up and some Asian tourists jumped out to take photos with the buffalo in the background. Our guide was a bit surprised, since they are one of the more dangerous-to-human animals around.

(Danger!)

Luckily for them the buffalo was enjoying the water too much. We kept driving around and saw an actual black rhino (Animal 3 of the Big 5). My camera couldn’t zoom enough and it wasn’t close enough to get a good bloggable photo but the guide was sure it was a black rhino which was pretty cool. Further on another rhino (white this time) was much closer so was able to get this shot.

(white Rhino)

Heading to Uganda

Finished the safari which has set a pretty high standard for the rest of the trip! Packed up camp and got in the bus and headed towards Eldoret. Eldoret is supposedly famous for producing some great quality long distance runners. It’s situated at about 2200 metres above sea level which when you compare it to highest mountain in Australia (Kozciuszko at 2228m) demonstrates how flat Australia is.

Don’t know how often I’ll be able to get to internet. Was lucky and found an internet café on Monday but no chance of uploading blog with photos. Now at a great campsite in the capital of Uganda, Kampala; with hot showers and free wi-fi (EDIT: Very slow wi-fi, blog wouldn’t upload). Been a long day border crossing but nice to be relaxing tonight.

Week Ahead

Wed, 14th of Sept Kibale Forest National Park

Thurs, 15th of Sept Kibale Forest National Park

Fri, 16th of Sept Queen Elizabeth National Park

Sat, 17th of Sept Lake Bunyoyi

Sun, 18th of Sept Ruhengeri, Rwanda

Mon, 19th of Sept Gorilla Trek?

Tues, 20th of Sept Gorilla Trek?

Leaving London (Take 1)

It’s all coming to an end… Crazy to think I’ve lived in London for a bit over a year and am now not going to sleep in the same bed/location for more than 3 or 4 nights in a row until I arrive back in Australia in December. Somehow managed to collect a few boxes of stuff that had to be sent home – and it’s been tough to fit everything I need back into the one case I arrived with.

Paris with Parents

My parents came over and visited and we caught the Eurostar over to Paris after visiting the British Museum (there was an Australian special exhibit there at the same time which was funny). Amazing weather in Paris after the overcast London summer. My parents had booked accommodation in the centre of Paris (about 10 minutes’ walk to the Louvre) which was very nice. Headed up to the cathedral on a hill called Sacre-Coeur (which we climbed – another trend for this trip was getting to the top of everything possible) and visited a great square of artists which would be fantastic if you wanted to get a portrait drawn of yourself.

 

Our first full day in Paris we headed out to the Versailles Palace. I’d been here before but not actually got in due to the number of people wanting to get in. Had got there pretty early by train but there were hardly any queues which was nice while we were in there. Can see why the peasants revolted if they were struggling to eat when the royalty were living in these incredible palaces. Went out into the gigantic gardens (place number 1 I wouldn’t want to play hide and seek in) and a few more palaces and the fake but very cute village built for Marie-Antoinette.

(Versailles - just goes forever... )

There were some great places we ate at in Paris but one of the best ones was the oldest restaurant in Paris – A la Petite Chaise. Incredibly rich food with French Onion soup; succulent fish and delightfully dark chocolate cake.

The next two days we bought a 2 day Museum Pass to visit a few of the museums. We started at the Conciergerie (a palace and prison which held Marie-Antoinette) and the Sainte-Chapelle. Photos don’t do the church justice with some amazing stained glass windows. We also looked at climbing Notre Dame but the line was too long so we headed off and decided to do it the next day. We got on an open-top tourist bus which was the slowest thing on earth. The hot sun didn’t help much either but was good to see a fair amount of Paris.

After waiting for our bus to finally wander back up the Champs-Elysees we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. Was able to jump the queue and climbed up (another amazing view). And to fill in this amazingly busy day we got to the Louvre. Left Mum and Dad to visit as much as possible (incl. Mona Lisa, Hammurabi’s Code etc…) and this is definitely another place I wouldn’t want to play hide and seek. It’s an absolute maze and difficult to get around at the end of the day as they close parts when you’re trying to see just that bit more. Kinda wish I knew a bit more art history.

After that crazy day, we decided to split up since everyone had slightly different things we wanted to see. Dad and I did climb Notre Dame and got this photo. Another famous landmark climbed!

(Notre Dame Bell)

Then I headed off and saw the Pantheon (where Marie-Curie is buried); Les Invalides (war museum – very interesting during the World War 2 section there was no mention of Jews, also had the tomb of Napolean); Musee du Quai Branly (glad this one was free) and finally the Musee d’Orsay (I probably didn’t fully appreciate all the amazing artwork here. Unfortunately for Mum when she visited here earlier in the day she couldn’t get in due to a bomb threat.)

To finish this amazing day, we all met up and caught a river cruise on the Seine to the Eiffel Tower at night. Was great seeing and going up it at night – different to what I did last time. They’d also managed to move all the dodgy souvenir sellers that plagued the square underneath the tower last time I was there. Camera didn’t do too well at night unfortunately.

Headed back to London on the Eurostar (surrounded by New Zealanders on the train who wanted to talk about the World Cup – glad Australia had just beat them!)

 

Being Tour Guide in London

It’s getting a bit late here and I have a ridiculously early morning start to head off to Africa so going to have to just list highlights for my last week in London. Was fun being the ‘expert’ showing my parents the joys of the Oyster card, travelling on the Underground and then forgetting that Mum has slightly shorter legs then me as I London-Power-Walked off into the distance.

Headed off to Brighton Beach on a typical British Summer day (rain and wind) but luckily cleared up a bit and had a nice wander around the pier – had great Fish and Chips.

Next day did some shopping and then went to the Phantom of the Opera that night. Had never seen it before but recognised quite a few songs. Was great hearing some opera singing but still don’t think I would fully enjoy a proper opera. It’s incredible to think that the show has been playing in the same theatre for 25 years, or about as long as my sister has lived.

Also went to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. 1st half was a little non-exciting (Dad nearly fell asleep in a 'modern' classical piece that went for 20 minutes) but after the intermission they played Holst's Planets. Was great and really enjoyed Mars and Jupiter (Jupiter actually has the Rugby World Cup music in the middle of it!) After the classical prom there was a late night prom which was dedicated to a jazz great Stan Kenton. Was much more lively and we got to sit in some great seats!

Day Trip to Bath and Stonehenge

Had organised a tour to visit Bath and Stonehenge and had heard you could book a tour which let you actually get inside Stonehenge – most tourists just do a loop around the outside. Headed off to a village called Lacock which is mainly owned by the National Trust of the UK where a few movies including Harry Potter has been filmed at. Then off to Bath and the Roman hot water springs complex which was fascinating.

(Bath)

But the highlight would have to be actually getting into Stonehenge. We arrived after it had closed for the general public and it was just our bus load around (and an Asian movie crew for some reason). Got to actually wander around and under the massive stones but were told specifically not to touch the stones or otherwise they would have to stop people getting so close. Unfortunately there were a few in our group who disregarded those instructions – just selfish and you can see why people aren’t allowed to get close to some many things these days…

(Stonehenge)

Off to Africa

Finally caught up to the present – just had a brief farewell dinner with some friends at probably my favourite restaurant in London. Packed my bag (it’s already full… not good) and set my alarm for 3am. Not going to be a fun day tomorrow with that wake-up. Heading to Kenya to meet the tour and then the adventure is on! Don’t fully know what to expect but camping for 50+ days is certainly going to be interesting… Hopefully internet access is alright so I can keep in touch.

 

Week Ahead

Sat, 10th of Sept - London to Nairobi, Kenya

Sun, 11th of Sept - Lake Nakuru

Mon, 12th of Sept - Eldoret

Tues, 13th of Sept - Kampala, Uganda

Wed, 14th of Sept - Kibale Forest National Park

Thurs, 15th of Sept - Kibale Forest National Park

Fri, 16th of Sept - Queen Elizabeth National Park

Ride from London to Paris - Check

I’ve officially finished work for the rest of the year! Was very tempted to put that as a facebook status update but thought it wouldn’t really impress most people. School finished with a bit of a whimper, since I was only teaching senior students who left to do exams a bit earlier then the rest of the students.

So now that work is finished for the year – I get the joy of preparing for the holidays for the rest of the year. Getting to do all that ‘fun’ stuff I kept postponing like visas, vaccinations and packing…

Lake Como Weekend

A group of 8 of us headed off to northern Italy and hired out an apartment for 3 days just as school had finished. Again had an amazing race to get there with 4 different routes being used – got to use my gold star alliance status for the first time to get into the lounges. Zurich's gummy bears made the stopover go quicker. After hiring cars from Milan we drove north to our accommodation. Got a bit lost (ending up at the Swiss border accidentally) but managed to find it in the pouring rain.

Luckily didn’t rain the whole weekend – hired out a boat for a very relaxing couple of hours on the lake during the best weather of the whole weekend. Ate way too much gelato (and just so cheap) and even visited Switzerland for dinner one night.

25000 spins – London to Paris

The other excitement that I have mentioned before was riding from London to Paris to raise money for UNICEF as well as seeing if I could physically do it. One thing I learnt very early was how critical good gear is. Luckily had a decent bike that had a good low gear (affectionately called by the group the ‘granny gear’) which I used a fair bit. Meant I certainly wasn’t the quickest but didn’t get off the bike for any of the hills, which was one major achievement.

It actually wasn’t as physically torturous as I was expecting – but it was nice to lie down in my own bed and sleep in when I returned.

Day 1 – London to Newhaven

 Met up with the group and took off from south London on our adventure. There were some serious riders in the group and the hills certainly separated those that were prepared and those like myself who were less so. And here I was thinking that England was fairly flat… Unfortunately the small group I was with spent most of the day not actually on the proposed route but luckily managed to link up in time for food. It was amazing how many different small roads there were and I was making sure I didn’t lose the group since I wasn’t riding with a mobile phone or map. Slightly silly now I consider it. Arrived in the town of Newhaven extremely hungry. Had a decent sized meal and was physically exhausted. However, while my body needed to rest, my mind was still spinning. Just wish I had an off switch to go to sleep.

Day 2 – Newhaven to Rouen

So for those confused how you ride from London to Paris when there’s a channel in the way – we caught a ferry over. (and no I wasn’t pedalling on a stationary bike or doing laps around the top deck as we were crossing.) Was nice being first on and off for a change with our bikes – there were quite a few other cyclists doing similar things to us so it was bedlam parking our bikes and then getting them off the ferry. Wish I could have got an entry to Schengen area with a bicycle on the stamp.

The riding was a bit tougher this day. A few big hills – with the worst one being pretty much a v shape. And the diabolical part about that one was a stop sign at the bottom of the v. Lost all the speed and even my low-low gear required some effort getting up that nightmare of a climb. Rouen however had a nice long downhill run into our accommodation and the 2 person pizza that night was greatly appreciated.

Day 3 – Rouen to Vernon

The shortest day riding with a bit of touristy time in Rouen before leaving and some pleasant riding. Unfortunately my luck ran out regarding flat tyres and managed to get three flats in the same day. Was all from the same piece of tiny glass we found at our end point. However before all the hassle had some great rhythm going. We lost the fast guys – they headed off to race to somewhere to watch the Tour de France live – but our more relaxing speed group had some time to enjoy the scenery.

(me and the trusty bike)

So after lunch was when the fun of replacing inner tubes started. Luckily the support van was right behind me for the 1^st one. This photo was during the 2^nd one – thought it was appropriate…

(ruined bike below some ruins)

And finally rode into Vernon on a flat tyre. Not fun at all. With a lot of help from others found the problem and hoped for the best for the final day.

Day 4 – Vernon to Paris

The final day and the longest ride of the whole trip. We started seeing a lot more people riding their bikes on similar charity rides into Paris. Took a few photos as our whole group but unfortunately some dodgy weather started heading towards the group.

(last day – before the rain)

Our route took us toward Versailles but as we were about 30 minutes away, the horrible storm cloud that had been haunting our journey that afternoon hit and we got drenched. Wasn’t the most pleasant experience with the rain absolutely bucketing down and a strong wind buffeting us as we rode. Didn’t spend long around Versailles so headed off to Paris. Rode through a bit more rain but reached the Arc de Triomphe where we had the 1^st of many celebrations. Rode through half of the most dangerous round-a-bout in the world and onto the Champs-Elysees and headed to the Eiffel Tower for some more celebrations.

(success)

Slept amazingly well that night!

Tour de France

We had arrived on the Saturday and I was booked on the midday Eurostar back to London since it was cheaper than staying around till later. I had booked this without really considering or knowing what was happening in Paris that weekend – big mistake. Luckily for me, one of the group needed to get back earlier for work so I was able to stay in Paris that day and actually got to watch the cyclists from the Tour de France .

(first lap by the tour)

Was an amazing experience, especially with Cadel Evans achieving something that’s being compared to Australia winning the America’s Cup. Was incredible being there and also something to remember for a long time. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay till the presentation and had to rush back to the train terminal. And just to rub salt in the wound, there was a bomb scare and the train was delayed about an hour.

Finally got back to London and am now just preparing for my parents to come over and visit, and then my trip to Africa for two months.  Can’t believe how quickly time is passing. 

As the Deadline Approaches

Waking up in the morning my mind has been jumping straight to a countdown – previously it was how many days till my next school holidays (which comes nice and fast with mid-term breaks only resulting in 6 weeks teaching in a block). Now the deadlines I’m counting down are time left at school, time until I see my parents and time remaining till I leave London.

Obviously some deadlines are looked forward to – once school finishes I won’t have to do any more work for the whole of 2011! But leaving London is difficult to deal with as it approaches – trying to fit plenty in with friends during the time remaining and prioritising all the fun with the fact I’m not working or earning for the rest of 2011 is a bit of a balancing act.

Another deadline that has come up rather quickly is getting ready for the London to Paris bike ride. Doing a bit of training at the moment so it’s not a complete disaster of pain for the 4 days. If you were thinking about donating it would be fantastic if you could do that. Just a reminder – I’m riding for UNICEF and if you’re interested go to this website to donate:

http://www.justgiving.com/Gareth-Chandler1

I should also have a deadline for writing this blog – it’s been a bit of a break between updates but need to keep my own record of what I’ve been up to!  

Northumberland Walk

Way back in Easter I joined some friends on a 4-day walk along England’s north coast. It was with a company that organises your B&B each night and then picks up your bags and takes them to the next place you’re walking to - very civilized hiking. Was quite a different holidays and were extremely lucky with the weather. Unfortunately the mind was willing but the body isn’t used to walking 25+ kms a day. Saw some great castles and some actual beaches that had sand. Still would have needed another 10 to 20 degrees warmer for me to think about swimming though. 

(castles)

One historical location I visited was where St. Cuthbert’s bones were hidden during some upheaval thingo – was a cave with this written on the overhang. Little bit heretical but I laughed a bit.

(jump here)

The food was amazing on the most part except one place I never, ever want to return to called Spittal… even the name sounds bad. Was a beachside town with a pretty cheap café – I ordered a chicken burger and all I got was the bun and the chicken patty. No salad, sauce or anything else. Worst meal ever. However the other meals at other places were impressive but it’s just the bad ones you remember the most.

Royal Wedding

Yay for a royal wedding public holiday! Wasn’t that excited about it all but joined up late with friends who had gone in really early on the Mall to watch them drive past – had to bribe my way into the group with morning breakfast since they’d been there since 3am or something ridiculous. Had a pretty good view but unfortunately my camera isn’t fantastic and this was the best photo I managed to get. Also got another chance to see the Queen.  

(best photo I got)

4 countries in 3 days

There were two extra long weekends in a row in UK and for the 2^nd one went for a European road adventure.

Day 1 – London to Paris via Luxembourg

Woke up and managed to drive through 5 countries in the day. Left home and boarded a ferry – drove to Luxembourg (quite a nice little country – saw some castles) for tea and then after getting lost and entering Germany, Belgium and France and back into Luxembourg way too many times (stupid roadworks sending us in loops) got on the right road and ended up on the outskirts of Paris for the night. Some crazy number of kilometres we covered that day…

Day 2 – Paris to Rouen

Was a day with fantastic weather but I was having issues with my contact lenses so the bright sun was painful – hadn’t put my sunglasses in since they’ve been in hibernation over the winter.  After the massively late night driving we slept in and arrived late to Versailles. Certainly not a place to arrive late to on a long weekend. The queue was massive so just wandered around the front but it certainly looked impressive. Some crazy statistic like 7.6 million visit Versailles but only 4.5 million actually make it inside. Going to organise this much better when I visit later with family.

(As close as we got to Versailles)

After this excitement headed off to the French coast around the location where the Allies invaded/liberated France at the beginning of the end of World War II. Ordered a meal with my non-existent French and repeated finger-pointing and pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Day 3 – Back through Paris

Had to catch the ferry back to the UK so followed the coast north through some interesting and artsy towns. Got to the ferry just as the bad weather starting rolling in and got put in the same area of the car park on the ferry that resulted in us being just about last again off the ferry. Certainly not lucky on that front… 

Others 

I’m sure I’ve done other exciting things but didn’t take photos myself so rather then a wall of text might just do the bullet point list at the end – much like a 6^th form student running close to the deadline in their exam. (no prizes for guessing who’s had to mark too many practice essays recently…)

• School got OFSTED inspected (2^nd time for me now) Managed to teach in two officially ‘good’ schools.
• Was involved in a London to Paris Fundraising Murder Mystery which was lots of fun again – Tip of the Event: “Always ask to inspect the body”
• Tasted ice-cream made with Nitrogen – best ever! If I had to open a restaurant or café I would either make it like Wahaca (street Mexican food) or this nitrogen ice-cream place.
• Got into Lords Cricket Ground to watch a university match. It wasn’t very busy so we were 2 rows from the fence at the amazing ground.