From Rishikesh we made our way up to Mussorie a hillstation above Derahdun.
Mussorie is a very popular holiday destination for people from Delhi escaping the summer heat.
From there our journey takes us in a north west direction to Shimla a hillstation established by the British.

In Moussourie

In Shimla

As we drive into Shimla I see 3 African Twins with german number plates, we pull over to have a chat. Thomas already knew who we are, because Rob from Melbourne has joined ther group and told them about us.

In Shimla

That night we also met up with Pascal and Arja and the 3 germans for dinner and a few beers. What a great night.

Unfortunately the next night we had some gear stolen of the Bike, like raincover for the tankbag, my raincoat and most enoying of all the charger for my camera and Ipod. No use to them, but a hassle to us.

Getting ready for Iran

We spend a few more days here waiting for a parcel that Dom send with the Fuelline and Airfilter. Thanks again Dom for the trouble of getting it, it fitted perfect.

One day we went on a daytrip with Pascal and Arja to Tattapani to check out the hotsprings.

To Hotsprings

To Hotsprings

Hotsprings

On the way there we saw a accident between a bus a a small car, not unusal in India.

We leave Shimla heading north into the Mountains to Manali. Its a slow trip through valleys and over mountain tops, mostly on gravel roads until we hit the main Road from Mandi to Manali which follows the river deep into the Valley.

As we drive into Manali, who is at the petrol station filling up. Pascal and Arja, just can't get ride of them.

In Manali

In Manali

In Manali

In Manali

In Manali

We stay a few nights in the Tiger Eye Lodge together, its raining, we drink whisky and play cards wrapped up in our sleeping bags. Brrr its cold.

Old Manali

Old Manali

Pascal helps me change my Tyres, we carried them long enough, it's hard work, but we got it done. The Village Kids are playing with the old ones.

We'r waiting a few days in Manali for the Road to Leh to open, but the news is not good, as there is still to much snow on the mountain passes.
We deceided to try our luck the other way around. Srinagar, Leh, Manali.

We make our way to Dhalmsala and Mc Cloud Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama we spend a few days there visiting the monestery, tibeten museums and temples.

From there we head toward Phantakot and north through the mountains to Udampur for the night.
We check in to some gruby Guesthouse in th middle of town. As I get the last bag of the Bike I notice a dead hosrse under some rubbish right next to the entrance.
Maggie didn't see it otherwise we had to find something else. It was gone in the morning, we nichnamed the place: The Dead Horse Inn.

Next day we cross our first pass at 3200m on the very top there is a 3km tunnel, just bevore the tunnel a police check, where we have to leave our details from our Passport. The Police Officer tells us that the Road to Srinagar is closed because of the elections, but he let us pass after 1 hour, since we heading up the Kashmir Valley to Phanagam first.

Kashmir

Kashmir

We have the Roads to ourselves no trucks, buses , jeeps, we love elections.

Driving into the Valley to Phanagam is like driving through the alps in Switzerland, snowcapped mountains, streams, waterfalls and little Villages here and there.

A few days later we pull into Srinagar and meet up with Pascal and Arja.
We visit the floating market at 6am, the old bazaar and a mosque. On Dal Lake are about 1200 houseboats, its a amazing sight.

House Boats

Floating Markets on Cal Lake Srinagar

Floating Market

Floating Markets

Pascal and I give the Bike's a service and check over for our trip to Leh.

On the first day we only travel 80 km to Sonamarg, where we told the Road to Zojila pass is closed because of 6 different Avalanches.

The Road up to the first Pass

Truck over the edge

We have lunch a few chai, talk to the other travelers, answer all the endless questions about the Bike.
At 3pm the Road is still not open we deceide to Camp for the night. We found a great spot next to a stream on a green medow with the mountains all around us. We are at 2700m, its a crystal clear cold night. We had a big fire and Pascal cooked Rice and Eggs, very nice.

Camping at Sonamarg

The next morning we were told the Road is open by 10am, as we rook up there is still a lenghty discussion with the police, but eventually they let us through. Here we go crossing our first Himalayan Pass at 3900m.

Pittstop

Traffic

The first 10km are a breeze, nice road, beautiful senery as we turn the next hairpin in the road it all turns to mud, small creeks across the road, melting snow, huge potholes, trucks making trenches. Its slow going, even there is 3m of snow beside us I work up a sweat driving up this path.
Due to the Road closer there is only a few trucks on the Road to negotiate. On top of the Pass is another police check and a flowing River to cross, bevore we decended to Gumri. We ride along to Dras, the second coldest town in the world with recorded minimum temperature of - 60C Brrrrrrr.

The scenery is forever changing, from snow caped mountains to barren rock formations of gigantic proportions, along rivers filled with green icecold water.
The road hangs on the side of the mountains with sher drops on one side and towering walls of rock on the other.
We arrive in Kargil mid afternoon and due to the election the whole place is shut down. Pascal manages to work out a deal with a hotel owner so we have a place to stay for the night.

The road out of Kargil is in desperate need of mayor repair so for the fist 15 km the going is slow. Today we have two passes to clear, first its Namika La at 3900m and then Foto La at 4175m. we end up in Alchi at the end of the day where we visit the oldest Budist Temple in Ladakh build around 1020 AD.

Ladakh

Ladakh

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Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh

From Alchi its a short and fast trip into Leh due to a brand new road.
After aclimatising ourself to the alltidude in Leh 3200m for a couple of days we go for a day trip to Thikse Monastery, then down to Karu where we cross the Indus River to Hemis home of the biggest and best presented Monastery in Ladakh.

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Temple

At the Temple

Hemis Temple

Temple

Then its of to Stok and back to Leh to get the permit for Kharadung La.
Its about a 2hr trip from Leh to the summit of Kharadung La the worlds highest motorable road at 5603m. The road is good untill the last few km, the bike claims the mountain without problems exept a slight loss of power just bevor the summit.
Arriving on top is a great feeling, we are on top of the world:)
Over a cup of chai we get the prayer flags ready whitch we carried all the way from OZ with hundrerds of well wishes and signatures as part of a fund raiser for the Australian Cancer Council.
Its a fantastic feeling hanging up the falgs in memory of a lot of people and having achived what we set out to do.
To all the people infolved THANK YOU !!!!!!!
Your well wishes and good luck messages are as close to haven as we could get them.

Top of the world

Due to the road into Manali still closed and very mixed reports on when it will be open we decide to go back to Srinagar and a few more days in Phatagon where we nearly get sprung for poaching ( fishing without a licence) opss.

We enter Pakistan from Amritsar India on a Sunday, the border is very quiet as there is no traffic in either direction.
Its a different story the day before when we attend the closing of the border ceremony. There are thousand of people on the Indian side and a few dozen on the Pakistani side. Its a huge spectacle with people dancing and shouting.
The official border guard puts on a huge show trying to intimidate each other.
Its definitely something different to experience.

Border Ceremony India - Pakistan

Everybody in Pakistan is a bit on edge about the current situation, and with a bomb blast only two weeks earlier in the city we can feel the tension amongst the people.

Maggie and Arja with new found friends

Our site seeing takes us to the Fort and the old city witch is very interesting and has a old world charm to it.
One of our missions in Lahore is to pick up our visa for Iran from the embassy.
The hardest part is to get trough the front door as they have a very different system do deal with all the people applying for Iranian Visas. Once where in ( 2hr later) the process is fairly straight forward and we have our visa approved and ready to be picked up the next day.

Fitting in with the locals

From Lahore we travel to Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Sukkur, Jacobabad where we get our first police escort out of town.

Valley road

We leave at 5.30 am from the guesthouse as Pakistan is very hot this time of the year ( in Lahore we had temperatures of 45C ) the escort was ready and waiting for us. We drove out of town at about 40 kms witch was fine because the road was in a bad way, but once we hit the open road the policeman did not speed up so we passed him to try to get him to go a bit faster, without response so we lost him very quickly. At the next checkpoint we got stopped for a passport check and a new escort, he must have got the massage from the previous guy and we had a hard time keeping up with him.
We stopped in Sibi a small town in the middle of nowhere, it claims to be the hottest place in Asia, lucky for us its still early morning and not to bad at all.
With a few more escorts that we all seam to lose very quickly we arrive in Quetta.

One of many escorts

The most amazing truck's in Pakistan

The people hear are very friendly and we get invaded for tea so many times that we find it hard to keep up with it.
There is a Restaurant just around the corner from the Hotel that serves the best food and nicest Naan we had for a long time.

From Quetta we head east towards the Dalbandin our half way stop to the border.
Soon after we leave town the desert starts and the scenery changes rapidly.
Just before Dalbandin we encounter a sand storm that shakes us up pretty well.
The sand really stings on any skin that is exposed so we have to do up our jackets
and sweat our way trough it as it reaches about 42-45C. The escort that picks us up on the way in to town takes us straight to the police station where they want us to stay for the night with the rest of the prisoners, after a bit of negotiation and the girls not being very happy they let us go to a hotel where we had to promise that we would NOT leave the premises.

one of many check points

Camels in the Desert

Desert stop

Road from Quetta

Sand storm

Good to know we are on the right road

Nothing like a bid a sand on the road

Taftan the border town into Iran

Next day its of to Taftan the border town to Iran. Its a very good road and it takes no time at all to reach the border.
We are offerd one more cup of tea at the customs house and are send on our way with many good wishes from Pakistan.

PS: due to a camera problem we will post more photos later.

We have arrived at the Iranian border after a cup of tea and well wishes with the last offical in Pakistan.
Our first mistake in Iran, we parked the bike in the wrong spot and are asked to move it 20m. No problem. Our passports are being checked and we are moved on to the next office, where details from the Carnet are being copied into a large leger.
Now please move the bike around the back of the bulding and proceede to emmigration. Once at emmigration a officer aproaches us, asking where the bikes are? We point in the direction and are told to move them in front of the bulding.
No problem. At the front a officer with a piece of scrap paper notes down our number plates and tells us to move the bikes to the back of the bulding. Sure why not. In the meantime our passports are still being held by emmigration and we try to find out why it takes so long for a stamp, after a lengthy discusion with the officer in charge we get our passports to go to customs so we can finalys our carnet and get stamped in to the country.
The girl's are still sitting near the emmigration office waiting for ther passports to be returnd. As we find out they are holding our papers, while organising a police escort for us to drive to Zahedan the first city, 88 km from the border.
After 2 hr wait two young police man show up telling us they are our body guards and will be travelling with us on the back of the bike. ???? We tell them there is no room on our bikes for 3 people, solution = we should hire a taxi so they ( the police man ) can follow us into town. Sorry, no go as a taxi would cost us 40.- U$
Ok, we will hike a ride and you must follow us, the police tells us. The first pick up is a truck travelling at 40 kmh to the next police check only 4 km down the road. Stop, check the papers and wait for the next lift. A family with kids picks our body guards up and we are off for another 5k's until guess what, another police check.
Now the guards are being exchanged and the new police guard's stand on the side of the road hiking a ride. Just to let you know its over 40 C while all this is happening and we are melting in our gear. This time a people mover pulls over and gives our guards a lift, until you guessed it, another police check point. So after 7 hr we finally arrive in Zehedan, not at the hotel but at the police station for more checks and a new escort to take us to the next roundabout where a car is waiting to guide us, at a speed of 20k's through town to the next meeting point and the last changeover. Fainally we get to the Hotel where we are told that we are not allowed to leave the premisses because its to dangerous. Our bikes are locked up inside the hotel which we think is a good thing, but the reason behind it is, that we can't leave in the morning whithout a police escort. To make sure we can't check out, they hold our passports and won't return them until the next town. Welcom to Iran, where not only there own people but also tourist are held like prisoners.

The following morning we leave Zehedan and make our way to Bam with a few more escorts along the way, but the good thing is, they have cars and are moving along at a good speed, as Iran's road's are great.
Bam has been devastated by a earth quack a few years ago and the damage caused is great, over 40,000 people where killed and most of the city has been destroid.

Bam

The old mud city is just a big pile of fallen buldings and rocks. There is a huge effort underway to restore the site whitch could take up to 50 years.

From Bam we drive west to Sahrjan and on to Shiraz.
Somewhere in the middle of the desert I have a flat tyer, we manage to fix it enough to get us to the next town, where we have to put the tube in, as the patch won't hold. Looks like a new back tyer in Tuerky.

After a few days in Shiraz with plenty of sight seeing and walking through the bazars we leave for Esfahan. The roads are great and we make it in good time, after a overnight camp, outside a small town called Yasuj.

Shiraz

Esfahan is a trully fantastic town with all its bridges and temples, everywhere you look there are parks with people having picnics and sitting in the heat of the day, out under shady trees and water fountains.

Esfahan

One of the problems in Iran is the food. Menu choices are very limited, even though there is all this fresh vegetable and fruit available on the markets, all we can get is Chicken Kebab, Chicken Kebab with rice, rice with Kebab and so on, it gets a bit boring after a while.

The good thing in Iran is the petrol price, we are paying about 55 cents a litre and thats the tourist price, the locals only pay about 14 cents a litre.

From Esfahan we go north to the coast of the Caspian Sea and a town called Anzali, the water looks great, but in Iran the Lady's are not allowed to swim in public places so none of us go in to the water.
From Anzali we travel along the coast to Astara and then head inland to Tabriz and on to the Turkish border.

Camping in Iran

Pic Nic with friends in Iran

I hope he makes it !

Roads in Iran

I want my Mumi

The road from the border of Iran winds its way around the volcano's to Dogubayazit and Mt. Ararat. Its great to be in Turkey as the food here is much better and we can also have a beer after a long dry spell.

Mt. Ararat

We head south to Lake Van and spend a night in Gevas from where we visit the Island of Akdaman Adosi and its little church build around 1400 years ago.

Our route takes us to Bitlis, Mus, Bingol, Elazig over the plains and trough the mountains into Kayseri and Göreme where there is the most amazing scenery of limestone houses cut into the rocks.

From here we make our way down to the coast and Mersin, we follow the coast to Tasucu where we find a great little camping spot right on the waters edge and our first swim in the Mediterranean sea.

The coast road to Alanya is breath taking, carved into the cliff side and over mountain tops with amazing views over the coast. Analya is our first European holiday town where the sun chairs and umbrellas cover the sand as far as the eye can see. We stop here because we are in urgent need for a new set of tyres and the mechanic we find is very helpful and gives the bike a quick once over. All good.
As we stay in Olympus we get the sad news that my father has past away. We where so close yet still so far away.
We head back to Anatalya to book a flight to Switzerland witch is no problem as hundreds of flights come in and out of Anatalya every day.
Our flight is scheduled to leave the next morning at 6.30 am direct to Zürich. We arrive at the airport around AM with the bike parked in the secure parking area.
After check in we proceed to the passport control where Maggie walks trough no problem. As it comes to me they ask me to follow them into the office where I get told that I can't leave the country because the bike is stamped into the passport and I need special permission from customs. I try to explain the situation but to no avail. So we miss the flight and also lose the ticket as it was with a charter company with no money back guarantee if you miss the fight.
Anatalyas Custom House is at the commercial harbor about 45 min from the airport. The process of getting permission with the bike looked up at Customs takes us about 3 1/2 hr after that we are back on our way to the airport in a taxi. Luckily we can get a flight that afternoon at a ridiculous price.
One week later: We arrive back in Anatalya on a Friday afternoon just in time to get the bike out of Customs ( they are closed over the weekend) We head south just to get out of town and look for a guesthouse to sort ourself out and get back into the travel mood.

Kas is our next stop with another camp spot right on the water. There is a creek that flows into the sea here so the top lyer of water is very cold and crystal clear.
we drive passed Fethiye out along the coast road to Butterfly cove and on to Faralaya high above the meditterrainien.

Butterfly Cove

We continue north towards Mermaris stay just outside the town at Turunc for a couple of nights and then on to Detca from where we take a ferry to cross over to Bodrum and on to Yalikavak another great fishing village along the Turkish coast.
Then its on to Foca, Canakkale and the Trojan Horse and finnaly into Bandirma where we take the fast ferry over to Istanbul.

Trojan Horse

Istanbul is a amazing city with lots to do and see, amongs them are the Blue Moscue, Palace, River cruise on the Bosperouse and so on.

We leave Turkey via the main Highway into Bulgaria where we spend the first night at the Sakar Hill Camping Ground in Biser just inside the border.
Martin Sherley and Matt welcome us with a cold Beer, Olives and Cheese. We all sit around and have a good chat, exchanging travel stories and getting tips on where to go and what to see. Then a few more Aussies pull up in a camper van and some more members of Martins family and friends join us for a BBQ and a good time.
What a great welcome to Bulgaria.
Our next stop is Sofia where we happen to cross ways again with Pascal and Aria.
From here we head straight up to Croatia. We visited the Plitvice National Park with its amazing Limestone Lakes and waterfalls.

We then followed the mountains down to Split and along the coast back up Zadar, Rijeka and into Slovenia.

We spent a few nights at Lake Bohiniska and then went on to Ljubljana the capitol from where we went east to Maribor and up to Graz in Austria. Vienna was also on our list with all the Castles and Museums.

We head west along the Donau valley to Wachau, Strasbourg and then the ultimate Austrian road, the Gross Glockner a mountain pass over 3000m with roads that are spotless.
Next was the Dolomites in Italy and then back into Austria and finnaly on the 25th of August we entered Switzerland.

So after 8 1/2 months and 37000 km 3 sets of tyers, 2 flats, 1 battery, 6 oil changes, a never ending sore butt, many smiles and a few tears,countless potholes and close to 6000 photos our journey has come to a end. We are not sure if we should be happy or sad.

WE`VE MADE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now What ?
TBC :)