Adastra,

Once you cross the border, the road slopes down somewhat. Nearly within sight of the border (if you look back up), you'll see a building and lots of trucks parked there on the left. It's the cheapest place I found in Iran to change money. The truckers were surprised to see me, but they had an entire exchange office in there. They were very happy to change my money with a smile.

Also, you're going from the most expensive gas in the world to the cheapest. $2 filled my 11.4 gallon tank when I got to Iran.

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http://www.nohorizons.net

HI Adastra
I'm sat here in Tabriz, sweating in the humidity with my chador on and thinking wistfully about cold. As this is a dry country, all I've got to look forward to is Islamic non-alcoholic pineapple .

the border crossing is fine, you don't need to cover up until you can see the Ayatolla's Face on the wall - and believe me, you won't be able to miss it.

There are helpers and there are people who are trying it on. I didn't see the guy in the tourist office but it seems he is the guy to approach for help.
The Iranian side insists on fingerprinting certain nationalities but not Aussies so you should have a quicker progress through the system than we did.

They will be extra helpful because you're female, if you haven't been to Iran before, remember that men should not shake your hand and if they try to then generally they are not the sort of people to be dealing with.
There are plenty of female foot passengers going through who will smile and be supportive, you need to make it clear that you are a driver or they send you through with foot passengers as they can't conceive of a woman on her own driving or especially riding through.

No insurance scam that I saw and fuel is easy enough to buy (no fuel card asked for), just tricky to find the petrol stations in the first place.
Good luck, you'll have a ball.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Iran is a beautiful place with beautiful people, enjoy the ride.

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Ride on
Kev

I'm sure I will...if I learn how to take my helmet off without showing my hair!!!

Can read about it here:

Ride Pray Laugh....... the not so MiddleEast Adventures (now)

Cheers
Helen

HI Helen
the fuel isn't quite as cheap as it has been in the past, they are charging about 40 pence (60 cents) a litre. And although you're supposed to have a fuel card, the fuel attendants are quite happy to use their own cards.
as for the head scarf stuff, I just wear it under my helmet and also my chador is on all the time, which makes it easier when I'm getting off the bike as I don't have to scrabble around for stuff to cover up with. And the people standing around can instantly see I'm female which can be helpful.Tthe police were very nice when they caught me speeding, just gently asked me to slow down.
I've managed to cool down a bit by going for a dip in the Caspian Sea, though as the official segregated bathing areas aren't open yet, it was an open beach and I had to wear head covering and chador over leggings. I actually found that my bike balaclava worked best in the water as it was close fitting to the head. I then piled my bike gear back on top of my wet stuff and rode straight back to the hotel to get changed in my room.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Thanks for this Tiffany - I was going to ask how to dress while riding. It's going to be soooooooooo hot! to wear everything with the motorbike gear! What length chador are you using? knee length or a little shorter? I'm trying to find something in Turkey everything is so heavy - I just don't know how I can wear that and the motorbike jacket and not get heat stroke :-(

Helen

Thank godness for that - Turkish petrol prices are ripping through my budget.
Also thanks for the update Tiffany hope you are colling down ok now :-)

Adastra