Salaam Al'aikum/Salut

Camels, sand and sunscreen

We're in the Western Sahara!!! The last few days have been epic, with huge days of long drives throughout Morocco but heaps of fun with some amazing driving and scenery. Tomorrow we cross the border into Mauritania and head off-road into the desert....

Dan says...
We're tired, dirty and unshaven but thoroughly enjoying the experiences of driving a beat up old car in Africa. From seeing camels, crossing scary mountain ranges in the night to celebrating Christmas day in Marrakesh, it's been heaps of fun. It's also been really cool hanging out with others on the challenge, all who are from Europe. We're the only Kiwis, so next year you should do it!!!

Being the organised type, I find it strange from day to day not knowing where we will get, no idea where we'll be sleeping or anything else but nevertheless it's fun. The last few nights we've been sleeping in our car.

Thinking of our family and friends heaps....

Susanna says....
Ditto re the shower and shave. Not sure what to add to Dan's comments. Highlight for me has been the sights, sounds, smells, people... All of it I guess. The other teams are great - you should go to the rally website (see link on the right of our blog) and check out some of the links for other teams. Some of them are doing extra bits and pieces for fundraising etc. It's great.

Lowlight.... I guess is that our days are so full that you almost don't have enough time to absorb everything until days later... I still almost can't believe we are here. Ah well, off to have a shower now... finally!!!!

We're on the road again...

Just a very quick note to say we have a car!

We meet up with everyone tomorrow. When we have some pictures of the great Peugot 405 beast we bought, we'll upload them. Look out Spain, here we come!

London Calling

Hello all. Will attempt to make this slightly more innovative than just bullet points.

Even though we wish we could have spent more time there, leaving Laos was a bit of a relief in some ways - Long bus journey and aeroplane flight meant we were off to London - a whole new world.

Arrived safe in London and spent 2 nights in a hostel - not sure we ever want to repeat that experience... fortunately we were able to crash at Sarah and Michael Hallet's place (or "doss" as they say here). Great to catch up with Kiwi friends Roz and Josh as well. Off to Devizes and panic stations are go!!! Only 2 weeks to the rally. Good to see the rellies though and get some good advice.

The reason our itinerary now says we are in France is because we are heading there tomorrow! We are still car-less so we thought we'd head to "the continent" to find a LHD. Hopefully won't be a prob.

Once again, we have had a bit of trouble with pics from the last week or so. Hopefully we can get it sorted soon!

Laxing in Laos

Hi. Hasn't been long since we last wrote but a lot's been happening. From the highlands of Vietnam to the relaxed atmosphere of Laos we've really enjoyed this last leg in Asia. The people, the fruit shakes, history, waterfalls and caves all make Laos a truly unique experience. Too bad we only had a week here. Some of our most memorable moments lately have been:

• meeting friendly tribal people in the highlands of Vietnam (Sapa)
• taking heaps of photos of the beautiful Quang Si waterfalls in Luang Prabang, Laos
• tubing down the Nam Song river
• biking around the countryside to caves in Vang Vieng
• experiencing what a $3 a night room gets you - no bathroom door, no towels, no sound proofing, no basin down-pipe
  
  
  

Cruising the Bay

Hello all

Well, after surviving the floods and viewing the ancient city of Hue, we arrived safe and sound in Hanoi. On route we met a guy from NZ (also named Dan) who was working his way round the world FROM the UK, with his brit partner, Jenny. It was kind of cool chatting with someone who was coming back the other way.

Since being in Hanoi, we did the tour of Halong Bay - spent a night on Cat Ba Island in this hotel with an amazing view, and a night on the boat! Very cool and quaint. It is beautiful up there and we met some more really cool people.

Tonight we are off to Sapa, in NW Vietnam, where we will get to do some trekking around and other cool stuff.

Good Morning Vietnam

Yes we're in Vietmam and really enjoying it so far. It has been a very hectic 10 days and we've seen lots of different sides to life from:

being offered drugs 2x in the heart of Saigon;

to exploring beautiful Vietnam by scooter;

to sand sledding on the dunes in Mui Ne;

to being in the middle of a flood in Hoi An,

but we'll let our pix tell the story for now......