A continent too far???

We are still alive, and finally, FINALLY, with car.

On the 10th December we flew to NZ, after a quick stop in Bangkok to pick up some cheap t-shirts and fake converse, to celebrate Christmas with my family. After driving for the past eight months through too many countries to count on both hands it was an absolute joy to fly and eat that tasty plane food. My brother and his girlfriend Julie also flew in same day which was great for my Dad and Ngaire, although i think also a shock to the system re: noise levels. In Auckland for a week we slept and ate as many of the foods on our desert island wish lists we could find. Then we flew down to Christchurch and drove up to Kaikoura to see my Mum. She decided that as we had been without a diet of red meat for a while we should eat tonnes of it - much to the SHOCK of our poor systems but to the delight of our taste buds. Kaikoura was very relaxing, catching up with various family members and walks in the hills. Back up to Auckland to celebrate Christmas, Tom & Ngaire cooked an excellent Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, and Tom cooked the Turkey to perfection with two delicious stuffings! Boxing day we drove up to the Bay of Islands / Cape Reinga for a bit more R & R.

Back down to Auckland we were planning on spending New Years Eve at my Dads bach in Port Waikato (which he and Ngaire have just brought)...however he had the Sky installed, the internet connected.....but didn't have the power switched on...so back up to Auckland to celebrate New Years playing scrabble and drinking a few too many glasses of bubbles, and enjoying some brotherly / sisterly love...

It was a really special time in New Zealand, my dad and Ngaire having the whole family together for the first time in 7 years, but phew i bet they were pleased to have the house back to themselves after we left, as i think the constant "Dad where is" and 'Dad do you have' was driving them both crazy.

We flew back via Bangkok again (small accident with my passport, i had a rasberry drink in my bag which exploded all over my passport, its now a nice pink colour), but this time spent two nights there, the first being in a bed bug infested dive near the Koh San road, Tom didn't sleep at all and lay awake until 7am when he promptly moved us on to a cheaper and cleaner option over the canal.

Back in Bombay the shipping nightmare began. We were told it would take three days to organise, so went ahead and booked tickets to Dubai for that weekend......as originally we were going to drive through Oman...only it turns out they are the only country IN THE WORLD that hasn't signed a convention that allows you to drive a RHD drive vehcile in a RHD drive country (or so the British Embassy and Omani police say, though the only way to be sure is to rock up at the border and try) ...pain. So we decided to ship to Kenya, after being told again and again that it (not Tanzania) was the first country to get it in Africa, and it would only take three weeks to get there..

Meanwhile three days to sort the shipping turned into 5. Sitting at the port, which is surrounded by a slum from 11am waiting to load our car into the container, we were still there at 6pm and no container in sight. I completely lost it at dear Mr Parab (the thieving A...), our lying shipping agent, so he kindly requested that Tom did not bring his wife along on Monday. Luckily we were flying Emarites to Dubai and onto Kenya and we were able to change our flights at the last minute...but as this was the only flight available until the end of the month we had a few more days to spare in India after that car finally made it into the container.

So we bobbed down to Goa for a few days on the beach..thinking this would be the last time for a long time....It was lovely and relaxing.

Slept a night in Dubai airport, then on to Nairobi - yippee. On arriving we saw three giraffes, spirits were high, our car was due on the 15th Feb. We decided to spend this time on the beach in Lamu, small island off Northern Kenya. Lamu was paradise, a large mangrove island with a large Muslim community & old town, but with a v relaxed - not like Kunduz - atmos, and all the locals very friendly. We did a few boat trips, snorkling, fishing and swimming, the highlight being a three day trip to the island of Kiwayu up near the Somali border, with a Canadian girl, Mich, and a crew of three chilled out dudes. We slept in a tree house, the whole island with no electricity or running water so a real desert island experience, and well worth the journey for the amazing snorkling & sailing - the highlight of our cruiserless travels /travails.

The 15th turned to the 18th for the arrival of the cruiser and we headed back to Mombasa in anticipation of being reunited with the old girl..., but then the 18th became the 23rd, due to delays at Dar Es Salaam, as it turns out the first port of call for all India / East Africa bound ships... so we headed down to Tiwi, a really quiet & beautiful beach with ace wildlife, tooo much as it turned out: huge cockroaches crawling out of the shower plug hole all over my feet (yep i screamed) not much of an added bonus. I complained, only to be told 'you Europeans come here and expect too much', i replied 'don't charge European prices and i won't expect European standards'..so we moved to a nicer place down the road minus the house guests.

Then the 23rd became the 1st and as TIA ('this is Africa') it finally rocked up on the 3rd, a Saturday...

And now our ship has finally come in..... After 6 weeks care of the shipping liner Global Container Lines (it would probably not pay to repeat what we have nicknamed them..) on the good ship Global (lack of) Progress. Now that we have it, were off for some major cruisering. The plan, drive clockwise round Lake Victoria via the Serengeti, up to Burundi (maybe) and Rwanda (and the gorillas), then Uganda, back thru Northern Kenya to Ethiopia, quick spin round the Siemien mountains, not through the Danakil Depression / Afar desert, but desert yes on up to Djibouti, where we will ship home early May, having sorted out a v cheap shipping deal thanks to the very kind efforts of Mark Allen - thanks Mark! It is probably fair to say that the last two weeks have been a major pain in the backside, and had we known it would have taken as long as it has to get here we would not have gone for it, but chanced our arm at the Omani border or stayed in India (though our time there was limited to mid March as 6 months is the max for a vehicle there). The question as to whether Africa is 'a continent too far', we will be able to answer in two months....