Around Europe/ Asia in a Shorty

Cruisn

Adventurer
The story continues, well not for another 45 days or so till the wagon arrives in Izmir, Turkey.
I finally got a window big enough to get to South Africa and get the wagon shipped out. Bit of a ******** show but I was able to ship out on a TIP which is great news for those of you who will maybe do the same, as it allows complete avoidance of a carnet which to me is not worth it.

Onto some pictures to get this new set of blogs rolling, as previously I will include blog links with better pictures as I go.

Arriving in South Africa after being away for 10 months the wagon needed a small boost to get running, but then ran like a top. will need some fluid changes and filters but I will do that in Turkey when it arrives.




Being that my TIP was expired, I called around and couldn't get a solid answer and due to my tight time schedule I decided to hammer to the Botswana border post and get a new TIP, I arranged this in advance, and is a free service. do not let them bride you, they can smell fear haha. Otherwise I had a very clean run got my paperwork and was headed back to Joburg in no time at all.




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Back in Joburg I finished packing up the wagon, looking legit again I had a celebratory drink and slept off the night before my big drive to Durban.






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Rolling along in the sunny sunny weather I made great time and even had enough time to head for my pre flight covid check. All clean both ways. surprising since I am at the border dealing with heaps of people all the time...

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Finally it was time to pack up. unlike Oz and the ridiculous rules and regs and power trippers that made it nearly impossible to get into the loading area, I was able to rock up ion thongs and a singlet to pack the wagon which was nice. rather low stress event. It ships today or tomorrow.




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For the trip in Africa have a peak at
WWW.WRONGTURN.COM.AU
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Well, The wagon has landed in Turkey, then it decided the transmission was to be no more. I have one on route from Oz and will do the install myself as all my tools are here in Antalya our new home base. But here is a little photo from Foca near Izmir.



We will be ditching the roof mounted jerry cans and the RTT in exchange for just a swag. we will also drop 40L of water as there is always water here in Turkey easily found. We should knock off about 140kgs of weight which is great for the car.
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Small update to fill the gap before I get home and do some blogs.

Alrighty, So in my spare time I got the old box removed behind the apartment buildings in Antalya. nice little abandoned house pad. Got it out in about 4 hours. Thanks to the help of my mate Sean who came to visit from Canada.







Then we planned a new trip to fill some time while we wait for work. And luckily I got my trans through customs before we left, I had about 8 hours to spare and it was dropped off at my place.




Now we are currently working our way around Iran. Chasing waterfalls in Ilam, 8km from the Iraq border.




Checking out the Haram in Mashhad. stunning country and very friendly people.




We arrive back in Turkey on the 15th so I will start putting out blogs after I get the gearbox back in.
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Well it was time to say goodbye to Iran. The last sunset here.
Iran blogs will be rolling through this week as I get them finished.



Back in Turkey and ready to party, and by party I mean install a transmission. Car has been moved out onto my super awesome cement pad and tomorrow I will start the install. \then we can get back on the road hopefully soon.





Quick question for the readers, are you all good with the style of posting? A nice photo and link to the blog, or are you more interested in seeing all the photos here?
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Well since its all part of the adventure I will add the photos of all the work I completed to get this rig back on the road.

New gearbox, new oils all around, new filters all around even the intank fuel filter that never gets done. tomorrow will be a small drive to test the rig then tuesday we will head out bush for a kebab and some 4wd tracks to see how its all come together.












And complete, survived the test drive and now time for celebratory drink



 

Cruisn

Adventurer
First refuel and wash in Turkey. we will hopefully start moving tomorrow for day trips, lock down has stopped us from doing an between city travel due to restrictions. so hopefully in a month we get out even more.

After a long long time we finally washed the elephant:





Full fuel up:



Followed by a very happy camper:



And we went for a frolic in the flowers, which as of today have been eaten by the goats. lol



 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Test run yesterday. Found a canyon with a river to hide out at, the river crossing looks doable once I get breathers installed. not gonna wreck all my nice new oils just yet. We will come back for a weekend campout to make sure everything is still in working condition.

Where we ended up:







The water was amazingly clear and a good temperature. we even found fresh water crabs and eels, among the other animals in the area. I would consider it a clean area. I think this is due to the road being so rough you need 4wd/ high clearance to get in. Which actually keeps the area clean.







We of course have to eat, so I prepped some meat and Asareh put it all on the kebab sticks and I got to work cooking it over charcoal.








Few of the area:





On the way home, I need to come back here when it is not so bright out as it is a great photograph location.



Enjoy, I am actually slowly making progress on blogs. mainly being lazy. hopefully 1 or 2 completed tonight if I get motivational.
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Blogs rolling finally.

unloading Izmir.



 

Arjan

Fossil Overlander
NIce - good to hear you're on the road again.
Within limits...
Pls keep them coming
Thanks
 

Cruisn

Adventurer
Just a small filler of me getting the wagon ready for the trans removal and a bit of cooking outdoors. the next round is quite exciting though.




 

Cruisn

Adventurer
We have been on and off busy hence why no updates. We are still currently in Turkey, although work took me to Rwanda and DRC last month for a good explore, we managed to do a 2.5 week trip in Turkey, We did the big D915 road and I continued on my own through a few extra mountain passes after my wife had to go home. But since we have made a decision to spend 4 weeks on the road, we leave friday and ferry out on saturday to a country that shall remain nameless for excitement factor LOL.

After D915:


Moving into more mountain passes south of Rize.


There was serious fog, this was during a break. otherwise vision was maybe 10-15 meters



We rolled over the big 300k kms in Turkey a week ago, so I celebrated with some poser photos in front of the mountains.



We have had a new awning made here in turkey after the ARB fabric ripped on mine, so that and a engine oil service and a few extra filters will be changed tomorrow. and depending on time frame I may fabricate a quick seat and seat belt setup where the center console is as we need to take a guide for a tour we are doing, but so far we are using there car. but if I can get a seat that looks legit we are good to go. its for like 50kms of slow pace driving so not to stressed, and honestly to have the wagon on location would be a dream.

Updates will come through as the trip progresses.

Cheers
 

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