Ka Pai Kiwis

Nice sleep in  although I went for an early wander up some steps to visit the Mother of Georgia and take in the view. After breakfast we headed out for a stroll and visited the Holy Trinity Church, quite an impressive building especially at night when the golden dome is lit up. Last nights photos Wandered about a bit more but it is just too hot, maybe only 30ish but high humidity making us very sticky. No health and safety here! 

Another lovely morning and a rare sleep in as breakfast wasn’t till 9 and we have only 200 km to travel to Tbilisi. Our hotel turned out to be a bit of Fawlty Towers and compared to where we are now in Tbilisi and completely overpriced. Never mind it was an experience. Nice travelling through a picturesque and steep sided gorge which gradually widened out to what must be the garden of Georgia. Orchards and horticulture everywhere in this very pretty countryside and every so often the remains of a primitive castle dot the landscape. The driving standards certainly kept me on my toes until we hit the motorway for the run in to Tbilisi where the driving standards improved somewhat, although we did pass the scene of one nasty accident. We found our hotel ok and it has turned out to be a gem!  Just as well as we have much planning to do for our re-route around Iran. View from the hotel room - not bad. Statue of Mother of Georgia. Honey in left hand, sword in right. We ...

We woke up to a beautiful morning. Lovely ride this morning, the road hasn’t got any better but it does seem easier earlier in the day. The scenery is just spectacular, we could be in Switzerland. We wound up and up with many switchback roads and a mild temperature. Finally at the top then a steep descent into a lovely fertile valley. Then again we began to climb more gently this time but we got to 2470 metres and it was a bit cold. Down again then up up up to 2550 metres and still the remains if the winter snows. The landscape dotted with shepherds summer cottages and the shepherds themselves tending their animals. Down again and then a very pleasant meander to the border. Could have stopped every 5 minutes for photos but press on we must. Border formalities were straightforward except once again the bloody NZ bike registration papers. Because everyone else has a passport like vehicle document it makes ours look like a fake. So this all took an hour and we had ...

We have done a bit of planning. We have decided not to go to Iran, we just cannot risk being turned away at the border, we have a date to enter China that we simply must make. Bit sad as we were really looking forward to it. But it is what it is. On the plus side we can explore Georgia a bit more. We think we can still enter Turkmenistan so a shorter and more reliable ferry across the Caspian sea is a bonus also. So we followed the Black Sea coast almost to the Georgian border. At one point we stopped for a break and so I could have a paddle, wish I’d had my togs on, it was so warm. We were standing around and family nearby were having a picnic, next minute a lady and young lad came over to us and offered us a bun and a drink which we gladly accepted. They were travelling for a family party for a graduation presumably at the nearby Recep Tayyip Erdogan university. They were interested in what we are doing and wanted to know what a lot of people have asked us, "h...

Woke up to a cloudy day and as we packed up the bike it began to rain. So on with the wet gear. It got heavier and heavier as we moved into the hills and by the time we got into them it was torrential, thunder and lightening the works. This carried in for 200km. We left the hills and popped out to get our first glimpse of the Black Sea. Pulled in for a coffee and break and steeled ourselves for the remaining 150km. Quite industrial around Samsun but the weather looked promising ahead and as the towns became more pleasant, so did the weather. Quite a sight the Black Sea and obviously a go to destination. All the towns are apartments and shops and are on a narrow band of land between the sea and a large and steep hilly range. The hills are lush and thick with vegetation suggesting a warm climate and reasonable rainfall. We arrived at our destination Giresun and Tomtom tried to take us to the hotel, firstly a bus cut me off and forced me to take the wrong road, then its a series of n...

Well we’re into month 2 on the road now and our 7th week away. Time flies when you’re having fun! Big day today. Decided to go find this salt lake and see what all the fuss is about. In true Tomtom style it offered us an alternative after about 59ks. The road was bloody awful, twisting and turning and finally we reached a reasonable sized town and this was our destination..,,, only it wasn’t. Route recalculation got us back on track but only after a significant back track. A commission of inquiry will need to investigate what went wrong. I’ll keep you posted. Anyway we finally got to this large lake and eventually saw tour buses and and a full car-park so this must be it. Everyone off with their shoes and paddling around in 6 inch deep water or actually salt brine. Was it worth the effort to get there ABSOLUTELY not! Can you tell Mark is not so impressed. So we then set off for our destination for the night, a dual carriageway with no traffic and bumps that would ji...

Last night we had a really nice meal in clay pots. The staff were very friendly and were interested in where we were going. We woke up this morning to see the balloons above us again. We headed off in the bike today to visit the underground city at Ozkonak and the Sefe Golu a salt lake. Tomtom took us on an interesting route to Ozkonak through back roads and farmland. The underground city is a World Heritage site and at times housed up to 30000 people. Only a small part is open to the public but it is very cool. Explored all the nooks and crannies and many rooms were labelled as to their original purpose. Seemed to be an awful lot of wineries! One of the main reasons for this being underground was so they could avoid their enemies. There were some very impressive round stones still in the original position that could be rolled across a tunnel entrance to block entry. Not too many photos here, I got claustrophobic and had to go outside for a breath of air. Robyn ...