Author Archive: Barry Armstrong
Beating The Cold

Donna and I decided just after Xmas to fly back home due to cold conditions in Turkey. We really love the camping aspect of this trip however -4 degree temperatures do not do well in a roof top camper. So after spending a great Xmas day with the Taylors at a place called Gerede in […]
Christmas in Turkey

Wow what a semi white Christmas with our travel mates Lynn and Alan. It was a difficult day in some ways not being with our families, however on the other hand a great relaxing day for the girls not having the usual Xmas rush with cooking and preparing for guests. So from that point of […]
Retribution is an Understatement

I find it amusing to note the Land Bruiser owner (ex car salesman’s) comments about a genuine Ford Ranger. 1. Uni joint replaced 2 days ago was not replaced in Darwin. This is a joint that has driven 264,000km. 2. The Ford has only ever had one issue worthy of a mention and that was […]
Drama Prior to Going to Sea

Talk about confusion, getting passage for our cars and ourselves was/is quiet an ordeal. We arrived in Aktau on Friday night after a long drive from a place called Shepte in Kazakhstan. We left Alan and Lynn in the bush as they did not want to keep driving. Donna and I drove onto Aktau for […]
Uzbekistan v North Korea Football

Last Monday the 4 of us were walking around Tashkent in Uzbekistan. We wandered around a big sports stadium, and saw some athletes training. These may have been Olympians for all we knew. We came across a crowd of men buying tickets. One Uzbek man came up to us and offered to help, he works […]
Leaving Kazakhstan Entering Uzbekistan

Our last couple of weeks in Kazakhstan have been excellent. We have learnt how to drive to Kazak road rules and conditions and staying out of Police trouble, well sort of. After the last episode of being pulled over (that’s Alan I mean) we made a pact to ignore the cops when they point their […]
Kyrgyzstan

What a varied climate – from hot desert to snowy mountains. At the moment we are staying in a very nice little lodge in the Alpine region of Bisckek (a large city in Kyrgyzstan). When we arrived at the lodge we all looked at each other because none of us had any money to pay 2 […]
The Great Canyon of Kazakhstan

Time for another write up. Still in Kazakhstan and have just visited the Great Canyon. Turned off a main bitumen road, went in on a dirt track for about 10km. Boy what a surprise when arriving at the Canyon. Paid 3500 Tenge to enter the park. As soon as we drove in the scenery was […]
Through Russia into Kazakhstan

First impressions of Kazakhstan: good people – warm and friendly. The infrastructure here is pretty basic. When crossing the border into Kazakhstan from Russia we picked up immediately the difference – roads, residential and commercial buildings all lack good structure. Going through a small town called Semi both cars were pulled up by the local […]
Russia As I See It

Russia has been a complete surprise to me. Even though the weather is grim and cold. The people and way of life here certainly makes up for that. It is probably close to Mongolia as a favourite country we have been in to date. Since getting back on track with our trip, catching up with […]
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