55 days of travel with 24 buses, 15 trains, eight boats, one plane hop, a horse, many motos, two car rides and 23 nights on transport have seen us cross 20 countries, three continents and 14 changes of time zone - a truly epic and unforgettable journey full of countless stories of people, places, brushes with histories we can only imagine and inspirations only travelling in my opinion can provide.
Our final leg saw us renting a car and driving south down Australia's stunningly beautiful east coast, covering 2,500km across our five days spending hours driving 300km through nighttime starlit Central Queensland wilderness in search of a motel, dropping onto the long sands of Rainbow Beach, enjoying the live music of Brisbane, catching a few waves and whale spotting at Byron Bay, and exploring the lighthouses and coastal towns of the New South Wales coast before a surprise highlight; visiting our home from hometowns of Gloucester and Stroud (populations of 2,500 and 550 respectively) on our approach to Sydney and our at last final destination Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Walking up the steps to the bridge in the cool afternoon (two mistakes we made planning this trip - 1. Australia is a big place and 2. it's cold at this time of year) brought a sense of elation hard to describe as the trials and tribulations of the past two months seemed to flash through our minds as a continuous stream of experiences rather than the drag and drop feeling of boarding a plane and emerging from a near/far away airport. As the kilometres have passed we've watched peoples, languages, cuisines and cultures at times gradually, and at times abruptly, change from the familiarity of Western Europe through the snack size Baltic states, across the vast, cold, bleak vodka and potato fuelled expanses of the monumentally expansive Russian continent down through the wilds of Mongolia into the building site called China and down to the glistening paddy fields and traumatic histories of Vietnam and Cambodia before the traveller friendly Malay peninsula and air conditioned shopping malled comfort of Singapore, starkly contrasted by the frustrations of Indonesian travel, made worth while by the beauty of its islands' beaches and volcanic landscapes, the artificially new UN East Timor and the comfortably western wilderness and fast food of Australia.
Reading this blog and hearing how we have stuck to schedule, and survived with few major setbacks, may give the impression this journey half way around the world is a simple endeavour, but having spent over 500 hours sat/lying/squashed on all kinds of transport dealing with all kinds of challenges from lack of schedules to fully booked trains, touts' scams, consular bureaucracy, unintelligible (for us) languages, unfamiliar foods, and the simple requirements of keeping ourselves rested, fed, watered and healthy, I can tell you this trip is not one to be taken on lightly, but at the same time also that trips like this are possible. A little organisation (preferably more than our six weeks minimalist approach), common sense, cash card, SMALL rucksacks (some people seem to carry their entire worldly possessions) and travel friendly passports accompanied with eager minds, equally open to trusting people as to detecting when a scam may be afoot, all go a long way to making this journey not only possible, but a true adventure of a lifetime.
We've been exceedingly lucky to have been supported by so many people back home, friends we dropped in on along the way, others who joined us for short sections of the trip, the many strangers we met en route who showed us friendship and help often just when we really needed it, and you. It's been our first "blogged" trip so we hope you've found our words interesting either as a short break away from work, a read over a morning coffee or even an inspiration to pick up an atlas or click onto Google and find out more about some of the places, historic events and peoples we've mentioned through these entries. Even in the worst internet connected places it's been a pleasure to write these entries, made worth it by the feedback we've received already and the money we've raised on the back of this challenge for Doctors of the World. If you have enjoyed this blog and are of a charitable mind, please consider a donation to Doctors of the World. Take a look at their website below to see the work they do, and if you decide to support our charity, a donation is only a few clicks away!
www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/
Donating only takes a minute clicking on the "Donate" link on the right hand side of this page or here. Every penny donated goes straight to the charity.
For the super keen of you, who'd like to be made aware of our next trip (yes, there may well be another challenge at some point in the future), please drop me an email at robpilkington@gmail.com. Please include any comments you have on this blog, any requests for the next trip's one and I'll make sure you get invited as the planning gets started - wonderful though Google is, we can't automatically see the email addresses of all the subscribers to this blog!
Thanks again to all of you for following this challenge - keep checking back over the next week to hear how Will gets on riding his bike from London to Paris. Crazy idea. Can't wait to see how much he hurts!
Ayr - Sydney: 35 hours driving / 2,500 km
TOTAL LONDON TO SYDNEY: 25,050 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: £3,900 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Afeitate Rob!!! ♥♥♥
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