Kiwi Travellers 2014

Intro 
The purpose of this blog is to allow our friends and relations to keep up with our travels in 2014. It’s far more secure to have an invitation only blog than to use other means of broadcasting such as FaceBook and it is a lot easier on us than sending a stream of emails to everyone.

Background
We have always had a bit of wanderlust in our veins.  It probably comes from our genes as Kiwis as our forebears had to travel quite some distance to get to New Zealand and all arrived here of their own free will.  Jim’s parents lived in a Gypsy style caravan in the middle of a paddock for several months after they were married.

In Europe, Gypsies are known as Travellers and having moved around a little, we are proud to be known by either name too.

Our initial expedition out of New Zealand was in 1976, when we went to the UK on our OE (Overseas Experience.)  Instead of renting an apartment, we bought a 1968 Ford Transit camper and lived in that and went to work from that on a little motorbike.  That was fine in the summer when the camping grounds were open, but in the winter, there was only one campsite open and you were only allowed to spend 14 days a month there.

Left - Our Fort Transit Camper, with motor bike attached.

As there was a local council run Gypsy campsite down the road, we asked the council if we could stay there.  They told us in no uncertain terms that it was for English Gypsies only, so through the winter, we free camped around the towns and went to the campsite on the weekends.

We did a few trips around the UK.  The most memorable being going to the Edinburgh Tattoo from Essex.  We had the two of us, Lynette’s parents, Sue, an English friend who had been to NZ and Trev the cat.  (Yes, we picked up Trev at a campsite and he travelled around the UK with us.  Then we flew him back to NZ when we set off overland.)  The sleeping arrangements were cosy.  Lynette’s parent’s slept on the double bed.  Sue slept in the single bunk.  Lynette slept on the floor and Jim slept across the front seats.  Of course Trev slept on any warm body that was handy.

We did one continental trip to Austria skiing and a week in a hotel in Moscow.  Then we sold the Ford Transit and bought a brand new Toyota HiAce with a camper body on the back of it.  

After some significant preparations in late 1977, we set off overland to come home to NZ.  Prior to us leaving, my father called to say he had cancer.  He said not to change our plans but to keep in touch, so we decided to travel 150 miles a day and stop for a day.

We travelled across Europe, visiting the countries that we had missed.  We went north to Denmark, Norway and Sweden and across to Spain and Portugal.  Then we went across France to Italy and into Austria for a preparation before heading into Yugoslavia.  That’s where we had a Yugo truck come in the back window.

We spent a few days in Greece repairing the back of the camper and replacing the back window, then started our travels through Turkey and into Iran.  The Shah was still in power then and we went to his palace to see some of his treasures.  Next it was on to Afghanistan.  This was a year or so before the Russians invaded.  Afghanistan was a primitive yet very friendly place. 

It was quite common for groups of travellers to travel in a convoy and we often travelled with a couple from the UK in a VW combi, an Danish couple living in Australia, also in a combi and a Kiwi/Aussie couple on a motor bike.

Coming out of Afghanistan, down the Khyber Pass, the road changes from driving on the right of the road to driving on the left.  Some large trucks tried to muscle us off the road and we stopped and loaded the dash up with rocks.  From then on, we threw rocks at any vehicle that tried to push us off the road.

We drove through Pakistan and into India.  At Calcutta, we put the camper on a tramp steamer to Brisbane and backpacked around Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for the two months that it took the boat to make its voyage.

We picked up the camper and drove down to Sydney, looking for work, which we found.  Unfortunately Jim’s father was very ill and he flew home in time for the funeral.

After eight months working and travelling in Australia, we flew the camper home.  Jim had a job in Wellington and Lynette lived in the camper in Auckland until the house on Waiheke Island had been built.  A couple of years later, we sold the campervan.

In the 1980’s, Jim had the opportunity to travel for his company, Racal-Milgo Inc, and spent five years flitting around Asia, the USA and the Pacific.  Then he settled down to life in NZ.  From 1999 onwards, we both travelled around on holidays, often not together.  Lynette would head to the colder climates while Jim would take summer trips to the USA with his shooting pals, to compete in black powder long range shooting events.  When Jim’s shooting career came to an end, following a motor cycle accident, he did a number of trips in pursuit of his ham radio hobby.

About 20 years ago, we befriended an elderly gentleman on Waiheke, Ralph Spencer.  He became our adopted uncle.  We met some of his relations from the UK.  When he died, Lynette was his executor and had correspondence with a number of Ralph’s relations who became our adopted British cousins.  She promised to visit them when the estate was wound up.

Lynette was planning to got to the UK to see friends and relations for a final visit as we don’t expect to be going there again.  Jim suggested he could man the GPS if they did a side trip to a ham radio show in Germany on the way home.  Lynette agreed and so that’s where we are now.

Our basic plan is to leave NZ on 23 May and to fly to Dublin, via Hong Kong and London.  We will spend 10 days in Ireland and then fly to Manchester.  One of the great attractions in the UK is the three day Gypsy Horse Fair in Appleby in Westmoreland where we have a booking at the local coaching inn.  We intend going north to see Hadrian’s wall and south to Cornwall, and who knows where in between.  After three weeks in England, we will fly to Frankfurt and drive down to Friedrichshafen.  We will be staying over the border in Austria.  After the show, it's back to Frankfurt and home via Hong Kong.  We should arrive home on 3 July 2014.

If you want to follow along with us, sit back and enjoy the daily updates.

If you would like to invite someone else to read this blog, then please send an email to bp_express@yahoo and include the email address of the person you want to invite.

Follow Us On the Road

With luck, we will also have a tracking device working on the rental car.

1      Go to the web site aprs.fi
2      In the Track Callsign field insert ZL1LC
3      Change the Show Last and Track Tail Length fields to be 24 hours

Now you should be able to see where we have been in the last 24 hours.