Dilmah do try it

For the first time in over four months we had to shoulder our packs which seemed to have accumulated far too much stuff and caught a train to the famous Greek city of Alexandria. The short taxi ride to our hotel was hilarious though a little hair raising as our ancient driver and his beloved fiat car just tooted and wove through the traffic with very little regard for others all the while either  laughing uncontrollably or coughing up his left lung. We took a long walk along the wonderful promenade and joined scores of locals at the point recreating and watching the evening sunset which potentially is our last on the amazing continent for quite some time. We had a nice fish dinner and a good nights sleep so we were ready to tackle the modern library of Alex which was built in recognition of the ancient one which was destroyed numerous times in the past. Although the Norwegian built building was very clever and grand the collection of books didn't match the prior collection. We had one final shawarma before it was time to board a comfortable bus to Cairo and its huge sprawling airport. There were five of us all flying out at different times of the early morning so we kept each other awake with final stories and reminiscences before we tackled the shambolic nature of the crowds mostly white towel wearing Muslim pilgrims off to Mecca.

 

It was goodbye fabulous Africa and hello to family holiday in Sri Lanka. Although a relatively short travel time on Emirates it was a long day on little sleep. Upon arrival in Colombo we were hastily picked up and whisked away to the far east of the island where Nick’s parents and brother were waiting. After a good nights sleep we were straight into it. The beach we were on was beautiful with cliché golden sand and coconut palms and a nice wee swell. The first family outing was a boat trip to pigeon island where a small degraded coral reef is hanging on. There was still a fairly good variety of fish though and although the wind had stirred up the visibility we still spotted meter long black tip reef sharks lurking in the shallows. We had worked up a hunger so found some spicy samosas washed down with a cold lion beer and a refreshing dip amongst some nice wee breakers.

We piled into our hiace van and Kelum our driver cautiously drove us down the narrow roads crowded with traffic to the old Portuguese fort and Hindu temple. We had to quickly switch from ancient Egypt and come up to speed with Sri Lanka and its Buddhist and Hindu history. After scoffing far too many samosas we braved the muggy heat and explored the ancient temple complex of Polannaruwa. The temples were built in the 11th and 12th century and situated in a massive garden complex complete with elaborate irrigation and pool networks. We saw a couple of massive Buddha and these huge round stupa (see photo it's easier than writing an explanation). The sun was setting as we made our way around the last large temple and were very amused by the numerous monkeys. There were two species catching up on the days gossip and play, the very common and annoying macaque with lots of tiny babies and the very cute long tailed black faced monkeys who were happily swinging on power lines and trying to make each other fall out. It was dark when we took a shortcut down a side road and came face to face with a large elephant strolling along. We had to shout our driver a beer to ease his stress levels as we tucked into an epic feed of chicken and half a dozen different curries. 

The next ancient temple on the agenda was Sigiriya which involved a steep climb up some ladders to a rock outcrop which gave great 360 degree views. Halfway up in a cave there are some rather seductive painting of females which were painted over 800 years ago. There were also some large lion paws carved into the mountain and guarded the entrance up the final climb. We scampered down through some large granite boulders that had been carved with intricate drip lines and water canals. 

We can't get enough of safaris and elephants and luckily enough the rainy season hasn't quite started so the elephants are congregated in large numbers on the dry grassy lake shores. After lunch we piled into our Indian land cruiser (Mahindra) and set off along a bumpy dirt road. Way in the distance we saw a lone male before spotting a couple of small groups. Elephants are always so amusing and after watching these for half an hour or so we drove off in search of some more. Rounding a corner we were blown away to see a herd of nearly 100 complete with a couple of tiny babies which could have been no more than a week old. We spent hours observing them feed and it wasn't until the rain laden skies finally burst that we cautiously made our way through the herd, which only drew a couple of load protesting trumpets from the protective mothers. Only 8% of male Asian elephants have tusks as opposed to all African elephants and they are also noticeably smaller and have longer trunks. One large male with big tusks seemed to be in charge which is also slightly unusual and when the thunder started cracking overhead the elephants quickly bunched tightly together for protection and headed for the shelter of the jungle. We happily got soaked in the back of the ute on the drive home but quickly warmed up with a rum and ginger beer and amazing curry complete with 6 different veggies. 

There is no rest when travelling with the olds and we were up at 6am before breakfast to climb the nearby rock outcrop. It was only a 15minute scramble up to the top past a large resting Buddha. Next up after a short drive was the cave temple of Dambulla. We climbed up the 100 or so steps and entered the complex not knowing what to expect. It was incredible, there were five caves each with many Buddha statues and elaborate paintings. The oldest cave had over 22000 painted Buddha on the ceiling and the colours had lasted so well given they were done sometime just before BC. In each subsequent cave the decorations were newer but less well preserved but it was cool that it had maintained its significance as a place of worship for so long. Enroute to Kandy we stopped off at a spice plantation which wasn't terribly exciting, the swim in the pool at our hotel was much better. 

Kandy is situated within a narrow valley, surrounded by steep hills and was much cooler than the coast. September is the start of the wet season and we got thoroughly soaked as we made our way around the massive botanical gardens. We sort shelter from a shower in the impressive orchid house before finding a nice seat next to the lawn mowers to eat our picnic. We had to fill a little time before the culture show so pretended to be interested at the gem shop where we got a tour and explanation. The wood carving shop next door was more impressive and provided a bit of inspiration on how to build the next coffee table. The culture show involved plenty of drums and a squeaky wee horn plus a few dancers in elaborate costumes. The boys did a few backflips and ate some fire. We had to quickly leave at the end of the show as the daily puja (prayer ritual) was about to begin at the temple of the tooth. The foreign entrance fee was pretty steep and the temple which allegedly holds one of the great Buddhas tooth was crowed with people worshiping and brining offerings. For only an hour the doors are open on the small shrine deep inside the temple and the huge gold bell shaped case housing the tooth is all that's visible. There was much pushing and shoving as dedicated people tried to catch a glimpse through the open door, luckily our height advantage gave us a fleeting glimpse.

Leaving behind Kandy we headed up into the misty hill country. Along the way we stopped off for a quick and easy rafting trip which provided plenty of entertainment as we tried to push each other out while bobbing down the class three rapids and on one rapid we all ended up on top of each other in the middle of the raft. We swam down the final rapid and then played king of the raft, with people trying to clamber aboard quickly being pushed back in, our poor guide didn't know what to think of us crazy kiwi family. We stayed the night at the foot of Adams peak in a hotel that served up a great curry buffet. The other guests opted to hike up the mountain for sunrise while we took the leisurely 7am departure. We passed many sour looking faces as we climbed as most people found it pretty tough climbing the 5000 odd stairs and disappointed that the sunrise was cloudy. We on the other hand kept morale high and had the top to ourselves with great views out over the forested hills below. The steep stairs and hot sun kept us sweating all the way down but a cold shower soon sorted us out. We had a couple of hours drive to Naurawa Eliya which is a cool wee town set amongst tea plantations and full of old colonial style buildings. The monsoon rain was lingering around so the best wet weather option was to head over the the huge old Grand Hotel for high tea. The selection of cakes and savories was dam fine and kept the boys hunger at bay while the Dilma warmed everyone on such a grey afternoon. Tom had bought a bottle of classy Porto port for Nick’s 30th which the stories flowed well after dinner had been finished.

We streatched out the tight muscles with a stroll around the town and purchased some avacados and bread for a picnic lunch before boarding the train to Ella. Luckily we had booked our seats as the rest of the train compartments were chocker with people including more tourists than we had seen in the last four months. The scenery out the train windows was awesome with steep sided tea plantations giving way to shear drops and tropical forest. The rain didn't really dampen the spirits too much and at every tunnel the locals made tooting noises as they hung out the doors and windows. 

Ella is situated way up in the steep hills and our accomodation had a great view looking down the valley and out across the flat plain to the coast way in the distance. The chap who put together our itinerary was also there with a couple of other guests so we met up for a drink which turned into us polishing off two bottles of the local coconut arrack, a fairly strong liquor similar to whisky. Little Adams Peak was visible from our accomodation too so we set off to climb that the next morning. It was a pleasant stroll through the town and tea plantations with only a short steep climb at the end. We had great views but could see the clouds building so continued on to the 9 arch bridge. We got there just in time to see one of the old slow passenger trains chugging over the bridge and the driver gave us a loud friendly blow of his horn. We took the scenic 4km long walk along the railroad track for our return and had a pretty good feed at the not so traditional chill restaurant. We were amazed by the number of tourists in this small town with every shop either a guesthouse or place to eat. We got thoroughly wet on the way home as the clouds burst and swallowed up our view so Lucy and Nick gave the boys a hiding at 500. 

It was a beautiful morning as we drunk fruit juice and ate omelettes for breakfast before heading off to Ella rock. It was a nice walk through the town before we hit the narrow paths amongst the village and vegetable terraces where we got a bit lost and the rains came. It was warm enough and the clouds stayed high enough for us to get a view out though mist kept intermittently rolling in. We were pretty well dry again by the time we made it back to town and after lunch headed to a green tea factory to learn how it's done. We donned hair nets and watched as they unloaded bags of fresh tea into a kiln to partially dry it before it goes into a mixer to mash it up a bit. The final drying takes 16 hours then it is ready to be sorted by a mechanical sifter. Normally they get 5 different sizes which are used for different purposes, the smallest is the worst quality and made into tea bags but this only happens after the tea has been sold to a blender/marketer. Black tea on the other hand comes from the same plant but the picked leaves have just been left to oxidise for 4 days first. 

It was time to pack our bags again and head for the beach where we hoped the rains wouldn't reach. The drive down to the flat plains was nice with lots of rice paddys surrounded by coconut palms and grazing water buffalo everywhere. The temperature at Aragum bay was much warmer and stickyer so we quickly ditched our bags and went for a dip. Aragum bay is a funny cultural mix as the population is mainly conservative Muslims and the surf reputation means there are plenty of foreign beach bums chilling. The point seemed to have the best waves so after a couple of wicked pumpkin rottis we hired some boards and got wet. It was the first time we had surfed since Central America 2 years ago so we were a bit nervious especially as there were a few shallow rocks to avoid. We got a couple of waves in before sundown and had worked up an appetite which was satisfied by the plentiful fresh seafood. 

Tom’s resident friend was running a surf camp so we managed to convince our driver to squish our boards in the van and head down to whisky point surf break which is about 15km away. When we arrived there were far too many people all trying to catch a wave and if that wasn't hard enough when you got a wave you had to dodge all the learners who would just drop in on you. Luckily the water was warm and sun hot so we could outlast them and eventually got some really good waves. The pumpkin rottis were so good and so cheap that we couldn't go past them for lunch again. The afternoon rains held off to as we found the quieter foreign area for swimming and even a place that sold cold beers which were also a bit hard to come by in the Muslim area. We ate at the slightly grungy looking hostel because it had tap beer and the Thai food they served was actually awesome. Nick and Tom decided that since it was a Saturday night they would check out the beach party which took a long time to fill up but did eventually get going around mid night though the boys opted out soon after so they would be up for another day of surfing.

The oldies decided to have a morning at the beach while the youngens headed off in a different direction to Panama surf break. Although the waves were smaller than yesterday there was hardly another surfer in sight and thankfully no surf school. It took us a while to work out where to sit as there were a couple of rocks right in the middle of the wave but once we had that sorted it was happy days. Lucy and Tom were catching everything while Nick couldn't seem to be in the right place when the eventual sets came through. The wave of the day saw Nick and Lucy surf together and high five each other before parting around a horrified looking chick who was in their way before riding right to the beach. Once our arms felt like lead we stopped briefly at a lagoon which was full of crocodiles and saw plenty of different bird species which kept the twitchers happy. 

Sadly it was time to leave Aragum bay and its surf and hit the road south. The drive times in Sri Lanka are so slow as there are always buses, tuk tuks, scooters and tractors plus so many dogs clogging the narrow roads and we stop so often for photos. We stopped a couple of times to take pictures of wollowing buffalo who often are completely submerged and then had to stop a few more times when we saw lone elephants on the road. One big guy was right in front of the caution elephant sign while another had been given a loaf of bread by a passing local and was happily eating it in the middle of the road. Our accomodation for the night was a beach front cabana, coconut trees and a noisy heavy beach break which meant no swimming. To cool off we had to walk down the beach and clamber around a rocky headland where we found a tiny wee fishing harbour and a more sheltered part for swimming. Everywhere the coastline has been stunning with beautiful beaches though some of them have been very rough, it quietens down in Nov through to April. 

Our final three nights as a family was at a so called Java Beach Resort. This was a very quiet place which seems to be forever being built. It had a rather unique feel and the effort that had been made to allow the coconut trees to continue to grow through the four story building was impressive though not at all successful as it meant the place leaked like a sieve when we had a good tropical rainstorm. There wasn’t much around in the way of eateries so we headed a couple of km down the road to Mirisi where we found an ice cream and fish curry roll. No one was particularly hungry as we had had the traditional celebration breakfast of coconut rice and chilli and fresh fruit which was delicious. Mirisi was much more built up than some of the other beaches and had a really nice laid back beach vibe. 

Actually everywhere we have been with maybe the exception of Aragum Bay has had fabulous locals who are all very honest, laid back, keen to help and all are busy working in some shape or another. 

We had a lazy morning walk along the beach before heading further south for lunch at Unawatuna and had just sat down when the heavens opened, luckily we found a table with good shelter and ate happily as it poured around us. Unfortunately the rain didn’t ease at all and our afternoon jolly to Galle was a very soggy affair. Thankfully our trusty driver had a large umbrella for each of us and we had great fun stomping in puddles and trying not to have our umbrellas turn inside out while we navigated the ancient fort and allies in this Unesco city. It got a bit wet for mother dear so we found her a nice coffee shop while the boys tucked into a banana pancake and ice cream. The rain didn’t let up so there was going to be no nice sunset so we piled into the van and headed back for an arrack and ginger beer.

And so in what seemed like no time at all it was our final day together. We walked along to Waligama beach and basically just swam, read our books and hung out. The beach tennis bats that Nick has carried with him all around the world also finally got some use and the mango and banana lassies kept us hydrated. Our last meal was at the ocean moon restaurant which had great whole fish and cheap beer and the most entertaining waves ever. The huge beach break was causing waves to refract in all sorts or weird directions and thus created fountains of water to shoot in the air and race along as if being chased by a shark. It was also time to say goodbye to our driver Kelum who was so good. He got us where we needed to be safely (not easy on some of the narrow roads with speeding buses) and happily waited for us while we went surfing or sat on the beach. If anyone is ever coming to Sri Lanka and needs a driver I can highly recommend this company! http://www.srilankatailoredtours.co.uk/page32.html

Kelum our awesome driver

We waved goodbye to mum and dad as they set off for southern India. We chatted to a sweet Aussie couple travelling with a little tot and then had some fun trying to flag down one of the speeding local buses to Unawatuna where we had a couple of nights. It was an exciting though slightly daunting feeling saying “see you in a couple of months” at Xmas after being missing in action for so long. Us kids had two nights in Unawatuna where we just blobed out on the beach for the afternoon. We burnt our mouths on some incredibly hot samosas though thankfully found a much tastier veggie curry buffet for dinner which cost a grand total of $3.50 each. 

After a lazy morning and a tasty backpacker style breakfast (eaten in our room out of Tupperware) of buffalo curd and ate some value pack museili we went for a stroll to jungle beach. Being a Saturday there were plenty of locals on the beach enjoying picnics and we found a spot for a swim but the piles of rubbish strewn everywhere drove us back to the main tourist beach for a swim and tomato and avacado sandwich. The internet has been of very good quality in Sri Lanka which made planning for India much easier and keeping an eye on the All Blacks score. We couldn’t go past the curry buffet so we headed back there for dinner and an evening of playing 500. Nick had terrible cards and the only hand where he would have easily won all ten tricks Tom called open masear and won the game by losing everything! 

It was one last quick swim with Tom before we jumped on a bus and headed north while Tom turned around and retraced our path back for some more surfing in Aragum Bay. The bus ride in the elaborately decorated bus (it had loud stereo, fancy lace curtains, flashing lights, blue trim and elaborate surfing images over the roof) was crammed and stuffy but only lasted 40min. We made it to our room just as the rains poured down though it was over in a jiffy. We had a nice long walk along the beach which was nearly deserted and then a swim at the nice main beach which was backed by a massive hotel full of Russian guests. They are such an interesting people with stunning petite girls and huge fat men and all have horrible tacky tattoos, it was quite the spectacle. 

The place we stayed at was run by a very sweet local old local couple who were so tiny. They were very hospitable despite a severe language barrier. A highlight of Hikkaduwa was hand feeding some huge turtles seaweed. These guys appeared to just come and go freely from this choppy reef and at one stage there was four cruising around in the knee deep water. The beach was nice though some of the development along it was very run down and far too close to the beach which resulted in the beach all but being eroded away. We gorged ourselves on buffalo curd and delicious rottis and swanned and sunned away the afternoon. 

Our final night in Sri Lanka was in Negombo which is just outside the booming skyscrapers of Colombo and right beside the airport. We took a long slow train there and it wasn’t nearly as crowded as expected. It was great to hang out the windows and rattled along the scenic coast line. Sri Lanka has been a great place for a family holiday, the people are all very friendly but not pushy and the laid back atmosphere is really nice. The mixture of stunning beaches, surf, ancient cultural sites and fabulous wildlife means there is always plenty to see and do. We also found out that lying on beaches for days on end is no longer as entertaining for us as it once was and we need to be a bit more active. I think we will be in for a bit of a shock when we land in Delhi and have to deal with the throngs of people, but like any of these things you just have to get on with it and take it all in your stride, be positive and learn from the new experiences. 

Through the Desert on a Truck with no Name

Not for the first time on this trip there was a marked difference between the people on either side of the border. Suddenly we were back to smiley happy people and we made a small fortune at the border as the Sudanese are desperate for US dollars. The official exchange rate is 6.7 Sudanese pound per 1USD and we got 17. The landscape quickly changed from steep rugged hills to fertile endless flat plains. We were all surprised at not only how green it was but we also saw more tractors (Massey Ferguson 185s) in the first 50km than the whole time in Ethiopia. Even better we were back to bush camping. As we pulled off the road to our spot situated near a watering hole with plenty of local livestock and large numbers of camels. We set up camp after a brief exchange of hand gestures with the nomadic camel herders who all seemed incredibly friendly. As too were the camels who browsed right beside our tents including some young ones who must have only been a couple of days old. We all expected them to move off once darkness fell but instead the men and boys laid out a sack each and using the camel saddles as a pillow slept beside us. We rose at the crack of dawn and after some more hand gesture conversations ended up with a pot of fresh camel milk and plenty of photos of us petting one of the tiny babies in exchange for some worn out shoes that had served their purpose for us but I'm sure will be well used by them. 

The landscape got hotter and drier as we lost more altitude. We met up again with our old friend the Blue Nile before hitting the bustling city of Khartoum. It was hot and stuffy in the city but much more modern and well kept than expected. There was plenty of traffic and we caused quite a scene when we came to a very low underpass. Blocking all the lanes we literally just snuck underneath by the skin of our teeth, we were close to having to get out and let some air out of the tyres. The rather infamous Blue Nile Sailing Club, home to Kitchener’s gun boat was our camp for the next two nights. 

We took a long slow walk (due to the heat) to the market and museum. We were not quite sure how we would be perceived by the locals but we were blown away by their friendliness and surprised at how open they were to us. The museum was in a rough looking building but despite this had a very good display of Nubian artefacts and explanations about the ancient Nile River Valley. It was a perfect introduction to what was in store for us. We also decided to walk down to the bridge where the bulging White and Blue Niles met in a churning muddy confluence. It was a hot rather sleepless night due to the humidity and the plenty of kids running around the grounds of the “club” enjoying a fizzy. 

We left early with the hope of sneaking under a couple of low bridges before the city was awake and succeeded in not only navigating to the outskirts of town but also stocking up supplies for the desert. Pee breaks had all but dried up as the desert heat increased to 45 degrees plus, though we did stop for a coffee with all the girls taking the opportunity to show off their newly purchased flowing dresses. Meroe was our destination with its numerous pyramids. We spotted them from the main road and pulled off into a dusty sand track and FINALLY got the truck stuck! Luckily it didn't involve too much digging and with the sand mats we were back onto the hard ground in no time, thankfully, as it was scorching hot. It was so hot that we all just sat parked outside the ruins reading and trying to keep cool and hydrated until the fierce afternoon heat subsided. By about 4pm with water soaked shirts we braved the elements and paid the $4 entrance fee. Avoiding the camel riding touts we walked through the very cool pyramids complete with there small chapels, steep angular sides and amazing inscriptions. A couple of them were in very good condition while others had crumbled a bit, we couldn't go down inside the burial chambers though. We camped just around the back of the dunes and just as everyone sat down to eat dinner a tremendous sandstorm hit us. We all thought it was just a passing whirlwind but after a couple of minutes started to rapidly pack away dinner stuff. All our tents were flattened and dinner ruined as we took shelter in the truck. Luckily we only had 10 of us as we were couped up inside for a couple of hours while the winds must have hit 100km plus an hour, in the end everyone slept on the truck as there was way too much sand in the tents.

It took us a good couple of hours in the morning to try and extract the sand and dust, thankfully we could run the air hose off the truck and blow most of the nooks and crannies clean... the only saving grace of the dust storm was it had caused huge dust clouds to regulate the heat just a little bit during the day. After driving through barren rocky deserts and the odd miserable looking date plantation we came to another ruin, Gebel Barkal, with a couple of good pyramids and some huge engraved pillars (with no guides available we unfortunately missed half the ruins). We drove out just in time and pulled off the road to find somewhere to camp, we quickly hit a big patch of soft sand and got stuck. So for the second time in as many days we had to get out the shovels and sand mats to extract ourselves.

  Thankfully there were no sandstorms that evening but the lingering dust made it stifling hot all night and we barely got any sleep. It was a rather grumpy crew who departed early for another day of heat which was easily in the late 40 degrees. We stocked up on supplies and found some good water from a spring (we went through 200 litres in 24 hours) before continuing through the barren desert, our only company was the exploding dead cows on the side of the road and a few very brave soles looking for gold. Luckily we found a good spot amongst date palms the next day and with access to the muddy brown Nile we threw all caution to the wind and had the amazing feeling of cooling water being thrown over us by buckets. Chances are we already have bilharzia (snail larvae from Malawi) but we are probably more than likely to have the pesky wee snail in us now, though we have the medication to sort it out once we depart the continent. Once the fierce heat had subsided a bit we all piled into a small boat and ferried across the river to the ruins of Soleb. It consisted of huge engraved pillars that had withstood the test of time and bore witness to many other travellers with graffiti dating back to the early 1800s. The evening light made for pleasant exploring and photos and thankfully the proximity to the river provided some relief from the heat and we all had a much better sleep than the night before.

It was a leisurely start to the day as we only had about 380km left to the border. Scenery, it was more of the same, hot straight roads with the odd rocky out crop. Any hint of an approaching settlement was given away by fluttering plastic bags caught on every little bush and plastic bottles in all the wee depressions. We made good time and by lunch we were at the border. Due to the lengthy process of crossing the border and need of a local to assist we spent the afternoon down by Lake Nasser cooling off and doing the dreaded truck clean. We had to pull all the leftover food from the lockers and remove piles of built up dust and the odd bit of glitter from a long ago truck party and scrub down all the kitchen area. We had a large contingent of local kids who were supposed to be filling the water tanks their donkeys had brought down, but instead had stopped and gawked at all the girls in their shorts. It was sadly our last bush camp and final night of cooking on an open fire as due to the crash in Egyptian tourism and lack of facilities we were in hotels for the remaining 10 days. Sautéed camel meat with fried potatoes, salad and garlic bread went down a treat and so too did the popcorn afterwards that we shared with the two dozen kids.

Now the dreaded border, the Egyptian authorities are not the friendliest or easiest people to deal with and we were prepared for a full truck search including an airport style X-ray of all our personal baggage. We arrived at the border just before 8:30am and had to wait in the rising heat for it to open, luckily we bet a couple of big buses and after an hour or so we were safely cleared out of Sudan by the ever friendly officials. We drove a short distance to the Egyptian gate and were promptly stopped by many men with lots of guns. We had to have our temperatures taken to prove we weren't sick and fill in some paper work. Then at the baggage scanner they decided that they would try confiscate all our pocket knives as they are weapons. With much arguing we got most of them back though a couple of people lost their ceremonial Somali daggers. Next we just had to wait, and wait and wait. Eventually after about 4 hours and with new number plates we were free to leave without any official stepping on board. So much for a full truck search and the effort we went to hiding a big box of booze for the much anticipated felucca birthday party. 

We spent the night in Abu Simbel and after washing down our tents we were spoilt with not only a cold beer but also a 3 course meal under the stars. It was a welcome change from the sandy desert and we all laughed about having completed the overlanding part of the trip, now it was just a week of holidays! Up early at 5:30 though really 6:30 due to time zone change we had a 5 min drive to the amazing temples of Abu Simbel. How they relocated and reconstructed these temples block by 3 tonne block up 100ms due to the high Aswan dam I don't know. The four huge carved statues of Ramses were impressive but nothing could prepare you for the inside which was so well decorated and still showed signs of paint. There were three large halls with the very back one having 4 seated gods, 3 of which, including Ramses himself, are illuminated twice a year by the rising sun, once on Ramses birthday and the other on his coronation, he must have been one very switched on bloke, though who knows what possessed him to have 68 wives. His favourite wife has a slightly smaller though equally well decorated and preserved temple, beside his. Our early start meant we had beaten the crowds though they now only receive around 1500 people a day in peak season down from 6 or 7 thousand before the Arab Spring uprising so we headed back to our hotel for a treat of a breakfast complete with butter, cheese and yoghurt, some of the first dairy we had eaten in months. 

The drive to Aswan was hot and blustery but we made it in good time which allowed us enough time to catch the sunset from a small boat with a cold beer in our hand. The dams had taken all the silt out of the water column so the Nile appeared clear and cool and ever so tempting. After doing a few bombs off the boat roof  we went for a traditional Nubian dinner in a family home. It was a great feed served within the inner courtyard which even had sand as carpet. We got up early and took a small boat to the island where the Philae temple had been cut into something like 45000 blocks moved to it's current position. It used to be periodically flooded after the British built the small dam before being moved upon completion of the high dam. The inscriptions were well preserved in a couple of rooms which had been covered in sand while other inscriptions had been defaced. There was engravings from Napoleon, compass directions to Paris, a memorial to the British camel regiment and many Coptic crosses as one room had been used as a Christian chapel. 

Birthday day. With some good planning we were off for a night floating down the Nile in a felucca. Nick had smuggled a tomato sauce box full of liquor from Uganda to make sure everyone had a good time. The felucca had a big flat platform covered in mattresses with a nice shady roof and once the ice turned up we were into the punch. The river provided some welcome relief from the heat and climbing the mast made jumping a little more exciting. We stopped on a nice sandy beach where we had a special delivery of more alcohol and a very nice birthday cake. With sore heads we piled overboard for a refreshing dip the next day before breakfast and a bouncy ride to Luxor.

Luxor city is tourist central, or was, and it was pretty well set up with some nice old buildings and dirt cheap hotels. As I may have said earlier our Overland trip was over and we were now on holiday! We had a massive room with a nice pool and awesome rooftop restaurant complete with three course meals and table cloths! After a little group consultation it was decided that it would be an early start with a big itinerary of tombs and temples. We managed to beat almost all of the small crowds and visited three tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Nothing could really prepare you for the experience. These tombs are 3000 years old and most of them look like they were painted yesterday with the most intricately carved details and hieroglyphics, despite a lot of looking we couldn't find a single mistake. The biggest tomb we went to was over a hundred meters underground and had numerous huge granite coffins which again were all so well decorated. 

Next on our busy tour was the famous Queen Hatshepsut temple which was huge, three stories tall with massive carved pillars and elaborate drawings of the gods. She was a bit of a rebel and wasn't really allowed to be queen and she kinda ruled on behalf of her very young step son and had some elaborate temples dedicated to her, her step son when he finally took over the rein after her death quickly set about defacing anything that had her name on it and removed her name from any inscription. Valley of the queens was next and although the tombs were not as big in scale the drawings were equally well done with very well preserved paintings and colours. A real highlight was the workers tombs which were only recently discovered. The workers were treated like royalty and paid very well for their efforts. They were given all their food, drink and housing and when they had days off they built their own tombs. Although they were tiny the paintings were mental with the most amazing depictions of village scenes and gods and I would love to know how to read hieroglyphics. We had worked up a fair hunger and the English had heard about an old English pub with a Sunday roast so we headed there and were slightly disappointed as it was fairly run down though the fish and chips were not too shabby. The pool provided a welcome afternoon respite from the ever present heat and when you thought we couldn't cram anything else in we headed off to Karnak temple for an evening sound and light show. This is the biggest temple in Egypt with ginormous pillars and massive archways. The lights were a bit tacky but it meant that your attention was only occupied on the illuminated parts as apposed to all the vast intricate hieroglyphics. The light show was so good and the temple so grand that we decided to head back there the next day. Before that however we had a ridiculously early start. At 4:10am our alarms rang out and we sleepily stumbled into a minivan and headed out of town to a paddock full of half blown up hot air balloons. In the half light we quickly piled into a basket with a dozen others a lifted off. It was such a cool experience to just float effortlessly over all these huge ancient ruins. We witnessed the sunrise with about 20 other balloons and it was a really relaxing way to spend a morning and we were thankful for terrible Arab spring which made all the activities so cheap. 

All of us snuck quietly away after breakfast and caught up on a couple of hours of much needed sleep. Before we knew it it was roast chicken and salad for lunch and a hot walk down the 3km long avenue lined with sphinxes every metre leading from Luxor temple to Karnak temple, which has only recently been discovered and excavated. Back at Karnak temple for a second time was equally as impressive as the first. This temple was added to over the centuries by various famous Pharos, each one adding their own grand parts and unique designs. In the daylight we could see huge walls covered in carved and painted scenes of battles and royal offerings. Once you left the main area the tourist numbers died down and we were free to enjoy the scale and hieroglyphics by ourselves (well I mean we still had the ever present drink seller, security guard come guide and official guide lurking in the shadows). There was plenty of huge blocks all neatly laid out awaiting their turn to be relocated back into their original homes. This process of restoration must at times be exceedingly slow and tedious but when you get it right incredibly satisfying. Our mad mate Pistol had finally given in to the most persistent horse and cart driver, who are everywhere in Luxor, so we hitched a ride with him back to the Nile where the wee ferry took us across to our hotel for another top notch feed.

Our second to last drive day involved departing the river Nile as we headed through the mountains to the Red Sea. It was a scenic drive though once we hit the coast the strong persistent trade winds buffeted us as we passed through some rather obscene seaside resorts. We stayed in Hurghada for two nights and to be honest with you it was a complete dump. There are thousands of half built concrete shells and the other half have seen better days. We tried to head to the beach for a swim but found that any resort that was open wouldn't let non guests in and any “public” looking place didn't like our non Muslim appearance and refused us entry. Eventually we found a derelict site and managed to avoid the rubble to get our feet wet. Thankfully diving was incredibly cheap so the next day we all piled onto a huge boat that we thought we had to ourselves until 25 Russians turned up as headed to an offshore reef. It was good to get back underwater and although not the most amazing reef we've ever been to there was still some good coral pinnacles and schools of brightly coloured fish. A highlight was seeing a couple of octopus which changed colour and shape for us as we approached. 

Time was just about up on this four month trip of a lifetime and our tour leader had arranged a celebratory dinner (plus it was Suzanne's birthday). We hopped in a taxi and went down to the marina which was a well kept upmarket affair and had a very good dinner. Most of us gambled a little bit and ordered steaks which I think must have been imported as they were so good and didn't have the usual tough rubbery texture that you normally get in Africa as the cows are used to plot the fields and tow carts. After a long day in the sun, a couple of beers, big feed and nice birthday cake there wasn't much partying done. We were also saving that for tomorrow, our last drive day of the trip. It was an early start as we had nearly 500km to go to Cairo and we weren't sure what traffic would be like. Again it was a hot windy day and with the good road it felt like we were sitting in a blast furnace. As we made our way up the coast past countless terrible coastal developments (they have ruined the very thing tourists come for) mostly half finished we discovered we had blown a seal in the rear dif, after a quick temporary patch up job we rumbled slowly on until at one police check point (which are everywhere in Egypt) we heard a huge crash and looked forward to see a truck carrying plastic water pipes had rolled right in front of us. Luckily we were not a few seconds faster or we could have been flattened and the driver walked away unharmed though I'm sure he will be asking his boss about checking brakes more regularly in the future. It was time to crack open the chillybin and drink the last remaining booze on the truck. The music got turned up and we all were in high spirits racing along chaotic motorways and into the second biggest city in Africa. With the booze running through our veins we created quite a scene hanging out the windows with people waving and taking photos of us as we willing replied. We even had people leaning out of car windows taking selfies of us while trying to drive. 

It was with mixed emotions as we parked outside our hotel and disembarked for the last time. In all we had driven 20 854km from Cape Town to Cairo through 13 countries over 128 days. I would like to be able to write about how tough and wild it was but in all honesty it was fairly straightforward. Sure we had to battle the odd day in the desert and some early starts and long days of driving and there were days when you would resent all the pee stops and certain people would get on your nerves. But all of this was part of the adventure, Africa is amazing. The media and aid organisations have something to answer for, the mass portrayal of a continent starving, ravaged by war, corruption, rebel gangs and deadly diseases does not do the real people justice. Sure there are isolated episodes of these but we saw little of this, we didn't get sick, have anything stolen, were welcomed by nearly everyone and would happily return to Africa at any stage and if the truck turned around tomorrow and headed south we would quickly jump back on and return to our seats. 

We topped off the trip with a tour around the huge pyramids of Giza and the sphinx and it was a shock to see so many other tourists. Lucy jumped on a camel to reenact a couple of black and white photos that her father had taken 30 odd years before, while Nick ably took over from the camel herder and led Sinbad the camel and even got him to kneel down with only a wee groan to allow Lucy to disembark, perhaps the life as a Bedouin camel herder awaits in another life. After the magnificent pyramids we had a quick infomercial for papyrus paper painting which were very well done but didn't really fit into our nomadic life so we headed off to the national museum. Situated in a grand old building built at the turn of the 19 century it was literally bursting at the seams with artefacts. The whole top floor was dedicated to king Tuts stuff and man what a collection. When his tomb was found it had in the vicinity of 2200 pieces including his gold encrusted throne, wooden chariots, model boats, crowns and most amazingly three huge golden tombs which stacked inside each other like Russian dolls, then came his two solid gold sarcophaguses, huge golden mask and masses of jewellery. He only ruled for less than 10 years so you can only imagine how much Ramses the second amassed in his rein which lasted until his death aged 94! 

A massive thank you has to go to Walter our driver who safely got us here in one piece while always being cheerful. It would take a little time to get him telling stories but once he started he had us all in stitches with the most amazing euphemisms. His extra insights into African culture was also invaluable and a few of his daily quotes will stay with us for ever! “You have no Idea”, “a banana a day keeps the doctor hungry” and “I love overlanding”. Thanks also to Geoff our tour guide who put up with our constant questions and kept us all in line right to the end. And lastly to the characters who signed up to the crazy idea of driving from Cape to Cairo some of you will be remembered fondly (you know who you are)  while others will fade into the past.