Gallipoli

This morning we were able to take part in a truly special experience: the dawn ANZAC service at Gallipoli in Turkey. It was awesome and humbling. The whole experience was a real time of unity - Australians, New Zealanders and Turks joining together to remember April 25, 1915.

Our tour bus was unfortunately late arriving, which meant that when we arrived at 7pm the night before we weren't able to sit on the luxurious comfort of the grass, but were instead confined to the plastic chairs in the grandstand for the next 13 hours. We settled into our position, alongside 7,000 friends. At 8pm the first addresses started, and for the rest of the night, from 8pm to 5am, they had an amazing display of Gallipoli interviews, documentaries, footage and witness accounts showing on the big screens. It meant we got a chance to understand not only what had happened, but the wider significance of the battle and the sacrifice that the soldiers made.

If you have ever tried sleeping on a grandstand, you will realise that.... well, you can't. Plastic seats are not conducive to a good rest! We divided our sleeping arrangements, with some of us on the seats watching the show and some sleeping on the metal steps below the seats. Jess managed to get some intermittent sleep, but I ended up staying awake till just after the Dawn Parade before crashing spectacularly. We were worried about the cold - we'd had all sorts of warnings that it would be freezing, but thankfully we didn't find it too bad. Of course to give you some perspective, when I say it "wasn't too bad" I was wearing a singlet, three t-shirts, two hoodies, a jacket, a sleeping bag inner, a sleeping bag and two beanies. I was pleasantly toasty.

In the morning after the dawn service we went to the Australian memorial service. Julia Gillard was there and spoke really well... It would've been cool to see Johnny there too but we'll let his absence slide this time! We then trekked a very hot and steep 3.5km up to the NZ memorial service. It was hard work, but obviously nothing compared to what the NZ soldiers had to go through. We walked past trenches that were still dug out of the hills, and imagining the soldiers living in these ditches for 9 months gave us a bit of perspective on our night sleeping on plastic seats!

All in all, it was a very cool experience - we'd recommend you make the journey yourself if you haven't already! The whole event had such an amazing atmosphere. We joke around a lot about this Australia and New Zealand rivalry, but it truly felt like people left all pettiness at the door. And the Turkish soldiers were great - they asked us to have some photos with them, and were handing out water to all the visitors whilst we were hiking between the memorial sites. It was a humbling experience to remember those who had fought before us and for us. Lest we forget.

The Gallipoli setup

Notice Cam is in a plastic bag. Just one more attempt at keeping warm!

So very sad - this one touched us both

As the dawn service began they lit up the sea where the troops would have landed

Innovative sleeping

Quote from Ataturk - the Turkish commander at Gallipoli and later the first President.

Night time bike rides and a Turkish marriage offer.....

Fırst of all, may I start wıth an apology. I am typınjg on a Turkısh keyboard and ıt ıs CRAZY. There are no dots on the letter ı and there are lots of these kınd of thıngs: şçö. Thıs ıs not a flagrant dısregard for correct grammar.

So we are gardners/step builders no more. Check the photo out- each sıde of the steps used to be weed ınfested, but Jessıe saw to that. And check those steps out! I dıd the top 3. Arguably the best 3. Oh, dıd you guys not know? In France ıtş fashıonable to have steps of slıghtly dıfferent angles and sızes. I feel a new career path comıng on.



The last nıght we had at the place ın Normandy coıncıded wıth Jessıes bırthday and the arrıval of a French Ska band ın the local pub. So went wıth Edward and Fannıe- our two new frıends ın Normandy and cycled to the pub. In a hılarıous turn of events we cycled home at 11.30pm. The bad news was there were no street lıghts. The worse news stıll was that only one of our 4 bıkes had lıghts. Basıcally we trıed to rıde ın a tıght formatıon wıth Edward lıghtıng the way from the back. Scary, unpredıctable and hıghly enjoyable.*



From Normandy we had a nıght ın London. We managed to squeeze ın some cool tıme wıth our frıend Sarah and a pub quız and hearty Englısh pub food. Good tımes!

We are now ın Istanbul wıth our two good frıends Kırsten and Cam. We went to the Grand Bazaar for some good old fashıoned hagglıng. Jess brough some new Ray Bans sunnıes. She bargaıned them down lıke a boss, and judgıng by the fact that she got them for ten dollars, they are almost certaınly authentıc. She almost got some shoes too, but we decıded to leave the shop at the poınt when the store owner became more ınterested ın purchasıng her than buyıng shoes.

Just fınıshed a great dınner. Ill leave you wıth a great conversatıon Cam had wıth the waıter:

Cam: (Poınts at menu) Whats the soup of the day?
Waıter: What do you want?
Cam: Tomato?
Waıter: Its good, ıts tomato!

Packet soup arrıves mınutes later.

Off to Galıpollı tomorrow, well blog agaın ın a few days!

* A note to our mothers: The 9km rıde home dıd not feature a sıngle car on the road. It wasnt that dangerous!

Gardens and Birthdays

Bonjourrrr peoples! Jess here.

So the next leg of our trip has taken on a rather earthy vibe! We're currently in a little village called Longueville-sur-Scie in Normandy (in the north of France) working as gardeners. Ha! Gardening is not my natural passion or skill...but I'm sufficiently amused at the novelty of weeding to enjoy the process.

We're here because of a posting through the company Workaways (http://www.workaway.info/), which lets people advertise for travellers to work at their home in exchange for providing food and accommodation. Our host is Frances, an artist from the UK who works with ceramics. For anyone interested, check out her website here. She has a massive property with huge garden to match, so employs various travellers to pull out weeds, build flowerbeds, construct steps etc etc. For the last few days Chris has been building some steps to replace a muddy footpath, which is fantastically amusing from a spectators point of view. As a physio he obviously doesn't get many step-building opportunities, so spends a lot of time looking at the step, digging the step, talking about the step and feeling frustrated about the step. It's genuinely funny to watch.

Our host Frances used to own a restaurant so cooks AMAZING food. And have you heard the saying 'hunger is the best spice'? That has never felt more true to me! I'm realising that I'm not often truly hungry these days...but a morning in the garden works up a serious appetite! Sorry to those who read this and have been gardening for years - I have new respect for you!

Ok my times up, but let me summarise by saying that we are having a GREAT time in Longueville and I'm so glad we made the effort to get here! I know Chris wants to write something too, so handing over to him now... :)

What a great birthday it has been! We had our hours in the garden - I made my steps while Jess showed the weeds who was boss. Then we went to the pub to have a celebratory birthday drink. I say ‘went to the pub’ quite casually, but it was an effort. The pub is 9km away. The only transport available was a bicycle.

So we cycled away; it was a very pleasant ride. Jess saw some donkeys and was rather excited as they appeared to talk to her (Side note from Jess: have you ever seen a donkey bray at the top of its lungs for nothing but the joy of it?? I laughed.). We parked our bikes outside the pub and then in the ultimate act of service the barman actually opened the door and welcomed us inside. The barman is a Moroccan who used to be a professional rugby player - playing in Auckland and for Saracens in England. It was great to have a beer, chat rugby and have some good Dire Straits playing in the background. Dad would have loved it! The barman even gifted us a second drink each, just lovely.

After having two very nice French beers, it was a bit of a letdown to see that the rear tire on my bike had a puncture and was now flat. Unfortunately with no French, no pump and no spare tire I had no option! It was going to be a tough 9km home with one very hardworking tyre! Our route home was probably undulating at best, but having air in one tyre only…. It felt like a gruelling ride through the French Alps! I really worked the hills hard to surge ahead of Jess. She would invariably pass me on the downhills/flats whilst not pedalling whatsoever. Talk about demoralising.

Anyway, we got home just fine. We were treated to yet another lovely French dinner to round off a great birthday. Jess’ birthday is tomorrow so should be another good day!

Chris

Rollin' like a boss

Flat tire = regular stops to enjoy the view

A Marathon Effort

Let me say to begin with: Paris gets cold. Really cold. As I left our apartment on marathon morning it was a mere 6 degrees, and I was looking ridiculous. I hadn’t organised a bag for the official baggage transfer, so I was wearing my running gear, a hugely oversized white plastic poncho for warmth, and a Paris Marathon-branded bandana tube that could be used to warm the neck or rob a bank to equal effect.  As a side note, I have another three of these bandana things; if you’re robbing a bank anytime soon, let me know.

The race started near the Arc de Triomphe on Champs de Elysees. What a beautiful place to run! Off we went: me and 43,000 others. The atmosphere during the run was just electric, with thousands and thousands of Parisians shouting, singing and playing music along the way. There were lots of local French bands playing their music, electronic DJs and a slightly bizarre man dressed in a joker suit yelling out some Lady Gaga.

My aim was to finish in 3 hours 20 mins, but I thought that anything under 3.30 would be pretty good. The only other time I had done a marathon had taken 3 hours 57 mins, so I was keen to take a good chunk off this. The first 20 kilometres were extremely enjoyable - no pain, no discomfort and great sights everywhere. Over the next 17kms the pain started setting in but I got a great lift at the 35km mark from seeing Jess cheering for me and simultaneously being given 3 cubes of sugar! Terrible for my teeth but GREAT for my energy levels! The last 4km were really hard work; I knew I was close but there were lots of people stopping to stretch or to have a rest. It looked so tempting, but thought if I stopped I would probably never start again! I managed to do what felt like a lightning fast last kilometre to finish in 3.20.51. Absolutely stoked!!

Unfortunately, finding Jess afterwards was a bit of a nightmare! We don’t have cellphones to contact each other, and the marathon organisers had decided not to have any signs for the “meeting area” that had been discussed in the pre-marathon guide. Our backup option was for both of us to take the train home separately...but I had dropped my train ticket at kilometre 3. I HAD to find her! After 40 long and very cold minutes searching through literally tens of thousands of people, we finally found each other. I told her that I’d never been so happy to see her. On came the beanie, the extra layers of clothes and a greatly deserved chicken kebab. And then a hot chocolate. And then a chicken wrap and chips. And then tiramisu. I slept absolutely amazingly that night; the only slight problem was needing help to get out of bed the next morning.

A word of post-marathon advice: walking down two flights of stairs carrying a 23kg backpack to exacerbate my excruciating leg pain is not to be recommended. I guess I’ll just consider it to be my reminder of a great achievement!

In full flight

Struggling to stand...but atleast I have a medal!

 

Please don't judge us for this post...

..but McDonalds in France is amazing! I mean, check the logo out! Green background = must be healthy.


After the logo woos you inside, all of your French-speaking anxieties are literally left at the door because you can place your entire order at a machine that speaks your language. Genius. And just when you think it couldn't get any cooler, they have a fusion of two of humanities greatest ideas: "Kitkat McFlurry". Finally, a friendly staff member smiled at us and wished us "au revoir" as we left the building. Well played Macca's, well played indeed.*


On the subject of impressive buildings, we went to see Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley on the way up to Paris. And let's be honest: we're in France, there's old buildings everywhere. But this place was epic! Apparently it was built for King Francois in the 16th century as a hunting lodge. I don't know how many hunting lodges you've been to, but 440 rooms seems a tad excessive? It was just amazing - incredible detail everywhere, huge size and surrounded by the largest fenced forest in the world (to satisfy all your hunting needs).


The most incredible design of this château is the spiral staircases. Think DNA Helix. So you have two separate spiral staircases that basically twist around each other to the top of the building. Because of the design, you can walk upstairs at the same time as another person, see them through gaps along the way, but never be in the same place at the same time. No doubt ideal for impressing a Queen or chasing rogue Knights, but finding your wife again in 2012 after she says "Meet you at the top"? Near impossible.



In other news, we've made it back to Paris now. Slightly less stressful then our last encounter; read 'slightly'. Google maps let us down which led to an awkward situation where I diverted traffic in a fluorescent yellow vest while Jess masterfully reversed around the corner of a bizzare motorway off-ramp. We consider it personal growth.


*McDonald's didn't pay us to say this. Seriously.

Chateau de Chambord- impressive front entrance!

At the bottom of the DNA staircase loop

Jess practising her royal wave. Loyal subjects needed. 

"Builder, copy this design please"

No animals were harmed in the creation of this corridor. Ok, slight lie.

Jess got told off by the chateau staff about 3 seconds after this was taken.

A decidedly effective fort

Today we decided to venture one village/beach around from where we were staying to a town called Collioure. The most striking thing you notice about this town is a rather large fort it has on top of the hill overlooking the town. While Jess was quite excited to spend the afternoon reading in a cafe, I thought I would try and climb my way to the fort.

Unfortunately, there is only one direction sign to the fort. It should read "Fort this way, good luck". The path (a generous description at times) leads through private properties, vineyards and across a very exposed hilltop. It was a good hour-long trek, but very isolated. Just me and some French flies that had a strong tendency for gripping onto leg hairs.

Anyway, the complete lack of signposts meant the purpose of the fort remains entirely unknown. I suspect it may have been to ward off the invading Spanish army (the Spanish border is only about 15km away). However, the fort is also alarmingly good at warding off intrigued New Zealand tourists. There was not a thing to see. Large concrete walls. Large door. No signs. At least there were some incredible views!

The fort from a distance

The view from the fort

Looking out over beautiful Collioure

Carcassonne: Fun with autowash. Oh and our wedding anniversary.

Today marks two years of being married! Wahoo! To celebrate we went to visit Carcassonne- a legitimately cool medieval town in the south of France. The cathedral there was built in the 6th century, while most of the remainder of the town was built in the 13th century:  a.k.a. super olden timey. It was so cool walking down the alleyways and onto the tower walls imagining what might have happened all those hundreds of years ago. 


Fun fact: everything is old and stone, but the toilets are those modern mechanical ones with the electronic door. Traumatising highlight of the day for me was entering said toilet, hearing the door close and lock behind me, then having the bathroom do an autowash all over my feet. It was cold and gross. But let's look at the positives of the situation: my shoes were canvas and dried quickly in the sun; the water was free of visible floaters; and can YOU say that you've had a medieval bathroom autowash experience? It's my new claim to fame!


Unfortunately I don't have photographic evidence of the autowash, but we snapped some other pics of the city.


Jess

We're not in New Zealand now...

Cathedral built in the 6th century. And yes, that is a shop selling Australia souvenirs behind me. Why wouldn't you buy a kangaroo road sign at an ancient French city? Totally logical.

Some stained glass action.

Connecting with the local barman

Vin! Beaucoup vin!

We have spent the last two nights staying in a gorgeous French town with a population of 2000 called Buxy. Despite our initial confidence, Jess and I have rather limited/non-existent French. On the first evening here, we went for a walk to the local pub, to try ordering in French.


"Bonjour. Un beer et un coca cola et des frites, si vous plait". Nailed it. 


We tried explaining to the barman that we were from New Zealand. The fact that he was wearing a New Zealand jersey, made this remarkably easier. We made this point mainly by pointing at his shirt and then our faces.


Then the conversation really stepped up to the next level. He said "New Zealand- animeux des frizzy"'. Jess and I looked blankly at each other for a few seconds, then had the revelation. "Sheep?" we asked, "Oui, oui, sheep", he replied.


We had totally just connected. Maybe you had to be there....

Buxy :)

Advice on how to make your start to France unneccesarily stressful:

1. Speak little to no French beyond "please", "thank you" and "a little dog". 
2. Arrive after a 13 hour flight at 6.30am to ensure limited sleep.
3. Leave wallet on plane. Don't realise until you have taken a train to the main terminal. Explain in broken French to Air France representative what has happened.
4. Whilst waiting for wallet to be found, break zipper on carry-on luggage.
5. Decide to drive 4 hours out of Paris in rush hour traffic.
6. Realise there is no room in budget to hire GPS. Hope poorly detailed France map will suffice along with advice from Hertz rental man who just might be the same person who plays Jim's Dad on American Pie.
7. Complete above in manual car (it's been a while).
8. Complete above in car with controls on the left - aka backwards. Remember to drive on right.
9. Accidentally stall on motorway off-ramp to keep adrenaline flowing.

Give all credit to God when we arrive!

Farewell Singapore!

We can honestly say that Singapore exceeded all our expectations. Anyone who talks about the city raves about the food and the shopping - and admittedly they are amazing, but there seemed to be so much more! We experienced a great combination of exploring, relaxing, big city life and being one with nature.

For us it was really the people who made Singapore great, and we had an amazing host in our friend Dave. One of the photos below is from the 33rd storey of his parents apartment - the view was simply incredible! We also had such a great time catching up with our bud Elliot as he did his best to try and double our body weight with all the Singaporean culinary delights. And praise Jesus this didn't include durian! It's crazy that you can buy dinner for $3 or $4 whilst a bag of carrots is $9; the culture is just asking you to dine out! Desserts were a highlight, ranging from the very authentic (see photo - an amazing combination of ice, coconut, beans and corn) to the not-so-authentic but equally awesome iced milos.

Hanging with the locals...literally

We have decided that we want to embrace local culture wherever we go,  and try and do what the locals do, wherever we can. So when the opportunity came up to attend a Singaporean yoga class, we jumped at it.

Zoe, who was a friend of David, who we are staying with here in Singapore, ran the class in her apartment/yoga studio. She explained that she would take us through a series of gentle stretches, which sounded just grand. After about an hour she giggled and said some words you never are too excited to hear from a yoga instructor; “Let’s try something quite different. Let’s hang upside down”. It turns out she wasn’t joking. She had ropes on the wall and she talked us through it and before long we were hanging. Hilarious and supposedly therapeutic. It turns out that the purple block below my head my have been Zoe’s subtle way of saying I wasn’t quite as good at hanging as Jess was!

We finished the class just before 10pm, then went for a delicious Singaporean meal: chicken rice, chilli flavoured sting ray and iced milo. All the essential food groups ticked off to end a great day!

Chris

It has begun!

Hello fine people! Welcome to our travel blog!

We’ve hopped on the ol’ blog train to share some photos and stay in touch with people while we travel over the next months. We promise to leave out those boring lists of the days events, what a snore! Aaaaand there may even be a picture of Chris with his shirt off at some point! Guess you’ll have to keep checking back just in case….

First up, we should clarify what we’re doing and where we’re going. We’re travelling for the next 230-odd days, spending time in Singapore, France, Turkey, USA, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. We are mostly doing it because we can, and…because we can. And because it’s fun. And because we like meeting strange people 

Our aims:

• See natural landscapes and impressive cityscapes at their finest.
• EAT GOOD FOOD. And eat a lot of it.
• Be a blessing to every person that we stay with.
• See a bear at Yellowstone National Park… Preferably from a safe distance.
• Practice safe food storage habits at Yellowstone. Refer to previous point.
• Run the Paris Marathon (That’s Chris. I (Jess) plan to use Chris’ marathon running time as ‘pastry eating time’.)
• Pick up some sort of mild gastro illness (ok this is less of an aim and more of a probability)

So check back every so often to stay in the loop! Believe me…you want to be in the loop.

Over and out!

Jess