After

G - Reporting

So now back to alleged normal life! Just thought I'd take a moment and answer the most common questions I've been asked since returning, rather than write some monologue about how deep and meaningful the whole experience was.

It was an adventure, it was exciting and we enjoyed ourselves - done deal.

1 How was the trip?
Awesome* (is there another word to sum up a drive around the entire planet?)

2 What was the best country?
No real answer to this one but at a push I really enjoyed central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and Russia was pretty amazing and not forgetting Mongolia and Korea - see no real answer.

3. How far did you drive?
52,000 Km (32,300 Miles) (to which one person said "is that all"!!)

4.. How much did it cost?
More than I really want to think about but lets say safely north of $45,000 without the cost of the truck

5.What was the food like?
For the most part great, apart from Mongolia (not a big fan of greasy mutton) 

6 Do you speak Russian?
Very little but its amazing how far you can get with a smile, some hand gestures and the following Russian words - Yes, No, Please, Thank You, Hello, Goodbye, One, Two, Three, Beer! and the phrase "I don't speak Russian(Я не говорю по-русски)"

7 What was the scariest moment?
This is a three way toss up between crashing the truck in the Gobi desert, camping on the Afghanistan border and getting through Customs/Narcotics checks on the way into Uzbekistan.
Having said that every border was a pretty stressful experience - going to the states will be such a cake walk now.

8.Why did you do it?
Easy one - watched "Long way round" with Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor and thought we could do that and did! - just without the massive support team ;-)

9.Would you do it again
HELL YEAH!



*This is the original use of the word "Awesome" not the new - ie your $1 slice of pizza is not "awesome" its merely very good!

October 21st

G - Reporting

So last day proper of the journey the return to our start point in Vancouver!

The last couple weeks have been spent staying with friends and family while sorting out stuff for our return to "civilian" life :-)

Today's drive was a drive I've dome more times than I care to remember so there were no surprises. Its a pretty drive down through the mountains and we took the longer route down through the Fraser Canyon just for the hell of it as after all this the end of a 52,000km drive around the world so I think we can take our time on the last day.

We arrived in Vancouver at around 6pm to our temporary digs and a celebratory bottle of wine.

WOW WE REALLY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parked outside our old place where the plan was hatched.

Septeber 28th

B - reporting

We left the Super 8 in Williams Lake for the last day of the trip, with mixed feelings. Sad to end the trip, excited to see family, a new chapter now as we have to stop being Adventurers and start becoming Job Hunters.

It was a rather cloudy gloomy day, which did not help. However we arrived in Kamloops in time for lunch (Triple 0's, one of my guilty pleasures!) then had a brief explore of the town which I, am ashamed to say, despite driving past Kamloops about a million times we had never actually looked at. We were impressed, the old downtown area seems very pleasant.

Then headed to Armstrong and martinis.

September 27th

G - Reporting

Not much to report today other than a 600km run from Smithers to Williams Lake, a drive I've done on a previous occasion, so after breakfast in the motel it was just an all day drive to our motel followed by dinner in the casino next door.

September 26th

B - reporting

We woke to Environment Canada Rain Warnings! Which coupled with the entire town's power scheduled to be switched off at 8am prompted us to make an early start, rushing down to the cafe for large coffees while the lights were on.

We rushed to the gas station, unsure if the ATM would work after 8am, then headed out of town in the heavy rain. The glacier was not visible today, nor really the trees, river or mountains! It was not too bad though when we reached the junction to Highway 16, and we headed west and south to Smithers.

Smithers is a very pretty town, surrounded by mountains and seemingly full of hippies. Lots of nice cafes. We found a motel, the Storks Nest (very nice) and then wondered round town and had a long walk in the nearby forest.  We finished off the day with delicious food in Rob's Mediterranean Restaraunt, so while not a super-exciting day it was very pleasant. We are now pretty much just going for long driving days till we reach Armstrong, BC, where we will stay with family.

Passed this sign years ago and always wanted go north. Now done it and then some :-)

Smithers looking across the scenic Safeway parking lot towards the mountains!

September 25th

G - Reporting

So with the whole day at our disposal and Stuart's attractions fairly short we started with a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, before a quick look around town.

But the highlight of the day was to be Fish Creek with the hope of seeing bears and the Salmon Glacier, to get to them you have drive through America and this has to be the only border in north America where there is no border guards you just drive in very strange when you consider the rest of the borders.

Once across the border you find yourself in Hyder Alaska which is a tiny place with maybe 100 people living there and no real reason to stop we carried on to fish creek to see the bear which fish there for salmon sadly the salmon run was over so no bears, apart from the one that wandered out of the bush right in front of us as we were getting into the car - a process that I might add the presence of the bear speeded up considerably!

After that it was a 20km drive up a very small and step deep road with massive drop offs on one side to the look out for the glacier, a perilous trip that was well worth it as the glacier was spectacular.

We rounded the day off by a quick look at the nearby abandoned mines before retuning to Stewart for dinner at THE local restaurant.

As its at the end of a long spur off the Alaska Highway not sure how its "Mile 0"?

Surprise Bear

The amazing Salmon glacier

Abandoned mine workings

September 24th

B - reporting

Very very chilly this morning, one of those days you just do not want to get out of your sleeping bag. We decided to just pack up and have breakfast in Watson Lake, which while this meant no morning coffee it did mean we were able to leave quickly-ish. It seems to take us even longer than usual to pack up when it's cold. However we were soon toasty warm with the heater on, and we found a nice diner in Watson Lake.

It was a very sunny day, and we had a beautiful drive down the Stewart/Cassiar Highway, one of Canada's scenic routes. Very windy and narrow, over golden hills and along twinkling rivers. It was a long drive, early evening when we reached the turnoff to Stewart, on the Glacier Highway.

We were looking forward to seeing glaciers tomorrow, we had heard that the road from Stewart past Hyder went very close to a magnificent one, but we were delighted to discover that the road we were on passed close to a glacier! They are quite strange, just like huge tongues of ice blah-ing into the river. And surprisingly dirty, especially at the toe, though the turquiose blue ice colour is visible underneath.

Stewart is very much a working town, a base for many of the mining operations in northern BC. I really liked it. We stayed in the King Eddy hotel, a large busy old-school place with warm comfy rooms. We escaped the icy rain by having some beers and TV in our room.

Our 1st up close glacier!

September 23rd

G - Reporting

Woke to a very wet and misty day which made us thankful we got our sightseeing in the day before, the route out of town went up and over a pass and into an area of high alpine aptly called "moonscape" as it was very strange looking with lots of exposed rock and small twisted trees and right in the middle of it all the Canadian border post, can't be the nicest place to work in winter!

Back in Canada we stopped at the tiny town of Carcross which seems to completely rely on tourists coming in by the train from Skagway on day trips because there was really nothing else there, apart from just north of town a small but perfectly formed sandy desert complete with massive dunes, which looks really strange against the alpine back drop apparently it was the bed of lake formed in the last ice age.

Then it was really just covering ground heading towards Watson Lake, stopping about 50km south of town to camp for the night.

Misty pass crossing back into Canada

Carcross Desert.

September 22nd

B - reporting

After a delicious breakfast at our B&B and a nice chat with our host we set off to explore the town. It was a Ship Day, so everything which had been closed yesterday was open, and the town absolutely teeming with cruise ship passengers. There were about 5,000 visitors. Insane! It was such a contrast to yesterday's empty streets! Very strange to see, a ghost town come to life.

We headed north to the historic Grave Yard, where some of the Gold Rush dead lie. For such a tiny town, Skagway sure has a lot of graves - in 3 graveyards. It really gives one a sense of how many people chased their dreams though here, and of course how many didn't make it. There are tragic tales of avalanches as well as more dramatic deaths from shoot outs. The little town today making all its money from cruise ships survived it all.

We then went back into town (about a mile) after briefly getting lost when we tried to walk by the river. The railway station is right by the harbour, and we mingled with the crowds excursioning on the Yukon and White Pass Railroad, one of the world's Scenic Railroads. We will go on it, as soon as we win the lottery.

More wondering, a bit of souvenier shopping, and we had had enough of crowds so drove out to the abandoned gold rush town of Dyer, in the next valley across. There is not much left now, the forest taking it all back.

It was quite cloudy now, and a bit chilly, so we drove back to the B&B then walked out for dinner, first stopping in the ex-brothel the Red Onion for a couple of drinks. We dined at the Stowaway on fantastic salmon, then went back to yesterday's brew pub where seasonal workers were celebrating (and I mean CELEBRATING!) the end of their season. Fun!

The Y.W.P.R.R.

A 2 cruise Ship day so only about 5000 tourists. (they have 4 ship days!)

One of the pioneer Graveyards

The main drag.

Septmber 21st

G - Reporting

Ferry day today just a short hop up to Skagway but out 1st trip down a fjord and 1st time on the Alaska Marine Highway, so after grabbing coffin and a muffin and a sandwich for lunch in the very nice local coffee shop we made our way down to the terminal.

While we waiting we got chatting to an Australian couple in a Land Rover that we had glimpsed about a week before coming off the end of the Dempster but hadn't stopped, turns out they had been on the road for 4 years coming up from South America and going back to oz once a year for a month or two and had covered 290,000km - made our 50,000km seem short!

The trip down the fjord was nice and sunny and very pretty and before we knew it we were in Skagway, checking out hotel options we picked a B&B which was really nice and then headed out for a look around town and then down to the point at the far end of town that extends out into fjord where we spotted a whale and seals.

We finished the day with dinner and few beers in the local Brewpub.

Sailing down the Fjord (or canal as they are called here)

Looking back

Arriving in Skagway

September 20th

B - reporting

We set of for Alaska this morning. We'd travelled some of this road before, and autumn has really set in now. The deciduous leaves are golden, glorious. We had a coffee in tiny Haines Junction, which is basically a collection of motels surrounded by mountains, then went south west to the US border.

This may have been some of my favourite countryside. Massive high plains, rolling up to craggy snow-capped mountains under blue skies. Ever so slightly reminiscent of Mongolia, only less green, and fewer yaks.

The US border was quite a ways south, out of the plateau and back into trees. After the very easy crossing we drove down the Chilkat valley along the Chilkat river. It was like going back in time, as the trees became greener, and there were even late blooming flowers by the roadside. The trees were huge, now, this far south. It seemed so incredibly fertile after the rather bare plateaus of the north.

This valley is a Bald Eagle sanctuary, and depending on the time of year one can see thousands of the birds fishing for salmon. We saw a few, and also a (very distant*) bear. The river widened and deepened, the trees were even more massive and then we emerged at Haines, a fishing/tourist village on the Pacific coast.

Haines is an extremely pretty town, nestled between enormous mountains and the ocean. It is very much a working town, very small but with plenty of motels. They offer all manner of out-doorsy adventures. We found a motel and wondered round the town, past craft shops and cafes, down to the harbour where we were in time to see one of the Alaska cruise ships steaming down to Skagway.

Hungry now, we found the gorgeous Fireweed restaurant, which was fantastic. And very crowded, so we put our name down and had a glass of wine on the patio, overlooking the ocean. Then consumed pesto rolls in such quantity that we had to waddle back to our motel.

* he was a long way away, not aloof

Amazing skies leaving Haines Juction

Heading towards the US again

Haines Valley

September 19th

G - Reporting

Another cold start then again is there another type when you're camping in the Yukon in late September! but the cold spurred us on to pack and get the hell on the road ASAP so we could enjoy the simple pleasure that is a heater.

It was a quick 200 or so km into Whitehorse our destination for the day beyond that not too much to report, basically Tims (our 2nd home on the road) laundry and then a warm warm motel for the night  and some planing for the last week or two of our journey.

One thing we did do in Whitehorse was jet wash the mud off the truck

The total mud had to weigh over 100lb!

September 18th

B - reporting

It was a very chilly morning, and nature called before the sun was properly above the eastern hills so at least we saw a lovely sunrise as we glugged down coffee. The drive south continued to be stunning, especially as on our way north the weather had been a bit cloudy. We now properly saw the gorgeous Tombstone Park, in a river valley with mountains ranging behind it.

Closer to 'civilization' (tarmac) we left the tundra, driving through the stunted trees of the north.

We didn't see any wildlife, though it is Huntin' season so we saw many groups of ATV-ers with big honking guns. It was also the time when the Porcupine Herd of cariboo are expected to migrate past the highway, and while I would have loved to see such an enormous massing of cariboo I was quite relieved I didn't witness lots of hunts.

I read in one of the local papers that the bears on the Dempster Highway are the only animals who run TOWARDS the sound gunshots, as they have learned that gunshots = dead cariboo and apparently bears stealing carcasses are a common hazard for local hunters!

We reached the tarmac after lunch, filled up with gas then headed south. Most of the campsites and 'touristy' stops are closed for the season, which while we were not planning on gold panning would have loved some coffee and snacks! However we stopped to camp at Tatchun Creek, by a river, and while still chilly was a lot warmer than the night before!

Tombstone Park

September 17th

G - Reporting

So after a pretty basic breakfast at our cabin which stretched the term bed and breakfast to the limit, we drove into town for a few souvenirs of our most northern location of our travels, the selection was pretty slim so we made do with a bumper sticker and a few postcards and then it was time to head south after a quick splash of gas to make sure we could get to the next gas station at the truly eye watering price by Canadian standards of $1.80!

The run back down the Dempster was alas without wildlife but it was an easy drive and we good time in the sunny weather as I can only imagine what a slog it would be in winter with heavy snow and no daylight.

Reaching Eagle plain mid afternoon we filled up and pressed on for another 200km and camped the night at Engineers creek it was a little chilly but once we got a roaring fire going it was a pleasant night.

Heading back down "The Dempster" in the sun

Sunset at Engineers Creek