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Australia to Europe
  • ElisaLola Rexelby
  • ElisaLola Rexelby

Australia to Europe

29th of April 2019 until 1st April 2023 Leia mais
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  • Inicio da viagem
    26 de abril de 2019
  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante

    Perth

    3 de maio de 2019, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    After a car repair in Jurien Bay, the coolant hose was blocked, I arrived in Perth. A major milestone on this journey: Lola is packed and ready for shipping to Vladivostok.
    I hired a campervan to transport me, Rexel and some boxes to Arman in NSWLeia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    My two boys!!

    Finally in Corrimal

    25 de maio de 2019, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Good to arrive here at Arman and Adriana's place!!!
    Getting ready for the big journey. My Russian Visa has arrived, now the Mongolian one needs to be applied for, and some other things sorted out.
    Rexby and Crackers are becoming friends and will be missing each other once we have left after 2 weeks.
    Livid Sydney was a very beautiful experience.
    Arman, I count on you travelling with me for a bit somewhere!!! I'll miss you all horribly!    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    Lucky boy scored himself a bone
    Main street Vlad.With my host Katja and her Blue Heeler, who unfortunately died in car accident a few days later.Dogs don't need to be cold in the Sibirian winter, waiting outside the shops.My Vladivostok home.

    Vladivostok

    2 de junho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ 🌫 16 °C

    Never leave anything in the plane to Beijing: after 57 phone calls to a variety of phone numbers I still haven't got my Kindle back. Frustration!!!

    At this time my Van was already delayed until the 8th, Rexelby would arrive on the 7th, so I had some time up my sleave to enjoy the City.Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante

    Hiking on Russky Island

    10 de junho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Katja took me and her other tenants, a Korean couple to Russky Island, a wonderfully wild and beautiful island with partially very steep coast line. Dense lush and green forests, beautiful wildflowers, I haven't seen since my childhood (you English speakers please excuse), Frauenschuh, Akelei, white poppies, wild Iris. We were picking leaves from Sauerampfer, stinging nettle, some special fern leaves and other plants for some soup and tea that Katja prepared for us whilst we explored the southern tip of the island.
    We even came across a fox.
    Paradise for Rexelby: so many foreign smells, has he never been in a forrest like this. This was dog heaven. He had happiness written all over his face. Wasn't too happy about a passing dog not appreciating his display of dominance so those two got in a bit of a kafuffle. Rex drew the short straw. Serves him right.    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    Now we are complete!What a sad sight! Or is it funny? My shredded air compressor hoseHe is happy to be back home.

    First night out of Vladivistok

    26 de junho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Finally! After a nearly 3 week delay, Lola has arrived yesterday!
    It was very late when I brought her home.
    To get the car into the container I had to let some air out of the tyres. After unloading, I wanted to pump up the tyres, but when unpacking the air compressor I found that the curled hose had totally disintegrated and fallen into lots of pieces. Waiting for help. Yuri, my Russian shipping agent and I had still some shipping business to finalise, so he brought along an air compressor. What would we Overlanders do without Yuri!
    After dinner with Yuri I drove home. As I wanted to get a head start for the next morning, I drove to the supermarket to stock up with all the stuff I still needed.
    The carpark is very narrow (oh we spoilt Aussies) so I took one corner too short and bumped into a super loved and polished old timer car. Got out of it with 200$US . Sounded like a good deal to me, but involved a lot of discussion, talking and waiting.
    And then the welcome Rexel gave to Lola! He was overjoyed, jumped onto his bed and did not want to come into the house with me.
    This morning, after packing up and sorting out the van it was time to say goodbye to my new found friends Katya and Vera. Katya has extra baked some apple and berry pies for me, Vera presented me with Vietnamese Coffee ( you should try it one day. Really yummy!), Russian chocolate and honey.
    Now I had to get a hose for this air compressor and fill up my gas bottle. After driving around Vladivostok for hours I did not succeed with any of it. I had to find different solutions.
    So I ended up buying a cheap compressor to make use of its hose and a gas cooker. In the process I got to close again to another car in an even tighter car park in China town, which this time resulted in no damage to the other car but to mine.
    Just a small dint, doesn't bother me, but my driving confidence is shaken by now. I only dinted two vehicles in my hole life and now 2x within 24 hours. What is going on??!!
    Finally at 4o'clock I'm headed out of town.
    Now , at around 5 Rexel is making himself known. He had been extremely patient with me so I drove off the highway to find a spot where I could take him for a walk.
    Once you leave the highway there are mainly really bad dirt roads. So I travel along this really horrible dirt road, when I, I kid you not, drive the left front wheel into a ditch, so it is air borne. Here I am stuck again! Can you believe this? For no reason! Thank goodness a truck comes along and to my rescue. He has really deserved some of Katja's apple pies!
    I took this as a sign to call it a day! I hadn't realised how stressed I must have been. Time to rest and have a good sleep. There will be a new start tomorrow!    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante

    Russian Hospitality

    28 de junho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Had I thought I could stay on a Russian camp ground unseen, I was dreaming.
    I was hardly there for 10 mins I was already involved in an argument about Rexelby on the beach (on leash he was) with children.
    This lady has immediately been identified by onlookers as hysteric and myself as tourist.
    From here on all my plans for an early evening were gone: I wanted to do some snoozing and cooking, both of which I achieved, however the cleaning, home improvement and reorganization plans went up in smoke.
    The Russian hospitality is well known: saying no is not really an option. So I had to more or less eat and drink myself through the camp, slowly getting closer and closer to my van and to drunkenness, taking presents with me: a bag of freshly harvested homegrown potatoes here, a huge cabbage and other vegetables there. Fresher they don’t come.
    Finally I reached home looking forward to my bed, when my Armenian neighbours, who had previously supplied me with a grilled pork chop and a drumstick, (very welcome, as I was sooo hungry) invited me over for more food and drink and some dance. When they told me they are celebrating the first child of the youngest member of the circle, I could not say no, the dancing was of course another incentive.
    In-between all of this, Rexelby and myself had to investigate the wolfish howling of many dogs coming down the hill. Rex could not resist and found his wolf voice, and yodelled together with the other huskies. These were howling on and off throughout the night, but Rexby thankfully resisted his urge to tune in with the “real” Huskies. As we found out this was a Husky farm, about 30 or more dogs, all different husky varieties, Alaskan, Siberian, Mallamute, mixed with wolf, from puppies to old ones. This was their summer camp; they were waiting for the winter to come so they could do some sled work in Kamtchatka. This is at least what I understood.    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    My wonderful helpers in Khabarovsk

    Home Maintenance

    29 de junho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Made some serious headway with my home improvements today.
    I struggled every morning with putting my bed together by pushing the big board onto the bench, creating the sitting area. Today when driving into Khabarovsk I saw some kind of timber sawing business, so I went and asked it they could halve the board, so that I have 2 pieces instead of one making it much easier to handle. Nice guys, did it all for free.
    I then found a shop where I bought a mirror for this horrible blind spot, which was the reason for the two dints I caused.
    And last but not least, I got my water filter primed which I hadn’t had time to so far, as I needed to change my cupboard so it fits into it as well.
    My next project are the lights above the sitting area. But that’s for another time.    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    Invaded by cattle
    Rex loves the grass!Hunting Chipmunks

    The Forest opens

    3 de julho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Nearly all my way from Vladivostok through to close to Ulan Ude, the gateway into Mongolia, you are driving through landscapes reminding me of the Bavarian Voralpen or the Black Forrest: mixed forest with a lot of pines and Birches, quite dark and dense at times, sometimes opening up to view the hills with meadows and more forest. Mighty rivers are crisscrossing the country, being a welcome change in scenery and providing nice camping spots.
    Needing to walk Rex I had to get out often and walk him through these dense forests. He was very exited of course, all these strange smells and sounds, however as everybody who read Rotkaeppchen or Red Riding Hood knows wolves are living there. Ok, Rotkaeppchen is no authority on Siberian fauna but to make things worse we have to add the bear. So I always felt a certain portion of unease, my ears tuned in to all the noises around me and my bear spray close at hand.
    I was very grateful that Rexelby refrained from hunting wolves and bears. He of course still had to hunt, however aimed more at a different species of game…. the chipmunk.
    And finally, after more than 3000km, the forest opened and made room for grassy hills and soft slopes.    Leia mais

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  • ElisaLola RexelbyAustralia to EuropeViajante
    1

    The Landscape Changes

    5 de julho de 2019, Rússia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    After nine days of travelling through forrests, finally the landscape opens. Wonderful views, glorious landscapes.
    Sometimes, to get some money, to stock up on groceries, I need to leave the road and venture into the next township. Once leaving the "highway" which in itself is a bumpy affair, the road worsens considerably. You have to pass huge potholes, drive across wonky bridges, once I had to travel through an airfield, not being used for at least 50years, hardly being able to drive from one concrete patch to the next. I dread those town visits, and feel so sorry for the people living in these extremely poor conditions in a country that praises itself as a world power.Leia mais

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