Diary: 1 - 30th September 

Click here for the photos.

Thursday 31^st August
Kerak

Tried to do some E-mailing today, but it was a complete waste of time, took me 30min just to get logged on. I left without having to pay and went to the post office to mail the disks instead.

Very tired, cold has knocked me back a bit, so I went back to the hotel for 40 winks.

Took a look around the castle and museum. Nothing special. A rabbit warren of  passages and a nice view from the top. The most interesting thing I found out about the place was that one of the castles previous owners (some Sultan) found great pleasure in throwing people over the edge. There’s a very steep and rugged cliff below the castle walls. He wasn’t content with this, and had wooden helmets made so that they wouldn’t be knocked unconscious before reaching the bottom. Sick puppy or what!

Met a nice French couple back at the hotel, and arranged to go out for a meal latter that evening.

My second battery didn’t appear to be charging, as the fridge wasn’t running. I plugged in a florescent light I had, and that appeared to work, so I thought there must be a problem with the fridge. I took it to pieces, but could find the fault. I checked the fuses and they were fine so I went to a garage to check out the battery. It was completely knackered. I bought a new one thinking I had solved the problem.

Met the French couple and went for a meal. Back to Hotel for tea and a chat.

Called Mike and Peggy. They’re in Aqaba looking into shipping. Arranged to meet them tomorrow.

Friday 1^st September
Kerak-Ma’an-Aqaba

Great drive to Aqaba down the Desert Highway. Had the wind behind me so made good progress! (Land rovers not the most aerodynamic vehicles and the roofrack doesn’t help, but with a tail wind it’s like putting a sail up)

Nice to be by the sea again, and now Africa is in sight across the water.

Met Mike and Peggy and went into town for lunch and an update. Mike’s fuming -  he had to pay an extra US$100 diesel tax at the Syrian Border. We waited 30min at the first restaurant before deciding it was too much so walked out. Found a great place which does chicken Tikka instead.

Quick E-Mail and back to camp site for a rest.

Mike put his hubble bubble pipe together and we passed away the evening playing pass the pigs and drinking rum and coke.

Going to check out shipping tomorrow

Saturday 2^nd September
Aqaba

Up at 7 o’clock to tidy up truck and have breakfast. Mike and Peggy slept in until 9o’clock, and then we went into Aqaba to check out some shipping costs.

The guy we spoke to at the first shipping agents was very helpful, so much in-fact that he told us we would be able to get a cheaper price from another shipping company.

He wasn’t wrong, and the other agent had ships going to Mombassa and Port Sudan once a week.

Shipping to Port Sudan is only fractionally cheaper than Mombassa, and if my friend is refused a Sudanese visa I’ll be stuck. So, I have reluctantly decided to ship to Mombassa. I’m not too happy about it. I’m sure it’s something I’ll regret, but I’ve considered all the options and this is the most sensible. Also the opportunity to share the shipping costs is not something I should pass by.

Peggy has a friend in the travel agency business she has E-Mailed to find out about flight costs from Cairo to Nairobi. Hope she comes up with some good deals.

Back at the campsite we discussed the options again with some of the overland truck drivers, and they all seem to agree that it’s the best choice.

Sunday 3^rd September
Aqaba

Just had a lazy day, reading and relaxing. Mike got the Hubble Bubble going again in the evening, and we had a fish meal at the campsite. This proved a bad choice for Peggy. She got a fish bone stuck in her palette and Mike had to take her into the hospital in Aqaba. The doctor at the hospital said he would have to cut her palette to remove the bone, and that it would be better to wait a day or two and see if it come out on its own. Hope it does, we’d planned to go to Wadi Rum tomorrow.

Mike has a battery charger, so we’ve connected it to my aux battery so we can run the fridge all night and have it cool ready for the morning.

Monday 4^th September
Aqaba

A mixed start to the day. Fish bone has come out, but I’ve broken my sunglasses and one of the crocodile clips came off the battery during the night, so now I have a completely flat battery and no fridge.

Into Aqaba for provisions, fuel etc and then off to Wadi Rum.

Having a bad day! We paid JD 5 to enter Wadi Rum, but then a policeman told us private vehicles were no longer permitted to enter. It was now a protected area and only authorized vehicles (guided jeep safaris) were allowed in. I thought this was just a scam to put money in the guides pockets, but the policeman was very understanding and told us he couldn’t stop us from driving the desert road from Wadi Rum to Aqaba.  We would need a guide to take us through the 10km’s of protected area. And for this little service the guides wanted JD35. No way!

We got our JD5 back and headed off in a loop around Jebel Rum to enter the desert via the “backdoor”. We both let our tyres down before going too far, but obviously not enough as Mike got stuck almost straight away. I towed him out and after letting the tyres down a bit more we had no further problems.

Wadi Rum has to be quite unique as far as deserts go. It’s not just mile after mile of sand. The huge rock formations and constantly changing sand colors provide a completely different scene around every corner.

We camped up for the night in a small canyon, had a few beers and a BBQ.

The absence of any artificial light for miles around made the night sky a real spectacle. We spent 2-3 hours gazing at the heavens. Had to call it a day when I realized my neck had stiffened up!

The other thing about the desert is the silence. It’s very strange, quite deafening. I had to take my radio to bed with me as I couldn’t sleep without any background noise.

Tuesday 5^th September
Wadi Rum-Aqaba (Compressor day!)

I got up early to take some pictures as the sun rose. Mike and Peggy had their usual lie in.

After breakfast we set off to find the desert route to Aqaba. The GPS’s came in to their own now. We could go off exploring where ever our fancy took us and simply back track to our starting point. We had both marked our entry point to the desert yesterday, and if we could find the route to Aqaba we would have a good basis for future trips.

We came across a Bedouin guy on his camel, he looked splendid in his immaculate “Get Up”. I would love to know what brand of washing powder they use to get that “whiter than white” look. I’m convinced he was on his way back from Sketchleys (dry cleaners) in Aqaba. Would have taken a photo, but I got the impression he wasn’t the photogenic type and I didn’t want to cause a scene.

As we approached Aqaba the desert turned from sand to stone. We decided it was a good time to re-inflate the tyres. What a trauma that turned out to be. Our little compressors couldn’t cope with the heat. Mike’s started smoking and mine burned through a switch. I bypassed that which worked for 10 mins then it blew a fuse in the car. After 2.5 hours we called it a day and drove cautiously back to Aqaba.

We were stopped by a police checkpoint just outside town and invited for the usual cup of tea and some Arabic lessons. Still can’t say more than hello, goodbye and thank you, but that seems to be enough.

We went to Chilli House for lunch. Food was OK but portions a little lacking so Mike and I had seconds.

We scoured the town for some new compressors, but to no avail. One of the shop owners offered to sell us his own compressor, but it was exactly the same as mine. Not a good make!

I wanted to extend my visa, so a trip to the police station was in order. This turned out to be a good laugh. When they asked where I was from I replied “Scotland” mistake I should have said England or Britain. They had to phone head office to find out where Scotland was and confirm it was a part of Britain!

We had the usual conversation about football, they took great delight in barracking Mike about Holland’s performance in Euro 2000. All they said about England was “Micheal Owen, Good” so I got away lightly.

They were convinced Mike was a basketball player, as he’s well over six foot six.

Anyway, we got our extensions no problem, and for three months! Couldn’t see that happening in the UK without loads of questions about finances etc.

It was now too late to head back into the desert, so we went back to the campsite. Mike cleaned his car. I’m not doing Maggie until I get to Cape Town if I can help it.

Quiet night planning another trip into Wadi Rum.

 Wednesday 6^th September
Aqaba-Wadi Rum

Into Aqaba for more provision and off to Wadi Rum again. We went in from the south this time, going to backtrack our route from Monday / Tuesday. We came across a group of tourists on a Jeep safari. Their guides were not happy as the tourists were more interested in our trucks than theirs. They tried to tell us we’d get lost without a guide. Mike told them exactly where we where and where each track headed. This upset them even more!

We stumbled across them again later in the day, at what the guides had told the tourists was a secret spot. The tourists thought it was highly amusing, but the guides got them all together and tore off into the distance.

Found another small canyon to camp up for the night. More beer and BBQ!

Thursday 7^th September
Wadi Rum-Petra

We had buried the chicken bones from the BBQ, but obviously not deep enough. Something had attempted to dig them up during the night!

Breakfast and off again. Mike decided to try some dune driving, but unsuccessfully. I had to tow him out again.

When we got back to the main road Mike wanted to use the compressors again, but I persuaded him to drive a bit and look for a garage. Sure enough 200 metres up the road we found one. A lot less hassle and far quicker.

Arrived at Petra at 1.30pm went for lunch (Mansaf). It was revolting: boiled goat, rice and yogurt soup. I managed to put 50% of it away, don’t know how.

Camped at a hotel where I eventually sorted out my Aux battery The earth lead wasn’t connected. I think it had been disconnected when they dropped the gearbox out, and had overlooked it when putting it back in. Anyway problem sorted and I have a working fridge again.

Mike found a wall socket and plugged in all his appliances. And I can tell you that’s a lot. For those of you who have read “In search of Will Carling” he makes “The Dust Buster” look poorly equipped. He’s even got a TV and Vacuum cleaner!! OK, so he’s an electrical technician who like his toys, but this is too much. 
(Editors note: "In Search of Will Carling" is available on Amazon.co.uk - Click on the title to link to the book page)

Going to leave Petra for now and do it when my friend arrives from England. Off to the dead sea for a float instead.

Friday 8^th September
Petra-Kerak-Dead Sea

Up at 7.30 to clean the fridge, it pongs a bit from lack of use!

Checked E-Mail in Petra. Ollie and Sarah refused Iranian visa in Ankara. Sent them some info on shipping to Mombassa. Sounds like they’re also considering shipping to India from Aqaba. So sent them the address of the shipping agent in Aqaba.

Peggy got a reply from her friend as regards flights to Nairobi. (not cheap, over £450 + taxes). Will have to see if this is within my friends budget, if not I’ve got to find an alternative. Going to ask a friend to look into traveling with the cargo ship.

Took the king’s highway to Kerak and popped into see Hussien. (May want to try for that Sudanese visa after all). He was in Amman, will try again later.

Had lunch in town and drove down to the dead sea. (lowest point on earth, might as well make the most of it - I won’t be doing Everest). There are wonderful salt formations on the rocks, but I forgot to take my camera with me, so I broke a bit off! (naughty) don’t think it’ll take long to form again.

We camped the night at a GPS location recommended by Tim & Clare. 
(see website at www.overland.co.za/inspiration ). It was wonderful, but the flies and strong wind made for an unpleasant night. Mike found great delight in torching the flies “James Bond” style with a can of deodorant and a lighter!

Saturday 9^th September
Dead Sea-Amman-Aqaba

We drove up the coast to the dead sea rest house. They have showers here and the guide book says your skin will start to burn if you don’t wash the salts off after a dip. They’re right. You soon find any cuts and grazes when you get in. I got some in my eyes. Bloody sore! But the floating experience is wonderful. You’re so buoyant, that it’s impossible to swim. You just have to lie on your back and bob around.

After 2 hours we were turning “pruney” and getting peckish. Mike suggested that we go to Amman for KFC it was only and hour away, and diesel is cheap so why not!

Back at Safeways again. Had a bucket of chicken between the 3 of us! I did some E-Mailing while Mike and Peggy did some shopping. Mike bought a new horn for his car. If it’s any good,  I’ll get one when I come to pick my friend up. He’s flying to Amman now, the flights are cheap and I know he’ll love Wadi Rum.

Long dive back to Amman. Stopped to let engines cool a bit and a car transporter driver stopped to ask if everything was OK, any chance to make a few extra JD!

Saw lots of tanks being moved along the desert highway. They were all coming from Amman. Must have a listen to the world service tonight. May be something to do with Israeli peace talks!

Back at Aqaba camping again! A beer and bed

Sunday 10^th September
Aqaba

Bit of a nothing day really. Mike and Peggy moved their car half way through the night. The wind got so bad Mike feared for his tent. Good job mine stood the test as I slept right through it!

Spent most of the day updating the diary. Into town for a meal. Then back to the campsite for a lazy afternoon.

Monday 11^th September
Aqaba

I awoke having remembered something I read in the Lonely Planet about a passenger ferry from Suez to Port Sudan. This may be a cheap way of meeting up with the car! Phoned number for ferry given in the Lonely Planet. No luck ferry stopped running a year ago, Damn!

We had extended our visas for 3 months, but needed to get more car insurance for another month. (We are going to be in Jordan for quite a while. My friend (Billy) isn’t coming out until the beginning of October). I went into town to enquire about the Insurance, do some more E-Mailing and get my gas bottle filled up. Man at police station said we could get the car paperwork extended at the Saudi Border no problem.

Back into town at 4 o’clock to collect the gas bottle and have a meal - Chinese this time. (very nice) Spotted another GB Land Rover in town and left a note on the windscreen, asking to meet up tomorrow night.

Spent all evening planning a possible Sudan Route. It goes something like this:-

1 Billy arrives 4^th October

2 Apply for Sudan Visas

3 Show Billy the sights of Jordan

4 Collect Sudan Visas (if lucky!)

5 Ship cars

6 Ferry and Bus to Cairo

7 Apply for Ethiopian visas

8 Fly or get the train, boat etc to Khartoum (Train, boat option a third of the price of flights, but it’s going to be a long journey!)

 If any of us are refused Sudanese visas we have agreed we will ship to Mombassa. We did a timing plan and a critical path for the train/boat option, it’s possible, but tight. If the boat is late we may not get into Sudan before visas expire! Even so, flying to Khartoum is cheaper than Nairobi.

 Went to bed wondering what we’ve overlooked.

 Tuesday 12^th September
Aqaba

Fitted a louder horn which I bought in Aqaba. It sounds like a police siren, should make for a bit of fun!

Off to Saudi border to extend car paperwork. Very helpful, told us to return nearer the expiry date of current paperwork, as this would save us money.

Spotted another campsite near Saudi border. It’s better than the current one, 1 JD a night, cleaner toilets and showers and no overland trucks. (Getting a bit tired of the Trucks, they arrive late at night, and then it’s a race to see who can get drunk first.) Will move here tomorrow and see how it goes for a day or two.

Back in Aqaba we went to the Royal Jordanian office to check out flights. Cheaper than Peggy’s friend had quoted. £390 to Nairobi and £290 to Khartoum.

I went to have a look at Aqaba fort, and then the aquarium.

Rodger & Sally (the Brits in the other Land Rover) turned up as arranged and we spent the evening discussing routes, equipment etc. They have applied for Sudan visas already. They advised us that you don’t have to present you application in person, and that a photocopy of your passport is acceptable. Will get Billy to send necessary paperwork and apply for visas ASAP.

Wednesday 13^th September
Aqaba

I wanted to check my front brakes, but couldn’t get a couple of the wheel nuts off. Must have been over torqued by the garage in Damascus. Not Happy, they had done a great job of all the other work, (apart from the earth lead from the aux battery). This was just sloppy. Drove round to one of the many truck tyre places, and the owner had them off in a trice. (mind you he was a pocket sized Arnold Shwarzeneger). Glad I noticed it now, and not in the middle of Wadi Rum!

Back at the campsite, I checked all the other fixing to make sure I could undo them if need be!

Off down the coast to the Japanese gardens campsite. Grabbed a snorkel set and went straight in. (the aquarium visit had inspired me) Abdu, from the campsite went with us as our guide. (there’s only one way through the reef). It was fantastic. I could now see why the campsite was called the Japanese gardens, the coral shapes and colours were just like an oriental garden.

Had beef burgers for tea and went to bed early.

 Thursday 14^th September

 Breakfast and back into the sea again for some exploration of the coral reef. (Couldn’t believe we had spent almost 2 weeks in Aqaba without snorkeling.) Mike coached Peggy in the finer arts of snorkeling. She’s a bit unsure, I must admit it took me a while the first time I tried  it. The sound of your own breathing makes for an unnerving experience to start with, but the sight of a few brightly coloured fish and the coral soon takes your mind off it. I spent an hour or so practicing diving. Got quite good after a while. Once I was confident about clearing the snorkel after surfacing I was diving quite deep and for about a minute at a time. Mike and I ventured out beyond the reef and spotted a huge turtle. I dove down towards it and it moved off, circling us a few times before heading out to sea. It really was a wonderful sight. Gliding gracefully through the water.

The turtle sighting and other things had distracted us a little and we had to spend 20 mins searching for the route back through the coral. This was not good for Mike as he was having problems with his mask, and had to keep stopping to clear it.

Into Aqaba again! I had to fax a Sudan visa application to Billy, and we wanted to buy a cheap underwater camera for future snorkeling trips. Left Mike and Peggy searching for a barbers. (My comments about the length of his hair have got to him!)  I went of to check out prices for diving courses. I’ve got the bug, and we’re going to be here for a while, so why not? All the places I’ve looked at want 50JD a day for a 5 day course, that’s too much, but will keep looking.

Abdu invited us to join them for a Bedouin sing-song. They tried to get us to do some English and Dutch songs, but we tactfully encouraged them to stick to the Arab stuff. When this failed they tried to get us dancing, but we got away with just clapping along to the music. As some of you will know I’m not the most musical of people and I think Mike and Peggy were just as relieved as me when we managed to get away. I’m sure some people would have found it a wonderful experience, but it’s not my thing!

My back was a little red after 3.5 hours of snorkeling (yes Mum I put on sun cream). I got Peggy to put on some after-sun before I went to bed. Will wear a T-Shirt next time! Thankfully there was a strong wind again that night so I slept with the tent doors open.

 Friday 15^th September
Aqaba

Got up very late, 10 o’clock. What, with the wind and my back it had been a restless night. Mike and Peggy went off for a drive, but I wasn’t so keen, and really needed to update the diary.

Took some photos of Abdu and his Camel (Concorde). He was second in last years Wadi Rum Camel race. Unfortunately the races are only held in the winter, but the way things are going we may still be here! Also took a few shots of the campsite Musicians.

Back feeling a lot better now, but will keep slapping on the after-sun.