Overland from Zürich to Adelaide 2018

Legend

Train
Bus
Driving
Hiking
Boat
Taxi
Hitchhiking
Horse
Plane

Adelaide, Australia ‐ Nov 22, 2018

225.4 km

We made it!!!!
Napperby

612 km
Coober Pedy ‐ Nov 21, 2018

479.1 km
Erldunda ‐ Nov 20, 2018

267.8 km
Uluru (Ayers Rock) ‐ Nov 19, 2018

454 km
Alice Springs ‐ Nov 17, 2018

598.9 km
Banka Banka Station ‐ Nov 16, 2018

606.7 km
Edith Falls Road ‐ Nov 15, 2018

283.4 km
Darwin ‐ Nov 7, 2018

3 352.3 km
Singapore, Singapore ‐ Nov 2, 2018

684.8 km
George Town, Malaysia

5.5 km
Butterworth ‐ Nov 1, 2018

643.8 km
Chumphon, Thailand

84.7 km
Ko Tao ‐ Oct 28, 2018

84.7 km

A few days tasting tropical island life, 100% chilled!! Koh Tao is a little Island famous for diving and we did see a baby shark and two turtles whilst snorkelling over beautiful reefs (sadly sometimes also lots of plastic in the ocean).
Chumphon

388.1 km

Another night train, south to the islands!
Bangkok ‐ Oct 26, 2018

667.1 km

Overnight train to Bangkok, and my gosh night trains in Thailand are luxurious! Bangkok big city hectic fun.
Chiang Mai ‐ Oct 19, 2018

291.2 km

In Thailand we feel like our journey has switched from 'travelling' to 'holidays'. Mangos, markets, temples, shopping, jungle, elephants, remote villages and bamboo rafting.

+24

Chiangmai and the jungle
Ban Houayxay, Laos

136.5 km

Day 2 on the Mekong, arriving at the Thai border by evening. River boat has definitely been our most peaceful form of transport so far!

+12

On the Mekong to Thailand
Pak Beng ‐ Oct 18, 2018

159 km

Day 1 on the legendary Mekong River slow boat, watching the jungle slip by.
Luang Prabang ‐ Oct 11, 2018

838 km

Arriving in tropical Laos was like landing in paradise, especially after spending 24 hours on a mechanically faulty Chinese sleeper bus. We absolutely loved the charming town of Luang Prabang and it's luscious surrounds.

+32
Kunming, China ‐ Oct 8, 2018

879.9 km

Heading south!
Chongqing

127.7 km

back through the biggest city in the world, but not tempted to stop because of the thick fog
Shanchacun ‐ Oct 3, 2018

125.5 km

There is so much to see in China but after going to a few major attraction areas we really wanted to get a bit 'behind the scenes' and experience rural life. So we found ourselves in some incredibly wild, jungley, misty mountains helping a local guy with his eco house and garden, learning about all the wild nuts and berries, eating bamboo shoots every way you can imagine, building and weaving with bamboo, enjoying days going at a slower pace after 2 months of travel.

+21

Woofing near Jinfo Mountain "Golden Buddha Mountain"
Chongqing

305.5 km

Speed train to Chongqing on the way to Jinfu "Golden Buddha" Mountain area...
Chengdu ‐ Oct 2, 2018

188.3 km

Much indecision about where to go next, as the biggest week of holidays in China is not when you want to be travelling...

+19

Chengdu and the Giant Pandas
Liujiang ‐ Oct 1, 2018

92 km

Liujiang ist ein Touristendorf, in welchem noch alte chinesische Häuser stehen. Trotz chinesischen Ferien, konnten wir die Atmosphäre bei einem Tee geniessen. Wir selber haben in einem Bauernhof ausserhalb übernachtet und konnten so auch die wunderbare Natur erleben.
Leshan ‐ Sep 29, 2018

144.4 km

Leshan, famous for the giant (70m high) Buddha carved into the cliff to calm the confluence of three rivers.

+20

Leshan and Liujian
Chengdu ‐ Sep 25, 2018

708.3 km

In Chengdu we discovered so many nice local pockets and so much greenery that we didn't really notice it being one of the biggest megacities. Highlights were the pandas, the amazing Sichaun food, hidden markets, making hot pot, finding peaceful monasteries and the most entertaining people watching in peoples park.
Huashan ‐ Sep 24, 2018

121.7 km

The "Most Precipitous Mountain Under Heaven" really was one of the most beautiful places we've ever been, and the swirling clouds made the stunning landscape, disappearing staircases and hidden temples all the more mysterious. Pure magic!

+22

Huashan 'The Most Precipitous Mountain Under Heaven'
Xi'an ‐ Sep 22, 2018

575 km

We took a super impressive high speed train to Xian. Highlights of Xian were the delicious night markets, the beautiful lit up architecture at night and seeing the awe inspiring terracotta army. Definitely feels like we're in China now!

+20

Xian
Lanzhou

1 469.6 km

A painfully cramped and smoky overnight train. But it was still amazing to go through so many different landscapes and enter a totally new area of the world!
Turpan ‐ Sep 20, 2018

172.5 km

Here we found beautiful mud-brick oasis towns full of silk route history, shaded by grape vines and huge mulberry trees. This lusciousness in the desert if fed by ancient irrigation tunnels which bring water from the distant mountains. Beautiful culture, people and food, but we again experienced the ridiculous security situation seemingly aimed at repressing the Uyghur people.

+29

Far western China
Wulumuqi ‐ Sep 17, 2018

644.3 km

The overnight train to Urumqi started quietly with beautiful views over fertile plains to the dry TienShan Mountains. It soon became raucous when our drunk cabin mate joined the journey, his English repertoire consisting of "I lub youuu!'. Everyone, especially the conductor, wanted selfies with us (with Tobias' beard!) and Vanessa inadvertently ate a pickled chickens foot thinking it was going to be a lolly! After Tobias being showered with unwanted goodnight kisses from drunk cabin mate, we sle [...]
pt the last few hours to Urumqi. We could have skipped Urumqi itself. Extremely heavy controlling police presence on literally every corner. Passport checks for ridiculous things like entering a park or post office, or 6 times entering the railway station.
Khorgas/Huoerguosi

37.7 km

The border crossing to China took a couple of hours - Tobias had to convince them that he really is the guy on the passport and the level of security everywhere was unbelievable (also fingerprints on entry), but in the end was easier than we'd expected. Arriving in China we were invited to lunch by a lovely Kazakh guy we'd met on the bus, who also dropped us at the train station - a brand new, high security complex.
Zharkent, Kazakhstan ‐ Sep 16, 2018

178.9 km

It took us half the day and 6 rides to hitchhike almost to the Chinese border. Highlight being the lift with some sort of road works tractor.. a very bumpy but entertaining 5km!
Scharyn Canyon ‐ Sep 15, 2018

87.9 km

Very successfully first attempt at hitchhiking - from the 7 vehicles we saw, 5 stopped and took us as far as they could. Great way to meet some locals! End destination - the incredible Scharyn Canyon where we camped one night. Plans to hike along and out of the canyon over a couple of days were thwarted by the fact that it was a raging river with cliffs on each side..

+24

Scharyn Canyon, Kazakhstan
Sati ‐ Sep 13, 2018

267.3 km

Back on the road - to the Sati region where the mountains meet the steppe. Dry and expansive but with huge glacier fed rivers and beautiful lakes tucked into the foothills. We stayed with our taxi drivers family and were treated to a fishing trip and local delicies (whole sheep head, horse fat and meat stuffed into intestines..actually delicious!).

+20

Kaindy Lake and surrounds, Kazakhstan
Almaty ‐ Sep 8, 2018

461.8 km

We spent almost a week in Almaty, having a chilled out time, eating delicious food, enjoying the start of autumn and recovering from travel and colds. Almaty is a really green city with the snow capped Tien Shan mountains towering above!

+15

Almaty, Kazakhstan
Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan ‐ Sep 5, 2018

53 km

Horse games at the Hippodrome of Cholpon Ata, on the north shore of Issyk Kul lake.

+32

World Nomad Games, Kyrgyzstan
World Nomad Games ‐ Sep 3, 2018

109.1 km

We were incredibly lucky that the World Nomad Games coincided with our time in Kyrgyzstan, an amazing festival of nomadic culture and sport. Crazy sports like polo with decapitated goat, eagle luring, horse acrobatics and wrestling (on and off horse)... The local people were incredibly friendly, spoiling us with their delicious goodies, inviting us into cozy, colorful yurts and dancing with us like crazy into the night!
Karakol ‐ Sep 1, 2018

+15

Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Ala Kol pass return ‐ Aug 31, 2018

18.6 km

Amazing hike up to Ala Kul pass (3920m) in perfect conditions after a little overnight snowfall, to look over Takyr Tor glacier, the beautiful Alu Kol lake and some speccy mountains!
Altyn-Arashan ‐ Aug 30, 2018

18.5 km

Hike up to a beautiful alpine alley, natural hot springs on the way.

+20

Karakol mountains, Kyrgyzstan
Karakol ‐ Aug 29, 2018

116.8 km
Kadzhi Beach ‐ Aug 28, 2018

13.6 km
Above Bokonbayvo ‐ Aug 27, 2018

16.1 km

+23

Wandering around the south side of Issyk Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan
Bokonbayvo ‐ Aug 26, 2018

147 km

Got lucky with the shared taxis and made it to somewhere on the south shore of Issyk Kul Lake. An evening walk to find a guest house - dusty streets but surprisingly abundant gardens. Open irrigation channels run everywhere, water coming down from the freshly snow capped mountains which we can see. Roadside apricots and kids popping up everywhere to yell 'hello' at us foreigners.
Kochkor

99.2 km

After a morning soaking up the incredible atmosphere around Song Kul Lake, we got 4WD back down to Kochkor through some incredible landscape - rugged rocky slopes and luscious green valleys with little mud brick farms where hay was being prepared for the winter. I wanted to get out and explore more!
Song Kol Lake camp ‐ Aug 25, 2018

16.6 km

Day two of the horse trek, over a 3250m pass where we finally saw our destination Song Kol Lake. A beautiful expansive place! Many scattered yurt camps and everyone getting about on horse back to tend to the flocks of sheep, cattle, horses and yaks.

+22

Song Kol Lake horse trek, Kyrgyzstan
Kilemche Yurt Camp ‐ Aug 24, 2018

15.6 km

The first day of hour horse trek to Song Kol Lake, with our teenage guide Beksultan, our very tolerant horses, and Ann and Andrew who we teamed up with. Rugged and rocky, and then into the beautiful Chaar Archa canyon where things started getting more lush. Overnight at a local alpine farm and yurt camp, in a surreally peaceful landscape which we will never forget.
Kyzart Pass

55 km

Drive out to meet our horses and guide.
Kochkor ‐ Aug 23, 2018

191.6 km

Nach hektischen Diskussionen und Missverständnissen, mit den Taxifahrern, haben wir uns für eine Marshrutka (Minibus) entschieden. Haben wir einen ersten Eindruck von der bergigen Landschaft erhalten.
Bishkek ‐ Aug 22, 2018

525.1 km

Finally seeing the scenery becoming more mountainous on our way into Kyrgyzstan from Shymkent. Successfully deflected the attempts of our train conductor to bribe us. We'll be spending the next three weeks exploring the mountains and meadows and yurt camps of Kyrgyzstan.

Zug Shymkent nach Bishkek

Am Bahnhof haben wir noch einige Kleinigkeiten für die Reise eingekauft. Die Lady hat uns aber massiv abgezockt wir zahlten 4250 Tenge (16.- CHF), nur wenig mehr hat unsere Unterkunft gekostet. Danac...
Shymkent, Kazakhstan ‐ Aug 20, 2018

163.3 km

After a peaceful morning enjoying the Mausolem again, we jumped in a van to Shymkent. Crammed in the back seat with a slightly crazy fella, communicating through charades and drawings (think he was drunk or crazy but it's hard to tell with the language barrier..), being kind of thankful that our driver went at breakneck speed because at least it made the journey quicker.. then once in Shymkent we jumped on another bus with no idea if it was actually going where we wanted.. after half an hour lat [...]
er decided it didn't so we got off and tried the next one.. which did more or less. Crazy hectic, smoky city, dust storm, rain storm and then finally found peace again on the grapevine decked balcony of our hostel :)
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

7.3 km

We decided to make a stop in Turkestan, to break up the journey to Kyrgyzstan and because we'd heard about this beautiful silk road site. It was even better than expected. One of the most beautiful structures I've seen. It's so great to finally be here on the ground! And today we realised that this our first travel outside of Europe/Aus/NZ (sheltered little livevs!).

+12

Turkistan - a beautiful silk road site in Kazakhstan
Turkistan

2 007.5 km

An intense journey across the Kazakhstan steppe, it would be hard to cram more impressions and experiences into 40 hours.. and all without hardly leaving our beds! The sights passing by our window, the villages we passed and the crazy world which was our train carriage. An introduction to the total isolation of not being able to communicate and wondering what the hell are we doing here, and the introduction to the incredibly hospitable and friendly Kazakhstani people. Broad smiles have become a [...]
more common sight since leaving Russia!

+9

Kazakhstan steppe by train
Samara, Russia ‐ Aug 17, 2018

1 050.1 km

We made friends and learnt a bit of Russian on the night train from Moscow to Samara, with the help of a bottle of vodka and some Russian children's books. We just have 6 hours in Samara (hopefully a quick swim in the Volga River) before the rather daunting 40 hour train to the middle of nowhere in the Kazakhstan desert.. Fingers crossed for more nice cabin mates!

+10

Moscow to Samara
Moskau ‐ Aug 13, 2018

907.2 km

Here begins the real journey, with a 3rd class sleeper train from Riga to Moscow (surprisingly luxurious!), our first attempts at making our selves understood in Russian and immersing ourselves in some history... Moscow is just the most impressive city!

+32

Magnificent Moscow

Moskau / Moscow

Nach der Ankunft in Moskau mit dem Nachtzug von Riga, waren wir sehr glücklich, dass wir vor einigen Jahren bereits St. Petersburg besucht haben. Dieser Umstand und auch die Fussballweltmeisterschaft...
Riga, Latvia ‐ Aug 12, 2018

55.9 km

Latvia: 2018 World Orienteering Champs, hanging out in some peaceful countryside and eating the best pickles from Riga's huge markets!

+22

Latvia
Sigulda ‐ Aug 10, 2018

21.5 km
Līgatne

8.6 km

Ende der Wanderung, Weiterreise wieder mit Bus und ...
bei Drabesi parish ‐ Aug 9, 2018

30.4 km

Übernachtung auf einem freien Camping, nach einem langen Fussmarsch (40km?)
bei Vaidavas pagasts ‐ Aug 8, 2018

20.2 km

Übernachtung in freier Wildbahn.
Wolmar

72.8 km

Train Incukalns to Valmiera (Wolmar) for some hiking!

Wandern Lettland / Valmiera - Ligatne

In Sigulda (Lettland) habe ich mich entschieden, die schöne Natur beim Wandern zu geniessen. Der Fluss Gauja und der gleichnamige Nationalpark haben mich jedoch mehr gereizt um etwas ehrgeiziges zu ma...
Inčukalns ‐ Aug 7, 2018

20.5 km

To where Vanessa and the Australian Team stayed.
Sigulda ‐ Aug 6, 2018

55.7 km

Sigulda: home of the 2018 World Orienteering Championships!
Riga ‐ Aug 5, 2018

After getting off the ship at 1am, Tobias then got the 4am bus to Riga to meet Vanessa.
Liepāja

713.2 km

27 hours on the ship from Germany to Latvia!
Travemunde, Germany ‐ Aug 2, 2018

311.3 km

Tobias continues on to Travemunde while Vanessa fies to Riga to prepare for the World Champs.
Berlin ‐ Jul 30, 2018

897.7 km

Our first night train of the journey, with Austrian rail OBB Nightjet, and our first time in Berlin!

+4
Basel, Switzerland ‐ Jul 29, 2018

90.2 km

A few hours stop in Basel for one last picnic and swim with Jas and Louis, before getting on the night train to Berlin.

+12

Switzerland, we will miss you!
Zürich HB

43.2 km

The last time on our old commute train to Zurich.
Siebnen-Wangen, Switzerland ‐ Jul 29, 2018

Nachtzug Siebnen-Wangen nach Berlin

Der Abschied von unseren Freunden und meiner Familie fiel uns schwer. Es war ein super Gefühl, dass uns so viele Glück für unsere Reise wünschten. In Basel machten wir einen kleinen Zwischenstopp,

Singapore, Singapore ‐ Aug 20, 2018

Final stop in our Overland journey, visiting Claire! From here we plan to fly to Darwin (wanting to minimise flying, but in this case the most sensible option) before continuing overland down to Adelaide.