Egypt

From Aqaba, Jordan we caught a SLOW ferry across the gulf of Aqaba to Nuweiba, Egypt.
We stayed 3 nights in Dahab and spent our time snorkeling in the red sea and checking out the sea life We even saw a Baracuda just before we hurried out of the water.

As usual it was sheesha in the evenings.

We then travelled inland to Saint Katherine which is where Mt Sinai is. We hiked up in the HOT afternoon sun. At the summit we had an amazingly beautiful sunset all to ourselves.

Our sleeping arrangements. This became really creepy once the sun had gone. However we were positioned perfectly to watch the sun rise without even getting out of our sleeping bags.

A sleepy Jarrod loving the sunrise over the Sinai desert.

We made it to Cairo and explored the Giza Pyramids by camelback. No pictures can ever do the Pyramids justice - they are absolutely amazing!!!

Walking like egyptians while the Sphinx looks on.

We travelled down to Aswan and hired felucca captained by 'Cabten Ramadan' to sail up the River Nile towards Luxor. When darkness fell C. Ramadan fixed us a delicious potato and rice meal and we slept soundly on the boat. A very relaxing time after all the chaos we've endured.

Jordan

We left Israel and into Jordan. We had already spent a couple of nights in Amman on our way to Jerusalem, so it was nice to be back somewhere we knew. Went from Amman to the Dead Sea and Petra. Both were amazing in completely different ways.

Floating in the Dead Sea... so, so weird.

We went from the Dead Sea to Petra which is a whole city carved into rock. Another one of the 7 wonders knocked off the list, Indian Jones has even been here.

The Siq leading into the city...... a really cool build up.

The Treasury... completely amazing.

After a 45 minute uphill hike in insane heat, we arrived at this Monastery. It is huge.

Up even higher.... the view down to the monastery.

Israel

After 5 hours at the Israeli border... we arrived in Jerusalem. Stayed next to the Damascus gate to the old city so we were really close to where everything happened. We found this city incredibly fascinating with all the religions all mashed together in such close quarters. Even saw a bit of conflict on our first day which made it all the more real.

Here are some fired up Jews protesting against a carpark that was opening on the sabbath. Although it doesn't look like it here... we saw them diving on cars, lying in front of cars and fighting with the police and the army. We were up on the hill with the Muslims and Jewish watchers who were cheering for the appropriate side.

The Western wall.... underneath a mosque. Strange.

Walking through the maze that is the old city.

In Hezekiah's tunnel. 2700 years old and really cool. It brought water from outside the city walls to within.... they started chiselling from opposite ends and somehow met in the middle.

Up the Mount of Olives overlooking the city.


The garden tomb where the Protestants believe Jesus was buried.



We left Jerusalem and went up to the Sea of Galilee.... about to go and see where Peter lived.


We then headed to Tel Aviv for a bit of beach time. Really cool city and really warm water.

Syria

We travelled from Turkey into Syria…… It’s a lot grungier than Turkey but cool. The food is much better surprisingly. The highlight so far has been Palmyra and a ride through the desert in an old maroon 70’s Mercedes Benz.

Palmrya is out in the middle of the desert and is amazing. We first saw it at sunset and it was quite spectacular. The ruins are huge and really well preserved; it would have been a vast city in its hay-day. We nearly had our heads bitten off by a crazy camel-come-dragon, and Sam was charged by a lizard. Its very hot here….. 48 degrees the other day.

Aleppo's Citadel ...Castle on top of a hill

Joel sampling some of the delicious Syrian cuisine

Our personal taxi for the day

Logan and Sam getting into the local life

Somewhere in the middle of Palmyra's ruins

Cappadocia

Cappadocia was our next port of call and it was amazing. The area was made up of these bizarre rock formations which use to be used as houses. Everywhere you look there were holes in the rocks and cliff sides and it just went on forever. They even had an underground town as well. Bizarre but very cool.

Cappadocia's amazing rock formations/ruins

Inside one of the more modern rock houses

Hanging out of one of the proper houses

Randomly we found and old lady up a tree ...turns out she was collection boysenberries. Some of the most amazing boysenberries we have had too!

Ephesus

Ephesus was cool, a massive old ruined city with amazing history. Sat in the amphitheater where Paul gave his speech on paganism, loads of tourists…. Logan slipped down the stairs of the Library in front of them all.

Sam at the Amphitheater where Paul spoke

Inspecting the ruins

The never ending hoards of tourists we were competing with

Sam listening to the audio guide before reporting to the group

Gallipoli

We headed from here to Canakkale, across from the Gallipoli peninsula. We did a day tour around all the Gallipoli beaches and up to Chunik Bair which the Kiwis captured. It was pretty cool and you got a real sense of what went on… and how mad it all was. The Turkish have a real respect for New Zealanders as they say that it was a gentlemen’s war where the two sides actually really respected each other.

Anzac Cove

The New Zealand war memorial up the top at Chunik Bair

The Trojan horse....

The Begining

Hello, Kia Ora, Merhaba.

So we have started our long trip home in Turkey in Istanbul. We stayed in the old city in between the Blue mosque and the Aya Sofya, two of the major mosques of Istanbul. Lots of funny Turks, tourists and kebaps….a pretty cool city all round.

Sitting on a roof top having dinner overlooking Aya Sofya Mosque

Playing around between the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya Mosque

Turkish Ice Cream vendor repetitively playing tricks on Jarrod (who fell for the lot!)

Shisha with the locals in a really cool coffee shop



Inside the Blue Mosque