Beginning of the Mongol Rally 2015!

After a hungover train ride from London we meet Derek, our awesome car mechanic, at the Surrey station who then drove us to the car we’d be spending the next 6ish weeks in. Derek and his son Joe did an awesome job with the car. It was everything we had hoped for and more. Massive THANK YOU for their efforts!! After a few brief introductions with Derek’s family we split up, half of us to go get tools for the inevitable breakdowns and the other half to get tragic single-use festival tents for the many nights spent camping on the side of the road – at least they set themselves up with a pop. Again Derek and his brother Nigel were instrumental in helping as we didn’t have a clue on where to start looking for some of these items.

With a wave and a toot we left Surrey in search of the Goodwood motor circuit where we would meet all the other teams. We were flying our massive NZ flag and as soon as we had parked up at the circuit another team ran up to say hi. We quickly became known as the Kiwi team. The rest of the night we hung out with The Travelers of Catan < >(another kiwi team) along with other teams and listened to some funky gypsy dj playing Mongolia’s greatest hits while an Aussie got his junk out and tipped over the 10m long MONGOL RALLY sign before managing to get a team photo with it.

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We ran into a crash on the M23 where a five car pile up had blocked the highway a couple hundred metres in front of us. We made the most of it by unwrapping our 7 quid chairs and setting up camp in the middle of the motorway while chatting to the numerous locals that thought our car was nutty, and the team nuttier. < > To add to the annoyance, the ferry from Dover to Calais was delayed an hour and Burger King, one of two options, was sold out of everything except cheesy bites and nuggets!

The ferry ride consisted of gazing at white cliffs < > for some minutes and trying to figure out how to fit the European headlight adapter that we foolishly bought for 8 pounds. In the end it was too much for our fried brains so we just left in the packet where it still remains. Sorry European drivers!!

Landing in Calias we had to quickly figure out how to drive on the other side of the road. No dramas there. We also had to get used to having a higher vehicle after a high five with a low underground car park warning sign. Luckily the car won the fight. We made a brief stop in Bruges purely for coffee, saw a few sights. Nice town.

If we can make any comment on Belgium it’s that their road signs are confusing. Antwerp was confusing at best. Navigating the highways attempting to bypass the city was our first major navigation test – which we failed of course. After 30min of going around in circles we finally found the obscure sign pointing us in the right direction and moved on – think of a New Zealand suburb street sign directing the road to SH1. We landed in Amsterdam at 2:30am and found ourselves a hostel still bustling away. In our favour it is a city that lives and breaths all day every day.

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Waking up in Amsterdam is like the first ever trip to space. You don’t know what’s in store, what to expect, or what to prepare for, but you can be damn sure it’ll be eventful.

We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hostel on the first night. Much better than our shitbox sauna in London – a public restroom even gives you more space to throw your limbs around. We made the most of our time there and caught up on some sleep. Then we hooned into the District… Oh man. What a place.

It’d be rude not to try everything (“when in Rome”) so we went straight into the first coffee shop and purchased four ‘space cakes’. We knew what they were – we weren’t born yesterday. 11am, first cake down, better get a beer. A few beers down, lunchtime. Better go see a live show! You could see the disappointment on their parents’ faces. Weirdest entertainment we’ve ever seen, you have to go. By the time we had left it was somehow dark outside. The red lights were luminous; we’ll have to cut this story short, details may be better served face to face than sown here.

We were getting some interesting glances from people while walking down the street, more than your usual tourist. Then an English-speaking couple stopped us laughing and pointing before explaining that the word Mongo in Dutch is slang for moron. We were all wearing our matching deep green ‘Mongol Rally’ t-shirts. What a laugh!

That night we camped at a loose as camp site on an island. There were no allotted spaces, just find a spot and go for gold. Still waiting for a dry camping night, it rained, again, and the load of washing that we had hung out the previous day was now wet, again. Cool. Wham it in the boot and drive! Next destination: Leuven.

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After leaving Amsterdam we had a very brief and uneventful drive to Leuven where Simon’s brother, Julian, is based. It was amazing timing as it was his bday as well as being Belgium Day. He and his flatmates put us up for the night – GC’s. Here we proceeded to do the only thing you can do it Belgium – drink the many beers on offer. We went to a pub which had a cellar with 2000 beers, one just had to point at a beer on the menu and a bottle of it would come up on a conveyor belt – brilliant. Here we attracted the attention of a bunch of Belgian army officers who were interested in our travel plans, particularly the countries in the middle east. After a few “you’re crazy” remarks we managed to source out the best beer from them.
We tried some frittes (double fried fries) which is another thing Belgium does well and played some pool to cap off another awesome day.

After a lovely sleep away from our 25 quid tents, stretched out in Julz’s bedroom (the living room), we jumped in the blue beast and left Leuven in search of the Nurburgring. We travelled through Bastogne where we the Battle of the Bulge happened (WW2) and got to check out a Sherman Tank in the town square. We blitzed through Luxembourg to get some cheap petrol before passing over the German border. The in-flight entertainment changed from looking at the scenery to watching cars blitzing past at speeds 3 times faster than what we were traveling. Got to love the Autobahn!

After taking our touristy photos at the race course stadium of the Nurburgring we headed out to a car hire shop and seated ourselves each in a Renault Clio sport – left hand drive and manual. With a short and sweet safety briefing and a cold 10000 euro ( more than the entire trips cost each ) excess on the insurance the cars were taken out onto the track. The 21km public toll road goes by quick when cars are screaming past you at unreal speeds around unreal corners. Traction control saved us the excess every second corner.

With smiles still plastered to our faces we handed the cars back and got our own engine warmed up as we drove to the track entrance. Denied once, we removed the tires from our roof rack. Denied a second time, we undid Derek’s hard work and removed the jerry can stuck to the side of the car. With 1min left open we lined up to the track and were denied a third and final time. Didn’t make any friends with the officials but plenty of the motorheads were enjoying the show.

Less smiley now, but still in good spirits, we packed up and headed in search of Zurich making sure to buy a frankfurter from Frankfurt on the way. Short story short, we ended up in a Zurich park passing out in our seats at 4am.

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Zurich consisted of 3 hours of hellish sleep in a car under a “no parking” sign where paranoia got the better of us. The only positive to come out of the morning was taking a swim in a 25 degree lake.
We made out way through the picturesque valleys to Lichtenstein to find a cool looking castle, before skipping through Austria to make our way to Munich to have a beer, meats, and a massive pretzel for lunch at the famous Hoffbrau house. < > We met some cool Brazilian Austrians, one of which had spent some time as a soldier in the middle east. He thought we were batty.
Once we sobered up a little we headed off to the Czech republic border aiming for Prague to finish the day.

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Czech republic is a neat place. Driving over the border you can see a change in landscape so instant when driving hundreds of kilometres a day. It is a destination for East Germans. Casinos and strip clubs were in the most remote and random towns near the border. It was here that things got noticeably cheaper, beers were $1. Consequently we kept stopping at petrol stations to purchase beers. It’s no wonder we arrived very late in Prague. Upon arrival we found an awesome camp ground about 5km from the city centre. Complete with cafe and bar this place was awesome. They were very welcoming even at the late hour we arrived at. We spent a day looking around Prague and sampling the many pilsener beers on offer. We went wrong when we hired a 4 person pedal boat and went out on the river. Scotty’s phone ended up somewhere in the murky depths along with all his hard earned Tinder matches. Rough.

Naturally after a hard day of touristy shit we needed some beers. We decided to drink back at the camp site where we met some interesting characters. It was here we met Phil and his partner. He was only too happy to join us in sinking beers and chat up the chicks/ruin a good wing man attempt. The next morning we were greeted with chocolate croissants, Phil you can come drink with us any time.

Going out in Prague was an interesting experience, thanks to the second pair of lovely humans Baro and Anna it was also an awesome experience – getting to see some of the places we would only have stumbled upon after weeks in the city. Every bar we went to was underground and was comprised of a complex tunnel network, the first had an large unmarked door taking you through a pitch black corridor before turning you round and down into the bar. It kinda felt like we were hiding in a bunker while getting pissed!

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We moved on towards to Austria through Brno where we briefly met up with another of Simon’s friends Kevin who moved from NZ last year. More chuckles and friendly shakes of the head.

We smashed some Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna which were amazing and also very big!! That night we decided to try freedom camping for the first time, somewhere in the outskirts of Vienna. Google maps told us it was in a national park surrounded a lake though all we managed to see in the dark was acres of dirt road and grape vines. After a long time looking for the perfect spot we gave in and ended up next to someone’s unfenced vineyard and set our alarms. Also like to mention that to keep the streak going, once again we were greeted with some nice rain