Saturday, June 30, 2007

A few weeks to go...

Well, the first post and we are still in Christchurch. We are leaving on early Sunday morning July 22 2007, which is about three weeks away. Quite exciting! I have one more week at work, Chris has one more week when he is supposed to be doing useful stuff skiving off playing Catching Features etc. etc. then we will be busy busy busy getting packed.

THE PLAN:

We are going to spend two days in Wellington with Chris's brother John, then we are flying to Auckland on the 24 July, were we hope to rendevous with Edwardo (flatmate) who is driving to Rotorua to drop his stuff at his parents.

From there we fly through LA to Munich, then to Bucharest in Romania. We will catch a train from there into the 'Fagaras' Mountains!!! Otherwise known as the Transylvanian Alps. We plan to tramp for 4 - 5 days over the mountains to the other side, then catch a train to a town called Cluj.

The Transylvanian Open (orienteering) runs from the 6th to the 8th of July, and we will have to be vigilant watching out for Vampires, Bears, Werewolves.....and of course Dracula!

Then we will hopefully get a train out to the border and on into Ukraine heading for Kiev. It takes about 25 hours to get there apparently, so big train ride. Then we meet up with the other kiwis, and undertake a mammoth month of orienteering (for me anyway, I don't think Chris could ever do too much orienteering). So for Chris of course it is the world champs he is gearing up towards....but more importantly is the Ed and Emily Challenge, with begins on August 18 and takes place over five days while WOC is on (the Ed and Emily Challange is otherwise known as the WOC Tour or spectator event).

After all that's over we are all flying to Munich, Edwardo departs on his own adventure, and Chris and I get some bikes and see what happens!