D day... not sure about any of you out there who have been following us over the past 2 weeks, but we sure as hell had our doubts we would make it to this point however blow me down we bloody did!!!
It was a bittersweet morning, procrastinating at the thought of giving our girl up. Yet when the time came the 3 of us knew it was time to say our goodbyes and thank her for keeping the 3 of us in one piece (physically) on this mind blowing journey.
It's safe to say all 3 of us would recommend this adventure to anyone else out there and we'd like to close out our final blog post with a few wise words if anyone else, who may happen to have a few too many wines and like us decide to sign up 18 months in advance...
George: India blew all my expectations. In all honesty I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, none of us really did! The run taught me anyone can do this event (even you mumma Jen), all you need a good attitude and the ability turn all the questionable moments into blissful memories, (you're guaranteed to have a lot of them). Now that its over, the entire 2 weeks seem pretty surreal. This was the absolute trip of a life time. Shout out to my other 3 team members, you guys made the experience what it was, too all the people that stopped to help us along the way, cheers to you too! Until next time India!!
Hoody: Trying to articulate the exact Who What When Where How Why of India is impossible and every rickshaw, and every traveler who makes it to India will come away with incredibly different experiences but mine has been nothing but supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The Rickshaw Run doesn't guarantee you two fun-filled weeks but it does give you the platform to adventure and to explore so you can do things your own way - as it turns out, thats the far more exciting option with special memories of all kinds that can be guaranteed. With beautiful people and game changing scenery, all you need for the run is 2 top sidekicks, some good playlists lined up, and almost unbelievably, no mechanical knowledge.
Keep the wipes handy, the food coming and you'd be right as rain (turns out India has a lot of that too) to take on the run too.
Al: An unreal experience with unreal food, people and scenes! Here’s 10 hot tips from ya gal Al:
1. Things fall off the side, be aware or you’ll end up with no shoes 2. There is no such thing as overusing the horn. 3. Have wet wipes handy, ALWAYS 4. Get off the beaten track 5. 3000km without windows requires a gnarly speaker (UE Boom was the real MVP) 6. Keep in mind sari’s take a long time to take off, lol 7. Avoid eye contact with police & be tactical with your convoy decisions 8. Squat off your seat over speed bumps and potholes or wear sports bra 24/7 9. Eat as many spicy tatie sliders (uncertain of authentic name) and as you can 10. Laugh don’t cry and absolutely fake it to you make it with everything (or actually pay attention at the briefings.
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So it's with much sadness that we bid adue to you our loyal audience (guessing we have at least 6 solid followers, cheers moms and dads), and each go our own way, with raw sphincters and burning rims. Queen Abu on her way fo Kochi for the Jan 2019 start line. George back to work tomorrow, Hoody off too see more of what India can offer and then into Singapore and Al jetting to Thailand for some much deserved R&R after a full month in this insanely rewarding country.
Thanks all, it's been a pleasure.
For one final time,
Lots of love,
Hoody, Al and George
Xxxx
Day 13....
Some may say this number is unlucky. Well did we show them.
Today was glorious, we hit the road, with Connor and Murph in tow as is the common trend now. We’ve all held out 2 / 3 / 4 weeks respectively but when we collectively (Hoody firmly instructed) we were stopping for coffee we were all grins all round.
This then in turn resulted in us stilling in the cafe for 30mins as each of us frequented the W/C (can guarantee, that the effects of copy mirror that of Indiana curry) until we were ready to hit the road.. off to the National Park we were, just a mare 22 kms south of the finish line destination...
With high hopes and bold ambition we were pointed in the direction of a tiger and lion safari and excited we were.
Not the first time but our hopes and dreams were shattered as google maps took us to roads that were in fact dug up 10 meters deep and into nation express way toll booths which we were aggressively rejected from (we did everything we could, including George attempting to tell the guards were were foreign NZ high commission delegates, then when that didn’t fly she attempted to call the manager of the manager but that failed miserably also) so followed up with a U turn and went to do what we do best. Eat. We were already on the outskirts of Bangalore.
It was ticking over to the 1pm hour and we were yet to eat all day, so we were off to our hotel for the following night, swift check in for an additional night and off to the roof top bar. We had made it to the final destination, a day earlier and were set to achieve what many deemed unrealistic...
So naturally we did we we do best on a secondary level order a round of drinks and set in for a feast.
An impromptu decision by Al and Hoody saw the 3 of us, on our way to a Saree Safari and over the next few hours we spent in a shopping spree of 10$ outfits for tomorrow evenings finish party...
Not sure how we are all feeling about tomorrow, very mixed emotions in the camp tonight. However for all our ma’s and pa’s we are only 600metres from the finish line.
Love,
The 3 of us xoxox
Day 12.... holy cow.
Sleep ins were well deserved this morning and we didn't hit the road until 8.30.
Wasn't long on the road, until old Queen Abu came to a rolling holt. No worries though, chief mechanic George was onto it, opening up the engine and assessing the immediate go to's - the ol' carborator and spark plugs. (G actually doesn't have the faintest clue how to fix either should they go down but it always seems like a somewhat viable explanation 'Oh yep probably the ol' carb or sparko' G often uses as a go too). Whilst G has her head in the engine, Al and Hoody were filling the Queen up with some petty and George could hardly bloody believe when Al and Hood got her back up and running learning the issue had absofarkinglotely nothing to do with the sparko or carbo!
A few litres of petrol and a wee (pun intended) while later, nature called and wee had to make a mad dash to the nearest palm tree. Shame no palm tree was wide enough to hide us. All 3 wahine, of course dressed in our fave party shirts were nothing but obvious from the passer bys and unfortunately the down stream nature of our alignment meant one wahanie got a wee bit more than she was prepared for. Can confirm she won't make the mistake of standing down stream again. What a debacle. Naturally, it took 5 minutes for the giggles to settle before we addressed the issue at hand an continued on our merry way (we can hear Poppa Hood from here 'What a bunch of bloody pollock's this lot are' - and he couldn't be more right).
From there we found ourselves at what we thought to be a tourist attraction. A massive hill of boulders that appeared as though it would have epic views at the top - the five of us were stopped in our tracks at the entrance. At no shoes we lost Conner back to the rickshaw, compulsory pants we lost murph, compulsory head scarf we lost Al. George and Hoody kitted up, in full attire long pants and and head scarf, washed their hands and feet and walked up the hill. If you'd been a fly on the wall and seen us realise we'd walked into a funeral we imagine the looks on our faces would have been fairly gobsmacked to say the least. Before we knew it, we were blessed with the temple's broom 3 times on our heads, along with everybody else, reiterated their prayers and then left the large Muslim community to mourn without the distraction we were proving to be. As always, hindsight is a beautiful thing but we continue to trip on the generous Indian smile, 'yes mam' and head shake. Walking into a funeral however is probably our biggest phopar to date. Tucking along we did wonder later who's life we'd been celebrating and what their story was & certainly hope their path to meet their maker was peaceful...
A stop for lunch later we made our way round several road side food stands. Murph got the best omelette he's ever had, Conner reckons he had deep fried chicken to die for although we didn't buy into that and were more worried in was in the literally sense. Hoody was in the kitchen again and whiped up what looked like zucchini slice mixture but turned into delicious onion bahgie and also found herself more peanuts (in the shells like monkeys and elephants eat) than she would care to let on. Yummo scrummo - how we aren't all battling for the bathroom has us all baffled but we will ride the good luck whilst we can!
Just before we reached home for the night we called into a local school. Initially apprehensive, the kids soon warmed up and absolutely lost the plot when Al tried to replicate their dance moves. Never seen a bunch laugh so hard. Absolutely gorgeous kids and we were reminded of how important education is and how lucky we have been, and the kids at that school, were and are to be receiving one.
Another hilarious day and Bangalore is very much in sight! Mixed emotions all round. Bring on the doozey but can we bring Queen Abu home? Surely.
Lots of love,
Xoxo
3 wahine
Peak: hoodys wedding proposal from the waiter at dinner, followed by his perpetuent (creepy) gazing and insistent assisting. Maybe not hoodys peak but it was for the other 4 of us
Pit: watermelon served at dinner - got sucked in when we didn't see the chilli powder on top! What sort of sicko chef does that? Obviously the kind who wanted a good laugh when he watched Al chow in
Day: mate we haven't got a clue anymore...
Some how we have ended up in a 2 rickshaw convoy with 2 full blown aussie lads and what legends they are... it's with much excitement that we formally introduce Connor and Murph to our blog. These strapping lads originate from Brisbane and Perth (respectively) however currently reside in the picture-eske seaside town of Coogee - Sydney, these two have been the blessing we didn't know we needed. The boys were thinking - too easy, we'll just cruise behind these champs for the rest of the trip, they'll plan the route, accommodation and meals. Well jokes on them. They have spent more time fixing Queen Abu then Al has navigating - however we never joke about food so we have fully delivered in that aspect.
The 5 of us, spent today exploring, we popped in to visit the Statue of Shiva (second largest statue in the whole of india), the Murdeshwara Temple and from there to the Jog Falls (next time you consider visiting the Niagara falls, look no more. We would be more than happy to provide a adequate upgrade to satisfy your tourist requirements)
We then ventured to our hotel in the Shanty town of Sigar, had a delightful dinner. We were escorted to the rear of the restaurant into the garden dining area. Once arrived we found ourselves in the next door neighbours garden shed, with malaria written on the walls. When we requested a menu we were told no such thing (New managment haven't had time to create one in five months of ownership). Given our teams middle name is solutions not problems, hoody ventured into the kitchen opened up the fridge and ordered from what was available. In all honesty it was a beautiful meal and never a truer has been said about not judging a book by its cover.
Tomorrow we continue to make our way further East toward Bangalore, our new finish line. We cant believe we only have another 2 more sleeps until we wrap up this crazy adventure. What a rollercoaster its been and we couldn't be more grateful for everything India has done for us!
Lots of love,
Al, Hoody and George
Peak and pit (guest edition from Murph)
Peak: George's, driving aim - where she managed to hit 10/10 cow Pat's along the road & you girls getting stuck in a cow traffic jam with a truck load of selfie happy young boys in desperate need to get a pic with the 3 of ews
Pit: my ear, its infected
Well didn't the tables turn today. After a sleepless night of symphonies coming from the loo as Al chundered up a solid portion of her days consumption we awoke ready to tackle the day. G and Al were the ones feeling worse for wear this morning but not to deter, we hit the road to our new found favourite Japanese restaurant. Lol kidding it was closed for a ‘fun’ holiday. So we set off to too make up some more km’s and headed south toward to Palolem beach, which is supposed to be an absolute ripsnorter, 10/10 beach.
As we stopped at attractions on the way, it was once again a case of us getting more attention than the place itself. We now take daily bets as to how many selfies we will be asked to take for the day.
As per usual, Al (Queen bunny hopper) was the superstar navigator and DJ doing an astounding job. Hoody and G tag teamed the driving, and nothing out of the norm when sitting in the back seat, G sang up a storm and Hoody passed out. Classic.
Pushing on to Palolem, we arrived to a shut down monsoon battened down town. Oh how we love the monsoon season! Nothing that Murph and Con and our mate smirnoff couldn't sort for the night! As the afternoon endured we were pleasantly treated by a lavish sunset through the palm trees and proceeded to entertain ourselves and surrounding locals with some good old card games.
Our most recently adopted strategy to prevent police stops consists of making no eye contact with the police. This has been serving us well. Queen Abu has been participating coherently and we look forward to seeing her progress in the next few days as we continue to assert our dominance on the hazardous Indian roads.
We got royally stitched up with our accomodation tonight, with our own princess George being punk’d by booking.coms photography skills. Tonight is a three man spoon on our rock hard platform to avoid the grotty stained, disease infested fold out couch, not to mention the yummy brown stained towels provided.
Still keeping it real here in the Shaka state of India but amping to start our convoy tomorrow to head inland as we hoone into the last few days.
All is well here in the land of curries,
Peak: Getting through some more km’s after a small hiatus off the roads
Pit: Our sleeping arrangement
Ohhhhh yep day 9. Boomfa. Hoodys personalised Rock and roll concert was in full swing in her little hungover head this morning. The drum kit was banging at full steam ahead which resulted in the devestating miss of breakkie. Absolute bugger. Fast forward a few hours and she still offered zero value to the team or day so instead we focused our efforts on getting back on thr horse for tonight. 4pm at the Flaminges Air bnb we were all on like donkey kong. What was built up to be a bloody great night was unfortunately short lived- the air bnb owner tuned into the secret camera in the house to watch some mild chaos unfold (15 teams going hundy) and called a halt to festivities. Not to worry. Back to Curlies we went for a few mojitoes. With too long to walk we strapped on our helmets and piled too many people in to too little rickshaws (allgood though was safe before you ask Mums). Al had another barnie with the DJ about his terrible choice in music and with that we called it quits.
Peak: free room upgrade thanks very much
Pit: life too good to have a pit.
Piece and love
Al, G and Hoody
Day 7, highty hoe.
Today was lavish (veddy lavish). Que three ladies of leisure, exploring the R&R offerings of Goa.
We kicked off with some local sightseeing (if you can call it that) followed by a buffet brekky at a super fancy hotel.. Old mate at the entry barriers, was riding on a power trip and wouldn’t let us ride Abu on in.. goodness knows why, she would have pulled up very nicely next to the Audi’s, Jeeps and Rangies... inconspicuous Queen Abu would have been.
From there we ventured to our next hotel, little further on the kms today. A mighty 8!! We settled into our suite (kudos to Al for finding such a grand establishment for all of $22 a night for the 3 of us) and shot off down the road for some body treatment loving.
We walked out on cloud nine, straight into a bar and the night only escalated upwards from there. Meeting up with at least 10 other teams at Curleys made for an epic evening, which resulted in one Wahanie seeing her luck follow her on and off the roads...
Love,
George, Hoody and Al
Peak and pit:
Peak: meeting up with fellow runners for dinner and drinks
Pit: shitty music at curleys, paying $40 for semi clean still sodden laundry
Day 7...
Todays agenda = Kicking back and relaxing, thanks very much.
We experienced another first today. Huge deal for us. We ate brekky... For the first time in a week! Tell ya what, the omlette was so good Hoody had to have two (for those of your that know her eating habits that is some mean feat) We also nailed some FRESH FRUIT - mind blown. We are feeling a little fresh fruit and vege deprived so it was a real treat. Actually on that note we are feeling pretty deprived of all things bar them cuzzas, we have on the other hand had the best curries of our lives (guess thats a given here) so no complaints from us lot.
From brekky we strolled along Baga beach to explore, had a yarm to the lifeguards who by the looks of it would have drown if required to save Al or George, when asked if they used flippers for their rescues a prompt reply of no thanks was given.
We then set off for tonights destination. It was a mass 5kms away... lunch at a stunning clifftop resturant and then we settled into our retreat for the evening (its become evident that the Western use of a word differs from the Indian - todays accomdation is no exception)
Now onto matters of Queen Abu, after a tedious morning of countless push starts, more severe pot hole dives and resistance to participate in the August 2018 Rickshaw run (FFS Abu you were given one single task) we decided to rest her up for the day.
Update on our route, the amazing team at the Adventourous have made the sensible and much needed decision to move the finish line. We are now headed in the direction of yhe mighty city Bangalore. Our flights have been rerouted and we are still super amped for the next 6 days...
Lots of love,
Al, Hoody and George
Peak and pit:
Peak: checking into our hotel before 7pm
Pit: losing our kitty (wont be big enough to pay off any student loans but for sure would have bought us a few beersies)
