Bali, Indonesia
congrats campers - we've officially finished and celebrated accordingly at an awesome finish line party! boys' game of testosterone fuelled topless rugby in th rain resulted in multiple injuries - mostly for bono. against all odds we actually managed to find wally 1.0 today. battered and bruised, he's a shadow of his former self. in this state, a victory lap around the storage site was just not possible so after inspecting the damage we headed home. couple of days of hard earned playtime now before heading back to reality - see u all soon! thank u everyone for reading our blog and donating to our charities (if u haven't yet, there's still time... :p). over and out.
Bali, Indonesia
who would have thought it - the wallys have actually made it to bali! drove wally 4.2 to the finish line only to find that due to all the calamities it wasn't there. big celebrations with all the other teams. next task - find wally 1.0 who is still awol...
Bali, Indonesia
the wallys are still looking for wally 1.0 - latest reports claim sightings in pasuruan about 4 hours behind us. in true wally fashion, the bajai is playing fast and loose leaving us with irregular and unreliable clues as to his location. leaving a day to reach the finish line is a gamble too far so we hit the road again. ferry crossing complete. watch out bali, the wallys have arrived. first person to spot us here buys us a beer!
Madiun, Indonesia
quick tourist stop in yogyakarta for th busy markets, basko n bubble tea then on the road again to experience our first inner city traffic jam. two hours on, still haven't moved anywhere. then more slow going as we accidentally went over a mountain instead of around it - in th dark + fog, zero visibility, w some of the steepest n most windy roads we've had yet. oh, and did we mention the sheer cliff drops?! wally 4.2 still going strong but leaking in all th same places as wally 1.0. make it to madiun for a record six hours sleep and ready to go again this morning. still no sign of th truck with th original wally, outstripping him as far as we know.
Lampung, Indonesia
driven through the night and reached th ferry port. goodbye sumatra, hello java!
Palembang, Indonesia
very civilised #bajairally pit stop in palembang. first time we've all actually slept in two weeks. oh, and we also managed to squeeze in dim sum, sushi, off roading, riverside bbq, shopping and a spa. thanks to andy and elin for their incredible hospitality and the loan of wally 4.2! we're on th rd again in a toyota landcruiser until we're reunited with th original wally in java (rumour has it he's still quite a long way behind us...) @
Palembang, Indonesia
this could be a game changer for th wallys in the @theadventurists #bajairally speedy overnight party taxi helps th wallys catch up on much needed ground. arrive just in time for dim sum breakfast. could not be happier to see a char sui bau right now (and thank god no nasi goreng in sight for th first day on our trip)! resting up while our maps dry out in th sun before going to a championship offroading test track for practice in vehicles actually built for the terrain. obligatory smug photos on our toys to follow later.
Padang, Indonesia
turns out about 19 #bajairally teams had made it to padang - each with their own stories of woe! after much poring over our maps we realise of the 3-400km we needed to cover per day, our bajai has only managed an average of 70km per day. with well over 2000km to cover in a week, and severe flooding in jakarta, drastic decisions are needed by all teams. there's only one thing for it: bintang (beer). and some shots for good measure. washed down with more bintang. the late night didn't stop the early morning bajai tetris level 2 as wally is one of th 15 packed onto trucks to cover more ground until we're reunited with him again. th team is now on route to palembang on an overnight party car complete with 80s soundtrack - all we need is brown eyed girl and th music collection becomes better than saagar's! missing wally already.
Padang, Indonesia
journey underway, 4 hrs in and our frame loses all structural integrity as we're torn apart by th ropes supposedly holding us down - hello convertible! scrambling to try to reattach th bajai to the truck before it wobbles over th edge. with a poor handbrake n no strapping, bono switches 2 health n safety mode n sends his wally wives for shelter in the driver's cab - little did he know they'd b exposed to incessant hocking and wandering hands. meanwhile bono is tukking in for th night w th 3 girls n their local chaperone in their dry tuktuk. quick pot noodle for breakfast before witnessing a lizard lose a game of chicken to a massive truck. after bribing th same police twice 3 hours apart, we conclude our 18hr ordeal by arriving at th hotel with a police escort. unloading was relatively simple to join th 6 other bajais in th car park. first hot water in 2 wks so time to become human again.
Sibolga, Indonesia
Takes us a couple of hours n lucy's stoneface haggling to find a truck to take us to padang. being optimistic, we cd arrive in time for brekkie. ready to load truck n as if on q, monsoon hits. wally is still not waterproof. so commences bajai tetris, level 1. Q: how do u get 2 tuktuks 5 foot in the air using a gate n some rotten wood? A: with several injuries n a few close calls. mel speared by fencing n nearly lost lucy under a bajai rolling back down th makeshift danger ramp. finally set off bt relief is short lived when we realise we cant stop torrential rain from pooling in our tuktuk. no amount of gaffa tape is going to keep this dry. gd news is two smelly durian fruits n fish remnants r also making it a pretty pungeant trip. all 5 senses currently being insulted in some way. sitting on a pneumatic drill wd b more comfortable. @
