Odyssey Overland 2011 London to Australia: Another day so must be another country...

Oh hey hi out there in blog-land....us again here on Calypso.   Rather like buses none come for ages and then two come at once, and so it appears with the blogs.    Am taking advantage of the great internet connection here in Batumi, once an important oil port and fast turning into a rather nice Black sea resort.

So what to report, well the discovery of a new campsite at Sumela with hot shower, fresh trout and loads of camp space...not to mention internet was a real brucey bonus.    However we were all keen to move on and the possibility of new experiences helped us get up to a rather misty early morning for the drive to Georgia which as you can see we made today.   We got through the border with considerable ease, as did Calypso.

First impressions of Georgia are very favourable...every border guard and official welcomed us with big smiles.   We met our agent and a long-time friend of mine and Jim's Zaza and in no time he had directed us to our hotel for the night, tops.    In no time we were nested up and the guys were off to explore the city.   The hotel deserves a quick mention as we have been camp and bush camping the last week hence our joy at the discovery of hot showers, internet, a bar, breakfast included, money changer and shops just round the corner...could it get any better...I do not think so and judging by the laughter coming from the bar neither do the guys.

Even the sun is showing its face, a very welcome change from the rather cloudy/misty last few days....life, it really is the journey not the destination that is the point of it all...and so if you will permit me I will jot down few verses of poetry that I feel rather apt for us travellers and lovers of life.   The first is called First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay and is as good an instruction to live by as any I know.......

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light!

Then for the traveller in you there are a few lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses.......
....I cannot rest from travel;
I will drink life to the lees..
...much I have seen and known..I am a part of all I have met.

And so it is with us, we live life as if each day were our last and take with us a part of all that we see/experience, growing by the day as we better understand the world and its peoples...whilst it must be said, having a great time...education and fun....wow!

Right I will go and pop some photos up, again from the trip up to now, giving you a flavour for who we are and what we are doing....I will end however with a Russian word which means expedition and describes exactly what we do, it is pronounced "pahod".....very apt I feel as we head tomorrow for the remote mountain top village of Mestia, complete with siege towers and a delightful home stay....we are "expedition" and all that it stands for....CJ out