Well another year has been counted off, and it was done in style. a forest home in central Russia, Tambov to be exact. We have named this towns biking group as ‘hosts of the year”, what a feast and such great company and entertainment on the 4 wheeler bikes too. I left with a birthday […]

Today we have followed the Volga river south approx 450 Klms to Astrakhan. Since before Volgagrad we have experienced the temperatures warming considerably and today were amazed as the rich crop lands gave way to quite arid land reminiscent of Mongolia complete with goats, cows and herdmen ambling across the road. But it’s the warmth of the […]

  You come riding into a town, pull over, get out your maps and try to sort out where there might be some accommodation. A guy pulls in beside you, has no English but gesticulates enthusiastically and we do manage to ascertain that he also has a motorbike. He implores us to follow him and […]

Station art is at least a days entertainment in Moscow—— for just a few rubles you can travel the Metro stations and puruse the wonderfulmarble works, intricate mosaics, light fittings to diefor and get a lesson in Russian history at the same time. Don’t worry about getting lost aswhen you havehad enough there is always […]

As we head south to Volgograd and Astrakhan before heading west towards the Crimea, the Georgia/Russia conflict over South Ossetia has blown up in our faces. The Russians reckon ethnic cleansing of villages is occurring, the Georgians reckon Russia has just invented an excuse to snatch South Ossetia and make it part of Russia. Who […]

Today, with the assistance of the good offices of NZ Ambassador to Russia, Chris Elder – we had the privilege of spending an hour with Vice Admiral Nikolai Ivlev now aged 90 who played a significant role in the Northern Convoys of WWII that provided supplies from the UK to the Russian port of Murmansk. […]

Tony has this great mate who lives in Moscow – Konstantin Mekhanoshin without whose help we would have found Russia one hell of a lot harder to get around. While Joanne has learnt the Cyrillic alphabet and can read the street signs, menus and find the loos, Konstantin has dealt with the big issues for […]

Here we are in Moscow, home of the Communist Revolution and one would have thought an influence in New Zealand who have sought equality between citizens through redistribution via progressive taxation. Yet the Russian income tax scale is flat – a rate of 13% !! This rate was implemented by Vladimir Putin in 2001. Combined […]

…. was bloody wet and dangerous as we battled our way through a day-long thunder and lightening storm and road surface flooding of an extent that at times you couldn’t tell if you were planning along or still in touch with the bitumen. And the 18 wheeler lorries only slowed down marginally so passed by […]

  Finishing our flick through the Baltic States we are heading back to Mother Russia to continue our north-south traverse of this gigantic country. From the hedonistic and free-wheeling lifestyles of the capitals of the Three Sisters, the transition to Belarus crosses a stark boundary. We encounter it initially at the border where a 3 […]