Last day in KZ

Cassie:
Tomorrow morning we'll be crossing the border back into Russia spelling the end of our two week trek through Kazakhstan. I have to be honest and say I'm not going to miss Kazakhstan but if we look at this logically, all up Graeme and I are travelling through something like 10 countries, so there's bound to be one or two that we're not really fussed on. In that same light there'll be some that blow us away with their awesomeness. Mongolia is a great example of that.

Today has been fairly cruisy. We were on the road by maybe 9am for what has turned out to be an uneventful day of driving. We were keen to use up all the currency before crossing the border because the Kazakh Tenge can't be exchanged outside of Kazakhstan. With that in mind we bought lunch, then filled the car to the brim with the cheapest fuel we're every likely to get in our lifetime. The coolest thing was I actually managed to use every last cent because after filling up with fuel there were a few coins and a small note left. I bought two bottles of drink and two chocolates and ta-daaa, used the remaining note and ALL of the loose change to the very last 5 tenge coin. Got back to the car feeling quite chuffed with myself only to realise, bugger, I meant to save that note as a momento. Oh well, the chocolate was worth it!

The wind has whipped up so much sand around the place today. When we walked from the cafe back to the car after lunch we immediately had to shield our faces from the sand blasting and we literally ate some sand. Went down well after the borsh and rice dishes we had for lunch.

We stopped really early today because it was a smidge too late to go to the border for our liking. Even if we did get through today there's still a barge to catch on the other side then the hassle of having to find a camp near the bustling town of Astrakhan. It would've made for a very long day. So we decided to stop at about 1.30pm at approximately 20km short of the border in some paddocks, shielded from view of the road by a bit of a sand dune. There are other buildings around in the distance so it's not as lovely as some of our more remote camps, but it's pretty darn good considering how close we are to the border. So through the border we go tomorrow and onward for our final leg through Russia. Europe here we come!

Graeme:
Didn't do a post last night because of the working bee that was our camp. We had to reattach the kitchen unit again. Poor design on my part, but would not be nearly as annoying if I'd have just brought a stubby phillips head screwdriver. The problem is, the screws that fix the unit to the car rattle out on these roads, but because I only have long screw drivers, I need to remove the unit to get enough space to re-tighten them. It's a big job as it entails a heap of screws and bolts through the floor. Oh well.

Yesterday we stopped to retrieve the hi-lift jack base. It had rattled it's split pin out, and hit the roof as it fell off. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it did as we would have not noticed it missing until we needed it. When walking back through the bulldust we realised something in one of the roof boxes was leaking. Oh 'joy' I thought. I'd gone to the effort of taping all the lids on. Well this time it was the coolant concentrate. Entirely unopened, brand new from Toyota. It's ironic how we've not needed any of the fluids we brought with us, but in some kind of escapist mentality, they have all come free of their plastic containers. In a fit of rage and sick of throwing out good brand new stock, I tipped the entire bottle of 50/50 concentrate into the radiator reservoir, yep, it's way over full, but I figured it's better in there with at least a chance of getting used as opposed to it leaking onto the roof! We've not littered anything except toilet paper this whole trip, but
I wasn't going to put that bottle back in the car. Sorry earth.

Yeah Cassie's said it. I also am not particularly wrapped in Kazakhstan. Last night we watched some of our early videos we took and the consensus was that Russia and Mongolia have been beyond words beautiful, despite the hardships. Kazakhstan has been equally difficult, with so little of the beauty to make it worth while. Naturally I'll be disagreed with by the world, but this was my take on it. I said in an earlier post that in one year the roads will be fixed, but in retrospect it's going to take much longer. Most new roads have been made dual carriageway, but at different times. So the one road is worn out by the time the other side is opened, and so the continuous road works cycle will continue. Yesterday's roads were a joke. Not even worth discussing.
Looking back on this trip, I thought the driving would be the higlight. Road of bones, Mongolia etc. It's actually being the camps! I'd never really liked camping, but with our camper it's a dream. I know I'm really going to miss the isolated camps that I suspect will be a thing of the past as we head west. Part of me wants to go back. Maybe I should get a helicopter camper?

Pictures today are: Our lunch stop, with sand filling the window frames. Some thing with big ears? Fox?

As Cassie said, we've stopped real early. We've been stopped for maybe 3 hours by this stage and I've nearly finished my book, cleaned the fridge, tweaked the sink, cut toenails/fingernails and eaten twice. I'm entirely out of things to do and it's doing my head in. If I didn't have a job, I'd have to volunteer for something. This life with no sense of achievement is bokners. I wonder if this is the void that others fill with Facebook?!