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We left early to try to get to the border today and drove all day, stopping in a town on the coast where it was absolutely roasting and really humid. It was only about 36 but the humidity just made it unbearable, not to mention the crowds of local men who were standing around watching and taking photos of us. We realised later than they may well have never seen real westerners before, but it doesn't really excuse them from videoing and taking pictures on their phones while we are just sitting there trying to keep cool. It wasn't nice being a tourist attraction.

Drove across a flat, hot desert, heading away from the coast towards where we hope to cross the border. We drove into a huge rocky riverbed that had only a small watercourse in it - I guess it must flow strongly at some time of year but for now it was enough for us to all jump right in for a swim, even though it was quite mucky on the bottom. Later, a couple of locals told us they had seen 3-4m crocodiles in the river. We didn't believe them - the river just isn't big enough to support big ones, but still, we didn't swim more after that. The temperatures are still not dropping much at night but at least the humidity is gone, and having a wash was nice.

We were up and away early the next morning to be at the border before it got too hot. We were taking bets as to how long we would spend at the border today, but we were only there for about 15 mins when it became apparent that they weren't going to let us go through. It's only a small post here and Steve said he didn't want to argue with them too much, especially when they don't speak English and they are getting by with sign language.

We headed back into town and Steve and Adam made some calls to see if they could find out whether our original border crossing point at Mirjaveh was going to be viable. While they were at it, they met the owner of a shop who said he could get in touch with the chief of police of the area, who might be able to negotiate at the border for us, but first we must all go back to his place for lunch. So, we did. We drove into the back streets of the town and stopped at quite a large house by Iranian standards - a smallish 2-bed house by Aussie standards. The men were herded into one room and the girls into another, and we sat around in the airconditioned comfort on carpets, leaning against rests around the walls. They came in and turned the TV on for us and we were able to watch the BBC news and saw that there had been bombings in several cities in Pakistan, and also one in a mosque in south east Iran! Not close to where we are, but still, we can only imagine what the people at home must be thinking.

After a little while, the women of the family came in a few at a time to join us. They had little children with them who were very cute, and Norma couldn't help her Grandma-ness and grabbed the nearest baby to play with. We kind of all sat there eyeing each other, then trying out a few phrases to see if anyone spoke each other's language. I am pretty sure they don't speak Farsi here.. possibly Urdu, but they are Balochis here in Balochistan (which also covers the western part of Pakistan) and they have their own language. They also apparently call themselves "Balochs" (if you pronounce the ch as a k you can see why we like that name). We sat frustrated with the inability to communicate for a while, but soon Norma pulled out the pictures of the grandkids and other people had photos too, and I tried to draw a map of the world to show where we had come from and going too, and when one of them recognised it as a map she ran out and came back with a globe, so we were able to point out where we are from etc. So we got by, and it was nice to try to chat to them, and to sit in the cool where apparently it got to over 50 degrees outside. When one of the men knocked on the door, the women all covered up their faces and turned away from the door until they were gone again. Things are certainly a bit more strict out here than in the big cities.

A bit later, they brought us some lunch of roast chicken, rice and tomato and onion salad, and some soft drinks. There was so much food! Steve said before we left he tried to offer the guy some money for the lunch but he wouldn't accept it, because he was trying to show us that Balochis are nice people and we should go and tell everyone (the Pakistanis don't like them much). We were so grateful to be able to stay in the cool for the day, and it was a great experience to meet the women of such a large family.

In the meantime, Adam and Steve had been hard at work organising and negotiating, and after lunch they went back to the border to try to negotiate to let us through. Because it is such a small border crossing, they hadn't seen a foreigner there before, and didn't have the official stamps to let us out of the country. Because of that, the Pakistani border guard were also reluctant to let us in without a proper exit stamp. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, they decided neither side wanted the responsibility, and we'd have to go north to the other, main, border crossing at Mirjaveh. Unfortunately that is exactly the area we are trying to avoid, but we have no other choice, and have to try it. We headed back to the riverbed campsite for another night.

The guys called a meeting and explained the situation. At the moment the truck will go to the border at the main border crossing to the north, and head for Quetta, then straight across Pakistan, avoiding the major cities if possible. They gave us the option again of flying over to India instead. Shane and I decided we would rather stay with the truck, as the chances of anything actually happening are very slim. The truck is fairly evenly split though, with about 15 people opting to fly over. We will drop them at a domestic airport tomorrow, and they may have to fly or bus back to Tehran or Bandar Abbas before flying over to India. The rest of us will stay with the truck and try our luck.

Another few days in Iran.. just as I thought we were getting away from having to wear the scarf and covering up so much :(