TURKEY - AEGEAN COAST Day 30 - 37 We drove down the west coast of Turkey, to the Gallipoli peninsular and famous WW1 battlefields. We stayed in a hostel in Eceabat frequented by many Ozzies and Kiwis who are here to see the Anzac graveyards. We drove around the moving battle sites and visited the moving memorials and graveyards of over 80,000 soldiers (Anzacs and Turks) - a pointless massacre of no strategic gain by the Allied forces. Rich was desperately trying to tune into the BBC World Service updates on the cricket scores...it looks like we could win the final at The Oval, near to our flat in Kennington. Rich is muttering doubts at the timing of our trip due to The Ashes final! Of all the times England could have a shot at winning The Ashes it had to be when our short wave radio is on the blink!). Luckily we met up with two British motorbikes along the Gallipoli route - Giles, a recent university graduate who had decided to ride his BMW motorbike to Turkey and the other - Richard and Jo from Wallingford biking all the way to Sydney on an amazing KTM... We spent a great day with them and had hourly text message updates from the UK of the cricket scores! We took the ferry over to Canakale and drove through the area of ancient Troy down Assos - a lovely chilled out village on the coast where we camped in the grounds of a cheap pension which had hammocks on a platform over the sea. Jo and Richard joined us the next day and we went to a smart hotel to watch the BBC on a TV...what a result - we won the Ashes!! Beers all round to celebrate. The next day we drove in convoy with the KTM to Selcuk near the ancient ruined city of Ephesus. Rich and I spent the journey planning our next trip on a motorbike! We may have to wait another 20 years to do it...but we are keen all the same. We had to dodge tortoises in the road in parts...On the journey we had squealing coming from one of the back wheels and stopped about an hour from Selcuk. It was actually a problem with the wheel bearing and hub gasket and a local mechanic assisted Rich in replacing it - the first time we've used our spare parts! We made it to Selcuk after it had got dark and stayed in a nice pension where we had supper. We met up with Jo and Richard and another couple of bikers, Bill and Becky, who are riding their two BMW bikes around the world for four years!! Now Rich has really caught the bike bug! (Jo and Richard: http:\\homepage.ntlworld.com/mhandley/hoandtwit.htm - Bill and Becky: www.2riders-1dream.com) Our plan to get to Ephesus early before the coaches arrived worked up until about 10am when it was heaving with tourists. It was still a fantastic site and fascinating to see - the amphitheatre was incredible, it seats 25,000 people and is still used for concerts. After a morning's wandering around the ruins we drove down the coast past Fethiye and camped at Oludeniz, a beautiful spot on the turquoise coast which has been taken over by tourists as a package holiday destination. The cafes proclaimed to have full English fry ups and chips with curry sauce - just what one needs when on a one week holiday away from home!!! They were even selling Tesco's sausages and Asda bacon - not exactly getting away from it all. We decided to go further along the coast to find a more secluded beach and headed for Kas - we took a windy coast road that deteriorated the further we went along it and for the first time we were able to put into practice our off roading skills we had learnt on the Land Rover Experience course! We realised we wouldn't get to Kas on this road but it was great fun using low ratio gears and putting Bigs through his paces! After a couple of hours the track ran out all together and we ended up turning back to Oludeniz to get the main road. We drove via Patara beach, a 22km stretch of sand that is world famous from its tortoise nesting grounds, to the beautiful fishing port of Kas where we camped for a few days at a lovely campsite just outside the town right on the sea. The weather closed in but we were able to use the time to update the website and do another full vehicle check - tying up the cables in the engine bay and making sure the radiator hoses weren't rubbing together over the rough ground (something we had planned to do before we left but never got around to). After a morning's engine prep and when it cleared up we spent a day on the 'beach' - cement filled in between the rocks at the campsite, eating watermelon and swimming in the gorgeous clear water. On our last night we bumped into Richard and Jo and Bill and Becky in the town and had a drink in the harbour - amidst the fresh fish restaurants and carpet sellers - Kas is a lovely town with a buzzy holiday feel and we enjoyed spending a few days on the coast. Sailing buffs would love this fantastic coast line.