Archie-The Traveling Beetle

[Pine]

Archie at the George Show

After an interesting road trip from Gauteng to the Coast, and a wonderful visit to the home of VW of SA in Uitenhage (more about this a bit later), I arrived Saturday morning at the George Show where I had a quick reunion with my father, Chris!



I was then introduced to guy called Pine, who is a bit of a wacko, but he offered to show me around the Show. First stop was meeting a few orphaned family members that Pine scored earlier that morning, all a lot different than me, yet very much alike..



I then met Don Ravenscroft, the father of http://www.modelcars.co.za and a very nice guy who makes a living out of giving new homes to orphaned model cars



I hanged around a bit at the model car exhibition, and also met Rowill Booysen from Sedgefield, who's father Willem has one of the largest collections of VW models in South Africa. Part of them were on display in the background..



Pine then took me to where the real cars were on display, and I saw a lot of very nice ones, my favourite being this 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, a lady with the most beautiful curves I have ever seen!



A bit later, Pine took me for a ride with Tom Bishop and my father Chris in Tom's unbelievably cool Type 181 Thing



Speaking of beautiful curves, a very kind lady who asked me very nice to rather not mention her name, offer me a nice parking spot (with a view!)



I was really very relaxed and comfortable at the parking spot, and when she finally decided that it might be time for me to go...



I decided to go deeper under cover, into the covered parking area! (Now you see me - now you don't )



Anyway, what a fun day it was - thanks for everyone's kindness, and to Pine for the guided tour, as well as the sexy Motorheads lady for the open and covered parking

Stay tuned for more adventures from interesting parts of the world!

Take care,

Archie

[DR WATSON]

Hi guys and gals, her are some pics of me on my way to George Motorshow.

archie.jpg

archie2.jpg

[Warren G]

So Archie you like the big girls then

[Tony Z]

Seeing as the last two Archie posts (seen above) were posted in the wrong topic, I nominate Pine to move them into the correct topic....
Dont forget to use Archies log on name Pine.
http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/viewtopi ... =1&t=13092

[beetlefanatic]

I have been waiting patiently to tell some stories of my latest adventures, but now I cannot wait any longer. So here goes. Sit a bit closer boys and girls, because we are going to cris-cross the globe in the next few minutes.

After spending some time with a guy that Buggers up gearboxes (transmissions for our more educated readers), I joined a very strange family at the KKKNK 2011. They speak a funny language (German, I think) and also eat some strange things for breakfast. Just have a look.

KKKNK Breakfast1.jpg

I almost got scared that I might also be on the menu.

KKKNK Breakfast2.jpg

After breakfast, while all the people were admiring the cars, I took a stroll down to the river. This is me chilling next to the water.

KKKNK Chilling by the river1.jpg

KKKNK Chilling by the river2.jpg

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end and much too soon we were on our way home to Pretoria. Luckily there wasn't much time to sit around, as Beetlefanatic (BF for short) had to leave the country to go and do some work. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride with him.

After a long and exhausting trip, we arrived in a city called Asmara. Don't worry, I also asked, "Where the hell is that?" Well boys and girls, Asmara is the capital of Eritrea. I know you are all asking "Now where on earth is that?" Eritrea is a little country in North-East Africa and it has borders with Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti. One side borders the Red Sea. With the help of Google you can get a better idea of where it lies.

Google Eritrea1.JPG

Google Eritrea2.JPG

We drove forever to get to the mining site called Bisha. The road winds through the mountains, down to the semi-desert plains. Here you can see me looking down at one of the valleys.

Eritrea View from the top1.jpg

Eritrea View from the top2.jpg

As you can see Eritrea is very dry and very hot during the dry season. Some days it got to 53°C! My valve covers started dripping oil from the heat. The locals combat the heat and de-hydration by taking lots of fluids. Some get delirious and do all sorts of silly things.

Eritrea Locals misbehaving1.jpg

Eritrea Locals misbehaving2.JPG

[beetlefanatic]

Eritrea is a beautiful place with lots of open spaces. I could just feel my battery re-charging!

Eritrea Food for the soul.jpg

On one of my excursions into the wild, I almost bumped into one of these animals. They are called camels and are used as transport by the locals. Unlike me they are watercooled and can travel hundreds of kilometers on one tank of water.

Eritrea Some more locals1.jpg

Eritrea Some more locals2.jpg

Too soon we had to leave again and on the way back home we had to wait in Asmara for the plane. While I was sight-seeing, I bumped into a distant relative. This one was built for the rough terrain because it was 4WD and called a Syncro Golf.

Eritrea Distant cousin1.jpg

Eritrea Distant cousin2.jpg

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After leaving Asmara we flew to Egypt and had to stay in Cairo for a day. I got the chance to slip out of the hotel and went to see what was cooking in Cairo. I saw one of my bigger relatives a long the way.

Cairo Family1.jpg

This is me posing on a bridge over the Nile river.

Cairo The mighty Nile.jpg

CairoMe next to the mighty Nile.jpg

[beetlefanatic]

I'm sure the taxi driver took me for a joyride, because soon we were no longer in Cairo but in a city called Giza. I call it the City of Bays (as in bay window busses). I think there are more bay windows in Giza than the rest of the world! I saw more than fifty in just one street. And they are all painted white!
Check out the pics if you think I'm talking .

Giza The City of Bays1.jpg

Giza The City of Bays2.jpg

Giza The City of Bays3.jpg

Giza The City of Bays4.jpg

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I did see one familiar face at least.

Giza at last a familiar face.jpg

Suddenly we arrived at a place with some weird triangular buildings. Some say they were built by aliens, but I'm not so sure.

Giza - WTF!.jpg

Anyway, can you say "Walk like an Egyptian:" Here I am getting my picture taken next to the pyramids! How many people or cars can say that? Lucky me!

Giza me chilling at the Pyramids.jpg

Checkout the Sphinx behind me. That one made my rockers rattle. It's just creepy!

Giza me chilling at the Sphinx.jpg

[beetlefanatic]

After my eventful trip I needed some R&R, so I convinced BF we should go chill at the sea for a few days. The start to a wonderful was not so nice as it took us 12hours to drive 600km! No, not because we traveled in such an old bus, but because everybody in Gauteng decided to move to the coast on the same long weekend. What a nightmare trip! Luckily the view made up for the torture.

Scottburgh1.jpg

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Unfortunately that ended far too quickly as BF was off to some god-forsaken place for work. This time it was to Kazakhstan and off course I hitched a ride along.
Before you ask, here is a map pic to show you were Kazakhstan is.

Kazakhstan1.JPG

We flew via Abu Dhabi to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and NO, I DID NOT MEET BORAT!.
Astana is a beautiful city with tall buildings and lots of people.

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Astana-Central_Downtown.jpg

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From Astana we flew to Kostanay and then drove to our final destination near the Russian border. A tiny village called Varvarinskoye or Varvarinka for short.

Kazakhstan3.JPG

There was not a lot of time for sight-seeing as BF was busy the whole time and I was too scared to venture out alone. I mean I couldn't even ask for directions if I got lost. The people speak a very weird language called Kazakh. The last evening we were invited by two of BFs friends to have a few drinks next to the river. Reminder to self, Stay away from Vodka and Cognac.

Kazakhstan Locals2.jpg

What a beautiful place. Grass as far as the eyes can see. These grasslands are call The Steppes and literally stretch for a few thousand kilometers from West to East across the northern part of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan Country1.jpg

[beetlefanatic]

Kazakhstan Country2.jpg

Kazakhstan Country3.jpg

Some more locals. Grrrr! Where were you the whole time I was there?

Kazakhstan Locals.jpg

Too soon we were on our way home again.

Kazakhstan On our way home.jpg

We barely had time to unpack our bags in SA and we were off again. This time to Malawi.
We flew from Lanseria to Karonga on the north-western part of Lake Malawi. From here we drove to the mine.

Kayalekera1.JPG

Lake Malawi (With me spoiling the shot).jpg

Lake Malawi.jpg

Malawi Karonga Airport.jpg

Malawi Karonga Airport (our modest transport).jpg

Another beautiful place in the mountains.
Sunset

Malawi Dam.jpg

After a very short 3 week visit we had to return home.

I have been itching to go on another trip so if anyone wants to take me along, please contact Beetlefanatic. I really am very well behaved and leak very little oil. You won't even know I'm there.

[Tony Z]

OK, I have just moved all the posts that should be in Archies diary into the diary.
Please all, remember, no adding to his diary unless you are writing on Archies behalf.
Please contact Fig or myself for Archies Log on details (I am assuming fig remembers them?)

[Pine]

Thanks for the update, Beetlefanatic. Long overdue, but beter late than never, right?

(Never underestimate the power of a good gatskop )



Now we're just waiting for... you-know-who...

[beetlefanatic]

I could have done mine a long time ago. Was waiting for you-know-who.

[Tony Z]

I know.... hey, at least its on track again....

[jabez]

I'm In too!!!!!!
Are we allowed to pimp Archie?

[Tony Z]

OK, so where is Archie now????