Yakutsk - Chita

Wednesday 25th July 2007 : During our day in Yakutsk, Bill and I achieved an oil change and tightened up the front wheel bearings on the trucks. Bill hydraulic hose seems unattainable; we are either asking the right questions to the wrong people or the wrong questions to the right people.

Whilst we were doing the general check over of the vehicles, Gay and Lyn did the hairdresser thing. In the afternoon, very kindly Seymon from the local 4x4 club organised for us a tour of the Permafrost institute and the Mammoth museum. The institute and its associated 12 meter tunnels study the problems with construction of buildings, roads and pipe lines on the constant -15 degrees frozen ground. Interestingly the permafrost in the Yakutsk area can extend up to a depth of 300 metres and in other parts of Siberia to an incredible 1500 metres. Sixty percent f Russia is covered with permafrost and Australia is the only continent where it does not exist.

Following restocking with food we again lined up at the 7.20pm vehicular ferry for the 90 minute crossing of the Lena River,(560RUB,A$22) in preparation for our journey south towards Lake Baikal. The road was atrocious so we made camp only about 70kms after leaving the ferry.
25th July Distance: 70Kms Camp 27: Start of Bad Road Camp


Thursday 26th July: Our morning pack up was interrupted by a Russia driver looking for fuel for his vehicle, although I am sure he was still very full, fuelled by too many Vodkas. We chattered with each other for a while, but really neither had a conversation. We then just wished each other good luck and goodbye.

The drive was as bad as could be expected. The recent rains had made a very bad road even worse. It took 4 ½ hours to do 100Kms. We called it the multiple choice road because you had many options around the large pot holes, each of the options as bad as any other. The sky was black and it rained on and off, the track slippery in places and our trucks were soon covered in mud. Our speed was between 12 and 25KPH. Previously we had been informed that the road was officially closed however our contact in Yakutsk had organised special permission from the Tourist Board. We had this very impressive signed document but I am sure the many other travellers did not have such permission!

Today from 8.30am to 6.30pm, with a couple of brief stops for lunch and coffee, we did a not so impressive 320Kms. Camping in a road base quarry we called ‘Dendrite Camp’ because of the number of rocks surrounding us with fern like dendritic inclusions.

26th July Distance: 320Kms Camp 28: Dendrite camp


Friday 27th July: We had found information from the BAM book, (The story of the Trans Siberian Railway) that the small town about 30kms off out path, had a Reindeer farm, and we thought we should seek it out. Finding the village nestled in the pine valley beside the river; it was a step back in time. This very ethnic town was tidy and lots of children ran everywhere, apparently the people like to have up to twelve children.

Our vehicles were very much out of place as we drove along the winding streets between the dark timbered log houses, each with the now familiar blue window frames. Finally we had to ask, and Lyn had great problem explaining to the non English speaking locals that we wanted to see reindeer. Sign language can be comical as Lyn firstly points to her eyes then holds her two hands fingers spread above her head. By this time we have quite a crowd gathered and a neighbour of the lady Lyn was talking to volunteered to lead us to a place he knew. Arriving at a house, it dawned to us that they think that we wanted to buy Reindeer antlers. This proved all too difficult, so we were then lead to a house where a young lady of about 20 spoke some English. Typical of the real openness of the people we were invited into their modest home, and following some very rough sketches of Reindeer we were told that only cows are farmed here now! In an attempt to satisfy our quest the young lady then gave us a photo of reindeers. Russia has such wonderful and friendly people. It became an interesting side journey.

This evening we camped off the road beside a small running creek. The setting idyllic between the pine trees and the ground covered with thick moss and lichen. We had just finished a couple of Vodkas and orange when the peaceful setting was shattered as three Russians in their music blaring car arrived to say hello. They lived in the local ‘village’ and had come to the creek for a swim.

Following the initial introductions, they went back to their car and returned with a bottle of Vodka or 3 and the traditional pieces of cucumber and tomato to eat after each straight shot. Both sides could only speak a dozen words of each others language and as we drank the language barrier disappeared. They joined us for dinner as we took Polaroid photos of the group, talked of the vehicles, family, and work. They signed our Russian flag, wrote on our respective T-shirts and then we exchanged them. It was a great evening. Finally, and surprisingly, we out drank the Russians and they retreated to town, two of them very under the weather. One of them called back to Lyn and said in broken English “I Love You”, and I insisted it was the vodka talking!

27th July Distance: 410Kms Camp 29: 3 Russian & Vodka Camp


Saturday 28th July: After last night we needed a hearty breakfast of Bacon and Eggs. Today we wanted to visit the worlds biggest coal mine at Neryungri, arriving there around midday. Fronting up at the mine gate to be told that being Saturday, visitors were not allowed. Not prepared to accept this I continued to smile and gesture that we had come all the way from Australia to see the mine. Just at that moment another worker arrived who could speak some English and offered to take us on a mine tour at 3pm. We eagerly accepted and filled in time in the Neryungri town, wandering around the shops and having shashlik and beer for lunch.
Neryungri is a 30 year old modern mine town with 8 story concrete apartment buildings and wide streets. What we find unusual is, as in all towns is that the shops do not stand out with sign boards and window displays. They are hidden behind concrete walls, sometimes in the basements of apartment buildings. Bill and I found a large camping store behind a thick timber door with only a fishing line advertisement on the adjacent wall. I can understand the lack of window displays etc with the sub-zero temperatures but I think a lesson in marketing would not go astray.

Returning to the mine at the appointed time, we had a great tour of the open cut mine in his vehicle. Everything is on a grand scale. The coal seam is 25metres thick and they have moved an entire mountain to gain access. The haul trucks used are the 240Tonne American Haulpaks, 200Tonne Komatsu and the 185Tonne Russian Delarus. Operating 24 hours a day 365 days a year, in winter at -30 degrees and summer at +30 degrees. We ended up in the machinery workshop of the big trucks and inspected the Haulpak 2,500 horsepower, 8 cylinder diesel engines under rebuild. Very impressed.

That evening we found a great camp site at the end of a track leading up to a radio transmitter. Camped on top of the world we have a commanding view in every direction for 60 to 80 kilometres. In the valleys you could see the gold mining operations scar the landscape, but as the valleys spread up to the rock covered mountains everything in between was covered with a dense green forest of pine and birch. We ate dinner as the colours of a beautiful sunset streaked the sky.

28th July Distance: 273Kms Camp 30: On Top of the World Camp


Sunday 29th July: Today was a driving day. We only managed 350Kms but it took all day. The roads were rocky and needed constant vigilance. One of my shock absorbers came loose and I required new washers, which were made up at a roadside workshop. The mechanic refused to accept any payment and just wished us good luck. Again I am stunned by the generosity of the Russians. Bill also had problems with his auxiliary fuel pump, which we finally managed to by-pass.

At the end of the day we reached the West-East road to Lake Baikal. This new super road is under construction and eventually will join Moscow with Vladivostok. Currently it is all gravel. After 9,000 kilometres, for us it means a new direction of travel as we turn east towards Baikal, Mongolia and Moscow.

Again we have been joined on this road by ‘Transporters’. They are still travelling the roads to all of Russia. There are hundreds, travelling in groups of 6 to 10 at a time. They make up 90% of the road traffic and you can hear them all night on the stony road.

29th July Distance: 334Kms Camp 31: Russian Super H’way Gravel Pit Camp


Monday 30th July: One could only say the ‘super highway’ is variable in condition. One section of 100Kms you are travelling on stony corrugated rock at a maximum of 60-70Kph, the next dodging pot holes at 12-25kph, and the next you could be the by-passing around and through construction sites. These are the worst yet most interesting. You wind through old towns, up and down river valleys, and the track speed is 10-20kph. Even at this ‘speed’ we cracked our other front shock absorber mount. In 10 hours of driving we achieved only 395kms and caused concerning damaged our trucks again. Russia is big!

30th July Distance: 395Kms Camp 32: Big Quarry H’way Camp


Tuesday 31th July: The road continued corrugated and rocky for 150Kms, and finally we reached the new black top. Driving was deadly quite. A very unusual experience that was not to last. Returning to stony corrugations we arrived in the town of Chernyshevsk, where we refuelled and managed to get the shock absorber mount welded and braced.

The country has dramatically changed. Gone are the Pine and Birch covered hills and mountain valleys, now we have rolling steppe country. Absent of any trees, but covered with a velvet mat of over-green grasses. The broken but very acceptable bitumen road winds up and down hills, in the river valleys are the farm villages. We are further south now, the winter is warmer, and we see herds of cattle.

Camping well off the road and down a creek, we were surprisingly visited by two young men arriving on their push bikes. They had come out fishing and proceeded to cut down a long branch and tie a fishing line and hook on the end. As one fished the other tried conversation with us, eventually when they left, they gave us the only three small fish they had caught.

31st July Distance: 435Kms Camp 33: Field Before Chita Camp

Position: 100Kms East of Chita
Highlights: Yakutsk – Museums & the Permafrost Institute
Bad roads again.
Russian camp visitors.
Worlds biggest coal mine, then more bad roads

Total Distance to Date: 9,747Kms (2237 in 7 days)