We woke up to a magnificent sky display! There was a rain front moving in, and passing right over us. We were in for a wet-weather drive, but that also means a comfortable drive.
We set off for the Hungarian border and soon we knew we were getting near — the long line of trucks gave it away!
Just before the border, we spotted a roadside office issuing Hungarian vehicle vignettes, so we went in and set ourselves up for travel in Hungary!
The crossing into Hungary was the simplest we've had — we were asked for our passports and our vehicle's papers, and then told to park in a parking area set aside for the purpose. After about 15 minutes, a smiling border guard came over to us, returned the papers and wished us a good journey. Instead of our having to go through two checkpoints, one for each country, they have worked out that cooperation between the two smoothes the whole process.
Into Hungary, and the scenery changes again. We were in a flat farmland plain — we still saw sunflowers and corn, but the hay is no longer in those cute Romanian haystacks — now we have rolls or bales of hay. The Hungarians are obviously more into modern farm machinery — or perhaps it's just that they can afford it. No, the type of farming in Hungary is different, on large holdings — Romanian farm holdings seem a lot smaller, less suited to large machines.
The stork population is burgeoning
We were held up at a level crossing for this odd little two-car train
A bike path ran beside the road ...
... and it was not unused
The stork population is burgeoning
We were held up at a level crossing for this odd little two-car train
A bike path ran beside the road ...
... and it was not unused
We made a little detour to Debrecen, a fairly large city about 60km past the border. One reason for this was that we had no Hungarian forints (Hungary has yet to join the Euro Zone), and we had seen no obvious Bankomats so far in Hungary — in Turkey and Romania they are everywhere! So, in Debrecen, we found a shopping centre with a Bankomat and took out some forints. It really makes you feel rich! The exchange rate is about 220 forint to the Australian dollar, so to last us our time in Hungary, we took out 100,000 forint! — sounds huge, but that's only about $450! We also used Macca's to get some Internet time before we continued onwards.
We were on the E71 (M3) highway, a really good road, with truck stops — every second one with a petrol station, and every other one with a restaurant or motel — about every 10 km. We decided to use one of these for the night, about 60km short of Budapest. So there we were, at Horti Pihenöhely — Pihenöhely translates as 'Rest Stop' or 'Service Area'.
Distance driven — today, 167 miles ( 68 km ); to date, 24,131 miles ( 38,835 km )
Stunning sky shots Warren. The roads were sure busy. Yep, the Hungarians will be paying through the nose for those balers and for harvesters for big acres. And they'll kill all their small rural settlements the way SA has done. The Aussies are playing Khazactan in the Davis cup at present. Poor old Llleyton is battling through a tight first set but Groth won his match easily. lleyton and Groth won the doubles last night. I've been working since 7 today and have got quite a lot done-mainly a huge reference list!-not yet on End note so that will be my next heaadache. The lit review is progressing. Oh well will catch up some more tomorrow, love cathy
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