In 2019 Daryl and Janine drove 7,123 kilometres across the Russian Far East and Siberia. Friends and family thought they were mad. This is Janine’s account — her words, her story.
Why did you go to Magadan?
This was the question we were asked the most often while travelling through the Russian Far East and Siberia, even from the people that lived there. For them it was a cold miserable place at the end of the world. Back home our friends and family were just astounded. Why are you going there? It’s cold! Really very easy to answer. We can’t take 3 months off work to do the Silk Road so this trip came up. Run by a kiwi, have the car to ourselves but have help if needed. An ideal road trip for Daryl and I.
Four days, four flights and four time zones later we finally arrived in very remote Magadan and were met by Kiwi Greg and his Russian partner Olga. No it wasn’t freezing cold, the roads were all good, the hotel was perfect, Greg and Olga were great. What more could we want? Daryl and I had left NZ with no real expectations apart from having had the roads described as extra ordinary and the hotels as basic.
I found Magadan an amazing place. A quaint town surrounded by natural beauty, which was not dissimilar to NZ. And there were no tourists. We had an amazing opportunity to have a tour with a local guide. The highlight for me was foraging for berries and pine nuts. I can now see why pine nuts are so expensive to buy as they are a mission to remove from the cones. While foraging it is recommended that you have a whistle just in case a bear appears.
Our actual road trip was from Magadan to Novosibirsk with 20 days of driving. We departed in our Toyota Land Cruiser on the first day, full of confidence and excitement. To drive up the Kolyma Highway a mere 450 km that we estimated around 5 or so hours. We never achieved the estimated 90km/hr. The first 150 km was sealed road, maybe a bit bumpy but easy, how naive were we. We stopped for tailgate morning tea, hot water was boiled, Greg smiled when he realised I wasn’t a princess and could pee behind a tree, and we learnt what 3 in 1 was. Coffee, milk and sugar in one.
For the next 20 days this was our very adventurous and intrepid road trip. The scenery was spectacular and ever changing. Going in autumn gave us the chance to see the leaves on the trees change overnight from green to a spectacular orange and also experience some of the challenges living in such a cold climate. We were lucky to get caught in an early winter snow storm, which turned the steppes and trees white. Once further south the landscape transformed into rolling pasture. Immense farms with massive hay stacks were amazing. Everything was big. The rivers were huge and the mountains imposing.
Morning tea done, nature attended to, and spirits high. With full tummies and empty bladders off we went with Greg in front just giving warnings, via the radio, of bumps detours and anything else that appeared on the road. We then hit the gravel. Not too bad. Much like NZ gravel but it just kept going. Then the large stones appeared which turned into the very special Magadan mud and pot holes that would swallow my SLK. Then it dried out and the dust appeared. So thick Daryl could not see a metre in front when we had cars coming towards us. Ladas and Uazzies (UAZ-452) appeared out of nowhere travelling at twice our speed and then there was the never ending piles of gold mine tailings and abandoned concrete style housing blocks. We arrived at our 1st nights stop, in Susaman, after 12 hours on the road.
On the first day we got to experience filling up with petrol. The routine was to estimate how much petrol was required, calculate the cost, inform petrol attendant and pre pay, unhook nozzle from whatever weird contraption it was attached to, stand while petrol is slowly pumped into tank. We had experienced this routine while in USA but this was with equipment from a different era. Where would we have been without Olga to translate? Probably still standing beside the car waiting for help.
Greg is an expert at finding those out of the way roads which gave us such an interesting insight into the real Siberia. These involved stones as big as my head, detours that appeared out of nowhere, dilapidated bridges, puddles covered in thick ice, trucks over the side of the road and a few river crossing. Cows, goats, sheep and horses that grazed freely and dogs that begged for food. Daryl loved it. Apart from the first day when my back was killing me it was all fun with a lot of patience required and coping with the never ending quiet. No radio stations meant Daryl had to talk to me, or Greg kept us entertained with his never ending banter via the 2 way radio. We had several days of snow and driving on roads thick with ice. Winter was coming so piles of grit had been placed on the sides of the road. Shovel your own grit if you get stuck.
Daryl drove with such expertise we were allowed out by ourselves with no supervision to visit Lake Baikal. Not only did we have to self navigate but also locate museums with no idea what museum looked like in the Cyrillic alphabet. By this stage we knew the words for toilet, coffee, stop and attention. Lake Baikal, the largest body of fresh water in the world, freezes over for 8 months of the year and becomes a highway. This would be one thing we would like to go back to experience.
Over the 20 days we stayed in a variety of hotels. Greg always gave us the low down on the accommodation, via radio, ten minutes before our destination. Some were basic, some were spectacular. One involved a pull out couch to sleep on and water that had to run for 30 minutes before it was warm but still brown but then others were suites suitable for the President. All were clean although one hand towel and one bath towel per couple was normal and single duvets on double beds the standard bedding. Cubicle showers, not always attached to the floor were interesting if rocked. There was only one day where we didn’t have WiFi so I was very happy to get my daily Riley, our grandson, photo.
The dreaded toileting while on the road was solved very early in the trip. The trees were always more inviting than the long drops, also used by the truckies. And yes wee steams in -6.
Food was surprisingly good or surprisingly stodgy. When we weren’t sure what we were eating Daryl’s go to food was Pancakes with condensed milk and berry jam. While mine was Plov, a rice and meat dish. Daryl also enjoyed several bowls of Bosch soup and we do think the beef kebab was actually horse. Olga was always on hand to translate the hand written menus.
An interesting night was when we were invited out for dinner with the Toyota Land Cruiser club. It was a very enthusiastic small group who would love to visit NZ. Unfortunately a lot of the members either work for the military or FSB and are not allowed to congregate in restaurants with foreigners.
On the last night in Novosibirsk Olga asked if we wanted to go to the Ballet at the Opera House. How could we said no. At the chance to go to a Russian Ballet in Russia. A memorable experience as we had front row seats in the largest Opera House in Russia.
We always felt safe and the people we met were so friendly and welcoming. While travelling I don’t tend to get into the politics of the country however we did notice that Putin is well-liked and respected. A lot of money is being put into the infrastructure such as road works, hospitals and schools. This is to encourage young families to move into Siberia.
Would I recommend this trip? If you don’t mind the long drives in conditions you would never experience in NZ and you are looking for an unusual, picturesque and exciting adventure then go for it. Just remember patience tolerance and an adventurous spirit is essential along with good balance for those toilet stops.
Trip statistics
- Toyota Land Cruiser 177 – +600,000kms
- Km travelled – 7,123km over 20 days
- Flat tyres – 4 (3 in one day)
- Running out of petrol – 1
- Police checks – 4
- Coldest temperature – minus 6
- Hottest temperature – 29
- Arguments – believe or not, none.
- Stressful moments – too many to number
- Unsure where we were – numerous
- Vodka consumed – let’s not count