Remotest place you have been

Tonga, a weird and surreal experience for sure. People swim fully clothed. And I don't mean wearing a vest or something, I mean jeans, long trousers, shirt, in some cases leaving the footwear on and all.

Rented an apartment facing the ocean by the king's palace. The woman who owned it asked me if I was renting a car.

Me: No, I'm not.
Her: Do you want me to help you sort something out?
Me: No thanks, actually I haven't got a licence.
Her: Ha ha ha! There's no need to worry about that around here, I can arrange something for you by tomorrow, OK?
Me: Ahm, the reason I don't have a licence is because I don't know how to drive.
Her: (thinks about this for a few seconds and rolls her eyes) Well, if you change your mind anyway you have my mobile number.

massdebater

Most remote place I've been is the Door to Hell in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan. Had to drive off road about 10kms across sand dunes to get to it. One of the most spectacular sights I've ever witnessed. Even got to drive a golf ball across the crater!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater

cnocbui

cnocbui wrote: »

...to drop off a new waterpump and a tube of silastic the next morning so I could fix the semi...

Dunno what silastic is...but did the pump sort out the semi?

cnocbui

Deleted User wrote: »

Dunno what silastic is...but did the pump sort out the semi?

Dow Corning 732 RTV silicone. Yes, it was fine. Got us back to Perth without a problem or so much as a drip when we checked later. The Austrian guy, Frank, who owned and operated the semi was planning on taking it to MAN when we got back to Perth to have it checked - my roadside repairs - my guess is they probably left it alone apart from maybe tensioning the bolts with a tension wrench. I had been driving at the time and noticed the temp guage light had come on and asked frank if it was a problem ;-). He nearly had a heart attack and had me slow down and pull over and kept asking me how long it had been like that. I don't think it had been very long. There was still coolant coming out when we had pulled over so I though it likely it was Ok.

Frank hitched a ride with another semi that pulled up to check if we were OK. I told him I thought I could swap the pump out with the tools he had and a tube of 732 silicone/silastic. This was pre-mobile phones so he had to get to the nearest habitation and use a land-line. He was gone several hours before another semi pulled up that was headed east and he climbed out with news, (and some food) that luckily MAN had the pump to hand. This was also prior to the accounting geniuses and their just (actually, not even close) in time inventory ideas.

I think the world was possibly a better place prior to mobile phones, just not in time, PCs, Facebook and the Internet. Certainly the stars at night were brighter and you did things where you actually got to see them.

Grayson

massdebater wrote: »

Most remote place I've been is the Door to Hell in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan. Had to drive off road about 10kms across sand dunes to get to it. One of the most spectacular sights I've ever witnessed. Even got to drive a golf ball across the crater!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater

Always wanted to see that. I think the remotest I've been is in the top of some mountains in the Andes, or in the desert in the altiplano in Bolivia. Maybe in the jungle in Colombia.

nice_guy80

jacksie66 wrote: »

An abandoned mine on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand.

near mount aspiring NP?

Andrewf20

Lake fagnano, north of Ushuaia. Bits of Iceland felt remote like hellnar or the summit of christianartindar.

Also bits of Bhutan in Asia or sitting on the summit of illiniza nord in Ecuador took ages to get to.

Subcomandante Marcos

I've been to a few villages in the Amazon and Andes that are so small and remote that they don't appear on any maps. Once spent three days in a a hilux and canoe with another few lads driving into the jungle to deliver vaccines to a health clinic. Fun times. Except for the snakes and mosquitoes.

Gravelly

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I've been to a few villages in the Amazon and Andes that are so small and remote that they don't appear on any maps. Once spent three days in a a hulix and canoe with another few lads driving into the jungle to deliver vaccines to a health clinic. Fun times. Except for the snakes and mosquitoes.

Ah the Hulix - Toyota's lower and less luxurious version of the Hilux.

Subcomandante Marcos

Gravelly wrote: »

Ah the Hulix - Toyota's lower and less luxurious version of the Hilux.

Sketchy Andean knockoffs.

tomwaterford

jacksie66 wrote: »

An abandoned mine on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand.

While well travelled by tourists.....Franz joesf and fox glaciers are absolutely hours from anywhere

WestWicklow1

The 600 kms of desert piste between Nema (Mauritania) and Bamako (Mali) in 2008.

Followed the arrow on a Garmin 276C.

You wouldn't believe what I was driving

Greybottle

The 1300km from Reggane in Algeria to Gao in Mali. One place en route called Bordj Mokhtar that you had to hit for immigration. It's all desert, no tar. Follow tracks where visible.

Apart from that it's following a compass dead south, no GPS back then. Met one or two camel herders and that was it.

Driving alone to Waw El Namus in Libya. 200km of desert. Was there on my own for 3 days enjoying the solitude when 12 German 4x4's showed up in a tour group.

Canis Lupus

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I've been to a few villages in the Amazon and Andes that are so small and remote that they don't appear on any maps. Once spent three days in a a hilux and canoe with another few lads driving into the jungle to deliver vaccines to a health clinic. Fun times. Except for the snakes and mosquitoes.

Some racket in that place at night isn't there.

redcup342

Some f*cking dirt road up in the Mountains in the middle of Sri Lanka.

Stupid dutch guy managed to drive into a ditch, spent the next 3 hours building a ramp out of stones to get it out.

As a rule, never leave a Dutch guy drive on any hills, they just don't know how to.

Subcomandante Marcos

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Some racket in that place at night isn't there.

Ah you get used to it. Eventually.