Day 15

Today was no exception from any other day on tour. It was full on and as usual started with something, let's say humorous, from Fraser. He went to sit down and join a few business men in uniform without realising it, which was actually pretty funny. After he figured out where to sit and we finished up brekky we left Canakkale for Istanbul. The bus trip started with Mr Croft telling everyone that we have to wear our seat belts and that's when Lisa checked and discovered her seatbelt worked too well. Her seatbelt wouldn't eject and she was stuck. The driver saved Lisa from eternal life on the bus with some seatbelt tools and she is now okay so don't stress. The scores for "My Tour Kitchen Rules" for Wayne and Rod were revealed. They achieved 23, putting them in first place out of two.

We stopped at a servo for a toilet/ snack break where we discovered a machine that consisted of a giant speed ball you punch as hard as you can and are given a score based on the power of the punch. Jake East was told he had to give it ago and so he did. After hitting this giant speedball and shaking the machine, I might add, he was given a score of 915. This is a reasonable score, but Mr Croft wanted a go.  Jake thought straight away he was going to be put to shame by the big man, although Crofty's punch would scare many it did not score as highly and Easty's. Turns out both boys were put to shame when a big Turkish bloke had swing and smashed both their scores.

Six hours after leaving Canakkale we arrived in Istanbul, our final stop of our journey and experienced our first Turkish traffic jam which was pretty hectic to say the least. Our tour guide Hakan ran down the street getting cars out of the way, he did a good job. Finally we got to our hotel, settled in and headed straight back out into the vibrant city of Istanbul. Tahlia's day was made when she made a new friend with a small Turkish boy aged around three. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and got a few in return along with some hugs and high five making everyone go "aww".

Jodie Hanns got a little emotional when a man approached Luke asking, "where you from?" Luke replied, "Australia" to which the man said, "uh Anzac. Me, you, we friends". This demonstrates the relationship the Turks have made with the Aussies after the effects of the Great War. We visited the Blue Mosque (or the Yellow Mosque, as Kate Varis reckons) and it was simply breathing taking. The Blue Mosque is a church for the Muslim religion so we were told to take off our shoes and for the girls to cover their heads with a nice blue scarf that was provided. We witnessed people praying and took in the significant architecture of the massive structure. We have once again experienced something new and different from our own culture and are appreciative of that. Next stop was the Basilica Cistern which was an underground waterway used to supply water to Aya Sophia Palace. This is another prime example of excellent architecture and sense of history that continues to overwhelm everyone involved in the tour.

Dinner tonight was different and selected by Jodie and Lisa. It was a Turkish treat in that we ate on the floor seated amongst pillows. Dinner was good and we got to experience some Turkish appetisers. Mr Croft was crowned Sultan of the Tour with a crown and robe, which of course pleased him. Scores for tonight's dinner on My Tour Restaurant Rules ranged between what follows:
Entree: 5-6
Main: 7-7
Desert: 2-4
Bonus points for overall comfort: 6
A total of 37 was awarded putting them on top of the leader board.

By Jake and Courtney R

For more pictures of the tour please visit Mr Bylund's photo blog at jebx4.tumblr.com