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Retracing the Oskar Speck Journey
A few years ago someone told me about a kayaker who paddled all the way from Germany to Australia.

Oskar Speck set out in his folding kayak on the Danube River in 1932.  Seven years, 3 kayaks and 50 000km later, he landed in Australian waters.  This has to be one of the most amazing kayak journeys of all time.  I am going to find out.



My plan is to retrace as much of the Speck journey as possible over a series of expeditions during the next 5 years.
In between stages I will be returning to my home in Australia to work.  The route is explained well in this German TV story:



Stage 2 - Turkey to India begins in May 2012

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Paddling with expedition partner Jugoslav Rudovic (from Serbia), Stage 2 will take this new expedition duo as far east as India.
Stage 2 is still evolving. Speck crossed from Cyprus to Syria and then went by bus with his folding kayak to the Euphrates River and travelled through to Iraq, ending up in the Persian Gulf...Due to the political situation in Syria, our plan is a variation to this route. We plan to set out in Turkey in May and paddle east from Taşucu. Then we hope to go overland through Turkey and cross the border into Iran so that we can get back on the water and re-join the Speck route in the Persian Gulf. Currently we are waiting on the permission we need to make this journey in Iran.  In July we will be taking an intermission in order to wait for the Monsoon season to pass in Pakistan and India. From October 2012 and into early 2013 the paddlers will be taking advantage of the post-monsoon weather patterns, paddling east through Pakistan and then down the west coast of India.
 If you can help with suggestions / local knowledge and useful information for Stage 2 then please contact us.



Stage 1 - Ulm, Germany to Cyprus (May - October, 2011), 4224km

Retracing Speck's route, Sandy followed the Danube River (Donau) to the Bulgarian Border.  The route then headed overland to Skopje and entered the Vardar River in Veles, Macedonia.  The Vardar took her to the sea near Thessaloniki in Greece.  Here she began island hopping in the Greek islands all the way across the Aegean Sea to Turkey.  Sandy followed the Turkish coast to Taşucu and was supposed to cross from Anamur in Turkey to Cyprus, however, border regulations being a little different to the 1930's, she found she must go on a ferry to get to Cyprus!  Sandy allowed 6 months to complete Stage 1 but travelled a lot faster than imagined, averaging 1000km per month.  Checkout the online diary, it is a diary of travels by paddle and you can use the information if you are planning a sea kayaking trip in these locations.  Hopefully there will be some inspiration and useful information for other kayakers.

*****DOWNLOAD THE STORY IN PADDLE MAG*****

For Sandy's previous trip website & blog visit: https://netstorage.penrhos.wa.edu.au/slap/ 
The Crocodile attack story is in June 2007...
(Note: when you click on the above link you get a security certificate warning... 
I assure you that the site is very secure and safe to continue to)