Come fly with me, come fly, come fly and drive!

Sunday 9 September 2018

We started the day early with a lovely communion service held in one of our rooms where we reflected upon Moses leading the people across the Red Sea (as we would be crossing the Red Sea later this day – although in a hopefully less traumatic manner as the Israelites!) We packed, checked out and waited for our last drive with Sherif, who would be taking us to the airport. Sherif has been an excellent guide during our stay in Egypt, and our guides to come have big shoes to fill!

Transport is always time consuming, and while the flight to Jordan itself was only the same length of time as a flight from Melbourne to Sydney – this was an international flight and it took over an hour for our bags to be processed upon landing.

We met our new guide – Eid – a grandfatherly old Bedouin with a deep Bass voice – and started on our way. The trip from the airport to Petra where we would be staying for two nights is only 250k. But driving in Jordan, while far less hectic and chaotic as Cairo, has its own set of difficulties – road works and single lane sections made for slow travelling. Also remember that this road – the Desert High Way – is one of the areas major transport routes and so was packed with semi-trailers with all sorts of produce to feed the people of the region. 250k took us four-and-a-half hours!

The pain of the day’s travel soon vanished as we approached our destination for the next couple of nights – The Old Village Resort, Petra. We drove into this valley with what seemed like Christmas lights twinkling all around – the lights of the houses on the surrounding hills. It was magical as was our hotel! – The rooms large and comfortable – the restaurant where we had a late evening meal fantastic – all bode well for our visit over the next day and a half to the World Heritage listed site – the city of Petra!

Simple house on road to Petra – square white and made from limestone

A Mosque by the road

Patches of green in a desert setting – highly irrigated but told by guide that water is beginning to be more precious and valuable – something we know all about back home!