6 People 6 Months

Ponte Vecchio in Florence We’ve sadly left behind the wonderful comfort of Sam and Kate’s company, and the cosy house in Lucca (with a washing machine, toilets, fridge and showers! -All the things we’ve so taken for granted all our lives!) But we left feeling refreshed, well rested and excited once we were back in the camper and on the road again. I was glad too, that we were still not anywhere near the end of our trip and still had plenty of new things to see. This actually surprised me, as I was thinking I would be well over it by now. Mind you, it did help to have Florence and Venice at the top of the list of places where we were headed to next! Saturday morning saw us on the road to Florence (second time lucky) using the autostrada this time. We made it to the outskirts in record time and found a beautiful spot to park Poupe for the day and night. It was right on the river that Florence is famous for - surrounded by trees and grass and across the river a massive fores...

Josh in one of the Piazzas in Lucca. This is the famous circular one that once was an arena when it was outside the cities walls. These last few days in Lucca have been just divine. We've mostly stayed at home in the house Kate and Sam have rented, which is very spacious and cool. It has been so wonderful to stay put after moving around so much! But we have also enjoyed seeing Pisa (only about 15 mins drive from here) and Lucca city, which is only about 10 mins. Here are some pictures of our week so far. We got our bikes out and the Ng's hired a crocodile bike which we rode around Lucca's city walls. Very fun! A beautiful house I saw from the wall. We went for a beautiful walk just down the road from where we are staying. It was super hot, but the country air was buzzing with warm summery aromas. Fabulous! Look at these amazing snails! This fence line was covered with them, big and small (can you see those tiny ones?). I think they climb...

The Leaning tower of Pisa On Saturday we were off to Florence so that we could park up on the outskirts, get up super early the next day, and bike into the center so we could join the cue for the museum of Florence. (We had heard that all national museums in Italy are free on the first Sunday of every month.) And then Joy of Joys... we would be going to Lucca to stay with friends Kate and Sam in a villa!!! We had been looking forward to this moment for so very long. It was often heard in the camper "Oh, I can't wait to get there!" (this is months prior!), "how long to go till we're there?" and "How long are we going to stay there again?" Sam and Kate are kiwis who we know from Motueka (they just live 5 mins down the road) but now live in Munich, and they have three children similar ages to ours so it was much anticipated that the girls will have some mates after so long. An outside dinner at Villa Checco View from the window Pou...

Our view on the morning of our first day in Italy. A very nice welcome indeed! (San Lorenzo) We drove through the Italian border late  on Tuesday  night and kept driving till we reached San Lorenzo. In the morning we were treated to a wonderful view as we woke up. – The sparkling blue sea stretching out from beneath our feet, as we had been blessed to find a park right on the edge of a road that overlooked the ocean.  I got up earlier than the others this time as I was keen to explore our new destination and then Phoebe and Fern joined me for a before-breakfast-swim. Lovely! It was already a delicious 30 plus degrees so a swim was just the thing. We decided to get the bikes down and ride into the little town to find the usual things- water, toilet and internet. (Only toilets were found in this trip – internet hotspots have been very scarce.) It felt good to have the freedom of the bikes again as it has been some time since we’ve used them.  Italy fee...

The Human seal colony on the Cote d'Azure On Monday  we were in Cassis, which is right on the coast – Cote d’Azure. Lots of fancy buildings here, all piled high on the rocky mountains surrounding the sea. And the sea is really something to look at for sure. It’s not called Cote d'Azur for nothing! The water is a brilliant azure blue, as the rocks and sand are mostly white on the coast. The water is so clear – the visibility the best we’ve ever seen.  Parking was hard work that day, but we finally managed to find a spot on a steep hill above the town and started our walk for the day. Our plan was to walk a couple of hours to a cove which was recommended in a guidebook as a gorgeous swimming spot away from the crowds. Well – everyone must have had that book as when we began on the actual track there were another 40 or so people walking alongside us! Ha-That’s right – we’re not in NZ! How did we think walking over a treacherous mountainside would put off other people...

Looking over old Carcassone town On Saturday  we woke to the sound of the town clock chiming the hour, roosters crowing and a tractor passing our campervan. Ahh France. It’s so lovely to be back! We drove over the Spanish border the previous morning and started noticing the main roads thorough-faring through the quaint little towns and villages again, a bit more greenery and the diesel prices creeping up too. The internet 'wall' we found (near our camper spot!) Our destination this time was Carcassonne, so we found a little village nearby where we could stay for the night. We were back to the French camping spots which almost always have a toilet, water, and this time internet as there was a library right next door. Yay! The toilet was one of those squatting ones which was the first time we’d only had that as an option, and a few of the girls refused to try it, much to their own discomfort! It would have been easy to spend quite some time in that vill...

San Jose San Jose was our next place to visit. It is a small little village on the east coast. This area on the east is the driest in the whole of Europe. It is very barren and hot with a stiff breeze blowing in off the coast most of the day, which is a relief as it is so hot. And so very beautiful! The colours of the landscape are so vivid – re d d ish-brown of the earth, yellow of the grass, light blue of the sky and deep blue of the sea. Just glorious! We parked in a campervan spot that was just on the edge of town , where we could bike to the sea – only about two minutes away . The sea had breakers crashing onto the shore which made it a little bit wet getting out in the kayak much to the girls dismay! The first day we drove a little further round the coast to another beach which we found packed with sun worshipers braving the strong wind, so we walked up the dunes and over the cliffs to another little beach which had a bit more shelter and a lovely reef for snorkeli...