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Hi All

Brent played with the settings on the blog comments and we've had some e-mails saying that it is really hard to post a comment - he has now re-played with it so hopefully it is now easier for you all. Keep the comments and e-mails coming - we love to hear from you all.

Thursday 25th June

Boa Tarde
We had a great day exploring Gibraltar. Gibraltar is part of the British Colony so we felt like we were in Britain for the day – at least we could speak the language fluently. The Rock of Gibraltar which was many many years ago attached to Africa is definitely spectacular. We caught the cable car to the top of the rock and it was amazing standing there being part of the British Colony and seeing Spain in one direction and Africa in the other. To get into Gibraltar the road crosses over the airport runway – so if a plane was to come in the barrier arms go down – it felt funny driving over it.
From Gibraltar we stayed the night in Tarifa and we were only 15km from Africa so the next day we boarded the ferry and heading into Tangier. We are struggling to be able to describe Tangier – we went on a guided day tour, thank goodness! We started the tour with a bus ride around the town – it was like stepping back 50 years with donkeys laden down with heavy loads heading to market, terrible roads and even worse houses. Rae had a ride on a camel which she wasn’t too sure about –it was a little bit wobbly to say the least! We then walked around the Kasbah which is an enclosed city – this is where we were thankful of having a guide. We thought we were hassled in Bali – Tangier could be a very frightening place if you were lost – I am sure it would be easy to go missing here. We walked through the market and saw live chickens for sale – the only difference to our ones are these ones had been dyed (see photo). We had a Moroccan lunch before having to go back out to the Kasbah. Rae struggled once again (like Bali) seeing all the kids trying to sell a packet of chewing gum and telling her they hungry and please please some money – Ok so we now have a souvenir camel. In the cafes we saw only men and there were only men (in their Kaftans) and boys trying to sell things on the streets. We saw lots of women in their traditional dress in the markets and walking the streets. Tangier was definitely an experience! We were pleased to be back in Spain and the first thing we did was to have showers.
The following day we drove to Seville through the beautiful village of Arcos De La Fronteira where friends of ours had stayed for a week. We are often amazed at the different landscapes we see – this time while driving we saw fields and fields of sunflowers – very pretty! When the weather is 38degrees they should grow well!
We spent a day in Seville and once again did the hop on hop off bus tour. Seville is also a real mixture of old and new. The temperature was 39.5 here so after walking around the old part of the city we were ready to get back on the road.
On Tuesday 23rd we drove into Portugal so another new language, road signs, supermarket shopping etc is again for us to learn.
We spent the first two nights in Portugal in Lagos. Lagos is a real party town that is surrounded by 3 large walls and the beach. The camping ground was about 10 minute walk into the main village and also 10 minutes (in other direction) to the most beautiful little beach. The beach is postcard perfect – big rocks, clear blue sea and golden sand. We spent an afternoon at the beach before heading in to the town to experience the night life – great fun. From Lagos we went to Sagres which is the most southern point in Portugal, we saw some great views over the Atlantic Ocean from the Sagres Fortress.
We are now in Zambujeira do Mar on the Southeast coast and the weather is about 29 degrees.

Adeus

Travelling on....

Sunday 14th June
Hola

We had a great couple of nights in Mojacar which is pronounced Mohacker, we spent the days exploring the town on our bikes and then at night sitting at the beach bars sipping on wines and beers taking in all the scenery. You could have a massage on the beach on massage tables right on the waters edge – we did think about it for about half a second but not being show ponies it wasn’t our thing! Mojacar is quite a touristy town but very enjoyable.
After Mojacar we headed further south to San Jose (photos attached) – pronounced San Hosay, remember the song Do you know the way to San Jose I am going back this time ??????? sound familiar – Brent is singing this again to me as I type???? Driving to San Jose you drive through dessert like roads and then come around a corner and there is the deep blue sea with houses/apartments all in stark white up on the hills surrounding the town – very beautiful. Brent went diving here and whilst he enjoyed it he does appreciate NZ waters for the scenery and not to mention the hunt for crayfish. We stayed in San Jose for two nights and took some phone numbers of rental units in case we decide to come back here at the end of our holiday. A beautiful place with great beaches for swimming!
From San Jose we travelled further down the coast and stopped at Almeria to do some groceries – when we walked out of the air conditioned supermarket it was like walking into an oven – it was about 11.00am and the temperature was 39.5 degrees - there were two more temperature gauges confirming this down the road – wow, we put the groceries away as fast as we could so we could drive to get some air through the camper!! We drove to Almerimar which is on the beach and stopped and had some lunch – decided not to stay there as the town had some interesting looking people wondering around – they looked like they had spent their lives in the sun – great dark tans they had!!! Whilst the weather was hot it was also quite windy so the decision was made to head inland. We ended up in a place called Orgiva which is just south of Granada and 335m above sea level. A small village surrounded by some magnificent mountain ranges – whilst sitting a small bar with the locals having a Tinto Verano (red wine with slice of lemon and lemonade) we spotted an eagle soaring above us – what a sight!! On Saturday we walked 2km up a steep hill from the camping ground into the village – this may not sound much but at 10.00am in 28 degrees – we were pleased to jump onto an air conditioned bus and headed into Granada. Granada is a city that whilst the main area is centered around their famous cathedral the rest of the city is very urbanised. We had a walk through the beautiful cathedral (photos attached) and by that time it was 2.00pm and 38 degrees – ah what to do – When in Spain do what the Spaniards do – head to a bar buy a beer and get a tapa. In Granada and its surrounding areas, when you order a beer you get a free tapa – they just bring one out to you so you have no idea what you are going to get – we had Russian salad, chicken nibble, paella, pate and chirozo on bread, olives, fish, croissant type sausage roll, croquettes, bagels – just to name a few – as you can see it was thirsty work visiting this area!!!!
Much of our driving over the last 10 days has been through areas where there are shade houses where they grew tomatoes(and some melons) – if you can imagine Christchurch to Ashburton literally being covered in shade houses that is how big an industry it was here, just huge – unfortunately the bottom has fallen out of the tomato industry and they can’t afford to grow them so about three quarters of the sheds are now empty – this has a big impact on the villages and people that live here – such a shame.
The other really sad thing that we are seeing often each day is great big apartment blocks (usually seaside holiday blocks), hotels and houses that had started being built but with the recession happening here everyone has been ordered off the construction sites – they have just literally walked off – the cranes are still on site as there is no money to remove them and I guess that at some stage they will be needed again. Some of the buildings/new towns that have been finished are now like ghost towns with lots of for sale signs up. The government has had to set up soup kitchens down the coast for the construction and tomato workers to be able to eat. This has of course put the prices for everything up over here and the tourist industry is worried that people may not come down here these July August holidays or if they do they may not spend the money they would have normally. There are 40+million people in Spain, 4 million approx unemployed and there are over 1 million houses on the market – so the world recession is really noticeable here and they are saying it will take at least 2 years to recover. Not sure what is happening in NZ?
We are currently in Torre del Mar in a camping ground right on the beach – the water down here was quite cold so no swimming here for us today even though the temperature is a very pleasant 31 degrees. Not sure how long we will be here for – we will decide in the morning. We are just about to go to the local bar and see if they do free tapas down here.

Rae’s Useless Information:
Banks are open here from 8.30am until 2.00pm and then again (sometimes) from 5.00pm until 7.00pm.
Purple and grey/silver are the in colours for both France and Spain.
Fringes are back in fashion.

Brents Useless Information:
Driving:
Both the French & Spainards love round-a-bouts, they are everywhere. We can be way out in the country and there is a new big round-a-bout, with only option 1 exit to go straight ahead, weird. We’ve used them well though especially when you get to one with about 8 exits and you’re not sure which one, easy, we just go around and around and round until we find the right exit. This has happened quite a few times.
Lot of money spent on roading etc. Huge new motorways, viaducts etc. Actually the road quality is mostly excellent, puts NZ ones to shame.
Driving in the old cities is a bit of a nightmare, the roads are usually very narrow and “the Bitch”, my affectionate name for the female voice on our GPS, seems to send us into some strange, narrow streets. When I ignore her she gets a little miffed and keeps telling me to do a u-turn asap, great thing is I just turn her off, but then Rae imitates her to get me going, haven’t found her off button yet!!! We have had to pull in both mirrors several times with only millimetres spare to either buildings or cars. In narrow roads having vehicles coming the other way I have seen Rae literally suck in her breath and crossing her fingers, scary stuff sometimes.
Can you imagine driving up a windy road, similar to Mt Pleasant but narrower, and when you get to top you turn onto a 6 lane highway?? Driving here is like that all the time, you don’t know what is around the next corner.
Yesterday came under a bridge in the middle of nowhere and there were 2 motorcycle cops in the shade, it looked like he waved me over but then saw the foreign plates and right-hand-drive and changed his mind, I waved at him as we went past. It seems dealing with non-spanish speaking drivers is difficult so most of the time they are left alone.
Boring stuff on the camper.. 2.3 litre 130HP Multi-jet Fiat Ducato. 6 speed, fairly quick, sits on 120kph at only 2600rpm. So far running at 10.2 litres diesel per 100kms, a fair amount on uneconomical hilly terrain so quite pleased really. Done about 5300 kms on trip so far.
Diesel cost the equivalent NZ$2.20 – $2.45 / litre so expensive to fill up. No RUC road tax like NZ though.

Diving:
Yes got a dive in, down to only 60ft but could see bottom of boat clearly from there. As it was a marine reserve I expected to see a lot more. Quite a few smaller fish and got a glimpse of a very large groper that is resident in a big hole but nothing too spectacular. Stayed down for 55 mniutes on a tank, didn’t use air strapping saddles on huge crayfish and riding to surface like back home haha.

Other:
We have stayed at 33 different places since we landed in London 23/4/09.

Wednesday 17th June

No free Tapas in Torre Del Mar but we did bump into an English couple Sue and Danny whom we had met a couple of nights before in Orgiva so enjoyed the evening with them learning more about the area we were in as they had lived there for the last 10 years.
At Sue’s suggestion we headed inland again to Antequera – we parked the camper and wandered through the narrow streets and browsed in the shops – well Brent browsed and Rae bought a couple of things! The temperature once again was about 36 degrees so we checked into the camping ground and headed for the pool. The mountains surrounding the camping ground were quite breathtaking and we could imagine them all covered in snow!
The following day we went to the local market in the village and then drove even further up the mountains to a place called Al Torcal. Al Torcal is 1200metres above sea level with some spectacular rock formations that have been there for over 20 million years (Jurassic Age). The area was once under water – the place itself was quite surreal and as you drove in the rocks looked like lots of villages. As we were walking back to the camper a fox walked by us – less than 6 metres away – lucky Brent had the camera out – he then started calling it but fortunately the fox must of spoken Spanish as kept strolling away. As we were driving back down the mountain we saw 4 booted eagles just soaring in the sky.
We then drove onto Torremolinos where we learnt of the sudden unexpected death of Mike – Brent’s sister Sherrill’s partner – we once again are feeling a long way away and our thoughts are with her at this time. We will remember Mike as a very relaxed, nothing a problem sort of guy and one that made Sherrill very happy.
We have today visited a small village called Mijas which is a very pretty village set against pine forested hills and has narrow stepped streets with great views over the sea and mountains. We watched some flamenco dancers who put on a show - quite enjoyable. We walked for quite a distance around this village opting for our feet instead of a donkey which are the local taxis in this village.
We are now in Marbella and heading towards Gibraltar tomorrow.

Saludos Amigos

Saludos Amigos

Monday 8th June

We had a great time in Valencia, biked around the port and saw the Team NZ Yacht headquarters, whilst the place didn’t have many people around we could just imagine it buzzing. Apparently they are holding the next Americas Cup there. We had a fantastic lunch of chicken and seafood paella sitting down by the beach – yum yum yum.
After tackling the traffic again we drove south through all the orange orchards to Miramar. Miramar is a quiet little village by the sea where we spent a couple of nights. The bikes were great here as the camping ground wasn’t right in the town – we biked through the orange groves into another little village called Piles, however Brent forgot to take any money so we just looked at the people sipping on their cold drinks.
The weather now is averaging about 28 degrees…..a little warmer than back home! The heat is quite different to what we are use to – it is a damp heat and the sun doesn’t seem to burn like at home. We are both starting to get great tans and yes we are using lots of sun block!
After Miramar we went to Santa Pola where we stayed in a camping ground up on the hill and we looked out over the city which we had walked around earlier in the day.
We have stayed in camping grounds every night that we have been in Spain – the Spanish aren’t at all keen on ‘wild camping’ and if the police don’t move you on the locals will and with the amount of graffiti around we are not going to argue with the Spanish. We haven’t seen so much graffiti in all our lives, it is everywhere along with rubbish. We can be driving in the country which is very barren and almost desert like when you come across ‘tagging’. I think they drop all their rubbish on the side of the roads as they are driving to find a piece of building that hasn’t been tagged.
From Santa Pola we spent the afternoon at Mar Menor on Costa Calida (Warm Coast) which is a 170sqkm saltwater lagoon – the water is really warm about 25 degrees. The reputed therapeutic quality of it’s high salt and iodine content had a few tourists swimming and coating themselves in it – we started to put some of the mud on our skins but the smell was terrible so we just enjoyed the swim. The area was surrounded with salt works.
We have just left Puerto de Mazarron south of Cartenga. Brent had hoped to have a dive but when we went to book in found out you must have medical certificate to say you are fit to dive (Spanish Law) and the doctor that does them is only open Tuesday’s and Friday’s – so too hard he will have to wait. We have had a good look around the place which has some beautiful beaches. We had 3 nights here, the bar and restaurant at the camping ground is owned by an English couple so we have had a couple of good nights with them learning about the area and also the different ways of the Spanish - such as they don’t eat until about 10.00 at night – kids included! Last night it was 12.30am when we got home and there were kids about 8 years old still playing!
Found a beach off the beaten path in a place called Calnegre and did the wild thing, wild camping that is (called freedom camping at home). There was 6 campers parked right on the beach so we joined them, all Spanish so couldn’t communicate but at least we knew we could stay overnight in safety. Found a wonderful beach/cove that wasn’t signposted, off some narrow country road, absolutely stunning it was. Sat outside to late and watched the full moon rise over the horizon of the Med sea, it was like a huge orange fireball. Hopefully a couple of the photos will turn out ok.
Anyway one night doing the wild thing was it for us and now in a seaside area called Mojacar. Brent will look into diving here.
We will leave here after 2 nights and head further South where they are known for their Flamengo Dancing and Bullfighting which are keen to go to both.



Recuerdos a Todos

Hola from Spain

Monday 1st June

Hola Amigos

We have now been in Spain for a week – we crossed the border last Monday. It was a real non event and we keep saying are we in Spain yet? We then realised that the old border control areas are still in place but not in use.
The contrast in scenery is very noticeable, in particular you can be driving on a main road similar to the drive into Motunau and you come across a lady sitting on a plastic chair…………
The first three nights in Spain were spent at Platja d’Aro on the Costa Brava. It was a camping ground although I would call it a resort – just had everything from bars, restaurants, beach, swimming pools so we enjoyed 3 days relaxing and soaking up some Spanish sun.

After Platja d’Aro we drove into Barcelona – oh boy don’t know which was worst Paris or Barcelona – Rae did scream once on a roundabout that was unmarked, had 4 lanes driving into it and then the cars seemed to make about 6 lanes – the car in front of us had stopped and Brent was looking the other way with foot still on accelerator!! Of course he had seen the car, he just thought he would go round it with the 7 metre camper?? All good he just stopped in time!! It took us about 45 minutes in traffic to get to the camping ground and after choosing a site right by the sea we had a well deserved drink.
Back to the ladies?? In the plastic chairs… well in the middle of nowhere, at a roundabout or layby there are “ladies” sitting on plastic chairs. They seem to be enjoying the sun, some having umbrellas for shade. We think they must be the Spanish welcoming senoritas as they seem to be very friendly, especially to men in cars that stop and say hello, one guy was obviously very kind and took her for a ride .. or maybe she took him for one. We feel these Spanish welcome ambassadors think they are models as they “work” through daylight hours when we think they should be out at night under the cover of darkness. Anyway Rae managed to get a shot of 2 of these hostesses, in a layby miles out of town, with a couch to keep them comfy, they must have a very good employer to supply them with such luxuries. Mum and our girls would have liked to see these hostesses, better than the ones we used to see on the Manchester St run!!! (photo of Hostesses welcoming everyone, one taking rest on sofa).
The next day we were up early and on the bus into Barcelona, we once again took a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour – these really are the best way to see a place when you have limited time. Barcelona is a real mix of old and new buildings – one of the most famous old ones being Sagrada Familia a big church that was built by Gaudi starting in 1883 until he died in 1926 and is still under construction today – one of the most famous new buildings was the stadium for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The buildings both old and new are mainly built from stone with great creative use of ceramic tiles and wrought iron. Barcelona is now also a popular stop over for cruise ships and there were 6 very large ships in on the day we were there. We had lunch at a restaurant and obviously our Spanish needs much improvement as Rae ended up with a plate of peas for entrée and Brent still not sure what it was that he ate – the mains were as we expected but we couldn’t help laughing at the entrees. After replenishing our energy we headed for the cable car that took us up to Castell de Montijuic which had the most spectacular views over Barcelona - the Castell itself use to be a military prison and is surrounded with wide moats. This is where our camera decided to have a flat battery!! After tapas and a beer with the hoards of tourists, locals and football supporters we arrived back at camp exhausted about 9.30pm.

We always said to each other if anything was untoward in our part of the world we would immediately let our girls know we were OK, however that is easier said than done when we haven’t heard or understood any news since we left home – this came true for us when we got a text from Brooke asking if we were OK as she knew we were in Barcelona and had heard about the riots there – we didn’t even know that Barcelona were playing football or had won or that there were riots. We had heard fireworks the night before and driving through towns people were flying flags over their balconies and we heard one car load of guys yelling – ah oblivion is great although we do miss the morning paper and crossword.

Saturday was another hot day so Cambrills was the place chosen off the map, a pleasant drive down the coast – wow what views of the Mediterranean we got!! (Photo of us looking down the Costa Brava coast towards Barcelona)We also stopped for a bit of a stock up at the supermarket, we really like the Spanish prices more than the French prices – for $50NZ we got a bottle of wine, bottle of Bailey’s, bottle of Sangria, bacon, sausages, yoghurt, loaf of bread, mayo, chocolate, water, lettuce, tomatoes etc. As you can see we are eating a very balanced diet!!
Sunday we decided to head inland for the day and went to Montanejos which is a small village that has natural water springs – the river we swam in was suppose to 25 degrees but Rae reckons it was a cooler 18 degrees – a beautiful peaceful place! We walked up (way up) to the village where they had a medieval market day so sat in the sun and had a beer with the locals – the way they live in their tiny narrow streets without any outdoor living unless you call sitting on the road on their chairs outdoor living, they need to move when a car drives up. Rae was thankful we were on foot in the village not in the camper!
Today we are heading to Valencia and a look around the port where the America cup was held.

Adios Amigos