Today is the next day of the rest of your life   And so it happened.  We stepped out of Eileen The Campervan for the very last time.  It was one of those important moments in life.  One of those moments when you wonder if you have made the right decision, but tell yourself “of

Travel requires time and movement. We’ve got the movement, but have we got the time?   We woke up on Friday morning to hear the alarming news that Britain had voted to leave Europe; let’s hope they can survive this decision.  I’m finding it sad to think that there are so many people in Britain

Some of the best moments of our lives have happened while we’ve been travelling   We popped Eileen in the car park and checked in to our friend, Maxime’s Le Parc Hotel in Obernai.  We stayed here near the end of our first trip in Eileen, back in 2012 and in Bondi, in January, he

Yet another glorious day to be thankful   Monday was one of those memorable days; both confusing and amazing. We left Camping Gaienhofen in Germany and drove into Switzerland to spend a couple of hours dawdling around Stein Am Rhein, a town full of beautifully painted buildings.  When we strolled down to the edge of

Rain is definitely made of wet stuff   Mid-morning, we left Austria and drove into Liechtenstein, another small principality tucked into a tiny corner of Europe. There were no guards on duty at the border controls, maybe they don’t work on Sundays, so we drove straight in. It rains there too and while we were

When you’re in a campervan wet weather is totally unwanted, a bit like finding a wet cowpat outside your campervan door.  Not that this has happened to us and God forbid it ever does……   We left Natterersee and Innsbruck on Thursday morning and drove west along the Inn Valley to St Anton am Arlberg. 

Life is definitely speeding up Goldenes Dachl is now a museum of everything about Emperor Maximillian I.  We didn’t go in, but we rather liked the front porch; thought about putting one like it on the front of our house though it might be a little ostentatious in Naremburn….   We each purchased an ‘Innsbruck card’ and

Two small snails ‘hurried’ across our patio…….   We were expecting rain on Saturday morning, but the clouds just hung gloomily in the sky, so mid-morning we set of into Cortina D’Ampezza.  It was a lovely walk across flower-filled meadows to the picturesque town surrounded by the spectacularly dramatic Dolomites.  We stayed for lunch and

Do a little happy dance.  Do it today and smile   On Wednesday night it wasn’t trains or terrible entertainment that kept us awake.  Storms rumbled through constantly and at times the rain was hammering on the roof.  Even though we knew we were going to leave San Marino in the morning, we hadn’t bothered

Life is more enjoyable when you have someone to share your stories with   A couple of hours spent ambling around Peschici, a drive through Rodi Garganico, a drive around the Lago di Vareno and the Lago di Lesina completed our very enjoyable time in Puglia.  Whether you want to call it Puglia or the

Some of the most amazing experiences in life happen when you’re travelling; when you leave the well-known and step into the unknown.  Things will catch your attention, open your eyes and stir your mind.  And hopefully the weather will be good………   Saturday heralded Rodney’s birthday, with a cooked breakfast, good showers and a farewell

If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen …….…oh we are!   The first town we drove through on Wednesday morning was thoroughly entertaining. Putignano, for us, was a chicane of jay-walking pedestrians, unexpected car doors opening, diagonally parked vehicles, some of them on zebra crossings and a few on junction corners, plus

Beguiling and bewitching, that’s a drawcard! It was a lovely drive west past endless Puglian dry stone walls enclosing ancient olive tree groves. Poppies and cornflowers were scattered through the grasses and the view of Ostuni looked fabulous in the hot morning sun. We drove through Cisternino and on to Locorotondo for Monday’s ‘morning meander’.

Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans   I felt a little sad to leave our pitch at Fuscolaro, but we couldn’t stay there for ever, enjoying the good showers, the lovely beach and the peace and quiet; we had places to go and towns to see.  We drove around

Up and down. East and West.  Back and forth.  It’s all in the art of travelling     I loved waking to the sound of breaking waves and we had both become quite fond of our little spot of Paradise at Camping Paradise, so we cooked up a storm on Sunday morning, lazed on the

You will do foolish things in life, but make sure you do them with enthusiasm   No more spectacular sights of the sun setting into the sea, but on Friday evening a full moon rose out of the ocean and created a lovely shimmering silver path across the sea to Eileen’s back window.  A glimmer

Tu sei qui  –  you are here   On Thursday morning, Etna’s peak was annoyingly covered in cloud.  The grumbling had stopped, or at least we couldn’t hear it. On the road out of Nicolosi, the land was quarried on both sides and in between each quarry were huge mounds of solidified lava, interspersed with

Which principle is the principle one?

Conversations and laughter   Derek and Helen turned out to be Aussie-Poms, just like us, and they’re doing what we’re doing each year flying to England, picking up their campervan and nosing around Europe for months. They were two of life’s cheerful people, the sort who lift your day and leave you looking forward to

Stop, peer, look a bit puzzled, then smile and maybe even laugh   “I’ve got it covered. If we go out to the bus stop just after 10am, we can’t possibly miss the 10:15 bus, or the 10:20 bus to the temples.  After that there’s a half-hour wait”.  We got there at 10:00am, along with

When all else fails, let off some steam   We are definitely all tangled up in confusing weather.  One day it is quite nice and the next day it’s pouring with rain.  And the last time I checked, it is warmer and sunnier in autumn in Sydney AND in spring in Hertford.  So what are

The element of surprise can often be wonderful. And sometimes not……   “Are we in Scotland or Sicily?” These were the first words Rodney uttered on Tuesday morning as the rain crashed down on Eileen’s roof and she swayed with every huge gust of wind.  I peeked through the curtains and could see white horses

Sometimes the more you ponder, the more there is no real answer   And on the last day of April on the coast of Calabria, we pulled out our swimmers and sat on the beach for a couple of hours soaking up the sun.  We ate breakfast, lunch AND dinner outside and hoped that the winter

Blessed are the sunny wash days.   “Don’t be silly”, I said. “That is far too far to drive in one day in Eileen”. “I’ll be tired, she’ll be tired, we’ll all be tired” But we did.  555 kilometres in all.  On Tuesday.  And all that time, the main thing we noticed was the number

Does the sun shine more brightly after rain?   We left Camping Le Spere fairly early in the mist and rain, we knew it was going to be a very wriggly road down the Futa Pass to Florence, which it was.  We then relied on the GPS to get us to, very new, Camping Firenze,

If you could choose anywhere in the world,  where would it?   The drive south from Luzern was spectacular, really quite outstanding. Our first diversion was for Rodney to nose around Weggis for a while, to find the apartment that his family stayed at when he was only six years old; we think we found

Rodney loves the mountains, but I need a beach to make me truly happy, and I do understand that there will never be beaches with rolling surf anywhere up a mountain.  But you can love a classic movie like The English Patient even if there isn’t a gorgeous actor like Jude Law in it, and

A good story needs an interesting life……     April 18th means we are in the second half of April, which is well into Spring and we would have thought it would be a bit warmer by now.  So when I stepped outside early in the morning, I was a bit taken aback to find

When you have nothing else to do, do something.   Four years ago we were campervan novices, but now we feel like seasoned veterans. That is until a policeman on a motorbike pulls you over and, rather dangerously, makes you back up the hard-shoulder of a freeway to the previous junction and asks you to