October

PANDA NO LONGER RUNNING

P is now at work in AUSTRALIA

AND A IS AT HOME IN NZ

Africa Update

We left Zanzibar via Dar es Salam and through the south of Tanzania to Malawi. In Malawi we stayed at the Lake at a lovely beach resort before moving on to Lauwawa forest lodge for three nights however we had to evacuate the lodge due to forest fires which we missed by a few metres. We have now driven through to Lusaka the capital of Zambia and will be heading tomorrow to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. We should be able to get email and hopefully update in Livingstone.

Hope all is well, we can pick up our emails every three days or so, so email us any news.

Again very sorry for the lack of posts (there is Italy and Paris Missing we will add at some point if we can), Africa is not especially well endowed with internet cafes and those it does have all seem to run off the one dial up connection for the whole of Africa. Anyway excuses out the way our trip is going fantastically well. Africa as you would expect is very eye opening in many ways. Our group is great and we have been very lucky with our game viewing having already seen Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Lions etc. The best viewing came in the Serengeti when we watched close range a Cheetah chase down a Hare coming close enough to whack it with its paw but the Hare managing to drop down its hole milliseconds before its heads would have disappeared down the Cheetah’s mouth.

We are now in Zanzibar about to go back on a boat to mainland Tanzania. For the last 3 days we have replaced dirt, bumpy roads, and tents with hotels white sand beaches and cocktails.

France (Part 2)

Next stop on our tour of the Cote d'Azur was Antibes Juan les Pins. Great place to stop the camper if wanting to visit Nice, Monaco and Cannes.

We expected a lot from Cannes, the city where movie stars all flock to once a year. However the weather did not hold out for our day trip to the famous town. Cannes is very similar to St Tropez but without all the glitz and glamour that St Tropez seemed to have. A walk around the shops, purchase of the most expensive lollies in all of France and a look at the boats and we were ready to head back to Antibes for a swim before dinner.

Nice was a beautiful city and one which we would love to go back to. It has a stunning harbour and historic town. We managed to arrive in time for the markets and were very disappointed not to be able to buy lots.

Next stop Monaco, when we finally managed to find our way out of the train station we had a fabulous time surrounded by luxury cars and yachts. Within minutes we saw a red ferrari being driven by what looked like an 18 year old boy. Feeling very jealous we then wandered down to the marina where we found the place where you could hire the ferrari for the hour and drive around the formula one track. We managed to spot all the big name cars all of which seemed to be parked outside the casino. Unfortunately we were turned away from entering the casino as we didnt have any ID on us probably a lucky escape for our bank balance but disappointing all the same.

France (Part 1)

After leaving Geneva we headed south to Annecy, a small historic town close to Mont Blanc and on a very pretty lake. Here we started our now daily purchase of bagette, cheese and ham. Phil had visited Annecy previously in 2007 while driving Betty over to Italy with Matteo. Matteo you will be pleased to know the dancing old man at the camp ground is still well.

Next stop was Lyon, which meant Beaujolais sampling and a nice meal in the gastronomic and beautiful old town of Lyon. We were at this point staying off the motorways and avoiding the horrendous road tolls made worse by the fact that Betty was over 2m high. We took the back roads into the Vacores, a set of ruggard mountains which Phil explored on his 2hour run which was meant to be 30minutes but he got lost. After a nights stop in Orange we moved to the heart of the Cote du Rhone wine region and a little town called Chateauneuf du Pape. After shunning the over priced 17euros a day bikes for rent and opting for more money for wine purchases, we headed off on foot to do some serious wine tasting. Our first few wine houses we got a serious telling off for not holding/smelling or swirling the wine properly - so we apologised each time and said sorry Mr French Man please show me how again on another bottle of your lovely wine. Adrienne even got a telling off for not holding her glass properly when it was filled with water!!! By the end of the day we were pros or at least in our own minds we were which could have just been the 35 degree temperature and all the walking. Chateauneuf du Pape, meaning the 9th charter of the Pope was a mere 20km drive from Avignon our next stop.

Avignons main claim to fame was that the Pope, well 3 popes, lived here in the 1300s xhen they were having a few troubles at home in Rome. Needless to say the pontifical court had a bit of money and in the 70 odd years they were in Avignon they made quite a nice palace etc. In Avignon we heard that Adriennes Mum operation had gone well and so we had a celebratory bottle of the local red and meal out in her honor (which of course was one of the many things that we choose not to include as a travel expense against our budget - creative accounting!!!) The shock did come however when Phils steak came out well done and he had asked for it rare. Who would have thought that we would have to send a steak back in France cause it was over cooked!!

Next stop the beach!!!! After much anticipation by Adrienne and some (quite a lot) of whinging by Phil (it being too hot, too crowded, camping grounds too expensive etc etc etc) we arrived on the Cote d'Azur via a quick stop in Marseille. St Tropez our first stop was great with a camp ground in the middle of a vineyard and a 5 min walk to the beach and to top it all off a covers band playing Crowded House! We had a great time at the beach however the next day had to walk for 2 hours to get to St Tropez as the bus driver did not stop at the allocated place grrr. St Tropez would have been less than impressive if it was not for the super yachts and the herds of super rich that come with them. We spent most of the day looking at the boats and spotting some good ones for Uncle Brian. Luckily we got a lift from a Belgium couple some of the way back, they had a car and no map, we had a map and no car so all worked out well. Our walk back along the 3km of beach towards our campground, revealed that the French's attitude to the need for bathing suits is as everything liberal.

TO BE CONTINUED