Hey All,

Well i just typed a novel and lost it - so now I have to start again! We are currently in a little twn in Italy, weather is still fantastic! So hot while travelling tho - as we play the 'Air Con wastes petrol game'. Since my last update we have been to Portugal, Spain again, through France to Monaco and are now in Italy!

Portugal was awesome. We started off in Porto, which was a really nice old town - just a little over run by pigeons! We cruised aroiund the city on a train, and then down a river on a boat. We also went to a Port Cellar for a tour, and tasting which was quite cool. Then it was down to Lisbon, where we camped on the edge of a road, and cliff, and I was scared we were going to get run over - but we are still alive! We toured the city to by bus, then carried on down to Lagos for 2 nights. Here we met up with the rest of the van tour crew (kiwis and aussies) so was a faily large couple of days! We went to the mst ferrel'est pub i have ever been to in my life - over run by kiwis and aussies! I think the first night we were there there were 3 ambulances called, funnels over the bar and people just blacking out after them and hitting there heads n the tiled floors! After that they had to wear hard hats, solving the problem a. A sea of spew and glass on the floor - A really classy extablishment haha. We beached during the day, and completed a tour of the Grottos by boat. I randomly run into my Aussie cousin that i hadnt seen for 10 years in the camping ground - so was good to catch up!

Then onto Valencia, on the coast of Spain. Here we went swimming, toured the town, walked up the bell tower (bad idea in the heat) and shopping. After Valncia it was onto Barcelona - where I really want to go back too! We walked down the famous Las Ramblas Street, and ate Spanish food and drunk massive beers. Heaps of dodgey characters around at night though! The following day we checked out the sights, and went to the Olympic arena as well.

Driving the coast of France - it was National Day, so the small town we stayed in near Monanco had a huge fireworks display and bands celebrating which was cool. The follwing morning we went to Monaco, and dreamt of being rich while checking out th super yatchs, and massive houses. We watched the changing of the guard at the palace then carried on into Spain, after going swimming at a nice beach!

And now the storey of hw we are in a really random town, using computers! Last night in Verona our van brke down for good (had broke down earlier in the day but Paul managed to get oit going again with his 2 assistants). We broke down on a street that resemblemd Manchester Street in Christchurch, which was OK until it got dark and all the drug dealers and hookers came out and about! Ringing roadside assitance like 3 times they finally picked us up, just as we were trying to figure out what th emrgency number was for Italy - just in case we needed it in the area we were in! The tow truck driver spoke little english - so we jumped in with him and he took us to his garage where we stayed for the night! And now we are waiting for him to hopefully fix it soon - cross fingures!!

Anyhow, best go,

Haylee and Paul