Our border crossing into Libya went surprisingly smoothly even though it was three hours before we were on our way. On the Egyptian side it was a labyrinth of paper work and bureaucracy for the vehicle and the returning of the Egyptian licence plates. On the Libyan side we unwittingly enlisted a very helpful 'fixer' who voluntarily, as it turned out, helped us with all the ins and outs of entering Libya. This included a taxi ride to the border town of Amsaad for our Libyan licence plates, in a wonderfully beat-up historical Peugeot - very little lining left inside, totally worn-out seats, door handles that worked intermittently and the now familiar engine start-up by connecting the wires under the dashboard. But with a smiling and friendly driver, who of course spoke only Arabic, we had our introduction to the welcoming and friendly Libyan people.

We spent our first night in Tobruk, well known to Australians for the legendary 'Rats of Tobruk' and the siege during WWII. We hadn't planned to stay, but with all three ATMs in town out of order, and needing Libyan dinars for fuel and accommodation, it seemed the best option. We were pleased we did because we learnt so much more about the Australian involvement there. We were made to feel very welcome by some of the locals, who wanted to be sure we visited the war cemeteries and the Australian (Fig Tree) Hospital, a field dressing station up on a ridge which ran towards the front line a few kilometres away. The Fig Tree, as it's now called, had deep natural caves and was shaded by fig trees, and an off-shoot of the only one which is still standing was planted in the gardens of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. We stayed at the Jaghboub Hotel and the owner lent us a book full of old photos which made it even more interesting.

With only a 5-day transit visa, we needed to keep moving along the coast road, but our next stop was only at Apollonia where we had thought we might have stayed the first night. The ruins here and at nearby Cyrene are not to be missed we had been told, so we stayed at the El Manara Hotel at Apollonia, overlooking the Mediterranean and the ruins. Apollonia was a port as early as 700BC, and was inhabited firstly by the Greeks, and later the Romans when it served as a harbour for Cyrene, 18 km to the west. We spent the day wandering around both sites - fascinating both for the scope of the ruins, and the lack of tourists.

We spent that night at El Fadeel Hotel in Benghazi, ready for a huge day's drive along the coast to Leptis Magna the next day, but revelling in the fact that it only cost A$8.50 to fill a tank with diesel. And a huge day's drive it was - 903kms and 11 hours. We were exhausted, but found a very adequate campsite and a great local restaurant, where the Libyan soup, fish and real couscous made up for the lack of beer or wine in this alcohol-free part of the world.

Leptis Magna was once the largest and greatest Roman city in Africa, partly due to the fact that one of the Roman emperors of the time, Lucius Septimius Severus, was born there. The ruins are wonderfully well preserved, making it easier to imagine the city in its glorious heyday, with the Arch of Septimius Severus making a spectacular welcome to the city. It also has a magnificent theatre overlooking the sea, and extensive, well- preserved Roman baths. We visited on a Friday, which is a holiday in Muslim countries, and so there were many locals visiting that day, which added to the atmosphere.

We found navigating in Libya had its challenges. Our maps for Libya on the GPS are not routable, so finding a destination involves heading for a particular point shown at the end of a straight line from where you are currently trying to navigate. Add to this the fact that every sign along the road is only in Arabic, but fortunately the Lonely Planet has each town or city printed in Arabic alongside the English, so it means the look of the 'word' has to be memorised before you set off. For example, Leptis Magna starts with a circle with a stroke above it, like a head with a hat not attached, and then three strokes like the little letter 'l' above a straight-ish line. And Tripoli starts with a round U and then three tall strokes as it goes along, the last one being the stroke of what looks like a big letter 'b' at the end. But what we call first and last, is really last and first in Arabic, so you can be tricked into thinking that places starting with the same sound might look the same at the 'beginning'. Of course they don't. But we did eventually find our hotel in Tripoli, the details of which would be boring without including the exchanges between navigator and driver, which probably shouldn't be included here.

We spent two nights in Tripoli at the Four Seasons Hotel (not part of the international chain), a great hotel in walking distance of the central Green Square and the Medina, with a decor of polished timber and gold trim, and massive elaborate light fittings which occupy most of the ceiling. Our room looked out over the city, with surprisingly few lights at night. On the very first night we walked to the Athar Restaurant in the Medina, popular with locals and where they serve Algarra - a clay pot with tomato flavoured sauce and some vegetables, with either lamb, seafood or baby camel. Couldn't bear the thought of eating baby camel - ridiculous really as we eat lamb every other day - and so of course we chose seafood. They bring the clay pot next to the table and break the clay pot open by hitting it with a little hammer, releasing the piping hot food onto a waiting dinner plate. Delicious! The walk home was through the brightly lit market streets of the Medina, so we set off, only to become totally lost after obviously taking a wrong turn, and found ourselves feeling vulnerable in slightly too-darkish alleyways. We ended up in what we later realised was the bus and taxi station, and bundled into the first taxi we could find. And Brian (so good-to-travel-with) had the hotel business card in his coat pocket, so the very nice taxi driver knew exactly where to take us. Our vulnerability was probably more perception than reality, as Tripoli is reputedly a very safe and crime-free city, but it was still nice to be back in our hotel room.

The next day we wandered round the souqs of the Medina, which are always interesting, and visited the very Western and plush Bab Corintheans Hotel, where from the 26th floor is a magnificent view of most of the city and the Mediterranean. The coffee and selection of Arabian sweets in the cafe downstairs was good too. That night at the Al Saraya Restaurant, we had another great seafood meal - fried calamari and Tajin Seafood - just can't resist with the sea so close. And tomorrow another border day already!

On the way to the border was Sabratha, yet another ancient Roman city ruin with a towering Roman Theatre. By this time you could be forgiven for being 'ruined-out', but we were still fascinated with marble columns, marble floors, evidence of marble walls, old mosaic floors, and the grandeur of construction and architecture. Simply 'marbleous' you could say, but probably shouldn't. And each of the theatres we had seen was very different.

Our border crossing at Rass Ajdir was trouble free, and we even got a refund for our Libyan licence plates (in Libyan dinars which turned out to be impossible to change to any other currency anywhere). On the Tunisian side we had a long wait for our visa, as we had been unable to organise it before arrival, and disappointingly the very efficient French-speaking official wouldn't budge from issuing only a one week visa, despite our pleading and explaining our wish to see the Sahara Desert. Maybe it was lost in translation, but only a week were we given, and so another speedy visit to a country lay ahead.