We left Wadi Rum and drove to Accaba to catch the ferry to Egypt. On the way we saw loads of army vehicles parked along the roadside in full desert camoflage. We were waved to stop by a Jordanian solder and as the vehicles were turning around in the middle of the road. He asked us where we were from and if we knew this platoon. It turned out to be the 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards on manouvers and they were actually just near the border crossing back into Iraq.

We arrived at the ferry station at about 11.15 and were told the ferry was at 12.00 so we would have to rush. We hurridly paid our departure tax, got our passports stamped and went for the tickets and they then told us it would be 2p.m. We went outside to wait and we eventually borded at 3.30 and then had to wait until everything was loaded. We left at 5.p.m. on the 'slow boat to China'chugging along at snails pace belching out diesel fumes. The night was already hot, sticky and humid and of course nearly every guy on the ferry smoked (there were only about 4 women including me) We had no food as all they sold was crisps and pop so a Jordanian woman took pity on us and gave us some of her picnic of pitta bread and cucumber! At 9.p.m. we docked and had to wait until 10p.m. to disembark again chocked to death as we sat in the truck waiting to drive off and al the wagon drivers started their engines. That was the easy bit!!!!

We drove off into the docks and didn't have a clue where to go. There were no signs to follow and it was pitch black. We followed the trucks and finally arrived at customs and luckily we asked a tourist policeman what to do and he took us under his wing. He took Peter from this window to that window and from this office to that office to change dollars to Egytian pounds, pay his vehicle insurance, get his carnet stamped. By the end of it all Peter had two files with all his paperwork. They guy kept bringing papers to me at the truck saying keep this you will need it and keep that you will need it. I had two customs vehcle inspections, luckily only cursory ones and not the full everything out of the truck and camper variety. It was lucky I had done our homework because we also had about 3 chassis no checks, checks that we had a fire extinguisher fitted and we also knew we had to have Egyptian number plates as well. We think we did it in record time, one and a half hours as we have read horror stories of 8 hours. We gave the copper 10 GBP for his help.

We left the docks and handed out all the bits of paper and eventually we were on the road into Nuwieba looking for a hotel. We finally got to bed at 1 a.m. exhausted.

The next day we drove to Dahab on the coast and we really like it here. People come here to dive in the Gulf of Aquba and it is very much a laid back hippy sort of place. We couldn't find a camp site so we asked a small dive hotel on the beach front if we could camp in their grounds. He said he had never done that before but said we could and it was brilliant. They had hot showers and we even had electricity to plug the camper in. The staff were more than helpful and one of the young lads even did 2 washloads of washing for us. The place is full of young people with lots of restaurants and bars and shops and is something we haven't come across now for weeks. We even managed to have an Indian meal last night which was great as we were getting a bit fed up with the repetitive food. We sat in a bar til 11.30 watching Man Utd in the Champions Leage whilst it was all happening around us with a full blown disco in another part of the bar.

It is amazing what pleasure you get on this trip from the simple things in life, getting your washing done, the truck cleaned, updating the website, finding a Daily Mail, a real cappucino and an Egyptian Stella for 50p ...total heaven!!!