I left Egypt today for my trip into Libya.We drove for about two hours to the border at Sallum and had to go through departure formalities.It seemed to take forever to get out of Egypt and it worried me that if it was this difficult to get out of Egypt, how difficult was it going to be to get into Libya.As it turns out it only took us about half an hour to go through arrival formalities on the other side and our new guide Tarik handled most of it for us.

The only time we had to get off the bus was when they wanted to search all of our bags.Something which I was worried about, as I am carrying an Australian passport with Israeli stamps.I had a feeling this might happen so when I got on the bus in Libya I slid my hand under the Velcro of the seat cover in front of me and slipped my Australian Passport in there until we were safely away from the border.

From the border we went to a truck stop for refreshments and I had a cola drink that tasted a lot like Pepsi, the can even look almost identical, only it was called Saada.We then drove to Tobruk to visit the French and Commonwealth cemeteries.Tobruk was the site of one of the major battles of WWII, a siege that lasted from 10th April 1941 to 10 December 1941.At the time of the siege Berlin denounced the Australian soldiers as "the rats of Tobruk", comparing them to rats burrowing underground, caught in a trap.Rather than the weakening effect on morale this was supposed to have, the Australian troops wore the name "rats of Tobruk" as a mark of honour and source of amusement.

The site of Tobruk was deserted, we were the only travellers there and there was no one selling souvenirs, no one hassling us about where we were from or trying to get us to buy things, no honking cars, no one staring at us, no boys making kissy faces at me.It was serene and peaceful and I loved it.

)We went to a shop to buy lunch and I finally got an ice block, after four months in Africa, I finally got an ice block!We then checked into our hotel and I had a bit of a rest.At about 6pm I went for a walk along the beautiful harbour as the sun was setting, finding it hard to believe I was walking along the actual battle site, which now seemed so peaceful.I walked back to the hotel, via the police station which had a huge poster of Gadhafi (or the Colonel as he is affectionately known) hanging over the entrance.

We went out for dinner to a local restaurant, I had barbecued chicken and cous cous, which was amazing, we had a short drive around the town at night and I realised I was in my first "Bad Land". Last year I read a book by Tony Wheeler, one of the founders of Lonely Planet, it was called "The Bad Lands".The writer had travelled to countries such as Libya, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korean, Cuba and Albania and had tried to tell of his experiences in those countries.In short, I loved this book and am now determined to go to all these places at some point in my life.Right now, I am loving Libya as much as Wheeler did.