Ahhh no more worries. Our major problems have been sorted:

1: We have enough undies

2: We pulled into the home of Lasagna and Bolognese sauce dreading the expected triple figure price tag to fix the car lock. We passed a garage with enough Marios and greasy black fingers to finish every single Nintendo game since '89. A couple gathered around the sleek black Fiat beast wondering whether to bother collecting the coins or go straight down the green pipe. We showed the one who looked like the chief our lock problem. He had a look, gave it the old tap and jiggle, and gave a downcast shake of the head which we and the other Marios returned. Out came the beloved WD40 but no love. The chief then took the standing thinker pose, and was somewhat enlightened - he believed he had came up with a way to pass this level.

He gave the lock a massive whack! and bobs your uncle, it worked perfectly, much to the amusement of the other Marios who all chuckled and grabbed their bellys.

We laughed heartily too. Hands shakes all round.

3: An Italian lunch cooked by a Italian mama in Modena. This included exquisite pumpkin tageleteli and soft-pillows-of-heaven gnocchi bolognese. I will have to post my photo with mama soon.

4: We retook some of the the photos we lost in Venice. We popped back into the incredibly unique town after dropping the car back safe and sound. A highlight was wandering into the famous San Marco square to find it flooded. The string quartets continued to play as a few caffe drinkers tried to enjoy their brew with water up passed their ankles. We also had a final goodbye dinner with our good friends Ruth and Eric after 3 weeks and about 4000 kms around Italy. On ya team, see ya in Kiwi land for the world cup next year...

5: A new country, the beautiful Slovenia. We have spent a couple of days with our friends Johan aka 'Johandful' and his lovely missus Babsy strolling around, what has to be, the worlds most beautiful lake - Bled. Today was one of those sublime traveling days that included the typical perfect sunny blue skies, free local lakeside festival with free beef stew and champagne (dunno why) but it was the best.

Instantly our euros are going further with cheap beds and even cheaper beers.

Off to do some fully sick white water rafting tomorrow. And we have already changed the plans to stay a bit longer, nice one Slovenia.