DAY 60. WED 04/04. Tozeur. 0 kms. Total 13724. Camping Les Beau Reves. N33 54.804 E8 07.454

Inga went on a pre-breakfast shopping run and came back with lots of nice goodies, nice bread, croissants, new filter coffee and lovely drinking yoghurts which we enjoyed during a leisurely breakfast in the sun. This became the theme for the day - eating! Was also quite nice to be in a full campsite for a change, surrounded by people, with lots of children running about. Made a change after 2 weeks in Algeria on our own with very few tourists. Were in 2 minds as to whether we should spend another night in Tozeur or drive to Tunis to get our Libyan visa application in a day earlier. Couldn't face another long day on the road so decided to spend the day in Tozeur. Glad we did as it was nice and relaxing. Quite a relief to be on our own again and enjoying the freedom. i.e. no guide (besides for the obvious fact that one of us no longer has to ride in the back) We are again able to make and change plans almost on the spur of the moment. Didn't get up to too much. Spent a good few hours in an internet cafe' catching up on emails and updating the blog. Went for a walk into the town's stunning old quarter and palmeraie, while snacking on a chocolate muffin. One thing Tozeur is famous for is its unique architecture with straw coloured buildings of brickwork in striking geometric relief patterns. On the way back to camp we succumbed to the junk food temptation and pigged out on crisps, ice-cream and even an alcohol free beer for Rob. What's the point you might ask? Well desperate times call for desperate measures! It has now been over two weeks without any beer! Rob did do a bit of work and topped up Cathey's gear oil. Rear diff took a bit as rear wheel oil seal leak was becoming worse and also the transfer gear box took quite a lot as our usual "little" leak had become much worse over the last month. Bought a small roasted chicken and chips for dinner again which was super. Again the cats in the camp site were pleased too as they got the scraps. So all in all, a fine day of eating!

DAY 61. THURS 05/04. Tozeur to Enfidaville. 518 kms. Total 14242. Mobil 24hr Service Station, Enfidaville, "Free Camping"

Headed south-east after leaving Tozeur towards Kebili to take the causeway over Chott el-Jerid, a huge salt lake/salt flats, which is an extra-ordinary journey and not to be missed. It was also a Star Wars film location in the 1st film (along with many other locations in Tunisia but more about that later!) After Kebili, headed east to Gabes where we stopped for lunch (chicken mayo sarmies again with left over chicken from last night) then north to Tunis. Stopped at El-Jem/El Djem on the way up to visit the 2000 year old Roman Colosseum at N35 17.745 E10 42.379. It was well worth the visit, spectacularly well preserved and 2nd only in size any where in the world to the one in Rome. After finishing our visit we succumbed to yet more crisps, chocolates and another alcohol free beer, which were starting to loose their appeal somewhat! Elected not to take the toll road/motorway north to Tunis and instead stayed on the A1 route. This lead to very slow going through town at Sousse and with our stop at El Jem lead to us not reaching Tunis before nightfall as hoped. We drove on as long as we could until low on fuel. Stopped to refill at a Mobile 24hr service station and asked if we could sleep there. They said OK and even gave us a double garage to park in while we slept in the back. So Cathey also got to sleep with a roof over her head! Coffee and cake for dinner at the cafe' before using the toilets and going to bed. Quite nice free "campsite" really. Only problem was they wanted us up at 7am and out of the garage (maybe because the manager would be coming in or someone else needed it for work purposes) which actually suited us perfectly so we could get to Tunis before lunch time when the Libyan consulate would close, being Friday tomorrow.

DAY 62. FRI 06/04. Enfidaville to Tunis. 150 kms. 14392 kms. Camping La Pinede, Borj Cedria. N36 42.755 E10 24.430

Up at 7am as agreed and after a quick coffee at the cafe' headed for Tunis. Drove into the centre of town to the tourist information bureau. Got directions to the embassy (which was not what we were looking for) and a free map of Tunisia and a city map of Tunis which were most useful. The directions we had were all for the Libyan embassy in Rue De 1st Juin, where all the embassies are. We asked for the consulate which we needed (not the embassy) once we arrived there and were given rough directions to El Menzah 2, a northern suburb of Tunis. Arrived there and then asked for detailed directions from someone else to the consulate which after walking up and down a few streets we finally located it at N36 50.234 E10 09.401. Luckily we had most of the paper work already prepared (application letter for transit visa and passport details translated into Arabic etc.) so just made a few more photocopies of our passports and carte gris before going in. It was now about 11.30am but luckily they were still open. Everything seemed in order and they just asked us for a telephone number in Tunisia. When we said we didn't have one they gave us theirs (7187562/63) and said to call back on Friday in a week's time. Decided it was time for lunch so it was pizza for Rob and a chicken sandwich and chips for Inga - yummy! After that headed back into the centre of town where we knew of a bookshop that exchanges English books as we had read most of ours and got 4 new ones! Rear wheel oil leak was really bad when we got back to where we had parked Cathey and had actually formed a little pool on the road next to the inside of the wheel. Needed to be addressed pretty soon. Looks like we had reached Tunis just in time! Started our search for a campsite early in the afternoon. None in Tunis itself, closest is about 25kms south on the coast but from our map it was difficult to determine which town it was in. Looked around in the 1st few towns for what seemed to the ages and were just about to give up when someone we asked at a motel gave us pretty good directions to Borj Cedria, the next town along, again in the Zone Touristique, where we found it straight away.

DAY 63-65. SAT 07/04-MON 09/04. 0 kms. 14392 kms. Camping La Pinede, Borj Cedria. N36 42.755 E10 24.430. Easter Weekend.

Had decided to spend the weekend at the camp site and leave on Monday to visit a few sights in the north before coming back to Tunis to collect our visas. But as it was also a public holiday in Tunisia (Martyr's Day) on Monday and as we needed to get parts for the Land Rover 1st we stayed an extra day till Tuesday - our Easter break! 1st 2 nights we were the only ones in the campsite, besides the scouts. It is also a scout camp and they were having a leadership meeting so for most of the weekend we had scouts all over the place. On the 3rd night some others arrived - a 6 wheeler 4x4 with some quad bikes, a group of overland trucks/Unimogs and a nice Swiss family in a caravan camped next to us. Years ago they had traveled through Africa in a series Land Rover for 2 years, and so we talked to them quite a bit as they spoke German. We didn't do much really, mainly just relaxing. Reading, listening to the radio (BBC World Service) keeping in touch with developments in the world and Africa, politics and sport. Watched our 1st DVD while camping (Old School) up in the tent one evening - our own home cinema! Made quite a nice change - something different! Breakfasted on fresh pain au chocolates from the bakery up the road. Also bought some chicken for a lovely chicken curry one night and some home made biscuits for afternoon teas (very sophisticated campers, us!) Went for one walk along the beach up to the tourist hotels. It was quite cool and there were loads of mosquitoes about so we were burning mossie coils and citronella candles left right and centre. No Easter eggs on Sunday but we did treat ourselves to "Easter ice-creams". However the Swiss couple gave us a few small Easter eggs they had brought over for their children on Monday, which was very sweet of them, so at least we got to have a "proper" Easter, even if one day late! Did the chores too - like loads of laundry, cleaning and working on Cathey. Took the rear wheel and hub off again to inspect and clean off as much of the oil and dirt as possible and a large piece of the lip of the inner oil seal had broken off and come loose. At this stage a friendly man come over and offered to drive me into the closest big town, Ben Arous, to look for new oil seals. His wife, whom we picked up on the way, turned out worked for the British Embassy in Tunis in the Trade and Commerce section. She had a Land Rover contact in Tunis and promised to email details when she went back to work on Tuesday. (ps which she later did but we had already fixed the problem by the time we next checked email) The search was fruitless as most of the spares shops (all in one street) were closed as it were Saturday and none of them appeared to stock Land Rover parts anyway. Caught a taxi back to the campsite with the help of directions the husband had kindly written out in Arabic beforehand. Ended up getting GPS coordinates off a GPS map that our Swiss friends had for a Land Rover parts dealer in Tunis where we would go on Tuesday. Also exchanged GPS maps - he had a Tunisia off road map and a topographical map which were more detailed than our tracks4africa one and contained a few more campsites (which is important as there are so few in Tunisia) as well as a street map of Tunis which turned out to be invaluable. We gave them all our tracks4africa maps. Also tried solving Cathey's continuing problem of not switching off by replacing fuel stop solenoid, although old one appeared fine/brand new. This was also fruitless and only led Rob to spend several frustrating minutes afterwards bleeding the fuel system to get rid of air which had entered the injector pump when stop solenoid was removed in order to get her started again. And didn't solve the problem anyway. Also played around with the lighting wiring and fuses as we had lost our rear lights and one of the front headlights on low beam. This turned out to be just loose fuses and we now have them all back working again. Except the brake lights which have now disappeared and we don't know how to isolate/identify where the problem is? (Matthew, any ideas?) Also fixed the drivers side sliding window lock which had worked loose and so window wasn't locking. All that was left on Monday was to refit wheel and hub assembly so we could drive to Tunis tomorrow. Cleaned off everything as best as possible, greased up seals and bearings and refitted. Bearings still sounded quite rough and warn and should probably be replaced too, but at least we have these once we find the seals.