New email address

We have a new email address and no contact list, so if you want our new address let us know!

Lionel & Amanda

Sorry

Sorry if you have received an email from us asking for money... our email account has been hacked!

No we did not return to London urgently, we did not get our bags, passports and money stolen and we do not need money to pay for a ticket home!

It is scary to think how quickly this happened and spread to all our contacts...hopefully you have not been affected by any virus. Unfortunately all our email contact information has been lost and so if you don't hear from us then we no longer have your address - you can contact us via facebook, snail mail or phone and we will build out contact list back up!

All the best
Lionel & Amanda

Already 9 days into March...

Rebecca is still cooking - steak wraps last night and chicken curry tonight!!!

I am really pleased everyone has cooking duties now as my life gets busier and busier. Today I had a day relief teaching and then had to rush down to the high school to pick Rebecca up and take her to the swimming pool (30minutes drive) where she had her first swim training session since arriving back in NZ. Rebecca swam really well, considering it is over 7 months since she last trained! Fortunately it was freestyle sets tonight and not butterfly!

I can tell it has been a busy couple of days by the pile of washing in the laundry, but at least I had time for a quick lux in the living room before going off to school this morning. Oh well, the course I was supposed to go on tomorrow isn't on so hopefully the sun will shine and the washing will dry outside on the line.

Rebecca's Gourmet Delights

Rebecca is really enjoying being in the kitchen (cooking and baking....she doesn't like the dishes bit!)

We have had two batches of fudge recently - still trying to find the perfect recipe. Of course we are all very enthusiastic about sampling the goodies but it isn't so good for any intended weight loss. At the moment we have ginger crunch in the cupboard - one of my all time favourites!

Ginger Crunch

100g butter

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1 Cup wholemeal flour

1/2 Cup white flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp ginger

Icing

50 g butter, 2 dessert spoons syrup melted

1 1/2 C icing sugar

1 tsp ginger

Sift flour and Baking powder, add sugar and ginger, rub in butter

Press into tin and bake 25-30 minutes at 180*C

Ice while hot

Last night Rebecca made these amazing chicken kebabs with pineapple, red pepper, yellow pepper and mushroom, cooked on the BBQ.

Her most memorable pudding has been Knickerbocker Glory when friends came for tea a couple of weeks ago.

Rebecca layered mixed berries, yoghurt, jelly, ice cream, chocolate mousse, cream and topped it all with chocolate chips - Yum!

New school year

Rebecca & Josh have been back at school for a couple of weeks now so here is their schol update for 2010.
Rebecca is in Year 9 at Lincoln High School and is well ready for the challenges of high school in New Zealand. For the first couple of days the Year 9's enjoyed having the school and teachers pretty much to themselves. Their Year 13 peer support students were there to help them learn their way around and get used to life at Lincoln. Lincoln High School has about 1500 students, with about 330 in Year 9, so it is quite a large school and most students travel to school by bus - after school there are 23 buses there to transport students home! Rebecca has excellent teachers who are going to challenge her (I don't know she is terribly excited about that) and she is enjoying picking up French again. Her one disappointment is that there are not enough people interested in playing waterpolo so there is no Lincoln High team - we are trying to work out other options to get her playing. School swimming sports were held last week and Rebecca is going to the Canterbury Secondary School swimming champs - prelims next week.

Josh is in Year 8 at Springston School and is enjoying being one of the big kids at the school - however he didn't enjoy the first couple of days where they had to do lots of activities with their 5 year old buddies...little kids do not excite Josh! He is really enjoying playing cricket and the school has the Milo Cricket competition next week. For the winter season Josh has just signed up to play rugby for Springston so he is looking forward to that. Since he was interested in playing rugby we took him to the optometrist to find out about contact lenses and so for the past week he has been getting used to wearing them. He is doing really well at getting them in and out, and looking after them and we have a follow up appointment this afternoon. It really does make him look different not having his glasses but he is enjoying not having to worry about his glasses.

I have some relieving days booked in for next month and have a couple of applications in for part-time positions.

Lionel is still job hunting but has an interview next week, so we are hoping that this might be the one!!!

Fun in Geraldine

A couple of weeks ago we took the opportunity of some free time to head down to Geraldine to catch up with one of Lionel's cousins and his family. Dave & Nikki have a cottage on their farm that they rent out and we had the privilege of staying there for two nights. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best but we enjoyed getting out and about on the farm.

We had many games of pool and Rebecca enjoyed a soak in the spa. It was fun getting the kayaks out on the pond where we had races and tried to navigate around trees in the pond.

It was a very relaxing and refreshing two day holiday!

Unpacking the container...

For the past two years we have had a 20ft shipping container stored at Mum & Dad's with a variety of furniture, kitchen items, books, DVDs, toys, gardening equipment and many other bits and pieces. Monday 11 January was the day it moved from Dipton to Springston - how exciting!

Rebecca was looking forward to getting a bed, books and CDs.

Josh was looking forward to getting his lego and army men.

Lionel was looking forward to unpacking his books (no surprises there!)

Amanda was looking forward to having a full selection of kitchen equipment.

After two days we have the container unpacked and we now have MANY boxes in the garage that we won't unpack at our rental house, we will wait and see where we end up. It is amazing how different houses fit such different stuff and this house is way smaller than our house in Dipton!

Rebecca has her room set up really well and is pleased to have a bed and book case, she also has a world map on her wall (yes, many more travels to come!)

Josh now has his bunks set up and has spent many hours filling his book case and playing with his army men.

Lionel has managed to fill the remaining book cases in the house, and I was even banned from putting my recipe books on one shelf, so they remain on the bench in the kitchen.

I have discovered that I have too much kitchen stuff for the cupboard space in this kitchen - but actually how much of it do I need...

It is great to have our own stuff around us, but in the end it is just stuff and even though I was ruthless in what I got rid of before we left we still have far too much!

Christmas and New Year

It seems ages since Christmas now but I finally feel like sitting at the computer and writing something for the blog. The camera has hardly been out of its bag since we got home from England and I really got out of the habit of blogging regularly (as you will have noticed!)

On 17 Dec Lionel heard that he had come a 'close second' for a job (thanks, but that means he still doesn't have a job) so after that disappointment we packed our bags and headed south for a couple of weeks. We really wanted to see our good friends (Dean, Tania, Amelia & Sam) in Cromwell before they move across the ditch to Queensland, so we took the opportunity of spending five glorious days with them. It really was great just to spend time with good friends - talking, eating and helping them get sorted and packed.

We also took the opportunity of being in Cromwell to have a look at our house, meet the tenants and plan for some maintenance. We are delighted to have great tenants in our house and are a little sad at the thought we may have to sell this property to buy in Christchurch...at least we have that option!

Christmas Day was spent at the farm with Mum & Dad, Sarah and the Comerfords (Gray, Julie & family came at tea time). It was a very relaxed day with lots of cold meat and salads, and of course pudding! Josh was very pleased that Granny made a pavlova as that is something he really missed last year! We loved being able to spend this day with family and friends - it just wasn't the same having Christmas Day by ourselves last year! We also enjoyed having Christmas in the summer (although the white Christmas in Basingstoke this year would have been pretty cool - it was just cold when we were there!)

We had a great few days at the farm and Rebecca spent lots of time with her cousins. They even spent a night in a hut that Dad has up in the middle of the farm - they organised their own food and entertainment and had a great night up there together.

It was a very social time while we were in Southland and it was great to be able to catch up with so many good friends. We had a couple of days at Mum & Dad's crib (holiday house) in Riverton and we loved being at the seaside again. Rebecca & Josh had a lot of fun in the water, climbing rocks, picking mussels off the rocks (not that they enjoyed eating them, but Debra & I did) and playing beach cricket.
Josh & Michael trying to decide if they will eat the mussels!

New Years Eve saw us driving up to Queenstown to stay with the Freeborn family for a couple of nights. On New Years Eve we went out for a Chinese meal with some friends (well the adults did, we left the kids at home...) and then went down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks before heading back to the house. I am not really a big New Years Eve person and would be just as happy celebrating the new year at 11pm while camping with friends in the middle of nowhere, but it is the 'with friends' bit which is important to me and we had fun in Queenstown!

We finally drove back to Christchurch on January 4th and felt like we were coming home! We know that this is where God wants us at the moment and although it is tough while we are out of work we are feeling positive. We have made the decision to make Hornby Presbyterian Community Church our church family and are looking forward to being a part of that in 2010.

I am beginning to feel excited about 2010 and all the challenges and joys it has in store, and we look forward to sharing the year with many friends!

A 12 year old in the house

It hardly seems 12 years since I was in Southland Hospital with this little (well not so little) bundle of joy. One of Josh's great delights of the past year is that he is no longer the shortest in the family - yes, I hold that honour and will for the rest of my life! So much has happened for Josh in the time since he took Adam & Isaac to the Aquadrome in Basingstoke for his 11th birthday and it feels like last week...

This year Josh took a school friend, Taylor, to QE 2 pool and they had heaps of fun on the water slides, in the rapids and in the wave pool. Of course they were hungry after all that water and so it was off to McDonalds to re-energise.

Josh is still into his lego and Star Wars and so he was delighted to receive a new lego kit which we had bought in England and shipped back. He also loves his cricket and so a new cricket hat from Rebecca was gratefully received.

Only 3 weeks left of school before we head into the Summer holidays and so we are looking forward to that and a trip south for Christmas.

On the job front...Lionel is still applying for jobs and has been encouraged this week by some positive responses, now they just need to turn into a job!

I have had some relieving and have applied for some part-time teaching for next year so we will see what happens with that.

Life goes on...

Some people have asked if I am going to continue with my blog...I will everyone now and again but I don't know that you will find everyday life very exciting to read about! I doubt you want to read about the fact that Rebecca & Josh went to school (and of course did 'nothing') or that Lionel went to work (that is spoken in faith as he doesn't have a job yet) and the fact that I did 2 loads of washing, luxed the floor and cleaned the toilet isn't that exciting!

Of course we are loving being in a house where we can spread out - the kids have their own bedrooms and they are enjoying having some of their own stuff around. Josh has lego all over his floor and Rebecca... (well it is hard to see her floor).
Josh is playing cricket for the local Springston team and is loving that - he won 'Fielder of the Day' last week and he & Lionel often go down to the domain for some practice at the cricket nets in the evenings. Josh is off to the Zone Sports today - he got through for shot put, 100metres and is in the relay team.
Rebecca has decided not to swim this term but is keen to play water polo next year. She is staying at a friend's place on Saturday night and going to the local fire works display. There are always girls on the phone, on the computer or at the door wanting to talk to her so my very social daughter is settling in well!

The washing machine has just beeped at me so I must go and hang out my first load of the day in the glorious Canterbury sunshine!

A house and a school!

We finally found a house we really liked and our application to rent it was accepted...so we move in at Labour weekend (25 October). We will be out in Springston which is a rural community about 10 minutes south of Christchurch so we are really looking forward to moving in there. It has 3 large bedrooms, so there are definately options for visitors, and a lovely living area with a multi-fuel burner which will be great in the winter. The living area opens out onto the deck and back yard - just right for the BBQ season!

Rebecca & Josh have their first day at Springston School today - a bit of a shock after nearly 3 months on holiday! Rebecca will finish the year there before going to Lincoln High School next year and Josh is in Year 7 so he will also be at Springston next year. There are about 180 students in the Year 0-8 school, 7 classrooms, large grounds and swimming pool. We got a very warm welcome and so I think the kids will do well there. Rebecca isn't looking forward to the fact that they have athletics next week (but at least it will be over with and then they start swimming).

Lionel is still job hunting but plenty of jobs advertised and he is starting to get some response so life is good! Lionel & I are just going out for coffee so catch you later!
Email me for address and phone numbers!

A week at the farm

It was still school holidays here and Lionel didn't have any interviews lined up so last week we headed down to the farm for a few days.
It was great to dig some of our old clothes out of the container and get into the gumboots (for those of you in the UK that is wellies!) Mum had lots of food for us and we really enjoyed a roast meal on our first night home - meat straight from the farm! Rebecca & Josh also spent lots of time in the kitchen with mum baking chocolate chip biscuits, ANZAC biscuits and lots of other goodies.
We caught up with some of our Dipton friends, but the time was short and so we will see everyone else when we are down at Christmas time. It was great to see my brother and his family - they moved into our house when we left and it was interesting to see all the changes they have made to the house. The kids think the addition of a spa pool was the best thing they have done!
The first morning Lionel & Rebecca went out with Dad and had a drive around the farm checking the sheep and looking at all the changes involved in the dairy conversion - Lionel was sorry to see many of the fences that he had spent hours putting up have now gone...but he has moved on! Rebecca really enjoyed seeing all the lambs out in the paddocks. Josh & I also went out with Dad and Josh had some special time with Granddad learning how to use the rifle. That night we went out rabbit shooting and Josh shot his first rabbit (life on the farm with an 11 year old boy).
It was a great few days in the country air!

It is two weeks since we left the UK and it has been flat out.
We spent a week in a self contained unit out at Lincoln (Lincoln Views) and that was fantastic. It was great to have a bit more space to ourselves and we were able to unpack some of our suitcases! We really enjoyed the wide open spaces and if we looked out one window we could see the Southern Alps, out the other side was the Port Hills! We had a huge lawn which Josh loved running around and we were surrounded by paddocks (we really are country kids at heart).
While at Lincoln Views we had hoped to organise rental accommodation to move into but it hasn't been quite that easy....we have looked at 3 or 4 houses and the two that were suitable (and the right price) we missed out on! We are still waiting to hear back about one more - so keep praying!
We had a rental car for a week (I can't remember if I have mentioned it) and we enjoyed the luxury and power of the Ford Falcon XR6, however we are now back to reality. We bought a little Toyota Corolla which will be our town run around and it is doing the job well.
Lionel's job hunting is going well, but slowly! He has applied for a few jobs and now it is just the waiting game.
We are currently house sitting for friends who are down south for the school holidays and it is great to be in a real house! Thanks James & Jo it is a real blessing to be here!
We are all well and settling back into life in NZ - enjoying the food (but not the prices) and good coffee where ever we go! I can't wait to take you out for coffee Monica!

The Long Flight Home

Thanks Monica for taking us to the airport...it made life much easier and it was good to spend those last few hours together!
We were at the airport early and so check-in was really easy because there were very few other passengers around, although the ones in front of us were re-packing their bags so that they weren't overweight. That was a bit nerve-wracking as we hadn't weighed our bags and so weren't sure how close to the limit we were....our limit was 120kg - we weighed in at 121kg!!!How is that for good packing?

Our Emirates flight left Heathrow at 8.40pm and for the next 30 hours all we did was eat, watch movies, get on and off planes and sleep (actually not too much sleep!) From Heathrow we flew 6 1/2 hours to Dubai where we had 2 hours in the airport, then we flew 5 1/2 hours to Bangkok where we had an hour in the airport before flying 11 hours (I think) to Sydney, where we had another hour in the airport before flying to Christchurch where we landed half an hour ahead of schedule at 1.45pm.

After spending about 2 hours getting through customs and MAF (yes, we did have to unpack the tents) it was good to see Annie waiting for us. It then took ages to get the rental car sorted out, but they upgraded us to a Ford Falcon XR6 - a big car, but not enough boot space! Thanks for taking our extra bags Annie! Lionel & the kids were a bit worried about me driving the XR6 - when I took off from the lights and round-abouts my foot was a bit heavy on the gas and we were thrown back in our seats and it felt like an aeroplane taking off!!! Just as well the car goes back before I get out onto the open road.

We spent the weekend with our friends Dean, Tania & Amelia Comerford (Sam stayed in Cromwell) and it was really good to have our first weekend back in NZ with them. We did lots of talking and lots of eating and they helped to keep us up until a respectable hour in the evening. Lionel also enjoyed watching the All Blacks beat Australia (on TV) on Saturday night - a good welcome home for him.

We have been tired, but not completely out of sync with the New Zealand time zone so that has been good. Daylight saving starts this weekend so we will have to put our clocks forward an hour and adjust again!

Final Days in the UK

It was great to get back to the UK and see some of our friends again. On Monday night (14th) Rebecca even went to swimming club - we only got back into the country on Monday afternoon. She really enjoyed seeing some of her swimming friends and even managed to swim a few lengths - actually considering she hasn't done any training for 7 weeks she swam really well.
Josh had a good catch-up with Tom on Tuesday afternoon and they spent their time discussing and playing with Tom's birthday lego!
It has been great staying with the Evans family - we have had some good coffees, too much great food and lots of talking and laughing.

Some final thoughts on our holiday....
Food
Some of our favourites were the bread in France, and croissants for breakfast.
Pizza and gelato in Italy, as well as the tomatoes and fresh basil.
Dutch pancakes were a favourite!
Driving
I soon got used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, especially when the kids helped by saying 'tight right or loose left' as I was turning a corner.
I loved the motorway driving - 130km in France.
I don't know most of the road rules in Italy - it seemed that you went as fast as you liked and slowed down for a speed camera sign. I also just had to be brave - indicate and go for it!
Some of the autobahns in Germany have no speed limit and so I had Josh in the back seat saying 'Go faster Mum' and Lionel in the passenger seat saying 'I don't want the car engine to die'.
Camping
France was great for camping - really good campsites, most had swimming pools and bread deliveries in the morning.
Weather
We discovered that some of us don't cope very well when the temperature gets over 40degrees! At the other end of the scale, some of us just want to curl up in our sleeping bags and do nothing when the temperature drops below about 15 degrees...we didn't have cold weather clothes with us!

Wednesday 16 September saw us heading to Heathrow and beginning our journey home...

Amsterdam - the final stop

Another big day driving from Freiburg, through Germany, into the Netherlands and up to Amsterdam. The kids are getting sick of the driving but thank goodness for I-pods and PSPs, we have also managed to play lots of word, number and memory games.

The budget is down to the final few euros and so we are back in the tent for three nights and then a cabin for the final night as we leave Amsterdam early to drive to Calais and catch the ferry.

Meals are starting to get down to the basics - pasta cooked on my campstove...unfortunately I have run out of fuel and this new fuel doesn't cook at a very high temperature (yes, Josh, I agree...that was the worst pasta I have ever cooked!)

On Friday we went into Amsterdam and visited Anne Frank's house. Rebecca & I have just read 'Anne Frank's Diary' and so it was really interesting to go and see the actual place where they hid for over 2 years. It makes you appreciate the space and freedom that we have - even if it is only a tent, at least we can get out and about.

It was interesting wandering around Amsterdam looking at the canals and seeing all the different bikes - they really are everywhere, and there are even traffic lights and special lanes for the bikes. We had a yummy lunch - Dutch pancakes! Lionel & I shared a savoury (bacon & pineapple) and a banana & blueberry pancake - the savoury ones aren't as good as the sweet ones. Rebecca had apple & banana & cinnamon and Josh had banana & strawberry with whipped cream...I think this is one food we may have to continue eating in New Zealand!!!

On Saturday we went for a drive north of Amsterdam and saw a village set up like a living museum where there are lots of working windmills. Lionel & Josh went into one and were amazed at the power of the wind that the sails made when they were out on top, they also saw the working mechanism of the windmill. We then drove up to Volendaam which is a fishing village - more of a tourist place now with a huge marina. We had one of the best meals here since we left New Zealand and we were sitting right on the water edge looking out over the marina.

The weather has turned very autumny since we have been in Amsterdam and the jeans and sweatshirts are out of the suitcases for the first time in weeks. Unfortunately we have had rain today - it would happen the day we have to pack up the tents! They aren't too wet but we will have to get them out again when we get back to the UK and have a dry out before the final pack up!

Freiburg, Germany

Hey Becca again :) Today we travelled from Venice up to Frieburg which is in the Black Forest of Germany. It was quite a long journey - we left Venice after breakfast at about 10 to 9, then drove up through Switzerland stopping there for lunch and then on to Germay arriving in time for dinner - so we ate in 3 different countries today!!
We went exploring after arriving in our campsite, walking through part of the Black Forest over to Freiburg where we went to a delicious restaurant for dinner. Mum and Dad both had yummy German sausage with panfried potatoes and mustard while Josh and I had grilled pork steaks and pan-fried potatoes...the potatoes and meat were both very nice!
As we were only staying in Freiburg for one night we stayed in a caravan it was really cool, and more spacious then you would think...we enjoyed it while we could as we knew that next stop was Amsterdam where we would be sleeping in tents once again.

Venice

Rebecca overlooking the Grand Canal

We sadly left Jane & Hannah in Rome and we drove north to Venice. We stayed at the Fusina campsite in a cabin and it was very comfortable. It was awesome going out for a walk at night and looking across the bay to the lights of Venice.
On Tuesday we took a ferry across the bay to Venice - it was very cool to arrive in Venice by boat! We wondered around some streets and over some canals to Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square). Thre were heaps of people here and very crowded, but we went into the basilica for a look - very ornately decorated. We walked along side the Grand Canal and the kids bought their souvenirs - Josh a gondola keyring and Rebecca a set of 3 Venetian masks to hang in her bedroom.
Last time I was in Venice it was wet & cold and I didn't remember it being a very pleasant place, but this was completely different. The temperature was in the mid-20's, no mosquitoes and a very enjoyable visit.
We enjoyed watching the gondolas and various canal boats travelling up and down the canals and also saw a man working at glass-blowing making some very intricate figures.
A short but enjoyable visit to Venice.

A gondolier at work

Tour of Roma by Bus :)

Hey it's Becca again - I said I'd be writing more often didn't I? We got the shuttle to the Vatican, and Jane showed us where to stand in St Peters square so that it looked like there was only one row of columns (the Elliptical Eye).

Then we got on our Hop on Hop off bus and decided to do the whole tour through first, so we got an overview and could decide what we wanted to get off at. By the time we had done this it was lunch time so we decided to get off at Piazza Navona to look for lunch. The Piazza Navona has a fountain that has a statue on each corner, each of these statues represents one of the four continents that was known at the time that the fountain was built; America, Africa, Asia and Europe...poor old NZ and Aussi hadn't been discovered yet! It was too expensive to have lunch in the Piazza Navona so on our way to the Pantheon we went up a side street and stopped at a little family restaurant, the meals were very yummy - I had a salami pizza...mmm! It was very funny as when Hannah went to the toilet she thought the wash basin tap was broken because, well there was no tap! However when Josh went he discovered that there was a foot pedal, this is very common in Italy. Hmm reading back it doesn't sound that funny but trust me it was at the time...guess you had to be there!

The Pantheon was Dad's favourite site in Roma because of the fact that it has survived from Roman times intact, and the amazing architectural design...for those of you who don't know the Pantheon is a round building with a hole in the dome for light, when it rains that comes in too - they compensated for this by putting 22 small drainage holes in the floor. Hannah and I tryed to find all 22 but gave up after only 15 - we got bored!

After the Pantheon we walked up to Trevi Fountain. At the Trevi Fountain there is a tradition of throwing coins in - if you throw 1 coin in you'll come back to Rome, if you throw 2 coins in you'll come back married and if you throw 3 you'll come back divorced...we all threw 1! Mum and Jane then made us walk up to the Piazza di Spagna with the promise of a gelato sitting on the Spanish steps... while there we also saw the Broken Boat Fountain where we filled up our drink bottles. Mum and Jane did not live up to their promise but we did get a gelato and it was from McDonalds...I bet you're thinking why go to McD's when you're in Italy?? I will answer that with because it was the best McD's ever... it had REAL gelato...even better than some I've had from proper Gelaterias!! Jane took us past some dead monks...I am NOT going to explain - it was too gross...however if you want to find out about this part of our stop please Google 'Cripta Dei Cappuccini'. After we did that we got back on the Hop on Hop off bus to get to the Colosseum.

Some facts about the Colosseum: Built in A.D. 72 - 80, Romes greatest amphitheatre has 80 arched entrances, access for 55,000 spectators, gladiator fights (not anymore OBVIOUSLY - back in actual Roman times for that one), christians were executed here by various means including slaughter by African animals (lions etc.). This was Josh's favourite place. I just asked Mum what her favourite place was and her reply was "Ohh I can't decide!!" a couple of minutes later she decided to add this : "I enjoyed walking around the streets seeing the thousands of years of history and I loved the fountains." Man that took her a while to get out!! Back on the bus again we went past the Palatine hill, with the ruins of the Forum, the Forum was the political centre of the Roman Empire. We also went past Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) which was ancient Roma's largest stadium, venue for horse and chariot races, athletic contests and wild animal fights. Then it was back to the Vatican to catch our shuttle back to Camping Roma.
Agian thats all for today but expect to hear more from me soon! Byyee Becca!!

Leaving the Villa... Onwards to Rome!

Hey guys, Becca here! Well, today we left our villa..and with it all the AWFUL flies :) YAY! We moved onward to the city of Roma, where we are staying in Camping Roma in a permanent tent. Jane, Hannah and Malcolm are here aswell, we're staying until Monday and they'll be here two nights longer.
As we're only here for a short amount of time, we decided that in order to see everything we could we had to start sight-seeing as soon as we got here...so off to the Vatican we went!

As it was Saturday afternoon it wasn't too busy and although we only went to St Peters Cathedral and got a gelato it was still very cool. We saw the Swiss guards as well :) INTERESTING FACT: Swiss Guards are used in the Vatican to maintain neutrality in all aspects of Vatican life...I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Switzerland is a neutral country.

After leaving the Vatican we took a shuttle bus back to our campsite. There are three restaurants on site and you get a 10% discount on your first meal here so we headed off to the nearest restaurant to see what Italian delicacies we could find for dinner... Mum and Dad found a delicious lasagne and Josh and I both had a Hawaiin pizza...YUM! There is a pool here and Josh has already made use of it while Hannah and I were finding their 'bungalow' (mobile home) this afternoon and the verdict is that it's shallow and there is no shade. Plus we're so busy that we won't have much time to use it anyway.
Hmm well I think thats about all for today...tomorrow we're off on a Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour (twelve stops your ticket is valid for 24hrs and you can get on and off the bus as much as you like) with Jane, Hannah and Malcolm ( at the moment they're off on a night bus tour of Rome, pretty cool huh?). That'll take us all day we think. Tomorrow night will be our last with Hannah and then we're off to Venice for a couple of nights.
Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it and as I have only one book for the rest of the holiday you might be hearing from me instead of Mum a little more often then usual!
Byyee Becca :)