La Tomatina - Tomato Festival in Spain

La Tomatina........

What a crazy, crazy time today has been!

I spent another night down in the El Salver with the Smashed Travel crew and was up at 7am to head in to Valencia to pick up Glen, Meagan and Alyce.

Everyone was a bit slow in the morning, 7am starts will do that to you, but once we stopped off for some treats at the servo, push started a big blue van, and pulled in to the Lidl shopping centre in Bunol we were excited to get into some tomatoes.

We walked into the town and stopped off for a beer (mainly just to use the toilet) at one of the cafes along the way before reaching the main street where it all happens.

There were thousands of people pushed way down the street, and not before long we were cast down a side ally with the force of the relentlessly moving crowd.

As you could probably guess, La Tomatina gets a little wet........... it gets a little messy, so I came up with the idea to put my camera and card into some water proof pouches to save them.

Smart Me.

The girls, however, took it one step further and had their pouches tied around their necks, while I kept mine in the boardies pocket under the safety of a velcro strip.

Sure enough, 5 minutes into the crowd I went to grab the camera for a shot and it was gone, along with it the cash I brought and the debit card I had.

Luckily I had the key on the key rope (as you would when surfing) so we could get back to the van without any hassles.

Of course, that means that all the photos are on other peoples cameras so I can't put up the awesome photo's from the day....... but they'll come.

I'll be surprised if at least one person didn't get broken ribs out of the sheer force of the crowd, it makes a trip on the london tube during rush hour seem like a solitary confinement.

It begins and ends very abruptly, but while it's on it's non stop action which keeps your heart racing and, when your not being crushed, a smile on your face.

I recommend La Tomatina for anyones around the world trip.

Sleeping on the beach in Valencia Spain

Unfortunately I don´t have the camera handy to upload these priceless shots, but they´ll be along soon enough.

We arrived in Valencia yesterday and hit the water right away. After a quick swim Glen and myself ventured into a game of hacky sack on the beach, and the girls quickly followed suit.

I´ve now identified at least 17 leg muscles that I didn´t actually know I had, but at least it did some work towards using up the 1500 calories we each consumed at macca´s earlier that day.

Sarah took us to a roof top bar which was awesome, and while all the girls (now traveling with 3 hotties) were being chatted up by the other guys Glen and I sat at the bar and looked on with a smile.

Unbeknown to us, the F1 is on this weekend so the beach is a buzz with people, and the Fasion TV cruise boat is parked in the harbour. They keep sending super models over to get us to come on board, but I kind of like sleeping on the beach so I´ve denied their many attemps.

Meeting up with the Smashed Travel group again tomorrow and we lose Sarah back to London, but we gain Lauren and Gary for the festival!

Photo´s of Valencia and crazy nigths out to follow........

West Europe Road Trip - Marseilles, Montpellier, Collioure

Before the car went by the wayside, we stopped in to Marseilles, Montpellier and Collioure to round off our south coast of France trip.

We met a great guy at a pub in Marseilles, Chris from England, who told us many a story about the world and his travels.

It's late though, so I think the pictures will do this part of the journey more justice then my tired stories will.

A view from below the Notre Dame Cathedral, Marseilles

Inside Norte Dame Basilica, Marseilles

Outside Norte Dame Basilica, Marseilles

Montepellier, land of many dentist surgeries and no dentists

The view from our last nights sleep in Dr Who in Collioure

Sarah and Alyce showering in Collioure...... on the beach

Me showering in Collioure...... on the beach

Nearly a Year to the Day

Lately I've been getting on to the laptop and having a look through my iPhoto or onto the ipod and checking out the last 12 months.

It's great because I get a chance to see, though the photo's, exactly what I was doing this time 12 months ago to the day.

I've had lots of fun looking back as it stirs up not just the memory associated with the photo, but the stories, thoughts, feelings and smiles that are associated with each of the pictures.

I'm actually a little surprised after today, because I was sure that I would open the pictures back up and find that a year ago today was the Chrissy van accident on the way to Campeche. It turns out that it was about 3 days before that particular incident, but close none the less.

The wicked van had a bit of a clunk when changing between Reverse and Drive, but apart from that everything was sweet.... until yesterday. There was still a bit of a clunk when changing between reverse and drive, but also when you put the accelerator down to hurry into traffic or climb a hill......... and as we were around the Piranese mountains this was going to cause some trouble. I guessed it was something wrong with the diff, slipping or something was wrong.

We pulled the car into a car park and set up for the night and I called AA in the morning to come out and take a look.

It turns out (never would have guessed that I got this right) that it WAS in fact a major problem withe diff and rendered the car unable to drive, especially to Spain.

This left us sitting around the small town near Perpignan france for a few hours (everything closes between 12 - 2) until we got word on what we could do.

AA were great in helping out, and although the taxi driver they organised dropped us off at the wrong place and it took an hour to get in touch with them again (much to the delight of the girls) they got us a fast rent-a-car and put us up in a hotel until our new wicked van will be ready.

Hooray to Wicked Campers for keeping the cars so well insured, and hooray for AA for doing such a good job in helping. Also, hooray for my two girls on tour who put up with the broken car.......not to mention putting up with me, over the past week.

West Europe Road Trip - Cinque Terre

We left Tellaro and headed towards the 5 towns that make up Cinque Terre.

The area is a fantastic mixture of beach front and mountains.

After being waved away by the police at the first town (apparently the carpark was full and I wasn't too keen for them to see 3 people in a two seater) we headed on down to the second town of Manarola

After a long stroll down the road (very steeply down the road) we came out on a beautiful beach with mountains that adorned the shores. Surprisingly the girls missed a beat on this one and we soon went back to the car (via a walk that nearly snapped both my calves)to get their towels and bathers and headed to the next town for a swim.

The next town was smaller then we thought and we soon found ourselves looking for the beach at the front of a huge electronically controlled iron door that only opened when you turned a key that was mysteriously already in the hole to the side.

As the door opened all I could think of was the movie Hostel and began to wonder if this was such a good idea.

The door opened into a tunnel about 4 meters in radius, and was about 10 degrees cooler then the outside temperature. Judging by the size of the mountain, if the tunnel went straight to the otherside it was about a 25 minute walk............ if it went to the other side.

All of a sudden an old single cab green truck pulled up, kind of like a dyna truck, and a man got out. He roughly explained he could take us, Sarah, Alyce and myself, to the other side in his car for a cheap price.

Once again I began to have flash backs of Hostel and Wolf Creek but thought, bugger it at least the guy escaped it both those movies.

We got in the back and the guy started the rough drive through the poorly lit and privately owned tunnel which was 10 degrees colder then the outside and which we didn't really know where it lead.

5 minutes later, very long minutes for the girls, we emerged on the other side to find a lovely old Italian man with good english who explained how to get down to the beach. Unfortunately towards the end of his explanation he added that it was a "free" beach, which we thought he should rename to "Shlong Beach", "Sausage City", or "Penisville".



None the less we had our swim, however it was very short lived and we were soon on the way back through the tunnel and back to our car.

We decided that seeing as it was our last night in Italy that we should treat ourselves to a nice dinner with some fine wine. We drove back to ............. where we parked the car and found a nice place with fantastic seafood.

After a few beers and a couple bottle of wine, as much bread as we could eat, two entree's and 3 mains we walked up the hill from hell and sat out in the car park for a few more sneaky drinks before retiring to bed.

The next morning we awoke to rain gently falling through the sun roof, but also to farmers picking the grapes on the side of the mountains that surrounded the carpark in which we slept.

We did the last of the towns in the Cinque Terre, swam and sunned for a few hours before pouring back into the car and heading for Monaco and France.

West Europe Road Trip - Tellaro

The drive down to Tellaro was amazing. We went through a few mountains and edged closer and closer to the coast until the ever so beautiful blue water rose over the horizon.

We jumped off the toll roads early and got onto the road that ran parallel to the beach. Along the 8km stretch of road there were hot girls EVERYWHERE! They were walking, bicycling, roller blading, running, or just standing around looking hot.

Unfortunately for Sarah and Alyce we passed two hot guys, much to their dismay.

On the beach side of the road stood rental areas for the beach. Every 50 meters there was a different section of beach with it's own change rooms and sun beds that you could rent out.

Being the backpackers we are we just wandered on through the most deserted section and got ready for a swim........ just before we were ushered further down the beach by the guard at that particular section.

The water was devine, and it was the first ocean swim I've had in............. well probably since I left Nicaragua (link to Nicaragua story) last year.

After a well deserved and very nice swim we headed off to the little town of Tellaro and pulled up at the U-Turn area over looking the water.


Tellaro was amazing, and a crowd gathered around the van as we brought out the gas bbq and cooked up a feed of pasta, pesto, corn and tuna.

We slept there the night and woke early in the morning to have coffee on the water and make our way towards Cinque Terre.

West Europe Road Trip - Florence, David and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

We pulled up outside of a Camping site in Florence. We were only 3 days into our trip, and the first day into the trip with the Van so we were reluctant to pay to stay somewhere and decided the side of the road would be just fine.

We sorted out the van and went in search of some cheap wine to help our first nights sleep.

We came across a small resteraunt on the water and ordered some wine and were pleasantly surprised when they brought out some garlic bread free of charge.

The next morning we went in search of Michaelanglo's David in the Florence city centre, and after a cafe in the morning to kick start us we were struggling to find the Galleria de Accedemia.

Fortunately it lead us across an impressice chuch and also the main attraction to Florence, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

After a fairly lengthy wait in line we ascended the 381 steps to the top of the church to take in some breathtaking views of Florence.

At street level the place is not much to speak of, but look at it from a 50 meters up and it becomes quite impressive.



Terrecotta roofs extend as far as the eye could see, with the exception of a single aqua-green dome where the only Mosque in the area is built.

After we got back down and our legs had stopped involuntarily shaking we located the place where David was kept and jumped in line............... around 2 corners. Half way along the line, about 35 minutes into the wait, we had started to pay attention to the graffiti and I think this one hit the nail on the head.



Unfotunately you're not allowed to take pictures of David, but I made sure that I was there long enough to permanently remember the impressive piece of art. David stands some 5 meters tall and was made from a single block of marble by Michaelangelo when he was just 29 years old.

From Florence we stopped off at Pisa to check out the leaning tower, get the usual photo that we all said we would never participate in and headed on towards Tallero.