TravelStream™ news feed for member lisamurphy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lisamurphy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:34:15 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1220511480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1220511480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1220511480/tpod.html Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:34:15 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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London, England, United Kingdom

Our ferry crossing back to England was very uneventful apart from the fact that Spud got the deal of the century. 2x24 packs of 500ml cans of Stella for 24 Euro! I did politely remind my husband that we were actually leaving the country in just over a week and did he think we could drink them all...never mind that it's a bargin, so as we got back into our camper to drive off the ferry we got alot of comments and a few disdainful looks!The next day we started our luch time ritual of bangers and mash and a pint of beer! I have decided that when i grow up i am going to come back to England and travel the country writing a book on the best places to eat bangers and mash and have a pint for lunch. Spud thinks it is a great idea although he is a bit concerned a the amount of weight we wil both put on...Imagine that travelpod.We then headed to Brighton, which Grant and i had visited before but thought the kids would like too. Especially the carnival at the end of the pier but i think we have really damaged Jordan as she now refuses to go anywhere near carnival rides. The camp ground here was fantastic and about 2.5km from town so a good bike ride for us all. We also met the lovely Judy and Dave here (more about them later). So we restocked the van of food and generally caught up on all our bits and pieces here such as emailing etc. etc. The weather was dreadful and bloody cold, so much for the English summer. We then decided to go touring, Grant wanted to see Stonehenge so we took off in that direction. Stonehenge is a fascinating structure and great to see. It is out in the middle of nowhere, with a very distinctive sheep poo smell about it and crazy old heratics protesting at the entrance!That done we took off to Oxford where we stayed the night and marvelled at the University buildings and coolness of the town. We went into town for dinner and decided not to join the line of over 100 people waiting to get into Jamie Olivers new restaurant "Jamies Italian" but went to the very cool burger place across the road GBK, where we drunk....wait for it.....STEINLAGER! It was awesome and Grant and I had to have quite a few just to get the feeling for it back again.Our next stop was in the country to Jen, Babs, Zak and Lita. Jen used to work for us (twice!) and we stayed with them for a few nights when we were over here for Sam and Claires wedding. The house they live in was an old hunting lodge converted to about 5 apartments. The grounds are huge and the girls made friends with two girls who also live there and were gone...we had to try and find them for dinner. It was fantastic catching up with them and we had a great night drinking red wine and looking at old photos.Then back down to Brighton for apparently what was going to be a great weekend. We managed to get a spot near Judy and Dave again and the weather on the saturday was great! Unfortunately we didn't spend too much time in it as The Walkabout was showing the Australia - South Africa game, so we took the kids across the road and put them to the movies and Grant and I spent a hilarious hour and a half watching Oz getting kicked all over the park...Robbie Robbie Robbie!Sunday the weather turned to custard again just as we were sorting out the Camper. It was our last night in it and packing it all up and putting all our clothes in suitcases was distressing! Dave and Judy took the kids off our hands for the day then came over once we were done and said the wine bottle was open. Well 4 bottles later we were in much better spirits and had no trouble sleeping our last night in our home for the past 6 months.Dropping our camper back at Herne bay was very straight forward, we pulled up, they transferred the money back to our account, dropped us to the train station and within the hour we were back in London at Chris and Sarah's thinking did that all really happen!We met Ally's parents Chris and Liz the next day at Selfridges and all went for lunch. It was great seeing them again after 2 years and we had heaps of catching up to do.Chris and Sarah organised a BBQ for our last night so Swanny, Jermey, Sarah and Simon all turned up and we ate our last meal of bangers! And with that slurped our last Stella (yes we did finish the lot of them)! Chris, Sarah and Millie have been fantastic in storing our gear and putting up with the clan, we have had such a great time with them and will see them again in a month and a half when they all come to Queenstown!So sitting at the airport, having a coffee we are a little shell shocked! Europe is over! We have done and dusted it and after 9 months away we are starting to make our way home...but as Cam say's "We are onto another chapter now mum!" We are hoping the weather in Australia is better than our last few weeks in England...and i am looking forward to heading to the shops as i just can't understand the English fashion sense!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219942860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219942860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219942860/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:20:58 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

So we are driving back up the road with 647km to Calais and tempers a little frayed. Heading from the fantastic couple of days in Spain and now up the road to England where this chapter of our holiday is going to be over has put everyone in a bad mood.So Spud, as he does, loses concentration a couple of times on the drive and after about the third time of losing concentration and drifting over the left hand side of the road i pleasantly say to him "Grant, what the beeb beeb are you doing?!"...so he replies to me (and this is the reply he has given to me every time i have pulled him up for his "drifting" over the last 9 months)..."I was just getting pushed around by the a)other cars b)wind c)tilt of the road d)all of the above...So being in the bad mood we were all in i exploded..."For beebs sake can you not just admit you lost concentration for once on this trip"...so he comes back with the next pearler that i have heard each time a driving arguement come up, "Why don't you get behind the wheel then!"GIVE ME A BREAK SPUD AND JUST ADMIT YOU LOST CONCENTRATION WITHOUT THE THEATRICS!Yes i definitely think it is time the Murphy's headed onto the next part of our trip...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219768020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219768020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219768020/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:58:26 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Lourdes, Midi-Pyrénées, France

Lourdes was our next stop and the commercialisation of it all quite shocked me. So many tacky shops all profiteering from religion seemed so wrong. But hey we picked up our little bottles (about 10...we had so many requests!) paid the corresponding 10 euro and headed off to the grotto to fill them.Lourdes asks alot of questions about your faith. You line up to go into the Grotto with 1000 other people all pushing and snarling just trying to get close to the rocks to touch them and rub objects all over them. Do i believe that the spring water will heal? I don't know but it did get me thinking and asking myself some questions so i suppose it did have a certain religious (don't know if that is correct word for it) effect on me.Our cmapsite here was lovely, run by french people who couldn't speak a word of English but sold the best red wine i have tasted on our trip, Duc D'eyssac 2005. So we stocked up on a few nessecary bottles at only 3 Euros each. Well 3 days later and 6 bottles of wine gone i wish i had bought more!We then meandered our way down to San Sebastian in Spain...WOW another completely different culture again. We headed to the beach surprised to find the Atlantic rather warm, walked all the way around the bay and back, ate tapas in wonderful pintxo bars, drank sangria and finally had a wonderful Spanish Paella. We loved San Sabastian and took with us a small snipped of Spain that will be with us until we can return again and travel the whole country and give it the time it deserves.So now we are back in the camper and making our way back through France to England. We only have 5 nights left in our camper when this part of our trip is over! The camper is really quiet. We are all looking forward to coming home but are also sad that we will probable never do this again for this amount of time as a family. I think we have all changed soooooo much and i would stay it is the best thing we could have ever done for ourselves and our kids! It will stay with us forever.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219420380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219420380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1219420380/tpod.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:18:50 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Nice, France

So all 8 of us pile into our little camper, luggage and all and head to Patra(2.5 hours drive) to catch our ferry to Italy. There was absolutely no way we would have driven through Albania again! The ferries here are fantastic and even offer camping on board, where you can use all the facitlities of the ferry (pool, casino, restaurants, bars etc.etc)and then at night go back and sleep in your camper and not fork out another 600 euro for a cabin. So we spent the afternoon playing cards and drinking beer, then off to the camper for the night and a good 8 hours sleep. When we woke at 9am the next morn we were only an hour away from docking, so the boys changed the tire(another story) and then we were off up to Venice.Paulo kept us all entertained once again at Fusina and while maree and paul took off early to do Venice the next morn, we said our goodbyes to Gordon and Bronnie (who were flying out to london the next morn) and then spent the morning doing general maintenance on the van with Paulo tools once again. Maree and Paul arrived back on the 2pm ferry and then we were off once again destination Cinque Terre.Paulo had booked ahead for us at a campsite which was very fortunate and he obviously pulled a few strings as they were chocka and had been turning people away for hours.Next morn we were up early and off to WALK the Cinque Terre. This was a fantastic experience especially for the Murphy's all wearing JANDLES! Walking these amazing villages was breathtaking and hard and we defintely earned the 50 pints we consumed afterwards (even maree sucking back the pints).Our next stop was Monocco where Paul and i headed to the casino, maree the shops and spud and the girls to the pool they had found when mum was with us. Paul got lucky and won 50 euro and i lost 10 euro in 2 mins and then couldn't do anymore...being on a budget has certainly had a profound effect on me.Then off to Nice...where everyone else in the world had headed too. After 2 hours of trying to find a campsite we had to just bite the bullet and face the fact that we would be free camping with the 500 other campers already parked on the waterfront. So we head tp the beach via a rather small overbridge bering the sign 2.5 mtrs, as we knew we were 2.4 we happily inched the camper under it with Paul outside letting us know how close it was going to be..."it's touch and go Spud"...in other words i'm not making the bloody call spud. Next minute there are sirens and police running at us yelling in French "the bike, the bike" Maree picked that one up and was now quite pleased with herself for taking french for 3 years at school. Apparently they were concerned the bike was not going to fit under and suggested we inch ourselves back out of the tight squeeze we are in. By now we have a traffic jam of major proportions...remember i said everyone else in the world was here too. But this is not a problem for the fantastic french police, who clear the traffic around us then halt traffic further up the road for us to back out and proceed merrily on our way with super directions to the waterfront from the local police! And here we parked on the side of the road, directly on the beach with the medditerainean lapping at our feet and enjoyed our first night of free camping. We then cranked up the bbq, got into the beers and wines and had the best last night with Maree and Paul. We swam in the ocean the next morn and then rinsed off in the complimentry showers, then off back into Nice city to drop Maree and Paul at the train station for there trip back to Paris. Then it is back to the 4 of us, the Murphy's on tour alone again!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1218996180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1218996180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1218996180/tpod.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:25:34 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Athens, Attica, Greece

After recharging the batteries, we headed off down the Peloponnese and had a great time exploring Ancient Olympia (where the camera ran out of battery just as the kids were getting photos on the 214 mtr race track!), but it was very interesting and the kids loved it especially with the Olympics starting on the Friday.Tolo and Nafplio were fantastic and stinking hot, its official we are sweltering.Then off to Athens...the girls were very excited as Gordon and Bronnie were arriving the following day, then Maree and Paul the day after!Friday finally arrives so we head into city centre, which was a very cool place. Very clean, great shops and easy to get around. We staked out Gordon and Bronnies hotel then took off for a couple of hours window shopping. We then headed back to the hotel and there they were at the reception just checking in! Lots of hugs, tears and laughter later we had there gear in the room and we were off the Acropolis. The Acropolis is beautiful and impressive, although the walk up and the 38 degree heat proved to be a bit much for poor Bronnie who had to sit out the last part due to sun stroke! Nothing a cold beer after couldn't fix though. Then off to town to a lovely bar in the main square (which became our local for the next few days), where we watched the opening ceremony and downed a few beers. We had sooo much to catch up on.We missed the last train back to the camp so taxied back to find Maree and Paul lying on our deck chairs settling down for the night. They had arrived at 3pm that day, a day earlier than we expected, and were convinced that we must have been away on a night over trip somewhere. They were so relieved and happy to see us, so we had to have more celebratory beers!This was it...the pinnacle of our holiday the super yacht and finally the day was upon us! We were picked up from the campsite and taken for drinks in a bar then driven to the boat. Wow, it was everything we had hoped for and more! We had five staff, Captain Costos, 1st Mate Nicoli, Chef Ryan and 2 Concierges - Verity and Tamalyn! Waiting for us was a chilled bottle of Bollinger and nibbles! Oh yes this is my kind of lifestyle.We didn't actually leave port that night as they had a problem with the steering which was being looked at first thing in the morning. This did not worry us however as we had everything we required, needed or even dreamed of right on the boat!Once the steering was fixed we were off to the Islands, first stop Poros. Captain Costos got us a great spot in Russian bay where he hooked up the ropes and anchors. The water was beautiful, so clear and warm and we had all the toys, water-skis, wakeboards, biscuits, kayaks, snorkels, flippers and beer! We ended up staying at this amazing island for 4 nights as we had the best spot and the Meltemi winds were playing havoc with the rest of the islands. So over the days we ate like Kings with either lunch or dinner in town and the rest of the meals on the yacht. We hired scooters and four wheelers and cruised around the entire island and one day the crew organized a team challenge where Paul, Cam, Gordy and I had a survivor type race against Spud, Maree, Jordan and Bronnie! Guess what...I DIDN'T WIN! So my team had to walk the plank for that one.We left Russian Bay on Friday and went to Ephivaros, where again we were the best looking Super yacht anchored in the bay. We had a massive lunch in the little town and then Maree and I swam back to the yacht which was only 600 mtrs away but with the current and winds we ended up swimming about 1.25km much to the concern of the boys on the beach, who told us off when they got back to the boat. This became a bit of a joke for the rest of the trip. Every time we got in the water we took the mick out of the boys talking about cramps and currents, so the next time we do it they reckoned they would just stand on the beach and throw rocks at us.Saturday we cruised to the most amazing island with a beautiful cove where we spent the day doing watersports on the exquisite blue velvety sea. We were in heaven but also a little sad that the week of lifestyles of the rich and famous was coming to an end.Our wake up call was booked for Sunday at 6am. Our plan was to have a lovely breakfast, take our time and be ready for our transfer at 7.15 back to the camper where we were to drive to Patria to catch the Ferry to Italy. Tam woke us at 7.10am (she was a bit hungover and slept through the alarm) so we just threw all our gear in cases, didn't shower, no breakfast and we were gone! Not the way we had planned at all.The yacht was definitely a huge highlight on the entire trip; it was the most relaxing holiday we have ever been on. We loved it so much that we are rebooking for this time next year when the yacht will be in Croatia!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217578260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217578260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217578260/tpod.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:18:01 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Plataria, Greece

Dubrovnik runs a very close second to Prague. It is such a beautiful, clean city. The old town is spectacular. Our campsite was a short bus ride to the old town, where we did the amazing city wall tour. The views from the 2.5km stone walls around the town were amazing, although the shear drop to the ocean from the top got me a bit jittery again. We then spent the rest of the day checking out the awesome little streets and churches.After a couple of days it was time to hit the road again. And hit the road we did! We left Dubrovnik with a view of spending a couple of nights in Montenegro then on to Greece. So we pull up to the Montenegro boarder and all of sudden you get whopped with a 30 Euro Ecological tax, we haven't even made it to the boarder man yet so when we get to him we now have to buy extra insurance as my documents do not have the correct front page!!!! Even though they clearly state we are insured for this country...so another 20 Euro. The people at the boarder were rude and unpleasant and leaving the boarder we had a pretty sour taste in our mouths. Well holy hell, I don't know what the use the 30 Euro Eco Tax for but it certainly isn't keeping there country clean. What an absolute disgusting tip. We continued to drive and got out to the coast where we thought we would park up for a couple of days and were hugely disappointed here too...The water was awful, the place filthy and even the shop workers and petrol attendants were rude. It was like they don't even want tourists in there country and was a huge shock after Croatia.By this time it is 2.30pm and we decide bugger it, let's get out of here and head straight for Greece. So we take off down this main road apparently (think gravel and a few bits of roading) and head to the Montenegro/Albania boarder. This was also another horrendous experience but thankfully the men at the boarder obviously enjoyed talking to a female kiwi and we were processed within the hour and on our way. OH MY GOD! Albanians are the most horrific drivers yet. They have only just made road rules and most of the drivers have only been driving for around 10 years. We were terrified, but the worst was still to come. As Albanians have only been driving such a short time, they have had no need for roading. So the main road from Fier to the boarder (and this is the main highway) is worse than the skippers road! By this stage it is getting dark and we still have over 150km to go to the boarder on this road! At one stage just on dusk we came around the corner, by this stage the road is now gravel and it veered off to one side or carried on straight with a little bit of tarseal. Grant who was on his game veered off sharply and I calmly asked him what the $#@* he was doing. He said you'll see, and see I did. The road that went straight ahead dropped straight off the side of a cliff! No signs, no warning lights, no barriers! Jordan and I just started praying!We then get pulled over by a policeman (now about 11pm at night), as apparently Grant did not go around the whole round about. We still haven't seen it, but the cop was really friendly after he found out we were from NZ and let us carry on. Thankfully he said the autostrada started 1km away. Which it did and we all could relax a bit. Jordan went and joined Cam in bed and we settled in to drive the next hour to the boarder.We hit the boarder at midnight and it was pretty busy, and the boarder patrol guy was in a foul mood. The kids had to get out so he could view them and then was not going to let us into Greece as we did not have a stamp leaving an EU country. What the hell was he going to have us do, drive all the way back to Croatia to get a leaving stamp which they don't do anymore anyway!!!!!His boss came up behind him and they had some heated argument then we were handed back our passports and told to carry on and enjoy Greece.Yeeha we had made it to Greece, and being the suckers for punishment we decided to carry on driving out to the coast while we were on a roll. At 3am we arrive at Elena's beach camping. Usually camping places have a little park where you can stay if you arrive to early or late at night. This one didn't and the gates were locked! Next minute a light comes on and a man comes out doing up his pants. He didn't speak much English but unlocked the gates and welcomes us into his driveway where he has toilets and showers for such cases and tells us to get some rest and he has a perfect sight for us in the morning! The man is our angel! Grant and I then crack open a beer and just sit there both thinking how mad we are and how bloody dangerous that was!Next morning we are shown the most amazing sight on the waters edge in the most beautiful relaxing campsite we have been in yet. So we set up and park up and don't leave for four days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217075640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217075640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1217075640/tpod.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:46:57 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia

Hvar might be amazing for snorkeling, wine, lavender and beauty but the roading is horrific! We caught the ferry from Drvenik and thought it would be a leisurely drive up the island to Hvar and camping Vira...not so...hairpin turns, steep climbs and the road barely wide enough for the camper. We came across two accidents on our 77km trek up the island... We arrived at our campsite as 4 other campers are being turned away saying they are full! Luckily old Lisa had emailed during the week, the lady at reception wanted to come to NZ so took our booking even though it wasn't for the minimum of 7 days! When we arrived there was handshakes all round and the lady who took the booking sending her apologies but will come to our campsite tomorrow to meet us???? I wonder what that is all about, will keep you updated! One of the best things here is they have wireless access (although only at reception) and it is free so we will be able to watch the big game tomorrow live again!Well what a disappointment the rugby was! We finally got access at half time as the major storm throughout NZ played havoc on the satellite pictures but problem resolved by halftime...well I wish it hadn't been! What a disaster and that smug prick Robbie Deans sitting there laughing...don't get me started.Sunday we headed into Hvar early and the kids and I went to church. A Croatian mass is the way to go, all done and dusted in half and hour, might have to send some pointers back home. We then met a guy selling a boat trip for the next day out to these caves and the island Vis. He did a great sell so booked our tickets and headed back to the campsite to shave off Spud's hair! He had had enough of it and had run out of his precious fudge again even the stuff mum arrived over with! So we bought some clippers and whacked it off. Unfortunately Cam does not like it and it took a whole day for her to even look and speak to him again!Monday morning arrives around and I get woken at 5am by the smell of smoked fish! Apparently our idiot neighbors thought it would be a good idea to smoke the fish they had just caught outside my window which is obviously wide open as it is bloody hot! So up we all got at 6 and decided to get the 7am shuttle into town for some breakfast & coffee and arrive early so we could get the best sun loungers on the boat. Great idea and one that had us sitting in prime position on the boat, each with a sun lounger and some great people near us. We met Pete and Joe from Brizzie mate, and Viv and Lance from London (Lance is actually a kiwi but sounds like a typical pommie git!). Well what a day we had! Definitely a highlight on the holiday. The caves were amazing, the water fantastic, the beer cold (I know Lance not yours though) and company fantastic. After our 10 hour cruise we all headed to a Croatian restaurant, Bounty, and scoffed platters of Dalmatian Lamb with roast potatoes (recommended by another ozzie couple on the boat). By this stage 11pm Cam is starting to fade pretty fast, so we head back to the camper as they all head off to Veranda (nightclub with two swimming pools!). I am sitting here writing this as we head back down the island to the Ferry and Dubrovnik. The Croatian coast and the islands are a definite must see when planning a holiday to Europe. Petrol, food and accommodation are cheap. The people are friendly and all speak relatively good English and the landscape and clear blue water is the best I have ever seen. I am already planning my next trip back here as it is the most beautiful holiday destination I have ever been to.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1216912020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1216912020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1216912020/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:16:54 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Omis, Croatia

We arrived back to Bellaria in anticipation of the big show about to take place that week (after our 11 days at the same camp the girls had memorized the date for the annual camp musical and were determined to see it)...the girls we amped at going back to Camping Rubicon to see the show and buy a CD of their favorite dance songs, but alas, Lisa has major fall out with woman in office and we have no chance of getting in. So we head to the campsite 100 mtrs down the road and sneak back into Rubicon that night to see everyone (much to the animation and bar staff's delight, they nick named us favourite family!), the lovely girl from reception promised us a sight for the next night for a couple of nights but I was over it! So we said our goodbyes and headed up the road where we stopped back in at Fusina to stock up on cheap Peroni's and check out Palo's new air conditioning system that spud thinks is the ONE! Then we were off to Croatia.All the stories you hear about Croatia are true and even more so...it is beautiful, clean and the sea and the beaches are just breathtaking! Our first stop was a big campsite just outside of Porec where we had a couple of great days. We then did some sightseeing around the Istrian peninsular and headed out to the Island of Krk.We had 3 fantastic days out here with great weather and a massive street party celebrating 120 years of tourism. It was just like winter fest but 35 degrees and all the songs were in Croatian, except this one guy who sung all Elvis songs and we were the only ones dancing to them.We then headed down the most spectacular coastline with amazing coves and bays everywhere and out to a town called Nin. When we went to check into our campsite there but became a bit dejected as it was massive, had thousands of people in it and a bit hedi hi-ish for us (we were through with those big campsites) so we turned around and walked back out and continued down the coast, dotted with beautiful little campsites on the waters edge. We ended up in Pirovac, a great little seaside town in a campsite directly on the water, unfortunately the weather then decided to pack in! We dealt with gale force winds that closed the roads, torrential rain that flooded nearly everyone's sites and temperatures in the 17 - 20 degree vicinity, so we FROZE. Luckily the scenery and towns are amazing so we had plenty to do while the weather slowly warmed up again.We stopped again at another campsite about 50km past Split where we had the most amazing Croatian dinner cooked by Mum and Son's, the daughters were waitresses and reception for the campsites and dad and uncles played the mandolin and guitar and sung to us. It was amazing, we also met these crazy polish people who got both Grant and I up to dance to a song that went on for at least 20 minutes, the sweat was pouring off us both so I suppose I am pretty unfit at the moment. The weather here was also hit and miss but the girls got to snorkel and rock jump and it was just another excuse for Grant and I to play cards (the bugger is getting good at it now, which is pissing me off!) and drink that wonderful Croatian beer Karlovacko.We are now heading out to Hvar, apparently one of the most amazing islands in the world for beauty and snorkeling!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215949860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215949860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215949860/tpod.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:02:01 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Rome, Lazio, Italy

The horror stories of Rome's poverty, dirtiness and petty crime did not pan out to be true for us at least. We found Rome to be a truly beautiful city, clean and full of history. We arrived at our fantastic campsite, Camping Tiber early afternoon and did all our laundry, swam in the pool and basically plotted our attack on the famous city for the next day.So up early and into Rome we go, by the time we reached the Vatican the lines were already 2 hours long but a delightful young English girl told us of a tour in English that skipped the queues and also gave us a guide fully versed in the Vatican City. We decided that was for us so spent the next half hour in a café with other English speaking people drinking coffee. Then our tour guide (a young boy from Amsterdam of particularly feminine persuasion) took us off to the Museum. He was very funny but Mum didn't think him very religious though. It was great and definitely well worth the money to not queue and to know what you are looking at.We then did the Basilica, very sensational with the marble and jewels and the amount of gold in the roof! Then after the prerequisite relics (rosary beads - Cam & Jordan, medals - Mum & Cam, crosses - Mum, Cam & Jordan) we headed for the town and some well deserved lunch and a beer. Next stop was the pantheon and then a bit of shopping except Mum got a bit hot and flustered and started walking in circles talking gibberish so we headed for the train and back to the pool at the campsite.Next morning we were at the bar with fellow kiwi's watching the great game of rugby that we unfortunately did not win, but Carisbrook looked great and I recognized a few people in the crowd (did anyone else see the girl we call South Africa in the Nurses uniform at the start holding up a go BOC's sign) well it made me pretty homesick. That and the fact it was our last day with Mum and we would be putting her on the plane home the next morning.So we then jumped back on the train and headed off to the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately Spud had been struck with a pretty bad tummy bug and the girls were a bit quiet and teary due to grandma's imminenent departure so it was a very subdued day for the Murphy's on tour. Back at the campsite we packed her up and had a relatively early night. The next day we took our time getting organized and headed for the airport, a forty five minute drive. I'm glad we left early as parking for a camper at the airport is quiet impossible and took another hour just to park it and get back to the terminal.We had lunch with her and one last bottle of Chianti, checked her in and sent her through the doors...well I am still crying as I write this 5 hours later and nearly back over the complete other side of Italy where we will begin another new adventure as we head for Croatia. Thank you Mum for the wonderful time and bringing all that love and laughter to our holiday, it's not the same without you! I'VE GOT SOME!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215603840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215603840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisamurphy/1/1215603840/tpod.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:51:09 -0400 Around the World with two kids, an AH & a budget!

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Praia A Mare, Calabria, Italy

Getting off the ferry and into traffic in Sicily was an eye opener for all of us. Sicily is a chaotic country and road rules do not apply. At one stage we are stopped at the traffic lights as it is on red and all the other drivers are going around us and weaving through the traffic coming the other way and to top it all off we are getting honked at as well.Our campsite in Catania was on a small cliff with rock pools below it and diving boards built out onto the rocks. The girls and grant had great fun all afternoon snorkeling and diving off the rocks.We stopped to do our weekly groceries in Ragusa so grant bought Cam a net, as she believed she could catch all the fish she could see in the ocean...well she was out there 3 hours and still the fish eluded her, but it gave us three hours of utter hilarity, she was so focused on her task!We then continued our journey south and were utterly disgusted with the dirt and filth everywhere. Just loads of rubbish dumped everywhere and anywhere it was awful. The further south we got the worse it also got and throw in a barren burnt landscape, it was not the Sicily we were hoping to find.After a couple of days down South we headed back up to the top of Sicily near Cefalu. It was a lot cleaner up here but the beaches and snorkeling were just not up to much. After a good look around we decided to head back up to Praia a Mare to spend 4 days on the beach snorkeling and sunning before having to hit Rome and put the package back on the plane.Praia a Mare was fantastic. We went to the same Buddha Beach bar each day, hired our 3 loungers and an umbrella and drank them out of cold Heiny's! The girls spent hours in the water and mum finally got a decent tan to take home to Invercargill!We hired a pedal boat one afternoon and took off around the island, hard work for grant and I. The island had beautiful caves that we went into where the water was so blue and clear you could see millions of fish for miles.
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