Amalfi Coast

Today we set out to tackle the Amalfi Coast road.  This was something we were both looking forward to as the Amalfi is known as one of the most breathtaking roads in Europe.  With most of the road winding along the top of sheer cliffs which give way to the beautfiully clear turquoise sea, it certainly was stunning, the only problem was the number of other people who were there as well.  Being the high season, the roads were nose-to-tail with cars and tourist coaches, with kamikaze scooter riders weaving between them.  It wasn't the most relaxing journey and as there was nowhere to easily stop we had to be content with a few shots taken from the moving car window.

We had booked to stay a couple of nights at an Agriturismo camping ground just inland from Amalfi town, but after a long and eventful drive trying to get there and seeing that the camp site was on the top of a hill with no vehcile access we decided to give it a miss.We ended up overnighting in a town called Maiori which the Lonely Planet dismissed as a brassy resort town, but we thought it was rather nice.  We decided to splash out and spend the night under a solid roof, checking into a little pensione and spent the afternoon swimming and sunbathing before joining the throngs of people strolling the promenade that evening.

Sorrento

The next morning we had a slow start to the day, cooking a yummy omlette breakfast before catching up  on some laundry.  Then we walked to the station to catch the train to central Sorrento, a beautiful clifftop town overlooking the Bay of Naples.  After wandering around the town we arrived at the point overlooking the beach, which was crazy.  It wasn't a beach in the traditional sense, more of a concrete marina decked out with umbrellas and loungers, edged by bars and restaurants with blaring music.  We decided to give it a miss, and ate our packed lunch down on the port whilst watching the ferries coming and going.  After a couple of hours in Sorrento we decided to return to our campsite to grab our togs and head back to the beach we had been at the day before, for more swimming and sunbathing.  That night we ate dinner at an amazing pizzeria near the campsite, stuffing ourselves with giant pizzas straight from the wood fired oven.

Pompeii

Friday morning we packed up our tent and took the congested motorway south to Pompeii to check out the Roman ruins.  After nearly getting ripped off by a parking scam we figured out where we needed to be and bought our tickets.  Opting for the two hour audio guide tour rather than the four or six hour versions available we spent the morning following the slightly confusing route, checking out the amazingly well preserved ruins, thanks to the mighty Mt Versuvius which erupted in AD 79, burying the city under a layer of ash.

Two very hot and dusty hours later we emerged from the ruins ready to head to our next destination, a campsite in Sorrento.  As usual the GPS decided to spice up our journey by taking us on the scenic route via some incredibly narrow streets, but we eventually made it in one piece.  After setting up camp our first task was to head to the beach where the number one priority was grabbing a sandwich for a late lunch.  Then it was swimming time.  In Italy many of the beaches are private, so you have to pay to use them.  This is a frustrating concept to us, we don't know how lucky we are in New Zealand to have miles of beautiful coastline that we can use for free.  There was a small 'free' beach which didn't look that inviting, so we decided to pay the two euro charge which allowed us entry into a private beach, opting to lay on the sand rather than forking out extra for a sunshade and lounger.  It was worth it though, the water was crystal clear and refreshing, much needed after a hot day of travelling and site seeing.  As it was, the beach was about to close for the day, so we pretty much had it all to ourselves, a rare luxury.

That evening we cooked dinner at our cliff top campsite and watched a beautiful sunset over the sea, while the bats flitted about in the trees above us.

Napoli

Thursday we were up early to catch the train into Naples for the day.  Naples is a sprawling city set on a sweeping bay, described in the guidebooks as an exhilarating mess of crumbling, baroque churches, bellowing baristas and electrifying street life; a place where pollution and crime are rife.  We found it to be a bit of a confusing place, it's the sort of city you would come to love if you spent a decent amount of time there and got to know the secret spots, but with only one day to explore it was all a bit overwhelming.

Our first stop of the day were the fish markets, where the freshness of the produce on offer was amazing and made us want to take it all home for a massive sea food feast.  Wandering through the Unesco World Heritage-listed Centro Storio (historic city centre), we could've easily been on the streets of Morocco or Turkey.  Under the washing lines hanging over the narrow laneways, were groups of noisy kids playing football in the piazzas, vespas hurtling through the cobbled streets and stalls selling the famous Neapolitan street foot on every corner.  Needing to escape the madness for an hour, we stopped for lunch at a famous pizzeria, where we enjoyed giant pizzas washed down with cold beer.

The weather had been stifling hot all day, but as the afternoon drew in so did the rain clouds.  The air felt really heavy, it was clear a thunderstorm was about to happen, and the rumbling overhead began as we hastily made our way towards the train station.  On the train back to Pozzuoli the storm hit, with super loud thunder and lightening.  On our arrival the heavens had opened and we still had a 15 minute walk up the hill to the campsite.  Deciding that we might as well bite the bullet we dashed out into the rain.  Halfway there the rain became much, much heavier and we were absolutely drowned.  Taking shelter under the canopy of a car wash business we watched as the rain became heavier still and the roads turned into rivers with the cars essentially floating along them.  It was absolutely crazy and I have never in my life seen rain like it.  By this point we were pretty worried about the state of our tent so despite the guys from the car wash gesturing to us that we were mad, we dashed out into the street and carried on up the hill.  On arrival at the campsite we were greeted with the sight of our French neighbour in his underwear frantically digging a trench with a plastic cup around his tent while his wife sheltered inside!  We took the alternative option of picking up our tent which was in a puddle of water and moving it to a different spot on higher ground.  Thankfully the tent had withstood most of the rain and was fairly dry inside.  Unlike the two of us who were soaked to the bone, and went off to change clothes before spending the afternoon in the camp bar along with a variety of other waifs and strays who had been forced from their tents.

Later that evening the rain eased and we were able to venture out to the supermarket for some supplies for a rather soggy dinner.  This time we ate in the company of a couple of stray moggies who enjoyed some of the cat biscuits I had bought especially, making sure we applied plenty of insect repellent this time.

Pozzuoli

Wednesday morning we grabbed a typical speedy Italian stand-up breakfast of frothy cappucino and a sweet custard-filled croissant before heading for the train station to pick up our rental car.  Having driven out of Rome before we were a little more prepared for the madness of the roads, I simply closed my eyes and let competent Tim take control of our little grey Peugeot.  We had programmed our first stop into the GPS already, we were headed for Carrefour, a giant supermarket/homeware store where we stocked up on equipment for our camping adventure.


Then it was onto the Autostrada headed for Naples.  We had booked to stay at a camping ground in a place called Pozzuoli which was on the outskirts of Naples, a city notorious for it's crazy traffic, but even though were a good 10km away from the city limits, the road rules still seemed to be completely ignored.  So it was a bit of hairy drive up windy, narrow roads to the camping ground, which was right next to a geothermal area.  The friendly camp warden reasurred us on arrival that even though the site was in the crater of an active volcano, it was okay because they were able to 'control' it!  This made us giggle, but the camp ground was lovely, complete with a swimming pool and sites shaded by giant gum trees.  It was lovely to cool off with a swim after setting up our tent, followed by some time spent lazing on the sun loungers.  Later on that evening when the temperature dropped a little we went for a wander around the geothermal area, which in all honesty didn't have much on Kuirau Park in Rotorua!  But it was quite interesting and we had another giggle at the lack of barriers or warning signage, in some places we were walking over rather hot ground with steam vents coming up all over the place!  Who needs health and safety!

Dinner that night was a camping style pasta meal eaten in the company of millions of mosquitos, whose presense unforutantly we didn't notice until it was too late.  There happened to be an open air classical piano concert taking place very near the camp ground so it was lovely to dine with the sound wafting across to our site, and we wandered over after dinner to catch the end of it, such a lovely peaceful end to our day, despite the itchy welts developing on our legs.

Roma

Our Italian adventure began at Rome's Leonardo di Vinci airport late on Monday evening when we arrived after a delayed flight from Heathrow.  Thankfully we had realised that as we were arriving so late we wouldn't be able to get into the central city very easily, so had arranged to stay at a hotel near the airport.  Unable to find an ATM to withdraw some euros, were forced to take a taxi accepting credit cards, but the driver proceeded to rip us off by first of all taking the long route to the hotel and then trying to tell us we needed to pay an extra fare for our luggage.  After a bit of a heated discussion he relented, and we finally made it to our room about 2am local time.

Tuesday morning after an amazing sleep in a giant bed (we've got to find out what sort of beds the Hilton use) we enjoyed a huge hotel breakfast before catching the train into central Rome and checking into our hostel for the night.  Then it was off to make the most of our one day in the Italian capital.  We had spent quite a bit of time in Rome before back in 2009, but had missed visiting the famous Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum.  However, after catching the metro there and seeing the lengthy queues we decided that it would have to wait for another time as we couldn't be bothered with the wait in the boiling sunshine!  Instead we opted to grab a couple of slices of pizza to eat on the pavement before completing a whistle-stop walking tour of the city, including St Peter's Square, various piazzas, the Palentine and the Trevi Fountain (tossing in a coin or two to ensure our return).  Then it was a cheap and cheerful dinner at a spaghetti restaurant recommended by our hostel owner before wandering home via the ruins of the Roman Forum and an opportunity for Tim to try out his new tripod with some dusk shots of the Colosseum.   All in all a brilliant day in an amazing city.

lastminute.com

There is a fabulous website over here that we often use to pick up spur-of-the-moment deals.  As Tim had a night off we decided to make the most of the opportunity for an evening at the theatre.  We saw 'The 39 Steps' - a hilarious and cleverly performed play based on Alfred Hitchcock's film, apparently the longest running comedy on the West End.  At a bargain £10 a ticket, it was a fun way to fill a gloomy Monday night.

Cambridge

We spent a lovely weekend in Cambridge, despite the rubbish English summer weather.  We travelled up with Pam & Kev, and stayed with Kirsty & Marcos who were fantastic hosts, giving us a guided tour of the university and city, and even sneaking us into a few behind the scenes areas!  Tim got to have a go at punting, which is quite a bit harder than it looks, and of course enjoyed the many pub stops along the way!  It is a beautiful city and makes us quite tempted to move away from the hustle and bustle of London life!

A whole new world

Today we entered the mine field that is the world of baby shopping.  We now know the difference between a pram and a buggy and understand that one of these is likely to set us back a small fortune.  We'll have to continue to research the baby transportation options, but did come home with our first set of body suits - a token gesture really, but at least we've made a start.

Scan Take II

We had our official 'dating scan' today, though actually it was our second scan as I had one a couple of weeks ago.  The first one had shown that the initial dates we had been given were not quite right, and that the baby was only 10 weeks old, rather than the 12 we had expected.  Due to the small size, they were unable to complete all the necessary testing that goes with the scan and asked us to come back in two weeks time, when we would be given the long awaited photo.

So there I was, back in the waiting room of the scan department with an uncomfortably full bladder (keeping you waiting in that state is pure torture - our appointment was more than 40 mins late!) but very excited to see 'Costa' for the second time.  We have named the baby 'Costa' as we believe 'he' was conceived on the Costa Blanca in the South of Spain, right after the Madrid marathon!  And we're calling Costa 'he' to make things easy, not because we know already, and we've decided against finding out at the 20 week mark, opting for a surprise instead.

Costa has been really active both times we've seen him, he doesn't seem to like being pressed on very much!  He was flipping around like crazy, the poor lady doing the scan was having a hard time taking the measurements and getting us some decent photos!  But he definitely has two arms and two legs, we even saw him open his mouth and at one point start sucking his fingers - the technology is absolutely incredible.  And his little heart was racing along at 165 beats per minute, a very reassuring sound to hear.  It was a very special moment for both of us and has made having a baby seem so much more real.  Apparently all is looking really good so far and I am slightly further along than we were told at the first scan, I was dated at 12 weeks 5 days, which gives us a due date of the 18th of January, a pretty special 30th birthday present for Tim!

A bit busy

The more observant of you may have noticed that things have been a bit quiet blog front of late.  Well, for that I apologise, but I'm sure you will agree that we have a fairly decent excuse.

I discovered the news that we were expecting a baby on the morning of Friday the 13th of May (slightly spooky) after just 'having a feeling'.  We had been planning on booking our summer trip to Africa that weekend, so I thought it was a good idea just to be sure that we had the go-ahead to fork out the rather large sum required for the flights.  Tim happened to have been away on a course all that week, so I did the test on my own without telling him.  Two blue lines appeared in the little window almost immediately!  After freaking out slightly and re-reading the instruction leaflet several times to make sure it was definitely a positive reading, I pulled myself together enough to get to school on time.  Later on I snuck out to Boots at morning break and bought another test, once again positive!  I somehow managed to get through the rest of the day before I was able to dash home to Tim and share the news with him.  I had wrapped the positive tests in gift wrap and ribbons, and upon opening them, we both burst into tears!

So was the pregnancy planned?  Well not entirely.  We had discussed trying for a baby towards the end of the year after our big African trip and once I was back at school in September.  But I guess accidents happen and really the more we've thought about it, we've realised that there would never have been a perfect time to start a family.  As Tim said, there's was always going to be something stopping us, so really it is almost easier this way!  I'm just grateful it all happened so easily, and although it was a little bit unexpected, we really couldn't be happier.

Sneaky

Much to Tim's dismay and frustration, I've become a very fussy eater of late.  Fish, among other things, really turns me off these days.  Being aware of how nutritionally valuable oily fish is to development, Tim cleverly tried to hide some flaked salmon in our dinner.  It wasn't too bad actually!

Wireless Festival

Example, Bruno Mars, Tinie Tempah, Plan B & The Black Eyed Peas played Hyde Park.