We spent most of today in ancient Pompeii, exploring all the ruins.It was really hot and dusty and we were grateful for the water fountains scattered around the site.While we were there we saw the amphitheatre, gladiator training grounds and stadium, various bakery's and cafes, temples and the cast's of the volcano's victims which was sad to see but also so interesting. Last but not least, we made sure that we did a trip through the brothel so Bek's mum could fin...

Today we headed back to the west coast to Sorrento, and although our sat nav led us on a wild goose chase through all sorts of dodgy areas (including modern Pompeii which is a bit of a hole) we still got there early enough to leave our van at a campsite and hop into mum and dad's car and drive along the Amalfi Coast.The coastline is absolutely stunning and it was a great drive, despite Rita in the back seat having mini heart attacks every few seconds because the ...

Today we drove to Manfredonia further down the east coast of Italy.There's nothing to do there, it almost seemed like a ghost town, with random run down abandoned buildings in the middle of the desert, but mum and dad's hotel was awesome so we hung out there with them most of the time. Before we went out to dinner with them, we thought now was the best time to crack open the bottle of Verve Cliquot that we had been given as a going away present (thanks John and C...

We got up early because we knew we had another big day of driving ahead of us, so after having some macca's for breakfast, and a baby wipe shower, we headed for the east coast of Italy to meet up with Bek's mum and dad.We met them in Rimini and after all the hugs and kisses we went and had some lunch and swapped travelling stories.It was great seeing mum and dad again after over a year, and it was a huge suprise to see mum with blond hair! But they both looked gr...

Today we made our way to Italy.To save money we had been trying to avoid paying too many tolls, we usually avoided the highways and stuck to state roads which generally followed the highways anyway, but we soon realised in Italy that most of the state roads are hilly and windy, while the toll roads just take you through the hills in tunnels, and journeys that should have only taken us half an hour were taking nearly 3, so we had to bite the bullet and start payin...