We woke this morning and after breakfast met our guide, Fadi and driver Mahmoud for a private tour around Jordan.

Jordan is a small country, only 400 kms from North to South. The population is about 10 million, which has doubled in the last 8 years due to a massive influx of refugees from Syria, Palestine and Iraq, all of whom share it's borders.

We left Amman about 8:00am. Jordan immediately surprised us. We were expecting to be in the middle of the desert. Instead, we were driving through rolling green hills dotted with white, limestone apartment buildings. This quickly gave way to rendered houses scattered throughout olive groves. You would have been forgiven for thinking you were driving through Tuscany in Italy. No sand in sight!

Our driver Mahmoud stopped to buy us some traditional drinks. He bought Lidia a black tea with sage and myself a Turkish coffee with cardamom. Both were very different and quite good, although I immediately sprouted thick, black hair on my chest after drinking the coffee and will probably be awake for four months.

Our first stop was Umm Qays, in the very North-West corner of Jordan. It is so close to the border that you can actually see three countries while standing in a fourth. Syria is directly to the North, with the snow-capped Lebanese mountains in the distance. To the west is the Palestinian territories of Israel. In fact, we were so close to Israel that Telstra texted my mobile phone with a "Welcome to Israel" message.

This location is home to a Roman ruin dating back to the second century. Refugees work in the area and we came across a UN tent at the site.

We then drove down the valley of Jordan with Israel only 200 metres to our right. This area is lush and is the bread-basket of the whole Middle east, with market farms the whole way along. Driving through small towns, the fruit and vegetable vendors line the road selling fresh produce. Mahmoud stopped and bought us some bananas, which were tiny but so tasty. No GMO foods here! I ate three and Lidia got through two, saving her third for later.

Our next stop was a place called Ajlun, which is home to a fortress built by the Emperor Saladin in the 12th century AD to protect the area against Richard Lionheart and his crusades. There were excellent views of the white city of Ajlun from the castle.

On the way up to the castle, Mahmoud stopped and bought a Turkish bread and some Labeneh, which is a creamy goats cheese drenched in olive oil. It was delicious and we ate some of it in the car on the way up the hill.

After we finished at the castle, I jumped back into the car, leaning heavily on Lidia's banana and squashing it like a pancake. She doesn't call me Awkwardo for nothing.

It was then time for lunch, so we drove to Jarash and Mahmoud took us to a fantastic restaurant. We started by visiting the baker, who was making Turkish breads in the wood fired oven. He cooked one for us and we took it into the restaurant, where they quickly delivered a whole array of dips and salads and then more Turkish breads. The hummus was beautiful, but our favourite was a smoky eggplant dip that we just couldn't stop eating. The dips were divine and so were the salads, but this was only entrée. We had hardly got through any of the food before they delivered koftas and all sorts of different dishes. They also gave us a mint and lemon drink which was really refreshing and tasty. We were stuffed full, but Mahmoud kept insisting we eat more. He was very persistent, but we were completely up to p**** s bow. Fortunately he told us that the restaurant gives all leftovers to the local poor people, so we didn't feel so bad leaving so much food.

Our next stop was the ancient city of Jarash. This city is amazing to see. It boasts the most intact Roman ruins outside Italy and they are incredible. There are several intact gates leading into an expansive city containing two perfectly preserved amphitheatres, a hippodrome and several temples. The centre of the city has a cobblestoned area surrounded by columns, which was once the market place and leading off this is the avenue of 1,000 columns (which has a lot less now).

We walked for about 2 hours, which was great because we had to work off the massive lunch. No dinner for us tonight! We came back to the hotel and ate fruit (not the banana Lidia had saved, obviously, which was mush).

A great day today, which had me jumping for joy (see photos for proof).