Road Trip Day 31 - David and Amanda's Place - Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France

After a nice sleep in and not being woken up by sweltering heat everyone didn’t stir until late, late morning. We played with the kids all day and we definitely tired them out. The boys were in their element as they got to watch the Ashes. Ads thought it was so great in fact that he fell asleep on the couch while watching it. By late afternoon we were all by the pool and the boys jumped in and were throwing the footy around. The girls thought it was too cold. Everyone except Bella. She was right in there with the boys. The kids have been learning to swim so they were showing us their skills until they got too cold and jumped out. Dan was so cold in fact that he came to dry off but then wanted to ride on his bike so he put on his sandals and helmet and took off his swimmers so that he wasn’t cold anymore and was riding around with a bare bum! After us all be highly entertained by the kids Dave took us for a walk around to show is the sunflower fields and the amazing sunset. We again had a fantastic dinner with great company and lovely food and wine. Ohh and a great sleep!

We asked David and Amanda if they minded us staying one more night and in turn we would look after the kids so that they could go out for dinner alone. They jumped at the chance! So Dave drove Chris, Ads and I around the main town of Beaumont de Lomgne to show us around and they for a quick stop at their favourite cafe for a French version of the macchiato. We then went to the local bakery and supermarket to get supplies for lunch and dinner. They boys went back to watching the Ashes and playing with Bella and Dan. Amanda got the kids ready for dinner and they went out so we just has to bath the kids and put then to bed which wasn’t too hard of a task. We all crashed much earlier that night. I think the kids tired us out!

Road Trip Day 30 - David and Amanda's Place - Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France

Today we had a big drive of about 300km. We had to get to David and Amanda’s holiday house which is just outside of Toulouse, France. So we had to farewell the much loved sangria and paella for baguettes and wine (life can be tough at times). So we said our final farewell to Spain and drove into France with no issues again and got to David and Amanda’s place in the country side around 5pm. Their place is situated in the middle of the country side in France. It is just spectacular! From their place all you see is fields as far as the eye can see. There are sun flower farms and crops of wheat, corn and even geese breeders. It was so nice to not hear cars or have smog around. It was also lovely to see them. Dan and Bella (aged 4) were so happy that they had visitors to play with for a few days. We had a lovely bbq dinner that Dave cooked and during dinner we exchanged travel stories. By 12am we were exhausted and had the best sleep ever seeings that we were all lucky enough to sleep in a proper bed! It was total bliss!

Night Out in Barcelona ( Jo Blogging)

Once back in Barcelona we headed down “Las Ramblas” to meet Jake and Amy for dinner. We were heading to a restaurant that Lucas has raved about for the past 12 months since he was last in Barcelona. The restaurant was called “Les quinzenits”. Lucas said we had to get the patas bravas (fried potatoes). The food was fantastic! Amy and I once again enjoyed our paella while Ads has lamb and Chris had the breaded John Dory. Jake loved the taste of his meatballs in squid ink but only problem was there was only 4 meatballs in the dish! So after dinner we had planned with Megan (whose is currently on Contiki) to bring Hayley along so that I could surprise her. Didn’t exactly work out that way as their bus didn’t come into Barcelona until really late and then Hayley couldn’t be bothered going out so Megan and Courtney had to tell Hayley that they were coming to meet us. So by about 11pm we find them and head to the local Irish pub that Christian became well acquainted with whilst staying at a hostel in Barcelona. So we had great company for a few hours and I got to catch up with Hayles which was great. By 3am we got kicked out of the pub and had to say our goodbyes. We then went on a trek to find where to catch our bus from to get back to the campsite. I think we eventually got home and all passed out around 4am.

Day 29 - Santa Maria de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain

Our last full day in Barcelona and Ads wanted to go and check out Santa Maria de Montserrat. A Basilica that is 1385m above the road and high up in the mountains. So we waited until the afternoon as we were going into Barcelona for dinner. So Ads, Chris and I headed in as Jake and Amy wanted to have a lazy day after all their sight seeing. Little did we realise that this place was an hour outside Barcelona and the trains only came every hour! So by the time we got to there and got on the cable car that took us up the mountain we only had a really short time to look around before having to come back down and meet Amy and Jake in Barcelona for dinner. The Basilica was so impressive. Perched up on the top of the mountain it was definitely something of beauty! Some of the artwork reminded me of a Greek Orthodox church really bright with gold halos and made up of mosaic tiles. When we got there it seemed as though they were saying the rosary in Latin. In a passage at the front of the church was the sacred “Image of the Virgin” statue. Im not exactly sure of the significance but again it is something we need to google some day. So after a quick hour of sight seeing we jumped back on the cable car to get the train back to Barcelona.

Jo's Birthday Beach Party - Barcelona, Spain (Jo Blogging)

Today I wake up a year older and Chris and I Skype with Mum and Dad. After that we head into the town shopping centre to get some groceries and have a look around while Jake and Amy head back into Barcelona for another days sight seeing.
We come back and have an easy afternoon by the pool and get ready to go out for a beach party! We saw signs around the campsite for a beach party at their beach club. I thought it would be fun as not sure when I would be able to celebrate the same way again! So we jump on the campsite’s courtesy bus and have a few drinks in the sand on chairs and rugs. It was great! By the time we got home everyone feel asleep as soon as they hit the pillow.

Barcelona, Spain - Day 1 (Jo Blogging)

Today we got up at a decent hour and headed to Barcelona. After about 5 hours driving we found our campsite in Barcelona. It was a fair way out of Barcelona, more then we had hoped but it was across the road from the beach and the train station so we were told was not too far a walk... how wrong that was!
So we set up camp as we were settled now for 5 days. The boys went all out setting up our awning and the tent ready for Christian’s arrival as well. I got in touch with Chris to see how he was going in Barcelona and when he was going to meet up with us. He decided it was easier to wait until tomorrow when we would be coming into the city. So we had a relatively quiet night and a swim to get ready for sight-seeing the next day.

After sending a message to Chris we hoped to meet up with him around 10.30-11am. I went to the reservation office to find out how to get to the train station. I was told it was only a 20min walk from the campsite so we didn’t think it was too bad seeing as that it was only early and already really warm. So we head off in what we though was the right direction and after more then 20min walking everyone was beginning to sweat and there was no train station in sight... on train tracks. So we decided to walk along the beach to at least walk through the water. This was a little nicer until we realised that there was a lot of nude people around us, especially old men! Jake made the mistake of looking around and seeing one guy applying sunscreen... to his groin! After that everyone tried to find another route to walk to avoid the nudists and hopefully find the train station. After at least an hour we finally found the train station but we were all so hot that we were so glad to get on an air conditioned train for 45min to cool down. It was also at that point that I realised that we went to the wrong station and should have headed 20 min in the opposite direction from the campsite... Ooops.
So we finally pull into Barcelona and meet Chris in Maccas for yet another beer. It was good to see him as it’s been 2 years since I have seen him! My little brother is now taller than me! Damn it! As Ads and I have done Barcelona before and Chris had already been checking out Barcelona for a few days we headed straight to the Parc Guell as none of us had been there yet. Jake and Aims headed for the bus tour for the next 2 days.
By early afternoon it was stinking hot so the three of us headed back to the campsite for a swim and to chill for the rest of the day.
Amy and Jake came back early evening with an early birthday present for me! It was a massive beach towel! Thanks guys

Aquarama - Benicassim, Spain

AQUARAMA here we come! After getting the washing on at 8am and on the line by 9am we were all set to get our waterpark on! It was a 30 min walk from the campsite, so by the time arrived we were all hot and ready to get straight to it. After a small discussion on to best attack the slides it was decided that left to right would be the easiest way, and to then just go crazy once we had sampled each one. The first slide required a figure 8 shaped donut and 2 people. It was a slight let down but the second slide definitely made up for. It too required the same figure 8 donut and 2 people. The best thing about this one was that once you were assisted into the opening of the slide by the lifeguard it went pitch black and you were unable to see what direction you would flung next. From there we went on the twister, and then the flying fox, and then the Kamakaze. We then had a swim and some lunch and did it all over again. Jo won the award for best dismount from the flying fox but unfortunately I did not have the camera out for this effort. She managed to nearly do a complete back flip as she flung her legs up over here head from there flinging her body around to make her knee and shins hit the water first. She claims it was by accident but it was still very impressive and even the life guards had a decent laugh, I think one may have even clapped.
We slipped and slid for another few hours until it was early evening. The park had ride similar to the tower of terror but not nearly as big. As Jo and Jake are big scardy cats Aims and I decide that we were going to get our money’s worth from this place.
It seemed like such a good idea until Aims was all strapped in, she then realised she was actually terrified of heights. She turned to me and said something along the lines of, “I think I’ve made a mistake”, and “If I had the choice to get off now I would”. But it was all too late for that. The count down had begun and it was all about to happen. We were flung into the air and then bounced around like a tea bag for a good 2 mins. Once we got off Amy was fine again and strut around glad that she had done....the funniest part though was her adrenaline was so high that her hands wouldn’t stop shaking!
All in all it was a great day, good suggestion Jake, maybe we will have to do it again in Antibes!

Aquarama - Benicassim, Spain

We drove through Valencia and Jake was less than impressed with the setup of Spanish roundabouts! 5 lanes leading into the roundabout....then no lanes in the roundabout.....then 5 lanes again on the otherside. We made it through unscathed and were happy to see the back of Valencia and it’s stench! As we exited Valencia, Jake noticed a huge poster for a waterpark that was on our course. This was about the 8th time he had got overly excited about one of these ads and shouted that he thought it would not be a bad idea to go to one of these parks (everyone that knows Jake can insert your own interpretation of him getting excited about the waterpark cause I just don’t think I could do it justice, plus trying to keep this blog PG). So we looked up in the campervan book we have (Thanks Chris and Sandi!) and found a campsite in Benicassim which was really close to the waterpark. The arrived at the park at 6ish and this campsite was shmik! All the facilties were great and really clean, there was also a supermarket about 2 mins away. We decided that although we had not planned to stay we would do the waterpark the following day, get some washing done and then hit the road for Barcelona a day earlier skipping Sitges. This campsite had pretty good internet so we checked the waterpark out and decided that we would get there when it opened and spend the entire day there. I’m not 100% sure but I think Jake may have been to excited to sleep that night.

Oliva Beach, Spain

We were back on the road at 8am and planned to be in Oliva by lunch time to work out our next port of call for another night of free camping. Oliva was another recommendation from the free camping website that we had been using. We found a nice little beach and went for a swim and chilled on the beach for a few hours but there really wasn’t any place that was suitable to camp. We hit the road again at about 1pm bound up the coast, but unsure of a destination.

Bolnuevo Beach, Spain

We have been using a website that we found that gives good advice on places to free camp in most countries in the EU. So far it had been great, but Puerto De Mazarron was not a good recommendation. To be fair we did get there at 2am and when we headed to the place they said the directions they gave weren’t great. We ended up driving around the towns narrow little back streets for 10 minutes, be followed by the Polica. We finally managed to get back onto a main street and decided to head to a beach outside of town. We turned the first corner on our way out of town and there was a Polica car parked on the side of the road and waved us down to stop. Luckily they spoke english and we had all the necessary paperwork to keep them happy. I think I slightly confused the guy cause the van is registered in Jake’s name who was sitting in the back seat, then when he asked for passport and driver’s licence he gave me strange look because I have a UK drivers licence and a AUS passport....he definitely made me sweat but after double checking everything we were free to go. He made a joke reminding me to drive on the right hand side of the road... We all laughed nervously and drove off. We finally found a decent spot to camp with a couple of other camper vans along side us facing what we hoped was a beach. It was then straight to bed but after the excitement of the night I doubt any one went straight to sleep.....well maybe except for Jo.

The beach that we had found to make the previous night was called Bolnuevo Beach. The water was really nice and was starting to get a bit warmer compared to the previous few spots. Straight across from were we had parked was a strange rock formation, not sure what it was as the sign was in Spanish, but I will google sometime soon. Feel free to do it yourself and let me know.