STOP PRESS - Munich

They say that Gold has a almost magical grip over man. Human history has its far share of Explorers, Empires, Kings, and Knights all chasing the golden dream. You can now add the names, Harbott, Arblaster, Richards and du Chateau to that famous list now my friends. For we were hunting Liquid gold, and in a hurry.

The above owes itself to a chance run in with Penelope in Krakow, Poland. Sitting in the magnificent main Square, she popped out of no where to say hi! So after a few drinks, it transpired she had come from Munich the weekend before, and after gushing praise of a certain event, she convinced us we had to get there. We all new we wanted to be there, but old Rolling Thunder just couldn’t make the Trip?

In an occurrence as rare as Halley’s Comet itself, the lads all in unison decided to hire a car in the morning and drive there, we all stopped drinking mid pint and left for some rest, in total silence as if telepathaicly! It was a moment of Zen like clarity, just shy of an outer body experiance. I wouldn’t have believed it, had I not been there myself. Car hired in the morning, we drove…hold on, this requires a new paragraph!

We drove, in the looses sense of the word, through 4 countries and 940km in 1 day to reach Munich for Sunday morning. To say our car was travelling would be a gross understatement. After all we were driving the world’s faster car, the RENTAL! Speed limits are really just a guide line in Europe and with the lead foot Richards at the wheel we made some time. I can report with some worry that the city of Brataslva is rather blurry, which also true of Vienna and Slazburg for some reason, they should get the EU onto this right away, sorry i digress. We woke early on Sunday morning thus surprising Dan, Lisa, Tokaroa and Seamus with a stealthy entry into there camp around 8:30am.

OKTOBERFEST

I really can’t do a day in this place justice with a few metaphores or yarns. Suffice to say it would rate as one of my best days on the gas ever. Top 3 easy. To sit in one of the huge halls, and drink a cold Stein brought to the table by a large bosomed lady is one of the truly special moments of my life, all agreed it was the best beer ever ever had!

See pictures, weep and repeat!

The next day we awoke with the not to insignificant task of driving home 972km ,not sure why it changed, oh perhaps that the route was completely different – see map. Basically a full loop around Checz republic

MAP

3 Days, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Germany all covered! 2000km for a beer with our mates. Special times. Also the chap at the rental placed failed to notice (In pure sunshine i add) the 3 dents, 4 bald tires and 45 KFC chicken bones firmly wedged in the back seat crevasses! What a ride!

Lithuania

LITHUANIA

We headed onto Lithuania’s Capital, Vilnius on the Thursday morning. It was a long drive, so we decided to break it up and stop in a little town along the way. With no Camping grounds we were forced to stay in a cool little hotel for the first time, it was a steal at a tenner each, and we also got a full sauna, Turkish steam bath and spa in the place too. The lads all jumping at the chance for our own bed!

Heading across the country the next day was interesting. The land is flat, like the Canterbury plains flat. But pocketed amongst the green fields are little towns, which are just what you would picture a post Soviet country. Buildings are very simple, modest little houses and many old tractors chugging along. Also every so often a old Soviet relic, like a massive coal factory, with huge towering red and white smoke stacks looking very out of place in this landscape. When you come across a larger city it will have endless rows of massive apartment blocks, all grey and lifeless. Must have been tough in the old days. Mind, we have spotted naff all Ladas! Looks like they export them all now? Another amazing place we paced was the Hill of Crosses. This is a site of pilgrimage about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania. The exact origins are unknown, but it is considered that the first crosses were placed on the former Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort after the 1831 Uprising. Over the centuries, not only crosses, but giant crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. The number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 50,000, but I think it would be more like double. Truly one of the most eerier and astounding places I’ve been. Apparently when the Soviets were in control, they bulldozed the hill 3 separate times, yet every time crosses would appear almost within 24hrs.


















We breezed into Vilnius, and with it our Alternator in Rolling Thunder gave its last charge and died.. This, you might gather presented a rather large fucking problem for the campaign. How does one find a mechanic on Friday at about 4pm who can not only fix it, but has seen a 1979 FIAT camper, we’ll I tell you, A TON of bloody luck. As within 1 hour we had pulled up into the FIAT dealer garage for our repairs. The next hour we had setup in our Guest house in old Town and ready to see what this place had on offer. Ireland were about to be roasted by the Frogs in the Rugby, so we decided to head to the only Irish bar and check it out. Attempting to take some front row seats, we were told that they belonged to the Irish ambassador . Bad start. But things lifted when we spied the terrace seating, albeit right in front of some local ladies, who i guess didn’t barging on a close up view of our asses with there dinner!

After the French sorted out the game, things moved into full swing. We befriended an elderly Irish chap from Cork, who happened to be as clichéd as an Irish man can get. He like us, a lot! This chap one time in his life was a Millionaire, and proceeded on telling us he lost it due to being a manic depressive with a drinking problem (A handy combo I would think). But he was as funny as a man can get, ripping us all to pieces with his shit humour and tragic yarns! Father Jack he was to be known for the rest of the tour. I recall the night ending with some classic Air Guitar on the tables, duChats and Harbott forming a potent Lead/Bass combination, leaving the crowd speechless.

Saturday was our rest day, so we decided to find a few hidden jems in Vilnius. We went to a little bar called Play, which like its title had plenty of things to play with inside. Foosball being one of them, so after a few rounds of that we moved onto have what turned out to be the best dinner on tour, and cheapest by far. Cosy was the venue, and after some witty repertoire with the waitress over wine, we moved across the road to mix it up. Shooters we consumed, why I’m not sure, and the dance floor featured heavily for some time. As far as nights go, nothing special and I’m sure you’d agree. Its not until I introduce some decidedly dodgy, yet charming, Aussie lads into the picture that we can then continue the yarn. For at closing time, we found ourselves in a group of around 10 chaps and one rather colluded young Aussie girl, and no where to go. Someone, and I’m not willing to point fingers, muted the idea of perhaps a lady show? Hey why not, so off we all went in search of the finer things in life. What followed was perhaps the saddest, humours and meaningless display of direction I have ever witnessed in my time. With No leader, no map, no actual idea of a venue and a skin full we walked around town for nearly 2 hours, and then only stumbling across one at 6am. After a heated debate on cost, we discovered it was only open for a merger 1 hour more, hardly worth the dollars it was decided! So another 1 hour was spent finding food, at this stage we had lost 5 others. Left only with Clint, Phil, Myself and Luke and Scotty (Aussie lads). Double Coffee really never saw us coming at 7am. Luke and Mark had a bus to catch at 9am, and a small fortune of Lithuanian Lits to burn. This Luke’s order at Double Coffee –

Luke – “Jack Daniels and Coke please”
Waitresses – "just 1 sir"
Luke – “No the whole Bottle and 10 cokes”
Waitresses – “I’ll have to check with management…….”

5min later, and I’m sure a call to head office…..1 bottle of JD’s appeared. All Costing about 40 notes. Classic stuff. Come to think of it, we never did eat.

So we moved onto the Saturday and the next AB’s game v Scotland. We thought we had scooped the correct venue, and when arriving at the Friday nights stop, we found the Irish bar didn’t have the game. I’d like to say the lads are good in a crisis, and a crisis is what this quartet suddenly found themselves staring right in the eye! Even the locals said we wouldn’t find the game…..plah to them we said. Lead by a more than agitated, but eager Richards, we set sail in search of a bar to watch the AB’s. After a 30min walk around town we stumbled into a Casino, and before our eyes swept the best sports bar I’ve been to..or ever hope to go!

30 Plasma screens, waitresses in French maid outfits and beers costing around the 50cent mark! The next time you hear someone say ‘They struck it lucky’, just picture the 4 of us giggling like school girls and hugging, as the waitresses flicked thru the 5 million channels and found the AB’s v Scotland in English! And then preceded to crank the Volume to our liking, this in the face of 40 odd Man U v Chelsea supporters who had flocked in! Dig a hole and burry me now….as good as it gets (Leather couches too)

After the game, and loosing a paltry amount on the black Jack we decided to move on. We ended up going to a bar called, and I love this name for many reasons, PROSPECTOR. Sunday night and the place was in full swing. Notable events of night, break dancing, Clint befriending the manager (Again) and calling in that contact when he was denied entry back in later that night. Also Phil and myself carrying Clint off the dance floor, and out of the bar when we had to go! Good times!


Poland next

Latvia

The campaign rolled onto Riga on the Monday. Unfortunately missing any chance of a weekend out. So it was to be a few sedate days cruising around the old town, and checking out the locals. The old town, like the ones before was really cool. Lovely Churches, spires and buildings to wander around and soak up the history. Like all 3 Baltic countries, Latvia has had a tough past to say the least. Invaded by the Soviets in the Early part of the 1900’s, then the Germans stormed through in WWII killing 75,000, only for the Russians to retake the country after the War. They had it for 40 more years until there independence. They have been taking a hammering from all sides, this leaving the country in a rather poor state. But since its independence in 1991 and entry to the EU in 2004 its been all go.
On the Tuesday we had a good look around the new and old towns, also managing to get every piece of clothing we all owned cleaned for around £35. We then decided to have a quiet pint in a hostel bar in the arvo, and returning there after dinner to continue only due to the mad cheap pints going for around 50 cents! One drink lead to 10, and the next thing you know we had flagged the return trip to Rolling Thunder and decided to crash at the hostel the night, only being a flight of stairs away. I can’t speak for all present that night, but I’m fairly sure we were not the most popular chaps in that particular 12 bed dorm. After we tip toed in, Tom Clancy style, I managed to smash a pint on the floor (all over our jeans we discovered), sleep in some other chaps bed (Who returned in morning, angry) and both Clint and myself locked our selves out on separate occasions, mine being a little more embarrassing, clothed in my only unclean underwear! To top this off we checked out 2 hours late. All for a grand total of about £8 each. Thanks Riga.

Estonia

Tallinn

A 15 hour long ferry ride greeted us at the Harbour in Stockholm, and we all agreed to it being the longest time spent at sea for all of us. This small bit of bad news was swiftly eased when once aboard, we unearthed three bars, a Casino and a nightclub open until sunrise (With Karaoke). Things were going to get interesting that’s for sure.


Leaving for Estonia, via the Baltic Sea was exciting, and the views were wonderful as we cruised thru the many doted islands in Sweden. But this was short lived as it was a night sailing, so we decided to stock up in Duty Free and have a few in our shoe box sized room, actually not enough to swing a mouse, let alone the cat. I must say it’s a peculiar feeling when you can have a top night out, and not even notice you have travelled some 500 km, and then awake at your destination in a whole new country! Very cool. The night was a wee classic with the lads all hitting the night club, and basically being the only ones standing at closing. A brief sleep and off the Ferry in Tallinn, Estonia.

Tallinn has been described as many things to us, among them, a really cool ancient city and one of Europe’s hot spots. The later being like the tractor beam to the lads, we were puilled in and powerless to stop it. We found what was to become the low tide mark of Camp sites on the tour. 'City camping ground' the sign proudly stated, but ‘unused gymnasium car park, with shared showers and fuck all else’ would have been a bit more accurate. It looked more like we had pulled in to a Tesco’s and set up. Oh well!

I can proudly report, and perhaps for the first time we did some sight seeing before we went out that night. Tallinn has what Lonely Planet described as the best kept Old Town in Europe, and while we on the tour think LP is as accurate as a blind dart thrower, they got this one right. Simply a little gem of a place, with 14th -15th century buildings, with little lanes and streets which wind there way between. You can actually turn down a street and see nothing to indicate that you are Not in the 15th Century, well except for Steve carrying 3 cameras and my phone ringing. We both even managed to have a shot at the old Bow and Arrow. It truly was a masterful display from the lads, only missing target a hand full of times, also taking out a dozen pigeons, an elderly lady, hunched back bell ringer (Bonus points) and a bridesmaid from the wedding next door. Top Stuff. (Harbott winner of day with best shot, nice work William)

We headed out that Friday night to sample what Tallinn had to offer, and also another recon mission for the All Blacks game the following day. We stumbled upon a bar called Stereo, which was a mint trendy bar in the outskirts of old town. This place was all bright white, floors, tables, chairs and us three. As we sat there nursing our drinks, what ensued was conceivably the most astonishing display of female talent ever witnessed. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to offend any of our lady readers but it has to be said. Our conversation was replaced with glances, stares, taps on shoulders to each other, varying signals, splutters and mouths agape! It was like walking into a FHM party, and all we could do was sit there in silence and watch. As Harbott said, with its white interior and talent, all that was missing was a few choice halo’s and this could be our heaven!
So we left there, all bent over at right angles and headed to a few more bars, ending the night with the usual grubby feed and taxi home. A Promising night in the Baltic’s. Rumour has it there was a unusual exchange at one of the, how do i say, Strip bars in town between a couple of the team. Apparently when one of the team members attempted a currency exchange with a local employee, the payment was deemed insufficient and promptly returned via stuffing it reverse style down the owner’s shirt! After a quick breakdown of the exchange rate in morning, it seems that she had a point – less than 1Euro! Or so I’m told.

I awoke the next day with the feeling my head had been wedged in some kind of paint shaker over night. But the fact the AB’s were playing was motivation enough and we needed to haul ass to get to the Pub. Arriving at O’Malley’s (Irish, who would have guessed), with a fresh layer of sweat, and in need of some larger lungs we caught the Haka and were well pleased with our jinking run thru the Old Town streets. As with any game the AB’s play it attracted a few kiwis, and of course the now common place convicts or west islanders. As per we became the focal point of bar, and meeting all in sundry again. We left there to head home and change, then hit a night club later in the night. This place sold spirits but the bottle, and for those who indulge in that particular habit, you get a special table…..rather exclusive. So there we were, bottle of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, and a few bottles of mixers, plus the Jagermeister we sneaked in. To say we owned the dance floor would be a lie, in fact my last apparition of said floor was young Arblaster (Clint) doing his best imitation of the sheep dog and was rounding all the women into one corner, although for what benefit I’m unsure? It was like the dance floor was a pool table with a bad lean, as all the balls rolled to the opposite side of the White, or Clint!


We, believe it or not, found some local friends to party with after and headed to fuck knows where in Tallinn for the after party! What followed was possibly the funniest thing I have witnessed in a long time. The owner of the house was a photographer, and her place was here Studio, complete with huge red background, flashes and get this, costumes! Harbott and myself were in at light speed. Donning the Russian Sailor hat, and picking up some bird, Harbott was almost model like in his approach. Flashes, clicking, you’re a tiger, Flash. I was on the floor crying, and not getting up quickly! This might have been Harbott’s funniest moment and all this at about 7am in the morning. Photos will be put on when they are sent to us. Classic stuff.

On To Latvia

Stockholm - by duChats

If I, for a moment, could venture some advice off the bat today. When one travels in the manner such as us, you need to be on top of many games, one being correspondence. When you are visiting many cities, bars and places its hard to keep tabs on the various nights out. Because really, you lot have no interest in our Daily activities, just those involving sunset and the odd beer!

So it was onto Stockholm (9th September 07) after a few nights spent in the Swedish country side, which I might add is a beautiful country side. Lakes, forests and little red Swedish houses. Postcard stuff. The idea of the night was to basically find a suitable venue to watch the impending Italian massacre. As one does, it was to the nearest Irish bar. With France v Argentina glowing on the big screen, it was happy days. Not so happy for the surprising amount of French in the bar, and we took to supporting the Argies.

We found ourselves in a curious bar after O’Leary’s. This place was either Genius or just second-rate bar filler. They had turned a mini shopping mall, the middle part, into a bar of sorts. So here we were surrounded by clothes and shoe shops, all the while sinking soup. A rather large dance floor presented itself, as did I, on it, for some pre-emptive break dancing action. See there were a few professional dancers in attendance and milling about said floor, I thought, instead of being Act 2, I’d just pop on the floor and show them some Kiwi style straight up. Lucky, because this black chap jumps up and owned the place…..not after some sweaty heaving from yours truly!

We befriended a few Swedish lasses outside, both oddly named Sanna, who took upon them selves to show us some Stockholm nightspots. And you can imagine our surprise when the first and only port of call was to be Sodermans local Metal joint! Now, 2 of the touring party hit the ground running here, and 2 had various pained looks upon there faces all night. Richards in particular was in his element. Stripping down to the wife better for AC/DC’s Thunderstruck must have struck a cord with the local munters, and he soon found himself swimming in ‘Complementary’ pints. I recall Harbott and Arblaster chatting with the DJ, searching in Vain for a recent top 20 hit……sorry lads, not this time.

duChats

Stockholm - by Steven Harbott

ABS AND WERIDOS
Greetings all It is I, Steven Terence Harbott making my first confession/ blog entry on Van tour 2007. So after our so called ‘have a couple of quiets beers and watch the rugby’ reconnaissance mission ended up turning into as the previously mentioned massive night, most people wouldn’t be looking forward the prospect of being back in the pub for 1pm Rugby game. But this my friends was no normal day, oh no, this was the 1st All Black game of the world cup. This for a Kiwi is as good as Christmas for catholic, Ramadan for Muslims, or Master Yoda’s birthday for IT professionals (sorry duChats). This is our religion and the mere fact of a hangover that you could sell to science and lack of sleep weren’t to prevent these likely lads paying there respect to the almighty Abs in the only way we know how….. So back to O’Leary’s it was. We were like 4 giggling teenage girls on there way to a Westlife gig. As we discussed the prospects of what we hoped would unfold…would they do the new Haka?, who was going to dot down first? and Would Italy defence crack quicker than a bowl of riceies….. So in we strode and claimed the spot bang in front of the big screen beer in hand, Abs jerseys on and with kick-off but minutes away disaster struck. Now you may not believe me if told you but Rugby isn’t exactly the biggest sport in these parts and Sven the Bartender wasn’t quite sure :

A) what rugby was and
B) what channel of the million sports channels they had it might be playing on.

What proceeded as kick-off came and went was something resembling a Benny Hill sketch as every Kiwi who would wander off the street, realise the game had kicked off, storm up to the bar, swear profusely at Sven who would then feverishly flick through another half a dozen channels hoping in vain the game might be on and that he might be able to leave his shift without a sky decoder inserted in a place where the sun doesn’t shine (and no I don’t mean Dublin here!!!). 20 minutes in ….success. A German sport channel was found showing the game. Unfortunately the damage was done 38-0. Apparently,(from what I have read) the best 20 minutes of rugby seen for some time…buggar!!! Never mind it was a great result and it set the day up perfectly as more celebratory’s were in order.

Now the problem with 1pm kick-off is that there is a certain amount of down time from after the game till when the bar start to pick up so with a pack a cards in our hands we decided to do a bit of people watching down at the main square at a local café/ bar. What better way to spend your afternoon, than watching the world roll by watching the beautiful people of Stockholm go about there lives. Now it goes without saying that every town has there share of crazy folks but unfortunately I think we inadvertently stumbled into there Swedish Crazies AGM as there were more Looney tunes in the square, than in a Warner Brothers cartoon. Personally, I think listening to ABBA will do that to you…. One such character whom we affectionately referred to as Stink eye , due to his love for starring competitions, took a liking to lads. Clint being the friendly fella that he is, unfortunately broke the first rule of dealing with crazies by making eye contact and form there on in “old Stinky” wouldn’t leave us alone. He pulled up a pew next to the table and was watching our card game so intensely you would have sworn he was notorious card counter from a Vegas Casino gambling circles in a previous life. So after the bar staff realised what was going on they launched into a 3 strikes and you’re out type removal strategy.
Strike 1. Lovely bar maid comes out and asks you to leave…which he did but after 10 minutes he was back.
Strike 2 . Two lads from the bar physically remove you….. old stinky was dragged out like sack cement……but 10 minutes later again he was back
Strike 3 One Barman holding a baseball bat doing an impression of Barry Bonds with the other two lads trailing him tell you in Swedish what they are going to do with this bat if they ever see you on the site again……. Needless to say Old Stinky wisely decided to call it a day after that and that was the last we saw of him.

The rest of the night was spent bar hopping through the pubs and clubs of Stockholm. One interesting bar was called the Vampire bar which is a perfect reason why you should never judge a book by its cover. A gothic style bar with all sorts of Vampire paraphernalia adorning its walls we were just about to do the big 360 degree turn and head straight back out the door when we heard the music playing. Elvis?, that’s a bit out of place, 60’s music in a Gothic bar. Lets have a beer! So I strode up to the bar. Nice All Black jersey said the pretty blonde girl behind the bar. Thanks. How do you know the All Blacks. Oh I lived in New Zealand a couple of years ago in a place called Takapuna, do you know where that is?. Oh I’m familiar with it, go on I replied. Yeah I worked at a bar called the Copper room, have you been there? Well you could say that, you could also say that I if it wasn’t for that bar I would have had enough money to do this trip 2 years ago, but that’s neither here nor there. Small world!

BUSHPARTY & THE DAY THE THUNDER STOPPED

I know im going to fly against popular opinion and probably get disowned from my family for saying this but I like Australians…there I said it. I just can’t help but like our West Island Cousins (except on the sporting field, which goes without saying), and it seems no matter where you go in this globe you will always meet a bunch of them and have a great night on the gas.
One such group of lads we met on our Travels were from Mackay, Queensland. We originally met them in camp site in Denmark and we ended bumping into them once again in Stockholm. The call was made for a few quiets around at Rolling Thunder (our vans nick name). Now as the beer flowed, the yarns got a bit taller, the voices a bit louder and the laughter could be heard all the round the campsite, so after a few warnings from the campsite security we eventually got turfed. The campsite security told us there was beach about a km away, so off we strode with a couple chilly bins full of piss, an iPod stereo and a spot light just slightly dimmer than the sun and a gas powered generator to power up the other two items. Now with only our cell phones to light the way (Shore Boys!!) we set off on our bush expedition. Like Indiana Jones we set about hacking our way through the local fauna until we found a clearing. There we set up shop and drank the rest of the night away.

The next day with our heads a little sorer myself and Clint who were on Van repair detail set about town trying to get our muffler fixed, which had a hole in it. After journeying unsuccessfully to 6 mechanics workshop (and embarrassingly one police station which looked like a mechanics) we turned around to head home. About 30 meters from the camp site disaster struck! Old rolling Thunder ground to a shuddering halt with liquid spurting out of the motor. Oh dear would this be the end of the van tour?
Hang on isn’t one of those Aussies we drank with last night a mechanic said Clint.
He sure is , I replied, lets go wake them up. So off we went to see if they would have a look at it for us. Sure enough without any problems , Scotty was under the bonnet trying to give CPR to Rolling Thunder (and basically save our tour!), 2 hours later he was done. A loose fuel line connection to our carborator was the culprit, and so the tour lived to fight another day. Thank goodness we had met the Aussie boys. I think im just about ready to forgive the underarm incident…..

The Begining - Van Tour 2007

So it has come to this, the great tour of our lives. People, the Van Tour of Europe has begun. As I type this, the first of many Tour updates, we are actually speeding thru a lush German country side. Harbott at the helm, Arblaster in Co-pilot and myself and Richards are holding strong in the back lounge. Let me detail you our home for the next 7 weeks, I kid you not it’s a dead set house on wheels.


The 3 lads, myself not included, spent a good few weeks in Amsterdam tracing down this beauty, and what a sight she is. 1979 Fiat Camper, it just rolls off the tongue and screams class.

Splendid in beige and maroon, this four sleeper has it all. Fully refitted with stove, stereo system (Surround sound), fridge and the ever essential lavatory. We have dead set hit the mother load. We have all the mod cons, including laptops, SatNav and more electronics than a Dick Smiths. It is really the Shore Boys on Tour……

Amsterdam to Hamburg - Day 1

Excitement comes in varying forms, and this could be no truer than a place like Amsterdam. But this was a new kind, one that has been building for some time. Years in fact, constant talk of the tour. From bars to lounge rooms, Globetrotter to Dublin. Many a minute has been fritted away talking about this very journey. And here we were, 9am Thursday 30^th August 2007. 4 lads, brought together from around the globe, bound by one charge and one goal.

As the Van Stalled on the first corner, a brief moment of unease hit, but as the 1979 fiat 2.4 flat engine roared into life, a hearty round of cheers went up and we were off……with TomTom (SatNav) safely navigating thru Europe we set sail for Hamburg. According to TomTom we were about 4hrs from the German City, this was travelling at normal car speeds circa 2007.

What we all failed to grasp was the fact our Van had a top speed of 90km. This was all to evident when we hit the Auto barn, and it felt as though we were doing the speed of Smell as the Audis, BMW’s and Skoda streaked past I’m sure travelling somewhat close to the speed of Halley’s comet! Revising our original goal of a 5pm arrival, the old girl slumbered her way into town around 9am.

We had picked out Camp round care of the Lonely Planet – Europe on a Shoe String book, which had proved a wealth of knowledge thus far, but was about to put the kibosh on a decent parking spot for the night. As we cruised up this particular lane looking for said camp ground at 274, nothing to be found. Around 11am we found it at 374 and closed. Thanks lonely planet, we really enjoyed the night in a truck stop 20km out of town. Haha. Well day one was a nice wee learning curve, and interestingly ended with us all sober. Oh, and we had McDonalds for dinner…we’ll we were in Hamburg

Hamburg to Plon - Day 2

Leading on to Plon , sea side town in Germany, we discovered the Van was playing up some what. Stalling every time the van came to a stop. Oh shit, suddenly the bargain of the century seemed a little off. After hours of debate on mechanics, our complete lack of motor engine knowledge and the fact some one brought half cooked bread rolls and we didn’t have an oven. We decided to kick on to the camp ground and sort in morning. It was then we discovered the real reason for the stalled engine, the fact that when we were moving the lads in the back were running, a full Stereo system, laptop, charging between 1 and 4 cell phone, lights, fridge had not been of concern to us. But the battery was taking the brunt. Haha. Now we just read in the back.

A few drinks at the German camp ground, after a quick spag bowl. We really had no idea where the hell we were, but that’s the fun. Already we have discovered the joys of German beer, and its price. The local drop, coming in plastic for that authentic Eden park feel, is some what cheap. 1.60 Euro for a 6 pack, and tasting very good! Love it. Needless to say we have stocked up for Denmark, the floor covered in a few creates.

Plon to Copenhagen - Day 3

Copenhagen. Two things come to mind when thinking of Denmark. Lego and Hans Christian Anderson. Thankfully none of these subject are going to be mentioned again in this next yarn. We hit Denmark via the Ferry from the main land Germany and quickly landed at the Charlottenlund Fort Camping ground. This place is like a mini North Head in Auckland, with actual old Gun emplacements and showers in what would have been the old bunkers! The kind of place JB would get a little excited over

After a quick setup, beers and the bottom of a bottle of jagermeister, we Google’d (Free Wifi – Shore Boys!) some bars and found the home for the night. The Student Moose Bar, beers coming in at 2Euro. It’s a deal, it’s a steal it’s the sale of the fuckin century! This place was our kind of bar, and to be fair we dominated from the kick off. Befriending all and sundry, before long regaling the locals in what will become stock standard tour yarns. Apparently according to some study the Danes are regarded as the happiest people on earth, well they never questioned us four lads, because at that point I think we would have taken the chequered flag.

As is natural in these situations, every opportunity to move on to greener pastures was met with indignation and snorts of disagreement (we had a list of top bars in the back pocket) mainly due to the cheap beer and wide-ranging attention we were receiving. Well, they say the grass is not often greener. Anyho, the night ended in splintered fashion, all the lads flowing in at ungodly hours with yarns to divulge. Sunrise is no time to be getting home, and we all decided in unison, which in itself was curious, to stay an extra night and actually see the place with the aid of sunlight.