Clockwork Orange Blog

The trip of a lifetime was anticipated, mission accomplished!  Could you imagine anything as raw as living off the land, cruising around Europe in a campervan, living off a poor mans excuse for Heinz baked beans, sitting round our gas cookers whilst sipping cask vino, heading off the beaten track, passing through little country towns where the locals have never heard let alone seen an aussie battler before.  Trip of a lifetime is a modest term.  
We began our journey with a 3 night stopover in dubai (thoroughly recommend that guys, its a must to visit) and arrived in London very blurry eyed but excited about picking up what was to be our home for the next 90 days.  We were not disappointed when meeting our awesome van ‘Clockwork Orange’ or as we referred to him as ‘Fantapantz’.  

Fantapantz was a great tour guide, took us to all the best places starting with France after a short ferry ride from Dover.  He showed us around the city of Paris, we loved it so much we kept within a 5 kilometre radius for about 3 hours due to our lack of GPS (yep, we wanted an authentic trip using paper maps, VERY BAD IDEA).  But we soldiered on, found our
accommodation and spent the next day seeing the sights – Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, The
Louve and finishing off with dinner and French Champagne at a cute little restaurant (our waiter must have been running with the 1 bottle for you, 1 bottle for me rule, he was smashed!!). 

Great start to our adventure.  From there we headed through Bordeaux camping at a ground just outside of town, typical ignorant aussies didn’t learn any French so trying to explain wanting to camp for the night became an entertaining episode alone, we got there in the end  and awoke with Pamplona on our days agenda!!!  Music pumping, windows down, beautiful sunny day for cruising on into Spain.  First stop buying our outfits for Running with the Bulls, white pants and top with red sash.  Found the campsite (mental note again about getting GPS) and what a campsite, this place was going off!!! Great crew at Stokes, Sangria on arrival = happy travellers.  Great party, met our fellow Van Tour crews and what a great bunch. 

Next day it was time for the opening ceremony, the most awesome party we’ve ever experienced, what a blast!!!!  Bottles of Champagne for 2.50 euros and you can buy it in milk bars, does it get any better than that?????  So after god knows how many bottles and buckets of Sangria being thrown over us the ceremony kicked off and the party continued.  Not sure how that night ended up but judging by our photos we had a blast!  Next day first run with the bulls, we didn’t run but to watch it was intense to say the least, brilliant!!!  Spain is a must do, awesome people, culture and food, loved it!!!

From there we headed to San Sebastian (and purchased a GPS, wahoo!!!) and after watching an awesome sunset over the sea we spent the night in a little town called Orio.   Awakening to the crashing of the waves against pretty much our own private beach we packed up and made our way to Madrid.  Spent a night at a camping ground in the outskirts of the city and hit a few bars etc, crawling our way into our tent in the wee hours of the morning.  Next destination Lisbon, Portugal.  1 night was spent there and onto Lagos, crazy, crazy town!!  Its a must do folks if you like to drink excessively, well do everything excessively including staying out all night.  Dancing on bars is a common occurrence, makes drinking more efficient too!  Fantapantz got a bit grumpy with one of his co pilots, i didn’t estimate well and may have got him stuck in a little alley way, nothing a bit of direction couldn’t get us out of swiftly and he recovered fine.  After 2 days partying we decided to do some sightseeing and kayaked on the Atlantic through caves, great experience and great tour guide, lay down Sally may have made an appearance......after having to jumpstart our van cos hey we need music and we had to buy a car fridge which plugs into our cigarette lighter to keep the drinks nice and cold we got a flat battery, no biggie (trust me theres plenty of aussies and kiwis to help their fellow travellers out).

We made our way along the coast and up through Valencia, Barcelona for a 3 night stopover
(attempted to buy a squirrel as our mascot), Nice (where we went canyoning - absailing down rock faces, sliding down rocks, swimming through gullys), Monaco, Monte Carlo where Fantapantz rubbed shoulders with the likes of Rolls Royce, Porsche, Ferrari......as you can see he fitted right in!  From there Italy was next on the list and it didn’t disappoint.  Camping Roma here we come, great spot to camp, close to public transport so you can leave the van and head easily to the Collaseum, Vatican City (visited on crutches and in a wheelchair due to a little stack on a very small step, quick trip to the hospital, torn ligament and a quick bandage and i was off).  Spent 3 nights in Rome and then made our way towards the Amalfi Coast stopping in Sienna for a night and a look around in the morning.  Mental note, if there isn’t a sign it doesn’t mean you can park there, little did we know while we were having a quick stop at a pub to quench our thirst our van had been towed away!!!!  Our first thought was stolen but after a trip to the local police station and after asking them if they’ve seen a bright orange van with writing down the side (imagine speaking to Italian police who speak very little English and trying to explain our dilemma, haha) we found out it had been towed.  I think it cost us about 300 euro to get it back and off again we were.  We quickly forgot about our slight hiccup after cruising along the Amalfi Coast, spectacular!!!!  We found a camping ground for the night with views of the coast and watched an awesome sunset!  From there it was up to Venice with gondola rides, ice creams, pizzas the size of houses......good times!  After a 3 night stop in Venice it was time to hit Croatia.  We arrived in Split to meet up with some friends who flew over to join us and
stayed a night in a camping ground in Split and the next day it was off on a sail Croatia 7 night sail leaving Split docking at islands along the way to Dubrovnik and then back again, spectacular to say the least!  Poor Fantapantz wasn’t invited so we left him at the camping
ground we stayed at where he was well looked after for the 7 nights and at a rate of 6 euros a night was there ever any doubt.  Pretty sure he had a good time in our absence and enjoyed the rest.  From there we drove to Dubrovnik to check out the sights and stayed there in a camp ground for the night.

Next stop Montenegro and with one amigo down due to a quick trip to visit friends in
Amsterdam and our GPS not wanting to work, we took off from Dubrovnik on a fairly short drive to the border of Montenegro where things got interesting. After being told we need to buy car insurance we realised that we didn’t have any Euros’, only Croatian Kuna that the sleazy Serbian man wouldn’t accept. After some hysterical laughter and a lot of begging, we finally got our insurance and set of for Kotor, a breathtaking town situated on a fjord.  We had a great night with Mary Jane and a peaceful sleep in a campground right on the fjord. After and early morning dip in the clear waters of the Fjord we set off to have a look around town. Afternoon came and we took off on the most spectacularly scenic drive up to the Tara River. With no GPS we somehow made it down some really dodgy dirt roads and ended up at some little huts right on the river. The family that lived there were absolutely awesome and fed us like Queens and we decided that we would go Rafting with them the next day. So the following day we got into a raft full of Serbians. No helmets were provided but there was plenty of beer to go around. This was probably one of the best experiences we had on this trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Hello Greece!!!!  As we pulled into Athens with no map or GPS we were amazed when we
somehow landed in the main Plaka , exactly where we wanted to be. So in 40 Degree heat we went to the Acropolis, which was amazing, then we headed off to the airport to pick up three very sorry looking friends who had flown in from Amsterdam. Early the following morning we left Fanta Pants in a prostitute ridden side street and boarded the first of many ferries to the Greek Islands, starting with Santorini where we got to see the Thira Volcano, swim in festy hot springs and catch donkey rides to watch the sunset in Ia.  We spent our time in Ios with a lovely family who succeeded in keeping us very drunk, although we managed to get out one day and quad bike around the island.  Our last island was Mykonos, which was by far the biggest party island where beach parties start before noon and never seem to end.

Istanbul was definitely a culture shock. We just so happened to visit this city during the peak of their religious ceremony, Ramadan, where we observed some very odd behaviour including wailing from city speakers at 4am. The Turks will continue to amuse you day and night with their knack for picking on Aussies and harassing you to buy something from them.  While Fanta Pants was in the mechanic for some much needed attention we boarded and overnight bus to Cappadocia and the underground city. After a full day tour of this amazing town we boarded another overnight bus to Pumakkale to see the natural calcium baths, which cover the whole side of a mountain. Stunning!!! Back on an overnight bus to Istanbul and we were stuffed. Then we went to get Fanta Pants and the Turks stung us almost a thousand pounds for fixing the car. Wicked were great though and they paid for it and continued to help us with any problems.  Our next destination was Gallipoli, which is a must for all Aussies and Kiwis. 

Bring on Hungary......Although our stay in Budapest was only brief, we had an awesome time. We went and visited some Turkish Baths and ended up getting massages from hairy Hungarian men, which was not so cool. We then landed some more weed and went exploring. The city at night is absolutely amazing but in our stoned splendour we got extremely lost and ended up staying out a lot longer then planned. Budapest is a must for all travellers.  Then it was on to Poland with our first stop Zakopane, a gorgeous town in the Tatra Mountains. We got a cable car to the top where the views were beyond explanation. This would be an even better place to visit in winter when snow season is on. After trying the local food, Perogi, we set off for Krakow, which is an awesome city full of culture and history. We did a day trip out to Auschwitz which was the most spine chilling tour we have ever done but also a must do.  After a few amazing days in Krakow we headed for Warsaw, getting there at midnight , going straight out on the town and not coming home till 7am. The Polish really know how to drink and Warsaw is an amazing place to party.

So after Planting a flower at the hostel for Candys Late Mate we headed off hung over and
weary Bound for Berlin Baby!!

Decided as we hadn't had a chance to do any domestic chores for awhile we dropped in to the local laundry mat, parked the van on the side of probably the busiest road in Berlin and
attempted to unpack the whole van and do our washing and tidying up! Im pretty sure the
owner of the laundry mat was ready to kill us as the pedestrians in the street had to climb over all out shit to walk on by! but hey ya got to do what ya got to do!!!  after doing the chores we hired some old school push bikes and went on the search for the berlin wall! at that point realised that we should have listened in school a bit more as we had no idea where or what the wall actually looked like so after asking around and getting told that
what we thought was the wall was actually a cemetery! we found the wall! YAY!

whist in Berlin we ran into some fellow wicked vaners, drank and chatted with them for the
night! 

one thing we learnt whilst in Berlin and Staying in a dorm room in a hostel was that the benefits of sleeping in the van and not a dorm room was that you don't have to be scared and tormented by the sounds of two males going for it in the bed next you!!!!! ewwww
Czech Republic, oh how we will always remember our time here!! so after driving hung over and tired and rock paper scissoring it to see who would be stuck with the task of driving! we all took it in turns. so its starting to get dark and were all getting pretty weary and excited that were only about an hour out of prague and all of the sudden Fanta Pants starts hissing and smoking from the engine oh nooooo! we pull over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, just so happens its out the front of a salami factory we, roll F/P down the driveway and into the car park as the workers watch on in amazement as they see this bright orange van and 3 chicks who speak absolutely no czech roll down in front of them!
after trying to communicate to them that we need water they tried to help us but no luck! 
we called Ian the mechanic from Wicked and he Helped us incredibly he organised a Tow Truck and a motel for us to stay in while the van was getting fixed, so once the tow truck got there (he also couldn't speak English) told us to get in his truck and he drove us to the motel and took the Van away! once arriving at the motel realised we couldn't pay for it as we forgot to get out czech currency and only had euros so after an hour of convincing the manager she finally let us pay in euro!

Next Morning the tow truck driver dropped F/P back to us at the motel and we heading off
again bound for Prague!!!!!!  30 ks out of Prague Fanta Pants really cracked and decided heed had enough and wasn't going anywhere so on the side of the highway again we called ian ( we had him on speed dial by this stage) he told us that was the end for Fanta Pants his life was over :( so we drove him to the nearest car park which happened to be Tescos and Unpacked all out stuff into a parking bay and waited for another tow truck, 6 hours later the tow truck arrived and took him away very sad times! an hour later our brand new skoda hire car that Wicked had arranged all for us Turned up and off we went to finally get to Prague!!!
With only one day in Prague we decided we had to see at least one thing so we went to the
Prague Castle in the morning!

Driving our flash new Skoda on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road in the rain we eventually made it to Munich to the Wicked Campsite, we rocked up a day early due to our mishaps and were greeted by the very confused Wicked staff! the questions came
rolling in as to why we were in the Wicked campsite with a Skoda?? After explaining they quickly welcomed us with beer and alot of it!! next morning we woke up early and the Stoke bus drove us to the The most disgusting yet interesting event we have ever been to the event that is HUNDY CLUB!!! a must do if your Aussie or Kiwi!!! Back at the campsite more Beer was drunk and catching up with the fellow travellers and hearing there stories was awesome! 

Awoke very very early and hungover, on the bus to the Oktoberfest! waiting for hours for beer really builds up the anticipation and once the beer wenches finally brought them to us the party started it was AMAZING!!!

After three days at the Wicked campsite we decided we better head off to see the rest of the countries!  Driving off in our two new 2 seater vans that wicked had organised for us to pick up in Munich we drove to Vienna in Austria beautiful scenery! camped in a carpark in a Random town and called it a night! 

The next day we checked out the City in Vienna and took of to Interlaken in Switzerland! we
were totally amazed by the beauty of this part of the world and driving behind another wicked van all the way made it even more Awesome!! found a picturesque lake to camp by! spent 2 days chilling by the lake and doing a whole lot of well earnt relaxing!!

Enough relaxing and doing nothing we had country's to see and ks to drive,    to be exact!
After the long drive from Interlaken to the outskirts of Holland we arrived at a friends house,
greeted with beer and a BBQ, we parked the Vans in there driveway for the night and set of in the morning for Amsterdam!! Yep from what we remember of the place it was fantastic! The Vans really didn't seem to stand out that much there with all the other Wacked out things they had to offer!! we did get some strange confused looks from people walking out of the coffee shops wondering if they were seeing things or if a Van with guns and roses and a Van with a DJ on it really did just drive past or not?? so sorry if you were one of the confused people there!! 

3 days of walking around aimlessly in Amsterdam we were starting to run low on time so had to get to Belgium while we still had a day to spare, didn't get to do much there but we did eat chocolate and by gosh it was great!!

So after 3 months on the road as travelling blueberries it had come to an end :( there were so many laughs, awesome unforgettable times, amazing people we met. and 3 Rad Wicked
Camper Vans we can honestly say it was the best thing we have ever done and it was the best decision we made to hire a Wicked Van, So Thanks to you from Us!!!!!!!!!!!

All that travelling is thirsty work!