14 June – Skyped girls before breakfast. They are all fine after the last earthquakes. We hope
everyone else is OK. After a shop and a fuel up we followed the A3 autostrada, as we had a long drive to our next camp. When we arrived it was deserted! We eventually we found a guy but decided that we would try other camps in our Italian book. After driving thru several towns we eventually ended up in the outskirts of Reggio, a large city. No hope there of a camp!! We backtracked up the A3 to where we had seen a camper parked in a village called Scilla. It was a beaut spot with a great view of the sea and the village perched on the cliffs. The owner of the area came and we paid 10 euros which included electricity. We sat out and watched the sun set with a well earned drink, while a cruise ship sailed by.
15 June – While having breakfast we watched some very curious boats sail out of the local harbour. They had huge masts (at least twice the length of the boat) and a bowsprit out the front (twice the length of the boat). At the top of the masts there were two guys in a crows nest. We walked to the village down very narrow lanes and at the harbour a guy eventually mimed that the boats were spearing very large fish. The village was great and we walked around the cliffs to
the next beach before climbing back into the village. A girl in a fish shop explained (again by miming) that the fish being caught were sword fish. We had gelatos at a local bar before returning to “Lefty”. A great village right off the tourist map. We followed the A3 the short distance to the port and after buying tickets (76 euro return) we joined the queue for the ferry to Sicily. The ferries are huge but the trip is only 40 minutes. You can easily see Sicily from Italy. The first part of the drive thru Messina was slow but we joined another autostrada for our 70 km drive to our first camp in Sicily at Mascali on the coast but under the shadow of Mt Etna (a live volcano). After lunch we walked to the local beach (pebble) under threatening skies for a swim. The water was beautifully clear and deep and cooler that we expected. The skies opened just as we got back to camp. After an hour the rain stopped and the skies cleared so we biked to the nearest town. Not very exciting however! We will rest here tomorrow before heading south. When it is dark we will check out the view of Mt Etna as we have been told you can see a red glow over it.
16 June – No red glow from Etna last night! We biked back into the town to the local tourist office but depite the sign it was closed. Back down to the beach for a swim until the thunder and approaching rain drove us back to the camp. After a siesta we went back to the beach for another swim. A great relaxing day!
17 June – As we left the camp we had a great view of Mt Etna. There was no cloud and we could see a lot of steam rising into the sky. It is over 3000m high and has snow on it. We followed the motorway and then turned inland thru some beautiful country, rolling hills with grapes, olives,
oranges and farmland. A very pleasant drive to our camp on the south coast. The camp has huge sunshades which we are parked under. It also has a great private sandy beach which includes the free use of sun loungers and umbrellas. We even have our own private toilet!! We biked to the local mini market for some bread for lunch and then made the most of a great beach. We walked along the beach to a restaurant for a Gelato. It may be a possibility for a meal tomorrow night.
18 June – After washing and the usual Saturday camper checks, we enjoyed 2 hours at the beach before returning to “Lefty” for lunch and a rest in the heat of the day. Back to the beach at around 3.00 for the usual swims etc. There are a lot of Sicilian families at this camp enjoying an early summer holiday. We walked back to restaurant and decided to give it a miss. Another hot relaxing day. Spent some time planning the Greek leg of our trip.
19 June – Back down to this wonderful beach for a last swim before heading off along the south coast to our next camp. Another great drive thru very dry country with olives and grapes. This is much more what we pictured Sicily would be like. We even had to stop for a herd of goats. We stopped at Punta Delle Due Rocche (the two rocks). This is a local Sicilian camp with many families in permanent setups for the weekend. The family over from us was having a big barbeque and a guy insisted we try the local sausages. We will have to try and buy some as they were delicious. We walked down to the beach but as there was a strong wind we just sat in the sun. A local family were very excited to catch an octopus and obviously it was destined for the pot!
20 June – We great drive thru more of the same sort of country but there were many towns along the way. Sometimes it is hard to see them as all the buildings are built of brick that is the same sandy colour as the rest of the countryside. The arid sandy soil, the vivid green of the vineyards, the dull green of the olive groves, 
splashes of bright purple of the bougainvillea, and glimpses of the azure ocean make a great drive. We are now in a camp on the south west corner of Sicily. We had a great swim and relax in the camp pool before a cycle into the town along the waterfront. There was a nice church where a wedding was in progress but not much else of interest. This camp has a large number of older teenagers (possibly end of school group) and they had a huge party until the early hours. Very noisy!!
21 June – It has been hard to find a supermarket that is open. They all close at 1100 and do not open again until at least 1600. With this in mind and the fridge virtually empty we stopped at a supermarket in this town before a drive thru many towns and then very dry rocky hills to our next camp at San Vito lo Capo. This is a beautiful beach resort in the NW corner of Sicily. The camp is dominated by a cliff behind it and there is a short (hot) walk to a great beach with clear azure water which reminded us of the sea around a Pacific island. We had a couple of great swims in the warm water. Hard to read your book as there is so much to watch. This camp also has a great pool. We went back to the pool at about 1700 and were just about to dive in when the lifeguard tried to explain to Val that she must have a swimming cap, presumably to stop hair getting into the pool. Much to my surprise I was exempt!! In the cool of the evening we explored the town on our bikes.
22 June – It was very hot in the night and we removed the last inner in the duvet and installed the fan over the bed. After washing and camper cleaning we went down to the beach. The concept of private beaches is foreign to us Kiwis. Any beach remotely nice is about 80% private. Explanation – There are huge areas which are either owned by a hotel, or owned by a bar/restaurant (purchase of a drink etc gives you limited time) or leased to a company to hire to the public. Two sun loungers and an umbrella for around 15 euro ($30NZ). Between these
private beaches are the public areas which everyone squeezes into. All a bit commercial but that’s how it is in most of Europe. Back to “Lefty” for a lunch and a siesta. We are now hemmed on all sides by Sicilian families. We may have fun getting out! Back to the beach again. It certainly is a stunner! This camp has elements of “Club Med” in that they have hosts encouraging you to do exercises in the pool or dancing, all accompanied by loud music. We however resisted the urge to join in and just watched.
23 June – We are staying another night here as we really enjoy the beach and the atmosphere (apart from the “Club Med” bit). More swims in the pool and the beach. We cycled into the town for a meal out. There are a huge number of open air restaurants to choose from and we enjoyed some authentic Sicilian food before riding back in the dark. (no lights on our bikes but most of the way was along cycleways)
24 June – We manoeuvred off our site, (help from all quarters) and drove 100kms to our next camp near Palermo. After a quick lunch we caught the local bus, with one change, into the city. Very crowded hot buses which got a bit whiffy!! This city (680,000) was heavily bombed during WW2 and there are signs still of that damage in the old city. We walked quite a way thru the city
which has some nice churches (could not go into them as most had weddings in progress) The cathedral was spectacular, and no wedding, so we had a good look around. Palermo is a slightly grubby city but full of life. The ride back on the buses went smoothly until we stopped 5kms short of our camp. The driver indicated that we had to wait for another bus. We sat where he told us only to see our next bus sail by. Val waved furiously and the driver stopped in the middle of the road and we ran to get on board. We shouted our thanks (gratis) to the driver. We arrived back to our camp at 1900 very tired and enjoyed a well deserved drink. (Not that we have to deserve our drinks!!)
25 June – We followed the motorway around Palermo and drove the 230kms in quick time along the rugged north coast line of Sicily. There were heaps of tunnels some as long as 3kms. The motorway is 2 laned and a tunnel in each direction. The tunnels are dark and everyone passes us doing 130kms. All a bit scary! We are now at a small camp, with a nice pool, 14kms from the ferry back to the mainland, which we will take tomorrow. This part of our trip thru Sicily has been great with the north and east being lush green and the south and west being dry and rock. A lot of contrasting country. We will publish blog tonight has we have some internet.
everyone else is OK. After a shop and a fuel up we followed the A3 autostrada, as we had a long drive to our next camp. When we arrived it was deserted! We eventually we found a guy but decided that we would try other camps in our Italian book. After driving thru several towns we eventually ended up in the outskirts of Reggio, a large city. No hope there of a camp!! We backtracked up the A3 to where we had seen a camper parked in a village called Scilla. It was a beaut spot with a great view of the sea and the village perched on the cliffs. The owner of the area came and we paid 10 euros which included electricity. We sat out and watched the sun set with a well earned drink, while a cruise ship sailed by.15 June – While having breakfast we watched some very curious boats sail out of the local harbour. They had huge masts (at least twice the length of the boat) and a bowsprit out the front (twice the length of the boat). At the top of the masts there were two guys in a crows nest. We walked to the village down very narrow lanes and at the harbour a guy eventually mimed that the boats were spearing very large fish. The village was great and we walked around the cliffs to
the next beach before climbing back into the village. A girl in a fish shop explained (again by miming) that the fish being caught were sword fish. We had gelatos at a local bar before returning to “Lefty”. A great village right off the tourist map. We followed the A3 the short distance to the port and after buying tickets (76 euro return) we joined the queue for the ferry to Sicily. The ferries are huge but the trip is only 40 minutes. You can easily see Sicily from Italy. The first part of the drive thru Messina was slow but we joined another autostrada for our 70 km drive to our first camp in Sicily at Mascali on the coast but under the shadow of Mt Etna (a live volcano). After lunch we walked to the local beach (pebble) under threatening skies for a swim. The water was beautifully clear and deep and cooler that we expected. The skies opened just as we got back to camp. After an hour the rain stopped and the skies cleared so we biked to the nearest town. Not very exciting however! We will rest here tomorrow before heading south. When it is dark we will check out the view of Mt Etna as we have been told you can see a red glow over it.
16 June – No red glow from Etna last night! We biked back into the town to the local tourist office but depite the sign it was closed. Back down to the beach for a swim until the thunder and approaching rain drove us back to the camp. After a siesta we went back to the beach for another swim. A great relaxing day!
17 June – As we left the camp we had a great view of Mt Etna. There was no cloud and we could see a lot of steam rising into the sky. It is over 3000m high and has snow on it. We followed the motorway and then turned inland thru some beautiful country, rolling hills with grapes, olives,
oranges and farmland. A very pleasant drive to our camp on the south coast. The camp has huge sunshades which we are parked under. It also has a great private sandy beach which includes the free use of sun loungers and umbrellas. We even have our own private toilet!! We biked to the local mini market for some bread for lunch and then made the most of a great beach. We walked along the beach to a restaurant for a Gelato. It may be a possibility for a meal tomorrow night.
18 June – After washing and the usual Saturday camper checks, we enjoyed 2 hours at the beach before returning to “Lefty” for lunch and a rest in the heat of the day. Back to the beach at around 3.00 for the usual swims etc. There are a lot of Sicilian families at this camp enjoying an early summer holiday. We walked back to restaurant and decided to give it a miss. Another hot relaxing day. Spent some time planning the Greek leg of our trip.
19 June – Back down to this wonderful beach for a last swim before heading off along the south coast to our next camp. Another great drive thru very dry country with olives and grapes. This is much more what we pictured Sicily would be like. We even had to stop for a herd of goats. We stopped at Punta Delle Due Rocche (the two rocks). This is a local Sicilian camp with many families in permanent setups for the weekend. The family over from us was having a big barbeque and a guy insisted we try the local sausages. We will have to try and buy some as they were delicious. We walked down to the beach but as there was a strong wind we just sat in the sun. A local family were very excited to catch an octopus and obviously it was destined for the pot!
20 June – We great drive thru more of the same sort of country but there were many towns along the way. Sometimes it is hard to see them as all the buildings are built of brick that is the same sandy colour as the rest of the countryside. The arid sandy soil, the vivid green of the vineyards, the dull green of the olive groves, 
splashes of bright purple of the bougainvillea, and glimpses of the azure ocean make a great drive. We are now in a camp on the south west corner of Sicily. We had a great swim and relax in the camp pool before a cycle into the town along the waterfront. There was a nice church where a wedding was in progress but not much else of interest. This camp has a large number of older teenagers (possibly end of school group) and they had a huge party until the early hours. Very noisy!!
21 June – It has been hard to find a supermarket that is open. They all close at 1100 and do not open again until at least 1600. With this in mind and the fridge virtually empty we stopped at a supermarket in this town before a drive thru many towns and then very dry rocky hills to our next camp at San Vito lo Capo. This is a beautiful beach resort in the NW corner of Sicily. The camp is dominated by a cliff behind it and there is a short (hot) walk to a great beach with clear azure water which reminded us of the sea around a Pacific island. We had a couple of great swims in the warm water. Hard to read your book as there is so much to watch. This camp also has a great pool. We went back to the pool at about 1700 and were just about to dive in when the lifeguard tried to explain to Val that she must have a swimming cap, presumably to stop hair getting into the pool. Much to my surprise I was exempt!! In the cool of the evening we explored the town on our bikes.
22 June – It was very hot in the night and we removed the last inner in the duvet and installed the fan over the bed. After washing and camper cleaning we went down to the beach. The concept of private beaches is foreign to us Kiwis. Any beach remotely nice is about 80% private. Explanation – There are huge areas which are either owned by a hotel, or owned by a bar/restaurant (purchase of a drink etc gives you limited time) or leased to a company to hire to the public. Two sun loungers and an umbrella for around 15 euro ($30NZ). Between these
private beaches are the public areas which everyone squeezes into. All a bit commercial but that’s how it is in most of Europe. Back to “Lefty” for a lunch and a siesta. We are now hemmed on all sides by Sicilian families. We may have fun getting out! Back to the beach again. It certainly is a stunner! This camp has elements of “Club Med” in that they have hosts encouraging you to do exercises in the pool or dancing, all accompanied by loud music. We however resisted the urge to join in and just watched.
23 June – We are staying another night here as we really enjoy the beach and the atmosphere (apart from the “Club Med” bit). More swims in the pool and the beach. We cycled into the town for a meal out. There are a huge number of open air restaurants to choose from and we enjoyed some authentic Sicilian food before riding back in the dark. (no lights on our bikes but most of the way was along cycleways)24 June – We manoeuvred off our site, (help from all quarters) and drove 100kms to our next camp near Palermo. After a quick lunch we caught the local bus, with one change, into the city. Very crowded hot buses which got a bit whiffy!! This city (680,000) was heavily bombed during WW2 and there are signs still of that damage in the old city. We walked quite a way thru the city
which has some nice churches (could not go into them as most had weddings in progress) The cathedral was spectacular, and no wedding, so we had a good look around. Palermo is a slightly grubby city but full of life. The ride back on the buses went smoothly until we stopped 5kms short of our camp. The driver indicated that we had to wait for another bus. We sat where he told us only to see our next bus sail by. Val waved furiously and the driver stopped in the middle of the road and we ran to get on board. We shouted our thanks (gratis) to the driver. We arrived back to our camp at 1900 very tired and enjoyed a well deserved drink. (Not that we have to deserve our drinks!!)25 June – We followed the motorway around Palermo and drove the 230kms in quick time along the rugged north coast line of Sicily. There were heaps of tunnels some as long as 3kms. The motorway is 2 laned and a tunnel in each direction. The tunnels are dark and everyone passes us doing 130kms. All a bit scary! We are now at a small camp, with a nice pool, 14kms from the ferry back to the mainland, which we will take tomorrow. This part of our trip thru Sicily has been great with the north and east being lush green and the south and west being dry and rock. A lot of contrasting country. We will publish blog tonight has we have some internet.
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