Adventures, Adventures, Adventures! Leaving Pompei we drove to a small beach town called Agropoli. On the way we decided we needed an adventure and some much needed exercise so we took a detour to Mount Vesuvious. Mount Vesuvious is the largest active volcano in Europe and the one that caused the Pompei disaster in 79AD and we hiked all the way to the crater at the top. The crater was huge and had stunning views of that part of Italy.
In Agropoli we stayed at a small hostel called La Lanterna. It was located 5 minutes walk from the beach however it was isolated from the town on a big block of land. The great part about the isolation was being able to relax just listening to the sounds of the birds and the waves crashing on the beach. The scary part about the isolaton was that we were the only people staying at this hostel and the a place had a weird vibe to it.
During our time here we hung out at the beach and ate at our favourite little restaurant that was overflowing with incredible fresh seafood. They sold a massive plate of mussels for only 4 euros however the mussels were no way near as good as New Zealand mussels.
We stayed in Agropoli for two nights before heading further south to another gorgeous beach town called Praia a Mare, I heard two meanings for the name of this place. One was 'balls in the water' and the other was 'beach by the water' (when do you not get a beach by the water). We took a great drive along the coast passing through tiny old Italian towns. On the way we happened to stumble upon some astounding ancient ruins called Paestum, some of the best preserved for the year they were built in Europe.
Halfway down the coast to Praia a Mare we heard this "Oh No" from the back seat, it was Megan realising she had left all her money and credit cards at the previous hostel. Luckily we could collect these on the way back to Rome in a few days time. In Praia a Mare we stayed at the Onda Road hostel which is the only one in town. I highly recommend this place, it is run by the lovely and very pretty Martina and her wonderful dad called Papy who cooks everyone breakfast and dinner. The place has a very great atmosphere and within an hour or two you will be best friends with everyone at the hostel. One of the people we met at the hostel was Josh, he is from Sydney and returned back to Praia a Mare to work for Martina after falling in love with the place 3 years earlier.
Josh took us for a walk in to town for lunch at the Little Chef which is the only place open in the whole town between 1pm and 5pm due to siesta. After lunch we went to one of the private beaches and swam in the exceptionally warm sea then played a very intense game of beach volleyball against the locals who were very competitive. We then returned to the hostel after losing volleyball and drowned our sorrows before heading back to the Little Chef for dinner with everyone staying at the hostel then went to a pub in the town for beer pong.
The following day Martina's dad Papy picked us up in his boat from Budda Beach and took us exploring around the coast and cliff jumping. We went in to a number of different grottos which are caves that go deep in to the side of the rugged coastline. The caves are full of stunning tropical fish that will swim right up to you looking at you just as intrigued as you are to them. The water is crystal clear and what might look 1-2 metres deep is actually 10-12 metres deep. The coastline also offers a number of cliff jumps only accessible by boat. We all jumped off the 8 and 15 metre cliffs and Jesse jumped off the 22 metre (65 feet) cliff! While I was climbing up to the 15 metre cliff I felt something on my leg, I looked down and to my shock there was an octopus wrapping its legs around mine. As I ripped my leg away it quickly pulled itself back in to its little whole. A good way to get my heart racing before my biggest jump ever. We also got dropped off at little caves with entrances only as wide as your body then opening up to big swimming holes. After this remarkable day we returned to the hostel where Papy cooked us all an Italian meal then we went to the beer festival down the road where we all got very drunk and I ended up biting a big chunk of one of the carnies pigs head.
Waking up the next morning exceedingly hungover we went to the supermarket to get some breakfast supplies. Megan and Melissa attempted to make pancakes which turned out to be a disaster and us boys stuck with what we knew frying up some cordon bleu sandwhiches. Can someone please give me the pancake recipe so I can pass it on to the girls? After breakfast we rented a paddle boat and paddled around the island stopping at the cliff jumps along the way. Ok.... I have been writing this blog with massive breaks in between and forgetting where I am up to, it should get a bit more interesting now, ANYWAY.... back to the story, where was I? Oh sweet, after the cliff jumps we paddled around the whole island at Praia a Mare exploring grottos along the way, getting beached and crashing into rocks. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, had lots and lots of beers, then went to the beer festival located only two minutes down the road, Melissa and Megan both worked this night handing out flyers for a beach party earning them free drinks for the whole night. During our time at the beer fest the group split up, on the way to the beer festival Melissa and I found/stole a random lonely puppy walking the streets so we took ownership of it and named it Kiwi. We took it to the beach party and it loved us. After the massive beach party on the water we tried to drop Kiwi off three times where we found it but it would keep chasing us home. We even took Kiwi back to our hostel to meet the german shepard named Sisella who became best friends with this innocent little puppy.
After waking up extremely late and hungover we headed to the beach to cool down not getting there until about 5pm. We hungout there for three hours swimming in the warm, warm sea! That night we planned on not drinking however the girls got talked in to dancing at the beer festival for 3 hours for 50 euros. So we went back to the hostel, drank a few bottles of wine then went back to the festival. While the girls were doing the dancing us boys went and played on all the rides at the festival like the hammer throw, bumper cars, swings and a few other crazy carnie rides.
Leaving Praia a Mare we drove via Agropoli to collect Megan's forgotten belongings from the previous hostel then back to Plus Camping Roma. On the way back the GPS was being ultra crazy and led us up on to a freshly tar sealed over bridge where we had a whole lot of very angry Italian road workers screaming and shouting at us. When we arrived at the camp site in Rome we were all extremely drained from the week just been so kept it very quiet.
When we were last in Rome we did not have enough time to see the Vatican City and St Peter's square so we woke up early and ventured to the Pope's village. We got lost in the museums of the Vatican for hours and admired the beauty of the Sistine Chapel. After the Vatican we ventured around (the very long way) of the Vatican City to St Peters Square and the Basilica. The cathedral was one of the most amazing we have seen so far with art covering the walls and the roof, 100's of dead popes buried underneath and even a visible dead man in the cathedral itself.
This day was a very sad day for the MKJ Worldtour crew as we had one of our original members departing us. It was Kudzai's last full day on the tour before he flew back to London from Rome then onward to Brisbane to be reunited with the beautiful Patience whom he fell in love with before the tour. That night we celebrated in style by all getting very intoxicated and drowning Kudzai with shots from the local camp site bar and danced the night away!
Kudzai flew out of Rome today on the afternoon flight to London. Before Kudzai flew out we fought our hangovers and went to an electronics shop to buy a new sound system for Stella as our current one fried itself, probably from playing too much of Jesse's rap music. Kudzai being the awesome Mercedes mechanic that he is also picked up a fault with our drive belt, it had a lot of cracks in it and could snap at any moment. We drove to the Mercedes shop and had it replaced for 43 euro and free labour which stopped a massive disaster from happening in the future.
So.... it has been a very eventful couple of weeks. We will all miss Kudzai very much and wish him all this best with his blossoming love life and hope that him and Patience return to us sometime down the line to jump back on the tour. From this post you will also probably realise that we have two new members on the tour, the two Canadian girls Melissa and Megan and they will be joining us for the next while. Lets just say they are not only on the tour for a lift in Stella ;) Soon we will be departing Italy venturing deeper in to Europe, where and when I cannot say, keep reading to find out!
