Our adventure started after leaving Vienna and heading straight through to Bratislava in Slovakia.  Beautiful castle on the hills and a generally lovely city.  We made our way to a farmers market and we were blown away with the selection of salamis, breads and cheeses.  We also managed to find an English speaking beer connoisseur (who looked exactly like the comic book store guy fro the Simpsons).  He spoke awesome English (which I think he had learnt form online gaming) and encouraged Nigel to try a vast selection of Slovakian beers.  We also had a Slovakian wine recommended and so after filling our reusable grocery bags with a selection of produce we were off to the camp ground.  They don’t make campgrounds in Eastern Europe like they do in other places.  But more on that later.

Our next major stop was through into Budapest for a look around the city.  We decided there and then that the next time we visit it will be on one of the lovely river cruise boats that we saw lined four deep across the Danube (which isn’t as blus as the sing tends to make you think).  They are all parked up and it’s so easy to jump off for the day and do the grand tour (inclusive of goulash and free wifi.).  It was very humbling though to be in such a magnificent European city.

That night we stayed at a very out of the way campground next to a lake.  We went swimming as soon as we arrived and it was lovely to be so close to nature.  Just after dinner one of the Hungarian locals (who had a permanent dwelling at the campsite) dropped by and in very broken English said “come for drink – no crazy”.  We refused and he insisted “No crazy” he kept saying “no crazy”.  Well how do you pass that up?

Nigel had spent some time working with Hungarians in Russia and so only knew one word in Hungarian “Aggashigida”.  It’s basically “cheers” or “yay! lets have some more spicy flavoured booze that comes from a bottle in the shape of a football”.  Really handy language skills for our drinks with the locals.  As it turns out he and his wife and 8 year old son and the neighbour weren’t crazy.  They were just so fascinated with how two New Zealanders ended up in Hungary in a bright green Portuguese Camper.  We managed for a whole evening using Google translate.  It was great fun.

That was also the night I dropped the phone and cracked the screen… but that’s another story.

From Hungary we were off to Romania, which we loved.  I fell in love with Haystacks, Storks, Castles and Horse drawn carriages.  The roads are really terrible in parts, like terrible but the villages we went through with their gypsies on the side of the road selling berries to the special stork nest things on the lampposts were really special.  I assume they build the storks a nesting perch so they don’t build over their chimney.  But seeing the stork with their chicks sitting in almost every town was sensational.  You do have to avoid the horse and carts though and that adds another skill level to the driving.

We stayed a few nights and then headed right into the heart of Transylvania to stay at Vampire Camping in Bran.  Home to Draculas Castle.  Vampire Camping was actually quite good.  They provided toilet paper and the showers had doors – bonus and they had painted blood dripping from a V on every post in the camp.  I had a pretty sleepless night though as the wind had picked up and it started to howl.  I know it was my imagination but I was a little freaked out in Transylvania, it was moody and bleak and just a bit scary.

What an incredible experience that day was.  The castle was packed with locals and the most tourists we had seen in ages.  We queued to enter the castle which was high on a hill and as we entered it was 27 degrees and sunny.  By the time we had toured trough half of the castle and were entering the courtyard the temperature had dropped and the thunder and lightning had set in.  I also then saw a wolf… It could have been just a big black hairy dog but let’s go with wolf!  I swear that if I’d heard a wolf howl at that time I would have run for my life.

After we left he castle we climbed up into the mountains where the temperature dropped to 12 degrees (from 27 degrees) and the rain washed all the bugs off our camper.  By the time we had reached the Black Sea (our next destination) the temperature was 30 degrees and the bug splats were back.

Our Black Sea Destination was the bees knees for the Romanians.  Us… not so much.  Imagine a beach covered in the umbrellas and beach chairs to hire that stinks of sewerage.  The campsite we had chosen too left a lot to be desired and I can advise that most people tend to miss the squat on the squat toilets… blurgh!  We ended up not bothering with showers that day and proceeded to just put up with each others smell.  But I guess that’s what in sickness and stinkiness and health is all about – Love.