Contented-Campers.com

It really is great to be in the van again – driving, albeit on a different side of the road felt almost natural after 3 months of driving on the left in NZ. Van started first time and everything is in good nick, thanks to Susi and family, and having the solar panel charging things while we were away has worked really well.

On the road to Austria, via the Bodensee (or Lake Constance in English) has been a really nice drive, over the hills, covered in snow, between Staufen and Friedrichshafen. Still feeling groggy we cut the drive short and are currently camped in amongst apple and pear orchards not far from the lake – and fairly protected from a really strong wind.

At the lake, having stopped at Birnau Basilica, the wind was a strong gale force, and the prediction for tomorrow is that it increases to between 120 and 150km/h. We’ve had experience of this when cycling around the lake a few years ago, when the wind gusted to 160+km/h, resulting in a number of deaths.

We are currently back to old habits, with Niki insisting on opening our new cask of wine. Heater has made us toasty warm, hot water for showers is underway, crisp breads and a range of cheeses and salami on the menu for dinner … We’ve missed this (and no offence to all those great people who have looked after us over the past three months).

A steady leak out of our fresh water container is raising some concern, so if we can get to a campervan outlet tomorrow we’ll have this looked at. At this stage, though, having been awake since 1:00am following a 12 hour jet lag difference, we are looking forward to sleeping through the night. Not going to happen, but a good goal nevertheless. Soon to settle down to a movie and dinner, rain starting to fall – oh, this is so much better than camping!