Hello all. Just thought I'd post something in response to overwhelming demand...Not. It would seem that no one is really missing me after all. I could be dead for all you know. (apologies to those who have been in contact). I'm in Munich at the moment... about three weeks too late for Oktoberfest. There's plenty of beer left though, just fewer Aussies...not that we havent bumped into our fair share. Adam, Jeremy and I had a pretty good night last night which involved several litre steins of beer, a beer tour and karoake at an Aussie bar. (I know... I should be shot for the last part). I never thought I'd say it but i think i might be starting to develop a bit of a taste for beer. Wheat beer (weiß) seems to be the way to go rather than lager.Anyhow, Munich is a beautiful city with a wonderful park and a great friendly atmosphere. We've come from Italy and the difference has been quite staggering. I havent written for so long that i really dont know where to start. I could just go backwards and recall all the most recent things but that would probably confuse everybody. Maybe I'll just start with the scandals. (no, there's no solicitation or time in prison involved). Without going into details, I managed to lose my wallet with cash, cards etc, camera, ,sunglasses and little backpack. And when I say lose I mean they were stolen. The wallet went as I was coming out of a Aussie (dammit) bar in Montpellier. It must have been picked straight out of my pocket. It was my own stupid fault but yea... I was pissed off like nothing else. As an aside, Montpellier is a fantastic city and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Then two nights later as we were eating at a McDonalds (havent been to one since...excecpt for a McFlurry...dammit) with the van in plain view about 20 metres away my bag with camera and sunnies inside was stolen. The little punks had pulled up a car alongside and broken in. we we're just leaving as it happened but were too late to stop them. Anyway, lets just hope the travel insurance pays out at least a little. Sincee then I've had nothing to lose but my passport and in a strange way the result has been kinda liberating. Still, I have no photos to show for some of my time in France and my time in Spain. Jeremy and Adam have been taking photos so its not so bad. Apart from that the only incidents have been a couple of minor breakdowns and the time that Adam turned onto a road at night on the wrong side of the road with the lights off. Driving in Europe has been interesting to say the least. I'm surprised how quickly I got the hang of it. In fact I'm worried about going back to england and driving on the left. I might just give you all a quick catalogue of where we've been an flesh it out in time. Internet access has been quite expensive but in Germany it seems to be more reasonable. So, I caught the ferry from Dover in England to Calais in France on 9th August with my cousin Rachel and her boyfriend David. We headed for Paris and had a bit of a problem in the form of a ruptured fuel line about a hundred ks north of the city. It sounds worse that it was. Luckily a lovely French mechanic was near enough and he had us on our way quickly enough (after we'd tried to fix it ourselves for about 4 hours). Who says the French are all arrogant? Certainly not I. I'm almost out of time at this net cafe. Beer and dinner calls. Normally i wouldnt post a half done entry but its been so long. I'll write more soon...maybe. email and tell me how much you miss me