In the morning where we are staying is a camper repair place too and they give us the address of a fellow who repairs fridges who is 30mins away and we need our gas part fixed. We head off into the countryside to look for this fellow. We are out in the middle of nowhere and we come across a little German village – so small it only has one shop, a bakery. We find the guys house and he is away for half an hour so we head back to the bakery for a coffee and a biscuit. The guy comes back and has fixed our fridge in half an hour with a new gas burner and jet. It was just old and corroded like most other things have been in the van – lack of maintenance. It works amazingly now and we can see it wouldn’t have been as efficient as it should have been in the past. We are all set and back on the road. This area of Germany is part of Bavaria and has beautiful green rolling hills with cows everywhere. We can’t figure out how people can live so close to the cow barns as the stench you get when you just drive past is so dreadful and really strong and a lot of houses are built over the barns.
We head back part of the way we have come and are back on our path to Switzerland, but we decide before we head over the border we have one last night in Austria so we can work out where we can stop for the night on Saturday night so we can watch the All Blacks play South Africa. We are also tired as it has been a long day and I want to get a sim when we cross the border as Switzerland has an average camping ground price of somewhere like 40-50 euro a night (almost aud100) so we do not want to stop at any campsites if we can help it and will do our best to do cheap or free camperstops. This campsite is right on the border so we get to see the Swiss alps which look amazing like the many mountains in Austria.
In the morning we pack up and head down across the border firstly into Liechtenstein. This country is the 6th smallest country in the world and is only 6kms wide by 25kms long. We drive down the only main road through the country and there are some cute villages. We decide we want to at least stop in Vaduz for a coffee so we can say we have been there. They use the swiss franc for currency so we need to get some before we buy a coffee. We find a carpark that the van will fit into and walk up into the small village centre that Vaduz has which is really no more than a couple of dozen shops and cafes. The prices here are dreadful – being about aud8-9 for a coffee and not even a great one at that, but we decide that is what we must pay to have something here in this country so be it. We head away and over into Switzerland. Switzerland is our 20th country and we have been in 3 in the one day today.
There is a gorgeous little village we travel through just over the border which is ancient with really narrow streets. It would be such a cool place to stay but we need to keep going. The next town Bad Ragaz we go into is amazing and obviously a very popular tourist destination and they have art works all around the town. We want to stop here, but we know that we must get over to Fribourg by tomorrow so there is no stopping unfortunately. We stop at Mels where I know there is a phone place we can get a data sim for the tablet. They have the same bizarre security over their sims as Slovakia and I have to provide passport and sign etc to get one. They are very expensive but I know we will save a lot by being able to find the camper stops here. We get a very small amount of data 600mb for aud40 – quite insane really – but as I said it will save us a fortune. We get back on the road and head towards Lucerne.
I find a campground that is closed and they are often great for stopping outside as they are usually in safe locations. We stop here at Zug and it is closed for the winter. We bypass the camping area where there are a few campers and park in the car park backed up against the bush near another van camper (a Possl which we like as they are unobtrusive) and cosy in for the night. The trains run past every 10 minutes or so but are very quiet and not a worry. What a great transport system they have where they can practically run 24 hours. We are up early in the morning as we are mindful that we are not in the camping area but even the council guy who comes to clean the public toilet doesn’t even give us a look. A few older guys turn up early for their Saturday fishing on the large lake, no more than 50 metres away. We were on our way quite early as there were no chores to do and we want to get to a place called Fribourg which has an Irish bar with a car park to watch the All Blacks v Springboks semi-final. I have found it on the net and it is difficult to accurately gauge if it all will be ok. As we have a good amount of time to get there we travel the ‘yellow’ roads not the highway which are quicker but you don’t get to see the sights. We are through Interlaken as well as other towns on the lakes and it is a beautiful drive. We had stopped at a service station to get a vignette which is required mainly for the highways but find out we can only get a year one for 40chf($60.00aud) which is a huge cost but reflects Switzerland compared to other countries were we have got these for 10 days for $10.00aud. As these are mainly for highways we decide to risk the small amount of highway driving we will do ($180aud fine if caught) and will stick to the lesser roads. This turns out a great idea as we get to see the real country and not traffic.
The drive around the lakes was great and more than once on this adventure I yearn to be on a motorbike even a bloody Vespa would be ok! We drive into Fribourg which is a lot bigger than I imagined with an old battlement and castle surrounding the old town and river which looks inviting to explore but we are really here only for the rugby so with the magic of technology we find our way to Paddy’s Irish Bar and find a park in the coach car park behind a French gentleman’s camper who is going to the cinema. In our usual hand signals and both our limited language find out what to do with tickets and a note on the dashboard explaining to any powers that be that we are not camping overnight but just watching the footy. The pub doesn’t open till 4 and we are a bit early so kick back and find a place to stay after the game as the car park seems a bit dodgy in the middle of the city and lots of youth cruising around. We are made welcome by the pub owner and settle in to watch a nail biting win to the AB’s with 3 Swiss people with All Black jerseys on a few others with a couple of SA supporters. I am driving so one Guinness lasts me the game (that’s a first right there) but it is not cheap anyway so not hard to abstain. After the game we thank the pub owner as this makes it easier for future kiwis when you are thankful for their hospitality and thank the locals for their kiwi support.
It is dark when we travel the 30 minutes to Romont which looks really quaint as we drive in with lights highlighting the castle, turrets and battlements towering over the town on a high hill. We have found on Camperstop.com that there is 2 parks for campers only with power, water and toilet drop for free (just pay $3.00aud tourist tax). However we have to climb the hill to get to it as it is right at the top 1st & 2nd gear right below the castle walls with views over the countryside. Unfortunatly both parks are taken so, after not finding the other 3 non electric parks down the road we park near the others and rely on our battery which fortunately is new. We can’t quite get the van level and spend the night a bit downhill so the blood goes to your head which isn’t the best.
We get a sleep in in the morning as there is no need to rush as we are going to stay the day as Vicki is not that well and we don’t feel like driving and it is free camping. One of the vans move so we quickly jump in and take there spot hook up the electrics and scout the town getting some fresh French baguettes from the bakery and walk the length of the town finding somewhere to watch the wallabies V Argentina semi final. After a few enquiries we end up at the Terminus Hotel near the train station, Vicki has a cappuccino and I have a beer as we try and we play language games to see if we can watch the footy. The owner who doesn’t speak English gets a lady on the phone who speaks our language and who we find out later works there. We think it will be on Euro sport so tell them we will be back at 5pm. We wander back to the van ( there is a steep hill going up that reminds us of the steepest hill in the world which is Baldwin St in Dunedin and have a baguette for lunch I have a couple of beers in the sun then we wander the castle walls for an hour and back to the pub. However there is confusion as there is tennis on live so find another channel where they are discussing the rugby then find out that Europe and GB have just changed all their clocks so we are an hour early( better than an hour late!). So we watch the valiant Argies lose to the aussies and look forward to next week’s first ever Pacific final.
