Day 65: Back to the Future (Or Venice in Our Case)

Date: Sunday 1^st June
Staying: Camping Fusina – Venice, Italy
Distance Travelled: 201.4 Miles
Song of the day: An Honest Mistake – The Bravery

So it turns out that Laurie and I have a slow leak in one of our tyres. Seeing as we had met some really cool people in Venice, we thought we would head back there for a couple of days and have a good time while we got the tyre fixed.

We left Bled a little later than we intended due to the drinks we had last night, but we got under way at 10, and headed towards the Italian border. However, things were not as they seemed. It turns out that the turn-off we wanted was signed with an abbreviation, not the full name of the town we were heading for. This would normally not have been a problem; you can just get off at the next exit, turn around and go back. Unfortunately, the next turn off was in Austria, and the first we knew of this was when we were driving into a 7.9km tunnel (longest of the trip so far), with a sign saying Austria at the start of it. (Why does this stuff keep happening to us? I think we are disaster magnets).

So, we were now driving through a country where we didn’t have the requisite road tax discs, and hadn’t intended on being in for another week and a half; and there was no where to turn around, and even if we did, we would have to pay another toll for the tunnel. OK, so after I pored over the maps for a bit, I found where we could turn off to get back to Italy. If we had been pulled over, we would have got a massive fine for not having paid the tax, but fortunately we didn’t, and we got back into Italy after driving an extra 30 miles.

So we arrive at Fusina and head to the bar where the staff are getting ready for the Sumo contest that is on that night for the enjoyment of the 6 Contiki buses. After a few inquiries as to the best place to get our tyre fixed, we learn that tomorrow is in fact a public holiday in Italy, so nothing will be open (Typical! I should have guessed that would happen before we arrived). So there was nothing left to do but to join in with the other punters and have a few drinks and a dance, and watch people knock each other over in padded sumo suits.

We had a fantastic night, the ended up at about 3.30am having toast and vegemite with a couple of our new friends back at the van (an Aussie far from home loves Vegemite enough to stay up that late for it. Quality effort Erin!). All-in-all, a great night!