15 June We left around 8am to go back through to Mozambique. We got to the border and exited Zimbabwe no worries, but when we tried to get through to the Mozambique side it proved impossible as a load of huge trucks had blocked the way through. We managed to find some of the drivers and eventually after about a wait of almost an hour being surrounded by huge trucks we were able to get through. On the Mozambique side we had to pay for news visas to last another 30 days and we were away. Today we are travelling up towards Caia and staying at a place called M’phingwe Camp which is at Catapu. The car started to give a few problems again with no power. We struggled our way on and finally made it around 4pm. After some charades; a lot of people don’t speak English we managed to check in. Portuguese is definitely a huge bonus out here. M’phingwe is a lovely little camp set in a forest, it’s a shame we only have one night as I am sure the birdlife is brilliant here and there are loads of lovely walking tracks all over the property. We phoned Kerry to see if there are any Toyota garages in Quelimane or Nampula that we can get the car checked out. We had a lovely dinner and then went to bed.

16 June Kerry phoned to say that there is a Toyota garage in Quelimane so we will call in there before carrying on north to Mocuba this morning. We arrived at Quelimane around lunch time which means that a lot of places are shut until 1.30pm. We were trying to ask the security guard at Toyota what time they would open and if they had mechanics there when he called over another guy who was walking past who could speak English to talk to us. We told this fellow that we had what we thought was an electrical problem with the car and he said that we had a friend who may be able to help us. He phoned and then jumped into the car and showed us how to get to the place. It turned out this Indian chap who was from Maputo had been up to Pemba to fix a couple of trucks and he had the computer that you hook up to the car to diagnose what is wrong. What luck, he said it would cost 5000 meticas which was fine especially to know if there were any problems and what they were. After an hour he arrived back from picking up the computer from his hotel room and hooked up the car. First off we needed to change the front brake pads, but it also kept saying throttle motor fault which sounded a lot more difficult. They proceeded to change the brake pads which were down to nothing, meanwhile they also changed the fuel filter as they say the fuel out here is terrible, very dirty. They also took off the throttle motor and gave it a good clean up and that is when we found a wire which was broken, this was duly repaired and when the computer hooked up again – no faults were found! Talk about luck and being in the right town at the right time. Since then the car has been running beautifully which is always good news. It was around 3.45pm when we left Quelimane for Mocuba and fortunately the road was pretty good all the way. We got to our guest house and after some discussion were told they were fully booked even thought we had a confirmation and knew that the booking was made on 2 May. I phoned Kerry and he was annoyed to say the least! He phoned us back and told us that he had managed to get hold of the manager who was on his way to see us. After a while Jotamo arrived and sorted out a room for us; it seems that they had sold our room so unfortunately we had to take what was available and to be perfectly honest it was pretty grotty! Mocuba is not really a place that you want to stay, but can be a useful stopover on your way north. Nevermind when you don’t have a choice you accept it and are pleased that it is for only one night. We had dinner and went to bed, but didn’t sleep so well.

17 June We woke up very early and went for breakfast which was a cup of coffee and a bread roll – very tasty! We were driving through to Nampula today, so I took the rolls for lunch. It has to be said that the bread throughout Mozambique is fantastic! I started out driving this morning and it took around 2.5 hours to do 56kms! I mentioned to Martin that it was probably one of the worse roads I had ever travelled on throughout Africa which is quite something I can tell you. There were a couple of stretches that were good tar road, but the majority was crap, pardon my French. We arrived at Bamboo Hotel around 2am and were very pleased to see that it was a 500% improvement from the Mocuba place. We had lovely hot showers and then Martin had a siesta while I read my book. There was a little vervet monkey in a cage so I got some dried fruit from the car and feed him. This place was huge and seemed to be run by Portuguese so pretty well organized. We had a lovely dinner and a brilliant night’s sleep.

18-22 June Today we are travelling to Libe Lula which means ‘dragonfly’ and is at Nacala Bay and a place that Kerry had found whilst on his dhow trip. The things you see whilst travelling along the roads in Africa never fail to surprise me, today I saw a guy who was dressed in an all in one pajama suit including the button down patch on the bum – very funny! What gets sent over here as aid and finds its way into the markets to be sold is so inappropriate at times. We were meant to be camping for 4 nights, but when we arrived it was a pretty tight squeeze to get into the camping area and our trailer is rather huge. Martin made the decision we would upgrade to the stone cottage instead. What a stunning setting overlooking the bay; Ian & PJ are great and made us feel very welcome. It was lovely to have more that a night before moving off. It gets really tiring when you are moving on every day. We have really been doing nothing except reading and relaxing whilst we have been here. We had intended to go diving, but it has been quite breezy since we arrived and we also have turned into wimps – it is too cold! I have been down to the beach twice which involves 100 steps down, Martin has been down once. Tomorrow we will be moving on again to Ilha da Mozambique.

Well at last I am fully up to date and will try my best to get some photos for you all as well. Love & kisses to all xxx