So much to talk about!

We're here!!!

Well, where to begin...? We are now happily unpacked and beginning to feel like we're at home at Moulin du Bayle. The house is SO much more than we expected! It is on three levels and all the rooms are large and airy. The house has been very nicely renovated and the owners Karen and Jonathan have furnished it very tastefully, we feel like we're living in a rather fancy hotel! Outside there are a number of fruit trees, apples, plums, apricots, figs and cherries to name a few. We are surrounded by fields of sunflowers, grapevines and barley. It is truly beautiful.

Our first week has been filled with trying to get some form of communication to the outside world (there was no working internet when we got here and there is no telephone reception!) as well as a vehicle of our own. We have a great little Renault hire car which has done us well through our travels in Italy and down to Rouvenac. Next week we will take possession of a 2004 Peugeot 206 diesel powered station wagon. It has had one careful English lady owner who has hardly driven it since she purchased it. It has done only 55,000kms and she is putting on two new tires, getting it serviced and a new CT (Warrant of Fitness) which is good for two years, so all in all a really good deal. It's a little larger than we were looking for but will have plenty of room for you and your luggage when you come and visit!

Getting the internet workable was a huge relief so we could finally talk to family and friends and being able to Skype when the techie didn't think it was possible is an extra bonus! We also now have a working mobile after a rather amusing conversation with a lovely shop assistant who spoke almost as good English as we do French! Communicating our needs is the greatest challenge as we expected it would be, but each day seems to get a little easier. Certainly a true 'practice makes perfect' situation!

Waiting for the Tour to begin in our village

Martin got to see the Tour du France go through the village last Sunday. It was quite a spectacle, for at least an hour before the riders appeared there were sponsors cars and elaborate floats with attractive girls throwing out goodies to the people on the side of the road. The riders flew past in a flash, the first bunch a good 10-12 mins ahead of the main group. That night the village of Rouvenac partied until the wee small hours of the morning, but we were exhausted so fell asleep to the sounds of loud music and laughter echoing up the valley.

Tomorrow we are going to our first market in Esperaza a village about 5mins away. It is apparently great for fruit, vege, patissiere as well as clothes and jewellery etc. Should be fun. The weather has been very hot (30+ degrees) up until the last few days. It's now a little cloudy and breezy with temps around 23-26 which is a nice relief.

As well as the wonderful french cheese and bread we have been introduced to our local winery which has a really great Merlot. You drive up with your 5 litre plastic container and the owner fills it using a petrol pump type dispenser and all for 6 euro or about $1.05 NZ a bottle!!!! The locals fill about two or three of these containers each week, we managed one...still we do have a year to practice!?

First meal at Moulin du Bayle...a boiled egg!

There is so much more to talk about, I haven't touched on our wonderful time in Italy...will do so in another blog. Until then au revoir from us both!

Last Day in Bangkok

It's hard to believe that it's a week ago today that we left NZ on the start of our year adventure!

We have been in Bangkok for 4 days and unfortunately Martin has been under the weather with a bad case of 'Deli Belly' which has laid him low for most of our time here. It's meant keeping close to the pool and the local, very good, massage house -oh darn! He's hoping to get some antibiotics today before we begin the mammoth trip to Rome tomorrow. The hotel have been very good and even sent flowers to the room with a get-well card! 

We did get to do a city and temple tour on our first day here, hence the photo, the gold buddhas are amazing!

First Leg of Our Adventure!

Well, we are now in Bangkok after an 'upgraded' flight from Sydney...YUP, we were upgraded to Business Class so spent a very comfortable 9 and a half hours being fed and watered deliciously!

But I'm getting ahead of myself...after a final mad dash to get the house cleaned and our bags packed (overweight!), John dropped us safely at the Auckland Airport. The check-in lady was very nice and calmly asked me if I had a visa to get into Australia as she couldn't seem to find it in my passport. NO!!!!! After all the drama to get the French visa I completely forgot the Oz one...scary few minutes as she checked to see if they could do it electronically for me, which  they could for $30! Next the weighing of the bags, 11kg over that will be $220 thank you very much.  By now, blood pressures were a little high but we pushed on to immigration. As we shuffled our way to the cattle herding pens to wait to have our on board luggage scanned, a lovely lady asked Martin if he would please put his bags on the scales (no more than 7kg allowed)...oops, "I'm afraid Mr Lee you will have to take some things out of your bag like cameras etc which your lovely wife (who was also carrying over the allowed limit) can carry for you". A sweating Mr Lee removed some devices from his bag, hung them around the neck of his lovely wife and was re-weighed, 8kg. "That's fine Mr Lee, have a good trip", said the smiling weigh lady. Once through scanning and a quick pat down for Martin by the 'pat down official' and we could finally find a place to sit down and let the perspiration begin to evaporate!

The trip over to Sydney was uneventful (thank goodness) until we got to immigration. I went through the alien cue and Martin rocked up confidently to the Aus/NZ one. As I was being 'processed' I saw Martin being marched away by a little man to an office area where he was told to wait. Thoroughly bamboozled I joined him in the wait only to be told that it was something about his brand new passport that the Aus computers didn't like but was now fixed. "Enjoy your stay in Sydney Mr Lee!"


We had a great chilled out three days with Walt and Kylie who is blossoming! They are all set up for baby in a couple of weeks and seem very calm and collected about their new impending addition. A great way to wind down after a rather 'busy' few weeks. Oh, and we dumped about 13kgs of gear into a box for Walt to send over to us by surface mail.

That brings me back to the beginning and our very unexpected but most welcome upgrade-what a difference to the first part of the trip!  So, our first day in Bangkok and we are off on a city tour this afternoon but first breakfast! Of course we need more food after 91/2 hours of the best food Emirates could provide us! Will post pictures and more soon.