Category: General Musings

Sunday we left Paris for Provence, heading to a gite just outside of Sainte Maximin la Sainte Baume. Picked up a rental car in Avignon and Steve thankfully did the driving as it freaks me out too much at this stage. Only had 1 near incident but survived to tell the tale. To give us a bit of a break from the stress of driving we dumped the car (after 15 mins of driving) outside the gates of Avignon and walked into the centre. We walked around town and took photos of the Palais du Papes (huge church), listened to the accents of the many travelers that had descended on the town (including some kiwis from the South Island) and decided to have some lunch. This is where today’s lesson is taught. We managed to find a very reasonably priced place for lunch, salade nicoise for 8.50, however, note to self – check a menu when ordering a drink. Steve decided to get a Coke so I joined him in a Diet Coke. I got a medium size he got a large. Well, the large was in a STEIN GLASS! We believe there must have been at least 1.5 litres in there. The price? 10 Euro!!!! His drink cost more than the meal. Doh, lesson learnt.

OK so the cheese here in France (Paris) is amazing. Traditional cheese making uses non pasteurized milk which gives it the incredibly creamy texture and taste. The trade off for this though (for our tourist tummies) is gurgly stomachs and frequent trips to the restroom. As long as you can find a restroom (hopefully one that doesn’t cost 0.50c to use it) then you are OK. In a day of walking around the city we came across one public toilet which was a bit dodgey but when nature calls…
Another incredible must do in Paris is the chocolate crepe sold at the roadside stands. For a bargain 3.50 Euro you get a huge crepe with nutella and banana. Yummmmmm!!!! However, I think I have just discovered that I may have a hole in my tooth. Darn it! Well, it will have to wait until we start earning some pounds.

Well after a day of traveling and 3 days in Dubai we have arrived in Paris. I love this city!!!
Dubai was bizarre. Glad we have done it but not certain that it is a place that is high on the agenda to return to. The plan they have to make it a grand tourist destination and have all the incredible luxury etc is an interesting idea but at the end of the day a lot of it is fake. You think you are seeing an historic site then when you go up to it you see it is made of plaster. The extreme in weather was incredible (up to 46 degrees while we were there). Today however flying out it was much cooler. If I was to sum Dubai up it would be a hot, progressive destination that is doing all it can to build its future while trying to understand what kind of nation it will be eastern or western.
Paris on the other hand has not changed. Still incredible in its age, beauty and dignity. Now its time to hit the streets of Paris for a stretch after the plane ride.

Only 3 days until we fly out now. The house is trashed, we are knacked, the car battery decided to die yesterday, and we got ANOTHER parking ticket! What is with that!!!!! At this point I will be very glad to be on the plane so I can relax but we still have so much to do. We did a flyer drop down our street last night to see if anyone is interested in a bed, fridge, car or wardrobes. At this stage no calls. At least we sold the studio lights and answer machine on Ebay last night. Hooray, at least 1 very heavy item is gone! Big list of things to continue with today, meanwhile Sydney Water has decided to start digging up the road outside our place at 7am this morning. Good excuse to get up I suppose and get moving on the day.

Today was a great one. The weather was lovely for the most part and we shared the day having a BBQ with whanau and friends. Thanks everyone for coming all the way to Maungy for the day. It was greatly appreciated given that time has been precious and we have been concentrating on spending most of it with our parents. Although not the easiest time to have D&Ms it was great just to be able to relax and laugh with everyone around us. I know that we will miss that a lot in the UK. Dad did an excellent job of cooking up the sausages and very garlicky burgers (yum yum) and delicious salads were provided by my cousin and another friend from Auckland. Thanks guys! To top it off a delicious chocolate coated banana cake from another mate from Auckland. Great job! Awesome day.

Well today I learnt how to roast pumpkin seeds. None of the recipes warned me about that fact that they explode! Watch out for flying pumpkin seeds.

Friday was my official last day at work and I am now unemployed. In NZ to say our last goodbyes for a while to family on this side of the world. Having a lovely time. Weather has been very warm and quite surprised that today was perfect. Not long to go now until we fly out to the UK. Still so much to do and so little time. Anyone want to buy a car?

Saw a fantastic sign today going past a local church in the area. They are well known for their captivating signs and today was no exception. First a bit of background. The church is situated on the corner of Marion and Norton Street in Leichhardt. This is a very high traffic area and right next to a set of lights and crossings. It has a very high pedestrian density. Anyway, the sign says “Pedestrians beware, Jesus died on the cross”. Love it!!! Funny yet profoundly thought provoking, a real conversation starter!

Well Earth Hour in Sydney came and went. We went down to Pyrmont to watch the lights go out over Sydney. The Harbour Bridge was eerily dark and the city was significantly darker but by any means we were not able to see any more stars than normal. It was encouraging to see a large number of big businesses had switched off their advertising on top of the buildings. Shame on Samsung being the only one (within the area that we could see) for not turning out their lights! The next day in the paper it would appear that the participation from the public and corporate world was impressive. Hopefully this event will catch on throughout Australia and hopefully other countries. For the 1 hour with lights out this saved green house emissions equal to 48,000 cars off the road for a year! Woo hoo. How simple it is to make small changes that create a exponential difference. We had made the decision to participate in turning our lights off for 2 hours seeing as we used our car to get to a viewing area! It was rather fun doing everything by candle light!

Side note: during our lights out time we did manage to see a stunning comet with blazing tail and all burning up as it came through the Sydney skyline. Fantastic!