Coffee with belle and matt at hunter belle cheese, the couple from mkr. Tasted some really nice cheeses

Lots of home cooking, a nice healthy minestronie soup for dinner along with home made bread. Then topped off with the best caranel slice. Belle's themomixer is amazing, but better still was spending time with her and matt.

Went to the Hunter Valley Lights with Belle and Matt. Absolutely spectacular. Never seen anything like it. Had baked spud for dinner sitting in the gardens. So nice

Summary of 2014 Holiday

 

Started our holiday again this year by participating in the Gold Coast Half Marathon. Bb flew up on the Friday, me Saturday morning. Got into GC midday, picked up hire car, Hyundai I30 and drove straight to hotel , parked the car and heading straight to the expo to pick up race bib.

Not a great run for me, but still crossed the finish line and collected the medal. Just over an hours drive to Brisbane Airport ready for the long journey to Paris. Not much sleep along the way but managed to watch 3 French movies and 8 episodes of Paddock to plate with Matt Moran, great little show

Well the tour look us to many regions this year. It has been a journey filled with a little old and a little new. Our visit to Wallers and the Forest of Arneburg where the bewilderment of how riders actually race along the paves. Gets me every time . The finnes of the Champagne region, the freshness of the Alps, sweet smells of Provence along with the markets, the ski resorts of the Pyrenees and the exquisite Bordeaux wine region. We have travelled about 3000km in our Picasso t3, slept in the car about 10 night and had the luxury of Ibis mostly for the others.

 

We have drank lots of bad wine, but made up for it with some really nice wine in Provence . Ate fresh baguettes with cheese and juicy tomatoes everyday,

Tried to speak French on many occasions to receive a blank look in return. Meet up with our French friends, tried out some more French with still no success.

Attempted to get on TV again whilst the tour riders speed past us, some small success but nothing huge.

Collected heaps of goodies from theTour de France caravan, t shirts, haribo lollies, key rings, madeleine, munchies and more.

Visted castles at Carcussion, markets in province, took a gondola for the first time, swam in a fresh lac, walked the streets of the old wine towns in Bordeaux, clocked up a total of 13 stages this year of the tour taking the total to 101 all thanks to BB. Life is full of wonderful memories, just never stop adding to them