Bumbag Motel

adam and leigh touched down on Saturday eve from a happy business class upgrade, day in Kuala Lumpur and evening in Dubai. Needless to say, they were exhausted but trooped through bbq on sat eve, the first of the Mustafa kebabs and then many a market on the Sunday . Here they are getting a coffee hit to see through the day.

It was really sad to say bye to Jenni and Pete on our final French day together, above we have Pete seeing whether Cam had any lobe steaks before we flew out. It was a close call returning the rental car in Nimes and getting on the train to Paris, because the bull festival was about to commence which brought many unknown barricades to the streets! All worked out well though, so we could enjoy our final giant sized homemade baguettes on the train and soak in some of the sights.

Cam and I trying to lively up the sleepy streets of Castillon, a super old and gorgeous town that appears to be closed on Weds afternoons. Had some interesting experiences driving through the streets here, with some bizarre alien like tractor zooming around a corner. Once home had a final shop and Uzes peruse before having the cheese, tapenades and wine finale with Julie and Bastillon at the apartment.

Successful driving and parking experience in Arles, first stop a picnic lunch in the main square complete with dodgy wanderers about. We did the self-guided tour to the places where Van Gogh painted some of his paintings and saw many a medieval place along the way, including the Amphitheatre where they still hold bull related events. The area around Arles and towards the coast is home to wild bulls, horses and flamingoes, all which we saw on our drive to Stes-Marie de la mer. Then home for some more home cooked French treats and wine – bien sûr!

With a full sunny day on the cards, we got the audio guide to tour us about Uzes finding out about religious wars and the textile industry. We also have Cam involved in a Pete photo shoot below, just outside our brilliant apartment on Place aux herbes.

The lovely and soon to be married Julie and Bastillon then guided us to Beaux-de-Provence, which you can see in the next photo below. It is a medieval town on a hill with great outlooks across the countryside, where Jenni got some great home decorations and I got some scent-sational soaps. The last photo is of Cam, Julie and wine at Julie’s parents place just outside of Uzes, a beautiful house with great backyard and garden with pool and 250 year old olive trees! Needless to say we were treated to some wonderful wines of the rosé and white variety, soft and so so succulent – very lucky!!

First big day in the car took us to Pont du Gard (below). It’s a Roman aqueduct which brought water from Uzes to Nimes (where denim comes from), supplying that city with 1,000 litres of water per person per day (current consumption is 3 – 400 litres)! We did a couple of meanderings and getting lost in the bushes too, only to find out later that snakes and scorpions are present in this countryside! We then moved onto Avignon where we got to explore its ancient streets before the storm clouds behind us came through. The lookout that Cam, Jenni and Pete are sitting on provided good lightning vantage point.

Jenni and Cam here enjoying a ‘Grand Crème’ after some great saturday market strolling and purchasing – Cam here in his new hat. Got some great cheeses too and 20 bottles of (250ml) beers for 6 euro!

Emma and Pete enjoying the balkon at our apartment in Uzes – a town riddled with ridiculously old buildings, this one was 200 years old but some around us were from the 13th Century! Pete had great composure and driving skills to get us from Nice to this delightful town where we were based for a week. First few days involved getting our bearings, finding out we had a tom tom in the car, and continuing to revel in the ongoing delectable eats, sleeps and reading time to be embraced on holiday.

Second day in France and thought we should go peruse the Monaco Principality. Streets were creepily clean but pleasant for strolling and seeing the formula 1 infrastructure being wrapped up. Got back to Nice in time for some rain, more baguette, cheese and wine indulgence and a catch up with Tegan! Great to see the gigantasaur boats and then chat with someone who is working amongst them.