Last Stop - Kelowna

The last stop on our trip was Kelowna, in Canada’s Okanagan Valley. Heather’s school friend, Nigel, moved here a few years back and is now married to Niki (a Canadian), they have two kids. With them living in such a beautiful area, we thought we’d pay them a visit. Kelowna is only an hour’s flight from Calgary so we flew over on a local airline, Westjet, and Nigel met us at the airport. He was a great help, as we have been dragging around quite a lot of luggage. Funny thing though, we nearly lost one of our bags after the four guys loading up their rental car next to us happened to pack it in their car, thinking it was one of theirs!!

First stop was a sushi restaurant for a bite to eat for lunch where Nigel filled us in on the lasted news from their house – one of their boys, Sebastian (aged 2), had woken up with a few spots on his hands. The diagnosis from the doctor was hand, foot and mouth disease which is was quite prevalent in the region at the moment and very contagious between kids. So Niki (Nigel’s wife) was in the process of packing up Sebastian and Cole to go and stay with her parents in Summerland about 40 minutes away. Not the most ideal start! Fortunately the three of them were able to swing by the shops where we were to say hi on their way to Summerland, whilst Matthew sleeping soundly in our car. We spent the rest of the afternoon having a few drinks and nibbles at Nigel’s place, admiring the view of nearby Black Mountain from his balcony. Matthew loved playing on his playmat that we’d set up out there, as he had some new toys to try out, his favourite being a plastic cricket bat! He also appeared to be putting a crawl together too…….

On Friday morning, I headed out for a run around the area. It was mainly residential, although there was one track through the forest. Apart from the sign that said to be aware of a bear in the area, it was a nice run with a few hills as well. Late morning, we headed down to Lake Okanagan where we had lunch at a rather healthy wrap place – Nigel had a kale and salad wrap which put our turkey and pesto paninis to shame! Over the road was a café, so we got some takeaway coffees before taking a relaxing stroll along the lake’s edge. These were great coffees and supersede the comments on my last post about the Good Earth Café in Canmore, making these now the best coffees of our trip so far! The walk along the lake was really scenic – plenty of trees and grass, topped off with perfect sunny weather. It is easy to see why this is a popular tourist destination. We then drove up a hill that overlooks the city and the lake for an even better view. It was from there that we could see a fire in the direction of Black Mountain, so we made a quick return back to Nigel’s house to find that the fire was only a few kilometres away. Fortunately, the fire bomber planes were dropping water and fire retardant on it, and it was completely out by evening. Nigel cooked up another great meal tonight. Even though their family was vegetarian, he spoilt us with chef-prepared meals of salmon and chicken, and made a zuichini and chocolate loaf (with spelt) that kept us coming back for more!

 

On Saturday, we took a drive down to Summerland to see Niki and the kids. Our first stop was the Kelowna Farmer’s Market which is held every Saturday. We had a mid-morning snack of buckwheat crepes and bratwurst hotdog while Matthew was intrigued by a mum-and-bub alpaca – another animal he likes! On the way through downtown, we stopped by Bean Scene again for the day’s coffee, before enjoying the scenic drive south along the lake to Summerland. Sebastian still had a few spots but was feeling fine, so we met up at a park along the late for lunch. We picked up some lunch from a café and lazed away the afternoon, chatting and munching on kettle-corn. Matthew played on a picnic rug, while the kids played in the playground and on the flying fox (or “zip line” in Canadian!). Before we all went our separate ways, Cole was a bit out of sorts and by evening started to develop some spots….oh dear, looks like they might be staying in Summerland for a few more days.

After a busy few days around Kelowna, and before that in Calgary, it was time for Heather to have an easy day. So we spent time relaxing around Nigel’s place on Sunday and doing a couple of loads of washing. By afternoon, we were all keen to get out of the house and do something, so headed down to the local driving range to hit some golf balls. For me, this was twice in a week having not touched a golf club for two year…maybe I’ll start playing golf regularly when I get back to Perth. Even Heather hit a few balls while Matthew giggled at all the comotion. For dinner we had the world’s most expensive pizza – three of them cost over $70! Some things are quite cheap here, but it’s amazing what isn’t.

Monday was our last day in Kelowna as we were flying out that evening for Vancouver, our first stop on the way back to Perth. I went for an early morning run (still no sign of that bear) and after some packing we headed back down to the lake. First stop was Bean Scene a relaxing outdoor coffee in the sun. We got a wrap from the same place as Friday (and yes, Nigel had the kale wrap again!) before Heather heard there was a Lulemon store in Kelowna. She has bought pants from their shop in Perth and thought she would check their prices since she was planning to buy some more when she got back to Perth. Fortunately, I had cleared the credit card a few days earlier as the cheaper Canadian prices meant Heather made the most of her visit! After that, we dashed home to catch up with Niki who was on her lunch break. We finished off the packing and said our goodbyes, after four really nice days in Kelowna. We then headed out to the airport to catch our flight to Vancouver – only 50 minutes this time, again on Westjet. The flight wasn’t full so we were able to move and get an extra seat which is always handy when you have a baby on your lap.

For our overnight stay in Vancouver, we had booked in at the Fairmont Hotel in the airport. Although a tad expensive, this was by far the easiest option rather than catching a shuttle with all our bags and a tired baby to a hotel outside of the airport. After getting some takeaway Japanese, we wheeled our baggage trolleys to the hotel at the end of the international terminal and were in our room soon after 8 o’clock. That evening, we made the mistake of giving Matthew some “nappy-free-time” on his playmat while we chowed down our takeaway…needless to say he made quite a mess!

The room was huge, with two queen beds, a massive bath and shower and lots of room for Matthew to play. Given it was contained within the airport terminals, it also had a great view over the gates and runways – a planespotter’s dream. We decided to forgo the hotel’s continental breakfast (juice, toast and muffin for $25 each!) and head to one of the many cafes in the terminal. Our flight was not until 3pm, so after breakfast we took Matthew for a swim in the hotel’s pool which oddly enough overlooks the check-in area of the international terminal. He loved speeding through the water while I held him, so he’ll be looking forward to his new swimming classes which starts 2 weeks after we get back to Perth. It was then time to leave the hotel and head to check-in (just below the hotel pool!) for our 13-hr flight to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific. Apart from being a little tired and noisy early on in the flight, he slept for over seven hours, so gave Heather a chance for some sleep and me a chance to watch Modern Family on the inflight entertainment. 8-months old seemed to be about the maximum age the bassinet works effectively for. For the first few hours of the flight he was more interested in trying to climb out than playing with his toys or sleeping! And now with his crawling developing each day, we are glad we timed the trip to back in Perth for this.

Like Vancouver, we decided to overnight at the airport rather than connect to another long flight, so we stayed in a hotel connected to the airport for the night. We are just about to depart for our flight home to Perth after seven wonderful (and sometimes challenging!) weeks away. It was so great to spend time with family and friends as well as having three relaxing weeks in France. Time to start planning the next trip!!

Adrian, Heather and Matthew

Calgary

After a month in Europe the next stop on our trip was Calgary in Canada where my brother lives. It was our first trip back to Canada in ten years. We last visited John and family at his wife Michelle's family lakeside cabin in Minnesota, on our last trip three years ago.

Matthew was ready for another collection of flights. First, there was a short flight from Geneva to London, then a three hour transit at Heathrow followed by 9 hours to Calgary. He slept for five hours on the Calgary flight so Heather was able to have a couple of naps as well. By the time we arrived in Calgary at 8pm, it was 4am back in Geneva where we started the day, but Matthew was doing surprisingly well. We were met at the airport by my brother, John and our nephews Ben and Noah - Matthew's first meeting with his cousins. Apart from some confusion as to who was supplying the car seat for Matthew (neither of us had one!), we were home by 9pm after a careful drive by John (with Matthew on Heather's lap). We put Matthew to bed and crossed our fingers for a good night sleep knowing that babies and timezone changes don't go well together!

Not surprisingly, Matthew was the first to wake at 5.30am - after a long night of hourly wakings.  Needless to say, it wasn't the best night of sleep for his parents. John made some welcome morning coffees before heading off to work for the day and the boys headed off to school. The three of us took it very easy on our first day in Calgary with the biggest excitement being Matthew and myself walking with Michelle and their dog Tilly to pick the boys up from school, followed by a stop to feed the ducks on the lake. Like some earlier encounters with dogs on our trip, Matthew loved Tilly (a Golden Labrador) and would laugh and smile with excitement. Tilly particularly liked hanging around during Matthew's mealtimes, hoping for a dropped spoon of food, but often settling for a lick of Matthew's hands, which he took much delight in. In fact, he would often hold out his hands for her to lick after the first experience.

Thursday was also a pretty easy day. The three of us walked to the nearby shopping mall to buy some supplies (including chocolate of course!) for our upcoming trip to Canmore in the Rocky Mountains, leaving the next day. Back at the house, Matthew loved playing with the boys who kept him entertained on his playmat. He particularly liked Ben's glasses - anything that is a bit different or that he can grab, takes his fancy!

On Friday, the boys only had a half day at school, then we headed off to Canmore, just over an hour's drive away, soon after lunch. We had three nights at the Blackstone Mountain Lodge on the edge of Canmore. It is a relatively new development with an all important heated outdoor pool and hot tubs for the boys to play in. Each family had their own self-contained apartment - we had a one bedroom apartment and John, Michelle and the boys a two bedroom (as well as their espresso machine from Calgary!). Lots of room for everyone, and quite a luxurious set-up. In the lobby they had a huge toy Grizzly Bear, and like most other animals, Matthew loved him instantly, and had no problem reaching out to touch him. Let's hope he doesn't do this if he encounters a real one in the wild! Ben and Noah spent plenty of time in the pool, showing off their spins and somersaults when jumping into the pool. We had a quiet day around Canmore on Saturday, taking a morning walk along the Bow River in the morning followed by a huge lunch at Crazyweed Cafe, one of many cafes and restaurants in town. On a sunny weekend like this, it was certainly a busy place to be, with lots of locals heading up from Calgary to make the most of summer before it quickly disappears into a long winter.

Sunday morning was early start for myself, John, Ben and Noah as we set off to walk up Ha Ling Peak, a nearby mountain that overlooks Canmore. After a short drive around to the other side of the mountain, we set off on the track which involves about 800m of climbing and took just under three hours to make it to the top - a great effort by an 11 and nearly 9 year old to make it all the way to the top. The view over Canmore and the surrounding mountains was quite spectacular as it was a clear sunny morning, although rather cool for someone from Perth! The track initially heads through forest before end up on a rocky scree slope nearer the top. Because we were on the track by around 7.30am, we saw only one other person as we climbed up. We did however pass plenty of "hikers" coming up while we descended. Some of them clearly didn't realise what lay ahead of them and looked quite unprepared. The descent took just over an hour so the boys had tons of energy to get down the mountain quickly with the incentive of a swim before lunch! For lunch, we headed off to the very nice Banff Springs Golf Club. We all enjoyed a great meal of burgers/fries/dessert/coffee etc before heading back to Canmore for Heather to have a much needed deep tissue massage - one of the best she says she has ever had!!

 

On Monday, we were all meant to head back to Calgary, but Heather and I decided we liked Canmore, and the lodge we were at, so much that we would stay for another day at only $95 for the night. After Matthew had a morning swim with Ben and Noah, we headed to the Rock Mountain Flatbread Company for lunch for some great pizzas. The four Calgarians headed home while Heather, Matthew and I relaxed for the rest of the day.

 

For our final day in Canmore Heather had another of her fabulous massages and Matthew and I went for a walk outside to watch the squirrels and rabbits on the lawn. Final packing before we headed into the main part of Canmore to final a coffee shop given John had taken the coffee machine back to Calgary. We settled on the Good Earth Cafe and ended up having our best purchased coffee on the trip so far - interesting given we were in Canada. We ended up having lunch there before having a wander around town and buying a few souvenirs for back home. It was then into John's old Ford Explorer for the journey back to Calgary. We had a great time in Canmore and will definitely return some time in the future for another stay. Back in Calgary we had a big roast turkey, vegies and Australian wine for dinner (perhaps an early Canadian Thanksgiving!)

 

We packed a lot into our last day in Calgary. After Matthew's morning sleep, the three of us drove over to MEC - a huge Canadian outdoor shop that is bigger and cheaper than anything in Australia. We stocked up on some new clothes and backpacks for Heather an myself, but most importantly, some outdoor gear for Matthew - fleece and rainwear for next year's orienteering season in Perth! We dashed home just in time for a game of golf at the nearby Constitution Golf Course where John won by one stroke. For John 50 wasn't a very score, but for me - 51 wasn't too bad having not hit a golf ball for over two years (and taking into accounthitting a 10 on one hole).

 

Once back from golf, John headed off to a work function while the remaining six of us went to the Calgary Zoo. We had a heart pumping encounter with a Grizzly Bear who was wandering around his large enclosure which has a couple of viewing areas behind glass. He came right up to the glass for a good look at us. Not often you can getto be within six inches of a Grizzly and no-one gets hurt!! For our last night in Calgary we had fish-n-chips Canadian style. No dim sims, chiko rolls or crab sticks but they still tasted pretty good.

 

John kindly took us to the airport the next morning, and so ends a fabulous visit to our family in Calgary.  Matthew was keen to pack Tilly in his nappy bag, but we managed to sneak off before he'd worked out the logistics!

Last stop in France - Thones

Our final stop in France consisted of three nights in Thones, in the heart of the Savoie cheese producing country. We had a very scenic three hour drive from Ceillac through Briancon before briefly entering Italy to take the Frejus Tunnel (13km) under the Alpes back into France and continuing on to Thones. It is situated at the junction of two rivers in a huge valley and some impressive mountains surrounding it. Once again we had three days of glorious weather - sunny and low 20s.

Saturday was market day in Thones, and market day here was quite impressive. We stocked up on fruit and veges, brioche, and of course, some of the local cheeses - the Tomme de Savoie was definitely our favourite. A good thing because we ended up with quite a large chunk, although it was surprisingly cheap. We enjoyed a coffee at one of the bars fronting the markets and as usual had to contend with the local French cigerette smoke - very prevalent in this part of the world!! We certainly have it pretty good in Australia. Conveniently, one stall was was doing rotisserie chickens, so it was one "petite poulet" for us and we had some roast potatoes thrown in to make a tasty lunch.

Earlier, we had booked Heather a Saturday afternoon reflexology treatment in a nearby village. After lots of driving, feeding in the middle of the night and carrying Matthew a lot, it was desperately needed. We drove up to Saint-Jean-de-Sixt about 8km away which had great views back down the valley to Thones. While Heather had her treatment, Matthew and I had a drink in the hotel and Skyped back to Grandparents in Australia. They also had a swimming pool and hot tub which we might even come back to before we leave.

Having not had a run for nearly a month due to being so sick, it was time I got back into it, so I went for a run along one of the rivers that goes through Thones on Sunday morning. Very enjoyable, but it looks like it might take a little while to feel comfortable running again!

This weekend happened to be the annual Palais Gourmard (Gourmet Palace) in Thones, a food fair showcasing local food and wine. There were around 100 stalls and we spent Sunday morning sampling and buying more local produce at the Salon which was hosting the event. Unfortunately alcohol is off limits to Heather (and Matthew!), so we steered clear of the all the wine sellers, of which there were plenty. By the end of our "tour" we had some new cheeses, dried fruits, some local prune and custart dessert, chocolate and some salmon for dinner! We happened to be passing an oyster and mussel stall when we started to feel hungry for lunch so decided to indulge. Ordering was a little difficult, but what a treat when the dozen natural oysters, tub of mussels in a wine broth, bread and glass of dry wine arrived. Matthew was thoroughly entertained by the ice-sculpturing that happened to be occurring just a few metres from where we were eating. By mid-afternoon we headed back to the hotel, full of food and exhausted, so Heather and Matthew headed off to bed for a sleep.

Monday was our last day in Thones, so the morning involved our usual packing routine before we decided we would head back to Saint-Jean-de-Sixt to take Matthew for a swim. He hadn't been swimming since we left Australia so it was definitely time to have some serious splash time in a big pool. We had the place to ourselves so this allowed Matthew to splash to his heart's content, and even had a little "dive" underwater before finishing off in the indoor hot tub - lots of fun! Even Mummy had a quick dip in the pool - very refreshing and check out the view of the mountains in the background.

It was now time to leave our favourite holiday country and head to Geneva where we were due to catch our next flight the following day. It was an only an hour's drive and we were at our hotel very close to the airport by mid-afternoon. After emptying out the hire car, I drove over to the airport vehicle return area a few hundred metres away, to do the drop-off. However, this is where things got exciting....NOT! When I booked the car I had accidently chosen the French sector of the airport as the drop off point rather than the main Swiss side where we were. Whoops!! So it was back to the hotel to get my passport, drive back into France, find the slip road into the French sector, return the car, walk back through the airport to the Swiss side and catch a bus back to the hotel. What should have been a half hour task took nearly two hours! Heather had her own excitement in my absence with Matthew - a slight nappy accident involving him rolling on the lovely white bedspread.

After that exhausting end to the day, Heather and Matthew met me in the hotel bar for hot chips and a beer. Our flight the next day was not until lunchtime, so we had breakfast at the hotel before taking the hotel shuttle bus to the airport for our flight to London. We had a three hour wait until our next flight to Calgary to start our fortnight in Canada, but that's for our next post....

Relaxing Ceillac

We have just spent four days in the small mountain village of Ceillac in the Queyras National Park near the French/Italian border. Heather and I came across this tiny village by accident ten years ago when we were driving/camping around Europe and thought it would be a nice place to return to. It is a very quiet village situated towards the end of a mountain road that dead-ends further up the valley. The final stages of the drive to Ceillac follow a very windy, narrow road with tunnels cut through rock and huge drop offs into the valley below - it is quite a spectacular drive. We had some mixed weather during our stay, but it didn't really worry us too much. Just being in the Alpes, spending time as a family was relaxing enough for us.

We stayed in a self-contained apartment, a welcome change from hotels as it allowed us to cook our own meals and have a bit more flexibility on how and when we do things with Matthew. It was a huge complex with about 100 rooms but nearly desserted now that school holidays had finished in France. We found a really nice cafe in the village which we visited every day for coffee. We enjoyed Tarte Tatin for morning tea. The picture of the three of us was taken inside the cafe (it was raining that day) just before Matthew threw his favourite music-playing nursery rhyme book he has in the photo onto the tiled floor. Needless to say, it smashed and the singing sounds little dodgy now - whoops. Looks like we'll need to find him another when we get back to Australia (no point buying a French version).

Although Matthew is much better and his cough just about completely gone, he developed the habit of waking up 4 or 5 times for a cuddle and feed. Before we left Australia he would sleep through the night about every second night so this is quite a change for us. For Heathe,r it results in several extra feeds during the night and this doesn't help her CFS, or recovery from her cough. By the end of our stay in Ceillac, Heather changed a couple of things with the night wakings, and Matthew responded nicely, now only waking twice a night. Let's hope it continues to improve!

By Thursday the sun was shining and the rain gone, so after Matthew's morning sleep we went down to the centre of the village for market day. This was definitely the smallest market we had ever seen! There were only six stalls and not many people around, although we still managed to buy from three of them - nut balls/biscuits, saucisson and some sort of deep-fried pastries. Heather thought she deserved the indulgance of a thick Spanish hot chocolate at the cafe that morning - they had about 35 different varieties to choose from. Hazelnut (noisette) was her final choice. I enjoyed my usual cafe au lait while Matthew slept in his pram as we soaked up the sun and the mountain views. We also went for a bit of a drive around the area and even had a look at the campground we stayed at 10 years ago. It was still as basic as it was back then and brought back some good memories of that trip.

On Friday it was time to leave, and with a strict 10am check out time, we had to be as efficient as ever in packing up our bags (we are getting pretty good at it by now). Although we didn't actually do a lot while we were in Ceillac, we did enjoy the most relaxing four days of the trip so far - sitting at our favourite cafe, eating from the local boulangerie (bakery) and enjoying lots of family time in the Alpes.

Fantastic Provence

This post covers a fantastic week that we have had in Provence. Our first stop was the little village of Lafare, population 100, where we had a hotel room for four nights. This was a very small hotel with just six rooms, beautiful gardens, outdoor breakfast and dinner, a pool and great views. Fortunately the temperatures had cooled down from the 40s of the previous week in this area. On our first night, we enjoyed a fantastic dinner on a balmy evening with Matthew sound asleep in his travel cot in the room - this is where our baby monitor/camera with 50m range came in very handy!!

Here is our last doctor story (I promise)......Heather spoke to our Travel Insurer about all of us being so sick on our travels and what we should do. Given Matthew's cough they wanted us to take him to a hospital for blood tests. So off we went to the hospital in nearby Carpentras, but the language barrier was far too great so it was back into town to find a GP instead. I eventually found the tourist office (closed till 2pm!), so after a bit of a wait they directed us to some doctors' rooms where we fortunately found one who spoke very good English. She was fairly certain Matthew did not have whooping cough, gave us a new prescription and blood test requests. Next stop was the Laboratorie for the blood tests. It took myself and two staff to keep his little arm still, but they knew what they were doing and it was all done with a minimum of fuss and tears. As usual, within a couple of minutes he was happy again. So it was a very long day and we were all exhausted when we arrived back at the hotel around 5pm.

Our reason for staying staying in such a small village in this region was to visit our friends Anne and Pascal and their children, whom we met on our last trip to Europe three years ago. They live about 10 minutes from Lafare. That evening we had a drink with Anne at the hotel before putting Matthew to bed and then she returned to join us for dinner and wine at our hotel. Pascal and the kids were driving back from the Alpes where they own a hotel "Chalet La Maitreya" (where we stayed last time).

We spent Wednesday at Anne and Pascal's home in the village of Vacqueyras. Their house is around 200 years old (as are most houses in their village) and they are currently renovating it. Their four children, Gaby, Zoe, Seppel and Jesse, were fantastic and absolutley adored Matthew. It was so nice seeing him interact with them, and he especially loved playing the piano with the family's help. We had a fabulous lunch of vegetable curry, rice, and fine wine (except Heather of course) before all relaxing outside (under a tree because it was drizzling!). Matthew napped in their portacot.

On Thursday we had a lazy day around Lafare, the three of us having a nice walk around the village after breakfast. Heather devoured several figs from the huge tree in the church courtyard, but they would have ended up on the road and squashed if she hadn't eaten them! We had lunch in the nearby village of Beames-en-Venise at a small grill which was an omlette for me and chipolatas for Heather, complete with salad and chips. Matthew also had his own lunch of solids, which he is devouring three times a day now that he is a big boy. Finishing off with a coffee, this was a very relaxing lunch in the sun in another beautiful small Provence village!

 

There are a lot of hiking trails in the area so I went for a short walk in the afternoon to a nearby hill which overlooks the village and surrounding area while Heather and Matthew had a snooze. Apart from a little bit of rain, it was a great walk with some amazing views, and looking at the state of the track it doesn't get too many visitors either. We had our last fantastic dinner at the hotel that night. Nataliya (one of the owners) does all the cooking at the hotel and makes something different and interesting every night - entree, main and dessert, quite memorable. We got to know the other guests quite well as we reviewed how we all spent our days. Everyone adored Matthew and his smiley antics.

On the day we left, after Anne kindly gave Heather a second Reiki treatment, we stopped off to see Anne and Pascal and the children once again. As always, their hospitality and generosity in opening their home and hearts to us was very touching.  Anne made a yummy pasta dish with a fresh vegetable sauce for lunch.  There was also crusty bread and a huge array of tasty cheeses, which I had no problem in helping to devour. Matthew once again had a great time playing with the kids and especially liked the girls, Gaby and Zoe. It was sad to leave after a wonderful few days in this area and with friends, but it was time to head to the east to the Gorges du Verdon for our next stop. It was another three hour journey by car which generally seems to be Matthew's limit before he's had enough of his baby seat!

We visited this area three years again and decided we would return to the same B&B in the village of Chasteuil as it has a lovely outlook over the surrounding valley and mountains and the owner, Pascal, hosts superb breakfasts and dinners. The drive to Chasteuil follows the main Gorge and it is a very narrow road with huge drop offs down one side and often cutting through overhanging rock. Combined with the summer traffic it was a fairly slow journey but had brilliant views. After getting Matthew down to sleep and setting up our camera monitor, we headed upstairs for Pascal's Friday night dinner - aperitif, bread/olives/pate, a substantial vegetable soup, cheese plate and lemon tart. Dinner is set around a huge square table with all the other guests, a mixture of French, German and Australians (us!) so there is lots of conversation (and translation!) going on. We watched a blue moon (second full moon for the month) rise over the mountains to finish off another memorable evening.

Saturday was market day at the nearby town of Castellane, so we headed there in the morning and stocked up on some saussison (dried sausage), cheese and fruit before stopping off at a boulangerie to pick up some quiches for lunch. We headed back to Chasteuil to feed Matthew his lunch (beef, rice and vegies - straight out of the jar) while nibbling on our morning purchases and enjoying the views. We also discovered how much Matthew likes dogs. Whenever he sees one he goes into fits of laughter and wants to reach out and touch them. Just near the B&B was a huge St Bernard that Matthew loved, although I'm sure the dog was just tolerating his excitement so as to get some attention. Pascal had a local Provence dish prepared for dinner that night - Daube, which is slow cooked beef cheeks with wine, vegetables and aromatic spices and orange peel. I have already put an order in with Heather to cook this one up when we get home. For the second night in a row I was told off for eating from the cheese plate without drinking red wine - very un-French apparently! Heather was very quick to guess the secret ingredient in the dessert cake - zuichini or courgette as it is known in France. We had all over-indulged but how can you not when everything was so tasty.

Our last full day in the area involved a visit to the nearby village of Trigance to stock up at the local boulangerie which we knew had some beautiful breads and treats, all cooked in a big old wood-fired stove. On the way back, we stopped off at a restaurant on the side of the road called Moulin de Soleils. For Adrian it was a pizza and Heather, the "plat du jour" - plate of the day being veal stew. Both were perfect dishes to have on a lazy Sunday afternoon in the sun, especially since it was also my first Father's Day! It w as a memorable day, very spontaneous and I had some fantastic time with Matthew. What more could a father want? Below is a photo of the two of us boys, standing in the doorway of our Chasteuil B&B room after our big day out.

On Monday it was time to head back north into the Alpes but we will most definitely be back here some time to visit our favourite French B&B, and stay for longer next time. We even looked at the other rooms to see which would be best to house all...potentially four...of us!

Lyon and the French Alpes

On Tuesday morning, the three of us checked out of the Sofitel Hotel at Heathrow Airport and conveniently walked over to Terminal 5 to catch our flight to Lyon. This all went fairly smoothly, however finding a taxi with a baby seat on arrival in Lyon was far more difficult. So we bundled all our luggage into a taxi who's driver promised he would drive carefully with Matthew on Heather's lap! 40 minutes later we arrived at the apartment of Helen Bailey, a friend from orienteering in Perth who is doing a 2 year stint in Lyon working on Child Cancer research. Although Helen's apartment was on the third floor, there was thankfully a lift to get all our luggage up. So we made ourselves comfortable in Helen's lounge for the next three days while trying to keep cool (no aircon here!). By this stage, Heather had come down fairly heavily with her flu/virus so we took it very easy while she tried to recovered.

All we did on Wednesday was walk down to the local food markets to buy some chicken, vegies and cheese for the next couple of days. It was still very hot and muggy (no breeze), so Heather rested for the remainder of the day before cooking up a great stirfry that night.

On Thursday it was still very hot but at least we had some rain in the morning to cool it down a bit. Heather's cough was getting quite bad so she had a doctor's appointment and had some different antibiotics prescribed. That afternoon Matthew and myself decided it was time to get out an look at a bit of Lyon and give Heather a chance to have a sleep, so we walked over the river to Old Lyon (not far from Helen's apartment) and caught the funicular railway to the top of the hill where there was the Basilica overlooking Lyon - a great view. We took a windy path back down to the river (great fun in a pram!) which was really nice through trees and gardens and also offered some respite from the hot weather. By evening Heather was feeling a little better so all four of us headed out to a Bouchon (a local Lyon type of restaurant) which we had seen on the way back from the doctor for dinner. We chose a fantastic 3 course menul and the manager even convinced Heather to order the tongue for main... it was tasty and tender and worth the experience. A very rich meal, topped off by a complementay shot of some fiery alcohol from the manager.  Who knows, this might have been the perfect thing to kill off Heather's lurgy and cough, had she indulged!!

 

By Friday it was time to head off to the French Alpes and some cooler weather. The problem at this stage was that lift at Helen's apartment was no longer working so we (i.e. Adrian) had to lug all our luggage down the spiral staircase instead - 80 steps in all. Very hot hard work indeed! We caught a taxi to a train station where we had booked our hire car and by 10am were on the Autostrade heading towards Grenoble. Three hours later we were in the beautiful French Alpes at the ski resort of Les Deux Alpes which in summer is teaming with downhill mountain bikers and families. We had a hotel room for our three nights, which included breakfast and dinner courtesy of Aussie Chef, Ryan. Needless to say, the meals were amazing and he even catered to Heather's wheat-free requirements. The hotel was less than half full as it was getting towards the end of school holidays when all the chairlifts shut.

Saturday involved a familair routine - off to the doctor again!! Matthew's cough was quite bad by now so we had an appointment with Dr Bernard who had red/white checkered glasses which Matthew thought were so funny! He was fairly certain Matthew did not have whooping cough and prescribed some different anti-biotics. Our other concern was that Matthew hadn't been feeding too well and had actually lost weight, so fingers crossed that he is heading in the right direction.

On Sunday it was time to start having a real French holiday so we found a nice relaxing cafe to have a cafe au lait and chai latte during the morning, whilst doing washing at the laundromat next door. Matthew loved it and chatted to the other patrons at the cafe - getting very excited when meeting children especially. That afternoon I decided I was well enough for a walk up the mountain to enjoy some of the views given it was a glorious sunny day. There is a track which goes from the town up to the summer skiing glacier, about 13kms with a 1,500m climb. It was a great walk although quite cold towards the top - thermals and beanie were adorned to stay warm. My only problem was the 4pm closing time of the lift back down to Les Deux Alpes, so I pushed myself quite hard to get there in time so that I didn't have to walk all the way down again. I stepped onto the the lift at 3.55pm - whew! What became evident that evening was that I was no where near as well as I thought I was and headed off to bed early during dinner (lamb shanks, would you believe) to recuperate. But it was still a great walk, as you can see by the photo attached.

Our last day at Les Deux Alpes involved another visit to the doctor - this time for Heather and I to have bloodtests first thing in the morning, to try and discover what this lurgy was that was hampering our holiday. Heather was still quite sick so ended up having a consultation as well, ending up going onto new antibiotics and steriods for the cough.  Fingers crossed, things start to improve soon for her and Matthew.  Then it was back to the hotel for a quick breakfast before packing up our bags to leave this beautiful mountainous area and head south to the warmth of Provence.

By the way, Matthew is now sporting two bottom teeth, and making great use of them, often sinking them into Mummy and Daddy!

Update from the UK

It has been a couple of weeks since our last post, as unfortunately all three of us have been quite sick. Not what you need while on holiday! We left Auckland for our super long journey to London on Monday 13 August. This involved two 12 hour flights with a three hour "transit" in Hong Kong. Although Matthew didn't sleep much on the way to Hong Kong, he did work out that his bassinet made an excellent playpen and was generally quite happy to sit up (a new milestone for him!) and play with his toys. He also enjoyed plenty of cuddles and talking with hostesses.

The next flight to London went far better and he slept for 10 of the 12 hours which was fantastic for Heather and myself who were able to eat meals at the same time as well as get some sleep. On arriving in London on Tuesday morning, we caught up with Heather's cousin Bev at the airport for a quick coffee and more smiles and cuddles, before picking up our car for the two hour drive to Bexhill. There was a wonderful welcoming party of Heather's Dad Colin and her step-mum Margie waiting for us at our Bed & Breakfast when we got there, bearing a much appreciated lunch of chicken and salad. It was Matthew's first meeting with his Pops, and a special bond was quickly formed! After a bit of a catch-up, the three of us went for an afternoon nap at the B&B. We didn't realise how tired we were and woke up in the dark - it was 10pm! We were starving so after a quick look around we found an Indian restaurant which did the trick.

On Wednesday morning Matthew decided he wasn't moving to UK time so was up nice and early at 4am! So I took him for a walk along the beach to keep him occupied while Heather slept for a bit longer. After a standard B&B continental followed by hot English Breakfast, we went around to Colin and Margie's house so that Matthew could have a play and a wander around their beautiful garden. It was at this point I started to feel rather ordinary and by that afternoon was off to bed to rest. As one friend stated, I made good use of the Bed in our Bed and Breakfast and unfortunately was not able to surface for another 5 days, knocked out by a virus/flu that I likely picked up on the flight from Hong Kong to London. I went to the doctor on Thursday and was prescribed some antibiotics but they took quite a while to start to make a difference. In the meantime, Matthew had a great time playing with Pops and Nanna Margie and had lots of smiles and laughs for them. Heather treated them to a very nice dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant on Thursday night, where they enjoyed what was turning out to be very balmy weather in Bexhill.

By Friday, Heather's sister Diane flew in from Perth for her three week holiday in Bexhill. The next day there was a big family lunch which included Heather's cousin Brendan, wife Fe and their three children. I spent the day in bed again!

Sunday morning was a beautiful morning, so Heather, Diane, Matthew and Pops went for an early morning walk along with the beach at Bexhill during low tide (7m tide!) while I stayed in bed again. Matthew loved being near the water and especially doing aeroplanes with Pops. Then, a bit later on, they all headed out for a big roast lunch at a nearby hotel. Matthew even had some roast potato and brocolli, a nice change from the food in sachets and jars which have had to become a convenient norm whilst travelling. Again, a lovely get-together which I was sorry to miss. By evening I was doing a bit better so the Heather, Matthew and I headed out for dinner at a little Turkish restaurant near the B&B - fantastic food and just what I needed given my last dinner was Fish and Chips on Wednesday night.

Monday was our last day in Bexhill, by which time I was up and about. As it was our final day, all seven of us had breakfast at the B&B that morning. The owners Brian and Jacky really looked after us especially with doing our many loads of washing. It was here that Heather and Diane gave their Dad his early 70th Birthday present - a trip out to Australia. Hopefully he can make before next March when he turns 70.

On a sad note, Matthew had developed a high fever overnight and had spent most of the early hours in his Mummy's arms, and Heather had started to get the inkling of a sore throat, so the three of us went back to the doctor and all got some antibiotics, and a second lot for me. Nothing like a family sharing the germs. Fortunately Diane was able to help us pack up which was very much appreciated given how much luggage we have (thanks to Matthew!). After the last quick goodbyes to Pops and Nanna Margie, we headed off on our drive back to Heathrow. We stayed at a hotel for the night before flying off for the next stage of our holiday the following morning - three weeks in France.

First stop - Auckland

The alarm went off at 4am Thursday morning to start our seven week trip to New Zealand, UK, France and Canada. Heather's mum, Petra, dropped the three of us at Perth Airport for our 6.10am flight to Melbourne, a transit on our way to Auckland to see our friends Kevin and Stacey, and their children Rebecca (7) and Sebastian (1). Our flight was fairly smooth and Matthew had a sleep in his bassinet on the way to allow us to eat our breakfast. He also had a little surprise waiting when he chewed on his Mummy's finger...his first tooth had come through overnight!!! One of the hostesses was so taken with Matthew, she even took him from us for about 15 minutes to allow us to pack up for the descent. Attached is a photo of Matthew in the cockpit - maybe he wants to be a pilot one day!
Our transit in Melbourne involved a stop at the Qantas First Lounge thanks to Adrian's platinum status with Qantas. We were ushered into a "family room" on arrival which we soon realised was to keep Matthew away from the rest of the guests just in case he played up! Heather had a spa treatment (facial) while Matthew had a play on his mat and a sleep in his travel cot. We then enjoyed a gourmet spread made to order from the lunch menu before heading off for our flight to Auckland, this time without a bassinet on a smaller plane. We took turns to have dinner and then Heather fed Matthew to sleep for the last half hour of the flight. On arrival we picked up our hire car and drove to Kevin and Stacey's, getting there at around 1am local time - it was a very long day!

The three of us took it very easy on Friday while Kevin and Stacey were at work. Heather cooked up dinner and a tasty chocolate cake; Adrian had a haircut (NZ$15!!) and went for a run. Matthew sat on his mat and played with his toys, and giggled at Gwen the cat. We tried to move Matthew to local time but that was a dismal failure, so he's stayed on Perth time for his bedtime routine which was probably best given we are heading backwards to the UK for our next stop.

Saturday involved a late sleep-in for the three Days who were all still very tired, meaning we missed Rebecca playing her netball game where she was named best player on the court. After catching up on the overnight Olympic action (fortunately Australia are now ahead of NZ on the medal tally), Kevin, Rebecca and Adrian went to a park at the beach for Rebecca to have a play on the equipment and a run along the beach. Matthew had fun playing with all sorts of new toys, including a karaoke machine! He also has a real soft spot for Rebecca, and given half a chance, he would grab her long hair, never to let go. For dinner it was fish and chips - NZ$20 for the five of us, prices unheard of in Perth!
Sunday was bit wet and windy but we still got out, heading to Mairangi Bay where Kevin led us out onto a beachside promenade which was fast being consumed by the rising tide - we had to clamber over rocks (holding up Matthew in the stroller) to avoid being swamped by waves. We headed to a cafe for lunch instead. We decided to all check out the Glenfield Night Markets about 10 minutes walk from home, held each Sunday from 5.30 to 11pm. There were about 200 craft and food stalls, although we were only there for the latter. And the place was a-buzz with live music and so many people. Dinner for us involved Malaysian satay sticks, Paella, beef skewers, pork dumplings and a mango/pineapple smoothie to wash it all down, plus Rebecca's huge fairy floss. Heather and Stacey had conveniently driven to the markets so were able to drive home while the rest of us walked the big meal off. It was then time to pack the bags ready for our departure at lunchtime the next day. Wow, babies bring a lot of gear with them! It was great to catch-up with Kevin, Stacey, Rebecca and Sebastian having not seen them for two years (four years for Adrian) and introduce Matthew to his Godmother. Hopefully we will be back for a longer stay in the not too distant future. Now it's time for 25hrs in the air plus a three hour transit in Hong Kong on our way to the UK!

On the way back to Australia

Well, after three fantastic weeks in Nepal I am now on my way back to Australia (currently transitting in Singapore). My last post was in Namche Bazaar on Monday - since then we made the long trek back to Lukla on Tuesday. This was a total of 17km with interestingly 1,200m of descent and 600m of climb - not bad for a downhill leg along with Dudh Koshi River. This leg was split over two days on our way up a couple of weeks ago, but with the majority of it downhill and all of us far better acclimatised, it was a straightforward single day walk to finish with. Lukla was nearly a ghost town, deviod of western tourists who have already headed home as Nepal heads into its cold winter. We spent a single night there before flying out of Lukla back to Kathmandu late on Wednesday morning, farewelling the last of our Sherpa crew - Ang and Pasan (that's them above with Pemba and Pasan Tenday along with the four of us). Again, it was a most amazing flight of Lukla as headed down the 12 degree slope runway and made the 25-minute journey back to KTM.

Because we had arrived back with time to spare (I was due to fly out Friday, PaulD on Saturday) we went about seeing if we could fly out on Thursday instead. As luck (??) would have it, both Paul and I could reschedule to Thursday. Chris is still flying out Friday and PaulT is hanging around till Boxing Day!!

With a short time left in Kathmandu, I did a quick bit of "gift" shopping before we headed out for our final dinner. We had been recommended "McDonal Fast Food Restaurant" by an English group we kept bumping in to our trek, and this turned out to be a masterstroke. Unlike its global cousin, this restaurant had a plethora of nice dishes on offer. So we opted for Tandoori Butter Chicken with four types of Naan Bread for the bargain price of $3 each. This was one of our best meals of the trip, or was it just that we had some meat for a change?!

Thursday morning involved a quick breakfast at a cafe - I opted for the "Juice Lover's Breakfast" which was eggs, suasage, fried potato, toast, jam, coffee.......and a small juice. Work that out!

Paul and I our now on our way home - I cannot wait for some Perth heat having had three very cold weeks up here. I even left Singapore Airport for half an hour just to soak up some heat and humidity on my way home!

The last photo is taken from my flight between Kathmandu and Singapore today. It was a beautifully clear day as headed along the Himalayas - that's Everest and Lhotse in the photo. Island Peak is far obscured!

So that's just about it for this trip. For those who are interested in maps and GPS's as much as me, I will post all the GPS logs along the trek from my watch. Unfortunately the day on Island Peak does not quite go where I wanted it to.....

A bit of an update.....

My last "real" post was from Pheriche some days before we attempted to climb Island Peak. By having a satellite phone within our group, I was able to keep Heather up-to-date who was then able to update the blog. So from my last post at Pheriche we slowly made our way up the valley to Island Peak by stopping at Dingboche (one night) and Chukkung (two nights). Chukkung is definitely the end of the earth - there's not much there, its bitterly cold and a chill blows up the valley through the village. We spent a couple of days there as part of our acclimatisation as it situated at about 4,730m. Without too much to do, we played plenty of games of cards in the "sun room" which is about the only place with warmth in the lodge we were staying in. We also practiced our rope techniques for the final part of the climb of Island Peak, which as we all know now, never came to fruition!

On Thursday we made the trek up to Island Peak base camp which was situated at 5,120m. Our fantastic team of Ang Chhiri, Pemba, Pasan and Tenday already had our camp set up - two two-man tents and a cooking tent. At this point I really wasn't feeling too good and the altitude had probably finally caught up with me. Having arrived mid-afternoon, our plan of trekking to the summit at 2am the following morning was put on hold by how I felt, not that the two Paul's were feeling great either. So Saturday was spent relaxing around a very cold and desolate base camp. The temperature would have struggled to have been above 0 degrees so your tent was by far the warmest place to be. There was still some spectacular scenery around, so I did go for a short walk and take some photos. However, as soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains at around 4pm, ice would start to appear on the ground and on the tent, so it wasn't the most comfortable place to be! The meals cooked up by Pasan Tenday were fantastic and included soups, spaghettis, rice dishes and the local dish of dahl baht.


So at 1am Saturday morning we were out of sleeping bags in minus 15 temperatures with a light wind. For me, I did not have a good night's sleep and was feeling the altitude quite badly that morning. It was quite a struggle to get myself ready as I was constantly short of breathe, but after a bowl of porridge we were off just after 2am. The first stage is quite flat as it follows a valley along the side of Island Peak. Soon after it turns sharply up the hill and a small track zig-zags its way up the hill. Unfortunately for PaulD, he had picked up a bit of a chest and cough and was the first to start struggling at around 5,350m. He made the decision to turn back as he realised he would not have the strength to continue, so Chris (our lead guide) headed back with him. So it was left to PaulT and myself to continue and we both felt quite good until the track steepens and hits some quite severe rock that you need to haul yourself over. By around 7am and having progressed to around 5,700m (still 490m from the summit), we both new our morning was over as we struggling to get ourselves over the rocks and steep ledges. The photo taken is of myself, PaulT and Pasan Tenday and is from our highest point with the summit in the background (in the sun so hard to see). So disappointingly we both turned back, with still a few hours of effort required to get to the top. We arrived back at base camp at around 9am quite shattered from the physical exertion we had made. Lunch was egg, chapati, backed beans and cheese - I had a double helping I was so exhausted from what we had done. We were all keen to leave base camp so at around 1pm we made the two hour trek back to Chukkung in the freezing wind.

So where did it go wrong? Although we had spent alot of time above 4,700m prior to the climb, we didn't spend any time higher than our base camp and in hindsight that was where we could have acclimatised better. By the next day I was quite personally disappointed that I had not summitted, having come all this way. However, we had still thoroughly enjoyed our travels, seen some fantastic scenery, met some great people and spent a fortnight with four local Sherpa people who added alot to our journey. I think my future treks and climbs will be limited to day walks in the French and Italian Alpes where there is a cafe at the top to enjoy a hot drink and pastry!!

Following our return to Chukkung, we put spent the next two days trekking back to Namche Bazaar where we are now. It is amazing how easy this walk was, not just from being downhill, but from now being at a lower altitude which made even the uphills seem easy.


Today was an easy day around Namche. I bought some new trail running shoes which I can use for orienteering - half the price and by far better than anything I could find in Australia. We then went to Ang Chhiri and his wife Pemba's house in a nearby village (about an hour's walk), who had invited us around for lunch - another massive meal of chapati, fried rice and hot potato chips! This evening we went down to the local bar to play pool and have a few beers (not celebration ones unfortunately) which was a welcome change to being in bed by 8.30pm because it is normally too cold!

So we are now on the last few days of our journey. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we walk back to Lukla to hopefully catch a flight out on Wednesday back to Kathmandu, weather permitting. I am still struggling to convince Heather to let me shave off my furry and annoying beard - she wants to see it "live", all I want to do is get rid of it! I certainly won't be following the trend of a couple of other work colleagues that kept their facial hair following trips to Nepal.....

Back in Namche

As you all know from Heather's updates over the last week, our attempt on Island Peak was not successful. We are now safely back in Namche Bazaar soaking up the warmer weather (maximum of about 10 degrees) and lower altitude. We are here for another day yet so I will give a blow-by-blow account of how tough Island Peak was, how we suffered camping a base camp in -15 degree temperatures and how good our base camp cook was sometime tomorrow! Although we did not achieve our ultimate goal of summitting the peak, we have still had a fantastic time hiking in this region.

The positive point of being out of mobile/internet coverage for the last week is that I have been able to avoid the latest cricket scores!

A leisurely stroll up Island Peak....NOT!

I managed to speak to Adrian briefly on Friday, and here is an overview of their summit attempt...

They started out as planned at 2am Friday morning. Adrian said it was very difficult to breathe and the going was very hard; the climb very rocky. Unfortunately, they were not able to complete the summit, as they were all "shattered" as he put it, and had to turn back prior to getting to the top. Adrian managed to make it to 5,700m. They have decided that they will not be making any further attempts on the summit.

Once they had regrouped at Island Peak Base Camp, they headed off back to Chhukhung (4,738m), where they stayed over on Friday night. From here, they are planning to head back to Pangboche (3,938m) on Saturday.

They are all safe and well, although still recovering from the hard slog. I am sure Adrian will be able to provide more details and some spectacular photos on his return to internet service.