Ready and raring to go!?

Just had to get up bright and early to make sure it all fitted. And it did, shoes and all!
(Of course the beer and the champagne will be unwrapped and consumed prior to departure!)

The neighbours appear glad to see us off!

Tonight we were invited to the official street Bon Voyage, put on by our wonderful neighbours. We were presented with a huge box of useful gifts to ensure our trip was both memorable and safe. Included was:
the Australian Flag to fly on the bow of the canal boat to enable instant recognition: a large zip-up Australiana bag to safely bring home the bagettes and croissants each morning; 2 pairs of Crocs to navigate the dog turds to and from the bakery (easy to wash in an apartment!); champagne and beer for medicinal purposes only but to be taken in liberal doses daily!! Other gifts included the bulb of garlic to camauflage our alien status, the Tic Tacs to neutralise the effects of the garlic should we desire to talk to any non-french persons, and the Edith Piaf CD to further confuse! The Fishnet stockings are to be worn by either of us when we feel like doing the Can Can whether at the Moulin Rouge or elsewhere! As to the Australian flag shorts, they are to be worn as pyjama bottoms on the canal boat or as real shorts if we get desperate. Official licences for navigating and crewing the Canal Boat were presented together with 2 life preserving noodles in case of any major navigation error. Lastly we were given suitcase identification lettering, individual identification tags, a Cairns fold out post card and notepad to prove our origins if we get lost. We are so lucky to have such considerate and thoughtful friends!!

The packing has reached the final stages

10 days to go and Shirl has just about sorted the lot. After all this is complete then we have to finish the cleaning of the house as "you can not leave a dirty house for guests." The mirrors, windows, floors, security screens, crockery, cuttlery. The whole place has to be spotlessfor the cat to mess up before the Pons- Ribots arrive on July 9!

The time and date of posting are incorrect as it is now 9:03 on 12/06/08. No idea why! 18 hours behind so it can not be GMT????

Wednesday June 11 '08
This is an attempt to start a blog so that our family and friends can see how we are getting on with our trip and see a few of the places that we have visited. It will progress in quality as I become more adept at using the software. It is all a challenge! With 2 weeks to go, we are merely trying to cover our bases by pre-paying all bills and figuring out what we need to take to cover us for all eventualities during the 10 weeks. Of course we are also playing with french phrases, watching french films and DVD's and making fools of ourselves by exclaiming loudly "Salut! Ca va? " to all and sundry. We need to improve on that!