Cote D'Azur

The journey from Italy to France was a long and frustrating day which involved - taxi to Genoa from our friend Paul, very late bus Genoa to Nice, local bus to Nice train station, train to Saint Raphael, taxi to pick up the car from our friends and a drive back to the Nice area to our apartment. After a few hiccups & uncertainty off where to go ( no gps ), we arrived at our lovely apartment inland from Nice which was absolutely perfect and our little oasis for the next few days!

Due to the long journey from the previous day, we stayed local and visited the lovely village & nearby markets at Tourettes Sur Loup which offered stunning views all the way to the Mediterranean sea. A After lunch at a traditional little Creperie, we decided to chill out beside the pool at our apartment and sample the local rose and goods bought at the markets. 

The next day we headed towards the famous French RiveriEze - a lovely village overlooking the sea. It was touristy and a nice but steep walk up the top. The plan was to then take a picnic at the nearby peninsula called Cap Ferrat which we got to but found impossible to park, especially in our 7 seater peugot...not fun. We were limited with options and managed to finally take our picnic not at the beach or park...but next to the cemetery....was so hungry did not really care at the point. We then drove the famous ( & busy ) coastline from Nice to Cannes via Antibes and other coastal suburbs before heading back to our apartment which,  after a long day we were very happy about. 

a coast with the first stop to

The last morning we spent in the lovely village of Saint Paul de Vence - 5 mins up the road from where we ware staying. The village is a renown artists village with great views, galleries, shops & restaurants. I would have say it would be one of the nicest villages I have seen in France in my travels. The afternoon was the long long drive ( thanks Dad for being the GPS ) pretty much across southern France to head a little town called Capestang - a short drive from the village of Lautrec where were about to be based for the next few months. After 10 weeks on the road, 4 countries later, the thought of that was VERY VERY appealing..

Great views

Eze village - not so easy to walk up!

 Our little oasis!

Fabulous 360 views from Saint Paul de Vence

Italian Coast

After an early start and rather happy to escape the busy Rome, we took the train north bound for La Spezia - gateway to the Italian Liguarian Coast. A change of trains via the Cinque Terre towns and onto Sestri Levante where our Air bnb host  Paul also picked us up and took us to a lovely villa where we were staying for the next few nights. It was a huge house & brand new ( with a few key things missing ) but had lovely views overlooking the coast. As we did not have a car, Paul was to be our taxi over the next few days. 

First day was spent in Sestri Levante, a lovely and not so touristy town on the waterfront. The village was buzzing on the Sunday morning as there was some religious ceremony happening - mum was happy as it meant she went to mass - kind off anyway! The weather was stunning and after a lovely seafood lunch & local wine on the beach ( perfect as it meant Chloe could play in the sand/water ) we took the afternoon ferry to Portofino and another small & stunning island nearby ( forgot the name ). The coast & villages were absolutely gorgeous and whilst Portofino was very touristy it was worth visiting and had the best gelati we had tasted in Italy. A very pleasant day.

The next day was Cinque Terre National Park which was a 40 min train trip away. Cinque Terre means 5 towns in Italian and is famous for the hiking between each of the villages. With 2 kids & prams, the hiking part was not an option and as we found out was not actually possible due to majority of the walks closed to to dangerous tracks. Train and ferry it was to 3 of the villages we decided to visit - Monterosso, Manarola & Riomaggorie. They were all quite unique, picturesque, not so pram friendly ( or mum and dad friendly - very steep )! I was a little disappointed with some of the locals attitudes - talk about rude. Apparently it is so touristy & popular they don't need to be friendly....so we were told. Monterosso was the last village and the nicest which we spent on the beach followed by a seafood dinner. Another stunning day and nice end to the Italian part of our road trip

Park with a view!

Great seafood lunch literally on the beach.

Mmm Gelato! 

Manorola - one of the Cinque Terre villages

Sunset view from our house overlooking Sestri Levante.

Not quite Maroubra beach but lovely little rocky beach..

Picturesque Portofino

Rome

Loved Morocco but was happy to get head back to the Western world and Rome was next on the agenda. The plan was to meet Hayleys parents ( flying from Melbourne ) whilst Ludo stayed and did his motorbike adventure. It was a long and frustrating day travelling from Marakesh to Casablanca via 2 hour car trip, 3 hour wait in Casablanca and 3 hour flight to Rome with the 2 girls, 2 bags and just me. I had not heard from Mum and Dad at that point so wasn't really sure where they were. Arrived at 10pm and walked out to see mum and dad waiting which was a great relief and happy to see them. Was a mix up at the airport but they had been waiting there at Rome airport all day for us so extremely tired after 24 + hours travelling. Anyway Eddy our Air bnb host was there to pick us up and literally sped through the Rome suburbs to our apartment which was on the ok side….needless to say we all slept well. 

We ( along with millions of other people ) spent the next few days visiting Romes main attractions - Vatican, Spanish steps, Pantheon, Colosseum, Trevi fountain etc which were all very old & impressive but SO SO busy. It was so touristy &  would hate to think what the peak season would be like. I was not impressed as much as I thought I would be and definitely prefer Paris over Rome. We all had a great day on May 1st which was a stunning day and the labour day holiday for the Italians. We spent the day in the huge park ( Central park of Rome ) & had a lovely picnic feasting on yummy Italian food topped off with gelati which we actually had everyday…..well Chloe did anyway! We managed to only see a glimpse of the Colosseum on the last day as it literally poured rain and as it was so busy we did not really have anywhere to take cover. We all got literally soaked and had to jump in a taxi back home. The rest of the day was spent in our suburb drinking vino, eating pizza & gelati whilst waiting for our clothes to wash & dry! 

Mum and Dad at The Vatican - thousands of people but pope nowhere to be seen

We all loved the Italian gelati - including Elodie

Pretty in Pink - Chloe at the Spanish step

Filling up water bottles at the Patheon! 

One of the many impressive churches we saw in Rome

Colusseum - before the downpour!

Lautrec

Bonjour!
Cette fois ci je vous écris en francais! Excusez les fotes d'ortografs a venir car ce n'est plus courant chez moi depuis 10 ans. For the english readers you can still use Google Translation.

Cela fait maintenant deux mois et demi que nous avons quitte Sydney et que nous sommes devenus des nomades des temps modernes (avion, wifi, carte sim internationale, smartphone, airbnb, booking.com, blog...) Que de route parcourues et de rencontres. Maintenant c'est le moment de poser nos valises pour plus de deux mois dans ce village que nous avons choisi ... au hasard ou presque. Nous souhaitions revenir dans le Sud Ouest car nous avions beaucoup apprécié notre séjour a Vic en Faisensac dans le Gers en 2011 (voir episode precedent). Le choix du department du Tarn s'est joue sur un coup de des (littéralement). Faut bien mettre un peu de part de chance dans tout ca. Et le choix du village car il est cite comme un des plus beaux villages de France est qu'une maison de location dans le village est disponible a prix abordable. Cette fois ci on opte pour une maison de village et non pas a la campagne pour éviter l'isolement. Enfin l'école du village doit être flexible pour accueillir Chloe.
En Janvier nous avons trouve ce gite http://www.gitelautrec.com/ et le propriétaire étant le maire du village le dossier de Chloe est passe comme une lettre a la poste!

Beaucoup d'attente mélangée a l'impatience. Mais comment va être le village? et les villageois? Et la maison au coeur du village? Que va t on faire de nos saintes journées...?

Apres une semaine on est complètement ... emballes!
Le village est extra mignon (ancienne bastide du Xeme siecle), la maison est dans la rue qui mene au moulin. La maison est superbe (voir lien ci dessus). Et de l'église au boucher en passant par la mairie et la boulangerie (et le sabotier) il y a 5mn de marches. On est loin de la voiture et de Pacific Square a Maroubra!
Castres est a 15mn de voiture avec sa zone commerciale.

Mais surtout les gens sont tres accueillants. Des instits, au maire en passant par les commerçants ou les voisins tout le monde nous a accueilli gentiment. Faut dire Lautrec est considere comme un village progressiste ici. Ca veut dire que les fermiers cohabitent avec les nouvelles familles qui bossent dans la region et s'installent ici. Mais surtout il y a le cafe Plum - le poumon artistique de la region. Un cafe litteraire et arts vivants ; il s'y passe toujours quelque chose. Et c'est en bas de la rue! http://cafeplum.over-blog.com/ Il y a aussi le cine club du village ou j'ai vu le dernier film d'Alain Resnais (pas bon du tout) et le marche du Vendredi.

La premiere semaine nous avons la visite des parents de Hayley qui font un tour d'Europe. Ils ont en profite pour faire le tour des incontournables de la region: Albi, Carcassonne, Castres et Gaillac et les sentiers autour du village.

Moi je les ai un peu suivi mais j'ai surtout fait l'acquisition de mon nouveau vtt des Mercredi. Un Gitane une marque francaise Monsieur! que j ai trouve sur le bon coin.fr a Lautrec.
Les randos sont fantastiques entre collines de bastides, traverse de l'Agout et grimpette dans les contreforts de la Montagne Noire dans le Parc Regional du Haut Languedoc. Il y a de quoi s'amuser. J'ai deja roule 100km en 5 jours dont une rando locale avec 200 vttistes le dimanche. Sandwich merguez et rose a l'arrivee. Ca change des power bars a la fin des courses vtt a Sydney.

Et Chloe? Oui bien sur elle a pleure le premier jour de l'ecole et elle chigne encore un peu ce matin mais la maitresse nous a dit qu'elle s'est rapidement adaptee. Sauf aux petits pois de la cantine. Enfin nous ca nous fait des vacances! Car a presque 4 ans elle est tres energique. C'est un vrai plaisir de Papa d'emmener sa petite fille a l'ecole du village a pied et de la retrouver a 16h30 avec un petit detour a la boulangerie pour un carambar ou fraise tagada.

Ce week end c'etait les journees ouvertes a la ferme. Nous avons visite plusieurs fermes dont une ferme de lapin agora suivi d'un repas fermier sous les charmes. Le bien vivre a la francaise! C'est delicieux!
Et la nuit des Musees. Les musees sont ouverts gratuitement toute la nuit avec des concerts evenements a l'interieur. J en ai profite pour visiter le musee Toulouse Lautrec et le musee de La Perouse. Ce cher La Perouse qui a pose le pied a 10mn de Maroubra il y a plus de deux siecles. Le monde est petit! Ca bouge dans le Tarn. C'est impressionant le nombre d'expositions, musees, rencontres culturelles qu'il y a dans la semaine. La semaine prochaine on a rendez vous avec Mozart a Gaillac.

Aussie Family in Marocco

After a relatively quick easyjet flight from Nice, we landed in Marrakesh and certainly felt the north african heat from the moment we arrived. We were greeted by our transfer and began the short but crazy drive to riad zanzibar ( traditional moroccan guesthouses ) within the medina. To put it simply, th ere are very little road rules in marrakesh and you certainly need to be agrressive to get past the people, cars, camels, motobikes, horse & carts and everthing else. We arrived at our lovely riad and greeted by the very friendly hosts Pascal and Asma. Ludo got a firm run down on how things operate in morrocco in regard to business, barganing, muslim rules etc then it was off to the world famous djemaa el Fna where all the action  & souks (markets). To say it was crowded and intrusive was an understatement but we soon got use to that (perhaps not Elodie). We found a restarant and tasted our first taginne which was not only super cheap but delicious. This was to be the first of MANY tagines over the next 2 weeks. We spent first 4 days in Marrakesh visiting palaces, parks, musems and wondering through the endless souks buying stuff ( hayley anyway) along thhe way. We found most of the same stuff everywhere, was just a matter of who offered the best price as barganing was half the fun! Hayley was lucky enough to be escourted by the lovely Asma for a shopping trip and no doubt got the local prices for her goodies and finished off with an amaxing massage, thanks Asma greatafternoon out. Enjoyed many great rooptop restarants overlooking the square accompanied by wonderful food & water!! Being a muslim country, very few restaurants served alcohol especially inside the medina. Seeing we will be livingvin France soon we saw this as a positive - mini detox and no hangovers!
Asma and Pascal suggested we go out on our last night in Marrakesh  and see the local night life. Bars, night clubs, fancy restaurants, Marrakech has it all!  Champayne everywhere, such a contrast from the medina. Later in the night we try to get into a night club but unfortunately we had to cut the night night because Ludo was wearing thongs! Sorry sir, No shoes no access, Ludo felt like a ... real tourist. Anyway we headed back to the riad to finish off a couple of bottles of wine hidden in Pascals cellar.

We then picked up our car and headed out from the maddness of Marrakesh towards the western coast to Essouira, the capital of the winds.  Lots of history as it was one of the main ports of the Triangle trade. We stayed just outside the town in another riad which was our little paradise for the next couple of days. Chloe was pretty quick to jump in the lovely pool. Being on the western coast meant we also got to watch the gorgeous sunset whilst feasting  on the local fresh seafood caught just hours earlier. We then travelled further south via the stunning coastal road, blue rugged ocean on one side, granite sandy rock on the other side with camels out popping out of nowhere.....what a contrast it was! We arrived at a non touristy and very cool surf town called Imsouane ( bells beach off morocco ) where we ate tangine overlooking the atlantic ocean.

Long long drive next day further south and inland  towards anti Atlas Mountains to Taroudant. We picked another great riad outside the town with another lovely pool which we were all very happy to jump into on another hot 35 + degree day. Oliver, a very friendly & eccentric frenchman owned the riad convinced us to change our plans which we were a little sceptical about! Staff at this riad were absolutely brillant, cooking us a gorgeous 3 course meal, playing with the girls, painting our toenails, washing our clothes and so much more! Highly recommend les bains berbers riad! Oliver was a spa consultant (yes that's right) and travelled all around the world to inspect the most prestigious resorts. No wonder his riad was great. Another very long and  hot drive but stunning and diverse scenery past many kasbas down to Tafraout where we picked a hotel on the hill because of its pool plus the bonus of a hotel serving beers which at this stage went down verrrrry well! The town is the highlight of the region with many berber villages around it plus the backdrop of the Atlas mountains - simply stunning. We also managed to visit a traditional berber house in one of the villages which was very interesting and like travelling in the past.

After 2 nights we packed up the car and headed north via a notorious dangerous road Tizi n Test where the saddle peaks at 2500m. After a thousand turns, a couple of stops due to car sickness (especially from the back bench) and 8hrs driving we finally arrived to another beautiful riad. Pool alcoves, fountains,  water bridge... Note that we never paid more than 500 dirrham - less than 50 euros per night for the entire family including continental breakfast (and the delicious fresh orange juice).  We couldn't get that price for a tiny room in a Formule 1 hotel on a busy French highway. Obviously this is not the listed price but there's always room for negociation which Ludo down packed...thr little family on the road far away from home etc. French owners were very comprehensive and Morrocan are crazy about kids. Elodie was our ticket entry to so many doors. She got so many stares, cuddles and kisses from everyone one. We could get free baby sitting every night if we wanted too!
We are now in an eco friendly resort on the foothill of  snow capped High Atlas Mountain. The view is absolute stunning with villages and mountains around us. The program tomorrow involves hiking with the plan: Ludo and Elodie in the kangourou bag & Chloé and Hayley on the mule. Rock and Roll.
We'll then head back to Marrakech where we'll stay at Asma and Pascals riad again plus a special guest: Christophe from Sydney and his motorbike for the next adventure.