South of France

So far Montpellier has been lovely. We really enjoyed the TGV down from Paris - so relaxing with lots of leg room, nice quiet carridges and plenty to read...

Yesterday we hired bikes and rode around the old town before riding out to a vineyard just outside of the city limits. We tasted some beautiful wines and had probably the longest conversation in french we have had yet (15 mins) - which obviously involved lots of pointing. We tasted for the first time a grenache dessert wine (botritis) which was amazing and another late harvest which had so much sugar and depth to the flavour.

Montpellier has provided tourist bikes which appear to be brand new and can be hired for 1 euro for 4 hours. A great option for sight seeing!

Tomorrow we head to Toulouse via TGV. Toulouse is the location of the next all blacks game against Romania on Saturday. We should be meeting up with both an old kiwi friend and a London friend there.

London Crew

Here is a nice picture of the kids chilling after our last night of partying in London at Jason and Sandra's place...



Missing ya already xxoo sob

Rain, shine and Scotland

We had a great time adventuring around Scotland over the past week. The Isle of Skye was lovely albeit very wet. We found a cosy hostel to stay at which looked out over the loch and had an adjoining pub - very convenient!



Eileen Donan Castle is one of the most impressive castles we saw, and is located on the drive between Fort William and Skye. It has apparantly been abandoned for about 300 years but is now unsurprisingly a popular tourist attraction.



Under the bridge



Sadly we were unable to spot the 'real' nessie... Another pic for Ange's
B I G T H I N G S collection!



We headed out to a spit at Fortrose with the hope of spotting the local dolphins but weren't in luck. We did see some penguins and a lovely sunset over the lighthouse and some farmland which can be seen in the pics below.





We joined up with Jason and Sandra in Edinburgh for the Scotland v NZ Match on Sunday which was convincingly won 40-0 by the allblacks.





Couldn't resist a Scottish deep fried treat. Its delicious!



Now in Paris we head to Montpellier tomorrow...

Allblacks v Italy, Marseille (76-14)

Arriving into Marseille on Friday night late after flying from London via Amsterdam we found the apartments and kipped out for the night.

Saturday morning was welcomed with champagne and local patisserie goodness.

We headed down to the stadium with the weather providing temperatures into the 30's and cooled down with a couple of beers whist we tried to sell off the extra tickets which we had mistakenly bought for some friends that couldn't make it.


"Touting tickets"

The game kicked off with a bang and NZ notched up a few quick tries before the Italians seemed to realise what was going on. A good turnout from fans from both sides and a convincing win to the kiwis in the end with the scoreline of 76-14.


"View from the heavens"

We headed off to the beach after the game for a swim. Caught a glimpse of Jerry Collins chilling around on a mountain bike clad in only jandals and shorts. After the England v USA game (in which England were rubbish) we headed out for dinner to finish the day with 3 courses of lovely French cuisine including a local bouillabaisse (Marsielle specialty of local fish stew).


"On train to stadium"


"Watching the teams come onto the pitch"


"Represent"


"TRY!"


"After the game - the old harbour in Marseille"

Scotland Road Trip

We are planning a few days before the rugby to drive around Scotland. Here is our possible itinerary - which I would be grateful if you could take a look at and provide any advice or come up with any suggestions you can think of. We will be starting and finishing in Edinburgh, traveling counter-clockwise.


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