The Story So Far

July 2008: Spain, beaches, bulls and visitors galore				July Post Highlights
				Two River Beach Yellow Joy Blog Holiday Canoe trip on Dordogne Le Gaulois Another Day, Another Castle Camping in Spain Festival of San Fermín Narbonne - Gruissan Gâteau Banane
June 2008: France awakens - holidays pending				June Post Highlights
				Tuesday Tune-Up Bush Hunt Friday Cycle Dutch Delight Gâteau Banane
May 2008: First Visitor, markets and lots of rain				May Post Highlights
				Rocamadour Rain Again Bonne Fête Maman! Market Day - Libos (Fumel) Gouffre de Proumeyssac In Flanders Field Les Moutons Shopping in Bordeaux Weekend Report
April 2008: Pets, London and more				April Post Highlights
More running around to sort of our residence permits but enjoying the warmer weather.  Starting to get to know more people, especially through the kids football. The highlight was spending 10 days in London, principally to celebrate Angela's 40th birthday.  We both met in London around 20 years ago so this trip involved lots of reminiscing for us.  While the kids had a exiting time exploring the city, cool museums and the Lady Di Memorial park in Kensington Gardens.				Tuesday Tuneup Henry Juggler Extraordinaire ANZAC DAY: London 2008 Natural History Museum Tower of London The British Museum London Eye Château de BONAGUIL Maison Forte De Reignac Tournoi de football Photo Journal
March 2008: Paris Trip, Bikes, Castles and fun				March Post Highlights
We caught the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris, rented an apartment and tried to pass as Parisians for a week. Not that we thought we could succeed, we just wanted to give it a try. It was a fantastic, full-on crammed-in week. We arranged a baby-sitter so that Ange and I could compete in the Paris half-marathon. We walked up the tower, tramped the streets, paid homage to the great and were generally exhausted at the end of each day. On our return home we jumped back into our established routine: For kids: Ecole du France on Lundi, Mardi, Jeudi, Vendredi and NZ catch-up school on Wednesday For mum and dad: chores, french lessons, running, cycling and blogging For all: New adventures and exploration at every other opportunity.				Daily Run Jardins de Marqueyssac Easter Weekend Get on yer Bike School Wednesday Château Biron A Good Cheap Red Origins of a Biscuit Panthéon Visit Père-Lachaise Cemetery Lazy Sunday Afternoon Semi-Marathon de Paris Champ de Mars
February 2008: Arriving in France, Settling in				February Post Highlights
After an interesting arrival in France we drove south to the Dordogne to meet the owners and see the house where we planned to spend the next year.  We were made to feel very welcome by Pavlos and Petra (the owners) and Corine (our agent).. everything was just perfect. The kids were settling well into their new school and were awe-struck by some of the adventures they went on. As we started exploring this area it really dawned on me: We were going to have the most amazing year possible.				Disneyland Wrap Paris Walk-a-thon Castelnaud Castle Daily Chores Bikes, Computers, Coffee Machine Beynac Castle Ecole du Got Mazeyrolles Settling In Pech de la Mas
January 2008:  Leaving New Zealand				January Post Highlights
January was a hard month. I have two distinct memories: The mad never ending rush to get the house packed and ready for the new tenants, friends James and George. The anxious wait for news on our French visas. We were packed and ready to go and yet still had no idea if our Visas would be approved.  Its turns out that the Visas were approved in December however a computer fault resulted in a notification delay of 3 weeks.  After a postponement we were finally airborne at the end of January.				Paris-Charles de Gaulle Curry to Go Passports Returned VISAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodbye Vodafone Visa Search Postponed Moved Out
2007: Planning/ preparing to leave				All Highlights 2007
Although it had been a long time goal the adventure become official in mid-April 2007, as I started telling people about it. The planning spluttered on for a number of months without getting real traction as we were both busy with work and family.  This shifted up a gear in August around the time that I switched to a contracting role. By November I was working almost non-stop on this project. In hindsight we should have started much earlier but we learnt many lessons in the race to the finish. Most of the planning involved Internet research: where to stay, costs, stories from people who had done this before.  By far the toughest task was the French "Long Stay" Visa, without an EU passport this really was a daunting challenge.				Moving House Visa Jitters Goodbye Tots Corner Life begins at 40! Pech de la Mas Last Day of Work The Start