Cathédrale Ste-Marie, Bayonne

After Barritz we drove 10k to Bayonne to visit

Cathédrale Ste-Marie. Construction started 700

years ago, and it was completed sometime

after 1451.

Located in the heart of French Basque country,

that has been overun by different kings throughout its

history, the church has elements of all the various

cultures. The Spanish, French and Anglo Normans

have all had a go over the years.

Above right is the crypt, located under the sanctum, where the priests sit, and yes, those are stone coffins containing the bodies of various archbishops over the centuries!

This was our first ancient cathederal and it made a huge impression on us.

Although its history and traditions are so different ours,

it was a spiritual experience to be in a space where people have been

worshiping the Saviour for so many centruries, and for a short while we were

able to be joined with them in worship of Him.

It was amusing to see that this is a functioning church. In the back is the notice board with all

the various weekly activites, youth groups, working bees, rosters and so on. Church life is the same everwhere!

Biarritz

Hello all,

today we hopped in our little car and drove 130k to the costal resourt town of Biarritz. This is an ancient town, in the South of France, not far from the Spanish border.

At different times it has been ruled by the Spanish, English, Saxons and now the French. It was a favorite holiday spot for Napolean. It was an adventure navigating our way through the twisty streets of the old section of the town. We were heading for the Musee de la Mer, we liked the sound of. We faithfully followed the directions of our GPS through a succession of ever narrowing streets as we decended towards a tiny port. At one point we turned into an improbably tiny lane around a blind switchback, realising too late that I was on the wrong side of the road, as another car approached. Debbie had to lean out and fold the passenger mirrors of both cars, the street was so narrow, all the while saying "pardon, pardon" to the amused driver. We have found the French to be polite and patient, wherever we have been so far. Eventualy we found ourselves in a dead end car park, right on the water, and dove into a unoccupied spot. While Deb & I sat recovering, the girls jumped out exclaiming "wow this place is amazing!" Somehow we had ended up about 1k from where we had intended to be, but it didnt matter as we found ouselves in the middle of a postcard. A farytale casltle overlooking a tiny port, carved out of rock, with little houses clinging to the side of the cliff face. There were small cafes, and a walkway around the cliffs, with views of the ocean. It was one of those traveling moments to remember, not what we had planned, or expected...but better.

Stilt racing at Perentis

Hello all, after a quiet day on the 8th, recovering from jet lag, we set off to explore our surrounding area. Pissos is ajacent to a national park, and something I wasnt expecting, a (plantation) logging industry. Timber is used extensivley in building and engineering in France. The french seem to be able to mix this heavy industry and refined rural life together. We are about 30k from the coast where there are various resort and camping holiday areas. We took a trip to Biscarrosse, a pretty costal town. Last night we went to see the stilt racing. Early timber workers used stilts to harvest sap, and the tradition is continued by their decendants. In typical French style they manage to do it in style! Anyway today we are off to explore Barritz where there is a large maritime museum. SEE YA.

Hey everbody. Well we have finaly made it to Pissos, a little hamlet in Bordeaux. Just getting here was an adventure in itself, but God is good and we arrived safely at arond 5pm last night (7th). We are all in good health, which is not something to be taken for granted, many people working in the airports are wearing breathing masks, so the swine flue is a big issue. It is early days yet, but so far we are loving France, everthing is similar, yet also wierdly different, at the same time. It had never occured to me that the Frenchcomputer keyboard would be completly different to ours; so here I sit slowly typing on two fingers... The house is everthing we had hoped for, a converted barn, decorated with the simple elegance the French are famous for. Anyway, here are some photos and we will try to post a video once we figure out how...Love to all,

Pete & Deb.

Pissos, Bordeaux

Bonjour everybody!
Haley here.... I know that made you all happy right!! =D Well we have arrived in France (finally), after enduring 13 long hours from Kuala Lumpar.
France is stunning and everything is SO green! not to mention beautiful!
It sure is going to take some getting used to, with all the driving on the wrong side of the road... and everything basically being in the wrong spot. It's very weird...

We arrived in France at around 6.40am, French time. So 2.20pm Alice time.
After eventually finding the gate we were getting picked up from, a man took us to the car place and we picked up our little silver car. Don't ask me wat type, because that is definately not my department.
We figured out how to drive the little zoom zoom and we were on our way.
First stop we had to make was to get petrol... yay.
We got some coffee and hot chocolates while we were there and enjoyed a little bit of a non-moving sit down.
We drove for about 5 hours, stopping every now and then. All the time, while we were driving, we were watching the trees fly past and trying to figure out what each sign we saw said... (super exhausting)

We are now at our temporary house in Pissos, Bordeoux.
It is AMAZING!!!!!
there is a fire pole, a stair case, tons of art, a dog, two cats and lots of bathrooms.
It really is an amazing house!!
It is about 8.30pm here, and get this, it doesn't get dark here until about 10pm!!! So right now it looks like its about 4 or 5pm. Its crazy!

Well we need to brush up some more on our french is for sure.
One of our temporary neighbours just came up and introduced himself to dad, and dad was left standing there saying "uhm.... yeah how ya going mate?" gee talk about embarrassing......

Okay well i will have to love you and leave you now because the parents aren't too keen on kirsty and i staying up till 10pm so that it doesn't feel weird to sleep... hmmm

Au Revoir everyone! Love you all!!
All of our love
The Imms family ( haha i just started singing the adams family song to our name... how very very VERY sad on my part....)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Kuala Lumpur Airport

Had a good day yesterday, getting organised for the trip. Spent it in Surfers Paradise in town, found everything we needed. Finished off the day witha trip to the beach, very refreshing, and then headed back to liz and ron's for the final suitcase tweaking and preparations for the big trip.

Left Brisbane airport at 11.30pm and flew into Kuala Lumpur airport thismorning 5.20am local time after a 8 hour flight. We took a transit hotel room to catch up with some sleep and shower. We thought about making a quick trip into the city, but decided against it much to Kirsty's disapointment! She is after a new camera, but we found one at the airport that will do the job. The girls enjoyed the flight, particularily the in flight entertainment, and I found there was suficent legroom, but sleep is difficult. We have another overnighter tonight, and then the fun begins as we navigate our way out of Paris, to Bordeaux. When I heard the U2 were performing in France while we were there, I looked into getting some tickets, but the $1000 price tag for the four of us made me think again.... still I havent given up yet!

Brisbane

Well 3050 kilometres later, we made it into Brisbane at 530 pm yesterday (4th) afternoon. We are staying at Rebbeca & Tony's place in the hinterland of the gold coast. Beautifull location and house surrounded by green forested hills. We have been very graciously recieved by Rebeccas parents, who also live at the same house. The trip over went well. The contrasts of our country are still a wonder to me. Some find the Barkly highway boring, but I have become addicted to the wide open spaces and there is certainly plenty of that on the Barkly Tablelands. Our first night was at Tennant Creek 500k north of Alice. We left early (6am)the next morning aiming to push as far as we could manage in one day; past Mt Isa, Colarndra, Camonweal and Winton, finaly taking the last room we could find in the oldest pub at Longreach at 11.30pm. The room had more character than facilities, but we were thankfull for a bed, after 1300 kilometres. That big day broke the back of the trip and we had a couple of cruisy days after that, 600k to Roma, then 550k to the Gold coast. So here we are amidst all the glitz of sin city, getting ready to fly out this evening at 11.30pm. Anyway, thats all from me (Peter). The girls will update with their stuff from Kulu Lumpa tomorrow.
See ya