The last 6 months since we arrived back home from our first adventure has gone quickly. We have had treasured moments with our family and friends as often as we can. We managed a short trip with the caravan with some friends and spent some enjoyable moments camping on the Goulbourn, King and Howqua Rivers.
We have kept busy with some maintenance work on our properties and although the BIG decisions were made last year, there has been enough preparations to keep us out of mischief! Mark had a list of things he wanted to take back. (Hacksaw blades, silicon tube cone ends, pop rivets, fuses, tow rope, rubber tube for bike rack, hooks for cables, jack extension pole, drill bits, jumper leads, steering lock are just a few). We bought some more euros, prepared end of year financials, copied and scanned all travel documents and those required for the visa application. Got medical checks, flu jabs and bought up medications for 6 months. Suspended private health insurance, changed plans for mobiles and the internet. Registered travel plans with smart traveller and notified the State and Federal electoral offices we will be away. We will also need to backup the laptop, ipads and iphone. We have even done a pack to see how much weight we have got...great news we still have 10kg to spare of our total 74kg allowance...but probably not for long!
We got some good news with Mark getting his appointment with the prefecture to renew his visa. The bad news is that we are still waiting for confirmation from our French importer that he has received delivery of ALL of Bluey's parts required for the repairs. (Feeling a little frustrated).
Our plans are after arriving in Paris, we will be picked up by someone from Park Hiver (where Bluey is in storage). After recovering from the flight and filling Bluey up with fuel, water and supplies, we will take a week to make our way to JL Loisirs to do the repairs. After we have gotten Bluey's first service done at Ford in Paray le Monial we will go to the visa appointment in Bourg-en-Bresse. Then we will spend the weekend with my cousin in Montluel before heading west to the Atlantic coast. From here we will follow the coast into Northern Spain and then Portugal. We will then head back towards Paris via the Pyrenees, to meet up with our friends from Australia who are hiring a motorhome for 2 weeks. We will spend our time together in the French Alps before heading into Northern Italy. From here we will need to get back to Paris for our departure in October. Not sure yet if we will go through Switzerland or Austria then Germany...we will wait and see how it all pans out, in particularly regarding the parts for Bluey. If they don't arrive in time we may have to go to Italy first. In the end what ever happens, we cant complain too much...we are healthy and having a great experience!
