Fact: We traveled 7,125.9 kilometres, spent €811.62 on petrol, €303.88 on tolls and have had the time of our lives.
Well.... it was a long day of driving, but we've had much practice over the last few weeks and are experts in the art of entertaining each other in these times. We've nailed Johnny Farnham's "You're the Voice" - with hand actions, we've delved into the deepest of conversational topics, which always starts out with "so, do you want to talk or something?" Followed by "yeah, when do you want to stop for food?". Alternatively we would speculate about our lives when we return to Australia and what we should be when we grow up. Don't worry mum's and dad's it will happen.
Kim had provided us with excellent directions and a tip to stop in at a village called Monpazier for a look. After we arrived at the village we decided that we wouldn't mind owning a Mansion in the Perigord, lets just say it's not a bad place to find yourself, with it's beautiful villages it has a special feel to it. We decided to have dinner there as Kim wasn't quite ready for us. As it happened we had found ourselves sitting next to an Australian couple who had just arrived, we can't seem to get away from Aussies! We had a nice chat and found out that they owned a house in the centre of the village and come over for a few months every year, they've got the right idea!
We started heading to the Murray Mansion with Kim's description but no real idea what we were looking for? We went through some very small villages and what seemed to be some people's properties pondering whether we had past it as our directions seemed to diminish but we kept going as we had faith in Kim. Ok so in the end it was hard to miss it there were 2 choppers, 5 houses and a beautiful pool.
At around
11pm we said our goodbyes and happy 30th's with Kim, uncertain of when we will be seeing each other again. We hit the road and continued our journey up to Lille, we had no idea as to where we might sleep the night?? We found haven in a service station, it was the best sleep on the trip, not to mention the cheapest!
We continued our journey back toward Lille and spent our last night in Lilly Pad at a cute little caravan park in northern France. We gave Lilly Pad a thorough clean and gave our neighbours (a family from the Netherlands) our beloved beach umbrella and some other useful items, they were very grateful. That evening we drove into a nearby village for drinks and dinner, our last steak in France. Back at camp we were enjoying a few beers and reflecting on the amazing time we'd had in our van when Hilary heard rustling in the bushes, we got the old i torch out to search for the source of the rustling. Our lovely neighbours noticed what we were doing and joined the search....... Aha found it.... Our neighbour announced "it's an a hole". We promptly responded "ahem, a what?". "An a hole", ok so we heard correctly. Upon further investigation we found it to be a hedgehog, we will not forget the Dutch word for it any time soon :)
We returned Lilly Pad to her home in Lille, but not before we almost flooded her, oops! Note to self, do not drive through a drive through car wash when your car has a window that doesn't close. It was a chaotic few minutes as Hilary launched herself into the back and with the only towel we had we tried desperately to block the water flowing in. Luckily the damage was minimal.
Time for our next adventure! Thank you Lilly Pad for the amazing memories.
