NZBCF Donation

Thanks everyone, this may well be the last post to the Blog.

Overall, we donated $10,550 to The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. I have left the account open (12-3145-019990-50), just in case any further donations are still coming through.

To the next adventure now .................

PS receipts should be out in the next 2 weeks

Two Links

Hi all
For those having trouble accessing the Brett Shelley Tracy Africa Tour (on the navigation bar on the righthand side), I have included a link below. There is also a link for the Evans Cycles article.
Tracy

http://bstafricatour.blogspot.com/

Evans Cycles:
http://www.evanscycles.com/news.jsp;jsessionid=AF7FA0382DB726F644DC4801041491D3.tomcat3

Home

Me and my Nana!

At the Airport

Auckland International Airport
And Sammie!!!

Flying into NZ

Left, sunrise bound for NZ, right, Auckland Harbour!!!

Leaving UK Heathrow

The UK family and Princess, and Aunty Margie and Tracy and Princess, all at Heathrow!!!

From a bicycle tourist with a wee bit of experience!

Tips for the Naive Cyclist

1. It is never as bad as you think, things will get better and there is always a way out!
2. Invest in good Waterproofs, Ortlieb bags especially!
3. Invest in Bar Ends (they aren't that expensive!)
4. Use a reliable, simple Odometer
5. Invest in a side mirror, especially for Italy and Croatia!
6. Always clean your bike, quick lube. It is amazing that you can get 10500kms from one chain if you do so!!
7. It hurts when you fall!!!! Watch those train tracks, roundabouts and remember to unclip when you stop!!!!
8. Laugh, LOTS!!

Welcome Home to UK

Left, cycling home from Heathrow, right, Express to London from Heathrow!!! Below, Margie and the welcome party!

Lets just say that I was bl o**y lucky that I made it the airport with time for my flight today!!! With the Paris metro/train strikes, there were 2 hour trips from the airport, cars blocking every street in Paris. AND even though I had ordered a shuttle, it was 45mins late turning up (in which time I had tried to hail a taxi) and I managed to get there with 50mins to spare, checkin, customs etc. AND I was lucky. The horror stories that I heard, people queing from 7am, taxis refusing to take them to the airport due the 2 hour trip back. It was complete chaos. BUT I made it to London to 'Welcome home' and 'Well done' pink signs and balloons!!!

The French Summary

Whilst I only spent a little bit of my trip in France (some before Switzerland) and 3 weeks afterwards, I had a great time as there were so many things to look forward to. The hosptality of Jean-Pierre and Christiana, spending a great week catching up with and relaxing with Heidi and co, and then spending my last night in Paris (Europe actually) with Rene and Fredy.

All in all, a great way to finish, and it is hard to believe just that ... it has finished.

Total distance in France: 1575.9kms

Paris RV

The plan was to meet Fredy and Rene under the Eiffel Tower at 1pm and it worked, had an awesome afternoon and evening, with a few beers, wines, cognacs or two!!!

Paris

Lourve and Eiffel, with scarves required!!!!

Tracy in Paris

Left, Eiffel Tower, right, Arc de Triomphe

Paris Rugby

100% New Zealand at the Eiffel Tower, WITH HEAPS of All Black shirts walking around!!

Loved this window painting on one of the Cafe windows in Paris, be interesting to know if it was done before or after the quarter finals!!!!

The Johnstons

Maia and Heidi in front of their house in St Cannat

Heidi with Princess and the delivery to the TGV station
Great trip on the TGV up to Paris, except for the hungover and unwell french man!!!! But I made a friend (really tracy) and she showed me the sites of Paris in the evening!!!

St Cannat

Shaun and Heidi have a wee little vineyard out there front yard with MILLIONS of grapes!!! Right, Maia and I go for a walk!!!

Painting with Maia

Left, Maia's good clothes, right, us in our painting clothes (and we needed them!!!)

Maia and I decided to paint her hands and feet and generally make a mess!!!!!

Aix-En-Provence

Heidi and Maia in the ol' historic centre ville left, and Tracy with Maia right.

WOW, this is probably one of the best markets that I have seen on my travels, here in Aix-En-Provence with sooooooo many stalls selling everything. Once again, great weather.

More Cassis Shots

Maia in the car above left, Cassis and the Meditarranean right.

Heidi and Tracy above, and me below

Heidi and Maia took me to Cassis, which is about 40mins from St Cannat, awesome day, beaut weather, not as many tourists as would of been in July, what a way to relax.

Cassis

Me and Maia playing the clown

Me being a clown, where is Princess!!!

Cassis Harbour

Heidi and Maia at Cassis Beach

Tracy and Maia at Cassis Beach

Things I wonùt miss:
- hand washing
- making my bed
- sleeping in a single bed
- carrying my bags
- broken glass (which inevitably means erratic swerving to avoid, normally at the expense of the poor 18 wheeler coming up my rear!!)
- carrying passport, sleeping with passport, carrying wallet, sleeping with wallet

What I have gone through:
- 1 spoke
- 1 front tyre
- 3 back tyres
- 6 flat tyres
- 2 pumps

Total days in Europe:
132 riding days
65 days off + 8 more days (St Cannat and Paris)

9 countries (Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France, Liechenstein, Luxembourg) and not counting England and Scotland!! Trains only in Italy, Austria and Germany, excluding France to get to Paris!!! And Switzerland with no Princess.

Highs - meeting some pretty amazing people and having some of the most brilliant experiences
Lows - my Grandad

Endured: rain, thunderstorms, lightening, wind, iceglaciers, highs in high 30s, lows in the negatives