Travelling with the fam... Paris!

So we arrived in Paris, Dad had said we were catching the metro to our apartment, which for Alex and was standard, but as I walked down the platform and saw a lady holding "Mr Hunter" I realised that this was going to be a very different holiday then we were used too. Doesn't sound like much, but when you have 5 people and 5 big bags, getting into a car instead of a metro is something short of incredible... plus Mum doesn't have the muscle mass nor height of the rest of us, so it was usually left to Dad to carry her rather large (enormous) bag up and down the stairs. Although I can't really talk, my bag was pretty massive and ridiculously heavy by that stage, I needed Alex's help.
So we got to our apartment in Republic, the penthouse apartment... with a balcony! Honestly, we got to stay in Paris in apartment that had a balcony, a balcony that looked out into the street, not just the next apartment next door, the street, like an actual view! Dad really hit the apartment jackpot with this place, in the middle of Paris, with incredible views, close to the canal and just generally amazing.
We got the loft bedroom, with a round bed... not Hugh Hefner style, more Ikea... Well exactly like Ikea, cause I'm pretty sure that's where they got it from! We unpacked and headed off to explore. We walked down to the canal, looked at a lock and then in true Hunter style we found a pub.
People-watching in Paris is a great past time, the people in Paris are utterly amazing, James saw his future wife about 20 times, whilst I just envied random women's hair, boots, jeans, tops, scarves, sunglasses, make-up... life! On arriving in Paris, I realised that I had slipped in to a unfashionable rut whilst being in Courchevel. Jumpers, converse and ski jackets are sooooo comfortable it's not easy to give that sort of outfit up... until you arrive in Paris and quickly realise that no, you can't wear a ski jacket out in public, that no, a denim jacket is not warm enough and that no, wine in large amounts is not the same as wearing warm clothes... So off we went to H&M like a happy little family! After purchasing a jumper and enormous scarf I was ready to tackle the rest of Paris without constant shivers and only a few choice words.
The Champ De Elysee is a busy street... wow, sorry that song is terrible! But it has taught us how to say "I speak french" in French, which we don't, so that really helps... ANYWAY... We wandered up the Champ De Elysee to the incredible Arc De Triomphe, a place I've always wanted to see and it completely lived up to my expectation. I think I've mentioned it before but I love how the streets in  cities frame their monuments, the Champ de Elysee is the perfect example of this, you can see bits of the Arc De Triomphe walking up the street and then BAM, it's there! We walked down Avenue Marceau towards the Eiffel Tower and took in the amazing streets and sites. Paris is seriously beautiful, with the tree lined streets and old buildings, I enjoyed just walking around taking it all in. We made it to the Eiffel Tower via the Trocadero Gardens. It's pretty breath taking seeing something in real life after seeing so many photos of it over the years. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast, I really want to go back when it's bright and sunny, I'm sure it will look completely different again.
After a delicious meal we wander through the streets of Paris, all the way to the Notre Dame. By that stage I was walking like a little old granny, my cons were cutting into my toes and my legs decided to give out... There is a certain level of fitness that you need for travelling and I had unfortunately lost mine, although looking back the walk to the pub everyday should've counted for something.
That night James, Alex and I went on an adventure... a "find Gabi sushi" adventure! I hadn't had sushi since I'd left Australia and it was starting to impact my life... heavily! We managed to find Planet Sushi and proceed to spend 60 euros on dinner... I might have gone slightly overboard but I regret nothing...
The next day was spent seeing more amazing sites in Paris, including Montmartre, Sacre Coeur and walking around Madeline. We visited the Maille shop and bought our fair share of amazing mustards for us and other people... shhh! I found the beautiful Laduree store and bought some amazing macaroons and then walked around all the designers shops. What a lovely reminder as how poor we are...
We made it home and then headed off to the local Irish pub for a drink, a drink turned into drinks, which turned into hunger, which turned in drunk hunger and a walk around the road to a lovely Italian place. The irish man from the irish pub told us to head around the corner instead of eating there, it was one of the best decisions we've ever made because we had one of the greatest meals of the trip... All a bit pissed and very happy, each of ordered the most incredible dinner, Alex and Dad got the most incredible balsamic beef! We drank 2 more bottles of wine, ate our delicious meals and then had a shot of limoncello. The walk home was memorable, James decided to leave us to find somewhere fun (he ended up sitting on a bench drinking champagne out of a cup listening to Drake with a black guy that didn't really speak english!) and Alex and I heeled clicked our way home... Well Alex heel clicked, I more or less just ran and then jumped, but don't worry I'm still practising!
We wrote up to a very rainy day in Paris, dreading the fact that we had to get on the Metro. We made a mad dash to the station, completely soaked we got on the train to Gare de Lyon. We picked up our hire car and hit the road towards Belgium, our next destination was Ippers....

And it's back…

Ok, so wayyyyy too many hilarious/ridiculous/standard life things have happened since my last post, so to get you up to date, I thought I'd start my delightful blog again… So where to start? I'm thinking our first day of holidays which was the 20th September and I had begun writing a post from then…

20/10/14:
The last few weeks have been really fun, we've drank too much, ate too much, had a few drunken stacks (Alex on a retaining wall), late nights, early mornings, completed a week long cooking course, had an english breakfast (blisssssss), cried over breaking my phone, cried over a hairdresser ruining my hair, made new friends, enjoyed lots of laughs, camped at La Rossiere twice (Alex & Jimbo) and just generally had the time of our lives.
We are looking forward to a few sleep ins and just generally relaxing before Mum & Dad arrive and we get back into travelling again. We are beyond excited to be exploring the world, for me particularly PARIS! Arhhh I can't wait, especially to be witnessing it with Mum and Dad (& James the sneaky shit).
The last few weeks have been much the same, we worked but had a few fun weekends thrown in there as well. We had a day off mid week and went to Lake Annecy with everyone, Alex rode a BMX off a ramp into Bozel Lake, I bought a snowboard and a few pretty things from Zara and H&M, we ate an amazing Indian Feast cooked by the lovely Katy and I did a cooking course.

The Cooking Course:
When I found out that I would be cooking for 22 people each night, I thought it would be a good idea to invest in a course to help me with cooking in altitude. I arrived first, as all of the other students were coming from the UK, there was 8 of us, most were 18, my room mate and I the older ones. All had minimal or no experience in food, and no one had jobs for the winter, so doing the course was an awesome advantage for them to get winter jobs. I instantly clicked with the course convenors, Martyn & Alysha, they've done heaps of winter seasons, as well as Summer seasons in Greece, and the Resort Managers for Green Rides over in La Rossiere. The course was awesome, it gave me heaps of confidence with what I needed to do for the winter. Cant wait to head back over to La Rossiere in the Winter, it's only a 40 minute ski to Italy from there :)

Alright so back to the present day…
19/10/2014

Mum, Dad and James arrived on the 2nd of October, Alex and I were beyond excited to pick them up from the airport. We had volunteered to take two english women to the airport with us, as it's about 2 hours to Geneva, funnily enough they were heading to Australia, so we had heaps to talk about on the drive there. So the family arrived and we headed straight back to Courchevel to relax, have some wine and cheese and then head to the pub. It was awesome to introduce our friends to my family and have some extra Australian back up when chat turned to our accents and the way we speak.
In the morning, we headed up to the Altiport (Courchevel Airport) to show Mum, Dad and James the amazing views around Courchevel, I'm sure you've seen the photos. We showed them around 1650, 1850 and down to Lake La Rossiere. We went back up to 1850 to have lunch with Sophie, at Le Chaichou. It was a hilarious lunch, firstly our waitress had spent a bit of time in Mt Isa & Townsville and apologised that she didn't have any goon to serve us, then I thought that the Menu Du Jour was minute steak but St Jacque in french actually means scallops, so James, Mum and Dad were rather surprised when their main came out. After two bottles of wine and a beautiful meal, we headed back to the Chalet and filled the hot tub for James… Mostly so he could tell people he had been in a hot tub in the french alps!
We decided to take everyone to Italy on Saturday, as Alex had been a few weeks before. To get to Italy, we had to go down the mountain and across to the next valley, Bourg San Maurice, then up the mountain. We headed up and over La Rossiere and into Italy. The road into Italy is pretty full on, Mum was beside herself and couldn't look out the window for most of it… and she was on the inside of the road. We arrived La Thuille and headed to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by Martyn & Alysha, what ensued was the funniest family lunch we have ever had…
Mum, Alex and I decided to order the 3 course menu du jour, plus shared a starter of bruschetta, Dad and James were going to share a carbonara for entree and have a chicken dish each for a main but that didn't really go to plan… James' main came out the same time as our entrees, so dad was left to eat an enormous plate of carbonara, whilst watching James struggle to eat his even more enormous main… the same main that dad had next. Mum struggles to eat a normal sized serving at the best of time but we were in Italy (we're still not sure why she decided on the Menu Du Jour), she asked Alex to finish her gnocchi as he had already finished his… he then got in trouble by Nonna for not finishing his meal! We were all besides our selves laughing. The food was incredible accompanied but the most amazing wine. We were full, a little drunk and very happy, when the mains came out… I've never enjoyed and not enjoyed a meal at the same time before, but after a whole plate of gnocchi and then a spicy pene dish, I was full… seriously full. To make matters worse/more hilarious, James was so full from his main, he wasn't able to eat any carbonara and dad was left to eat a hugeeee serving of chicken toped with ham and cheese with a kilo of spinach… I've never seen Dad laugh so much in my life! We will remember that lunch forever!

We headed back towards Courchevel, but dropped in to see Martyn & Alysha on our way back down the mountain. The chalet, where that the cooking school was held and where Martyn & Alysha live, is the most amazing 18th centenary Chalet. We dropped in for a glass of wine, not that we needed it, and sat out on the terrace in the beautiful sunshine. We could have sat there for hours, but we were all ready to head back, pack and then head up to 1650 to have a fish & chips at the amazing La Boulotte.

In the morning, Jimbo picked us up at 6:30am to take us down to Moutiers for the train to Paris…

But that my friends, is a story for another day…

Big week...

We've had a pretty massive week, we've painted 8 rooms, a kitchen, dining room, two 13 foot ceilings, 8 shelves, 3 coffee tables, and 4 hooks... Oh and everything needing 3 coats. We've put up two sets of skis and 6 poles, reattached 8 shelves, 1 heater, 2 mirrors and 3 paintings. I've vaccummed and mopped three levels 4 times and cleaned endless amounts of paint off the walls, skirting and beams. We've climbed ladders and chairs, leant precariously over stair case banisters and worked out our calves going up and down on tippy toes. Alex has fixed a toilet and started to render 2 ceilings and I've lost at least an inch off both arms and legs. I also managed to dip my hair in paint, so I had to cut almost an inch off.  Most days I manage to coat myself in paint, my tights are covered in various colours and I've had a lot of questions about whether I get the paint on the walls or just myself. 

We finished our manic week with a dinner party with Farmer John, Alice and Jack. I cooked red curry and it as delcious, we've missed thai! It was so awesome talking to Alice and Jack as they have done about 7 seasons, plus Jack is a chef so has been giving heaps of tips, like everything takes longer to cook in high altitude. 

Jimbo came over after he closed up the drop inn! We sat and drank until 2am, it was such an awesome night with awesome company. We accidentally spent a lot of time talking about all the things that can kill you in Australia (a lot of people's favourite subject) so we may have three less english people visiting our shores! Sorry Tourism Queensland! 

We've made another friend, a lovely French girl Sophie. She's currently living in Georgie's apartment in La Praz, he ex boyfriend used to be he Handy man, Alex has actually replaced him this winter. She has lots of advice which is so welcomed. We met her last week when we needed to fix a few things in the apartment and have seen or spoken to her almost every day including a lovely dinner. She's amazing, I love spending time with her. 

We spent Saturday relaxing at home and then headed up to the international junior ice skating competition, Sophie had gotten us tickets for the Gala event and it's was amazing. Most of the winners were from France, Japan, Ukraine and Russia, they were incredible! I hope some of you saw my snap chats. 

Alice rang after we'd left and told us to come down to the pizzeria. It was 7 degrees, but luckily I had my ski jacket. Everyone had been to Meribel that day, as there had been a downhill mountain biking comp. We were going to go but couldn't be bothered to deal with the traffic. Wish we had of gone as an Australian won and supposedly 'Ausssie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi' was dismal, only 3 people were yelling it back. 

Everyone was pretty well on their way, so we were a bit behind. We stayed in the pizzeria for a while and then followed Jimbo up to the tent to see what was going on. There was a tough mudder event the next day, so it was mental! French people jumping, singing and just generally being crazy. It was all a bit full on for us, we weren't really feeling it so we walked home with a very drunk and seriously hilarious Jimbo! Telling us stories about how he met and hugged Rat Boy, a mountain biker. We've never laughed more then we have in the last few days! 

We woke up in the morning and went to meet Sophie to watch the Tough mudder event. It was pretty hilarious watching people all dressed up running around Le Praz. They had to jump into the Lake which was only 9 degrees, we had a good laugh listening to them scream as they hit the water. 

One group of people were dressed as priests and were carrying a massive cross. 

Jimbo was competing for the Drop Inn, but we didn't see him. Farmer told us that someone had written Drop Inn on his forehead but had spelt it wrong, and wrote Dropp Inn and then had to crossout the extra P. 

We decided that we would all go up to Suliere which is the highest point in Courchevel which is over 3000 metres. It was -1 up there, so we rugged up and drove up to 1850 with Sophie. We got the lift up, which was pretty full on as I'm a little (a lot) scared of heights. We then got another, even more full on lift to go up the rest of the way, and funnily bumped into Alice and Jack, who had packed a picnic and we're walking back down to Le Praz. We walked up and down the mountain for about an hour with Sophie, which was an eye opening insight into how unfit I was. It's pretty hard to breath that high up, especially having done no serious exercise for almost 6 months. We saw some seriously breathtaking views, it was amazing to see all of the surrounding mountains including Mount Blanc, the highest point in Europe at height of 4,810m. After the walk, we realised that we hadn't had lunch and it was 3:45pm. We headed back down in the lift (me with sweaty palms) and grabbed some lunch. We did a bit of shopping with Sophie and then came home and jumped in the hot tub. It had finally been fixed and we were super excited to get in, it was so nice after the walk. 

Tomorrow we're back at the apartment to paint the lounge room and hall way. Sophie is headed off to Geneva tomorrow so hopefully we won't intrude too much. 

All in all, we having an awesome time. We've met the most amazing people!!!  We spent the weekend laughing, talking, drinking and eating. It's been such a great weekend, I wish we could do it all again! 

Life in France

After working 7 days straight, we only had to work 3 days, so with Friday in sight, we were in good spirits as we headed to clean one of the chalets. Georgie had friends staying for a few nights so we made up three bedrooms and cleaned the chalet for their arrival. Alex is pretty good at cleaning bathrooms, might put those skills to use in the future. We headed to the Elise Chalet basement which was a dumping ground for all the other chalets shit from the end of winter. We bumped into Farmer John (who works on the place next door), he ended up having an enormous Saturday night, so we were glad that we didn't stay longer. 

We cleaned up the basement and headed back to the chalet to start prepping the paint work. I managed to slam my thumb between two cupboard doors, so trying to tape the skirting boards was some what difficult.

Georgie called me that night to ask if I could cater for 11 on Friday night. Her friends were coming down for dinner, so she invited a few extra couples. 

After painting all day on Thursday, it was nice to spend the morning cooking on Friday. I didn't even to bother to get out of my pajamas, I put my hair in braids so I wouldn't get hair in the food and got everything set up... And then my skype starting calling... The lovely Carley and Hessen caught me in clothes and hair I would not be caught dead in outside of home, but I was so excited to talk to them I forgot about all that!!

'Beer wench' 

Photo credit: Carly Perry 

Hair & styling: Gabrielle Hunter 

Cooking and chatting to them was amazing, Alex arrived, after spending 2 hours mowing Georgie's, and we spent a good hour talking, with me running back and forth to the kitchen. 

With everything sorted and organised for dinner, we met Georgie at the basement to help load up the van with stuff for the car boot sale and headed back to the chalet to get ready for dinner. 

Dinner was fun, everything when to plan. Everyone enjoyed my cooking so that was a great confidence boost. 

We had a bit of a sleep in on Saturday and a lazy morning. We headed up to 1850 to have a look around and went into the Forum which has a few ski shops. It was fun to explore Courchevel more, we went up to the airport and just generally took in the views and mountain air. We headed back for lunch and then went back up the mountain to see one shop (bloody siestas here are ridic!) and bumped into Charlie and Gina. We had met Charlie one morning at Georgie's when he was putting in a door. His wife is Aussie and grew up in Ulladulla, just down the New England (her words not mine). We actually didn't recognise Charlie, we were too busy staring at their dog... An Australian cattle dog! I actually didn't recognise Charlie after that anyway, we've met a lot of people and we are really easy to remember being the newbies and Australian! We had a nice chat and then headed home to get ready for dinner and drinks. We went to the local pizzeria, which was awesome as we've not really eaten out in ages. At home, we ate out a couple of times a week, and that's not including lunch everyday. We have made breakfast, lunch and dinner almost everyday for weeks, minus the occasional sneaky crossiant. 

We bumped into Georgie's son, Ben, and Jack, a young guy that works with Farmer John (who managed to piss off Georgie when he pulled out of being a chef two weeks before a winter season... She didn't forget either, poor kid felt her wrath when she saw him working next door). After a delicious dinner, we headed down to the Drop Inn. We saw Jimbo, met Welsh Tom and then Farmer John arrived. We met Sherry and the owners of the Drop Inn, oh and Dave. Ben was there as well. So many names and faces!

I think we became the rowdy table, but it was just so much fun. We had the best night, telling jokes, trying to defend/disown Rolf Harris and figuring out who knew who and how long they'd been here for. I really enjoyed myself! 

Jimbo told me that I should buy a snowboard and he would help me if I needed it. It would be easier than hiring one for the whole season as only ski's were included. 

We wandered home at 11:30pm and didn't really feel cold AND I was wearing thongs... definitely getting used to it! (Could have been the wine!) 

Sunday was relaxed, we headed down to Moutiers to see Georgie and Natalie at the car boot sale and had a bit of a wander around Moutiers. We went for a drive up into the mountains and then headed home to pack a picnic and head to a lake in 1650. It was stunning, we found a spot in the sun, with the most amazing sound of the trickling water. The water in Courchevel and around the alps is bright blue and freeeeeezing! The melting snow runs into streams and makes it's way to the lake, it's stunning. Surrounded by trees and running water was perfect place for a picnic and very relaxing. It's easy to get caught up in work, shit French drivers and challenging supermarket visits. It was good to be reminded that we are in one of the most amazing, mesmerising and visually beautiful places in the world... And it's only summer. Winter will be a while other ball game of beautiful. 

Today marks 3 months since we left, how things had changed. I would have never of thought we would be doing up a chalet in the French Alps, living in an amazing village and meeting a bunch of super friendly people. We are seriously blessed. Nothing about us has notably changed (except Alex's hair... 2 and half months without a haircut) except maybe that I find myself looking forward to Grand Designs each night, and generally enjoying cooking. I've always been one to follow a recipe but trying new things has been fun! Well that might be because I'm missing some food... I made garlic butter so we could have garlic bread, oh and I keep mixing soy sauce and mayo together to make a sauce (it's amazing) for my chicken and sweet potato fries... I think I need sushi! My vegemite is slowly dwindling, but I have marmite as back up. Plus mum and dad will be here in September so I will be able to restock. 

We are very happy in our little chalet and the progress were making on it, we are both excited to come home and make our own mark on a house... But that's agesssss away! We've got wayyyyyy bigger things to decide, like whether we should go to Turkey for 3 weeks before the winter season starts... :) 

From our chalet of green, pink and brown walls! Xx

(I'm not even kidding, it needs some work!) 

Working life...

So the last few days have been very similar to the first, we've discovered a few things: 

1. I'm the painter of the pair and have spent 5 days painting pretty much non stop, Alex did three walls in Georgie's room red but the paint was so shit we had to go over it 3 times. My arms seriously dead, plus my legs from squatting and going up on my toes all the time. Good exercise :) oh and I'm an ambidextrous painter... Yeah I know, I'm impressed too! 

2. Alex is very handy, Georgie has been very impressed. She keeps telling me that I have to be careful, as their old handy man has shacked up with a married women, she's known to the skiing community as well. She also called him handsome... 

3. France doesn't have pumpkin or sweet potato. I'm shattered! 

4. Restuarants are seriously expensive in La Paz 

5. I can successfully make zucchini slice and banana bread without measuring cups. Georgie appreciated both :) 

Georgie has been awesome, we've enjoyed working in her amazing house. Next week we'll be doing our own thing in the chalets, especially the one were currently staying in. There is a lot to get done, so we might come back once mum and dad stay. They are coming over around 19th September, spending a week with us in Courchevel and then we'll drive through France up to Paris (yesssssssss) then over to Scotland to see my god mother. Can't wait to see them and travel with them! We're hoping we can come back after and work till the winter, otherwise we might chill or travel for 6 weeks!

It's so amazing here, we love the colder weather and the screnery, seeinf the mountains never gets old. Some of them still have snow on top. I bought a snow jacket yesterday, an awesome Roxy one for €118 down from €250, Alex got some really cool khaki North Face snow pants for €130. We can leave our warm stuff here, so instead of lugging it around with us, we want to try and get a few things on sale here. 

The rest of week was much of the same, worked our arse off all day and then died at night time. On Saturday, our 7th day in a row, we got an early mark and finished at 2:30pm. I had a snooze and then we went to the Drop Inn, the local english pub. It was dead because there was a festival up at 1650. Whilst talking to the bartender, Jimbo, he enlightened us about snowboarding on a glacier near by, making friends with a guy that has a boat and other awesome information about Courchevel. He introduced us to another Englishman called Farmer John, we actually met him earlier that week as he's working next to one of the storage units and needed to look inside the unit to make sure they hadn't broken the wall. Now that guy can tell a story, he was so hilarious he had us in stitches. He offered to drive us up to 1650 as well, he even took us home first so we could put on warmer clothes. Such a legend! He parked up at his friends Gavin, and we walked up to 1650. It was a pretty hilarious festival, there was line dancing and people in cowboy hats everywhere. Our rounds were 3 beers and 1 wine which was only €8 which is pretty incredible. We hadn't had dinner and I was 3 pints of cider deep so I was in a pretty good mood, until I decided that a sausage and chips was a good dinner, finished off by jumping up and down on some ski grates. I laughed so hard, I got the hiccups and it wasn't long until the sausage and chips left my digestion system and was introduced to a toilet.  We were pretty shattered from such a massive week, so Farmer John dropped us home. Honestly, we meet the most amazing and generous people, we are so lucky. I'm pretty sure I said I would see him on Wednesday and would bring him a cake. Oh and the guy with the boat works with Farmer John, so a cake is a good investment :) 

My hangover was category 5 the next day, I slept till 12pm and Georgie came around and witnessed me in my fragile state. I made some hamburgers for lunch and then went back to sleep for 2 hours... We had scrambled eggs for dinner, watched Back to the Future and went back to bed... After 3 months of travelling and then a 7 days straight of hard work, I think I needed the sleep, the hangover didn't help either. 

We got up, had a chat with mum and headed off to Lake Annecy. It's about an hour and a half away and is breath taking. Surrounded by mountains, it's bright blue and stunning, we drove around the outside, seeing all the beautiful lake homes and amazing boats. We did a few laps of the city centre but it was really hard to find a park for the van. We headed back to Albertville to see a few ski shops we'd heard about. I got an awesome ski jacket that looks like a flannie, giving sweet slope cred... Haha jokes I just look like a chubby country farmer. Alex got a really cool jacket as well, so now he's set if we go to this glacier. Jimbo said he could borrow his snowboard which is so generous! 

After a full on experience at the shopping centre (French people are mental! One lady barged me out of the way to get baking powder), we are now cuddled up on the couch after a yummy dinner of chicken wings, coleslaw and potato salad. 

Good night people! 

Home... For 6 weeks anyway

There is nothing sweeter than walking into a place and feeling at home... Our chalet in Courchevel did exactly that. A kitchen with everything you need, a private bathroom, a place to unpack, a comfy bed, a fireplace and a breath taking view. 

After checking out at 11am, we had 4 hours to kill, so we sat in a park and chilled. One thing I've found with travelling is 'time' becomes less and less important. 

Sitting in a park for 4 hours, no biggy. 

3 hour train ride, pure bliss. 

5 hour flight, happy to sit back and relax. 3 months ago If you had told me I would have to get a 1 hour train at home, I would have been fuming, 'what a waste of time, I'll just hoon there in the golf' but now we think it's incredible. Maybe a 7 hour bus or a 27 hour flight does that to you... 

We arrived in Moutiers and waited for Georgie to pick us up. She arrived, picked us up and I talked her earrrrr offffff the whole way home! Poor Georgie, I had to apologise, we haven't had much other (english) human interaction. We drove through Moutiers and up to Courchevel. There are three levels of Courchevel (1850, 1650 & 1550), we are at Les Praz, about half way up the mountain. She showed us to the chalet, it was a bit of a mess as people had left that morning and no one had been in it since. We spent 1 hour stripping the beds, cleaning the kitchen and washing up. Alex unpacked while I vacuumed, there was not point in me unpacking as everything I owned was dirty. 

We wandered into town to get stuff for dinner but the supermarket was closed. There was about 30 eggs and potatoes left in the chalet, so scrambled eggs and smashed potatoes it was. 

Internet, TV in English, cold weather and a WHOLE place to ourselves... How amazing! 

We got up earlier than normal, hoping to get back into a work routine (well me anyway). Had a lovely chat with mum and dad about coming over in September, then we skyped the whole Stephen/McCabe clan at their Christmas in July. It's so hilarious, everyone talking at once, making faces and sometimes nudity (Gareth😊), the kids trying to wrap their heads around that we are on a computer and poor Lorraine and Nat trying to make sure we're actually ok and see what we were up too (such good Mummas). We definitely had a bit of home sickness after seeing them all. 

Alex then went on a cleaning rampage, he vaccummed and mopped all three levels of the chalet. While I went through 570 emails on my QUT email... Oh the joy! Our team won an award for our efforts last year and I'm getting $2,500. Winning! That will pay for my cooking course and our accommodation bond for the winter and bring our savings back up.

We ventured into town, desperately needing  to do washing and grocery shopping. So we split up, I like to say 'divide and conquer', I went to the supermarket (more like a corner store) and Alex went to the tourism office to find the laundrette. I managed to buy enough food to sustain us for a few days and then set off to find the laundrette. I luckily found it with Alex inside having already put 3 loads on. Our dirty clothes filled my whole back pack... Like I said, we were desperate. Alex took the food back to the chalet whilst I sat guarded our clothes. 

There are a few things that I'm now eternally grateful for after traveling for 3 months and living out of a back pack

1. A fridge 

2. Clean clothes

3. A comfy bed, clean sheets and a big fluffy doona 

4. A wardrobe

5. A TV in English

All things that you'd find in a normal house, but usually hard to find in a cheap hostel (with the exception of clean sheets, we didn't have bedbugs). Being able to lay in bed and read while Alex watched TV was bliss. Making our little room our own was also really nice, I love everything to be neat and tidy. Like my mother, I appreciate a good kitchen (and good wine). The kitchen here is pretty good, it has everything I need to start practising my cooking menu for the winter. There is a table for 20 in the dining room, so I might invite randoms over for dinner just so I have people to practice on. 

France also has a siesta, especially here with summer being so quiet. So we waited till 5pm to set off up the mountain. There is a free shuttle, so we took it up to 1850 to look around... Wow how amazingly daunting, not only do I have to worry about cooking for 22 people every morning and night for 5 months, but I have to try and not break my ankles coming down this enormous mountain. Dad said not to worry, my ankles will be fine, I'm more likely to do a knee 😐 because netball shot them to shit as well! It's pretty incredible up there, I can't only imagine it covered in snow, it will be stunning. 

With most of the shops were closed and the snow gear priced around €400 on sale, we headed back down to 1650 which was more populated and had a few more shops open. Nothing tickled our fancy so we headed to a bar for a beer to wait for the bus. An Aussie guy was behind the bar and gave Alex some great tips on where to buy snow gear, he was from Byron Bay and had spent 3 seasons here, he had family in France and spoke fluent French. We will definitely head back up and become his friend as he'd spent the day wake boarding and gave Alex a double shot. 

Le Praz was having a street festival, but in a bid not to be hungover on our first day at work, we wandered home and I cooked fajitas for dinner. 

Georgie arrived at 9am for our first day of work, she showed us around the village and where I would be working. All a bit exciting! We headed down to her house in Bozel, the town at the base of the mountain. She has three kids and lives in the most beautiful home. Four levels looking up to Courchevel. While Georgie's husband is away we are helping out around her house. She's crazy busy in the winter (actually and the summer) and needed a hand tidying up a few things. I set to work in the bathroom, while Alex put together roof racks for their new (well old) Kombi. It's the cutest Kombi I've ever seen, it's blue and has been redone beautifully. We worked our arses off all day and headed back up the mountain at 5pm to make something for dinner and relax. I haven't cleaned that hard in my life, I feel like I need to go home and repay mum for all her hard work! 

The next day, I had to unload the van with stuff from the day before. Mostly books and other heavy things, we couldn't park close to the storage unit so I got a seriously good arm work out :), while Alex was off in an apartment Georgie and Dave own removing a door. After vacuuming the whole house, we started painting one of the bedrooms. The room has 2metre high ceilings and a mezzanine level for the bed, plus the wall we were painting was dark blue. Safe to say my arms and legs (especially shins and knees from kneeling) are feeling it tonight. We then did the ceiling of the laundry and I cleaned another bathroom and the laundry. I want to lose weight so I don't look like a big fat snow bunny for the winter season... I think I'm well on my way :) 

One thing I've also discovered about myself whilst travelling is that I'm seriously clumsy. I should have picked it up after two ankle surgeries but seriously, I'm unco as! Most days I'll trip over nothing at least 3 to 4 times, I've got a huge bruise on my thigh from running into the handle on the washing machine, I nearly knocked myself out of the corner of a window when I was bending over to clean something and got a sweet egg and bruise from that effort, I've hit my head god knows how many times in the last few days and tonight I cut myself... I will keep you posted on my non threatening and hilarious injury count! 

The South of France has stolen my heart

For anyone that has been to France, you will understand it's magnificence. Before leaving Australia, I thought Spain would be my favourite country, but so far Rome has been my favourite city and France has been my favourite country. The train from Barcelona to Nimes was lovely (expensive but lovely) and it was so nice to be in another country again. We spent about 10 days in Spain and only 2 in France, we were dying to get back to the world of macaroons and cheese. Nimes is a bit of a random place, not a lot of Australians will have ever visited here and no one speaks english, but it's stunning, absolutely stunning. As soon as we got off the train we were in awe, the streets are beautiful, leavey and clean! We found our hotel really easily and set off to explore (thanks again dad!) They have a Roman Amplithearte which the Bloody Beetroots were playing at that night. How cool, a new age band playing in a centuries old amplithearte, if it had of been anyone else we would have gone, the Black Keys played last night... I love how the mix the old with the new. 

We had a delcious French lunch and the walked around the cobblestones streets, it's the most beautiful village, with the most amazing history. 

We wandered for a few hours and then headed out to dinner. We weren't really sure what we wanted and found a cute little cafe in town. We didn't particular like, nor understand, the menu but the owner was trying so had to talk to us in broken english and sign language, we decided to sit down and have a drink anyway. Luckily, they had internet and we translated some of the menu and decided to stay. I had a delcious entree of assorted charcuterie (meats and cheese) and chicken for main, while Alex had grilled pokt and some dessert we just randomly selected not knowing what it was. It was a set price for two courses, so we thought we'd be sneaky and share but they brought out my entree with his main and my main with his dessert haha. Alex chipped his tooth on a bit of bone, it's not bad but as it's his front tooth, we might have to visit the dentist when were back in London. 

We woke up the next morning, got our train tickets (only €70, the cheapest we've had!) and had a café espresso and crossiant like some wannabe wankers then headed off to explore. The tourism office pointed us in the direction of Jardins de la Fontaine. It's an 18th century formal garden with an number of different canals, bridges, statues and water fountains, it also has temple of Diane which was amazing to walk around. The canals run throughout the city and you can always hear running water, it's got the most relaxing atmosphere. 

At the top of the gardens was the Tour Magne, an ancient Roman tower standing at the highest point of the city. We meandered up through the gardens, finding beautiful waterfalls and ponds. We made it to the top (just... I'm seriously unfit) and decided to climb to the top to take in the views. I'm not really into heights but I climbed they 170 stairs with Alex to look around. By the top, we were both totally out of breathe, but it was beautiful to see the city laid out in front if you. As I've mentioned before, I love how the roads are designed to compliment and frame the historical places, the Jardin de la Fontaine has the most beautiful street leading to it's front gate. 

We got back down the stairs and then had to deal with jelly legs walking back down the steep hill to the bottom. Like I said, I'm seriously unfit but it was nice to feel like I was using my muscles again. We've been walking about 3-4 everyday, but you don't normally get our breathe, I can definitely see and feel that my legs are getting more toned... Bring on some hard labour, I want to be skinny for the winter :)

We walked back to the village and found an air conditioned shopping centre. We went into a men's store and walked out with 6 jumpers for €77. We shouldn't be spending  money on clothes, but I've made these for points to make us feel better: 

1. Our winter will be in the snow

2. The current degrees in Courchevel is a top of 20 

3. We are going to live in London

4. We couldn't choose between the 6

5. Alex looked so pretty in all of them

6. I looked pretty in a few too :) 

7. It's totally an investment 

8. I need clothes for my course (people will notice if I wear the same stuff all the time)

9. We need clothes to wear to the Michelin star restuarants we will go to in Courchevel (HA I wish!) 

10. Refer to points 1 through to 9

Just try and argue with me...

We walked back through the city and got subway for lunch, needing something cheap and filling. We walked over to the amplithearte to have a better look around. It's stunning from the outside, but nothing compared to the colosseum. The inside was a bit disappointing because it still had the stage set from the night before. Still an amazing site to see! 

We've found that unlike at home, there isn't much choice of different cuisines other than the countries own. We found it especially hard in Spain, every place either had tapas or paella. Nìmes has been a lovely change, we had Vietnamese for dinner last night and italian the night before. It's nice to have different choices of restuarants, as we don't want to eat French food for every meal... Maybe only 2 out of 3 :) 

I've downloaded this cool new app to learn how to speak the basics of French. It's call duolingo, it gives you written and spoken words that you need to write and say back to pass the level. Really enjoying it, although French is pretty hard. The feminine and masculine words get me but I'm getting better 

Je m'appelle Gabi, je ne parle pas français! Et j'aime chats!

(Honestly I didn't even have to look up the French word for cats, it was in the basics of my duolingo app... It knows me! My two favourite things mean the same thing... Chats!)

We jumped on the train to Valence and then another one dor Montmélian, have to admit, we are getting pretty good at this whole travelling thing and figuring out platforms and how to get to our hotels... Remember everything is in French (needed to reassure myself that it is actually hard...). The train from Nímes to Valence was country side we'd seen before, but Valence to Montmélian is a different story... I'm sitting on the train writing this in absolute awe, I wanted to write it down as I saw it. I've never seen country side like it, the mountains are incredible. I can't see the top of one because of the clouds... And it's so green. It's nothing I've seen before, I've been to Threbo, but in the winter, to see the mountains in the summer has a different feel and grandeur (maybe because I'm not scared half to death about skiing down them). It's such stunning landscape, we are so excited you can't wipe the smiles off our faces! And we thought we were beach people...