• Christine Stephenson
  • Paul Stephenson
  • Christine Stephenson
  • Paul Stephenson

Three months in Europe

We are finally doing the trip we have planned three years ago. I can’t wait for the adventures. Read more
  • Quiet day in Kilchurn

    June 1, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We are staying in a beautiful part of Scotland. We had a slow start to the day. Made Paul a nice hot breakfast. A soft roll toasted with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and baked beans on top. Nice having a kitchen I can cook in. My breakfast was a bun with mushrooms and baked beans. I mixed some chilli oil in my beans. Wish I took a picture. It was delicious.

    Went for a short drive to get some groceries for dinner. Simple macaroni soup. We detoured back home through a very narrow country road and really enjoyed the experience. It’s been raining quite heavily so we haven’t been able to do much walking.

    We did manage a short walk to see the Kilchurn castle. Rain let up a little. Met a lovely Aussie owner who lived in Redlands. Apparently the castle used to surrounded by water and you would access it by boat. Imagine that. In winter?

    Came back to our flat, could t wait for dinner for soup so we had a late lunch all nice and cosy in our heated lounge!!!

    Had a lovely nap too. Now I’m going to try and do a little work! Yes..it’s an integrated work life balance. ❤️
    Read more

  • A day in Ayr

    June 3, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    The best breakfast ever! Our BnB hot is a chef. So imagine my pleasure.. Ro, checkout the copy of Mrs Beeton’s. Not as old as my copy. This one is a second edition.

    Went for a walk along the beach and got blown around. Apparently we must have brought the bad weather. Stopped at a local hairdresser and got my hair cut and a holiday colour put in. Much to Paul’s disgust. 😂

    I have had a computer whoopsie! Changed my password late at night and can’t remember it in the clear light of day. So spent the afternoon with a computer guy getting it reset up. Argh! I hate technology. Why is it so easy for a hacker to get into my computer and I can’t hack it myself?

    Anyway..we had a very yummy Indian dinner and came home to finish setting my laptop up.

    We discovered, thanks to Gabby, that we are in Robert Burns hometown. Drove past his cottage and museum. Won’t have time to stop in today as we are heading to Wales!
    Read more

  • Ayr to Ruthin

    Jun 3–5, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    A very long drive today. Again very pretty.

    We stopped in Windermere in the Lakes District. Bowness, home of Beatrix Potter. Very pretty little village BUT crowded with people come to tour the lake and Beatrix Potter’s home ground.

    Kate and Anna were big fans when they were very little. Paul used to read Beatrix Potter stories to them every night. Roro bought them little Royal Daulton pieces for their Christening. I still have them on my bookshelf. Alex was never a fan.

    We had a lovely lunch in a very old hotel o looking the lake. Very glad we were indoors because it was very cold. <10 degrees.

    Hit the road again, determined to drive to Wales just so we can say we have been here.

    The drive out of the Lakes district was awesome. All the paddocks are fenced off with stone walls. The amount of work involved in building and maintaining these was would be incredible.

    We are staying at a very cost BnB in the middle of nowhere. Too far to drive out for dinner so we’ve had (Paul that is) vegemite on crackers and a Banana sandwich (my dinner). I could have done with some condensed milk in my sandwich, but alas, the shops too far away.

    Hope to spend tomorrow doing some walks which this area is famous for.
    Read more

  • Ayr

    June 3, 2025 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Drove from Kilchrun through towards Peter Scott’s hometown near Glasgow. Mugdock! Lovely area. See why Peter loves it so much. Just like Belli Park. No shops, no pubs but absolutely beautiful houses and farms. Photos don’t do it

    Arrived in Ayr last night. Too tired and cold to do much.

    Went out to a lovely restaurant for dinner. Italian, Nonna style.

    Went to bed at 7!
    Read more

  • Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

    June 5, 2025 in Wales ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    One of the reasons we picked to do a drive was to stop at places like this.

    We started at the source of the canal that feeds the Shropshire Union Canal with water. No one else there except us.

    Then onto the aqueduct for a walk along the actual canal with a boat going past as we walked along.

    Took 10 years to build the aqueduct and then the railways came online.

    The beauty and engineering of this aqueduct is mind blowing. Needless to say Paul has a grin on his face.

    Me? Happy to be drinking tea out of a Royal Albert tea cup.
    Read more

  • Roaming around the villages in Wales

    June 5, 2025 in Wales ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Spent the rest of the day visiting a beautiful castle and then a little Welsh village. Had lunch here too.

    Note that no names are being used cause these Welshmen can’t write English words!! They are too freaking hard to pronounce. 😝Read more

  • Driving from wales to England

    June 6, 2025 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Only one thing I wanted to do on this trip was go visit the Wedgewood factory in Stoke-on-Trent. Did not disappoint.

    Only thing was discovering that all the Royal Albert is made in Indonesia!

    Couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy from the shop. I know..right!!!

    Worked out it’s cheaper to buy Wedgewood on Facebook Marketplace. 😂

    We did enjoy the factory tour. Paul from a manufacturing perspective and me from a process perspective.

    We are staying two nights in a lovely hotel near Newton-Purcell. This is where Paul didn’t his ag exchange 40 years ago. He’s hoping to knock on the door and say hello to his hosts.

    Wish us luck.
    Read more

  • Newton Purcell

    June 7, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Dropped in to see where Paul spent his 6 months of agricultural exchange when he was a wee young man.

    Took only a couple of seconds for Caroline to recognise Paul and we were sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of tea.

    She told us where Michael was so off we went to hunt him down.

    It was a classic reunion. Michael was so happy to see Paul he wouldn’t leave our sides. Kept telling me that Paul saved his life when he was over here and kept him alive despite the buckets of beer and all nighters they were pulling.

    It was incredible to see how fond he still is of Paul. Met him beautiful wife Mandy and spent a lovely two hours hanging out at the village fete. Michael and his wife are Jo different to us. Busy volunteering and organising events for the local community!

    Made a plan to catch up in France. Hope that happens!!!

    The photo of the house is one Paul has spoken to me about for years. It’s in the doomsday book and belonged to Michael’s uncle. Sold now…went for a bucket load of money.
    Read more

  • Sunday. Drop off car day.

    June 8, 2025 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Can’t believe it’s been over 3 weeks and nearly a month since we left. It means we are a third through our trip already.

    Stopped in Esher to see a dear friend from Rio Tinto. Ania is back in the UK with her family. Hoping she comes visit us as her Dad lives in Eumundi.

    Had the best Thai for dinner. Lovely restaurant with very authentic food. I had chicken rice and finished it off with a banana fritter. Yum Bo! Paul has been sympathising with me on how bland the food has been. So if you’re in Kings Cross and want some real Asian food, it’s Rosa’s Thai you are looking for.

    Went for an after dinner walk through St Pancras hotel. It’s amazing when you walk around like you own the place, no one stops you from wandering through the hotel. It was very very nice. Too bad it’s costs USD$344 per night!!!
    Read more

  • Two days in Paris

    June 9, 2025 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    The best part about Paris is waiting for Kate to fly in!

    The Eurostar train was a dream. So easy to transfer from the Paris central station to the metro, except for the stairs and heavy bags.

    Food or hotel with no troubles. More on the hotel later. We dropped our bags and found a lovely side walk cafe to have a drink while we waited for Kate.

    Lo and behold she walked right past us.

    Well the hotel dramas started the first night. The street is full of night clubs. Parisians start parties about 11pm and keep going till 6am!! And with no aircon, fans or double glazing, we woke up bleary eyed!!

    Breakfast at a lovely local patisserie of croissants and coffee. Then off to take bikes to the Notre Dame. Thank goodness we were there early. No charge to go in and it was so beautiful. The cathedral is so well restored!

    We then jumped on a HoHo bus for a ride around the sights. Got off at the Eiffel tower and walked through the gardens. Things getting very crowded. People everywhere and it’s not even peak season. Back on the bus to Notre Dame and biked back to the hotel.

    Nice before-dinner snack of snails, Vietnamese for dinner and bed…decided to play my Train sleep track all night to block out the happy party sounds outside!! Until 11:52! I know the time coz I check my watch. Woke to a hotel staff banging on the door to make us pay €4 tourist tax!!! Stop laughing!! I tried to tell him that I would come down in the morning to pay…but NO! Pay right now…by this time Kate is awake too! Paul then gets up, sans pants…and tries arguing with him too…we give the man €10 and then we wait for change…then roll over and I tell Paul…in the morning we will wake up and laugh our heads off and NEVER is he booking another ‘budget’ room without my checking AL L the bad reviews. Post research found a review where the staff punched a customer for complaining.

    Goodbye Paris…it’s been a visit of highs and lows.
    Read more

  • Van pick up day of dramas

    June 11, 2025 in France ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Decided to do laundry while we had time to spare before we picked up the camper van.

    Paul went off to find a Resmed shop to buy a new hose for his apnoea machine. Got back just in time for our Uber pick up. Then the fun times started.

    Uber driver can’t find us…tells us to cancel…we say no, we say…we are still waiting…uber makes him come back for us..he looks at our luggage and says no way that’s fitting in his car. He then cancels! Nasty man. Shouldn’t be driving Uber.

    Next Uber we order, the man can’t be lovelier! It’s a London cab and we are off to CDG to get the van.

    Turn up in a lot of a lot of vans! Omg. Find we aren’t in the right place, but no problem..the right place is a short walk down the road. BUT we have to wait as there are three others in the queue to pick vans up before us. No problem. There is a stack of left behind groceries that I get to pick through for stuff we would need on our trip. Bonus.

    Very excited, load all ours bags and off we go. We stop in a little village to get groceries for the trip. Yay!!! Food I can eat.

    Best part of the day was driving through beautiful French villages. The countryside is so beautiful, we might lose Kate here. She’s already researching bnbs.

    Pull into to our first caravan park and it is gorgeous. Too tired to take photos so sorry.

    Then more dramas. We start finding out everything that doesn’t work in the van!!

    Can’t turn the stove on. Only one of the three hobs works. No self ignition, no matches, Kate borrows a box from a neighbour. That cost me my punnet of blueberries.

    The fridge won’t work on gas, the water in the kitchen sink doesn’t stay on, some of the windows don’t stay open, the fly screens are broken..the list goes on.

    So instead of heading further south, we are driving back to Paris to swap vans. Don’t want to be stuck with a dodgy van for 7 weeks.

    Oh, lots of fun…
    Read more

  • Camping Huttopia Rambouillet

    Jun 12–14, 2025 in France ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Fixed most of the problems in the van! Yay!!! I have three gas burners.

    Drove westwards of Paris towards Versailles. We are again in a lovely campground. I love the hedge they plant around the site to give you privacy. Not at all like our Aussie parks.

    Paul was wiped out so Kate and I left him in the van and went for a very refreshing swim in the pool. Nice 28 degrees!

    Made dahl, rice and Grandpa’s chilli fry for dinner. Stuffed to the gills, we went for a walk in the forest.

    Tomorrow is Versailles so look out for more photos.
    Read more

  • Versaille

    June 13, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Booked in for a 2pm visit. No places to park a motor home. We finally found some space 1km away. It is very hot and humid.

    Versailles is breathtaking! The size and opulence is beyond belief.

    The art work throughout the building was just fascinating. I wish we had more time to go through it slowly. Peak season hasn’t really started and the palace was jam packed.

    The photos do not do this place justice. You have to come see it for yourself.

    Don’t ask me which rooms these were. We moved too fast and the audio was not keeping up up with where we were.
    Read more

  • Chartres and beyond

    June 14, 2025 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Early morning departure after a cracker of a thunder last night. The noise is much louder when you have nothing much between you and the sky!!

    Got to the Cathedral in Chartres of the Virgin Mary.

    Had breakfast of pastries at a tiny bakery. Paul’s Apple pie was superb. Never tasted anything like it before.

    It’s a must see, I think. A pilgrim destination where people make the trip to ask for Our Lady’s intercession.

    It is stunning inside and I enjoyed this more than the Notre Dame in Paris. I hope you like the pictures.

    We are now at a winery cellar door with free off grid camping for the night. A whale of a time wine tasting with a little old lady who didn’t speak any English. Introduced her to Google translate!! Purchased two bottles of wine for €14!

    Enjoying the view and relaxing for the rest of the day.
    Read more

  • Chinon to Avanton

    June 15, 2025 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Slow wake up and a breakfast of banana pancakes with the beautiful view for company.

    Headed off to the centre of Chinon to Henry II’s fortress. Cheez that man got around! Don’t know if you remember that the Dover castle was also Henry II’s.

    This fortress is where Joan of arc came to inspire King Charles to fight for his country. Every street corner is named after Joan of arc, every road makes some reference to her.

    The walk through was very interesting. Not just the artefacts but the design of the fortress itself. Incredible views from everywhere. We all thoroughly enjoyed this morning.

    Of course I discovered there was an antique market on by the river. It was huge and utterly awesome. The artefacts there ranged from really old furniture to art to figurines, crockery, cutlery, linens….

    Paul bought a leather bellow and Kate picked up a rare Gertz jug. I would have liked to transport the entire market and set up a shop in Kenilworth, so I don’t buy anything!

    We’ve come further south by an hour to a beautiful camp ground. Lovely swim, macaroni soup for dinner and early night. Paul is exhausted today.
    Read more

  • La Rochelle

    June 16, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Apparently the place where the Germans hid their U Boats during WWII. Unfortunately it is a naval base and the public are not allowed there.

    One German officer built a bunker close by and that’s what we got to tour through today. Very educational. ❤️

    There are murals painted all over the ceilings and some walls, by two German ladies. Hope you can make them out in the photographs.

    We have spent a lovely day here walking through La Rochelle, which is a lovely sea side town. Very touristy and thank goodness it’s not peak season yet.

    Kate and I prefer the countryside to this although this is quite pretty and worth a visit.
    Read more

  • Maison du Berneuilh - Vignobles Noriega

    June 17, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Woke early and headed back to Bordeaux. We’ve all heard of Bordeaux wines as being some of the best in the world. Well how lucky are we to be able to camp for two nights in a Vineyard.

    The lovely owner, Amandine, is a third generation farmer. The story of how she got to be a farmer and vinter was simply amazing.

    Her grandfather refused to let her be a vinter because it was not ‘women’s work’. So she left the farm to run a clothes shop in La Rochelle. When her grandfather and father passed in short succession, her sister and her put the farm up for sale. But something wouldn’t let her sell! So she bought her sister out and runs the farm.

    Heartbroken because a hailstorm destroyed 50% of her crop this year which she had already forwarded sold last month. She’s sat in the vineyard and cried her heart out. But, as we know farmers do, she said at least I am alive!

    I am so glad we are staying two nights and had her cook dinner for us tonight. Lovely Mum cooked chicken casserole! We had rockmelon and prosciutto for starters. And so much food, we’ve left the macerated strawberries for breakfast tomorrow. Truth is that I had bought these yummy pastries on the way here and we just HAD to eat them first!!

    Dinner was quite late for us. 9pm!!! So it’s quarter to 11 and I haven’t gone to sleep yet. Saw our very first sunset today!!! Have not been up this late to see one yet.

    Tomorrow is a forced down day for us. Trying to do as little as possible. So don’t expect too much of an update.
    Read more

  • Rest day

    June 18, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Have done very little today. Ate, crochet, read my book, played my Uke, ate some more…walked to the village with Paul. It’s a corker today. Thank goodness for the shade of our tree and the breeze.

    Discovered a Pizza vending machine in the little village. Well blow me down! I thought the Japanese took the trophy on vending machines.

    The pamphlet is from the vineyard we are staying at. Just incase anyone of you comes this side.

    And in the meantime…Jack is stuck to Ty like Glue!!! Can you believe this dog?
    Read more

  • Lourdes

    June 19, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    When I was a little girl in India, my grandparents and Aunt visited Lourdes. They brought me back a rosary that glowed in the dark. It was my favourite and I fell in love with Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. She is also known as ‘Nossa Senhora da Conceição’. Some of you may recognise my maiden name in there. I’ve had this desire to visit Lourdes since then.

    Today was the day!! I thought I would start crying and be overwhelmed with emotion when I got to the grotto. I was overwhelmed with emotion, but it was joy, not tears. Everywhere Paul and I walked, I was joyous. I walked through the grotto twice. I touched the smooth stone, touched before by millions of hands, blessed myself with the droplets of water rolling down the walls..just joyous.

    We walked around to the baths that were far too crowded, you need to book. The smiles on people’s faces when they came out, was amazing. I didn’t want to take a spot of someone who needed the water-gesture more that I did. Paul and I were happy to bathe ourselves from the taps at the same spring as the baths. We filled up our holy water bottles, cooled ourselves down and were joyous.

    We then caught the tail end of an English mass is the first chapel, had communion and hauled up a priest after to bless our water and rosaries. He was Farther Patrick Finn from Maine, USA. He used a special blessing from his prayer book. Incase you’ve never had one done…it’s an exorcism of the water first, in Latin, and then a blessing. I was very touched..and more joyous. ❤️

    We then climbed up to the two other chapels and offered prayers and asked for intercessions for all our loved ones.

    Am back at camp now. It’s very hot! Just made dahl, rice and chicken fry for dinner and now to cool down. I think I’m going to the Marian procession at 9pm.
    Read more

  • The Marian procession

    June 19, 2025 in France ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    One of this things Mary asked of Bernadette was there to be a procession of people praying.

    I thinks it’s a miracle to see how many people turn up for each one. For a quiet day, there was a HUGE crowd.

    We said the rosary along the way in so many different languages that I lost count. Good old English only got 3 Hail Marys.

    When I think about the fact we have so much conflict in the world and you can have so many different countries represented tonight…that my dear friends shows me that love will be the answer…not war. When we come together with common purpose, we can make that purpose love and peace.

    I’ve had my miracle today.
    Read more

  • Lourdes to Oto

    June 20, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We are in Spain!!!🇪🇸

    Woke up tired. Not unexpected. We left early, found some yummy croissants for breakfast. I swear everyone must use the same recipe because I have not had a single bad croissant on this trip.

    Driving through the Pyrenees was a lot of fun. Tall mountains, some still with snow on the very top, windy roads, jutting out rock to avoid and a whole pile of cyclists. There is a race on and people were still training!

    The first caravan park we stopped at was full for the weekend and their advice was that we weren’t going to find accommodation in town because of the race.

    The gods were smiling on us as the 45 minute drive has taken us into the heart of the Pyrenees mountain and close to two villages. The park in Oto is jam packed without feeling too crowded. It has a pool which is so nice given the heat!

    We had one of the worst dinners we’ve had on the trip. But all was forgiven as Brotto is a very pretty village. That’s right..Brotto is the village next to Oto.

    We are going to stay two nights as the drive was quite tiring for Paul on the windy roads. Today is a book work day. Yay!
    Read more

  • Nothing to see here

    June 21, 2025 in Spain ⋅ 🌩️ 24 °C

    Woke up late. Had French toast for breakfast and a walk to Borto to buy some meat for dinner.

    I really wanted a rack of lamb but the lady wouldn’t sell it to me and I couldn’t figure out why. So chicken it was!!

    Spent the rest of the day chillaxing. Went for a swim when the pool got less crowded. We’ve been blessed with some nice cooling rain. Time to go to bed now.

    Yes, Jack…that’s all the news I’ve got for today.
    Read more

  • A half day in Barcelona

    June 22, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Driving from Oto to Barcelona was lovely. Not much traffic on the road because it’s a long weekend holiday in Spain.

    Some amazing scenery along the way following a beautiful river down the mountains.

    We pulled in to someone’s backyard campsite. Lovely man and very helpful. Has the basics in place. Demountable shower and toilet block and plenty of shade.

    After a rest, we drove into Barcelona after we found a place we could park the motorhome close to the Gaudi attractions.

    We had a yummy Spanish lunch cooked by Nepalese people…they pass off very well as locals. I had a feeling they were authentic because they had a picture of dumplings on their menu. I asked Paul to check if they were Chinese and he said ‘No, they look local’. Lol.

    We then walked around the Sacred Family cathedral designed by Gaudi and were godsmacked with the design. Too crowed to go inside so we decided to take a taxi to La Rambla which is a shopping district. Poor Paul.

    However, there were some very interesting shops there. Plenty of souvenir shops owned by Indians, Bangladeshis and other South Asians…avoid them! Everything is made in China.

    Via the taxi ride we got to see a few more Gaudi designs. Thank goodness for the long weekend, most of the city was not crowded.
    Read more

  • Le Cirques de Portelis.

    June 22, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Left Spain after a short grocery shop. Check out how they sell Jamon in the supermarket.

    The French Riviera here we are!!! We’ve splurged and booked at a very upmarket caravan park. More report than park.

    We have the most beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea with boats coming and going in front of us. The vans are parked on terraces so everyone has an unobstructed view.

    We’ve decided to camp here two nights coz it’s so beautiful.

    Had one of the nicest dinners on the trip so far. Fresh seafood!
    Read more