L'annee de vie dangereuse

2026, the year of living dangerously. This year, France beckons again, with another 12 month long stay visa and a lease car arranged for pickup from Bordeaux. Les Petites Rivieres is our base as the kitchen/dining room extension is planned to commence in April/May and we will be Emma Lou and Johnny's 'eyes on the ground' for the duration.

We waited with intrepidation as flights through the UAE resumed, following the USA's attack on Iran on February 28th. It came out of the blue and certainly put the world on edge with Smart Traveller alerts to avoid the area due to missile attacks throughout the Middle East.
All the advice pointed to holding tight until such time as the airline actually cancelled the flight, as insurance was invalid 'in the case of war and tempest'.
So that's exactly what we did and eventually, on Friday 13th March, we received the expected cancellation email for our flight from Brisbane to Paris on 17th March. So with permission to explore other options, we spoke to our lovely travel agent, Amanda, and having established that Emirates had scheduled flights from Melbourne to Paris, we duly booked our departure, a day earlier with just a 1hr changeover time in Dubai, and were able to secure an additional night in Paris at the boutique Hotel Mistral.

First stop on the itinerary was Brisbane and we left Cairns as planned, carrying only 13kgs each in our new back packs, on Saturday 14th March just before a massive rain event caused major flooding in the region. We made our way to Buderim and spent a couple of nights with Nana, who at 98 years old, is slowing down and noticeably more fragile than she was on our last visit in early December. She loved the company, especially at mealtimes, and enjoyed reminiscing with Roger over times gone by. Still as sharp as a tack, conquering crosswords and word puzzles ad nauseum, she doesn't miss much, except the company of family and friends, although this is ultimately very tiring for her.

Second stop was Melbourne and we were winning once again, getting exit row seats on an earlier Virgin flight which gave us extra time with the grandchildren in Melbourne. As expected there was disbelief when Nanny P and Poppy opened the front door as Will and Holly came home from a school and we had fun catching up with all the school and sport news along with lots of cuddles. And then, as the heavens opened, our chauffeured transport arrived and took us safely to Terminal 2, Melbourne airport, where we could finally relax with champagne of course.Read more