No, no updates, just a photo to amuse you all.

Who do you think this looks like?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6137/6021657530_994449ba4b_t.jpg

Its actually a saint from a cathedral in Antigua, Guatemala.

So, what have we been up to this past week. Well, ignoring the 3 day Migraine that has finally left me alone, not a huge amount. I do have a photo for you. Bonus double ristretto for those who can identify its location (without cheating). You must visit to claim!

What else has been going on. Last weekend we got sick of house stuff and decided to become tourists again. This time we went South. About as far South as it gets, we hit the end.

Where exactly? look at the pretty map!

Why? We went to the caves and the the thermal springs. The caves themselves (Hastings Caves) were discovered by some loggers who were actually poaching timber at the time. Not the biggest cave we have visited but pretty fun all the same.

We did see some other cool stuff on the trip down. This pier was a private pier, locked to us, but not to the birds.

Also Mount Adamson which is almost like a mini Mt Fuji

And lastly some shadows.

So, this weekend. More furniture shopping, some cleaning and organising, some seeing friends. Maybe even a movie. Really though we just want to move in and enjoy our house.

We started the day in Lyon having arrived the night before. Lyon itself, no idea. We spent the night in an airport hotel in order to pick up Felicity first thing the next morning. We were very pleasantly surprised by Felicity. Brand spanking new, we got her through the Peugeot Open Europe lease program. So cheap for a new car. Fantabulous.

So, Lyon to Le Puy as seen below. Of course, we had some quirks driving in France for the first time. Excitement was had all around.

What is Le Puy-en-Velay famous for? Its old cathedral and the chapel on top of a rock. As well as the statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the town.

Look, lets have some pictures. They are more fun than me waffling.

First, an overview of the town.

The old Cathedral

The Chapel on the rock, the Saint Michel d’Aiguilhe.

And the Statue of the virgin Mary. Its hollow, and you can climb the whole interior, right into the head. Scary but fun.

All in all, a really interesting, historic and fun place to start a road trip through South West Europe.

Of course, first a picture to show you.

This is the view we have in the mornings. Snow on that there mountain. Lots of snow. Enough snow I’m told to be able to go cross country skiing. Now there’s something I want to try out one of these days.

Back to house. We’ve got plenty to get on with over the next 3 weeks. Since putting things in storage back in July 2006, we’ve probably forgotten much of what we have. That said, we know some of the big stuff we do, and don’t have. Fridge, yes. Sofa’s, yes. Bed, no. TV, no. etc etc.

So the shopping begins. We also need to get delivery organised for suitable times. Luckily, for me at least, time off isn’t a problem. I’m told that up until a couple of years ago I could have got some bonus “moving house” days off, but that perk has been scrapped. Can’t say I mind, its a pretty good place to work as it is.

Shopping. Last weekend we went bed shopping. So much choice, so many different price points, technologies, colours, firmnesses etc etc etc. We tried a few, found one we liked, then tried a different one for a laugh. Wow, magic. We bought the nice fancy one. Expensive But half price

What else, not much. Work is getting busier, my head is getting fuller. The projects are simultaneously getting clearer and fuzzier at the same time. Normal really.

First, a photo. Think of what France means to you and what kind of image could sum up France. I came up with this from the amazing town of Le Puy-en-Velay. What could possibly be more french than a citroen 2CV against the backdrop of an ancient cathedral.

So, a week and no blogging. Bad me. Why?

We bought a house!!! Well, everything is signed and just awaiting us to dot the final i’s and cross the final t’s. Sooooo exciting.

What house. Where? Why? Who? What other questions beginning with W can I dream up?

Lets post the link so you can see yourself.

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-tas-west+hobart-106883469

Its an 1850′s cottage which has been updated and extended a bit, on an internal block. 3 bed, 2 bath, garage, deck, garden and all everything we could want.

Rob, our property hunter found us this place. We both looked and loved it. We then let him loose to do his magic, and magic he did. An amazing deal was negotiated. No idea how he managed it, but even by his standards this is a ripper. So, with any luck, we might be moving in within about 5 weeks, fingers crossed.

Work is getting crazier too. Fun but busier. Exciting.

Fun fun fun,

The sun rising in the morning as seen through the trees in Salamanca.

Teapot and its shadow from the Chado tea house.

So, houses. Still things in the works. Our man Rob is working hard and seems to think that things might be happening. Still, not getting the hopes up. If its going to happen it will happen. There are plenty of houses out there.

We did find a most fantastic place today. Chado, the way of tea. A food menu of maybe 8 items, but a tea menu which is maybe 10 or 15 pages long. Huge amazing collection. Food was unbelievable too, amazing japanese inspired menu, stunningly fresh and well prepared. If you come visit, we’ll point you in the right direction.

Tonite? Off to visit friends. Tomorrow? NFI.

See, I told you. Crazy. What is it, who did it, why? No idea who did it, probably local students. Where? Woolworths Sandy Bay. What is it? I’ll leave that to your imagination.

As for the rest of the craziness…… well, its crazy.

House. Crazy stuff there too. After missing out on the first place, we engaged a housing broker to help us out. Rob. So far its been extremely positive. He shortlisted a mountain of properties down to 12 for us, we’ve seen a few before, a few new ones and maybe THE ONE. Just an old cottage, 1850′s or so. 3 bedroom, 2 bath, garage, bells and whistles. We’ve instructed him to proceed on preparing and offer on our behalf so we shall see what comes of it. Having the broker really makes things less stressful and helps remove some of the emotional games that real estate agents like to play. He knows the game, knows the rules and knows what he’s doing. I guess its now a wait and see. Obviously we don’t want to pay silly money or even over the valuation, but he’s aiming to save us quite a bit. Fingers crossed.

So. Life. Busy. Crazy. Entertaining. Carrots and Avocado’s.

Obviously the famous Rock of Gibraltar features heavily in the images. So, I’ll just post an image wall and let you look. Remember, click and you can get big high quality images. Enjoy.

So, what did we think? Very pleasantly surprised. Hopefully some more pics soon, but the whole town/country felt like a small English town transplanted into the tropics. It was hot, sunny and beautiful, but still with that English look and feel. Peclulair and amazing. Go Visit.

If you look and squint carefully, you can make out the water and an old style sailing ship. The other lights? Really not sure. It turned out to be a long exposure photo when I wasn’t expecting one. The result just happened to be something I liked, so here it is.

So, over a week since last post. Whats been happening? Lots basically. Lot and lots. Its been bloody cold, its getting wet, its dark and its still Hobart!

We’ve had volcanic ash

and the brilliant sunsets it brings.

Speaking of which, you all have 4 days left to vote for me in a national photo comp. You can vote using your Facebook login, so you don’t even need to register. No excuses. Go Vote! Ideally for the “spectator” photo.

http://myregion.strutta.com/entries?sort=search&order=mike%20rowe

House hunting. Well, we’ve learnt lots about real estate agents. Mostly not good things. They are pushy and manipulative and drive us crazy. Nothing new there. What is new is our new approach to the house hunting. We’ve got our own real estate agent working for us. He’s a buyers agent. Ignore the cheesy website and its My Property Hunter who we are using. Basically they do mountains of research, get to know us and what we are looking for, find places which are suitable and show us around them. Then if we like places, they do all the negotiating and bargaining on our behalf. They (he) knows the rules and how to play the game. This is where we struggle. Ideally he should save us a decent amount of $$$ as well as making sure we actually buy suited to our needs. Pretty exciting stuff. Besides, it takes the emotion out of house hunting and its the emotion that the real estate vendors count on to get the best prices.

So, more house hunting in the form of waiting for suitable properties to be emailed to us – check Susies blog for more on this front. More trivia we can’t win down at the casino, and spicy lamb rice stir fry for dinner. Yum.

Actually, I’m sure there are rules to the game. Basically it involves going round the circle in 2 minute “Jams” with the chick with the star on her head trying to lap “the pack”. They score points for every opposing team member they manage to pass.

This leads to lots of pushing, hitting, slamming and pain. All exciting stuff. Why did we go? Our friend Tiarne from Launceston was taking part! We went to cheer her on and observe this new sport.

Now, a mountain of photos. A big mountain. Sorry. Enjoy.