So long i had been counting down to this trip, that the excitement was totally exhausted by the time i boarded the plane. normally the strangeness of airports and expectation of hours of sardine-can flight fuel me. but a full 24 hours did not cure me...until i saw this:
I am told this is Antibes, i cant confirm. but i can talk of how strange and alien it is to me. how beautiful. with black and white mountains falling into peach roofs and down to a big blue sea. finally the realization that i couldn't be further from home, that i knew no-one and this had all been a very, very good idea


This is the port of Nice, where i am staying. it really isn't too bad here. Perth was going into summer and the rain was falling thick, transit through Heathrow required the wings of the aircraft to be sprayed with neon green anti-freeze prior to take off, and Nice looks like this...all the time


I went for a beer with my friend AJ on arriving, to which he decided the prices were far too expensive, so we should continue or drinking in Italy, in a crazy little port town called Imperia. what happened for the next 2 days i cant exactly recall. so i'll let the photos explain the trip:

The cats I'd been hanging with

we went bowling apparently (shot looks good from here, it wasn't, I'm rubbish at ten pin)


an afternoon at the fairgrounds. (if your riding bumper cars, bring a beach ball, bumper polo more than doubles the fun)


 the waterfront in Imperia


another clear eve on the Mediterranean



 And now back to sleepy nice. I've one week to become french, with a passport, bank account and some hold of the language. I'll need all of that week due to their love of paperwork.

Well that's me for now, so I'm off to the balcony for a vino in the sunset (ps, thanks Bob for the wine, you said the first drink was on you!)