Our Van Trip - It begins with the Tour de France

Us, our van and all of our worldly possessions. Don´t worry, we didn´t take half of this stuff. Most of it is currently being housed at Michelle´s (A work colleague of Drew´s) house. Thanks Michelle!!!

The van in all its glory. Even the bikes came with us!

Night 1- Dover. Drew testing out the new camping bbq.

Bangers and Mash. Our last of the traditional English meals!

Guess which one we are. Go on, guess. We felt mildly insignificant.

The trusty navigator in the navigator´s chair

Leaving the white cliffs of Dover

A refreshing drink after a very long drive

A typical view from our first few days in France.

Ste Mairie de Campon. A cute little town that the Tour headed through. The little stall in the photo was where we bought some great cheese and tried donkey and boar chorizo. We also swapped French and English lessons with the stall keepers.

Peg relaxing with a nice cup of tea halfway up the Col du Tourmalet (Biggest mountian in the French Pyrenees). Why are the bikes off? Oh, because the van overheated halfway up. This is the highest we got. Not to worry, we love tea!

Peg waiting in angst for the Tour to arrive. We chose our position on the side of the road (at a lower altitude than the Col) early and settled in to wait.

Us waiting, very patriotic!!! Note the Fosters as well!

Drew waiting as patiently as possible. He was very excited. Even had to wear his Kooragang racing jersey, just in case we got on TV!

The beginning of the "Caravan"- a parade of sponsor vehicles that precedes the riders by around an hour.

They put the craziest things on wheels

And these guys made it up the Col better than us!

A convoy of water bottles on wheels. Of course! These guys were also spraying us with water. We didn´t get that on camera...

What´s strange about seeing a teapot driving up a mountain?

These guys actually saw the flag and shouted at us over their PA. He asked where we were from, and when he heard Newcastle, he replied that we had made it up and it doesn´t exist. Note the co-pilot chatting up the blonde on the other side.

All the while the caravan was going past, every float was throwing "souvenirs" at us. This is the collection. Everything from keyrings and wristbands to hats and pretzels. If the Pretzels are making you thirsty, they chucked water as well!

Drew- so proud. Go Robbie and Cadel!

The Peleton of the Tour.

Peg´s favourite cyclist, after Drew of course, Tom Boonen. Ann-Maree take note- the real thing!

The procession following the peleton. This is only a glimpse of how many cars there were. About 10 times this many in total.

Coming back down the mountain there were many views like this. Truly amazing. The South of France is beautiful.

We saw the start of the next day in Luchon. Note Robbie McEwan, the Aussie, in green at the front. We gave him big cheers. He´s looking at our flag, we think.