Workaway 3: Parisot, France

Ryan Air wasn't so bad; Rome to Bordeaux. Our car company guy, Eric, was waiting for us on arrival, to show us the new Peugeot that we've leased for 5 months. It's going to be good having our own transport now, and going at our own pace. The 40 minute drive to our overnight BnB was easy, thanks to the GPS, and soon we were pottering around a nice little rural place as we chatted to the hosts, Frank and Brigitte.

Frank had built the best ever hen house, safe from foxes. Their hens must have good balance and a head for heights as they step across the narrow suspended bridge to nest. We slept soundly (beautiful linen), and drove off to the Tarn et Garonne region the next day.

Got to Parisot early afternoon and met our Workaway hosts for the next 10 days. We were so excited to see the chateau, where we have been happily planting flowers, weeding,  trimming wisteria and bamboo ever since. We are living in a comfortable separate house in the grounds. For this one, food is provided, and we cook our own meals. We work 8am to 1pm, 5 days per week.

This is one of the exciting things about Workaway. If you are prepared to take some risks, and to offer your time to people, you can get really lucky and find yourself in a pretty little village in France, making friends with interesting people and being part of the local life for a spell.

You can just see 'our chateau' with the turrets, 1501, in the soft dusk light. 

During the Revolution, as well as beheading people, turrets also got the chop. 

So over the last few years, the owners have had them completely restored. 

We've been exploring the area on our afternoons off. Went to a great little food and artisan market at Sant Antonin, and spent most of Saturday exploring the medieval village of Caylus. 

The only tricky things have been our incompetence at French, and the sporadic access to WiFi. 

C'est la vie.

Lizzie

From Suits to Boots

It's going to be an interesting transition. I spent Saturday afternoon trying out work/hiking boots for size and comfort. It was nice to do something real, and to think more about the changes ahead.

For the past 4 years I've donned a business suit and gone to work in an office - a very pleasant office, with views across Wellington harbour. Board papers, spreadsheets, policies and regulations have paid my bills.

But now, it's all going to be different. I'm trading my physical labour, and a bit of advice here and there, for accommodation and meals. I'm stepping into other people's lives and businesses, to offer my help. They are very interesting lives, in great places - Orange in Oz, Touzac in France, and Policoro in Southern Italy.

I'm going from indoors to outdoors, from cerebral to practical, from suits to boots...

Lizzie's Bloke (guest blogger)

Bergerac

We arrived from Paris via Bordeaux feeling a bit jaded as the past week had caught up with us. In Paris for the first two days we walked a great deal and got caught in several showers, but it was worth it, especially the Musee D'Orsay. But then Mario got a pinched nerve in his back and I got a headache which just wouldn't go away.

Bergerac became a place to chill out and relax. A perfect place, curving gently up from the wide Dordogne River and made up mostly of golden sandy coloured buildings and narrow streets. We felt we could easily find our way around and just start to enjoy the sunshine and wine. We booked four nights at the Europ'Hotel; a pleasant little place on the edge of the old town with about 20 rooms and a lovely clean swimming pool.

Now two days on we are less frazzled and we've stopped looking at our watches. The market on Saturday was really buzzing with more varieties of tomatoes, radishes and asparagus than I have ever seen before. Today there was some sort of town fete and they strung a hammock type netting alongside the Pont Vieux (quite a stretch, five arches). Locals were lining up to struggle across it, each crossing taking about 20 minutes.

Each afternoon and evening we sit down in the foyer and watch the World Cup games and try and figure out the French commentary. Our friendly hosts can't understand why we are supporting or interested in so many countries - NZ, Italy, Spain, Australia and England. Our French (with bits of Italian and English thrown in) is hopeless, so we cannot explain these things very well, it took us two days to get a good cup of tea sorted.

Lizzie

Finally Started

Well, here goes...

This is the planning stage - 56 days around Europe from 9 June onwards for a couple of Kiwis leaving London to head homeward. We're a couple of 'shifty fifties', and we are preparing to start our adventure.We think we may be addicted to change, but then, what the hell!

Thought I'd start now, because after all, the excitement has begun already. We've resigned from the London jobs, and booked our return fares. Every Sunday morning we sit up in bed with our net-books on our laps and have a Flight-of-the-Conchords type meeting:

M - present

E - present

We are plotting a trip that starts in Paris, goes through Spain, then Portugal, then Spain again, then back through Italy. We finish off with a week in Sardinia, then its back to London to take that long flight to Sydney.

Lizzie