Haribo

In France there is a lolly brand called Haribo. It is originally German but it is also quite popular in France and Italy. Dad, Sean, Mum and I all drove to Uzes where the Haribo museum is. At the beginning of the museum there was a giant store where they were selling all the Haribo lollies! The store was so crowded, it was amazing and people were stocking up on bags and bags of lollies! My favourite lolly sort was the Sour Straps. A man at the front desk gave us some tokens. He said that we were to use them in the tasting room. He also gave us a couple of mini bags of lollies.

Hans Riegel was the inventor of Haribo. He lived in Bonn which explains why he called Haribo, Haribo. If you circle Ha, Ri and Bo, it makes, Haribo! The first sweet Haribo invented was the dancing bear, which later became the Goldbear.

There was a room with all the posters and old advertisement posters that Haribo used to use. My favourite poster was one which had a picture of a man with a strawberry on his nose!

There was another room with lots of little desks. On the desks there were some touch screens and a little hole to put your hand through. First you stuck your hand in the hole and felt a lolly, then you listened, I know weird huh? and then you smelt, and figured out which lolly it was.

The last room was the tasting room. You put you token in to the machine and it gave you four bags of a liquorice or strawberry candy. I chose liquorice. I tasted and the lollies were so yum! At the end we walked through the museum store again. All the lollies looked soo good.

Out in the parking lot of Haribo there was a mini fun park. Sean and I chose to go on this jumping castle. It had a big blow up lion that every minute it closed its mouth. It also had a platform a zebra, a lion and an elephant. We sat on the animals while the platform tipped back and forward. I also went on these mini go carts. I lapped the other girl two times and and only crashed once!

Au Revoir

Friends and Family

Hello Everyone,

My Uncle Terry and Auntie Jean came to stay with us here in France. Once we had picked them up from the airport we drove to Fontaine de Vaucluse. We walked up to the top of a hill and in front of us there was a big cliff, cut in it there was a giant cave. The bottom of the cave was like a swimming pool. But there was still enough room for Sean and I to crawl onto a rock into the cave and look into the water. It was very blue, like chewing gum blue. Dad said that the last time he had been there, that the water had been gushing out of the cave and that it had covered the cave so you couldn't even see the cave!

When we were walking back down the hill we stopped at a paper museum where they had lots of examples of how they used to make paper. The people used to make paper by chopping wood and then squishing it into pulp. Then they would put it into a tub when it was white to dry it out a little and then they would squeeze it so it comes out in sheets and then puts it in cloths to dry and then, there you go, paper.

There was a door from the paper museum that led you into the towns mini-mall. We walked into a glass blowing shop and there was a man who was glass blowing a dragon.

We followed the Sorgue River down to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to have an ice-cream. We went to a cafe and I ordered a banana split. It came in a giant bowl with lots of smarties and butterflies on top!! It was sooo yum!

Before walking back to the car we walked around the antique markets and looked at all the knives and things on sale. My favourite object was a chair that had sprite and coke bottle lids stuck all over it!

With Auntie Jean and Uncle Terry we looked at the lavender fields in Sault. We stopped on the side of the road to look at the purple fields and my uncle found a pair of new sunnies that fit me! They were just lying there, by the side of the road! There was one lavender field that was very well kept and tidy. It looked like it was used for postcards.

We drove to Roussillon, a town well known for it's ochre mining. We walked up the hill to the top of the town to have lunch. From the view point you could see all around. As we walked back down through the village we stopped at an art gallery. The lady had some very pretty paintings. My favourite one was a painting of Sault with lots of cows grazing in the fields.

I went to my friends' house for a sleepover. We went to the public swimming pool in Baumes de Venise. We swam a lot and then we were called over to eat lunch. Constance and I had ham, cheese, and tomato toasties. We lay on the grass and found a tree with blackberries so we ate them and had races in the swimming pool. It was really fun.

At home here in Provence we have had many visitors come to see us during the last 2 months. The last family that came had kids our age with them, our friends from the sunshine Coast, Jack and Georgie. Jack, Georgie, Sean and I walked to the lake together, here in Mormoiron. There we climbed over the railing and then jumped into the lake from a little ledge. After a while the water got very cold as it started to get windy, but it was still fun. We swam into the reeds and Sean found a big clam. He was playing around with Jack and accidently dropped it, the clam cracked and there was a big mussel inside!

That afternoon we drove to the big adventure park just outside Mormoiron. This park is filled with flying foxes and challenging climbing and obstacle courses to get around. A harness allows you to clip yourself onto safety wires and gloves protected our hands from rope burn. Joined from tree to tree there are ropes and wires. There is 6 courses all up with various difficulty levels. They are green, blue, black, blue, red and double black. It takes about 2 and a half hours to complete them all. I did all the courses and so did Jack and Mark. The others didn't finish the entire course. We were all exhausted by the end.

There is a Fete in Mormoiron right now. Jack and Georgia came to the fete with us. I went on the trampolines first. It was so cool. I jumped really high and did lots of flips, I nearly did a double flip!! We kept walking around and I had ago at throwing hoops around these boxes. I tried to get a big teddy bear but it was very hard because it didn't count if the hoop just sat on top, it had to go the whole way round the box so I didn't win anything.

Thanks for visiting and I will see you next time :-)

Dordogne

During these holidays, we visited the Dordogne, where we stayed with friends for 4 nights. We drove two and a half hours to get to the village of Roquefort, where we had a tour of the "Papillon" Roquefort cheese cellars. We first watched a movie on how Roquefort cheese was originally made, then we went on a tour of the caves. Roquefort cheese is made by "salting" the sheep's milk with penicillin, causing the cheese to develop green/blue mold. The cheese is matured in the caves, which stay at 10degC all year round, for a period of 90 to 260 days. There are only 7 manufactures who can call their cheese "Roquefort", and they fall within a zone of 2 km long and 300 meters wide within the village boundaries. When we finished the tour, we got to taste all the different Roquefort cheeses. We bought the best cheese and drove to the nearest park to eat it with some bread and butter.

We kept driving for half an hour until we reached the biggest bridge in France, The Millau Bridge! We drove across the bridge before stopping at a view point, and information centre. The bridge is 2460 meters long and the tallest column is 245m high.

That afternoon we arrived at the house of friends where we were staying, in the town of Thenon, in the Dordogne Valley.

The next morning we left for the markets at Sarlat. They were quite big and we saw a man, he had a little snake toy twirling around his hands so it looked like magic. They looked so cool so Sean and I bought one each. We felt them but they had nothing in them at all! There is a secret to how they work, maybe I will show you one day!! After the markets we drove to the Dordogne river where we had a boat ride that passed five chateaux, all within 1km of each other.

The next day we went to La Roque de St Christophe. La Roque de St Christophe is a cliff face 1km long and 80 meters high. It is made up of 5 terraces, which were first hollowed out 60 million years ago. The cliff was first a shelter for hunters 55 000 years ago and it was continually inhabited until the sight was destroyed during the Wars of Religion in the late 1500s. It had a couple of examples of how the cave men lived. The site was mostly occupied in the middle ages. We saw a demonstration where there was a big wheel, like in a hamsters cage, a man hopped into the wheel and walked. This machine was used as a winch to hoist up and down loads of food, water and other supplies.

That afternoon we went to the Gardens of Marqueyssac. The owners have hand-shaped the 150 000 box trees into lots of imaginative shapes. There was even a kids' maze that Sean and I raced through. I won. A part of the garden is even used for rock climbing.

We went to the Gouffre de Padirac. The Gouffre de Padirac is a giant cave where there are lots of stalagmites and stalactites. We walked through the cave and got into a boat and rode 1 kilometre into the cave. From there, we had a tour guide through the rest of the cave. We had to climb 465 big steps. The cave system has been mapped for 19 kilometres more into the cave, and at 9km remains of cave men, mammoth and cave bears were discovered. My favourite formations were the ones that looked like there was a stack of pancakes with maple syrup on top!! We also saw a 60 meter column. A column is when a stalagmite and a stalactite meet, so then they become a column. When we had the boat ride back the man who was paddling would always rock the boat scaring us all as we thoughrt we were going to tip out. It was one of the most amazing caves I have ever seen.

I had lots of fun in the Dordogne!

Camargue and Marseille

We had great fun in the Camargue! The Camargue is a coastal region in the south of Provence, covered in wetlands. When we first arrived we went to a bird park, called the Pont de Gau bird sanctuary. It holds all different types of birds, including flamingos. We walked around the whole zoo studying all the different birds they had. My favourite was the flamingo. I especially liked the flamingos that were fluoro pink with a black outline around the wings.

After the zoo we went to the nearby seaside town of St Maries de la Mer. We walked around the town and climbed to the roof of the church where we had a fantastic view of the surrounding countryside. After looking at all the little shops, we walked to the town's beach where we had a quick swim.

We drove along the road passing lots of different pony clubs, we stopped at one and went on a horse ride for an hour and a half! We learned to trot and also rode the horses into waist deep water, it was sooo much fun!!

We drove to the town of Salin de Giraud, a salt mining area, because this part of the Camargue is well known for its salt production. Salt is made by filling sea water into small bays, and letting the sun evaporate all the water, leaving you with a layer of salt. The salt is then scraped up and placed on large conveyor belts and sent for processing.

Later in the week we went to Marseille. Marseille is the oldest inhabited city in France. It has been inhabited for 2600 years! We walked around the old city and into an amazing church called Cathedral de la Major. It was very big and built out of marble.

We then caught a boat to the Chateau d'If, on a small island off the coast of Marseille. Until the 16th century it was a barren island, only visited by local fisherman. On a trip to Marseille in 1516, King Francois I decided to make it a fortress. It was turned into a prison in 1540, and remained a prison until World War I. Two of its legendary inmates were the Count of Monte Cristo and the Man in the Iron Mask.

On the weekend I went to my friends' house to have a sleepover! We swam in the pool lots, jumped on the trampoline and watched Avatar! I had great fun!!

Au Revoir :-)

Tarascon and Dolium

On Sunday, my Oma and Opa arrived. They have been traveling around Europe for 2 months and they dropped in to stay with us. They had bought us some very fancy Swiss chocolates and so we sat down and devoured some with a cup of tea.

In the morning we left for Tarascon, a big town to visit the chateau of, well, Tarascon. We walked around the chateau rooms. There were many winding staircases and when you walked into the rich rooms where the kings and queens probably slept, in the corner there were tiny rooms where there was a hole, where they obviously went to the toilet, and it dropped around 60 meters!! After we had looked around the castle we went to a cafe to go and eat. I had ham and wedges.

That afternoon we drove to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. We stopped at a cafe and had a milkshake and ice-cream.

Oma and Opa took us out to a restaurant called Dolium. It is a restaurant as well as as a cooking school. Dolium is a very fancy restaurant that is even in the Michelin guide! The Michelin guide is a guide where all of the best restaurant in France get listed. I had never been to Dolium before. For entree I had a spicy eggplant mousse that tasted like guacamole. For main I had the fish. And for dessert I had an apricot nectar and ice-cream dessert. It was sooo good! Next door there is a big wine cellar and when you go in you stand on glass and can look down into a wine cellar!

:-) YUMMY!! Au Revoir.

Rock Climbing, Banon and Magicland!

Last Friday, Mum's cousin, Ruben, came to our house to take us rock climbing. He arrived here in Mormoiron with a whole bag of harnesses, ropes, helmets and hooks. We left early the next morning for the Dentelles Montirails, a mountain range of outcropping limestone rock that looks like a row of teeth from far away.

Ruben explained how to put on our harnesses and when I had put mine on, I asked him to test it and he grabbed the hook and lifted me up with his hands. It was lots of fun and I knew I was safe and ready to climb!! I got to go first!

The climb was 30 meters high and it was rated 4A/4C - medium. I climbed for about 20 meters using all the available hand and foot holes. The last 10 meters was really difficult as there were fewer and fewer places to grip but I finally reached the very top!! From there I looked around and saw all the other mountains around me. One of the rocks across the valley had a huge hole in it that you could see through! The scariest bit, but also the best bit, was abseiling down on the rocks to everyone cheering.

That night we were all very sore!

The next day we left for Banon, a town 70 km east of here. It is famous for 2 things, firstly its Banon goat's cheese and secondly, its bookshop. We went into the local fromagerie and tasted and then bought their cheeses. The man was an expert and explained the difference between all the cheese.

The bookshop was located in a huge 3 story building and was as good as I had hoped. It attracts people from all over Provence!! After we explored all the rooms in the bookshop we walked to the top of the 13th Century village and saw an art exposition in the church.

Yesterday, my class and I went to Magicland, a theme park! We went to celebrate the end of our school year. After this week, my big summer holidays will start!

My favourite ride was when you sat in a log, then you went up in an escalator, and flew down the slide into a spray of water! I went on it 4 times! There was also a giant roller coaster that I loved...

My teacher let us go off in the park by ourselves and explore! He didn't place us in groups or say we had to be back at the meeting place at a certain time, we were free to do as we pleased!!!

I had great fun at Magicland!

Le Mans Race Weekend

We left for Le Mans on Thursday driving 4 hours to arrive at the Toulouse Airbus Factory. The tour began in the telemetry room with a presentation of the A380 programme. We then entered the Jean-Luc Lagardere site and saw, from a watch tower, the general testing stations, the outside testing stations and an view of the entire site. Finally we boarded a full scale model of the A380 and saw the interior of the worlds only double decker!

We kept on driving all the way to Mauriac, a very small town in Bordeaux. Bordeaux is also a very well known wine region. The lady at our bed and breakfast was very kind and helpful so she rung the people who owned the nearby Chateau Gaury Balette. Chateau Gaury Balette is a 33 hectare vineyard. We met the owner who led us on a tour of the vineyard. First we walked around all the vines and he told us that it was a tradition in Bordeaux that you never have a single grape variety wine, you always mix between two and four varieties, and then put them in a bottle! Next we headed towards the factory and the man showed us his Lamborghini tractors, it was very funny, and we got to sit inside them. Then he took us inside the factory and showed us all the vats that he kept his wine in. He also had oak barrels that had his special wine in them! Then we went into the tasting room. Dad and his friend tasted wines while Sean and I drunk grape juice. After we had finished the wine tasting, we left for the nearby town of Mauriac and ate pizza at a pizzeria!

The next day we drove 6 hours to Malicorne, a town just south of Le Mans, and our base for the 24 hour car race! That afternoon we drove into Le Mans to watch a drivers parade. The drivers parade was going all through town. I loved the middle part of the parade because they were throwing out lots of freebies! I even caught an Audi T-shirt! They also threw out these tire yo yo's that are really cool. After we had had enough of the parade we went back to the hotel to get a good sleep for the next day.

The next day we woke up and left for Le Mans at 8am. We watched a few races before the big race came on. When it was 3 o'clock, the adrenaline was pumping in everyone including the crowd! The racers started by doing an old tradition- standing on one side of the track and then when the whistle blew, the drivers would run over and jump into their car. In the olden days the people would stand on one side of the track and then when the whistle blew, the drivers would run over and jump into the car and drive off to start the race! But instead of driving off then, the drivers just sat and made sure everything was OK with the car. So then they all had a practice lap and lined up at the start. Then the whistle blew and they were off!! There was 4 categories of cars. We watched the cars that day and at 10pm we left the track with all the cars still running on the track.

The next morning the bus left at 10am for the track. That morning we all looked at the shops. I bought a Ferrari T-shirt. That afternoon we went back to the stands and watched all the cars until the end of the race- 3 o'clock. When it came to 3 o'clock, Audi's passed over the line 1,2,3, to victory!!!! We watched them go to the podium to spray champagne and get their trophies! That afternoon we left the track feeling very exhausted.

That night we drove into Malicorne the town near the the hotel. We chose a little restaurant called La Petit Auberge. I had a seafood terrine for entree and a steak and vegetables for my main meal. We had the best tart for dessert, it was mango and apple with coffee ice-cream on the side. Soooo good!!

The next morning we drove 6 hours to get to Vichy, a town known for it's thermal baths. That afternoon we got driven around Vichy in a little train seeing all the sights. After the train ride was finished we all walked around the shops and when we went to the tourist information centre, Sean found this really cool brochure on a place called Royatonic. Royatonic is a thermal bath centre in the nearby town of Royat. We decided that on our way home the next morning we would stop there and have a swim.

The next morning we ate breakfast quickly and left to get to Royatonic. We had a swim and it was so cool, there were all these little spa's that all had different temperatures, there was even a perfume one! After a few hours of swimming we left for home in Mormoiron!

It was a great trip!