Outback #1

Meeting our pilot and plane ....

.. and the pilot's boss!

These planes don't go everywhere.

The Red Baron. The other pilots in the hanger couldn't stop laughing when Bill dressed the part.

Ready to go!

A serious Cathy early in our first flight.

A relaxed Paul.

The Flinders Ranges. The cloud and fog were too thick for us to go near them at this stage.

Paul flying! (Well, just a little bit)

Flinders Ranges

Heading for Wilpeena Pound.

Wilpeena Pound

First sight of Lake Eyre

Desert.

Lake Eyre and desert.

Our first stop - Moorileena Station

On the ground again!!

The spare parts shop at the cattle station. Cindy, the owner's wife, says the station is "just under a million acres". Medium size.

Two navigators at work.

Another two birds

Cathy takes over lunch

Still in Grignon, doing some loose shopping before lunch

On the heights of Grignon

looking at the rooftops

and alleyways

Some flowers

and finally to lunch

and then Cathy grabbed the camera. This is her lunch ....

... and my entre (raw beef with truffles!)

... and more of Cathy's lunch

....and my main (lamb cooked for 7 hours)

... then Cathy's dessert (fine detail)

... and the full Cathy's dessert

John's dessert - ice cream and toffee with truffles (?)

The world seen through Cathy's eyes on the way home. The rose level seems to have reached her glasses

Lunches

Lunch at the Bistro in Vinsobres

Still there, with Claire and John

Lavender fields. The colours are really getting intense as the days get hotter. Nowadays you see the lavende, the grapevines and the tournasols.

We drove to St Paul-aux-Trois-Chateaux which will be the start point for Stage 16 of the Tour this year. The Tour actually goes down the road past Vinsobres, along the section that I ride each day.
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The roundabouts near St Paul-Aux ... are covered with Tour things

Cathy, of couirse, has eyes for other things

and these are for you, Anne

Lance Armstrong signed this!!!

Another rond-point

Lunch in a little village where the Order of Templars was formed.

Pretty flowers

Cathy checking our car before we gave it back.

Claire cleaning Val's pool

Off to ride around (but not up) Le Ventoux

That's the mountain in the background

On the way to lunch at Grignon.

Le Hotel de Ville a Grignon