Understanding Why There is a Glenorchy Case in the Environment Court this Week.

It is only possible for a case to reach the Environment Court when the Court considers there are real issues to be appealed or considered.  The case this week presented by a Glenorchy Community member has met this criteria.

The Glenorchy Community has a very clear vision for the entranceway for its town.  The vision was drawn up a number of years ago after a very thorough and detailed Community planning process.

The vision is for a wide open approach through the town with a tree-lined avenue, grassy verges and clear open views.

Since then much has been done to implement the vision.  Council changed the rules in the District Plan for Glenorchy, strips of land have been taken for planting and a fair number of trees have been planted by the Community in accordance with the landscape plan in the Glenorchy Community vision.  New buildings that have been built have all been set back 5 metres from their front boundary.

The Environment Court will be asked this week to modify Pounamu’s plans for ‘Camp Glenorchy’ that were approved by Council so that the Glenorchy Community Vision Plan is adhered to and the hard work and effort put in by the Community to date is not compromised and importantly it still remains possible to implement the long term vision.

If the Glenorchy Community Vision Plan was adhered to the following would be in place:

• ·       Buildings would be set back 5 metres from the boundary.
• ·       There would be a deciduous tree-lined avenue with wide open grassy verges.Providing wide open views.
• ·       Un-impeded access for horses and pedestrians.

Plans approved by Council that are being appealed in the Environment Court.

• ·       Buildings are right up to boundary onto the reserve.
• ·       Three quarters of the public reserve is being fenced off as a front garden for the cabins.
• ·       Existing avenue of trees cut down.
• ·       Replacement with dense clusters of beech trees that cause shading and frost hazards.
• ·       Access along the reserve on horseback no longer possible.

Glenorchy’s vision plan and the rules in the District Plan state that buildings on Oban Street need to be set back 5 metres from their front boundary.  The plans approved by Council allow the cabins to be built right onto the boundary.

The Reserves Act requires planting schemes etc. to be drawn up between Council and the Community and in this case the expectation is, Council would base their plan on the Glenorchy Community vision.  Instead Pounamu approached and were given permission by Council, without consultation with the Community and contrary to the Community plan, to fence off significant parts of the Reserve.  This effectively annexes it to their site as a front garden and access to the cabins, and allows planting of the Reserve in a way that is completely at odds with the Glenorchy Community plan.  The approved planting will also cause safety hazards, shading and frosting of the roads in the winter and make it impossible to pass along the Reserve on horseback.  Plans for Camp Glenorchy show cars parked along the road in front of the cabins where children cross to go to school.

The first drafts of Pounamu’s plans for the site that were widely circulated through the Community showed the cabins setback “to comply” with QLDC requirements and the Glenorchy Community plan.  Along the way, more and more buildings and structures have been put on this site and the cabins have been pushed forward right up to the boundary foregoing the required 5 metre setback.  Pounamu’s lawyers have argued this does not apply to them because of the poor wording in the District Plan.  i.e. making use of a loophole.  The Environment Court is being asked to re-write the setback rule to remove the claimed ambiguity that is in the existing rules and to confirm the outcome of the clear decision made by the hearing panel when Council changed the rules at the request of the Community  i.e all buildings setback 5 metres from the beautification strip along Oban Street.

The beautification strip is public Reserve and what happens there or is planted or built-on it must be agreed after an open, Council lead consultation process.  In this instance Pounamu were given permission to undertake landscaping works without any reference to the Community before being given that permission.

Under the guise of protecting planting three quarters of the public Reserve will be enclosed by a fence.  The landscaping will make it impossible to use the reserve to pass along on horseback.  The intention is to plant a significant number of beech trees (50).  This will cause shading, frosting, loss of views from properties on the other side of the road and is contrary to Councils own tree policy*

The existing deciduous trees that were planted by the Community in accordance with the vision plan, don’t cause shading or frosting in the winter.  The trees that are planted on that Reserve represent the first steps in achieving a tree-lined avenue along the entranceway to Glenorchy and this work has been further continued as can be seen by the individual trees planted between Campbelltown and Glenorchy.

The proposal to remove these trees and replace them with dense plantings of beech and other natives totally undermines any chance of the Community long term vision of the entranceway being achieved.

There has been a lot of implied criticism by some in the Community, of the court action and resulting delay in the construction of Camp Glenorchy. At the end of the day if the plans for Camp Glenorchy met with the rules in the district plan there would be no case in the Environment Court.

It is a very daunting and un-rewarding job to stand up to the unlimited resources of developers and the continual obstruction by Council. It shouldn’t be too much to ask that Council follow the due process that protects the rights of the Community as a whole.

 Having strong-minded individuals in our Community who stand up and speak for what they believe to be right is part of what makes Glenorchy what it is. It will be a sad day when we lose our integrity and self-belief. It is a sad day when we are prepared to sell out our integrity and our beliefs to the highest bidder.

Glenorchy is undergoing rapid growth and change.  There is no point in the Community producing visions if we allow them to be overturned at the first opportunity.  If they are, Glenorchy will be a much poorer place as result

The hearing is in Queenstown in the courtrooms at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday 21 October and is open to the public.

Paris Sewers 4 Aug - Maverick scribed by James

We woke up to a brand new day in Paris. It wasn't the most enjoyable night we heard arguments and someone even got robbed and they where yelling thief in French. Also someone was tagging a building with spray paint (luckily not ours) . Finally Paris went quite for at least ten minutes and I fell asleep unexpectedly

Well back to our morning James and Sam got dressed then packed up the sofa bed. To find that John had gone to a bakery brought some pastries and bread all fresh from the oven and smelling delicious. Breakfast was delightful with cereal ,Nesquick , pastries and toast. How could life be better. John made it even better. He said we are going to the Eiffel Tower. Yippee Eiffel Tower here we come.

Sadly there was a delay to our visit to the Eiffel Tower. In stead we did more sight seeing. John or Toni had heard of something called the Paris Story we visited to see when they play the next video and they bought tickets. This gave us sometime to get a coffee or a drink.
We visited a cafe to have a drink but all of had to have a drink and John and Toni wanted a coffee. All of us had have something to drink or order something if we wanted stay. Instead all of us left. Sammy really needed to pee and was being miserable. We came across another cafe which seemed good and no problems. Sam went to the toilet John and Toni had there coffee and all was well.

After the coffee we walked around and saw amazing churches and famous buildings and lots of pigeons. There was this one rumour that spreader round and apparently we're going to visit a sewer.

Yay time to see the Paris Story hmm I wasn't expecting head phones with different languages. Do you think they speak kakapo?
 We had to change channels to change languages and yet they still interfered also only one side was working. The story was great with lots of info.
Did you now the Eiffel Tower was going to get disassembled but instead got turned into a radio communication tower?
The thing that keeps the Eiffel Tower today is its reputation and the tourist with selfie sticks (which really get in the way).
Another fun kakapo fact is that, did you know they built quarry's under Paris which made the ground unstable and turned it into a catacomb?
There's still more facts like, Paris started off on a island on the river Seine and there's a famous church called Notradam there.

After the movie I was in an odd mood about the sewer. I didn't want to go in the sewer museum but I'm also curious about the sewers like of it was really true each tunnel had a street name or road on it.

I was fifty fifty about going down the sewers. When I smelled the stench of the sewers I kept my feathers on but only for the ways of science and curiosity so I stayed quite. Man I thought kakapo poo stank instead humans top the chart for smelliest poo. I thought this holiday humans where clean and just flush away their business. I thought it was so clean compared to kakapo ways now I know where it goes yeuch.

Is that a staircase a head and is that day light. Yippee where free from that horrible stench and now dirty Paris smells so clean compared to the last half hour. So where up now to find lunch and I'm glad I didn't have lunch before the sewers because I might of lost it. Time to find a cafe for lunch.

Ooh yes a pavement cafe perfect prices ant to high check, decent amount of customers 

check and a spare table for five and a kakapo under the table check. Hmm this seems fit the job. Lucy and James had burgers. Sam had a club sandwich. Toni had duck salad. Ohh poor duck. John had steak and frites  and I ate scraps. Apart from the duck.

After lunch we set out for the Eiffel Tower and see how many stairs we can climb. Where here and it seems bigger in the movies. Still impressive and my bird eyes are deceiving me there are massive queues for the elevators I mean come on how many people don't like stairs and every single person in that queue has to pay 15€ each easily over a hundred people where queuing thats a lot of money. We took the cheap way 2€ each to climb the stairs to the second floor that may sound very little like the second floor. The truth is that was masses of stairs like half an hour to the second floor it was easier on the way down though. The views where incredible you could see as far as Europe smog would allow you to. We are going down now and I'm allowed in the luxurious stabilised hand bag which I'm enjoying. Where down the Eiffel Tower and are nearly down it seems really high up when your there. But when you down on the ground it looks really easy.

We are going to the tube station and waiting for the tube to arrive 3 2 1 here it is. Where now standing up all the seats are taken and I'm living life in the hand bag. Near are station people got off where a bit out from city centre so lees people where on but still very little seats. Ahh where here time to get off and head back to the apartment.

Time for cocktail hour I just had juice while the kids had Oringina. It wasn't very long until Toni announced for more blogs the kids didn't look very happy. Sam mainly read most of the time. While Lucy and James where being productive.

Dinner time ooohh  more left overs of cold chicken in wraps or sandwiches. Which didn't last long hmm everyone was hungry. Foods over time to relax James and Sam also got ready for bed and Sam and James argued about who made the bed which Sam made very poorly and James had to remake the bed. Well that's the end of the day and it's time for another noisy night I'll ask Sam to close the window tonight thats all kakapo out.

Paris to London 6 August - Maverock scribed by Sam

 Hello it's Maverick and you caught me a little bit late because we are already leaving to have breakfast we walk around looking for a restaurant. Ahh ha here is one that looks nice I think We might eat here. The food is great and just on time to get the tube to the main railway station.
The place is huge we head up to the security with our tickets. It's strange that there is a ticket machine for the big train. We have an hour until the train comes, a lot of time to burn. Where on the train and were going 300 kilometers per an hour that is a kilometer ever 10 seconds. Finally we go under a big tunnel and suddenly were in England we get out of the station and to be picked up by Toni's old friend Mike. We hop in his blue car and nobody is stuck together we all have a seat. We get stuck in a traffic jam but finally we keep on going. We are dropped off at Bucking ham palace we wait for Mike because he has to find a place to park. He arrives and we visit all the Bucking ham palace state rooms we are given head sets to tell us about the palace I learnt a lot about Bucking ham palace. I can't remember all the names of the state rooms but there was 15. Now it's time to get back in the car to go Toni's other friend Velda to stay the night. We spent the afternoon messing about in the garden playing Giant jenga. It is time to have a BBQ yum meat on a BBQ delicious and dinner a picnic dinner making seats out of jenga we spent the rest of the night in the lounge up to 12 well good nightHello it's Maverick and you caught me a little bit late because we are already leaving to have breakfast we walk around looking for a restaurant. Ahh ha here is one that looks nice I think We might eat here. The food is great and just on time to get the tube to the main railway station.
The place is huge we head up to the security with our tickets. It's strange that there is a ticket machine for the big train. We have an hour until the train comes, a lot of time to burn. Where on the train and were going 300 kilometers per an hour that is a kilometer ever 10 seconds. Finally we go under a big tunnel and suddenly were in England we get out of the station and to be picked up by Toni's old friend Mike. We hop in his blue car and nobody is stuck together we all have a seat. We get stuck in a traffic jam but finally we keep on going. We are dropped off at Bucking ham palace we wait for Mike because he has to find a place to park. He arrives and we visit all the Bucking ham palace state rooms we are given head sets to tell us about the palace I learnt a lot about Bucking ham palace. I can't remember all the names of the state rooms but there was 15. Now it's time to get back in the car to go Toni's other friend Velda to stay the night. We spent the afternoon messing about in the garden playing Giant jenga. It is time to have a BBQ yum meat on a BBQ delicious and dinner a picnic dinner making seats out of jenga we spent the rest of the night in the lounge up to 12 well good night

Barcelona 1 August - Maverick scribed by Sam

Hi it's Maverick and I'm in Barcelona and today were going to the Goudi cathedral we have breakfast and head out to the Goudi cathedral as we get closer to it I'll tell you a bit about it. It was started more than a hundred years ago and it still isn't finished. They said it will be finished in 2026.
We got there and it was strange but impressive we did a circle around it and headed of to go shopping we get some things and then we go off to find Toni's friend that she went biking around the world with. We go to the Mexican restaurant that they said to meet up at. I never knew how much I like Mexican food it was great.

We wonder around with Toni's friend and decided that we would meet up tomorrow morning and have breakfast. So we get the metro to a park it was done be Goudi is well they had a cave with toilets and outside I see loads of parrots Squark I tried to communicate with them squark squark we walk for a little bit and head out for dinner, after dinner we take the metro to the {~Magic fountain~} it was amazing all its patterns and lights were really COOL!!! After 45 minutes of this super cool mist spraying fountain we go home and have a nice sleeZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Viella to Barcelona 30 July - Maverick scribed by James

We rose from are beds all fresh and ready for the new day.

To find Valerie and Jacque up and drinking coffee.

We started breakfast to find the, chocolate croissants that we should of eaten yesterday. I found the fresh bread all soft and tasty. Valerie drank tea out of the biggest cup I've ever seen it was huge. It was a bowl with a handle crazy right.

Sam and James where picking up all there paper planes that flew off. They found a total of eleven. One was missing. Where could it be?

Finally we where packed and ready to set off for our two hour car ride to Toulouse.

James slept most of the way there while Jacque swore at his GPS. We stopped at a Hard Ware store on the way to go toilet. James didn't enjoy waking up.

We finally got back on the road and James resumed his slumber. We arrived at Toulouse and we had to navigate through Toulouse to the station.

We've arrived at the station and we parked are cars in the multi storey car park. We dragged along the marked foot path to the elevator and found a huge elevator. The elevator could fit Toni''s TOYOTA IQ in there. That car could hold twenty Kakapo's with comfort in there. If you really wanted to.

Where saying good bye and I'm out of the bag yippee and I'm saying good bye to Valerie and Jacque. I liked there garden it was big and plenty of trees to climb and perch from.

We boarded are train and its sadly not a bullet train. We went all the way to Barcelona. Out the window we saw fields, lakes, salt pans, hills, mountain trains, and castles. That's right we saw a castle, an old fortification.

We have finally arrived and we're in Barcelona and hunting down a taxi that can carry the six of us. We gave the driver our location and he drove almost to the door but instead to the drop off point just down the road. We met the person who rented his apartment hour us. Hmm not another apartment. It was ok . The elevator looks like a toilet cubical and that can only take 1 person and all the bags. He showed us the apartment and showed us around then finally left. We decided to settle in.

To our luck another problem came Lucy left her tiny Emirates kid back pack some where and it had her iPad, phone and all mums emails and so forth. That made Lucy upset then grumpy she had nothing to do. We searched the apartment, the lift, the ground floor and that meant the only other option according to Lucy was the taxi.

Finally we went to the police. Why'd Lucy have to loose her bag? We queued, then put in what was the situation, then talked to an officer and finally showed them our pass ports. What a pain. I call it the Gooses law.

Lucy was lying round and being pouty, it's still gooses law. Mum offered Lucy her tablet and that made her at least cooperate.

Finally after the gooses law was over I was out of fuel. We went on a hunt for a tapas bar and eat. Lucy still had a slight bit of gooses law left and was upset about her loss. Then food arrived it was really tasty and never really lasted long. We walked back and with sleep on our minds that's what we did.

Venice 25 July- Maverick scribed by James

We woke to a satisfying morning and had breakfast. We where talking all about getting lost. John managed to find the longest boat ride for Eur 7.50. He managed to get us all the way round to the other side of Venice.

On the boat ride we watched big boats, little boats, and police boats pass by. We passed a military barracks or something but we peeked in as we passed there dock and we saw a submarine.

We got to the end of our boat ride and arrived at St marks square. We saw waiters playing music serving food and entertaining it was really nice the we spotted NZ in Venice they had set up in an old library with paintings still on the roof and they where lovely. They had talked about security or something it was quite an odd collection that I really didn't get.

Finally we did what we came for we got lost we turned random corners hit dead ends turned corners and crossed canals. Squeezed through little streets and then it was lunch time and we came across a supermarket. The natural thing to do is get food. So that's what we did. We brought some nectarines, 4 bananas and some pastries.

We walked for ten minutes in the direction of the apartment and then stopped for lunch. We started eating fruit then continued to the pastries which was tasty. We ate are food on the steps to a minor canal and watched the boats go by.

Lunch was finished and we walked on to the apartment. We hit a few more dead ends and kept going in the direction of the apartment. To my liking we got there pretty quickly. We where all exhausted and we're ready to rest we lounged about for the rest of the day.

We got the sausages for dinner and we all enjoyed dinner. Apart from the squeaky because he had tofu. 

London 8 August - Maverick scribed by John

Oh hello I say what a splendid morning!

Sqkwark ha ha I'm really getting the hang of Queens English - so different from the riffraff in the forest back home what! John & Toni seem really happy to be back in London but I'm not sure it's my cup of tea. First of all we went to a circus which I was really looking forward to, but it was just a statue and a heap of cars. I've a good mind to write to Mr Piccadilly. False advertising if you ask me. Then we went to Neals Yard and there was no sign of Neal and at Covent Garden, yes you've guessed it, not even a blade of grass. We did see some humans pretending to be statues. They paint their skin and clothes silver or gold, wear a funny hat and then only move if someone gives them money. Next to the market was an Outdoor Shop, which confused me as it was all indoors. It had a real frozen waterfall for people to practice climbing on which reminded me a bit of home then Lucy and Sam saw a New Zealand guidebook on the shelves and were amazed to find Kinloch is famous in England. We went to the biggest toy shop ever called Hamleys which had 4 floors of amazing toys and lots of very happy looking parents. The best bit of the day for me was a place called Regents Park which was huge and had heaps of exciting places for me to hop around in. The family had a picnic with some friends and relatives that they hadn't seen for ages (or ever in one case). I met some well travelled pigeons and a very well educated swan. The pigeons are really concerned about all the signs being put up telling humans not to feed them, which explains why I haven't seen bird seed in the shops around here. After the picnic we went to the open air theatre with hundreds of others to watch a musical called Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In the trees behind the stage was a real orchestra. I loved the singing and dancing and it had a very happy ending. And I think because it hadn't rained all day, everyone stood up and clapped before they went home. Funny place London!

Covent Garden lunch 

Regents Park Leyland side - Toni with cousin Helen, cousin Sue and Auntie Pat

Hamleys shopping by Lucy Glover

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Lucy with a new found friend Emily Clements to lead her astray in a fun way

Katrina and Chris and son Charlie, Anna and Steve and baby Elidh

John, Alison, Chris and Steve

Lucy and Sam on the tube

Mike and Valda, Helen, Steve, Sue and Uncle Joe doing magic with Sam in the corner

Auntie Pat

Sue, Helen and Toni

Magic with Uncle Joe

Watch out Chris - she's getting clucky

Barcelona to Paris - 3 August. Maverick scribed by John

Skwaark! I can't believe it's time to get up already. I've been getting into this Mediterranean relaxed way of life and suddenly it's 8am and we're on a bus to the airport. Heading to France and I'm a bit worried because I've heard that they eat anything there, even sparrows, so I'll lie low once we get there just in case. Barcelona airport is huge! I was worried the plane would have to refuel before we found the runway or that it was just going to drive along the ground to France because it was an Easyjet flight and I remember seeing on the TV that they don't take off sometimes. Anyway, the pilot eventually found the runway and when we landed in France, we saw an old plane called Concord on display. It had a very pointy beak and you could see why it flew so fast. Quite the opposite to a Kakapo. When we get off Le Metro, as the underground trains are called here, we are by a street that has at least 20 hairdressers all in a row. We walk past them to our apartment and they all have people standing outside vying for customers. I ignore the suggestions that my feathers need a trim and can't help wondering why you would open a hairdresser shop next door to 10 others! Our apartment is up four flights of stairs, but has a wonderful circular handrail so I can hop up and slide back down easily. The floor is very creaky, the apartment full of stuff, has a very tiny kitchen and a cat flap in the toilet door. Apparently this is what "bijou" means. Hmmm. At least I found the cat flap handy! It's been a long day, so we have a quiet afternoon looking out over the busy streets, have healthy salads for dinner and then very unhealthy but wonderful pastries from Monsieur Le Patissiere for pudding. Oh la la! Much better than bird seed. I think France might not be to bad after all...

Barcelona and Montserrat 2 August - Maverick scribed by Lucy

Squaaaaark!  It's me again Maverick the Kakapo! Today we woke up to a beautiful morning and prepared a delicious breakfast to share with the family and Phil.  John prepared scrambled eggs, salmon, avocado, toast, pastries, fruit and yogurt.  Even with everyone sneaking me bits of avocado, fruit and pastries,  we only barley made it through the breakfast. We head on out to the RMT (the MTR) and take a ride to pld catalonya square to have coffee with Phil before saying goodbye. 

We take the RMT to another train station and hop on the next train to The Monastery,  call Monserat with means Saw Tooth Mountain. On the way to the Monastery,  lucy made the mistake of falling asleep opposite Toni, as well as sleeping with her mouth open. Toni, being a great mum, (Kakapo sarcasm) took a picture of lucy sleeping with har mouth open and threatened to post it on Facebook.  Lukily, the photo was destroyed and never saw the daylights of Facebook or this blog. 

We finally arrived at the Monserat. The mountain looked just like some teeth. They also looked quite a bit like easter island heads. WE started to queue for the cable car that took us up to the monastery. By the time the cable car got back to us we were at the front of the line. The cable cars doors opened and we all piled into the cable car. We had one look at the view and gasped...

Rocky boulders lined the gully and stuck to the side of the mountain. There were cave, crevices and quite a few flat faces, perfect for rock climbing, and Kakapo kilimbing. My friend the Kea would be jealous. When we arrived at the top of the  cable car we hopped off and wandered around just taking in the view, and enjoying ourselves. We then enlisted that there were two trains, one going down to the ????????? And another one going up to finnicula st Joan. 

We decided to go to the finnicula.  We queued for the train going up and we finally got onto the mountain train. The Trai was on a cable and was pulled up while another train got pulled down. E arrived at the top and we looked around. There was a cat lounging in the sun while tourists petted it and fed it food. They are so silly. I don't care for cats, they're completely evil. They will come into some Kakapo or kiwis nest and eat all of their children. E passed them and headed to the museum and went to learn some stuff about stuff. We learned about rocks, caves, animals, plants and lots of her stuff about the mountain.

We took the train back down and decided it was time for lunch. John went to find some food and came back with some baguette sandwiches. E sat down and enjoyed our sandwiches before heading down the cab, e car. When we got to the train station John realized he read the train schedule incorrectly,  meaning that we still had 45 minutes to wait. It was a long wait. Finally e boarded the train and went back home.

We bought some more food at the supermarket, paid, and John and the boys went home while lucy and Toni stayed to go look at shops. (I don't know why though, it's confusing.) John and the boys waited at the apartment until the girls came home. Then we had cocktail hour. Afterwards, the kids relaxed while John cooked dinner.  E ate then pretty much entry to bed.

Everyone's settling down for bed so I'll nd this blog now, squaaark!

Paris 5 August - Maverick scribed byToni

Bonne-Squark – That’s French for Good day in Kakapo.  Today is our last day in Continental Europe and I am going to be sad to say goodbye.  After the initial culture shock, we have enjoyed our stay in ‘hair street’, the happy Caribbean and African faces in the area and for James, Lucy and Sam the constant challenge or bunny-hopping over bollards designed to keep them on the foot paths and off the streets.  Oh the marvels of Chateau D’eau.  Toni and John have reminisced in their last time in Paris together – last century! Gosh they are nearly as old as me!

So anyway, I need to report on our day.  It started in the usual way with lots of fruit and yoghurt with a few samples of French pastries – one could spend all ones time eating here….  Today is to be a big day of walking with a big gap till lunch so the kids are told to eat up.

First stop is Sacre Couer.  John does his usual great job of navigating the increasingly complex ticketing systems and tube lines – his French is better than Toni’s and the kids are still working on remembering to say Merci.  The French telecom company has finally turned the Data on so now we are able to navigate the streets and estimate journeys.

Off to Mont Matre and thoughts are sparked of Moulin Rouge.  Up and up the hill to the Sacre Couer where a carousel and a harpist await.  It is so wonderful having music in the streets.  I think a few more people will be busking in the streets in Glenorchy when we get home.

Through the Sacre Couer in a throng.  We’re ashamed to be tourists, as those around walk in, dressed inappropriately, taking flash photography, talking loudly and bashing selfie sticks.  The looks from the nuns were more resignment than resentment.  As an old bird, I concur with that feeling.

On we travel to the Arc de Triomphe.  We take photos from outside the centre and try to work out how to get there.  Having found the stairs we find that it is 10 Euros per person to walk up to the centre – even for a Kakapo.  We decide we’ve learnt quite a lot at the Paris Story and don’t need to see the Arc de Triomphe and head on to the Champs Elysee.

Walking down the world’s best avenue (according to the French), Toni and Lucy are able to indulge in a little shopping whilst John and the kids and I get bored.  Having travelled very lightly, a lot of the family’s clothes have holes and are faded.  Lucy cannot resist the horse leggings and James agrees to another shirt. 

At 2:30 pm everyone goes home for a finish up the fridge lunch, a short rest in the ridiculous heat and a quick email, accounts and Facebook catch up before heading out on the buses towards Notre Dame.  The bus is a great way to travel especially the double decker ones.  I can perch happily and look out the window.  Next off for a walk to the birth place of Paris and Notre Dame.  Much better behaved tourists in the afternoon.  We say our prayers for all our friends with bad knees, hips and legs and Archilles and light candles.  We are very thankful for the wonderful opportunity we have had seeing the world, catching up with our wonderful friends and spending such a special time as a family. 

Next we walked to the padlock bridge.  The kids were fascinated by all the locked in love of the couples visiting Paris.  Mum and dad didn’t do this in Paris when they were last here together and the kids find all sorts of places that they could put a padlock this time.  Some people had even used bike locks.  Next it was off for a ‘Paris Summer’ experience with a trip along the Seine via some of the Paris Beaches where the kids insisted on making sand castles.  Closer than a normal beach there were people sunbathing in bikinis sat in deck chairs next to tourists and city commuters.  Great sand though and a great atmosphere with beach games, live music and everyone in a holiday mood.

Back on the metro we went straight to dinner at the most fantastic little Brasserie called Le Petit Chateau D’eau.  The service, the food and the wines were fantastic with a small price and a great atmosphere.  We enjoyed duck pate and salmon and great regional wines.  Lovely to have the family in such a relaxed mood even though they had to say goodbye to Europe.  For me, I want more space – a bit more park to play in, trees to claw my way up and some good bugs to chew on, time to leave the snails behind.  So for today and the last full day in Continental Europe, this is Maverick – over and out.