These are a few of my favourite things . . .

It's now exactly one month until I leave the North-West. I thought I would mark the occasion by reflecting on my top ten favourite things about living on the Coast.

10. That I can give and receive directions using landmarks that no longer exist and everyone still gets where they need to go.
9. Three-degrees of separation. The standard six degrees of separation applies to relatives.
8. Walking Cassie (the dog) on the beach in the afternoon and having the whole place to myself.
7. That a story about misplaced gates (Hilder-gate) can be top news for three days. I'm am not being facetious, it's a cool story and it's great that it matters.
6. Bruce's cafe. This is a bit of a plug for Corey and Lix, but I love that place that much.
5. The woodchip piles. This is a controversial statement, reminds me of the time I dared to say that Dr Chris from Bondi Vet is not that hot, but there it is. Seeing them as I drive round Round Hill means I'm home. 
4. Similarly, coming over the hill past Flowerdale on the Bass Hwy where you can see the sleeping camel of Rocky Cape. It's an absolutely gorgeous view and makes me warm and fuzzy on the insides.
3. VJ's fruit buns. They are the best. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to VJ's Bakery at Somerset. Now.
2. The Burnie Farmers' Market. After months, if not years, of 'I really must go there', I finally made it last year and now try to go every fortnight. It's worth getting up early on a Saturday for. A special shout out to the pumpkin man. I highly doubt he would be following by blog, or using the Internet at all - he's probably too busy skinning and cutting up pumpkin to sell to lazy little brats like me.
1. That there are so many things to do. This isn't usually said about small towns but really, the array of things to do here is pretty broad. I love that my weekend may involve an art exhibition opening, trip to the beach, exploring at a market or dinner with friends. It's so easy to fall into the trap of shopping and clubs in bigger cities as I found in Hobart. I never really went to anything out of the ordinary. The North-West has made me look beyond that.

Itinerary

For the first month I join my parents, sister Kim and her partner Toby to travel around France and Spain.

June 28 to July 1: Paris
July 2-4: Les Essarts, including checking out stage two of the Tour de France on July 3.
July 4-11: Cruising on a canal boat from Agen to Valence sur Baise.
July 11-12: Condom (I can hear you laughing.)
July 12-13: Route De Castres, Revel. We're staying here so we can visit Rocamadour, a place recommended by Jude at work.
July 13-14: Le Village, Audressein
July 14-17: Heading into the Pyrenees for more Tour de France action.
July 18: After some fresh mountain air we head into Spain to Autovia Logrono near Utebo.
July 19-22: A few nights in Albarracin to explore the area.
July 22-24: Off to the Coast at Peniscola.

On July 24 I'm getting dropped off in Barcelona (tear) so some of the next bits are on my own and some things aren't set in stone. At the moment I hope to Couch Surf in most places, but of course that depends on finding some lovely people to stay with.

July 24-26: Barcelona.
July 26-29: Brussels in Belgium.
July 29: Off to Bruges.
August 1: Train from Burges to London, where I will spend a few days visiting everywhere on the Monopoly board.
August 4: All aboard for Gretna Green. I'm heading to Scotland to visit and old friend Amy, who traded the green hills of Montumana to those at Gretna.
August 9: I hope the IRA is behaving itself by the time I get to Belfast.
August 11: Train to Dublin and then to the airport for my flight to Cork to visit Donagh, who I met in Vietnam.
August 11-16: Cork, Ireland. Donagh visited Australia last year so it's time to repay the favour.
August 16: Back to Dublin. I've been warned it's a boring city, but hopefully it exceeds my rather low expectations.
August 18-24: New York, with a few days in Washington thrown in to get my museum fix.
August 24: Train to Toronto to visit my Uncle Mickey.
August 30: To Vancouver. This is where my 'holiday' ends...for now. I'll have a Canadian working visa so I plan to put that to good use for a while.

The countdown

It's nearly a just a month to go before I leave the North-West Coast after four years and head to Paris. Now that it's got to the stage that I can't do anything about going (and why would I?) it's all feeling rather real. Couple that with the moment a few days ago of "wow, I'm 26, shouldn't I be doing something with my life" and I'm of the mindset that this trip can't come soon enough.

In 36 days I shall be curled up as best I can be on a flight to Paris - the first leg of 'the big trip', which has been in the works, at least mentally, for a long time. Just how long? Well, when I was a little Pegs I wanted to be a traveller. A slightly older Pegs realised that particular occupation would require funding. Somehow journalism entered the picture. A wiser Pegs might have chosen a secondary career option that yielded a bit more money (doctor, movie star, drug dealer), but then I never have been good with numbers.

Anyway here I am: uni degree done, resume boosted, bank balance acceptable and off we go.

This trip may be life changing, it may not be. I could fall in love and never come home. I might be back for the AFL Grand Final. I don't really have a 'goal' for this trip. However, it willl be a fun and challenging adventure and at the end of the day, something to write home about.