A few weeks ago I mentioned, on ablog here, that I had a big announcement.
I’ve let the cat out of the bag in messages on Facebook, here and there… but now the “ad” is done, it’s official.
What Ad?
The ad for our Dutch barge, she’s for sale (Rouge Corsair).
Rouge Corsair – 1920s Dutch Barge
Why?
We are heading back to Australia.
Why?
For many reasons, but as we were contemplating a change, the guy that has three of our horses offered them back. With a big skip and a little tear, we agreed (well, I agreed and then told Noel what I had done!).
So, we’ll be reunited with Charlie, Ned, and Dom.
Sweet Dommie
Ned and Charlie
Why?
Well, they’re our family, and if you’ve read A Standard Journey, 5 horses, 2 people, and 1 tent, you’ll understand the bond we created while living together and relying on each other in the bush together.
Congratulations!
Lately, I’ve received some lovely emails from professional horse trainers who use a holistic approach – they congratulated us on what we achieved. So, when we get back we’ll build on that work.
Tent!
So now we’ve finished the complete renovation on our barge and have a nice home, we’ll be heading back to a field and a tent… yes, really…
Most weeks I receive messages from people I’ve never met.
Complete strangers take the time to drop me a personal message about one of my books they’ve just read – and I love every single one!
Today, I received a fabulous note, I’ve connected with this person previously on FB, but we’ve not met – and this made my day.
Hi, Jackie. I finally got around to reading A Standard Journey (told you I was a bit behind!). I took it to bed with me last night intending to read a few pages which is usually all I can manage before falling asleep. Guess what? I read the whole thing in one go!
I absolutely love the way you write – interesting, informative, real and full of raw emotion. You put your whole self on the page. I felt I was out there with you and Noel and it was wonderful to be on your journey. What a gutsy girl you are! And I love how you love your boys (Noel included!!)
I also owned an ex trotter (or rather he owned me) – a 17hh handsome boy with the wonderful name of Woollygoogs! This name was chosen by my daughter who was about 3 or 4 at the time. I understand why you support them – a worthy cause.
Can’t wait to start on This is It! So glad it’s all going well for you and I appreciate the effort you put in to make it all work for you.
And now to write a review.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Relating to A Standard Journey and my ‘boys’ I have a big announcement! It’s a new adventure that’s causing mixed feelings but mainly incredible joy…. post and announcement coming in a few days!
Here of course….. sailing along the NSW coast in Australia, on our way to our next adventure.
Sailing in my slippers! And Writing – this was the beginning of Of Foreign Build… Note the bikes (bike wheels upside down outside the stanchions), the outboard is under the blue canvas by my head. We were on our way!
Perhaps in a TSR (Travelling Stock Route) on the BNT (Bicentennial National Trail) with 5 horses and a tent…
Somewhere nearby there are five very happy horses, gallavanting, galloping, and rolling in the creek! Meanwhile, notes on the horse trekking book A Standard Journey started here….
What about on a 1920s Dutch barge in France? Not bad, but we were (and still are) renovating – it’s a noisy, dusty, and messy place to live and work.
Magdalena Bay, Mexico – the cafe was closed but wifi was on!
We’d recently purchased Pyewacket in San Francisco and were on our way to La Paz… but plans changed rapidly. We spent two years sailing back to Australia via Pitcairn and Easter Island, etc…. a tough journey – detail of which in my next book This Is It, out January 2016.
On a barrel in the boat yard in Panama?
Well at least I got to stay relatively clean!
Puttering along the Intracoastal Waterway of America. Near South Carolina on our 10 metre sailing boat Mariah II.
Flat water sailing – yippee!
I’m a travel writer – literally. If you want to travel and work you can – you just have to make it happen.
Where’s your favourite office? Where’s the most exotic, fun, extreme place you’ve worked?
The story is about how we adopted five Standardbred horses, trained them (and they us). The seven of us then set out into the Australian bush for several months; all our belongings carried by horse.
At Redwings Oxhill, just before the reading/signing. I tried not to reveal the outcome of a dramatic event in the book, but the audience were desperate to know!
Redwings do a wonderful job – their team at Oxhill are extraordinary in their passion and care.
Redwings Stand and their wonderful team. My books are near the front.
They did a lovely job with my table and I added the bookmarks and koalas which went down a treat!
Radio!
Between the mayhem of driving around the country I was invited onto two radio shows (one with Noel).
Firstly, with the incredible Carol Graham. Carol is an author, radio talk show host, health coach, motivational speaker, blogger, businesses woman, mum and grandmum!
Carol is a wonderful interviewer and here you can hear her easy-listening interviews with extraordinary people. She deftly shares their laughter and inspirational stories, and encourages everyone to never… ever… give up hope.
My interview will be appearing shortly – I’ll put the link here and give another shout out when it’s ready!
The BBC
Lastly, we met Nick Coffer from BBC 3Counties Radio. We had great fun chatting to Nick (who thinks we need therapy!), and left mini koalas hanging all over his studio to make our presence known and remembered. Here’s the link to listen, jump forward to around 37 minutes – the interview runs for about fifteen.
Having fun before we went in the studio.
With Nick Coffer, having a great time!
I could get used to this (note the koalas taking over!)
Roast Dinners
Several yummy roast dinners, care of my lovely mum, kept me going (and tightened the jeans somewhat).
… and CAKE, you’ve got to have CAKE!
I learned a great deal from all these events. Switching from social media to ‘getting out there’ has really worked for me, and is so much more fun.
I’ll write a blog soon on what I learned and what I’d do differently next time.
Has anyone else had great success and fun ‘getting out there’?
Freedom, horse gear, hard work, and a journey that will stay with you forever
‘You don’t need all that gear, look what motorcyclists take.’ I was shown two small panniers, not much bigger than handbags, hooked on the back of a bike.
This is one of the comments I’ve received on the equipment we carried when we trekked in the Australian bush with five horse; it’s all listed out in the back of the book A Standard Journey, or you can see it all here: via pictures.
Mid journey, this was after we had whittled down the equipment even more – bare necessities here!
Bike vs Horse
For a start, if you are camping out with your motorbike and you need something, you can hop on your bike and speed off at 80 km to the nearest shops. You can’t do that on a horse that’s just trekked for six to eight hours carrying your world possessions and you!
Secondly, bikes don’t need feeding, grooming, first aid, rugs, boots, saddles, saddle blankets, fencing, electric fence equipment, water buckets, nose bags… and on it goes.
We’d just unloaded here – next job (once the horses were taken care of) was to sort our gear and pitch the tent
Personal equipment
I’d say fifty percent of the equipment comprised saddles (riding and pack – five in total) saddle blankets, halters and reins. You can’t get very far without any of this.
We were throwing out the hard panniers and buying back-packs – the saddle is in the camp shop – they are big and heavy
Forty percent of the gear would be for the horses, the fencing, water buckets, rugs, food, grooming kit, first aid kit…. etc
Our camp – second tent phase! The grey lump near the horses is all the horse gear
That leaves ten percent for Noel and I. That’s five percent each for clothes, food, cooking gear, first aid kit, tent and… well that was pretty much it!
First set up with hard panniers
Second, and much improved, set up, with back-packs
Compromises
We made comprises and worked harder than we ever did in our entire lives. But there were great rewards, we had one mobile phone for emergencies and ninety percent of the time that had no signal. We had no internet, no car to run, no office to sit in. What we had was nature, freedom and five of the most incredible horses you will ever read about.
Freedom
Take a look at our photo album of our trip and if you’d like to read the story, here’s the link. You can read an excerpt first if you want…. then the reviews.
Charity
I donate fifty percent of profits to horse charities, here’s a website on A Helping Hand for Horses.
I don’t usually deface books or magazines, but the other day I did – out of desperation.
I should apologise to Motor Boat Monthly Magazine. But the magazine in question was several years old, ten I think, and it had been read several times, by us both – AND, they went out of print last year (according to Wikipedia).
Instead of throwing out the magazine we became inspired. Most people, who live the nomadic life (especially on boats) learn this knack, everything has at least two uses. We certainly had a use for the stiff folds of paper.
Saving your sanity
So, what can you make with an old Motor Boat Magazine, coloured tape, paper, scissors and string?
You can make something to save your sanity – that’s what!
Freedom at a price
Mooring on the French canals is a wonderful freedom. At many places, most times, you can stop for the night or even a day or two.
Currently, shade is our top priority. Fortunately, we have found great shady spots, safe depths and tied up safely on a straight stretch. (Why oh why do so many boats tie up on a blind bend?)
Slow down
It’s here, tied blissfully to a quiet spot we are hounded by hire boats that insist on racing alongside with total disregard of the ‘rules of the road’ – you must pass all moored vessels at no more than 3 kms/hr.
What happens?
As the water is sucked and pushed alongside a speeding boats’ hull, we shift forwards then backwards and our mooring pegs, that have been driven into the bank, are literally pulled out.
When we see a boat approach and ask them to slow – most do. Some look at us as if we are mad!
So, we made a sign, that’s reinforced with Motor Boats Monthly magazine. It is nowhere near big enough, it’s a little amateurish (hastily cobbled together in desperation and fear of being set adrift!), but it’s a start. I am already planning Mark 2.
What creative ideas have you developed to improve your life on the road?
We’re still buried in the bowels of our little ship – renovating away, only popping up for air when we need feeding.
Below are galley progress-pictures from a month or so back (where has the time gone?). Some people liked the painted cupboards, but we changed them for several reasons:
1) The photos looked so much better than the real thing.
2) My eyes couldn’t stand all the hectic patterns and clashing of colours, stripes and frills (frilly net-curtains, red curtains, striped curtains, and the stencilled flowers on the sky-hatch windows) – something had to give!
3) I like fresh, simple decor that creates the feeling of space.
4) We didn’t like them!
Getting ready to sand
Some of the paint was very thick (dobbed on!), I was glad we had the electric sander!
I couldn’t wait to lighten this lot up!
First coat – there were five coats in total!
Sitting on the stove top!
Much better! (Ignore the timber door on the right, we currently have a vagrant door just sitting there in the way!)
That’s better on the eyes!
This one?
Or, this one?
Currently, we are finishing off the front cabin and that is the end of the renovations for now.
Photos appearing soon-ish!
Instead of New Year’s Resolutions – how about focusing on what you’ve achieved.
I already have my goals lined up for next year…. they’ve been on my mind for months. So instead of adding more and putting more pressure on myself I’m going to do something different.
Merry Christmas!
Here’s some new ideas:
Think about what you’ve achieved
Write it down
Tell someone
Congratulate yourself
Smile and be proud
I’d like to thank everyone for so much support this year with my accomplishments:
Publishing my second book (that I’ve been writing for 15 years!)
Moving to France and finding a boat we could afford and enjoy
Getting through the year with good health and much happiness
I wish everyone a cherished Christmas, and may all your hopes and dreams come true in 2015……. what have you achieved?
Noel has received his Carte de Sejour. What should have been a relatively easy process did become a bit of a nightmare. We learned a lot – this may help you!
Our Circumstances
I have a European passport, Noel has an Australian passport. I read so much information on this, my head was spinning, examples:
If he/she has a European passport then their partner is entitled to stay without a visa.
If he/she has a European passport the partner is entitled to stay, with a visa.
Okay, you get the idea, here’s a quick breakdown of the process we went through:
We applied for a visa within three months of arriving (as per the rules – IF the partner has a European visa).
Australians are entitled to visit France (or anywhere in Europe for three months).
We applied in Dijon, as that was our nearest Prefecture.
We were asked to stay in the area (we didn’t – read on).
We went to the Prefecture (in Dijon) and they searched my European passport for a visa – but eventually worked out that I had a European passport!
They presented us with a form and told us to fill it out and mail it back.
We filled out the form and mailed it, they mailed it all back, asking for more, we mailed it back, this went on for five months.
We could not talk to anyone in the Prefecture, by telephone, personal visit or email, they just kept telling us to mail our documents.
They eventually started asking for paperwork that was not listed on the application form, and that we had already sent.
By this time we had moved south – they didn’t comment on a new address.
We reached the end of our tether and went to Agen Prefecture (now, our nearest).
At the train station at 7 am after a refreshing bike ride in the dark!
Here’s what happened at Agen:
After initial contact via email, we were invited to attend (with no pre-arranged date/appointment), so we took that (emailed) invite with us.
We talked to a real live person, (she had enough English and I had enough French (and a dictionary), to get by.
She gave us a list of five additional bits of paper she wanted and said ‘when you return with those, I will issue your visa.’
She fined us 50 Euros for over-staying the three months (despite our process with Dijon) – we would have to pay it on the next visit.
Two weeks later we returned to Agen (we had missed our arranged appointment as we were waiting for paperwork – we tried to obtain another appointment by email but received no response, so we just turned up).
On the day we got the visa
We rolled up with all the paperwork requested.
They were miffed we didn’t have an appointment, but after we explained that we had tried to arrange one via email (and that we had no car and travelled there by bike and train) – they felt sorry for us and put us in a room.
“This is either very good, or very bad!” we said!
The interviewer understood we had been trying to obtain the visa since we arrived, and ‘deleted’ the 50 Euro fine!
She checked through our paperwork, nodded, made positive comments and GAVE US THE VISA!
It is a temporary visa until the card (like a credit card) is processed at another location, they will write to us when they have received the card and we can collect it.
We have to collect it within three months, it will be ready in January sometime.
The paperwork
Dijon gave us one form: ‘Premiere Demande ou Renouvellement – ressortissant de l’union europeene – MEMBRE DE FAMILLE -.
Agen gave us another: Carte de Sejour.
Dijon wanted (all copies):
Copies of passports.
Birth certificate (translated to English – I did this on Google, but they do ask it is done by an official translator).
Proof of where you stayed (and why) in France, for first three months.
‘Family’ proof (marriage certificate for us).
Proof of funds (bank statements).
Health Insurance.
4 x photos (like passport photos).
SSAEs
This was for the applicant – they then asked for health insurance for me also, but at this point we had given up with Dijon.
Agen wanted (they also wanted to view originals and keep a copy)
A different form requiring the names of Noel’s parents, DOB and any children.
All of the above Dijon requirements, plus Noel’s entire passport photocopied.
BUT, they wanted the health insurance and bank statements translated to English too.
We have a French bank account, which seemed to help. They wanted to see a minimum of 1,000 Euros in there.
By this time I had my European Health card (EHIC), which helped (they wanted to see some kind of insurance for me too).
Rumour/Fact
You MUST apply before going to France – Not true – if one of you has a EU passport
You will need a medical – Nope
You have to leave the country straight away, as we had been here five months! (advice from Australian Embassy) -Nope
Fine for over-staying three months – Nope – If you have been trying to gain your visa already and have dated correspondence.
It was a good day – Noel found his very own beer!
Our Advice & Top 10 tips on the French Visa process
Do not go to Dijon Prefecture or any large city’s Prefecture.
Find a smaller Prefecture, somewhere where you can actually talk to someone.
Take the research with a pinch of salt – different websites (that looked official) all had conflicting information.
If someone says “this is how you do it” be aware that:
everyone’s circumstances are different.
each Prefecture is like dealing with a different country, they all have different agendas.
nothing is set in stone, it depends who you deal with on the day too!
If you need to translate Health Insurance documents, ask your insurer, ours gave us a French translation within
twenty-four hours (not google translated either!).
Try and arrange a French bank account – this helped! If not, ensure your statements are translated to English.
If one of you is a UK citizen, ensure you have your EHIC (European Health Insurance Card).
Research & learn some questions/answers in French before you go, to make the interview easier.
Create a ‘contents’ page at the top of your application, so everything can be found quickly.
If you disagree with what is happening (as we did with the initial fine), ask to see someone more senior. We were just lucky, and on our second appointment we were seen by a senior employee, who ‘let us off’ the fine as she deemed it unnecessary in our circumstances.
The visa is FREE, we had to pay for a lot of postage (our application became quite ‘thick’ and heavy).
More help/contacts
Solutions to problems with your EU rights here. This is a great European Visa Resource. They had already told us they would take on our case if we were fined. Health insurance at a very good price (and they translated our docs into French!).
UK Citizens applying for your EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) here.
In Summary
If we had gone to a Prefecture, such as Agen, first, the whole thing would have been done and dusted in two visits, and with little pain.
Jackie Parry - author 