The Champs Elysees has never looked so good!

Up early this morning, the girls arrived just before 9. It was great to see them – it's been a couple of years now!

We all put on our best Australian themed outfits and put our Australian flag on a flagpole to fly it proudly. We got to the Champs Elysee and I couldn't believe the reception we were getting. People were yelling out to us, cheering on Cadel, and just generally excited for us. We stopped to get some photos in front of the Arc de Triomphe and people were asking to take photos with us, to be in photos with us, and to have photos with our flag.

We walked up and down the Champs Elysee for a while just soaking in the atmosphere. There was Aussies everywhere. I'm not sure there has ever been so many Australian flags in Paris before. We stopped and talked to lots of people, and even some very good sports from Luxembourg – who were keen to point out that while we had one Australian on the podium, they had two Luxembourgers. We were ok with that....

We found a spot right near where the podium would be, in front of the big screen, and settled in to wait for the race to come past. We met another Australian who had made his way from Austria that morning, and a couple of Americans who were very generous in letting us stand on the crate they rented from the nearby food stand. We couldn't see a lot of the race from where we were – as soon as the riders came past everyone put their hands up in the air with their cameras, but the day wasn't really about that.

We were close enough to be able to catch glimpses of the podium, and were thrilled to see Cadel, draped in the Australian flag, receive the yellow jersey and his lion. I've done some pretty cool things in my life, but I'm sure it will be a while before standing on the Champs Elysee, amongst friends, singing Advance Australia Fair (with Tina Arena, no less), will be topped.

We were so happy to have the opportunity to be here, in our van, travelling France to see the stages together. Special thanks go to Cathrin and Andrea, who made the trip (over the course of a very long day) from Aachen, Germany to celebrate with us in Paris. To get to share that with each other, and with everyone at home via skype and facebook and text messages was incredible, and something that I'm sure we'll be talking about in years to come.