A bit behind

Good day to you all,
Firstly, I am writing to you all from my desk at work. Naturally, this is something I should not be doing. So you will understand why I have to be particularly brief and rather sneaky. I know some of you are awaiting some sort of update, but I can only apologise for our lack of news. We do not have access to the internet at the moment and so we too are in the dark….oops, my boss just walked past me. Right, my nerves are ready to snap with anxiety at the prospect of being fired at any minute. I must now go and make myself some tea and ponder the day ahead.
Update to come next week … regards, Ju and Phil

Brisbane

Cela fait deja un mois que nous sommes arrives a Brisbane et beaucoup de choses se sont passees depuis.

Nous vivons chez nos amis de Bretagne qui habitent maintenant de ce cote de la planete. Et durant les quelques semaines que nous avons deja passe ici, pas une seule goutte d'eau n'est tombee du ciel. C'est pour dire le depaysement pour Peter et Terrii!
N'empeche que ca fait vraiment bizarre de ne pas voir la pluie pendant si longtemps, c'est pas rassurant; peut-etre que si je n'etais pas une normande qui habitait en Ecosse, je verrais les choses autrement?

Alors ici, on vit comme de vrais australiens. Le dimanche, c'est BBQ dans le jardin,

ou comme dimanche dernier, pique-nque au bord de la mer, ou on pouvait admirer des dauphins qui sortait de l'eau pour respirer un coup d'air pur. Normal.

Et quand je fais mon footing le matin (si, si, j'vous assure, c'est vrai... de temps en temps) je vois les petites fesses blanches, toute 'fluffy', des koalas bien niches entre 2 branches d'eucalyptus.
La voiture de fonction de Philip est un pick-up de chez Toyota. Faut au moins ca pour aller d'une maison a l'autre dans la banlieue de Brisbane.

Tout va bien donc; on avait un peu peur de devoir rentrer plus tot, car si on ne trouvait pas de travail, notre banquier nous aurait rapatrie fisa, mais maintenant que sommes entres dans la vie active, nous y restons jusqu'a la fin Octobre, et puis nous continuons notre route qui nous amenera d'abord en Nouvelle Zelande puis sur une ile du Pacifique, avant de nous ramener a la realite, au nord de l'equateur. Nous serons de retour pour Noel (et je reve deja des chocolats qui m'attendent. Je fais presque une depression ici, a cause du manque tragique de vrai chocolat...)

Et puis nous avons fait quelques excursions dans le coin. Il y a eu la fete du Ekka (un espece de melange entre la Foire du Trone et le salon de l'agriculture)

Phil m'a force a faire un tour surle No Limit, un de ces maneges de ouf ou j'ai bien cru mourir, en echange d'un tour romantique sur la grande roue au coucher du soleil. C'est pas le big deal, ca.

Ca, c'est le No Limit, ca.
Et il y a eu le River Festival: c'est quand la ville fete sa riviere, n'est ce pas, avec des feux d'artifice qui dechirent tout

et des avions qui dansent dans le ciel et d'autres qui crachent du feu. Impressionant.

Et bien sur, nous sommes alles au Australia Zoo, le zoo de Steve Irwin, pour ceux qui connaissent. Philip a passe une bonne journee a embeter les kangourous...

...et faire la sieste avec eux.

Special coups de coeur pour les koalas qui avaient des bebes dans leur poche

Autres specialites australiennes: les wombats, les echindas les cassowaries et les diables de Tasmanie. Mais le clou du spectacle, c'etait les outres. Elles sont trop marantes. J'ai quelques gamins qui ont autant d'energie qu'elles dans ma classe, mais aux gosses, on donne de la ritaline:)

On a dit au revoir a nos bons amis Guy et Gilli, qui continuent leur voyage en Chine maintenant. Tragiquement, voici la seule photo que nous avons d'eux.

Dans les quelques weekends qui nous reste, on prevoit d'aller voir les baleines, de surfer sur la Sunshine coast et de visiter Byron Bay.

Ah oui, au fait, triste nouvelle: nous avons vendu notre engin. Il est maintenant dans les mains d'un autre francais qui a promis de la bichoner. (C'est marrant, on l'avait acheter a un couple de francais nous aussi).

Special clin d'oeil pour Alison.
Voila les cartes que j'ai gagne en une partie de Casino Royale contre Peter. Ca valait le coup de prendre la photo, non? (Dommage que je me suis faite massacree lors des 500 autres parties)

Cheeky dog

Fraser Island

Largest sand dune island in the world + 4X4 + abundance of delicious food +adoring wife + superb weather = bloody good time.

Spending 4 days and 3 nights on a giant sand dune of an island with no tarmac in sight and having to be completely self-sufficient was a pretty good way of marking the final leg of our Australian holiday.

Waking up early for the blood-red sunrise,

sitting on the soft sand with a hot pot of tea,


spending the day driving on the beach,


stopping to take photos of rusting shipwrecks,


looking out for humbling humpback whales,

(not like this, Ju, you need to put the map down...)
avoiding getting stuck in deep sand,


setting up camp with an ocean view, enjoying the spectacular sunset with a glass of red and chasing cheeky savage dogs was truly a memorable experience.

The highlight, however, was the savage dog.

Fraser Island is the last bastion of the pure-breed dingo. Despite its cute name, golden fur and friendly face they must not be trusted nor their cunning under-estimated. They are the ninja of the canine world. They have been known to stealth their way into campsites and sneak out with clothing, beer cans, tools and small children. As we came to realise, they are more cunning than a particularly cunning fox.

One morning, Ju and I were enjoying our breakfast on the beach when a cute looking dingo approached our campsite. Once it had our undivided attention it caught a fish and ran up into the dunes. Armed with our Olympus E410 DSLR camera and notions of a prize winning National Geographic front cover in our minds, we launched into pursuit. It managed to remain just within sight as we chased it, clicking away between pants and pauses. While adjusting the settings on our camera, we lost sight of the hound. We could see our campsite a hundred metres down by the beach and a few moments later we saw movement. Julie whipped out the zoom lens and took a closer look. ‘It’s the dingo... it’s sniffing around our campsite... it’s got something in her mouth... expletive deleted, she’s got our camera... she’s running away... quick Philip run after it’.

It hit me, we left our other camera on our seats and in a moment of tactical genius the dingo had lured us away from our campsite before racing back to snatch and grab some food. Only it had taken our camera and now my wife was asking me to chase after a rabid, possibly rabies infected, savage, wild dog.

Not to be outdone by a mutt, I launched myself down the dunes and chased after it. In my athletic youth this would have taken moments and I would have wrestled the beast into submission but being victim to over indulgence and general bouts of laziness, my physique was not exactly at its prime. They say the body is a temple and if this is true, mine is one that is not only built out of breeze block, balsa wood and dandelion leaves but it has just been hit by a tsunami. So I wasn’t exactly sprinting towards it, more hobbling and limping at speed. Think Hunchback of Notre Dame running.

The chase took us onto the beach and the mutt would stop, drop the camera and when I got close, pick it up again and sprint away again. It repeated this a few times and my lungs felt they would explode at any minute, my legs began to weaken and my semi-digested toast was making its way back up north. I was losing out and the beast was getting further away from me, I screamed and wailed in desperation and began swinging my camera bag over my head, hoping to get close enough to whack the rabid hound. Despite the distance, I saw its eyes widen and its jaw drop, the camera falling into the surf and I gained ground. Now I am not sure why, but the beast decided enough was enough and it bolted, leaving the camera. To my relief, the canine tooth potted camera case protected the camera from getting wet and it was saved. Expecting my loyal wife to be in close pursuit, I turned around and I could see her in the distance rolling around in hysterics, oblivious to the clear danger this chase had put me in. Tut tut.

The Whitsunday Islands

The atomic white of the soft sand is blinding. Despite the dark shadow cast over my eyes by the tint of my sunglasses, I have to squint to see well. The heat from the sun warms my skin and radiates through the entirety of my body. The air is still and the temperate water is calm. The crystal clear water swirls gently and peacefully around my legs and my feet are being gently sucked into the sand.

I have waded hundreds of meters from the shore and the water line just reaches my knees. Stingrays and baby reef sharks glide within meters and they are oblivious to the frenzied click of my camera. My wife is by my side and her eyes are sparkling like diamonds. I look up into the cloudless, cobalt blue sky and smile. I am in a place I thought only existed on postcards. I am on Whitehaven Beach and it is the singular most beautiful place I have ever been.


We are cruising the Whitsunday Islands on a luxury 8 birth catamaran. For three days and three nights we are waited on hand and foot: we are constantly fed rings of fresh prawns, baskets of warm breads, crispy salads, plates of grilled meats, bowls of salted macadamia and cashew nuts, cool drinks and a whole host of other gastronomic delights. We weigh anchor by secluded beaches, we snorkel among exotic fish and colourful corals and sail by pods of dolphins and humpback whales.



We are treated like movie stars and our every want is immediately met. By all rights each space on this boat should cost a minor fortune but we, quite literally, paid no more than the equivalent of a night out at Pizza Hut. We landed on our feet this time and I’ll tell you how. The company that runs the boat had only filled 4 out of 8 births for the next day’s departure and wanted to fill 2 more to create an ambiance on the board and so practically gave the tickets away. For once we were in the right time at the right place and had the trip of a lifetime. I’ll let the photos hint at the experience we had...

Du retard / A bit late

(In English further down)

Chers amis et famille,
comme vous avez pu remarquer, on a pris un peu de retard avec notre blog. Beaucoup de choses se sont passees depuis notre derniere entree, mais nous n'avons pas la possibilite de vous relater nos experiences pour le moment.

Nous avons fini notre voyage autour de l'Australie (quelle aventure!) et nous sommes maintenant merveilleusement bien accueillis chez nos amis a Brisbane, Peter et Terrii.
La maison est magnifique, la nourriture est excellente, le chat est adorable, le temps est idyllique et la compagnie est tellement chaleureuse. Bref, tout est parfait, a part un tout petit detail: internet ici n'est pas du plus efficace et pour cette raison, nous ne pouvons pas poster de photos sur le blog.

Pas de panique cependant, nous gardons toutes nos histoires et nos photos au chaud pour vous, et des que nous aurons la possibilite, nous les posterons. A ne pas rater, l'episode surprenant ou nous nous sommes retrouves nez a nez avec un chien sauvage sur une petite ile au milieu de l'ocean...)

A bientot, sur vos ecrans.

Dear family and friends,
as you may have noticed, we haven't said much on the blog for a wee while. Although a lot of things have happened since our last post, we haven't been able to post anything.
We have fininshed our travelling arouns Australia and have arrived in Brisbane and are now staying at our friends house, Peter and Terrii, where we have been welcomed like kings and queens.

The house is beautiful, the food is delicious, the cat is cute, the wheather is gorgeous and the company is is extremely warm and friendly. We are having an awesome time here, but there is just one little problem: the internet is not very fast and would not allow us to upload photos.

But, not to worry, as soon as we can, we will post the stories and photos we are keeping warm under our sleeve (including a very close encounter with a wild dog on a small island...)

On our way to Airlie

Although we are just coming back from an amazing sailing trip on the Whitsundays Islands, I will not yet write about it on this post. This is because we have delayed things a wee bit, so I need to go back in time, only a few days. I want to write about the beautiful journey we experienced to arrive here.

We left Gordonvale that morning, in Far North Queensland. We drove for a whole long day and in the evening, we finally made it to North Queensland!

The landscapes this journey allowed us to witness were unforgettable. We drove by endless sugar cane fields with their feathery flowers swirling with the breeze and banana plantations with each bunch of bananas wrapped up in colourful plastic.

Sometimes, we would be lucky enough to drive along the railway track, and a train, filled with cut sugar canes would pass in front of us, to disappear in the depth of the fields again. Some towns we crossed were dominated by a imposing, worn-out, corrugated-ironed sugar mills, spitting white smoke through its high chimney, which would mingle with the few clouds the blue sky scattered that day.

The scenery was very typical of North (and indeed Far North) Queensland. Nowhere else in Australia had we seen this type of landscape. To me, it beat the dusty, endless road through the red, deserted Centre, or the winding roads through the lush, green jungle of the North, which were of course, also amazing.

But I think what made this journey so special was the names of some of the places we had to go through... check for yourself.

My favourite one, which we didn’t get a chance to take a picture of, was ‘Murdering Point Creek’.