Tag Archives: Australia

Deux semaines avec le diable – jour 6

February 10, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Arrivée à Hobart ou je me suis permis de lancer une laveuse (en faisant attention à mon dos car ces machines pèsent lourd 🙂 )

Lors de mon passage, j’ai visité le festival des bâteaux en bois (Wooden boat festival) où l’on pouvait lire sur un menu une assiète de poisson à partager pour $2550 – on imagine que le séparateur des décimales s’est égaré en chemin.

J’ai ensuite joué à photographier une fontaine à jet d’eau, puis j’ai rencontré un couple d’allemands qui parcourent toute l’Australie à vélo; et comme par hasard au même moment j’ai croisé un jeune homme de Melbourne qui passe ses vacances en solitaire sur son bicycle à pédales sur lequel il a soudé un accroche remorque lui permettant d’attacher une remorque de voiture et transporter 200 kg (dans les montagnes de Tasmanie! :O)

La montagne que l’on voit sur l’arrière plan de Hobart est le Mount Wellington, culminant à 1280 mètres d’altitude et a souvent la tête dans les nuages.

Français, Places

Deux semaines avec le diable – jour 5

February 9, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Au petit matin, une surprise de taille:

Un pain fait au four – enfin presque – grâce aux braises.

La forme était donc au rendez vous pour la visite du parc Mount Field National Park qui a permis de voir d’autres forêts et cascades, accompagnés d’arbres (grands) et eaux. Ensuite, direction Hobart où nous sommes arrivés aux heures de pointes alors que le festival des bâteaux en bois avait commencé, ce qui provoqua quelques kilomètres de ralentissements qui m’auraient rendu fou si j’avais été au volant pour arriver à 1280m d’altitude sur le mont Wellington, qui était dans les nuages et empêchait la vue de Hobart de la haut. Le périple s’est terminé sous la douche à Hobart: cinq jours sans douche c’est quand même difficile, malgré les lavages corporels en rivière et lacs (sans savon pour ne pas polluer).

Français, Places

Deux semaines avec le diable – jours 3 et 4

February 8, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Après une bonne nuit à l’abris du vent et un bon petit déjeuner, visite des chutes Montezuma Falls, à proximité de Zeehan, ancienne ville minière. Leur nom est directement lié à compagnie minière Mexicaine qui exploitait la zone dans le passé. Elles sont les plus élevées de Tasmanie et accessible après une marche dans la forêt humide que je souhaite quitter sous aucun pretexte – sauf peut-être pour me connecter à Internet – et encore… (pour dire!). Ensuite, j’ai trouvé un vestige préhistorique en pleine nature! (dinosaure), et notre groupe de 6 personnes a campé au bord de l’eau à un endroit appellé Hells Gate ou la porte de l’enfer: un endroit dans une baie que l’on ne peut plus quitter une fois qu’on l’a vu; j’y ai dormi à la belle étoile jusqu’à ce qu’une averse ne vienne me reveiller. Lors d’un passage dans la civilisation ce jour, j’ai trouvé du chocolat Wonka que je n’ai pas manqué de dévorer 😛

Le lendemain, nous sommes passés par Queenstown, appellée aussi Mordor en raison d’un changement brusque de paysage dû à la déterioration de l’environnement par l’humain ayant eu pour effet de générer d’importantes pluies acides – cette ville ressemble à un décor maléfique de Lord of the Rings (probablement l’opposé de Queenstown en Nouvelle Zélande). La journée a continué par une tournée de forêts lacs où j’ai pu me laver et la nuit s’est encore déroulée en plein air – au bord d’un lac (comme par hasard!). Pour la cuisine, c’était vraiment génial; il n’est pas étonnant que Dave (notre guide) ait épousé une de ses clientes: un plat posé sur et sous les braises du feu de camp!

Français, Places

Deux semaines avec le diable – jour 2

February 6, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Le second jour commence à l’endroit où le premier jour s’est terminé;pas de téléportation ou autres méthodes vaudou n’ont été utilisées pendant la nuit – à moins qu’elles ne m’aient ramenées au point de départ.

Il s’est résumé par la montée du mont Macdonald où la vue panoramique en vaut la peine, une marche dans la forêt humide la plus grande de Tasmanie, une baignade dans la rivière Pieman (froide!), et un campement sur une magnifique plage au bord de l’Océan du Sud où l’on a mangé un BBQ et un vent violent venant du large était de la partie.

Français, Places

Deux semaines avec le diable – jour 1

February 5, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Le matin, après une courte marche, on est allé visiter une grotte, Marakoopa Cave:

L’après midi a été plus actif: visite de Cradle Mountain et montée à 1200 mètres d’altitude au point nommé Marion Lookout en compagnie d’un petit lac et de serpents dont la morsure est réputée mortelle si elle n’est pas soignée à temps:

La journée s’est terminée dans une ancienne ville minière à faire du camping sauvage autour d’un feu de camp qui a servi à la cuisine, composée de légumes grillés avec une sauce à la noix de coco accompagnés de riz:

Photography

Cradle Mountain

February 5, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, Australia

Places

Sydney and Manly

February 4, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

My first impression of Sydney is confirmed, it’s a green city; but – to be honest – I did not see much from Sydney as I really enjoyed walking around Manly, a suburb north of Sydney reachable by Ferry boat (30 minutes) and Jet Cat (15 minutes). It looks like a small town by itself and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that only people over a certain income or wealth can afford to live there.

There are many beaches around and hiking trails so it’s pleasant (and convenient) to walk and swim! I kept a track-log and will show you in the future. In fact, the little walk I planned became a forteen hours hike in some towns located North of Sydney.

This tour has been very instructive also:
How to clean a dog's business
There were more clever signs, but also less positive; I’ll say more later.

Then my visit to Sydney was limited to a walk around the harbour, opera house, botanic gardens: fantastic!, some parks and some shopping malls in Pitt Street where a 8-10 years old kid really surprised me – by playing some music in the street and asking for change in return. I even asked a police officer if that was common and he confirmed that anyone can get a permit for public performance – no age restriction.

In Sydney’s airport, I was “candidate” for a full security check so they looked for explosive traces on my clothes and my bags: I believe not too many people walk around an airport with a GPS and a backpack full of electronics in airports. New South Wales is behind for now as I left to Launceston (Tasmania) via Melbourne. Melbourne seems to be really dry; everything was yellow and I didn’t see many trees from the sky. In the airport, a sales lady in a store specialized in flying cow had so much fun with her toys that I couldn’t resist to laugh; I liked it! Then I was quite happy to have a memorable seat number on the place to Launceston (1A: sounds like first class upgrade! negative – this aircraft’s size is comparable to Luxair’s Fokker 50: four seats in a row and no space for more than 40 people). My first impression of Laucenston is not that great; but the marina was all-right and just outside the city there are fantastics trails, for example in the area of the Cataract Gorge.

I’m leaving tomorrow morning (very early) for an tour (which I found via the eco-tour label certification authority) that seems to be run by a very small company – last minute booking. I’ll be away for the next few days and probably won’t even answer to e-mails or approve comments (but no one comments anyway).

About my pictures, I did not upload too not many pictures yet; but unfortunately I took too many again! Already 1.7 GB of pictures are waiting to be sorted and geotagged, please be patient – and wait… until the end of my Tasmanian tour.

PS: please accept my apologies for any eventual (probable) mistakes on this post as I won’t have time to re-read it and even worse: I merged and split words and groups of words all the time while writing this post – and eating all you can eat sushi at mikaku for $13.50.

See you later, aligator!

Places

Sydney

February 1, 2007 kewl Leave a comment

Tired; my luggage is delayed again (looks like I have full membership to the club of delayed bags, ask somekool for verification), grey and rainy, but hey! I’m there, and with a new telephone (that includes a manual in Arabic; no excuse to learn a new language!): Nokia E61; recommended by spoty for less than $300; it’s charging at the moment.

My first impression: Sydney is very green, people seem to like trees as they are everywhere.

I’m about to leave for a small walk in Manly and get some food; then most likely this evening I will go to bed early 🙂

See ya later, aligator!

Places

Perth to Adelaide

March 1, 2003 kewl Leave a comment

They said: Australian adventures to wild places – untouched and uncrowded! It was true!

Day 1

Clayton, our guide, picked us up in a hostel in Perth Northbridge area at 6:30 in the morning. We were 15 in the group, with some people from Great Britain, South Africa, Germany, Sydney, Japan and Iran.

We headed into York – and travelled across a varied landscape – the oldest inland town in Western Australia where I had my breakfast in a Cafe, before going Wave Rock near Hyden. We stopped and saw the dog cemetary on the way.

It’s 15m high rock with different colors, it’s about 350 km from Perth. Very impressive place where we stopped for lunch.

After we went south to the Fitzergald River National Park, where we unpacked our tents and installed our bush camp. This huge national (3300 square km) park is located along lovely coast. We had a hike in this biosphere, we had to clean out shoes before, in order to avoid the spread of dieback. Unfortunately it was too late for a swim, but I enjoyed the place.

I shared my tent with Michael, an Iranian guy who is very nice, and I slept very well.

Day 2

We left the national park and went to Esperance along the coastline. Then we went to Cape Le Grand National Park, where we unpacked the tents some meters from a beautiful beach. We had to share the place with two lovely kangaroos who were here. I had a wonderful swim there.

In the afternoon, we hiked the Frenchman Peak, from where I really enjoyed the beautiful landscape.

Camping facilities were excellent; they even had some showers

Day 3

I enjoyed walking from 7:00AM along the coast, then had a swim on one of the lovely beaches.

Then we went back to Esperance, then headed to Norseman and reached the Eyre Highway, ready to cross the Nullarbor plain. Nullarbor name origins is from latin for ‘no trees’. Eyre is dedicated to John Eyre, the European explorer who explored this area from east to west.

We stopped and played in a salty lake, then we camped in the bush.

Day 4

We stopped at the first petrol station, where we could take an enjoyable shower.

Then, we crossed the 90 Mile Straight: Australia’s Longest Straight Road (146.6
km), then the road turned left (private joke :>).

We stopped at Cocklebiddy to visit the Cocklebiddy Cave, the largest cave in the Nullarbor, where we had a swim in the undergound lake. The water seemed quite cold first, but once in, it was a real pleasure! Swimming is darkness is first weird, then very funny.

Then we saw the real Nullarbor plain, then went through Madura to fill the tank. we bushcamped in the middle of nowhere. At this point of the trip, I really realized how big and uncrowded this continent is.

Day 5

We visited the old Eucla, some picturesque ruins of a telegraph station, opened in 1877. It’s surrounded and inside sand dunes.

Later, we saw the Nullarbor cliffs, where we could see dolphins swimming in the sea. Later we saw the famous wombat/camel/kangaroo road sign. Then, we crossed the dingo fence in Yalata Aboriginal lands.

In the afternoon, we arrived in Fowlers Bay, near some huge sand dunes, where we’ve been playing in the sand (jump, run and sand boarding). I still had sand in my ears two days later.

Day 6

We stopped near Ceduna, then we went for a cruise on a boat, where we swam and saw the dolphins and sea lions. In the evening, we stopped in the town of Streaky Bay, where we ate and slept

Day 7

We visited Murphy’s Haystacks, a very old amazing rock formation. We had lunch in the outback, near a salty lake, where I ran around. In the afternoon, we headed into Port Augusta, where we had our first traffic light since the first day! In the late afternoon, we arrived in Adelaide, after over 3500 km of travel, which is more than London to Moscow

Places

Perth

February 23, 2003 kewl 1 Comment

I decided to spend the first days in Perth, where I planned to recover from nonexistent jet lag, and to see some local people who have been waiting for me for a while. I also chose that city because it’s supposed to be the sunniest city of Australia, and also the most isolated big city in the world. I *really* enjoyed that place. People are relaxed and peaceful there.

I walked around shops to get camping and backpacking stuff; I was impressed by the choice and price.

Urbanization is a bit weird when you come from Europe, but I enjoyed and realized how cosmopolitan, modern and vibrant the city is.

I spent almost four hours walking and looking in the City Business District in Hay Street and Murray Street Malls.

I bought a hat, sunglasses, a phone prepaid card, some electric stuff, first postcards, then had a swim in the hotel’s swimming pool. Temperature was between 29 and 34 degrees during the day.

I had lunch in the food court in the Carillon arcade, where you can choose between all sort of food (American, Italian, Asian, …), where I ate some Chinese cooked vegetables.

In the afternoon, I walked to the Swan Bell tower, then followed the cycle way along the Swan river, and went up to Kings Park, where we have a view on the city and the river. A part of this walk wasn’t so funny, where the cycle path went along the Freeway road, but it’s wasn’t that bad.

I walked up to the Park, and could see how local people enjoy the outside life. I spent almost half an hour to look around the CBD. Then I walked through the 17ha Botanic Garden, which has more than 2500 plant species from Western Australia. I spent all the afternoon in this park, and enjoyed the swim back at the hotel!

I also visited Perth Zoo in South Perth, using the ferry across the river, where we can see attractive plants, Australian wildlife (including koalas and kangaroos). I spent a whole day there.

Next day, I went to Freemantle, suburb on the Indian Ocean, where I had my first swim in the sea. I visited the town as well, had my lunch in the market. For the evening, I ate in a sushi bar in Perth.