Friday 28 December 2007

Petite pause

Perth est donc la nouvelle elue. Apres nombreuses tergiversations, j'ai decide de rester ici jusqu'a la mi-mars. Je suis deja inscrit dans deux agences d'interim et maintenant j'attends tranquillement le premier job.

Perth, c'est la grande ville la plus isolee au monde. C'est sympa par ici. Il fait beau, il fait chaud, la plage est proche - j'y vais en bus ou en train. Je suis a l'auberge OneWorld Backpackers. C'est comme une grande colocation: bonne ambiance, cuisine propre, des gens d'un peu partout dans le monde, et des lits confortables.

Du coup le blog va etre plus calme dans les semaines a venir. Il y aura des photos mais moins que d'habitude. Il y aura quelques articles, dont un qui expliquera le titre dans mon blog - du moins je l'espere.

Voili voilou les nouvelles... More news soon!

Monday 24 December 2007

Flash info

Voici donc quelques informations pour vous, cheres lectrices et lecteurs, et autres touristes cybernetiques:

- Je reste dans la region de Perth jusqu'a la mi-mars environ. Je vais chercher et trouver (faut bien) un emploi par ici histoire de finir mon tour du monde sans trop de soucis financiers.

- J'ai reduit la taille des photos qui sont sur mon blog, depuis mon arrivee a Perth. Par consequent, toutes les photos de la cote ouest, de Perth, de Freo et de Rottnest sont de moins bonne qualite (elles semblent moins nettes). Mais pourquoi donc ai-je fait ca? Le format 640x480 pixels, que j'utilise desormais pour reduire les photos que je prends, est plus leger mais l'inconvenient c'est que les photos sont moins nettes sur le blog. Avant, j'etais en 800x600, ce qui prenait plus de temps a envoyer sur le site web. Si j'avais les bons logiciels, je n'aurais pas ce probleme mais il faut faire avec les moyens du bord!

- Je vous souhaite a toutes et a tous un tres joyeux Noel et une excellente annee 2008. Que cette annee vous apporte de bonnes choses, une bonne vie et pleins de sourires (plein de zigos pour une personne en particulier). Au final, Noel c'est important au niveau nourriture et rassemblement familial (j'allais dire regroupement familial mais ca fait un peu chiraquien)...Le reste, les objets, tout ca, c'est secondaire - oui j'essaye de justifier le fait que je n'offrirai pas de cadeaux de noel cette annee :o).

- Ici, dans l'auberge OneWorld, je vais feter noel avec les autres routards, autour d'un joli festin.

- And never forget this one thing: you only live once (or so they say) !



Fremantle

Fremantle, or Freo, is a lovely little town 30 minutes away from Perth, on the coast. Beautiful buildings in pastel colours, large harbour, relaxed people and great restaurants - ladies and gentlemen, this is what Freo is all about!

















Peaceful pelicans... Always hanging around...







Father Christmas on the balcony. Maybe he should have adopted another dress code for Australia. He must be so hot in these clothes...






















I still wonder whether this guy was asleep or, well, gone forever.










I like the white swans on the roof, very nice indeed.

All at sea

Yesterday I sailed to Rottnest Island on a 40-foot catamaran. What a great day it was!!! Fabulous weather, good wind on the way back - man, those winches are big (but so are my biceps ha ha ha), snorkelling and kayaking along the beach, in crystal clear water, great food - a barbecue on the yacht, classy I say.

I took a few pictures for you.

The yacht: Escapade.




Sortie du port sous spi... Moi je dis, c'est la classe. Bon, on l'a descendu 30 minutes plus tard, mais quand meme...




Meme les dauphins etaient de la partie.













And then we arrived in Rottnest Island where we moored until 3pm. Rottnest Island bears such a weird name because when the Dutch arrived there a few centuries ago, they saw the island's local marsupials, the quokkas, they thought they were rats. So they called the island "rat's nest" or Rottnest in Dutch. Inimitable Dutchmen.







Ben, our skipper, looking after the barbecue.




Inside the yacht: Greek salad, couches... Really, it was a hard day.







Leeuwin II







I just have one more thing to say about this fantastic day out on the Indian Ocean: merci Eugenie!

Saturday 22 December 2007

Proposition

Je propose qu'on interdise Adrien de lire mon blog (Julie, empeche-le d'ecrire!) vu qu'il passe son temps a verifier la veracite de mes explications geologiques et biologiques. Et vu que mes propos sont souvent approximatifs, il se trouve qu'il a raison et moi tort.

Stromatolitement votre...

Je plaisanteeeuh...

Final words on the west coast

I have just come back from 2 weeks of travelling along the west coast, from Cervantes to Perth. It was fantastic. The west coast truly is amazing, incredibly empty, as you can see for yourself. The desert meets the beach and there's not much in between. It was quiet, beautiful and I wish it will stay like that. While the east has been conquered by tourists, the west seems to have resisted. In my opinion, it really is Australia's best kept secret.

I shall now spend 5 days in Perth, including one on a cruise to Rottnest Island (thanks E. !).

Hope you like the pictures :o).

Coral Bay

I thought I'd found paradise beaches in Monkey Mia. But I was wrong... I hadn't seen Coral Bay yet.

In Coral Bay, you can snorkel straight from the beach, for the Ningaloo Reef is just a few metres away. So it's a different experience from the Great Barrier Reef (east coast) where you need to book a tour on a boat and so on... It cost just $5 to hire snorkelling gear...and ended being free of charge thanks to Alice and Tao! I intended to spend 2 or 3 days there, and ended up staying for 5 days. It truly is the most beautiful stretch of coast I have seen so far.

It's a tiny town, with approx 120 inhabitants, one hostel, one resort, 2 tiny supermarkets and a couple of cafes. So it wasn't crowded and we could enjoy the beach, the sea, the sharks and still have the place almost to ourselves!

The best thing about Coral Bay is that you literally swim with fish... L'explication en images:
















The sea was turquoise, blue, green, perfect. Incredibly transparent, clean, beautiful... I just can't get over it. It was BEAUTIFUL!







And it was quite surreal because you swim there and a few minutes away on foot, further north, there's a bay full of sharks, where you can't swim. Strange... They don't go anywhere else. This bay is called Shark Nursery because they come here to give birth and raise their little ones before leaving.



















Playing with sand...




Coral Bay, village and beach.







And Coral Bay is place where you can admire glorious sunsets... I went to watch the sunset three nights in a row, I couldn't get enough of it!







Votre serviteur devant la mer.




































See the sun set, see the moon rise...






And that's it for tropical Western Australia!