Noosa Heads

Noosa is a kind of posh-meets-retired seaside resort. It's a lovely place to slow down, lie on the beach or walk in the woods. There's a superb coastal track that allows you to watch humpback whales, dolphins and koalas.


The local pelicans love to sleep or stand on lampposts.

Paysage paradisiaque (1)



Paysage paradisiaque (2)



Paysage par... Ok j'arrete.





Ca se passe de commentaires...




Mais qu'apercois-je la-haut dans l'arbre? Le voyez-vous?





Bon sang mais c'est bien sur, c'est un koala! Who's watching whom, may I ask?








Vous vous rappelez du cousin Machin dans la famille Adams? Bin j'ai retrouve le reste de la famille, dans Noosa Heads National Park...

And now, a bit of marine wildlife.

Can you spot the humpback whale?

Zooming in with basic software, this is the best I can get (Gillette!) for you: a jumping humpback whale.


And the usual dolphins...

Bye bye Noosa!

Let's go bowling

See how one can play ten-pin bowling.

- Jesus!
- You said it man, nobody +++++ with the +++++ ! (Frederic, this one's for you).

Welcome to BrisVegas

I still can't figure out why Brisbane is nicknamed BrisVegas. The Lonely Planet says it's linked to "its penchant for highrises and glitz". Yeah whatever. I went there expecting something lively, beautiful, with loads of nice buildings and a "friendly vibe", like in Sydney. Instead, I just saw loads of modern buildings, arranged in a rather messy way, and I realised the local builders had a strong taste for concrete.

However, on a more positive note, Brisbane has a good array of cultural buildings, including a few museums, an interesting art gallery, a few monuments, a nice "alternative" area called Fortitude Valley, a tiny Chinatown and, woohoo, a library with free Internet.

Brisbane's Nepalese pagoda.


The Maritime Museum overlooking Brisbane River.





Strange cast-iron sculptures can be found in the city. Pelicans, kangaroos, you name it, they have it...


Beautiful wonder of the modern world, Captain (!!!) Cook bridge.





Petit rassemblement entre amis, au bord de la riviere. I think they are Jaguars.














The imposing Story Bridge. There is something very Vancouver-esque about it.


While working for Gillette, I met David Beckham. Now see who the new "faces of Gillette" are. Whyyyyyy did I quit my job??? (OK, to finish my studies... but still...).


Chinatown. Remember the roofs in Beijing's Forbidden City? This one looks familiar, doesn't it?


The ANZAC Memorial. Now let's talk history. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. They are the soldiers who fought during World War One, in various places around the globe, including France and the Ottoman Empire. 25 April is known as ANZAC Day and commerates the ANZAC's first involvement in military action in WW1.





One can read: Amiens, Villers, Bretonneux, Mont St Quentin...


Tiens, une clock tower!


Woops j'ai oublie le nom de cette eglise.


Kangaroos!


Inside St John's Cathedral which, by the way, is still being built...

And this is how our trip to Brisbane ends. Interesting but not exciting.

Update

So we are in November. Normally, I would think of this month as a grey, rainy, increasingly cold succession of boring days spent at school or at work. How depressing. I mean, what kind of month starts with a compulsory day at the cemetery, or a hangover following a crazy halloween party? However, NovoSeven as I call it (Nov 07) has a different taste. It started in the sunshine, in hot temperature, but still bearable thanks to the marine breeze...And as days go by, the temperature increases and the sun is like a grill in an oven (ie VERY hot). So NovoSeven will have a peculiar, very nice, taste, and so will December.

I am now in Rainbow Beach and will move to Hervey Bay tomorrow. And then I will probably go to Town of 1770, just because the name sounds cool.

There's a bit of a decalage in the blog as I still have a relatively large number of pictures to upload. After Murwillumbah, I went to Brisbane, and then to Noosa Heads and Rainbow Beach... I'm doing my best! Patience, patience...

More news soon ;-)

Murwillumbah & Mount Warning

Murwillumbah... An interesting name for a lovely and unpretentious place. I came there to relax, after the "hustle and bustle" of Byron Bay. Its art gallery is home to portraits who are the winners of the highest prize for a portrait in Australia, apparently. And I had a very interesting conversation with the ladies at the reception. Now they have my name on a piece of paper, just in case, and I quote, "you get famous one day". Don't hold your breath, mesdames. Startled as you might be, you would probably ask, "famous for what?". Well I told them about my growing interest in photography and so they probably saw in me the next Yann Arthus-Bertrand or David Bailey... Don't hold your breath, I repeat.

Murwillumbah is also the main gateway to Mount Warning. So I ask you, dear readers, why do you think it's called Mount Warning? Well this is yet another facetie of our friend James "you-think-I-am-a-captain-but-I-am-not" Cook. He nicknamed the former volcano "Warning" as a... warning, you guessed it, for sailors. As soon as you could see it from the sea, then you had to be careful otherwise your ship would come crashing into the lovely but rocky Australian coast.

Finally, Murwillumbah is now popular for its sugar cane fields and banana trees. And there's a large Indian community, who came here to work in... sugar cane fields (I don't like repetitions).

Murwillumbah's main street, dotted with art-deco buildings.


Rather new and colourful church.


Other views of Murwillumbah's flourishing sub-tropical flora, rien que ca...





And the icon of the east coast, the waterdragon!


Mister (or missus?) frog.


Mister (or missus?) snake, at the hostel.


From the top of Mount Warning, a sweeping view of the Australian bush. Mount Warning used to be a volcano and the erosion of the lava has formed a giant caldera. So the Mount sits right in the middle of it, and so does Murwillumbah. All around, is mountains which form, more or less, a big circle, ie the limits of the caldera. Now you know all about the geological wonders of Murwillumbah!

And if you look close enough, far away in the background, you can see Byron Bay and the ocean.


Good luck?


Sub-tropical forest on the way down (or up).











And on the other side of the street, some dancing lessons. Shall we dance?