Awesome Saturday

Many of you probably think that living in Sydney I spend a lot of time at the beach. You're wrong! It's the one thing that I take for granted here. I'm only a 15-20 min bus ride to a few beaches but most of the time, I'd rather do something else than go to the beach. And it's winter the water is too cold to go for a swim and I'm quite happy with the colour of my skin so I have no reason to go really. But I thought that it's been too long, so yesterday I went to Coogee, tiny compared to Bondi but it's not full of tourists and/or backpackers. As I got off the bus I could see quite a lot of people lining up the beachfront and staring at the sea. At first I thought someone was being rescued but coming closer to the beach I realised that the something in the water attracting a lot of attention was not human but animal... a whale!!

And the whale was not alone, I'm not talking about these 2 crazy swimmers, sure they had the best seat but it's a bit dangerous.. ... she had brought her baby with her.

I have another photo where you can see the tip of the calf's nose but Blogger won't let me upload it for some dark technical reason.

I spent about 90 minutes just looking at these two frolicking in the water, I could have stayed even longer, they were enjoying it so much they were not going anywhere. I just wished they had jumped out of the water and put on a show.

Looks like the tail is waving goodbye.. After that I walked from Coogee to Bondi, enjoying the sights, stopping on the way at Bronte beach to dip my feet in the water, feeling the sand between my toes and listening to the sound of the waves. I'm going to fall alseep after writing these lines, it was sooooo relaxing! And I promised myself I will do it more often.

C'est la fete-euh, la fete-euh

Un vendredi apres-midi tres productif: apres la pause dej je me remets a bosser vers mmmm 14h30, je rentre quelques depenses dans mon merveilleux logiciel de compta, je prends un the, j'envoie un cheque a notre assureur, 16h: on prend un verre et on mange du delicieux gateau au chocolat pour feter l'anniversaire d'un collegue et de mon inferieure hierarchique, echange d'emails avec ma momette, qui gentiment me rappelle que c'est sa fete aujourd'hui - oups.. j'avais comme qui dirait oublie, fille indigne! - le tout en gardant un oeil sur les JO.. au boulot nous avons 2 ecrans de TV, habituellement branches sur Bloomberg (d'ailleurs je me demande comment je n'ai pas encore fait de cauchemards a cause de cette maudite chaine) mais mon boss a decide qu'on allait regarder les JO, donc je disais.. 2 ecrans, dont un qui se trouve juste derriere moi. Si je ne chope pas un torticolis d'ici la fin des jeux je m'achete un billet de loterie avec 9 chances sur 10 de toucher le pactole. Et bah c'est pas le tout mais c'est que ca va etre l'heure de non pas rentrer au bercail mais continuer sur sa lancee: au bar!!!

J'adooooore les vendredis.....

The sound of silence

It's been quiet on the blogging front because yours truly is:

• busy watching the Olympics, especially the men's swimming competitions ... I can hardly take my eyes off all these broad shoulders and waxed chests!!
• busy at work - I've been MYOB'ing like a mad idiot
• busy sleeping
• busy cursing the French for getting ANOTHER long weekend

Baby, it's FREEZING cold outside

I'll share with you part of a conversation I recently had with my mum:

- What's the weather like on your side?
- Oooh it's cold!!
- Really?
- Yeah! I put the heating on the minute I walk into my room til I switch the lights off
- Are you serious?
- No kidding
- What kind of temperatures do you have? 5? 0?
- Erm, no 10 degrees.
- (Sniggering) That's not cold!
- ... pfff

Well.. I guess that after 2 years down under I have slowly but nicely adapted to the environment and shiver when the temperature falls below 15 degrees and nothing prepared me for the severe cold AND snow I experienced yesterday!

Yup, the blurry stuff on the photo is snow! Caribou#2 suggested we head to the Blue Mountains and we did. Two hours on the train and we ended up in Leura, a cute little town in the Blueies, surprisingly busy, and proud host of an estate called Everglades Gardens. As we started walking around, the blue turned into white, much to the delight of Caribou#2 and a little bit to my dismay because I did not even bother to bring a coat with me.. why would I?? I know that it is colder in the Mountains and I was told that it was going to be windy... sometimes, I wonder what is my problem. Here is a closer look :

I survived in these extreme conditions only just! :) heehee, it wasn't that bad, but my fingers hurt for a while, my gloves couldn't fight the sneaky cold. Then, up the hill we went and back to the "city" for a much deserved hot chocolate and a choc mousse so sweet that it almost made me sick, but it was delish!... A wild ride on the train later I was home sweet (warm) home... aaaaah that's better!

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I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

Guess who spent a fabufantasticulous weekend in Auckland??? Moi moi moi!!! And it was the best weekend I've had in a long time!! I was still buzzing yesterday, even though I realised that my Shuffle had enough of me and crept out of my bag on the plane to find itself a new owner. As suggested by the cabin crew I checked my front seat pocket but not the floor! Ah well.. I'm just grateful it's not my camera that I lost, I'd be devastated. Anyway... I digress.

The reason why I was going there was to catch some more rugby action, the second episode in the Australia v New Zealand saga. Just before the game, the men in black graced the fans with this:

Oooooh scary...The Wallabies did not repeat last week's performance and the All Blacks won 39-10. Both teams will be travelling soon to South Africa - I'm not :( - to play against the Boks, then will meet again in September in Brissie and we'll find out who will be crowned kings of the Southern Hemisphere.

Now .. the touristy stuff. Auckland is called the City of Sails - they have more boats per capita that anywhere in the world - well.. I'm tempted to call it the city of rainbows, I have never seen so many in my life! Not that I mind, there's something magical about rainbows... I like them, especially when they add a wee bit of colour to a very grey sky.

On Sunday I caught a ferry to Waiheke Island, 40 minutes from Auckland, then on a bus for a guided tour. 12 000 souls, a handful of tourists, beautiful sights and even a few wineries! The island offers the best conditions to produce wine similar the Bordeaux ones. I'm no expert in wine and I prefer white so I can't confirm these facts!

Palm Beach, Waiheke Island

And the locals have a wicked sense of humour:

Far behind? You would not think so when you know that the island has its own online encyclopedia. How's that, eh??

Then back on the ferry and to the city to go up the Sky Tower, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere at 328 metres high and 360 degree views of the city, the burbs and the bay, either from the safety of the observation deck or if you feel adventurous/slightly crazy/totally insane (delete as appropriate) you can walk around or even jump from the tower - have a look at the photo on the right you will see someone dangling from the tower:

You would have to pay me bucketloads of cash to do this and I certainly would not let go of the cable!! After a bit of shopping it's back to the hostel to meet up with my British roommate, we had agreed earlier we'd go up the tower to see the city at night. We did just that with a couple of glasses of white wine at the bar!

Monday: on the ferry again, to Rangitoto Island (Auckland's iconic landmark) a volcanic island formed around 600 years ago. Relax..... the volcano is inactive.. or so they say!

It feels a bit strange walking the rocky road to the summit and it is amazing to see the vegetation that grew on the island.





When you reach the top, this is what you see

Aaaaaaaaaah... priceless! Well after that trek it was to time to get back on the ferry, grab my baG from the hostel and head to the airport to catch the flight back to Sydney. There's heaps more to do in Auckland, so I'm afraid I will have to go back!

Viens je t'emmene

Et encore une semaine de dur labeur (en Aussie "hard yakka") qui s'acheve (et juillet par la meme occase - c'est pas que, mais il faut commencer a penser a Noel) et c'est surout un tournant dans ma carriere: je me diversifie. L'avantage d'etre assistante dans une petite structure c'est qu'on fait de tout ou presque et dans mon cas je commence a dompter un logiciel de compta. Moi qui deteste les chiffres (sauf les gros sur mon releve bancaire avec un + devant) ce n'est pas rien et tous ces chiffres m'ont bien farci la tete et c'est avec une joie immense et difficile a contenir que j'accueille ce wikend de 3 jours! Alleluia!!!! Je me souhaite du fun et a vous tout pareil!!

I'm smiling at you.