Sunshine state, here we are

Sunshine state, here we are ! We had to come to Queensland to see the Australian blue sky... we did it ! We've been in Coolangatta for more than  a week now, waiting for the perfect long wave to come back. We arrived last wednesday and we had super conditions, soo good that we didn't have the time to take pictures, too exicited about surfing Snapper rock Rainbow bay & Greenmount. That wave is sooooo long, unbeleivable, longest wave I've ever surfed.

The weather is really nice here, sun is strong, extra large and long beaches, very enjoyable cold showers and nice people, actually a little too much people.... surfing with over 200 of them !!! It's like seeing the wave of your dream but not be able to surf it... because someone is on it !!!

We had a couple of waves fortunately and I'll be happy with that, very happy. I think Australia is the most crowded surfing place on the earth, after that we won't complain about crowd anymore !

The WCT contest start tommorrow if the waves are back and we will probably drive north.

Take care

Poema

Vive Sunshine state

Coolangatta, 24 février 2009

Ca y est !!!! Nous avons vu le ciel bleu d'Australie et surfé de superbes vagues, il fallait juste passer la frontiere du Queensland, Sunshine state !!! Il fait chaud, beau, la mer est bleue turquoise et prendre sa douche froide est un vrai plaisir !!! Wahou!

 Nous sommes a Coolangatta une ville sympathique a la frontiere du Queensland et du New South Wales. Coolangatta a éte nommée ainsi d'apres une goelette qui s'est échoué en 1846 sur la plage de Kirra, tres connue il y a encore quelques années pour sa vague au tube interminable. Mais Kirra n'est plus ce qu'elle était car l'extraction de sable a déplacé les bancs de sable, donc plus de tubes magiques mais il y a a présent Snapper Rock, la plus longue vague que j'ai jamais vu et surfé. A ce qu'il parrait, Snapper Rock a contribué a l'essor de la ville et a son développement, le prix des l'immobilier a augmenté et les appartement partent comme des petits pains, le surf ca rapporte plein de sous !!!! 

Malgré le monde fou (plus de 200 personnes a l'eau, ils ressemblent a des fourmis), la vague est vraiment incroyable et le fait qu'il n'y ait pas de recif et seulement du sable me fait encore plus haluciner !!!!

Les gens sont généralement tres gentils et polis sauf l'autre soir lorsque quelqu'un nous a balancé un oeuf sur la voiture, bon j'ai pas trop compris, j'étais a moitié endormie, mais rien de mal, c'était sur la voiture et ils étaient surement bourrés.

Aussi une chose est sure personne ne pourras mourrir de soif alcoolique en Australie, j'ai l'impression qu'il y a plus de Liquor store dans tout le pays que de Food Store, c'est impressionnant.

Il est tres rare d'appercevoir les aborigenes et c'est assez bizarre de penser que c'est leur pays et qu'on ne les voit meme pas, c'est troublant.

A part ca, il n'est pas etonnant qu'il n'y ai pas beaucoup de touristes Australiens a Tahiti, vu le climat, les plages géantes, les vagues, le cout de la vie et la barriere de corail, rien de particulier pourrais les attirer dans nos iles parrées d'hotels de luxe...

Ma minute "Voyageur a budget réduit" : Pour vous procurer gratuitement du sel, poivre, sucre, de la confiture, de serviette en papier, du Ketchup et internet Wi-Fi allez chez MacDo ! En plus les ice-cream coutent entre 30 cents et 50 cents seulement (cad 30 Fcfp ou moins)...

Voila !!! Bisous a tous  et a bientot,

Poema

 

Australie, along the East coast

Je viens de poster quelques photos d'Australie,

I posted some pictures from Australia,

I'll be back later for more news, 

Bisous

Poema

Hitting the road... sur la route vers Byron Bay

We finally left Dee Why after getting our car ready for 3 days, it's not that easy especially when you want to get the cheapest. We highly recommend Salvation Army store and Vinnies, really nice and cheap used stuff (the best matress I ever had for only 95 AUD, cleaned of course). Then go to Bunnings for any hardware, it's the cheapest if you take time to look around the store, they have hidden sales items and good service (ps take care of your tools, you can take them back and get your money back).

Generally, people are really nice here, they easily smile to you, say hi but when it comes to driving around, they are crazy, roadragers !!! don't slow down or take too much time leaving your parking place, they'll honk for anything... I heard it's because they work too much...

Driving up the freeway wasn't the best scenery and we decided to take the "tourist road" as they call it, closer to the shore and MUCH nicer. It rained a lot for the last couple days, we didn't see the Australian blue sky yet. An old man told us that 10 inches of rain felt today, we saw some flooded land but nothing dramatic. We are sleeping at Port Macquarie, at the Lighthouse Beach. It's a quiet neighborhood where a lot of house are for sale.

Take care

Poema

Tout d'abord, je voudrais adresser mes meilleurs voeux a Vaimiti qui c'est marriée aujourd'hui (14 fevrier a Tahiti), elle fait a present partie de mon club de "copine marriée", je ne suis plus seule au monde !!!

Nous avons quitté Dee Why apres 3 jours de preparatif : la construction de notre lit, l'achat de quelques bricoles pour faire la cuisine et pour amenager notre van. Les meilleures adresses pour s'equiper aux meilleurs prix : Salvation Army ou Salvos (l'armée du Salut), Vinnies (c'est comme Salvos) et  Bunnings pour tout ce qui concerne la fabrication d'un lit (prennez soin de vos outils, vous pouvez les ramener apres utilisation).

Nous remontons la cote vers Byron Bay. Il pleut depuis plusieurs jours et nous n'avons toujours pas vu le ciel bleu Australien. La nature est beaucoup plus silencieuse ici comparée a celle de la Nouvelle-Zélande ou les criquets chantaient du matin au soir. C'est plutot le cri des oiseaux que l'on entend et on peut aussi appercevoir des Cacatoes a huppe jaune sur le toit des Shopping center. 

Nous avons atteri a Port Macquaries et nous y restons pour la nuit. C'est une petite ville en bord de plage, tranquille et ou il y a plein de maisons a vendre...

Je vous embrasse et a bientot

Poema

News from Kangaroo land

We are in Australia since 5 days now. We spent 3 days looking for the van we dreamed of and we finaly got it, a Toyota Hiace Commuter. Plenty of room, good engine and tinted windows to be more "incogito". So far, we liked it here. The streets in Sydney are really busy but they look really good with Europeen style buildings and trees all along them. I also really like the Tipanie trees (plumeria) growing all around here and I go pick the flowers when ever I have time. Their smell makes me feel better as if I was in Moorea.

We are staying in Dee Why right now, till we are all set with our "carosse". It's a nice car with not too muh traffic, it stresses Noah too much to be in traffic and we try to avoid the cities as much as we can. We made the bed yesterday, right in the hardware parking lot, like that it's easier to get what you need.  I'll post some pictures when we have it all set.

Well that's about it... oh, shocking... beside the floods and the big fires, more than 300 people died, we had 2 sharks attack in less than 5 days in Sydney area... so I'M NOT GOING OUT UNLESS IT'S PERFECT !!!! One of them happened in Bondi, the town where we hang out for 3 days. 

Take care

Poema

Nous avons enfin trouvé notre carosse, un joli van Toyota Hiace Commuter ou il fait bon vivre !!! ( je posterais les photos du bolide tres bientot).

Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance, encore une fois, car nous avons exactement ce que nous recherchions, vitre tinté pour passer plus innapercu lorsque l'on dort sur les parkings, rideaux, plafond surélevé et un trés bon prix pour un van tel que le notre. 

Nous l'avons inauguré hier soir meme, et on a tres tres bien dormis. Nous sommes a Dee Why, (ou nous avons acheter le van), une ville situé a 30 min du centre de Sydney. C'est tres sympathique, il y a plein de petit magasins tout le long de la route principale, et beaucoups d'espaces verts, cent fois plus agréable et moins peuplé que Bondi. On se demande d'ailleurs pourquoi il y a une telle concentration de voyageurs a Bondi, c'est peut-etre a cause des jolies blondes...

Nous avons fait le plus gros et le plus stressant, trouver un van, trois jours de recherche, plus d'une vingtaine de vans inspecté, la traversé de la ville sud-nord-est-ouest... et pouf, la citrouille c'est tranformée en joli carosse... 

bisous a tous

Poema

Kangourou land

Iaorana

Nous sommes en Australie, a Sydney depuis deux jours. La recherche d'un van pour notre sejour de trois mois n'est pas aussi facile que je le pensais. Deux jours entiers a chercher notre carosse de Cendrillon, mais toujours rien. La ville est trés grande par rapport a Auckland, pas comparable a vrai dire. On ne s'attendait pas non plus a ce que le cout de la vie soit aussi cher, presque deux fois plus cher qu'en Nouvelle-Zélande. 

Les rue sont tres jolies, avec des batiment comme en Europe, et des arbres tout le long des rues.

Hier soir nous avons dormis dans la voiture, rien a voir avec notre premiere nuit passé dans un hotel sympathique, je me retrouve avec un torticoli, vivement notre carosse...

A bientot 

Poema

Kiaora 

J'ai ajouté quelques photos de Raglan prise lors de notre seconde visite et aussi celle de Waitangi Day.

I added some pictures of Raglan I capture when we went there for the second time and the one's from Waitangi day.

Enjoy,

Poema

Aotearoa, here we are

We have been in New-Zealand for 2& 1/2 weeks now, it's a very beautiful and interresting country. It's Noah's first time here and my 3rd. 

The purpose of our trip was to visit our friends Piripi and Michelle and be at their wedding. We arrived on the 19th (+23h to Tahiti) and Michelle picked us up at the airport. We drove to Tauranga where Piripi was waiting for us. He is a crew member on the traditional-modern double hull canoe, Te Aurere (teaurere.org.nz).

We ate with the crew at Whareroa marae(ancestrial meeting house), with 50 other people related to Tauranga marae, it was impressive.

We stayed at Sean and Ange's house for the night and walk around Maunganui little town. It's a really cute place, nice to hang out and good surf.

Tuesday Jan 20th :

We drove to Gisborne where the ceremony was going to be hold. The whole week was intense, everything had to be perfect for THE day. 

Gisborne is a very nice town, around 30,000 people live there, mostly maori, most of them live in the town, and beach side properties belong to rich Kiwis. The beaches are really long like in Florida but the sand is hard and it makes a perfect running ground for everybody. That's where Captain Cook arrived for the first time in NZ guided by the Tahitian Tupaia in 1769.

Saturday Jan 24th:

The wedding day, the most important day of a woman's life.... isn't it ! The wedding was perfect, held in a big  and beautiful ocean view garden. It was really hot and I was quite happy about it. I prepared a poisson cru (tahitian raw fish) for the party and everybody liked it, ouf ! Each family and friend's group sang or performed a haka (traditional dance).

Sunday Jan 25th

We have been very well taken care by Michelle and Piripi. We pretty much lived like princes in very beautiful houses they rented for the wedding. 

In the afternoon we had a barbecue party at the beach house where Mich and Piripi were staying. I made some flower crowns (hei) and taught an otea ( tahitian fast dance) to Michelle and her friend. 

Monday Jan 26th:

We moved to Moana's house in town to stay there untill we got our wetsuits, indispensable for our world tour. The water is REALLY cold.

Moana is maori, and with Tahitian Raipoia Cowan Brightwell she reintroduced the woman waka ama (polynesian canoe) in NZ ten years ago. She's teaching at a maori only language school. 

She has a big heart and made me feel like I was home, I was really sad to leave her.

Wednesday Jan 29th :

We got our wetsuit and left Gisborne. We cross the North island going from east to west, and we arrived at Raglan around midnight, 6 hours driving. We cross Raglan town center "in the blink of an eye", as Noah says. Then we drove around looking for a place to sleep in the car. I slept the whole drive from Gisborne, and I woke up when we arrived in Raglan. It was weird to arrive and visit Raglan in the dark, I felt like I was in a movie. I couldn't understand that Noah wasn't tired at all and was looking for the waves at this time of the night, I guess the coffee was really strong. We end up coming back in town for more security for our first night in the car. 

Raglan is a very small town but it is getting bigger very fast. It has gotten a lot bigger in the past 2 years. It's a hippie-surf town where everybody enjoys their quite life, a lot of camper vans and camping cars are going there and most of the people we had around us where sleeping in their car. 

Thursday Jan. 30th

We drove around and found the spot following some surfer cars. There was 3 of them, one after the other one. The waves looked good and a lot of people were in the water at 6am.

We decided to surf Whale bay, Noah went first and I stayed in the car to watch for our stuff. Then I went out. It was really fun. I had to wear a wetsuit for the first time in my life and it felt a bit too tight on my neck and my shoulder. First step in the water : my feet were cold and the rest of my body was still dry, it is kind of weird but I wasn't cold at least. I caught a wave easily. Riding it with a wetsuit seems to be different but it's not too bad. Just tight on my shoulders and exhausting.

We hang out the rest of the day around the surf spot and went in to town. I felt like I was visiting a different town from the one I saw the night before.

Friday Jan 31th. 

We slept at Manu bay in our car. It's really cool and fun to sleep in a car, quite a small place but I like it and enjoy it for now. Our window view changes when ever we want and we can see the stars before we sleep... the only "con" is the cold shower.

We hang out in town and at Manu bay. Noah surfed a little bit. I stayed in the car, the crowded small waves and cold water doesn't really attract me....

Saturday Feb. 1st

We decided to go back to Auckland to hang out with Michelle and Piripi. They live there in a very cosy and cute house. Michelle is working at Maori TV and Piripi works for himself.

Sean and Ange where there for the weekend and we were really happy to see them again. 

We had lunch together and Noah went to sleep early. 

Sunday Fseb 2nd :

We hang out at the house till 11 and went to town  for a visit. The city center didn't change since my last trip couple years ago. Walking around reminded me of when I was studying here for 3 months to improve my english. The harbour changed a lot and got bigger. It is full of asian people and Noah felt like he was in China, just like I did when I came here for the first time.

Driving around Auckland is really hard, all the streets change name at least 3 times and it's really easy to get lost.

Monday Feb 3rd

I went to Maori TV and hung out with the sports reporter the whole day. We went to see the Kiwis (guys) and Kiwis ferns (woman) 2008 Rugby league world champions.

Then I hung out at the TV station for the rest of the day.

Soulan, one of my best friends in NZ, came to pick me up to go for dinner. He is a professional boxer and also work as a personnal trainer. I met him when I was studying here and I was really happy to see him again.

Tuesday Feb 4th

We left the house at 4am to go to Raglan. We arrived there around 7 and the waves were good. It got bigger during the day, 4-6ft and we had two sessions. It was really fun, crowded and the locals were a bit aggressives but that's how it usually goes...

We had our one dollar ice cream and slept in the parking lot in front of the spot.

Wednesday Feb 5th:

The waves got smaller, so we went  into town. I walked around and took some pictures, and met people. 

Karla is a kiwi girl, with 5 other artist they own a shop where they sell their pieces. It's a really interesting place to visit, it's called Jet. 

Then I met Ardré and Antonio. They are maori artists, he is a poet and she is a singer. They are really nice and they invited us at their place. 

We left Raglan because the waves were not so good anymore and we had to get ready for Waitangi day,the most important maori holiday of the year in New Zealand.