Byron Bay, Yeah Man!

10/11/2011: at Byron Bay in New South Wales

Nous commençons à bien connaître le nord de chez nous et sa Sunshine Coast alors nous avons décidé d'explorer le Sud, autre que la Gold Coast que nous trouvons un peu trop bling-bling et pan-pan...
Nous voici donc passé la frontière de New South Wales (dont la capitale est Sydney) vers le village alternatif de Byron Bay. (2h de la maison)

We start to know the North of Brisbane and its Sunshine Coast. We want to explore the South, further than the Gold Coast which is bling-bling and has a higher criminality. So here we are passing the boarder of New South Wales (its capital is Sydney) to the alternative town of Byron Bay. (2h from Home)


From Internet

On y a juste vu des boutiques organiques et beaucup d'artistes... Les hippies modernes... Mais nous étions surtout là pour la PLAGE!!! :-) ...Oui encore... et on n'est pas déçu du voyage. Quelle beauté!
We just saw organic shops and artists... I guess those are the modern hippies... Anyway we were here for the BEACH!!!... yes again... It is such a beautiful place! Truly amazing.

Eau turquoise pleine de poissons. Heureusement qu'on avait notre masque et notre tuba!

We were so happy to have a mask for snorkelling!



vue du phare

 

Cape Byron est le point le plus à l'Est du "continent Australie".

We are at the most Easterly point of Australian Mainland.



Rainbow Beach (Tourist drives N° 43 - 42 - 22 - 23 - 24)

9/10/2011: For my birthday we decided to drive 3h North to the beautiful Rainbow Beach.

It is the beach on the continent close to the South of Fraser Island (3. on the picture).

Pour mon anniversaire, nous avons décidé de rouler 3h vers le Nord vers Rainbow Beach. C'est proche de Fraser Island (N°3 sur l'image).

Islands/ Les îles:

1. Moreton Island

2. Bribie Island

3. Fraser Island

4. North Stradbroke Island

The myth:

The name, Rainbow Beach, comes from the colour of the sand dune along the beach. The aboriginal legend tells that a spirit plunged the cliff after a battle with an evil tribesman.

Le nom, plage arc-en-ciel, vient de la couleur des dunes de sables. La légende aboriginale raconte qu'un esprit a plongé de la falaise après un combat avec un vilain.

Transparent warm water. What a pleasure! Eau chaude et transparente... hmmm

Tin Can Bay: Calm and beautiful.

We loved driving in the area. I was hoping to see wild horses, Brambies, in the Great Sandy National Park. Queensland is sooo green! If it was a little cooler we could think we were in Bavaria, Germany.

On aime conduire dans la région. On espérait voir des chevaux sauvages, Brambies, dans le parc national. Le Queensland est tellement vert! S'il faisait un peu moins chaud, on se croirait en Bavière.

It's funny, we never drove 6h in a day in our home country... How often did we go to Köln in Germany or Metz in France or Amsterdam in The Netherlands? How far do you go in a weekend?

C'est amusant, nous ne roulions jamais 6h en une journée dans notre plat pays... Combien de fois sommes-nous allé à Cologne (Allemagne), à Metz (France) ou à Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)? Jusqu'où allez-vous dans votre week-end?



Special drive-through

En Belgique, nous avons les drive-through lors ce qu'on veut un burger accompagné d'une frite mais en Australie on peut aussi acheter son alcool sans devoir sortir de sa voiture.

In Belgium we can order a burger with some fries (or chips as they say here) from a drive-through but in Australia we can buy alcohol while staying in our car.

Boire ou conduire?

Santa Lucia in Oz

This Sunday my family (from Finland) celebrates "Santa Lucia" in Belgium and it is the first year that we will not be there to enjoy the big family reunion. As we become nostalgic during the holiday season we decided to continue the tradition.

We spent the weekend decorating our house because Christmas is approaching. We found a real tree! We really needed to go to the other side of the world to find such a beautiful dense fluffy tree.



Our real x-mas tree in Oz



 A hint to my Danish side

What is Santa Lucia for Nordic European countries?

"Santa Lucia" (13th o December) is the winter-light festival, a celebration of light during the darkest days of the year in Nordic countries. Lux, luci means "light". The horror story is from the 5th century in Sicily where a Christian virgin refused to marry a man who removed her eyes or denounced her and she got her eyes removed. Since then she is the saint patron of blind people.

In our traditional celebration, a young woman of the family wears a white dress with a red ruban carrying a crown of candles. She is usually followed by the other children of the family.



Picture from Internet

See more details here.

And a good celebration means FOOD! :-)

Pepparkakor from Ikea

 

Warm Cinnamon Bullar from Ikea



And last but not least : The Glögg which is popular around Christmas, it is the perfect cold weather drink, warming the body and soul from the inside out. A funny site explains what it is in details: Glögg 

Our family recipe is brilliant but I think it is the first time ever that it has been prepared on a BBQ when the thermometer outside shows more than 25°C.



It's Stroooong!

Now we are ready  for X-mas. Bring it on!

It's difficult to beleive that we are Summer here...


Animal of the week: Moreton Bay Bug

As you know we live on the Moreton Bay (coast of Brisbane) and Australians have named this specie of slipper lobster or flathead lobster after these waters even if it can be found in all Pacific and Indian Oceans. Other species of bugs include the Balmain Bug.

Comme vous le savez, nous vivons au bord de Moreton Bay (côte de Brisbane) et les Australiens ont nommé une espèce de "homard pantoufles" (C'est toi la pantoufle...) ou "homard à tête plate" après ces eaux même s'ils sont répandus dans tout l'Océan Indien et Pacifique. Une autre espèce de "Bug" (= bestiole) est le Balmain Bug.

They don't have claws and some species cannot perform flip-tail what would allow them to "swim" and escape from predators. Instead evolution has given them a large flat head and antennas shaped into shovels to bury themselves in the sand to hide what gives them the nickname of "Shovelnose Bug", "Sandbug" or "Mudbug"... Of course Aussies have given them plenty of nicknames such as "Flying saucer" or "Flapjack" (=pancake).

Ils n'ont pas de pince et certaines espèces ne savent pas nager en utilisant leur abdomen pour échapper aux prédateurs. A la place l'évolution leur a donné une large tête plate et des antennes en forme de pèles pour s'enterrer dans le sable ce qui leur vaut le surnom de "Bestioles à nez de pèle", "bestiole des sables" ou "bestiole de boue"... Les Australiens leur ont donné encore d'autres surnoms tels que "soucoupe volante" ou "crêpe".

There are delicious on a plate/ Délicieux dans l'assiette:

At our fishmarket in Redcliffe



Ready to go in the oven... Yum 



Pénurie de père-Noël en Australie / Shortening for Santa Claus in Australia

Australia is in a shortening of Santa Claus for this season!!! Is it here too warm for Santa or is he on holiday?
L'Australie est en pénurie de Pères Noël pour cette saison !!! Fait-il trop chaud pour lui ou est-il en vacances?

from the net

All shopping centres are advertising and are inviting women, multi-cultural people and people from all age to register as Santa to earn good money and be rewarded with smiles (or cries)... I'm so curious to see the result...
Les Centres commerciaux font beaucoup de pulicité et invitent les femmes, les personnes de provenance d'autre cultures et personnes de tout age de s'enregistrer en tant qu'acteur "Père-Noël" en échange d'un bon salaire et de sourires (ou de pleurs...) Je suis curieuse de voir le résultat!


Indian Santa ? (from the net)