Maureen On Tour

Un pas dans l’histoire australienne

Aujourd’hui, 13 février 2008, peut être marqué comme un grand jour pour l’Australie. Le premier ministre Kevin Rudd a fait ses excuses auprès des aborigènes.

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My brother is often saying that in Brest (a navy city in the West Coast of France) they can have four seasons in one day but in Melbourne you can have four seasons in one hour!

It is very weird because when the sun is shinning the temperature can be very hot. Moreover if a could hides the sun you feel immediately cold!

Close to the beach, there is often some winds. One first hand it is very pleasant because without that the warmth could be bearable but with difficulty.

On the other hand we have to plan to take a light suit.

When the weather is humid there are some flies (fortunately not a lot of mosquitos) and I think it can be an important issue.

The weather is very strange : one week ago we had warm weather, and after one day of rain (all the day0 and one day of cloudy weather and one day of hot weather and now we have a grey day and it is stormy. But I guess after we will have a fantastic week end and I could enjoy the beach!

Résumé en français…

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Friday was a hot day. In the evening my friends and I went to go at a Christmas party which was organized by a teacher of Hawthorn.The meeting was in a bar of a hotel named *Rendez-vous*. We arrived at 8.00 pm but the party had a taste of end. It was not really Christmas party and it looked not exciting (not a lot of people just few small group who spoke together) so we decided to go away.

We had a look in a pub near Flinders Street but it was full so we decided to go to St Kilda. We went for a walk, we stopped in a friendly bar and after we finished the night with an ice cream along the beach. It is cool because the time to walk to go back to my house is the same that Montparnasse-Alésia in Paris (souvenirs souvenirs…)

Saturday was the repercussion of the last day and it was raining all the day.

Accordingly with this bad weather, my French friends had received sad news…

We decided to do a day concentrated on cocooning. So to be recovering from this bad atmosphere we tried to find sweeties and French products.

We bought “baguettes” which were very heavy! (and very expensive too : 3$ and 4$). One of them was very compact and the other seems to be a “viennoiserie”. We bought too cheese named “Camembert Style”. But it’s only the name! It doesn’t matter for this time we have imagined our French cheese with a crusty baguette. We had a lot of laughs about that.

We watched an Australian movie named Priscillia. It is a funny movie. It speaks about three drakqueens who travel through a part of Australia to do a show in Alice Springs (which is a city in the middle of Australia). They meet Aborigenes, crazy people, homophobia, etc. These 3 persons take on life very softly and they have some fancy dress which are very atypical and picturesque.

So, in spite of circumstances we spent a really good time together and it was very friendly.

On Sunday, Fanny and I decided to go to the Melbourne Zoo because we have been here for one month but I didn’t see any koalas or kangaroos!

In fact we were lucky: the weather was on our site and the sun was shinning. So we saw a lot of species: koalas, kangaroos, lizards, snakes (not very friendly), tigers, lions, elephants and monkeys (but I think I had my dose about these animals in India), little penguins etc.

I was like a child in this atmosphere! It was a really long time that I hadn’t bee in a zoo, so it was great!

The zoo is well organized (except the plan which is presently strangely)

With Fanny we took a lot of pictures (300 in round figures)…

I liked/I didn’t like

+ The room of butterflies

You enter in this room and a lot of butterflies flies and they can land on you! It is better than to see them dead in a box

+ Koalas & Kangaroos

You can see them very closed…

+ MonkeysThey can see you and they go behind the glass and try to touch you

+ Snakes

We are happy that they were in a cage!

+ Penguins

Their penguins are completely different than in Antarctica! Very small and so cute too!

Bear -

He looks pretty sad.

Tigers/Puma -

Their cages are very small and it is difficult to see them. And they can too smell each other.

Komodo dragon -

I was disappointed because my roommate said to me it is possible to see this specie which is from Indonesia. This animal is huge and it is the last dinosaur in the world. But unfortunately, the zoo didn’t have it at this moment!

Résumé en français

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Australian people said that Christmas is an important day but I think they have to improve their Christmas decoration… Sorry!Maybe that my perception is influenced by my experience in France and in the USA but as an Australian friend says “our trees are anorexics”.

We can see now some decorations in the shopping centres.

I grant you that it is very beautiful but the bug tree in the city seems false. It seems so plastic and we don’t feel the magic…

I know that they don’t have the firs and they used plastic trees (but good on them! It is a better idea to protect the environment).

My idea of Christmas is certainly influenced by the cold weather I have known and it will be weird to celebrate Christmas at the beach under the coconuts palms and to wear a swimsuit! And not to wear gloves and all things to face the cold weather…

Usually in France we have a party at Christmas and an other on Christmas day!

Australian people explained to me that they have an important breakfast in the morning and on Christmas day a big lunch.

Christmas day is traditionally a hot day and the digestion can be very difficult…

Maybe the digestion is the only thing which is similar with the North Hemisphere!

Petite explication en français…

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Afin de m’améliorer, je vais essayer d’écrire dès que je peux “in english”, si vous avez des questions ou si vous ne comprenez pas tout n’hésitez pas à me le dire…

Last Thursday, my friends and I went to the wine-testing session in Federation square near Flinders street. The principle is to pay an admission of AU$15 and AU$2 for the glass bond.

After then, you can test all the wines.

They served just a little glass. I prefer taste white and rosé wines so I focused on these wines. On display were Chardonnay, Pinot, and Riesling… I think I prefer French wines (maybe I am a nationalist consumer who wants to keep in her mind that French wines are the best in the world) but I grant that they have good wines sometimes (it is normal they have imported some French vineyards in the past… Am I proud? Yes, of course…).

It was a good experience and it was friendly. At the end of the testing, some sellers gave us started bottles (with the instruction to be very vigilant because it is forbidden) because we talked with them and said that some wines can be good competitors for French wines!

In this photo : Anouk, Ryan & me…

It is very weird because in France Australian wines are cheaper than here! To have a good Australian wine bottle, you have to spend between AU$20 and AU$50.

After that, we went to a Chinese restaurant, with Ryan (an Australian guy) and his friends, which accepted our own bottles. It was very cool!

On Friday night, I went to a Taiwanese party. I was invited by a Korean friend.

The dinner was prepared in a huge soup, which was divided in two parts: one spicy and the other no spicy. I tried both preparation but I think spicy food has to be eaten carefully because of my stomach.

My Korean friend prepared a special meal and I tried just a mouthful and my tongue was on fire!

This evening was nice and they showed me some Chinese games! They played with dice (battle or supposition) and with their hands (to guess if you will close or open your hands).

I was happy too because they said to me I used the chopsticks correctly!

On Saturday, I went to Melbourne Centre City and I did some shopping. With some difficulties I have found two Australian dresses (which mean short and soft dresses).

After that, I cooked a traditional French meal named Omelette for my housemates… But at the end, it seemed like scrambled eggs!

I went to St Kilda Beach on the afternoon to enjoy the sun!

In the evening, I went with my French friends to an Irish Christmas party in a lovely house with a nice garden. We ate some turkey, meringues and we had to vote for the best hot wines!

When the alcohol made all the people happy we danced an Irish dance! It seems easy but it is not! We have spent a really good time!

On Sunday, we had a lie-in! On this day was an example of the crazy weather of Melbourne!

Until 2.00 pm we had a beautiful hot day. So, I decided to go to the beach. When I arrived it was very cloudy but cool. And thirty minutes after there was a sandstorm and in two minutes the beach was empty!

Humours of the day

My friend “Fanny” has a strange first name here. Actually her name is a slang bad word (it is like “pussy”). And she can have some difficulties with that. For example, when she tried to log on in a website, it said “please no bad words”.

And it is very funny when she said her name to a person. We had a few cases: sometimes people ask if she can repeat again, or they pretend not to notice the similarity, or they can’t prevent a laugh…

Fanny is a very funny girl and she assumes with a lot of humour her name. So, we can easily call her “funny” too.

A characteristic

When I went at the supermarket the seller said to me “do you need some cash?”. In fact, if you want some cash, you can pay more by credit card…

A bad thing

We have to be careful with the tram outside (look each way when we cross the road and when we go out: to be sure that cars are stopped) and inside! This week end the tram is stopped violently and some people fell. One of them was very shocked and she had a fainting fit.

One of the man assisted her with the kiss of life.

Few minutes later, an ambulance came for her…

 Résumé en français…

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Environment issues are considered by Australian people. Maybe you can be surprised to learn that because this country hasn’t signed Kyoto’s agreement. But with the election of Kevin Rudd this will change.

Actually he said that will be one of the first things he wants to do.

Australian people are very respectful of their country. Maybe it is a consequence of problems they have. For example, they have to take care about the water. There are restrictions. For example it is strongly advised to use only 3 minutes when you take a shower.

I’m happy because I have enjoyed a big warm bath before I came here! But I joke because it doesn’t matter, I can have a huge bath in the sea!

In addition, Australia has a hole in the ozone layer. So, the sun can be very dangerous.

And the skin of Australian people is not prepared for that. In fact, the origins of Australian people are they often come from the U.K and so they have a white skin.

There is a lot of skin cancer here.

I protect myself but fortunately I have a brown skin.

The streets in the city are pretty clean and they have a lot of cleaners.

In the supermarkets, there are some plastic bags but the majority of people use fabric bags.

About the rubbish they have recyclable so we have to sort out our products. But it is only two bins (in France it’s more! One for paper, one for glass, one for plastic, and one for all!).

I noticed that Australian people don’t throw away their cigarette end but they keep it or put into a bin. Please! Do the same thing in France! The destruction of a cigarette end in the environment can take more than 10 years!

The long lasting effect is an important concern for Australian people and I think it is not just for a good appearance but it is well integrated in their behaviour.

Moreover, I see an article about the deforestation of their forests. There is an important question : do they have to keep and protect their frorests or do they have to use these products to be self sufficient or export their goods?

We will see in the future what will be their choice.

Unfortunately the subject of the environment is now in France trendy and enterprises are respectful of the environment just to have a good image.

Several years ago, French people didn’t care about this issue but now it is a preoccupation.

And we have to learn a lot of things about that.

For example, a company can use recycled paper and sort out their products (when it is really doing) and after doesn’t switch off the light the night…

On the other hand, sometimes we can’t use ecologic products because is it not practical. So, technological research has to improve on this subject.

Australia is a democracy. One week ago, it was the election of the Prime Minister a new national government in Australia.

There are several political groups but two are the most popular: The Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party.

The Labor Party is led by Kevin Rudd and face to him it is John Howard (ex leader of the Liberal Party).

The vote in Australia is a compulsory. If you don’t vote you have to pay a fine which cost AU$ 50. Kevin Rudd won with 53,29%. So, John Howard lost his place after several years at the head of the government. I have watched that politics is important for Australian people but is not a taboo like in France.

For example, if their party lost, they are sad but they don’t care…

The next election will be in 3 years…

Friday night: I was with some French friend at St Kilda Beach. We saw the sunset. It was very beautiful. There was some wind… One of my friends went quickly for a swim!

After we left the beach we went to a pub named “the espy”. It is huge! There are 3 rooms and in each room there is a concert. One more electro, the second more rock… and the third I don’t know really…! It was very funny to see this special atmosphere!

On Saturday, I went again to the beach with some friends. The weather was very good. After this, we tasted some Chinese meals with the advice of Asian Friends. It was very delicious! (ci dessous Chik & me)

We went next to the homes of these friends and we enjoyed the Jacuzzi, the swimming pool and the sauna! It was so relaxing!

On Sunday I tried to run again but I had a sone ankle and it was very difficult because I didn’t run for a long time. My breathing was not very good too! I am very upset about that because before my sprain I would have liked to participate in a half marathon. But I think now it will be very difficult. I don’t want to stop running because this sport is a good way to release pressures.

After lunch, I met my friends and went to “Brighton Beach”. It was a long time because the train had to stop at Ernsterwick Station and people had to take a bus. The beach was very quiet and I swim for the first time in Australia! It was difficult to enter into the sea but after the water was good!

To finish our beautiful afternoon we tried a shop named “Gloria Café” and we drunk some delicious drink with white chocolate and coconuts!

Allez en Français maintenant… (more…)