Tuesday 26th June Brisbane!
I landed in Brisbane around 7.30am. The first thing I learned about Brisbane was the following.
The second thing I learned was that many people may be in depression in Australia and need help, as this is the advert I had in front of me while being on the loo. Sad. Toilets are really a great place to learn about the city where you land.
Then I took the train from the airport on Gold Coast to Park Road and then from Park Road to Manly, where my cousin lives. I had the feeling of being in the countryside of England. Everything was exactly the same! The trains platforms, the signs with the names of cities on it, the suburb landscape outside of the window, the inside of the train. Even the people looked British. Even the voice announcing the stations where we were arriving seemed the same. Even the whistling of the wind in the windows while the train was working. Even the weather, cloudy, rainy and cold! What a weird feeling! In the train, I discovered one Australian character though, Jim, the scout boy who behaves correctly and is an example that people in trains should follow. Funny.
I spent a bit of time looking at this sign telling people to leave their seats to these people, the pregnant woman, the wounded person, the disabled person and the old person. But the old person here was represented two times, standing and sitting. I spent some time wondering if these were two different icons or not. It gave me a hard time. Australia is full of mysteries, for sure.
I got in Manly and met on the platform my remote cousin Dalisay and her twins of 5 years old, Max and Finn. It was the first time we were meeting, but family has this magic link that makes you close immediately. Dalisay is the grand-daughter of Henri, who migrated from France to Australia in 1928. Henri was the brother of my great-grand-father on my mother side. So we both have the same great-great-grand-father basically, although for her it is her great-grand-father as she is from the generation level of my mum. Surely you are lost lol. I am still a bit lost too actually ahah. Anyway, the generations always kept in touch across the ocean and here I was now, meeting my remote cousin, welcoming me with open arms and a huge smile.
She told me that that rainy weather was the worst that they had got in Brisbane since 4 years! For me, it just looked like some normal British weather so I didn’t feel too lost about it, ahah.
In the evening, while cooking, I discovered two funny things: the cooking spray and the oil pop-up pourer. It may also exist in England, but I had never seen these so I found that Australia was really innovative when it comes to cooking tools. Yep.
Wednesday 27th June
We went to the shopping centre in the morning, as I needed to buy a suit for job interviews. I discovered their very sophisticated parking sensor system which tells you exactly how many empty parking spaces are left in each row.
But…It doesn’t seem to always work correctly though. This parking space is occupied and should therefore look red instead of green. As much as I was impressed 5 minutes before, I was disappointed now.
I got lost in Target, a huge shop that I think we also have in England, in which I was just trying to find a swimming suit. I realised how much I had not missed shopping for the 7 months travelling during which I didn’t have to do it at all! You loose so much energy just going around to find stuff in shops where there is not a single staff person to help you out. Beeee…I hate shopping!
I spent the afternoon updating this blog. Before to start looking for jobs actively, I had that necessity to turn that page of travelling by being up-to-date on there.
Thursday 28th June
I finally finished publishing all articles on this blog. The blog is up-to-date! Yihaaa! It feels really good.
In the evening, I went to meet my friend Aude from high school, in the city centre. She has been living in Brisbane for 4 years now, and came to travel with me in Malaysia in April. When I arrived in the city centre, I felt really dizzy with all those high buildings surroundings me, all this concrete and so few trees and all those cars, and all these people walking so fast going somewhere. I realised I had not been in such a huge city since I had left London in last November. Perth had been much smaller and quiet. I felt out of place at first…
It was awesome to see Aude and her husband Raja and we had great Mexican food and Margarita.
Friday 29th June
Tonight, there were some possums in the trees in front of the house.
How magic!!!
This week-end, with Dalisay, Martin, Max and Finn, we are going to a nearby island called Stradbroke Island! Here is the map of the area. Robina is on the Gold Coast, near the airport where I landed.
I wonder if people on depression go to Hope Island instead of the agency which made the airport advert…Or maybe they go to “Beaudesert” and get some nice chocolate puddings when they feel down. Nothing ever better than just a little bit of sugar….
Still a bit of travelling and discovery coming up, cooool! Hopefully, we see some whales as it whales seasons from May to October, yihaa!! What a world here, what a wild continent! 🙂
And….I AM UP TO DATE WITH THE BLOG!!!! Finally!!!! Yihaaaa!!!
I think this didn’t happen since…since when..uhm..I think since end of February when I was in Cat Ba island with my dad in Vietnam! It took me 4 months! Pfiou!
Pom explores 