08 novembre 2006
News from Sydney, 08/11/06 (at least) by Ludo
Hello everybody
Hope everything is okay for you. Here are a few news from my trip in Australia.
I am currently in Sydney. I’ve been here for only 2 days. Looks nice. This is my last week down under as I will leave next Wednesday. After almost 11 months I’m coming back home. I feel a bit sad but very glad to meet my family and my friends again. The weather shock will be quite strong but as we say here “Shit happens”!
I’ve stayed in Cairns (north of Queensland, east coast) for 3 months. I was cooking in a restaurant there; nice job, good pay, beautiful waitresses. We can compare it to Preston (with much more tourists): small city, heaps of young backpackers (instead of students) from all over the world and quite a few nightclubs with cheap drinks. I haven’t found sthg better than the Tokyo jo’s or Squires with pints for 1£ but it was good though. I went diving on the world famous Great Barrier Reef. It was not the best thing I’ve done in Australia but that was a great experience. Imagine being close to a yellow fish or a turtle… We can’t do that in Europe, that’s for sure.
I travelled down the east coast by bus (really boring and exhausting sometimes) coz’ I wanted to stop, even for a few hours, everywhere. I’ve seen many beaches, a few bitches, stayed in Brisbane for a few days. That was a good trip.
Before Cairns, I was on the West Coast, in Broome (North). I was working in a restaurant there as well. It is a small town (around 15000 inhabitants) but very busy in summer and crowded by tourists attracted by the staircase to the moon (wonderful sunset once a month where you can distinguish a staircase starting on the beach and reaching the moon).
We (with my mate Tom who came back to France 1 month ago) travelled from Perth (our first city in Oz, Western Australia) to Broome and then to Cairns (by Darwin) with an old (from 83, older than me) campervan, Katsumi. We’ve managed to drive during more than 15000 kms with just a few problems (radiator fixing → $700) but we did it.
I don’t know if I told you but I lost my driving licence in Broome for … drink driving. It cost me $600 plus 4 months without driving (but you know that French don’t really care about ban and law so I drove!). I will get it back in a few days, just before leaving Australia. Useless.
We bought the car for $2300 and sold it for $2800 (thanks to my business studies in Preston of course). What a bargain! The (happy?) new owners are from England.
That is pretty much all I can tell you at the moment.
These long holidays were awesome and really interesting. I met new people (you know how it works when you travel), found maybe a new job (learnt that cooking was great even if I’m far from being perfect).
About Australia, it is (obviously) a very big country (for the distance between east and west you would visit more than 10 countries in Europe and meet hundred of millions people) with not many citizens. That is perhaps a reason why they are so friendly and welcoming. It is an island too and a bit isolated from the rest of the world (and especially from the problems of war close to Europe, poverty in Africa…) so everybody seems to be a bit unconscious and happier or less stressful. And of course there is the sun and the ocean everywhere.
Please gimme some news when you’ve got a minute
Keep travelling and discover new things when you are still young. It will be too late in a few years. That is what I will do I think.
All the best.
Ludo.
10 mars 2006
News, 09/03/06, 19H15 from Perth, Western Australia by Tom & Ludo©
Hello everybody. We don’t forget you from downunder.
We left our previous city, Perth (for those who haven’t followed us yet) because we are completely, definitely f****** broke!!
In fact now we are fighting against grapes to collect some money. We are not really efficient at the moment (we only receive 2$ per picked-up bucket) but we hope we will improve soon. We are exploited by a Chinese guy! Beware; they are going to take over the world in a few months. Bird flu is just the beginning!
We bought a campervan two weeks ago. It’s a Mitsubishi (asian brand again!). Her nickname, yes, she is a girl, is Katsumi. This girl is a famous French-Thai porn actress; we are sure that most of you know her (or maybe you know her "face" but not her name). You can see some pictures of her by clicking on her on the photo gallery.
Currently we live in a crap camping site which is a little bit … yeah crap! But we accept it as we are immigrants and have no money.
We plan to stay here a few weeks and then go up North and work again because we won’t have anymore money (again!). Still the same story but different job: there, we will be fishermen, which is far from our international business studies but every experience is useful.
See you hopefully (if we are not eaten by aboriginals!).
Give us some news as we would like to know how many of you have ended up in jail or in an alcoholic clinic or whatever worse than us!!
Ludo & Tom
24 janvier 2006
G'DAY
Good morning everybody.
We hope that everything's OK for you.
We've been there for already 3 weeks and we really enjoy it. We gave up our backpacker's life (wake-up @ 2 p.m, beers, beach...) because we both find a job for a charity fundation. Tom raises funds for the Australian Conservation Fundation (crazy when you know him and his sense of animals protection!!) in shopping centres. Ludo collects money for abilympics, an association whose aim is to find jobs for disabled people. It's boring sometimes but he works only 4 hours a day and it is well paid. And the best is that he can meet pretty girls doing the washing-up in bikini as it is door-knocking.
We found 2 houses as well (pictures in the photo gallery). We both have 2 female flatmates...
Don't worry about us, we still drink beer (more than before because we earn money!!)
We haven't try to do surfing yet but it will come soon.
If you plan to come in Australia only to watch topless girls on the beach, you'd rather go to the Côte d'Azur in France because none of them do it. It's a shame. For girls if you want to see muscled, body-builded surfers, they're not so impressive! French are of course better.
We plan to buy a new car soon as we want to leave Perth in March probably.
Thursday is Australia Day, we'll celebrate the first English prisoner who came in Australia in 1788. It will be a big party.
Send us your news
C U
09 janvier 2006
Live from Perth, Western Australia
Let’s begin by presenting ourselves for those who don’t know us.
We’re Ludo & Tom. You probably know one of us because of our trouble past on the other side of the Channel.
Alright, I’m gonna try to describe Ludo for you. This young lad was born 21 years ago in a cold part of France. It hasn’t been long before he put himself into troubles, his deep love for beer, maybe too strong always puts him in weird situations. So you’ve probably already seen him hanging around with an empty look speaking in a language that only he knows… Yes, he’s a boozer, but we love him for that!
Now, it’s my turn to describe you, my mate, Tom. In fact, we’ve got lots of things in common. You’re also 21, did the same formation as me and stayed in Preston (during one year) after I told you how great it was. We are now on the same boat in Oz so let’s enjoy it the most.
On our blog you will find some news (category news in English) at the right side of the age. Give us some comments or news of you by clicking on commentaries or contactez l'auteur at the right. We’ll put pictures as regularly as possible.
Send the address to all the people who know us (or not)
Have fun & Take care.
08 janvier 2006
News, 08/01/06, 14H in Perth by Tom & Ludo©
We have been here for already 10 days. Perth Western Australia Singapore Paris
We actually live in a backpacker’s hostel just 100 metres from the beach but we would like to move in a shared house to have more space (we’re 4 in the same room and maybe 25 in the same kitchen!) but it is hard to find.
We need money coz you know that living away is expansive (pay accommodation, going out often, pay a laptop keyboard!...) so we found a job few days ago. We have to begin tomorrow. It consists in standing in a busy place (shopping malls, airports…), attract people who are there and convince them to make a donation for a charity foundation. It is very hard but well-paid.
Otherwise, we spend our days on the beach (to look at the bi***es!) or in the city.
We plan to stay here during 2 or 3 months and then we want to go to the North, reach the South and finish in Sydney
Thank you for following our adventures down under.
C u
