Game On, Brisbane

Brisbane, Linda et les Beefs

From the Western city of Perth, all the way round to Brisbane on the East coast, we had traveled quite some distance to get here. Over 12,000km of driving in fact. But it couldn't have been a more rewarding destination. Because when I was a little baby, I lived here – hence the random Australian passport. The only thing I remember about my baby years in Aussie was my plastic roller skates. It made a very distinct and heartwarming clacking noise. Of everything thing else – nothing, My parents, however, remembered every detail. When we were in Brisbane, we were friends with another family, also immigrated from Hong Kong. Still in contact, Eva and her family kindly let us  stay with them.

And throughout our stay, her daughter Linda made every effort to include us in her social calender, and we had the best time because of it. The first event was ice-skating with Linda and her friends. I believe our last attempt in dancing on ice was 2 years ago in France. We ended up more like flailing on ice, resembling drunken chickens. But this experience was like none-other. Disco skating! We met up with Lucy, Shirley and Jo, and got grooving' on the rink. I found my balance and coordination improving with the music, even joining in with expert skater Shirley in 'propelling' a couple of us around the ice. We had Grease Lightning, Michael Jackson and even some Ryan Biebie (“baby, baby, baby, OH!”).

The next day, we set off to Mount Tamborine, where one of her friends, Anika, had a house there. We went on a bushwalk through a rainforest, where we swung on vines, climbed trees, and dared each other to “eat it!” whenever we came across a bug or worm or anything else for that matter. It was great fun exploring the rainforest, we even caught a wallaby hopping around. Back from the walk, we rejoined another group who had gone to a Tree Top Walk. They had a fabulous time too, and while we exchanged stories of our afternoon, Antoine and I pulled out our 'UNO' card game and introduced the infamous rule of 'cutting'. Following the basic rules of UNO, we also were allowed to cut in at any moment providing you had the identical card to the one just put down, and was also faster than the person whose turn it was. This required speed, concentration and anxiety. Naturally, we stopped chatting and got down to business. Everyone with their cards en garde, leaning in to be quick to react. It was really fun to play with so many people, but after a couple of rounds, a trip to the pub was needed. We had dinner at the pub, and that was also where we found the most tremendous, sleeping St Bernard. We cooed and ah-ed at this gigantic fellow whilst it slept, occasionally rolling over when we scratched it on the right spot. Back at the house, we got back to UNO and other card games, before crawling into bed in the early hours. And early it was the next morning. We rose a few hours later to get to a reservation for breakfast. Happily fed, we got ready to vacate the house. Steph, Liam, Linda, Antoine and I were left to wander around Mt Tamborine for a few hours, and so we visited a cheese factory (free cheese-tasting), a wine cellar (free wine-tasting), and a fudge shop (free fudge-tasting).  Who would have thought all that was accessible in a national park? When evening rolled in, I had a chance to fill in Linda's spot for a game of intramural Netball (on account of her having sore knees from skating). It has been 4 years since I last played, I almost forgot my love for this sport! It was a glorious win for Team 'BEEF' (“Best Ever Ever Friends” - duh!). It also happened to be the Uni's centennial celebrations. The contemporary classical orchestra “BLUE” made a magnificent performance complete with laser lights and dance moves, so awesome that the applause lasted a good 5 minutes.

Ce soir a Brisbane, c est... Soiree Disco !!

Dancing, or rather skating, to the music!

So much has happened since arriving in Brisbane, though we had yet to visit the actual city. So, whilst Linda had class, Antoine and I got into the CBD to investigate the streets. What we found, did not disappoint. The Museum of Queensland, the river bending through the city, the open-air cinema (where we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's – personally for the 4th time), the lagoon, and St Stephen's Chapel which housed a saint carved from a tree trunk. The shopping street, however, wasn't the most exciting of places. We find almost every big city has the same layout for shops. Nevertheless, a good part of the day following the Lonely Planet walking tour kept us entertained.

It was also a personal mission of mine to visit my old house, where I spent the first three years of my life in. Antoine and I drove there, and as we went through the neighborhood, I was sorry to say that I remembered nothing! It was, however, exactly how I had imagined it to be after listening to my parents' description of it. The house directly opposite a children's playground, the garage and driveway, and the kindergarten not 2 minutes away. We did take some photos, but it seemed strange posing with landmarks of my life that I have no recollection of.

One evening, we had Taco Night at James' house followed by a 13-player/6-team game of Pictionary. Pictionary is one of those games where shouting, frantic waving of arms, lots of blank faces, and bursts of laughter are compulsory to the amusement of the game. I couldn't describe it to you even if I wanted to. You've just got to imagine that the losers generally generate the most laughter.

Friday rolled in and drum roll... party! Linda's boyfriend had come to visit from Melbourne so there was cause to celebrate. After pre-drinks at Ben's, we arrived at Ric's bar and got dancing, taking lots of photos and continued drinking. Perhaps a bit too much, as poor Antoine's top half stopped functioning, and slept on my shoulder whilst we walked to the car at the end of the night. And don't worry, Linda was the designated driver as she had just taken out a wisdom tooth earlier that day (crazy I know). Plenty of photos in the album, through censored for families of course.

The morning after a big night out always seems to go in slow motion. When we eventually got out of bed, and started to recollect the events the evening before, it was already noon. The realisation for food also caught up with us, and Linda, Dave, Antoine and I took our empty bodies to brunch. Ive never enjoyed a BLT so much! With this unforseeable hangover (!), we postponed our planned bushwalk to Sunday. We had chosen Mt Barney, a very rewarding walk with a waterhole at halfway point for a swim and lunch. The water was cool and calm, the rocks round and mossy. We stayed a little bit too long as some dark clouds moved in as we were walking back. But after a power walk and a mad dash at the end, we arrived to the safety of the car before we got soaked. The drive back to Brisbane couldn't have been any more normal, except for the small detail of me hitting a kangaroo at the bottom of the mountain. It was dark so I had my lights on, driving at about 55km/hr. I really wasn't expecting a kangeroo to jump in front of the car out of nowhere! A soft clunk, a sudden halt, and a scream by me later, a kangaroo lay unconscious in front of us. I was pretty traumatised at this point, and the boys were already getting ready to move the body to the side of the road, when (thank god!) it started to twitch and as we stared on, the kangaroo picked itself up. It looked around looking very confused and disorientated. When he finally stood up straight and saw us gaping at him, he made a leap to the side and bounced off happily as if nothing happened. Now, I can chew on my straw, curtsy with my cowboy hat, and say g-day to you – I'm really Australian!

Antoine had friends from home working in Brisbane the same time we were there, so we met up with them for a French fete. Charlotte and Olivier let us tag along with them for a day out in Bribie – an small beachy island east of Brisbane. So uncrowded and tres relaxant, altogether a very warming day away from the buzz of the city. We had a picnic lunch of baguette, ham and cheese, crackers with dip and finished with a couple of petit ecole biscuits: appropriate feast for the company.

By this time, we were coming to the end of our visit in Brisbane. Our last stop got us to Liam's house where we played a bit of tennis and climbed Mt Coot-tha. The summit of Mt Coot-tha revealed all of Brisbane within a picture frame. It was a beautiful day, and a really good way of saying goodbye to the city and the wonderful people living there. A special thanks to Linda and Eva, forever patient with us and so generous from the start!

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A Brisbane, nous avons rejoind la famille TAM (aucun lien de parente avec la famille de Jen), dont les parents sont d excellents amis des parents de Jen, et leur fille, Linda, a le meme age que Jen. Elles etaient bonnes amies a l age de 2 ans, mais ne se sont revues qu une seule fois depuis, il y a 3 ans... Les Tam nous ont donc heberge chez eux, dans un garage speciaement amenage en chambre pour nous. La premiere soiree tous ensemble (Linda, sa mere, ses 2 freres et nous) fut excellente, nous avons ete invites a dinner dans un restaurant hongkongais.

Pendant 10 jours, Linda  a pris soin de nous, et nous a organise plusieurs activites. La premiere etait une soiree patinage, avec 3 des ses amies. Quelques tours de piste pour nous mettre en jambe, avant d enchainer pirouettes et sauts perieux a la Brian Joubert. Le lendemain matin, nous sommes partis rejoindre le reste de ses amis a quelques kilometres au sud de Brisbane, qui avaient organise un week-end en maison de campagne au Mont Tamborine. C est la que nous avons fait la connaissance des Beefs, le nom de leur equipe de netball, mais qui represente surtout un groupe d amis tres soude. Une sorte de LaSecte, mais en moins bien evidement ! Au Mont Tamborine, nous avons fait une rando dans la foret tropicalle, sommes alles boire quelques pintes au pub du coin, sommes alles voir une grotte de vers luisants, et avons fait quelques degustations de fromages locaux, de glaces et de vins.

Nous sommes rentres a Brisbane afin de celebrer le centieme anniversaire de l universite de Linda (superbe concert de musique classique modernisee), et d apporter notre support a un match de netball. Qu est ce que le netball ? C est un mixe de basket et de passe-a-dix. Le but du jeu est de marquer des paniers, mais lorsqu on a la balle, impposible d avancer ou de faire rebondir le ballon. Le jeu se fait de passe en passe jusqu au panier. Pour compliquer le tout, les joueurs doivent respecter leur position et ne peuvent pas acceder a certines zones du terrain en fonction de leur poste. Ce sport est mixte, mais le nombre de garcons sur le terrain est limite a 3. Il manquait une joueuse dans l equipe des Beefs, et Jen, adepte de ce sport, a pu nous prouver ses talents. Superbe victoire des Beefs (dont le nom vient des initiales Best Ever Ever Friends).

Nous ne pouvions rester a Brisbane sans visiter la ville, et nous avons profite d une journee ou Linda etait a l universite pour faire un tour des moments “historiques” en centre-ville. Une grande partie de ces monuments est basee sur l Anzac, le groupe arme de l Australie et de la Nouvelle Zelande lors de la 2nde Guerre Mondiale. Il y a egalement quelques eglises, dont la St Stephen Chapel, creee par le meme architecte que celui qui a ete responsible de la construction de la Maison du Parlement a Londres. Un ancien theatre transforme en cinema, une rue pietone tres frequentee, quelques hotels de luxe et un centre commercial constituent les autres points d interet pour nous autres touristes. Nous sommes egalement alles voir la maison d enfance de Jen, avec le parc public et les balancoires de l autre cote de la rue, ainsi que la creche a 2 minutes de la. Moment emotions pour Jen (elle ne se rappelait de rien du tout...).

Netball team extraordinaire: BEEF!

En sueur, mais vainqueurs : Beef en force !

Lors des temps libres de Linda, nous partions faire des randonnees. Que ce soit pour les baignades dans les rivieres ou pour les points de vue sur la ville de Brisbane et ses environs, ces balades trouvaient toujours un interet particulier et font partie des moments forts de notre sejour. C est notament lors du retour de l une de ces randos, alors qu il pleuvait et que le soir tombait, que Jen a eu l opportunite de de vivre un moment typiquement australien. Et elle n a pas manque cette opportunite... elle est rentree dans un kangourou qui traversait la route ! Pour ceux qui ne le savent pas, les kangourous ont un reflexe destructeur lorsqu il voient une voiture : ils sautent sous ses roues. C est pour ca qu on peut voir tant de kangourous ecrases les long des routes, et que les australiens s equipent de pare-kangourous (pare-buffle en France). Heureusement pour nous, et pour la voiture, Jen roulait a allure lente et elle a eu un bon reflexe puisqu elle a freiner des que possible et que personne dans la voiture ne l avait vu venir. De plus, le kangourou n avait pas atteint sa taille adulte. On lui est donc rentre dedans, il a ete projette au milieu de la route, et il gisait au sol sans bouger. Nous pensions tous qu il etait mort, mais apres 10 bonnes secondes, il s est releve, nous a regarde, et est reparti en bondissant. Episode clos avec plus de peur que de mal.

Je  n ai pas encore parle de Charlotte, mais j y vient. Charlotte T., de l ESSCA, vit a Brisbane depuis plusieurs mois, et m avait contacte par facebook lorsqu on etait arrive en Australie, pour me dire de passer la voir quand je serai dans le coin. Nous voila donc, grace a cet extraordinaire reseau social, en train de boire un jus de fruit au soleil, en plein coeur de Brisbane, a s echanger les nouvelles de nos amis en France et parler de nos aventures respectives depuis notre depart de l ESSCA. Elle avait prevu une journee sur l ile de Bribie (juste en dehors de Brisbane) avec son copain le lendemain, et nous a propose de les accompagner. Cela nous a valu une belle journee sur une plage de sable fin a faire les zozos dans les rouleaux des vagues. Excellente journee, surtout qu elle avait commencee avait une baguette tradition de la boulangerie Chouquette (Charlotte travaille en effet dans une boulangerie francaise, la belle aubaine !)

Nous avions souvent l occasion de revoir les amis de Linda. Les parties de Pictionnary nous ont valu quelques fou-rires, tandis que nous avons pu tester nos reflexes lors des interminables parties de Uno. James nous a recu chez lui pour une soiree Tacos, Lucie pour une soiree Pizzas, et Liam une partie de tennis amateur. Mais rien de tout cela n aurait pu se terminer sans une soiree au Ric's (au debut, je croyais qu on allait au Ritz...), avec prechauffe chez Ben pour annoncer la couleur.

Une nouvelle fois, notre hote a prouve qu il n y a rien de tel que des amis aux 4 coins du monde pour nous faire passer des moments innoubliables. Toutes les personnes que nous avons rencontre a Brisbane ont ete hyper accueillantes, un grand merci a Linda et Dave pour le temps qu ils nous ont accorde !