After almost five months here, it was about time! Stephane, Allan and I spent the week end touring between Newcastle and Nelson Bay, and went to a Kangaroo farm where you can… see, pet and feed kangaroos. Seriously, once you’ve had fun with a kangaroo, it’s hard to go back to regular pets! And we got to see koalas as well. And sheeps, and baby goats…It was a lovely-full-of-animals week end

Here they are. The last pictures from my now dead camera. It’s in Watsons Bay (not sure about the spelling here, meh, just Google it). It is my wonderful friends Stephane and Allan and myself, jumping as high as we can, yet smiling like movie stars (enjoy the sun glasses!). And last week end, I finally saw my first kangaroos, they jump too, and are quite professionals at it actually. Where are the pictures? Ahah, very funny… My camera has made it back to France now, it is being repaired as you read those lines. Just Jack be patient…

I know, I am not posting enough. I know, I should put some more pictures here. And yes, I know, I should be telling you all about the latest-freshest-corniest details of my wonderful life. But I don’t. And why is that, you may ask? Well, for starters, let’s face it, I’m having a hell of a good time here, which means, not much time to sit in front of my computer - who could have foretold that one? Then, my camera died. Yes, it is very sad indeed. Just like that, I try to switch it on to take a picture of those nasty magpies who try to steall my delicious chicken sandwich down in Royal National Park - ze biggest in ze vhole vorld, yessir, none other-and BAM, no puedo sacar la fotografia. Just bzz beep bzzz, one last beep, and the camera switches off and decides never to switch itself on again, never, ever! Thank god I kept the receipt. It IS going to be repaired, eventually, but it IS going to take a while. I know, I share your pain and disappointment.

However, I did manage to take a few pictures before that stupid camera died, and yes, I will share them with you. When? Well, soon, very soon. I promise. I would never let you down. I could start the upload process (which takes FOR EVER) right now, but wait, what’s that sound? “Thank you for being a friend…” Oh dear…here we go again - that’s also what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks…

And no, I haven’t seen Mamma Mia! again yet - yes, I am THAT busy…

There’s nothing better for my big come back than this :

For those who were wondering why of all destination I chose Australia, well, here you are the answer: because it’s one of the first country where Mama Mia! - The Movie [how more clever those marketing genius can get, adding “-The Movie” so that we would know it was not the musical that was reopening worldwide, oh my…] was going to be released! That’s why you haven’t heard from me for so long, I was busy, I was expecting.

Oh boy, it felt so good to finally be able to see this. You can ask Allan, who was kind enough to share this thrilling moment with me, I was like a child. Keeping staring at my watch every two seconds waiting for the theater to be cleaned and ready, arriving to the cinema one hour early, this silly grin on my face. When I start writing my memoirs, I must include this bit.

And so, after never ending commercials, the magic finally happened, I have a dream… and on and on for two hours. Yes, it feels a bit weird when suddenly these guys start singing ABBA songs to express themselves. Yes, the story -wait, what story?- is the corniest ever. Yes, I have seen better choreographed shows. And yes, thank god Ian Fleming wasn’t a musicals writer, otherwise we’d be in real trouble. But I don’t care, I loved it, it made me feel the way I like to feel - I could try to explain this feeling here, but I just don’t have the right words- saw it last Friday and went back again the following Sunday, and will definitely go again next week end. Yes, it’s a stupid show, and I know, how dare I spend my time watching crazy people singing the silliest songs -seriously, are those lyrics supposed to actually mean something?- that were ever written when so many bad things are happening in the world. Oh well, I guess the thousands of pilgrims that are currently invading Sydney -blocking the whole town by the way, I mean, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to walk to my work- will surely manage to convince God to do a great miracle, and hopefully I can go back and see adorable Amanda Seyfried sings her guts out -and she can sing, not like Helena Bonham Carter if you get my drift… - without feeling guilty at all!

For those who get to see this movie, I’d love to hear your comments. Maybe we can engage -like I did with my friend Allan- in a deep and passionate discussion over La Streep, debating whether she deserves her top actress status, or if she’s just over the top… Yes, let’s debate! Personally, I’m more in love with her now than ever, she does dance just like me, I feel like I’m not alone anymore!

Oh, and before I go back to expecting mode - Wall-E isn’t released until September here- I should probably tell you that I am doing F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S-L-Y well, and that I do enjoy Sydney very much, the highlight of the month being starting drama classes - who could have foreseen that someday I’d get to be a fish witnessing a shark attack? There are no new pictures for you yet because I haven’t gone on any new road trip since my Three Sisters adventure; I’ve mainly focused on the night life and weirdly enough I don’t really want the whole world to see those pictures yet. But as Benedict XVI my best friend is arriving really soon, and I know he’s just gonna have to share his love of Australia with me, I’m pretty sure pictures are going to make their come back too…

Back to civilization ! I sure could have called this post “into the wild” after spending those three amazing days in the Blue Mountains, with Allan and Matty. Nature really was all around… The weather was not what you would call great, except for Saturday, but never mind, we still made the most of it. We stayed in Katoomba (pink on the map) (I love that name, I learnt what it meant this week end, but I have already forgotten, something with water I think), walked down to the Three Sisters, took a train down - the steepest railway in the world, please, it even had the Indiana Jones theme music playing- saw weird trees, and back to Katoomba. We had to do some shopping then, of course, and eat too. I do eat a lot these days, and when I say “a lot”, I really mean A LOT, and a lot of fries too. I think I’m going to have a break with the fried food for a while, when you say fish&chips it doesn’t make me feel hungry anymore, and yes, I joined the gym next door, so no, I won’t be twice as big in six months. There is a cupcake bakery on my way to work though, oh well, bad food is good, life is short, you do the maths.

Then we went to see the Wentworth Falls (green on the map), but you had to hike to get there, and we were not quite ready for real butch hiking in the mud, so no falls after all, we’ll just have to come back ! And we had a fabulous disco to go to anyway, and let me tell you, disco nights in the mountains are wild ! Despite partying like crazy boys, we managed to wake up early enough to drive to the Jenolan Caves the following morning, and that was impressive. It felt like we were in Jurassic Park.

And then, given the weather, that is a lot of fog and some nasty rain, we headed back to Sydney, stopped in Leura (yellow on the map), desperately tried to get some coffee, without much success, and finally back in Sydney, just in time to go to the movies…

Given how big and scary (and hairy too) this spider was - is, actually, we met on sunday before last, and again last sunday, and it hasn’t moved an inch - it has to be able to give you some kind of super power when it bites you, or something. Or maybe just kill you. I swear, it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen. And just so you know, this picture was taken using super macro mode, you what that means right ? Yes, the camera almost touched it. So, who’s calling me a pussy now eh ?

…to the wonderful sea! Guys, I have to tell you, it’s so hard living down there. I mean it’s winter and all, it’s freezing. All there was left for me to do last sunday was to go down the beach, it’s so cold that I actually had to wear pants, and even a shirt, short sleeves, but still a shirt. I sat on the hot sand, relaxing with my wonderful book, watching the ocean, the surfers, the brave swimmers, and I thought, damn man, life’s so tough now…Clearly I was all like, I wish I were somewhere else weren’t such a fool and had taken my bathing suit, and a towel. Yes, it was that bad. So after feeling so disappointed sunbathing for a while, I started to walk for a bit. From Bondi to Bronte, I know, boooring f*****g amazing view. Yeah… those six months are really going to be quite challenging…

The title says it all ! I love week ends here, because I get to explore Sydney a little bit more, and that’s fascinating. The Rocks is Sydney’s historic neighborhood, lots of fun houses, quite different from what you get in the CBD ! I even got to walk under Harbour Bridge.

And of course, I went to see the Opera House, I just can’t help it, I find it fascinating, de-lovely would be the right word to describe how it makes me feel. First thing that comes to my mind whenever I see it is actually Bernard and Bianca having diner there, wait, is it where they actually have diner, or is it in Sydney’s Tower, I can’t remember… Anyway, I do picture The Rescuers whenever I see the Opera House.

Then I took a ferry from Circular Quay back to Darling Harbour and that was W-O-A-W (that’s the best word I found). I guess you could say that I’m easily impressed, but still, it was amazing. I mean, and I’m probably going to sound like a teenager, but how cool is it that ferries are actually considered public transportation here ? Cooler than Paris’ smelly grumpy-people filled subway, that’s for sure. By far, best moment of the day.

Once in Darling Harbour - which reminds me of Finding Nemo - I went to Paddy’s Market (I feel like I’m writing a postcard here !), and that was a lot of fun. I finally found new shoes there (now it’s the Carrie Bradshaw side of me speaking), and that was highly appreciated. Not that I don’t like walking with my business shoes on, but well, I do actually, they make my feet hurt and smell - not cool (teenager mode again).

Then I went to the movies (back to postcard mode), because sightseeing is fun, but it had been too long since I last went to the movies, and yes, I’m a movie person. I couldn’t pick a movie though. I almost went to see Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, since I love Frances McDormand, but, when I got in the movie theater, I saw a poster of Then She Found Me, and it had Colin Firth (I’m still not over Love Actually), Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, and Helen Hunt, well, I couldn’t resist. And I’m glad I didn’t. The movie had its ups and downs, but it sure had a point, and it felt good to just go to the movies. And Bette Midler is just too much for words.

So, as you can see, it was a pretty busy day ! Tomorrow I should be going to the beach, down in Bronte, I’m keeping famous Bondi for later, but it is now raining (what ? it actually rains in Sydney ? didn’t see that one coming…), so there may be a change of plans. But -and admire how I get to conclude on an Aussie typical touch- no worries mate, I’ll keep you posted anyway !

PS : I got some complains that my pictures were too small. Well, if you click on the Link menu you can actually go to my flickr page, where you’ll be able to watch the photos as a slideshow, as big as you want

Okay okay, stop yelling already ! I know I couldn’t just leave a quick post on my big cup, and then go and enjoy Sydney’s night life. I know, any decent person would have posted pictures of the place too…Am I a decent person ? Anyway, here you are a few pictures !

Bad news though, even though I’m back online, the upload speed is really bad, so no high quality pictures for now…

That’s it, I’ve found my first place in the city ! After spending a week in Maroubra with my cousin, I’ve found an apartment to share near Darling Harbour.

On the map my place is the red spot, and the opera is the blue one. It’s a 20min walk from where I work, it’s really nice (pictures coming soon !), it’s my first place IN Sydney, in one word, it’s faabulous ! It’s no more commuting, it’s get ready to enjoy Sydney from the inside ! So I don’t have any fabulous pictures for this week end, since I stayed mostly at my cousin’s on Saturday, the weather wasn’t great, and I was a bit tired, and Sunday was moving out ! So I’m getting ready for a whole new week, don’t worry, I’ll be back to you ASAP with fresh news, and hopefully more fantastic pictures to share (Sydney really is a gorgeous city, I could spend hours photographing the Opera House…).

PS: And as you’ve probably noticed, since I’ve moved, I now have a decent internet connection again.