Exceptionally, for Tracy and Ian, this post is in English… Mais à la fin, vous trouverez une courte version Française! Enjoy !For this long weekend (4days), with Marion, my French roomate, we decided to leave the city and enjoy the South of Sydney: beaches, National Park, bush…
We decided to have our first “couch surfing” experience. At the last minute, we found Tracy and Ian, an Australian couple, who live in a small village close to Wollongong and Dapto (80km South of Sydney, on the coast)
This weekend was one of my best Oz Weekends!
It was just A M A Z I N G!
Saturday:Tracy picked us up at the train station. From the first minute she was really friendly and made us comfortable. Tracy and Ian (Traan) hosted us in a beautiful, cute and comfortable house.



Immediately we felt at home. For me it was like going back to Mont-Près-Chambord after 1 or 2 months in Paris. A simple Happiness, exactly what I needed for the Easter weekend as I knew that everybody would be back at Mum and Dad’s home!
It was a family weekend, with “Mum, Dad and Grand Ma”!, we adopted them as our “Australian parents” just after the first dinner!
Traan are so happy and so nice, they’re exactly like I had imagined the Australian people to be: open-minded, always happy, welcoming… They’ve a huge knowledge about many things and particularly regarding the Aussie Story and Aboriginals. It was a pleasure to learn more about them with passionate people! Traan are funny with a lot of humor and they are still young in their mind, always interested in anything new: French music, French food, Internet site… ;-)
Sunday:In the morning, Tracy drove us to the Minnamara Rainforest where we walked, saw a waterfall and a lyrebird. Normaly, this bird can imitate lots of songs like the “clic” of a camera… But he didn’t, too much interested in his nest building!


A lyrebird

Then, we walked through the country and we were just happy to see lots of cows, horses, and goats!




The afternoon, Traan drove us to the top of a hill to show us the best view point of the area: that was just huge, impressive and beautiful!



After the country, beach: Kiama, a little touristy and like a holidays town on the coast!
First, the little blowhole: in this rock there was a hole and each time there was a wave a water shot out of the top like a big fountain! Incredible, surprising and funny nature!




Second, the big blowhole: finally less impressive than the smaller one. We preferred to walk on the rock to join the farthest point!
As always, lots of beautiful landscape! No comments!



That night, to thank them, we cooked a French dinner, it was nothing compared at all to what they did for us… but the dinner was not too bad! No, in fact it was delicious, Iam’ Iam! (as Tracy could say!) Marion cooked the main: “Escalopes de poulet Normandes et Tagliatelles” and I cooked my succesfull “Moelleux au Chocolat”, of course! Bon appétit!
Monday:Tracy woke us up at 8am to go to the beach and, thank you so much, it was a great idea!
We went to ShellHarbour Beach, a beach that reminded me of my childhood, without shops and buildings, just the Sea, the Sand and Wild vegetation!



It was so cool and amazing to stay on this rock in front of the Sea; each time there was a wave that was a huge water wall in front of us… so exciting! I forgot everything!!! And I was just… H A P P Y!



After the “morning” swim, Traan cooked for us an Australian Breakfast. On the menu: Kangaroo sausages (my first Kangaroo eating experience… so good!), Bacon, Eggs, Toast, Tomatoes and Mushrooms, everything cooked on the BBQ, plus slices of kiwi and avocado!
So so good….!



After this great break, it was back to the reality! Traan drove us and Grand Ma to the city, and one more time they were so nice, they took the more scenic route even through it was longer just to show us beaches, cliffs and sea!
One more time, Tracy and Ian thank you sooooooo much!
Version française…
Sachant que ça me prend toujours beaucoup de temps de vous poster mes nouvelles aventures Australiennes… je vous laisse imaginer le temps que j’ai pu passer à écrire la version anglaise…
Sans vouloir être fainéante… cette version va être très synthétique !
Pour faire simple :
Ayant un week-end prolongé de 4 jours pour Pâques, avec Marion, ma coloc’ française, on a décidé de quitter la ville pour profiter du Sud de Sydney !
Notre première expérience de « Couch Surfing »…
C’est Tracy et Ian, un couple Australien, qui nous a accueillies ! Ils habitent un petit village pas très loin de Wollongong et Dapto.
Ils sont géniaux, des Australiens comme je les imaginais… généreux, heureux de vivre, accueillants, disponibles et serviables!
Et en plus, eux, ils sont hyper cultivés, dans beaucoup de domaines, mais surtout sur l’Histoire de l’Australie et des Aborigènes. Un plaisir de les écouter en parler… un plaisir d’apprendre à travers leur savoir!
Ils sont très gentils et dès le début, dans la voiture, Tracy a su nous mettre à l’aise! A la maison, pareil, on s’est senties comme chez nous dès le premier soir. Ils ont été parfaits, et sans même leur demander leur avis, on les a adoptés en tant que « parents » Australiens! Un vrai week-end familial! Pour Pâques: du bonheur! Exactement ce dont j'avais besoin sachant qu'en France, tout le monde rentrait à la maison pour un déjeuner de Pâques en compagnie des Mamies...
Ils nous ont montré les plus belles facettes de leur région, Minnamara, une forêt tropicale, le plus haut point de vue de la région, Kiama, une petite ville touristique, ses plages et ses falaises… ShellHarbour, petite ville un peu moins prisée que Kiama, ses cafés, ses plages… Un petit déjeuner Australien, et pour finir, ils nous ont ramenées à Sydney en passant par le plus beau chemin, le long de la côte entre les falaises et la mer!
Deux Amours d’Australiens…
Nous en guise de remerciement, on leur a juste cuisiné un dîner Français… pas grand-chose, mais un festin ! (En toute modestie bien entendu !) Marion a cuisiné le plat: “Escalopes de poulet Normandes et Tagliatelles” et moi, le dessert… devinez un peu… mes incontournables « Moelleux au Chocolat »
Ce week-end était… parfait, un de mes meilleurs week-ends Australiens!
Un grand, très grand, M E R C I à Tracy et Ian!