Camping on Stradbroke Island

Camping... The last time I went camping was when I was still a student and that it was the only affordable way for me to travel. Camping... the lovely smell of dirty toilets, the infernal heat under a small tent, the yummy pasta at every lunch, the "bogans" (that's the Australian version of the "redneck", which is the American version of the French "bidochon")...

Fifteen years, a wife and two kids later... here we go camping again! But a very different type of camping, the real stuff, with a four wheel drive, no electricity, no toilets and camping on the beach. And for this, Australia is the place to be!

All packed and ready to go in our brand new shiny Land Rover.

Le camping... La derniere fois que je suis parti camper, j'etais encore etudiant et c'etait le seul moyen de voyager pas cher. Le camping... et ses inoubliables odeurs de toilettes parfumees, la chaleur infernal sous la minuscule tente, les delicieux repas a base de pate a l'eau, les "bidochons" (c'est la version francaise du "redneck" americain ou du "bogan" australien)...

Quinze ans, une femme et deux enfants plus tard... nous retournons camper! Mais cette fois, c'est un different type de camping, le vrai truc, avec un 4x4, pas d'electricite, pas de toilettes et camping sur la plage. Et pour cela, rien de mieux que l'Australie!

On est fin pret a y aller dans notre tout nouveau tout beau Land Rover.

Let's go to Stradbroke Island!
Stradbroke Island is the second largest sand island in the world (Moreton Island being the third and Fraser Island being the first... all three being in Queensland and not too far from Brisbane!).

Stradbroke (Straddie) is really very close from the Brisbane CBD, maybe just 15 kms away, and a short 45 minutes trip by ferry.

Allons a Stradbroke Island!
Stradbroke Island est la seconde plus grande ile de sable au monde (Moreton Island etant la troisieme et Fraser Island etant la premiere... toutes les trois etant dans le Queensland et pas trop loin de Brisbane!).

Stradbroke (Straddie pour les intimes) est vraiment tres proche du centre de Brisbane, peut etre juste a 15 kms, et a 45 minutes en ferry.

Arrived in Cleveland, we embark on the ferry ready to enjoy the little trip that will take us to Straddie.
On the boat Ai-Vy has spotted a really cute little puppy Rottweiler and gives him some cuddles.

In the meantime, I'm taking a nice photo of a whale jumping out of the water... (hmmm, or may I say, a picture of a poster of a whale on the door of the toilets... but that's just an insignificant little detail)...

Arrives a Cleveland, on embarque sur le ferry, prets a apprecier le petit voyage vers Straddie.
Sur le bateau, Ai-Vy a repere un adorable petit bebe Rottweiler et lui fait des calins.

Pendant ce temps, je prend une jolie photo d'une baleine qui saute hors de l'eau... (hmmm, ou devrais je plutot dire, une photo d'un poster de baleine accroche a la porte des toilettes... mais ce n'est qu'un detail sans importance)...

Time passes very quickly and here we are, on the island... The difference with Moreton and Fraser, is that Stradbroke has got hard bitumen roads (and not only sand or gravel tracks). So getting off the boat is fairly easy with no risk of being bogged down. We stop at the news agent and buy the off-road permit before heading to Flinders Beach where the camping is located.

Fortunately, I've done a bit of research about "beach four wheel driving", and one key recommendation is to deflate the tires... Especially that I've got 20 inches rims and that my tires are not very thick. But then how to re-inflate them when back on the bitumen? The answer is an air-compressor that I bought just the morning before, very handy.

So we arrive at the beach, deflate the tires (from about 40PSI to 25PSI) and off we go, testing the 4WD on the beach (did I already say it was brand new and shiny?).

Le temps passe a toute vitesse et nous voici arrives sur l'ile... La difference avec Moreton et Fraser, c'est que Stradbroke a des routes en bitume (et pas seulement des circuits de sable ou gravier). Du coup, descendre du bateau est relativement aise et on ne risque pas de s'enliser. On s'arrete au premier marchand de journaux pour acheter le permis 4x4 avant de se diriger vers Flinders Beach, la ou est situe le camping.

Heureusement, j'ai fait quelques recherches sur le sujet de la "conduite 4x4 sur plage", et l'une des recommandations importantes est de degonfler ses pneus... En particulier, sachant que j'ai des jantes de 20 pouces et des pneus assez peu epais. Mais alors, comment les re-gonfler pour rouler a nouveau sur le bitume me direz vous? La reponse est un compresseur a air que j'ai achete le matin meme avant de partir, tres pratique.

Voila, on arrive sur la plage, je degonfle les pneus (de 40PSI a 25PSI) et c'est parti, on teste le 4X4 sur la plage (est ce que je vous ai deja dit qu'il etait tout beau tout neuf?).

All right, this is not my first 4WD... We had a Mitsubishi Pajero a few years ago and we've done some hardcore four wheel driving, taking it to the bush, on the rocks, etc... but for some reason, we've never really tried driving it on the beach.

Believe it or not, that was Stephanie who really wanted me to buy another 4WD this time and I must say, if there is only one country in the world where it makes sense to own a 4WD, it is Australia. There are so many places to explore where only a 4WD can take you!

Bon, ok, ce n'est pas notre premier 4x4... On avait deja eu un Mitsubishi Pajero de cela quelques annees et on avait fait un peu de 4x4 hardcore, dans le bush, sur les rochers, etc... mais pour quelques raisons, on ne l'avait jamais vraiment essaye sur la plage.

Croyez le ou non, c'est Stephanie qui voulait absolument racheter un 4x4 cette fois et je dois dire que s'il y a un seul pays au monde ou avoir un 4x4 a du sens, c'est bien l'Australie! Il y a tant d'endroits a explorer ou seul un 4x4 peut vous amener!

All kids love playing in the sand and Ai-Vy and Kien-Nhu are no exception! We stop on the beach and enjoy building some sand castles.

Tous les enfants adorent jouer dans le sable et Ai-Vy et Kien-Nhu ne font pas exception! On s'arrete sur la plage pour construire quelques chateaux de sable.

It is now time to find a nice spot for the night. Camping in Australia is really great... even a camping is so big and desert that you feel like you're the only one in the world... We settle on a nice spot under the pines... Even fully booked, the camping spots are so big and so far from each other that we can't see any neighbor.

Now the real test... Am I going to be able to mount the tent? Yeah, easy... I made sure I bought the "easy" tent... at least, that was what was written on the package... and... it ended up being really easy! Just half an hour to do the large 4 meters x 3 meters tent without sweating, that's a good performance! Ai-Vy couldn't wait and has already decided she would sleep outside...

Bon, il est maintenant temps de trouver un bon spot pour la nuit. Camper en Australie, c'est vraiment super... meme les campings sont grands et paraissent deserts, vous donnant l'impression d'etre seuls au monde... On s'installe a un endroit sympa entre les pins... Meme complet, le camping offre des emplacements si grands qu'on ne voit pas les voisins.

Maintenant, c'est l'heure du veritable test... Vais je reussir a monter la tente? Ouais, facile... J'ai bien fait gaffe a acheter la tente "facile a monter"... enfin, c'est ce qu'il y avait marque sur la boite... et... finalement c'est vrai que ca a ete tres simple! Juste une petite demi heure pour finir la tente de 4 metres sur 3, sans suer, c'est une bonne performance! Ai-Vy, elle, ne pouvait attendre et a deja decide qu'elle dormirait dehors...

I must say that it would have been a much better idea than what we ended up doing....
As Stephanie has a terrible phobia of spiders (and all insects in general), she's decided she would sleep in the car. And that's what we did with Ai-Vy... leaving only Kien-Nhu and Valerie in the tent.

That was my worst night ever! It was really hot in the car, even with the sunroof open... so we ended up opening the windows (and of course mosquitoes were only too happy to have a free dinner)... also, Ai-Vy was snorting and kicking... What a peaceful night! But hey, I think now Stephanie is ready to use the tent next time!

Je dois avouer que ca aurait ete une bien meilleur idee que ce qu'on a fini par faire...
Comme Stephanie a une terrible phobie des araignees (et autres insectes en general), elle a decide qu'on dormirait dans la voiture. Et c'est ce qu'on a fait avec Ai-Vy... laissant seulement Kien-Nhu et Valerie dans la tente.

Ce fut la pire nuit de ma vie! Il faisait vraiment chaud dans la voiture, meme le toit entrouvert... alors finalement, on a aussi entrouvert les fenetres (les moustiques n'etant alors que trop heureux de diner gratis)... rajoutez a cela une Ai-Vy qui ronfle et donne des coups de pied... Quelle nuit paisible! Mais bon, je pense que maintenant Stephanie s'est faite a l'idee de dormir dans le tente la prochaine fois!

The day after, a nice little breakfast on the beach and a good nap will be enough to recover from this sleepless night.

Le lendemain, un bon petit dejeuner sur la plage et une bonne sieste seront suffisant pour recuper de cette nuit sans sommeil.

For lunch, some YumYum, the 50 cents noodles, the same as when we were students! See, some things never change!

And then for dinner, direction the restaurant in town for a nice fish and chips... not so wild! Ha ha, that was our first attempt... we'll get better at it... next time, we'll try to fish and cook our own fish on the barbecue!

A l'heure du dejeuner, des YumYum, les nouilles liophilisees a 50 centimes, les memes que quand on etait etudiants! Comme quoi, il est des choses qui ne changent pas!

Puis ensuite, pour le diner, direction le restaurant en ville pour un bon fish and chips... pas tres sauvage tout ca! Ah Ah, c'etait notre premiere tentative... on compte bien s'ameliorer.... la prochaine fois ce sera peche et barbecue de poisson frais!

So, that was just 2 days... to try and see how it would go with the kids. They did love it! And in fact we could have brought ChomChom and Todd as well as dogs are allowed. Ha... Australia, the only place in the world where a "dogs allowed" camping is clean and people pick up after their doggy!

So that's decided... from now on, it will be wild camping only, it's really cheap, fun, and I'm sure we'll get better as we do it more often!

Bon, on est juste restes 2 jours... pour essayer et voir comment les enfants reagiraient. He bien, ils ont adore! En fait, on aurait meme pu amener ChomChom et Todd puisque c'etait un camping autorise aux chiens. Ah... l'Australie, le seul endroit au monde our les campings autorisant les chiens sont propres et ou les gens ramassent apres leur toutou!

Aller, c'est decide... a partir de maintenant, ce sera camping sauvage tout le temps, c'est pas cher, fun, et je suis sur qu'on aura le coup de main a force d'en faire!

A little bit about me :)

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful and safe New Years :) I will be celebrating the New Year here tonight! This is a little photo assignment that Young and Stephanie gave me. These four photos were chosen by them from my Facebook, and I will tell you the story behind each :)

This is a photo from my Senior High School prom with two of my good friends, Jade and Kayla on either side of me. Prom is a big formal dance at the end of every school year for Juniors and Seniors. This was right before we went to dinner and before our big pink Hummer limo picked us up!

My beautiful dog Leum in the snow. We were trying to sled although there was only a dusting a snow but it was exciting, we don’t get snow too often here in Vancouver because we live in a valley. Sadly we had to give Liam to one of my dads friends because he was a bad dog Luckily he went to a place with lots of room to run and play!

This was during a high school soccer game, we were winning against a team with good rankings and I just wanted to be out there on the field playing. That explains the look on my face haha! Also one of my best friends was taking the picture so I was just being a goof.

This was before my High School graduation in my cap and gown. My mom made me a pretty crafty confetti cake in celebration J Although I didn’t get to eat much of it because apparently my uncle is a pretty big fan of confetti cake too haha!

Australia, here I come!

Happy Holidays everyone! 10 days and counting till I leave my home here in the US! I can't wait to make my way to Australia and enjoy some vitamin D. I have been talking about wanting to go to Australia since I was young with two of my good friends, just so happens I'm the lucky one that is going to make it there first. I cant wait to explore the beautiful country I have heard many good things about Australia and the people, that they are fun loving and relaxed....although I ran into a girl from Sydney the other day and was warned that the drivers can be a little crazy and that "J-walking" is not acceptable like it is here in Portland. I expect that moving to Australia for a year would be an absolutely amazing experience and a great cultural change for me no matter who I was with, but lucky me, I get to spend it with Young, Stephanie, two kids that are cute as can be, and two pretty cool dogs! :) I presume that I will learn a lot, I have already learned so much and I haven't even arrived yet. Just the whole process of preparing to travel out of my country has been a new experience for me, stressful, but definitely a learning experience. There are many things that I would like to do and see while I am in Australia of course!

1: I would like to see some strange animals! As I know there are many that I have never seen...the animals here are not very exotic, nor interesting.

2: I would love to learn how to surf, I hear it is very popular in Australia, it is popular here too, but the water is too chilly for me :)

3: Now I know this one is pretty cliché especially to anyone reading this from the US, but I would like to see the Sydney Opera House, maybe the space needle....we have one here in Washington, I could compare lol :)

4: Learn French

5: Learn to cook some good food

6: Hike in beautiful places

7: Learn the Aussie lingo

8: Scuba dive, I would be fine with just snorkeling. I want to see some awesome fish :)

9: Make many new friends....or mates! :)

10: Have loads of fun and amazing experiences!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Best wishes to you all, I cannot wait to arrive :)

How I got green thumbs

(I found this funny post I published a long time ago on Stephanie's blog http://poissonaivy.blogspot.com/ and thought it would be a good idea to share it in english)

Today I'm going to tell you a true story. Something that happened to me the other day while I was walking my mum in the park.

"Mummy, we go this way!"

There was a little tree called "Bonsai", only a bit taller than me. It was weird and I was a bit scared.

"You, my Bonsai friend, I don't trust you!"

Then we went and settled under a tree so I could have my bottle and eat flowers. I was feeling much better.

"That's the good life, the parks and the sun!"

But all of a sudden, something strange happened, birds where singing very loudly and flowers were dancing in circle around me!!

"Something really weird is happening!?"

When everything calmed down, I was... different. I was feeling closer to nature and plants.

"In fact, I'm all green now!"

What a relief... when we left, everything was back to normal... almost...

"Daddy says that having green thumbs means loving nature."

Signed: Poisson Ai-Vy

How this all came to be.

Hello again! Just wanted to recap on everything that has happened in the last few months or so for me here in cold wet Vancouver, Washington.

I found out about being an Au-Pair in October and was recommended the GreatAuPair website by a fellow student at school. Soon after I signed up and created a profile, I was pretty adamant from the start about finding the right family for me. It was distracting me from my schoolwork a great deal...but not too much. I talked to many families some here in the US, some from Europe, others in Australia, and one from Spain. I almost agreed to go with a family here in the US in California, but luckily Young and Stephanie sent me quite an interesting message putting me in the position to "show my true colors" I got very lucky and they liked what they heard! (as did I) :) From there we chatted a great deal via Facebook, maybe a bit too much, they became to think I was addicted.

As we got to know each other better I became more and more excited about the idea of spending the year with such wonderful people, in such a gorgeous place! Once I was sure that I wanted to come and that this family was right for me and I was right for them, all that needed to be done was to convince my parents.....it was a bit harder than you would think. My parents chatted with Young and Stephanie and got many terrific references from them, so terrific that they couldn't say no!

I was ecstatic when I could finally tell Young and Stephanie that I would be coming to join their family very soon, although they didn't think that the end of January was soon enough. So with a bit of work and some more convincing of my parents and cooperation from Young and Stephanie I will be arriving in Brisbane, Australia on January 7th at 7:50 am.!!!! I can't wait to meet everyone in person and have fun with little Ai-Vy and Kien-Nhu! See everyone soon :)

A new addition to the family

Just a quick explanation dear blog reader (sorry French friends, I've got to switch to English now, so you'd better get up to speed with that language :D)...

I know, I haven't updated this blog for a long long time (a bit more than one year in fact). I'm not going to blame anyone, that's just life, "c'est la vie". Two kids, a house, a garden, a job, and more importantly a very demanding wife and that's it, no more time for the blog :(

But first, here is a quick picture of my two little treasures!

Kien-Nhu is growing quickly (too quickly) and is getting cutter by the day. He is looking so much like his mother, which is a good thing I reckon given how pretty Stephanie is <3

But more importantly, he's the best and easiest baby ever! Started sleeping through the night just after two weeks, always happy and smiling, a real pleasure. We are considering having ten like him! Maybe I shouldn't speak too fast... looks like he's started throwing tantrums...

Our beloved Ai-Vy is also growing quickly (way too quickly) and is starting to look more like a little girl than a little baby. She's really cheeky and while sometimes driving us crazy :) is a little girl full of life and imagination that loves animal and horses like her mother!

And here is a little picture of us taken a few weeks ago. Getting older (who said balder??!!) but still sexy!

But who's the newest addition to our family would you ask?? Thanks for asking.
We are getting a new "Au-Pair" very soon... and this is the last time I'm using this word as we don't envisage the "Au-Pair" in the standard way it is defined.
Have a look at the offer we've put on the GreatAuPair web site:

Family's Introduction to Caregivers

We are a young active couple with two kids and two dogs. We are both French / Australian (we have the dual citizenship) and moved from the south west of France to Australia 6 years ago.

We are both sporty and active, love going out, going to the beach and national parks on weekends, four wheel driving, fishing, surfing, dog training, culture, video games, cinema and meeting people.

We live about 12 km from the Brisbane CBD, the best city in Australia where 4 months of spring follow 8 months of summer! While close to the city, in a top class suburb, and at equal distance to both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, our house is beautiful with a unique setting, with the pool overlooking a forest with Koala, Kookaburras and Wallabies. It has a big garden, is also huge and modern and the Au-pair will have her own private room and bathroom.

Job Description

We are looking for an Au-pair to be PART OF OUR FAMILY and look after our two lovely kids (1 year old boy and 4 years old girl). It is NOT ONLY A JOB... Of course, there are requirements: you need to genuinely love kids, be playful, active and patient. We even already have cleaners, gardeners and someone to look after the pool... however we would like you to help with house duties to an equal amount as we are... not more, not less.

But more importantly we want someone fun, sociable, easy going and eager to SHARE OUR FAMILY LIFE, participate in our sport activities and curious to discover the Australian culture. Of course you will also get your own personal time and will be encouraged to go out and make friends outside of the family. We want someone who shares our values: honesty, respect, curiosity, openness, commitment, and work ethics. We are looking for someone with a good education and mature, not someone who is "just looking for a job, free food and accommodation", we want the right person with the right philosophy of life! We want someone committed to stay at least 6 months to establish a strong relationship.

Working arrangements are flexible. Accommodation and food (top class healthy food cooked with love by the daddy who's also making his own bread) is provided and "pocket money" will depend on merit and amount of time the Au-pair wants to be involved... Money will not be a problem. But you'll get richer, not only with money, but from the unique experience you'll get with us. Even if we are French, we are both fluent in English and can teach the Au-pair English if necessary and we've got lots of Australian friends.

If you recognize yourself in this offer and think you are the right person, you'll find that this is probably the best Au-pair offer you'll ever find. The position is open starting from now, but there is no urgency, we'll wait as long as needed to have the right person.

You can get in touch with me by forum email; I'll then give you my Skype ID. We'll have a chat about the position, our expectations and your desires and see if we are on the same page! Then we can meet and have a coffee together in Brisbane if you are already in Australia or have a video conference on Skype.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

So after only one week, we've received more than 55 applications, and were spoiled for choice. Some very good candidatures (in theory, with diploma and past experience with children...).

I was in charge of interviewing the applicants (Facebook technique...). Fortunately it didn't last too long as my wife was starting to freak out seeing me chatting with that many young women!

I ended up feeling a very good connection with two young candidates, Meagan and Elizabeth, which were, by the biggest coincidence, of the same age, from the same country and from the same region (Oregon/Washington). That must mean that good crops are growing there (hope that makes sense)! It would have been very difficult to choose as they were both great and very different, but Libby wasn't available till April anyway, so that solved the dilemma for me!

So Meagan will very soon be with us. She is a young woman full of energy and enthusiasm, cute, smart, sporty, artsy and obviously with a genuine love for children. We are so much looking forward to welcoming her and strangely, while we haven't known her for such a long time, we already love her very much and believe she will bring lots of joy in her baggage!

So stay tuned as she will be posting on the blog, talking about her experience Down-under!

Introduction (me anxiously waiting to arrive)

Hi blog readers! My name is Meagan.

I am 19 years old and from Vancouver, Washington USA.

I live right outside of a fairly large city called Portland, Oregon where I enjoy going for entertainment, good music, and wonderful food.

I am currently living with my parents and younger sister...but not for long! My family enjoys animals, as do I, we have a variety....cats, dogs, chickens, my dads pigeons, and my rabbit who we call olive.

In the past two years I have graduated high school and am now working on my college education, whilst in school I had numerous hobbies and held a few jobs. I thoroughly enjoyed my first job as a gymnastic coach for young girls, not only was it rewarding....but I got to jump on trampolines for work! I played soccer all through high school, and still play on occasion, as I love being active. Although we only get about one good month of summer here I take full advantage of it and am outside and in the water everyday, whether it is cliff jumping, wake boarding, or just going for a dip and laying in the sun, I love it all.

My family is very important to me, I have loving parents and a wonderful sister who have helped and supported me in all aspects of my life. They have held me to standards and stood up for me when need be, I will miss them greatly while I am away but I know they will always be here when I need them and just a "skype call" away.

My education, and sense of adventure is also important to me, that is what will get me through life. I think it is important to go out and explore, see the world from another's point of view and experience new cultures. Living in Australia will be educational and a magnificent experience as well....especially since I get to spend it with such a wonderful family.

This up coming year is going to be amazing, and I have no doubt that it will be anything but boring. I am extremely excited to join Young, Stephanie and their two children for an entire year, we will have grand adventures and I will learn alot... including some French.

I cannot wait to see everything that Australia has to offer and get to know this wonderful family <3

Welcome to the real world Keanu!

Bebe etait bien tranquille dans sa petite bulle, en apesanteur, rien a faire, juste a se laisser bercer par les battements de coeur de Maman.


Mais toute bonne chose a une fin et il est temps de faire un choix. Alors, pilule rouge ou pilule bleue? Ah ah, petit scarabe est courageux. Ainsi ce sera la rouge, welcome to the real world Keanu (Keanu/Kien-Nhu)!


Bienvenue dans un monde d'assistes du bocal, de grevistes et de gens pas contents.
Oups, je me trompe, on n'est plus en France la...


Attend je recommence...

Bienvenue a Brisbane, la ou il y a 9 mois d'ete et 3 mois de printemps, ou t'attendent Papa et Maman, ta grande soeur Ai-Vy, ChomChom et Todd pour te faire plein de bisous, ou les gens se contentent d'un bon barbecue et d'une journee a la mer pour etre content! Bah tu vois, le real world il est pas si terrible que ca!


Il y a meme ta Mamie qui est venue de tres loin, qui n'a pas pu attendre et voulait etre aux premieres loges pour te voir.


Tu peses 3.540 kg et tu es tout l'inverse de ta soeur, les traits qu'Ai-Vy avait herite de Papa, tu as ceux de Maman et vice versa.


Petit Keanu, on sent deja que tu seras tres gentil. Maman t'a demande de bien vouloir attendre quelques jours de plus que Mamie arrive; Papa, lui, t'a demande de jouer les prolongations jusqu'au week-end (parce que c'etait quand meme pas mal de glander au bureau en t'attendant) et Ai-Vy t'a demande d'arriver car elle etait impatiente de te voir.

Tu as voulu faire plaisir a tout le monde puisque tu es arrive Samedi 13 Novembre 2010, une semaine apres l'arrivee de Mamie, un week end et le lendemain du jour ou Ai-Vy te l'a demande!

Un petit frere pour tres bientot!

He oui, 9 mois ca passe vite! Plus que quelques petits jours et petit frere pointera le bout de son nez! Bon timing, juste entre 2 greves francaises, comme ca MA ne ratera pas son avion pour etre la le jour J (si Stephanie arrive a le faire attendre jusqu'a Vendredi!)




En Australie, tout va bien. C'est l'ete, on profite de la piscine et on recharge les batteries en prevision des nuits blanches a venir!