Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Un peu sur le voyage en français (1)
Hong Kong nous a beaucoup plu. On a beaucoup marché dans Kowloon, où était notre hôtel, et à Hong Kong même. Le musée de Hong Kong est excellent. Il commence avec la création géologique du site et continue jusqu'à nos jours. C'est très complet, très facile à suivre, et bien intéressant.
Il pleuvait fort le samedi de notre séjour. C'était un typhon qui passait. Une déluge, plutôt. Mais cela ne nous a pas empêché de faire notre visite.
Dimanche, nous avons fait la découverte de l'ile de Hong Kong, du quartier des grands immeubles, aux niveaux moyens des immeubles d'habitation au Victoria Gap où on a une belle vue de toute la ville.
Lundi, nous avons poursuivi avec une visite à pied du quartier des antiquaires et le musée d'art. J'ai terminé notre visite à Hong Kong avec un massage aux pieds et "corps". Le corps, en fait, c'est le dos – juste ce qu'il me fallait. Notre vol pour Melbourne était tard – presque minuit.
Si on avait su que le vol pour Melbourne s'arrêtait à Adélaïde d'abord, on aurait peut-être organisé notre voyage autrement. Pas grave On est arrivé à Melbourne dans l'après-midi de mardi, le temps de faire une petite lessive et promenade de découverte vers le centre ville avant de récupérer notre nuit de sommeil perdue. Le lendemain nous avons pris le bus gratuit pour les touristes, qui fait un tour de la ville, le jardin botanique et nous a déposé devant le musée de Melbourne. Encore un musée bien fait pour une introduction au pays. Il y a une partie sur le développement de Melbourne et l'état de Victoria – la ruée vers l'or de 1852 et le reste. Il y a une section sur les arts des îles pacifiques, car bon nombre de résidants de Melbourne y sont originaires et désirent faire connaître leurs cultures – les différents types de bateaux, les masques, etc. Et il y a une grande section dédiée aux Aborigènes – comment leur loi doit être reconnu au même valeur que le droit commun anglo-saxon. Les peintures, originairement de sable coloré, par exemple, sont des images, de la cartographie des cheminements ("dreamings"). Les tribus ont des territoires, mais les blancs n'ont rien compris et ils se sont dit que les Aborigènes ignorait le propriété ou la notion de limites territoriales. Par exemple, la pierre très appréciée pour les outils vient d'une carrière contrôlée par tel tribu. Il faut leur permission pour avoir la pierre. Même chose pour les dessins qui expliquent les dreamings. Il faut être du tribu pour l'expliquer ou avoir leur permission pour la raconter. Les Australiens essaient de concilier les communautés après des années et années d'abus.
Le centre ville de Melbourne est tout petit mais la communauté urbaine est très vaste et comprend 2 millions de personnes.
Jeudi, on a prit la voiture et parti à l'aventure vers les Alpes Victorienne. Il faisait très sec – la terre est grise, broutait jusqu'au bout. Il y a des moutons et des bœufs partout. La Hume Highway était un peu monotone jusqu'à ce qu'on l'ait quitté pour prendre le chemin des villages "historiques". Beechworth est l'endroit où l'or fut découvert en 1852. C'était le début de la ruée. Le village vit encore. Ce n'est pas comme les villes d'or américaines dans le sens où, ici, ils ont tout construit en dure – en brique et en basalte.
On est arrivé assez tôt à Inverness Park, qui se trouvait être une ferme avec chambre d'hôte. Patricia, la maitresse de maison, nous a montrer les lieux. Avant que la sécheresse ne deviennent trop sévère, ils élevaient des bœufs "Highland". En effet, son mari, Matt, est Ecossais ! Ils n'ont plus de bétail. Il leur reste un élevage de chèvres cachemires. La tonte a lieu juste après le jour le plus court, donc début juillet, ici, mais cette année, ils ne tondront pas car les chèvres sont trop stressés par les conditions de sécheresse. Patricia et Matt furent de parfaits hôtes et Patricia nous a préparé un très bon diner.
Nous sommes repartis après un somptueux petit-déjeuner vers la route des villes historiques et vers les Alpes Victorienne. Là, dans les montagnes, on a vu un phénomène désolant : les arbres sont tous morts. Ils ne semblent pas être victimes d'incendie – ça on a vu aussi, plus loin – mais c'est terribles de voir ces troncs et branches dénudées et toute blanche.
La route a pris fin près de la mer à l'est de Melbourne, à Bairnsdale. Cette ville, un peu plus grande que la moyenne, a une rue principale très large avec les boutiques de chaque côté et les voitures garées en épi. Elle fait deux grandes patés de maisons de long. Il y a une paté de maison d'épaisseur de chaque côté de la rue principale. Nous avons pris une chambre (parce que nous n'avons pas suivi notre itinéraire d'agence qui nous aurait fait conduire presque 700 km dans une journée.) dans l'hôtel du commerce (Commercial Hotel) où on a très bien mangé le soir et la chambre était rudimentaire. En se levant le lendemain nous voulions payer et partir prendre notre petit déjeuner à la boulangerie, mais tous les issus étaient fermés. Une fille a finit par sortir de sa chambre et nous a indiqué la sorti des employés. On a mangé et quand on est revenu à 8h30, il n'y avait toujours personne pour nous présenter la note. Je leur ai laissé un petit mot avec la clé de la chambre et assez d'argent pour couvrir le repas plus un peu pour la chambre que j'ai glissé sous la porte de l'hôtel.
Pause pour encore une nuit à Melbourne et on a pris la route pour Adélaïde. Geelong, ville industrielle (grande usine de Ford) à l'ouest de Melbourne, est le départ de la route : Great Ocean Road. Il y a un musée de la laine, mais, contrairement au guide Lonely Planet, il est fermé le dimanche matin. Dommage. Il y avait une course de hors bords en route Et une assemblée de voitures anciennes. Paul a bien remarqué une vieille Simca.
La route suit la côte des surfeurs jusqu'à Apollo Bay. Le ciel était éclatant. C'était un changement de la brume de fumée des brulis qui couvrait Melbourne et cachait la vue dans les montagnes. Il avait plu la veille à Melbourne, nettoyant le ciel. Les vues des plages étaient spectaculaire. Nous étions loger dans un Bed & Breakfast luxueux au sommet de la colline au dessus de Apollo Bay. Dans la ville de Apollo Bay, c'était le dernier jour d'un festival de musique – du monde et de la musique folk, jazz sur la rue principale. Je n'ai pas pu résister de filmer un groupe qui chanter du Bob Dylan sur un rythme de jazz.
La côte de Apollo Bay à Port Fairy était encore plus spectaculaire ! D'abord on traverse un parc national, Otway National Park. C'est très vaste et varié. Nous nous sommes arrêtés à Maits Rest pour faire un court promenade dans le forêt humide. Pas vraiment tropicale, mais très humide. C'était une journée pluvieuse et venteuse. Cela n'empêchait pas de faire de petits promenades pour voir les sites impeccablement aménages. Otway Lighthouse est la phare qui domine ce point le plus au sud de l'Australie. Il y a aussi la station de télégraphe, créée pour faire le lien avec la Tasmanie par le câble sousmarin. Ce câble n'a résisté que 2 ans avant de casser et la station fut converti en station de signales par drapeaux pour les bateaux. Les bateaux échangeaient de messages avec la station qui transmettait les informations à Melbourne par télégraphe. Ainsi, on attendait les bateaux avec impatience.
En partant de la phare, nous avons vu un koala dans un arbre au bord de la route ! Et j'ai pu filmer un peu pendant qu'il mangeait, se grattait, se déplaçait, et dormait. Géniale !
Ensuite la côte est accidenté. Ce sont des falaises érodés par les vagues et la pluie. Le résultât est un ensemble de "tours" séparés de la côte. Un groupe s'appelle les Douze Apôtres. Plus loin c'est le pont de Londres. Ce pont était, jusqu'à 1990, encore attaché à la côte ; c'était un pont à deux arches. Puis, l'arche le plus près de la côte s'est effondré. J'ai pris plein de photos, y compris les panneaux explicatifs si quelqu'un prépare un exposé sur l'érosion côtière.
Après une nuit à Port Fairy, nous sommes montés vers le nord, vers les montagnes Grampians. La nous avons vu la dévastation de l'incendie de janvier 2006. La tous les arbres sont noircis. Beaucoup sont morts, mais beaucoup d'eucalyptus ont survécu et se régénèrent bien. Il pleut ces jours-ci mais ce n'est pas encore la fin de la sécheresse qui dure depuis 8 ans. Nous avons quittés les montagnes pour gagner la région viticole de Coonamarra, où nous avons passé la nuit.
Aujourd'hui, nous avons fait la route de Coonamarra à Adélaïde d'un trait (5 heures) afin d'arriver suffisamment tôt pour voire un peu la ville. On a visité le centre culturel Aborigène où on a vu une exhibition d'artistes contemporains.
Demain, départ avant l'aube pour Kangaroo Island.
Back to Melbourne and on to Adelaide
27/04/08
The drive from Bairnsdale to Melbourne was pleasant. It reminded us of driving through Florida – lots of cattle grazing, very flat land, signs to good fishing on the left. It had rained a little, so the earth was not as parched as elsewhere.
The Commercial Hotel, however, was not all that Lonely Planet had led us to hope for. The room had a double bed – that's it. No bedside table or lamp No closet or anything to hang our clothes. The bathroom down the hall had a broken sink and was freezing. When I had first inquired if there were any rooms, the guy said he would make one up for us. First he told me it would be $33 , and then, when I said it was for two, he said $44 I originally thought that was for breakfast, but no, it was for the extra shower; there was no breakfast. We had dinner at the hotel, a very popular dining spot -- it was packed – and dinner was very good. When we got up and were ready to leave, we started out, but could not get downstairs; the door was locked. A girl finally came out of her room and showed us the way out on the staff's stairs and the alley gate. She said she'd be down to take our cash, so we went to a bakery for breakfast and it was already 8:30 by the time we got back to the hotel. It was still all locked up and dark. The girl was nowhere to be seen. I left a note with the keys and some cash – enough to cover the dinner and a little for the room, but not what he had quoted me the night before. It wasn't worth it.
We drove along the coast all the way back to Melbourne. I spent some time at a café and was able to post my blog entry. It then started to ain in Melbourne. They must have been happy, but it was just when we needed to go out looking for dinner.
This morning, we left Melbourne for Geelong and the Great Ocean Road. We got to Geelong just after 10 and wanted to go to th national wool museum. Lonely Planet said it was open every day from 10-5. Well, they are wrong. On Sunday, it doesn't open until 1:00. Fortunately, it is also where the tourist office it, so we loaded up on maps an advice for the rest of the trip. The Great Ocean Road has some spectacular views. It's great surfing country. You can see Sunday surfers out all along the road, but it doesn't seem crowded. There are plenty of lookouts and places to park to take in the view. As we approached Apollo Bay, we hit some showers – and gorgeous rainbows to go with them.
Our hotel is a"retreat" at the top of the hill overlooking Apollo Bay. It's only 6 km. from the turnoff, but it seems like the end of the world up here. The room is elegant and spacious. We'll go down to the town for dinner, but I imagine a restful night here. Now, I'll try to find Paul and get some pictures.
28/04/08
Tonight we are in Port Fairy, having traveled along the Great Ocean Road from Apollo Bay. It rained most of last night and we got caught in showers all through the day, today. Bill, from last night's retreat insisted that we take our time in spite of the rain and he was right. We put on all our layers of sweaters and a poncho and headed on our way. The first stop was a rain forest in the Otway National Park. The stop on the road is called Maits Rest. There is a short, 40-minute, walk among the giant ferns, myrtle trees and eucalyptus. We didn't see any snakes, carnivorous snails, or any other fauna that was indicated on the boards along the path. It was no longer raining, but it was a good thing we had our ponchos because a rain forest is always dripping.
Further along the highway, as it veered back towards the ocean, we turned off to visit the Otway Lighthouse. There's a whole set of buildings. First they built the lighthouse at the southernmost point of Australia; then they built the telegraph station to hook up the submarine cable to Tasmania in 1859. The cable broke in 1861, so they converted the telegraph station into a marine signaling station with a flagpole that could hold many flags to send messages to ships on their way to Melbourne or Sydney. The ships would send flag their messages to the shore and they would then be telegraphed on to Melbourne so everyone knew what was coming in just a few days before the ships docked. There was a whole little community, there: the lighthouse attendant and his assistants; the telegraph station master and his assistants, and all their families – maybe a total of 5 or six families in tiny quarters.
As we were driving out of the lighthouse area, on the way back to the main road, we saw a car stopped and some people looking up in a tree. There was a big ball of fur up there. Our first koala sighting! We got out and were able to watch the koala look at us, eat a bit, scratch a bit and go back to sleep, then walk on to another branch and start all over. Cute.
The next sights to see along the coast are the "Twelve Apostles". These are eroded sandstone outcroppings of the coastal cliffs. They are beautiful sights, but I think I appreciated the way the Australians have preserved their coastline. Parking areas are set aside and you have to walk a bit to get to the overlooks to see the sights. They have re-vegetated the area and people do tend to stay on the paths and respect the zone. There are plenty of overlooks. Towards the end of the cliff area, there is a formation called "London Bridge". Until 1990 it was a double-arched bridge still connected to the land, but then the connecting arch collapsed, probably due to the rain weakening the top of the arch rather than the waves working from below. I took plenty of pictures, including the explanatory panels, in case anyone is doing a school project on erosion :-)
As soon as the road leaves the coast, you're in the middle of farm land. Almost entirely grazing land for cattle and sheep. In Warrnambool, there's a gigantic dairy plant. I don't know what else there is there, but it seems to be a very prosperous major town, with its car dealerships, fast food restaurants and so on the road towards Port Fairy. What we've noticed most about Australian towns is that most of them are more like what American towns were like: a main street with shops on both sides, angled parking, one block long for the small towns, maybe two or three blocks for the bigger ones. The most common building material was brick – and basalt for the banks and other significant buildings, so they still look very much like they did when they were built in the mid to late 19th century. Lots of cars are parked in front of the shops and there is plenty of business. Only the really big towns,, like Warrnambool or Geelong, have a Kmart, Coles supermarket, or other big stores. Even small towns have a community hospital, post office, school and other public service. The roads are excellent.
We ended the day at Port Fairy, one of those one-block main street towns on the coast with a river port. There were lots of pleasure boats docked along the river. Our hotel is a boutique hotel with a dock out the back.
29/04/08
This morning we left the coast to see a bit of the Grampians What we saw was the remnants of a disastrous fire in January 2006. Almost all the trees show signs of being burnt, but they are so resilient that many survived and have fresh leaves all over. That was strange – since many of the branches burned completely, the leaves are coming straight from the trunk and the big branches that survived. But a lot of the trees did not survive. It's pretty bleak. We walked to an overlook to Broken Falls and there's not much water coming down.
Driving up to the Grampians and then back down to the road to Coonawarra took most of the day. We finally saw a live kangaroo late in the afternoon. Over the past few days we've seen quite a few road kill, so this sighting was exciting.
Now, we are in the wine country of Coonawarra. Since it's fall, the vines are all yellow and orange – very pretty. And, of course, the wine is excellent.
30/04/08
Today, from Coonamarra to Adélaïde in one go (5 hours) in order to get to Adelaide early enough to see a little of the town. We visited the Aboriginal Cultural Center, where we took in an exhibit of contemporary artists.
Tomorrow, we leave before dawn for Kangaroo Island.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
We're off!
23/04/08
Practical first, for emergencies – AUS international phone code is 61. So, if you need to call us, we've got a number: +61 450496485. The + is for whatever you need to dial to make an international call. When I get a chance, I'll have my Skype calls transferred to this number, so you'll be able to call the 412.... number from the States or the other number from France and it'll be free for you and not too expensive for me. (Check your e-mails from last September. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I never sent you those numbers and you don't need them.)
One full day in Melbourne. Well, it's a small city, but still probably merits more than one day. It shows that even though I asked for more, the travel agent didn't really listen to me and I was too distracted by other things to pay attention at the end. On a circuit, she has us spending Two nights at the same hotel rather than continuing on to make the driving less tedious. Oh well, we'll manage. Also, if she had told us that the flight from Hong Kong stopped first in Adelaide, we might have organized ourselves differently and started from there instead of here.
So, we stopped en route in Adelaide and had to disembark so they could refuel and clean the plane for the trip back to Hong Kong. We didn't sleep at all during the flight because the toddler behind us screamed all night. Once we got here, I did a little laundry in the sink and we went out for a walk. The city center is very small and it looks like any late 19th – early 20th century town – except for the modern office towers that make it look like a big city at the same time. A strange mix. It's very clean. It's a little cool – after all, it is fall here.
Our hotel, Batman's Hill on Collins, is at the corner of Spencer and Collins Streets, just past the Southern Cross Station. The station is not just a train station; it is also where the airport shuttle dropped us off. There is also an outlet mall, just in case we needed to go shopping. And what looks like a full entertainment complex, with perhaps a sports stadium behind it. At 5 pm, you see the troops of office workers all heading to the station and at 9 am this morning, we watched them all file past on their way from the station to work. Our room is ideally situated for this parade.
We went straight up Collins and turned right to Federation Square, opposite the Flinder Street station, the terminus. This means we went almost halfway up the city grid and one-third over. If I hadn't stopped to get a phone card, this would have been a 20-minute walk!
Somewhere on the way, we smelled pizza and got hungry. After our stop at the tourist office, we hunted down a pizza joint and then called it a day.
This morning, up bright and early, we set off for the free tourist shuttle and had a pleasant ride up to the Melbourne museum. The first exhibit we saw was a student show of technical studies. There was cabinetry (Claire, you would have been very impressed!), fashion, photography and more. What impressed me the most were the specification books for each exhibit. The students had to define users or clients. For that, they created a persona, just as we do when we set out to write a technical document. Then, they had to show what had inspired them, what concepts they decided to work with (from their inspirations), and how they modified them to fit what they needed. They had to show they mock-up drawings and so on. They had to define the technical specifications. After that, you lifted your head and there it was – the finished product, a very professional piece.
Then, a bit of the history of Melbourne and Victoria, an exhibit on the Pacific island community that has settled in Melbourne and that is trying to keep their culture alive. Then, it was time to discover the Aboriginal exhibit – very interesting exposé on the two laws and how their culture should be respected. It's fine for museums to show their art as long as it is with the artist's (or family's) permission and that the museum does not show sacred items that are for the initiated only. That still leaves plenty to see.
We caught the free tram that dropped us almost at the hotel. After a short break, we went across the Yarra river and walked along the waterfront for a while before stopping at an excellent place for a seafood dinner.
25/04/08
I'm not connecting to the Internet as much as I'd like, so these entries are not so regular. Yesterday, we drove up from Melbourne to Albury, just over the state border in N.S.W.. We were set to stay at a bed and breakfast – only more, because it included dinner, too. It was lovely. We stayed with Patricia and Matt Stewart at their lovely farm, Inverness Park. Why Inverness Park? Well, Matt is from Inverness and Patricia, a fifth generation Australian, has ancestors from Inverness. Because of the drought they have had to give up their cattle. They had a herd of Highlanders and had prize-winning stud bulls. Now, they only have their cashmeres. Patricia took us around the place and explained everything to us. We got to pet Billy, their oldest goat and got a tour of the sheering shed, even though it's not sheering time. The goats grow their cashmere down from the longest day to the shortest and then, if they are not shorn, they shed it. So, sheering time is at the beginning of July. However, due to the drought and the stress it creates in the animals, they will probably not sheer this year.
The drought has gone on for eight years, now. We could see how dry things were on the ride up. The Stewarts have a pond, Little Loch Ness, which is almost dried up. And, like most Australians, they use collected rain water for their household use. They expect the rainy season to start any day now and hope it is enough to put an end to the drought.
They have a lovely home and farm. They were wonderful hosts. And Patricia made us an excellent dinner.
This morning, we explored the Victoria gold rush country. We had stopped in Beechfront yesterday – the place where it all started in 1852. So, it's contemporary to the California gold rush towns and looks like a town from a Western. There's a whole little circuit of these towns on the Historical trail and the Wine and Gold trail. Yes, this is also part of the wine country. From Yackandandah, we headed up into the mountains to get on to the Great Alpine Road. Unfortunately, there is this persistent haze from the burning off, so you can't really get a view.
The fall colors are beautiful – all that we missed last September in Canada. But, as we got up into the mountains, the forests are mostly eucalyptus and green. I was driving, so I didn't get a picture of it, but we were amazed at the amount of dead trees along the crest. It's not beautiful at all; it's eerie. A single dead eucalyptus is like a sculpture all white. A forest of them makes you think of a catastrophe, a sci-fi movie. From a distance, you could imagine what these mountains must be like with snow on them – they are already white from the trees.
We followed the Great Alpine Road down to Bairnsdale, where we are spending the night at the Commercial Hotel, which has not been refurbished in many, many years and needs to be. The town reminds us a bit of Okeechobee – a wide street with stores lining each side. The town seems to be a block thick on each side of the main street. Our post-dinner walk up and down each side of the street took no more than 20 minutes, including our window-shopping stops. That explains how I have the time to write this entry. Now I just need to find some Internet access. (A shame we discovered we could use the Stewarts', but it was already this morning and time to leave them.) I'll probably post this from Melbourne, tomorrow.