Blogs from Kings Cross, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

"Look as long as you can at the friend you love, no matter whether that friend is moving away from you or coming back toward you." -Rumi, "My Worst Habit" Living as a backpacker is different than traveling as one. When you travel from place to place, new faces and new friends are a dime a dozen. You meet, exchange stories, make brief connections (that might transcend all time and distance, but still, might not) and you move on. The distance between strangers and clubbing buddies can be covered by the end of a bottle of wine and in the morning when the bus comes, well-wishes and Facebook requests mark the end of a moment. Living as a backpacker you get some of this too, with those travelers who are still, well, traveling. Nights out vary ... read more

Hi, here's a couple of photos of the colour scheme in our hostel, I think it's a disguse to make it appealing !!... read more

Yesterday I decided to go for a walk along the coast from Bondi. I was hoping to do the walk to Coogee but after walking for two hours I was so hot I couldn't wait any longer to jump in the sea so I stopped at a random beach. It was such a pretty walk I might do it again but maybe if I start at Coogee and walk back to Bondi I'll get to do the whole walk rather than walking from Karen's down to Bondi and then along the walk in the boiling heat! I ended up walking about 12km so by the time I got back I was shattered! Today I checked into a hostel so that I can see a different part of Sydney and get to meet some new people. When ... read more

31 mars J'apparaît à l'aéroport d'Adelaide (Australie) totalement endormi. Insuffisance de sommeil. Et je sent affreusement mauvais. Ma dernière journée à Bali me colle à la peau et mon nouveau déodorant indonésien n'arrive pas à contrer l'affront de mon dernier 24 heures d'itinérance. À l'aéroport, je change mes derniers Rupiahs et empoche mes premiers dollars australiens. Ça me fait l'équivalent de 12$. Je m'en servirai rapidement pour me payer un petit pâté à la viande (mince pie) et mon premier vrai café latté depuis ces quatre dernières semaines. Pour le même prix, j'avais une nuitée dans un hôtel indonésien. Mes finances sont outrées mais j'ai le moral qui souri. Je suis heureux de retrouver le calme, l'ordre et la propreté auxquels on nous a habitué en occident. Et heureux de retrouver une température respirable aussi. J'ai ... read more

My first impressions of Sydney were: 1) surprising amounts of rain, 2) plenty of European bakeries where they sell decent bread for a change, 3) gaaaaaaaaay. And by that I mean I arrived on the day of the annual Mardi Gras in Sydney, it's gay parade, biggest in the world (or at least the most famous?). And it's Fabulous. No I really loved it. It used to be about the glamour, now half of it seems to be just the grassroots-ness of it all, and the liberal messages liberally sprinkled throughout the parade. And just how many different groups support it, and the varied ways it finds expression: I've seen police officers, prison league rugby players, parents, kids, army people, Daleks exterminating homophobia, gaymers, people in Star Trek uniform dragging a Death Star (I didn't get ... read more