ChezMatt

Hoy hoy !!!

How are you all ?? Fine fine because finally I’m writing something on this blog and giving you some news about my trip ? Yeah that’s what I though ;) It’s been a while since my last post and today is a bit of an update... A bit don’t worry.

So where am I, what am I doing and with who ? That’s a lot of good questions anserable easily : I’m in Buenos Aires (BA) at my sister’s place, with JB Cat and Yacine (you know them don’t you ?) and I just finished today a week of Spanish lessons. I was having 2 hours a day in the centre of Buenos Aires and now I think my spanish is a lot better than before (it was quasi nill before...). That’s a good thing.

Tonight we’re leaving BA and going to Iguazu in the north east at the border with Brazil and Paraguay. There are waterfalls in Iguazu and they are supposed to be amazing especially this days with all the rain they had lately... Hehehe !!! You’ll have pictures of those falls, don´t worry.

Talking about photos, I had my most unpleasant experience here in BA with my camera... I got robbed of it ! I was stupidly walking alone in La Boca the only “tourist place” of BA described by the guides as dangerous… And after a guy showed me his knife I gave him my camera… Not a really funny story actually. But I’m over it now and I’ll use my fellow co-travelers’ pics.
You can actually check JB’s photos here and Cat’s here. The good thing is that now I’ll be in a lot more pictures than before ;)

I’ve also been meeting lots of friends in here, and that’s really one of the best bit of this whole trip… Meeting my CISV friends around the world… In here I met Guada, a friend who was in a camp 13 years ago in New Zealand and whom I haven’t seen since (that was a great time, thanks again Guada), Sofi, Mae an American friend who happens to be here and have the same travel plans as us (we did inspired ourselves of her plans…) so we’ll be together for a little while! As shown in the photo, I also met Maru and that was also great… I was really happy about it and I hope all my friends who know her will be very jealous!!!

All right, now it’s almost time to leave (in 3hours actually) so I’ll say goodbye, send you heaps of kisses and hope to see you soon!!!

Almost a month without a post in English on your blogmy dear Matt, that's not a very good way of managing your blog some would say... Indeed, I've been a bit rushed lately and this blog is a good example of how fast the time is running and how many things I'm doing : I don't have time to write articles... I'm sorry.
There is also the fact that I spent some time in remote places in Tamsania where internet was not really present... It's Tasmania you know...

Anyway, since this very nice christmas in Murwillumbah, Yacine and I came back to Sydney to spend our last days together... Yeap it's sad Yacine left on the 3rd of Jan to go to NZ and then South America... Which means that I'll see him there!!!
So we spent New Year's Eve in Sydney, Pittwatter exactly, a National Park an hour North of Sydney city centre. It was really enjoyable, and we had a chilled New Year's Eve party with some families there, we did nice bushwalks and saw great wildlife (Check out the huge Spider or the Diamond Python who was digesting an animal in the sun next to our rooms...). Stephanie was also there with us and I have to admit it was also very nice ;)

When we came back from this small paradise Yacine left us...  I actually spent a day at Sydney airport since Matthew, Steph's brother was also leaving Australia for the UK the same day...

You can have a look at the photos of those wonderfull times here.

After these days in Sydney, Stephanie and I went on a small trip, from Sydney through Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania.
In Canberra we said hi to Steph's Family, and then in Melbourne we spent 2 days visiting the city.  We stayed at Tim's place, a friend of mine from CISV. Our stay there was really great, Melbourne is a great city and Tim and Anne where really great great hosts. Thanks again for these wonderfull 2 days guys!!!
Some photos of Melbourne and Canberra are here.

After Melbourne we headed to Tasmania, where we hired a car and went for camping around this very typical island which is Tasmania.

During our trip, we visited Hobart, Devonport, Launceston, Strahan (where we saw the sunset on an Australian Coast without having to go to Perth!!), Freycinnet National Park, Mt Field NP and Port arthur, but the best bit was undoubtly for me the hiking we did at Craddle Mountain.

We went all the way to the top of this amazing mountain, and even thouhg I stupidly drunk some bad water from a random toilet place in the middle of the mountain and was sick for 2 days after, the sceneries over there are just amazing... There is a 7 days walk to do in this National Park and it is definitively something I'll do in the future. If anyone wants to join... It'll be in a couple of years!!

The photo album from Tassie is here and there are great photos in this one... Enjoy!

After these great days spent in Tasmania, I had to say goodbye to Australia... from April 06 to January 07, I spent 9 great months in this amazing country... I met some great people, saw wonderful nature and lived amazing experiences...I have a lot of people to thank and I certainly didn't do it enough while I was there. This is I think a good reason -amongst others ;)- for me to come back...

I thus left Sydney the 19th of Jan and I am currently in Auckland, New Zealand. But this is another story...

See you all very soon I hope!!!
Hugs & Kisses

Mery X-Mas indeed... This small video shows you where Yacine and I spent it, and what our lunch was composed of. If you think it was rather a nice menu, you are right, we enjoyed it!