AUSTRALIA---February 3,2008

NB:  Reminder:  The English texte is usually written by Gilles Beaudry and the French by Gilles Forget


February 2nd Gilles B.left Bali and arrived in Melbourne, Australia  on February 3rd am. I took the train for Wogonda(3.5 hours)and Gilles F. came to pick me up at the train station in Wodonga. I had been traveling alone for over 6 weeks while Gilles F.  was in Australia since December 21th.

Wodonga and Mitta Mitta

A friend's daughter and her husband lend us their cottage for the week.. Her friend lend us her car for the week also.The cottage was in a former minning town which is now a Summer Home for many people. The cottage is surrounded by mountains, rivers and creeks.
We did many walks and hikes in the mountains. Florence, friend's  sister introduced us to many  walks and hikes in the area. We also went for a walk one day with a group of bushwalkers. Just across the street we could jump in the creek and have a refreshing swim. We had good and interesting company and visited some people during the week.
After the week we took the train for Melbourne to continue our journey. Unfotunately the engine of the train was defective and we had to take the bus in to Melbourne. Met a friend I had met  on the Vietnam Tour who guided me  to the centre of the city, both the new and old part of the city.In the afternoon we picked up his partner  and we toured the country side of Melourne especially the wine country. we had a lovely wine tasting time with wonderful wine and cheese.
The next day we flew early to Tesmania. We were greeted at the airport with two wonderful people of the exchange program. We spent a wonderful 6 days with them and friends. We arrived at 7:30am and by 11 we were already high up in the mountain and walking for 3.5 hours. By 6 pm we were  sailing and getting ready for a race they have every Wednesday night. Ane we won the race that night. It was guite exiciting and scary at the same time because at times we were sailing on the side of the boat quite fast especially when you are  siting on the side close to the water.
The next day we went with John to Richmond, a small touristic city  1.5 hours from Hobart city on the east coast.
We did a few hikes by ourselves while they were working. The last two days we went to Cole's bay, and visited the wine glass bay on the east coast. Here we did 2 hikes. On the first day the hike was very challenging for me. We climbed to top of one of the mountian. The climb was mostly on rocks. I managed to go to the top and what a reward, the scenery was fantastic.
The next day the six of us  walked 10 kms in the mountains, up and down but it was easier. Two men from Denmark were also visiting Tesmania and they came with us to Cole's Bay.We also took the time for a few swims in the beautiful, green sparkling water of the ocean in this area. The weather was also great, clear and just the right temperature for us.We were kind of sad tolaeve after such a wonderful time in Tesmania.

Early the next morning , Allen, Peter and John drove us to the airport  and at 6:30 am we left for Sydney.