California...Los Angeles / Hollywood / Berverly Hills

We arrived at LAX after a 10 hour flight from Fiji.. Sophie must have slept all of 1 hour and me, 2 hrs... so given we had left Fiji at 9.45pm on Sunday and arrived in LA at 1.40pm on that same Sunday, this seemed like a 'Back to the future episode'!

 

Anyhow, we arrived there and after 2 hours of going through immigration and customs, we finally got out to meet Jeffry, the guy who was renting us his car (via the website relayrides). We quickly jumped into the Fiat 500cc and Jeffry drove us to very near to Walter's house where we were going to stay during our time in LA.

Walter is 89 and he is Jojo's (Sophie's friend from Sydney) grand father whom we met back over the Christmas period on shark island!  He very kindly offered for us to spend time in their pool house whilst visiting LA area.. so here it goes...

 

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Nous voici arrivees a Los Angeles après 10 heures de vol des iles Fidji. Sophie a du dormir 1h en tout et Nathalie max 2heures. On est parties a 21h40 et on est arrive a 13.40 le meme jour a Los Angeles. Et nous qui croyons que la machine a remonter le temps n'existait pas... 

 

Apres 2h d'attente a l'immigration et aux doines nous avons enfin pu retrouver Jeffry qui nous a loue sa voiture pour la semaine a Los Angeles. Nous nous sommes dirigee vers la maison de Walter che qui nous avons ete invitees a sojourner pour la semaine. Walter a 89, c'est le grand pere de Jojo l'amie Australienne de Sophie que nous avions rencontre a Noel a Sydney. Malgres son grand age, Walter est toujours a la tete de son entreprise et travaille toujours quotidiennement a son bureau a l'Est de LA. Ayant une usine au Mexique, Walter s'y rend egalement toutes les semaines en voiture !!!

With our little car

                     

 

We were living at Walter's place for the week in Santa Monica...

DAY 1

We ventured 'downtown' LA where people had warned us there was not much to see, well.. they were right!!! we found ourselves walking along big impersonal streets, seeing some great architecture but not really seeing an intimate 'city centre' like Melbourne offered us.

 

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Jour 1

 

Nous nous sommes aventurees dans le centre de LA. Nous avions ete mis au courant que le centre, etait plus un centre d'affaire que touristique.

 

Here is the Walt Disney Centre

                      

                                    

 

 A few impressive buildings

  

                                    

DAY 2 / Jour 2

Universal studios...

 

 

Special mention for Fiona aka the Ogress

Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives)

 

 

Nathalie's adopted parents for the day

 

 

Sophie Directing the film of her life

 

 

Day 3

 

We decided to have a relaxed morning and catch up on our sleep and the time difference and then headed to Santa Monica 3rth street for a little shopping...  and then down to Santa Monica pier and beach. In the evening, we went to a very nice Italian restaurant called Pecorino with Walter and one of his daughters. Lovely dinner.

I discovered how cool their bus were with bike racks so that you can take your bike down to the beach!

 

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Jour 3

 

Nous avons decide de ne pas metre de reveil et de profiter de la maison ce matin la. Nous sommes ensuite allees au centre de Santa Monica pour faire un peu de shopping. Nous avons fini notre après-midi a la plage proche du Santa Monica Pier. Le soir, Walter et sa fille Margaret nous ont invite a dine dans un charmant petit restaurant italien.

 

 

                            

 

 

Sophie had great time choosing her favourite pair of shoes whilst I was flipping through the options they were offering in personalising your pair of Converse with a specific pattern or even picture! impressive really!

Sophie a bien aime choisir sa nouvelle paire de chaussure Converse, pendant que Nathalie s'amusait a l'atelier de personalisation des chaussures

 

I guessed that in Santa Monica, they enjoyed to surf.. but of course surf in style.. Louis Vuitton Style!

 

DAY 4

We embarked in a 7 hr long Eco Discovery Journey of West Hollywood, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey etc.... well, all part of what I was thinking about was that Nathalie's mum would have difficulties riding up all these steep hills that Hollywood has!

As you can guess we went through the celebs' houses and listened to all the facts that our guide had to share... I didn't really bother taking pictures of Elvis' previous house's bushes or Madonna's lemon trees =)

Jour 4

Nous avons embarque pour un tour guide de 7h .... mais a velo !!!! Tellement de colines ! Nos jambs s'en rappelleront pour longtemps !! Nous avons traverse West Holiwood, Bel Air, Berverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Marina Del Ray...
 

Here are a few though.. / Quelques petites photos

Greystone Mansion - Beverly Hills Landmark

Fresh Prince of Bel Air - House (outside shots only)

Sophie and I at Beverly Hills

 

Sophie at Muscle Beach - Little Venice

 

DAY 5

We drove up to Malibu and walk along the beach and pier and then headed straight for a massive shop outlet mall...

Jour 5

Direction Malibu, ses plages et son ponton et plus important nous sommes allees a de grands magasins d'usine

Sophie @ Malibu pier

 

DAY 6 (Weekend)

We had a lovely day with Walter. It started off by heading to the Farmers' market to buy fresh veggies to prepare a ratatouille in the evening and we then headed to the Getty Museum in the afternoon to view a little Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne etc.

Impressive, the entrance was absolutely free and they provide you with complimentary ipods to provide you with a commentary.

Jour 6

Nous avons passes une super journee en compagnie de Walter. Il nous a amene au marche de fruits et legumes pour acheter de quoi faire une bonne ratatouille et une salade de fraise. Nous sommes alles au muse Getty pour voir quelques peintures connues (Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne, ...) Le muse etait gratuity et meme les audio guides etaient des ipods !

Walter and Soph @ the market

 

Us three at the Getty Museum

 

 

DAY 7 (15th June, father's day)

Walter was invited by his son for a lovely brunch, so we joined and met them all! =)

I must admit, it's been a week I've been in USA and not eaten ANY bad/fast food.. so my view of USA is NOT AT ALL ' Supersize me style' for the moment.. well I must admit we're not in the Bronx yet.. so let's wait and see =)

Jour 7

Nous avons ete invite chez le fils de Walter Terry pour feter la fete des peres autour d'un brunch. La famille et quelques amis le tout dans le jardin ensoleile !!

Us surrounded with lovely American people!

 

 

Fiji - Warwick resort and spa

After a 4 hour flight from Auckland we landed in Nadi then had a 1h45 shuttle transfer to our resort.
It is now time for us to rest for 4 days and enjoy the beach, food and a new culture.
Bula Bula Bula... rahhhh this means 'Hello' and as it is so easy to say it gets OVER used! hahah
Fiji is made up of nearly half Fijian people and half Indian people. They have a very relaxed culture and a key quote I still have from our driver is: 'In Fiji the double lines are just a suggestion'

Here are a few pictures of Fiji =)
We went on a visit to the adjacent village to see how they do things in Fiji

The Cava ceremony which takes place when visitors come. Those at the head of the village mix the tree root powder to water and this gives 'cava'.. good luck gulping that down!

Sophie drinking cava! NOT to be mistaken with Spanish cava.. I must admit I got fooled before actually realising what this drink was!

Fijing kids at school... we visited what seemed like an organised chaos!

 

Breakfast at the resort

A blue underwater star

Nat, in the hammock , 2 seconds before flipping over and ending on the floor!

Soph chilling on the deck!

 

 

Bye Bye Australia !

After 3 months of fun and work in Melbourne, with winter arriving we have decided to leave Australia to continue our trip :)

After fighting with our real estate agency to break our lease, both resigned from our jobs, took care of all the paperwork, it was time to say goodbye to our Melbourne friends over some leaving drinks.

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Apres 3 mois en Australie, l'hiver arrivant a grands pas, nous avons decide de quitter le pays pour continuer nos aventures :)

Apres beaucoup de formalites administratives notament avec notre agence immobiliere, nous avons demissionne de nos jobs respectifs et finalement fete notre depart avec nos nouveaux amis !
 

                      

                                  

                     

But before leaving Australia, we had to go back to Sydney to see our friends JoJo and Hugh and pick up Nathalie's new french passport ! (How cool is it to have a passport issued in Sydney!)

We also met with Nathalie church friend Mera and Nathalies's cousin who is preparing his big move from South Africa to Sydney bringing with him all the family.

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Mais avant de quitter definitivement l'Australie, nous avons fait un petit detour par Sydney pour dire au revoir a nos amis JoJo et Hugh et recuperer le nouveau passeport de Nathalie au consulat francais. On en a aussi profite pour render visite a Mera, une amie d'enfance de Nathalie et egalement a Ian, le cousin de Nathalie qui est en train de transferer sa famille d'Afrique du Sud a Sydney pour une nouvelle opportunite professionnelle.
 

                    

 

                                 

 

While in Sydney, the city was transforming in a light and sound show every night. The event is named Vivid, take a look at some shots that night:

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Lors de notre passage a Sydney, la ville se transformait tous soirs en spectacle son et lumiere. Le show s'appellait 'Vivid'

 

                     

Time to leave Australia, to catch our next flight to Fiji, we stopped over in Auckland for a few days. Perfect timing as our friend Amanda gave birth a week ago !!! We also catched up with Nat's business school friend Janine, german girl now married to an Hungarian guy both living in Auckland!

 

 

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Il est temps de quitter l'Australie en direction des iles Fidji mais avant ca, petit arret a Auckland en Nouvelle Zelande pour rendre visite a nos amis Amanda et Matt et a leur nouveau ne.

Nous avons egalement bu un verre avec Janine qui a fait ses etudes avec Nathalie.

                              

How peaceful and cuuuuuuute ! Amanda and Matt decided to give to their new born little boy a french name: Louis !!! Who knows, one day he might become a king !

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Trop mignon et tellement tranquille !! Amanda et Matt on donne un prenom francais a leur petit: 'Louis'

                             

                               

 

A Day in Melbourne - VIDEO

 

 

 

VIDEO: Click here

A bit about Melbourne Life...For those who don't have Facebook access =)

Hello there, I realise, Sophie and I have now settled in Melbourne for several months and those of you who do not have access to Facebook, this lovely social activity website which has nearly taken over the world.... you are not really able to follow what is happening.. well here it is....

GETTING SETTLED DOWN IN MELBOURNE:

ACCOMMODATION : Tick

We are renting out a flat in South Yarra, which is a trendy area in south east Melbourne.
Our neighbours, flat#1 and flat#4 are really nice! They have now became our friends and we got to know them through them just randomly asking us whether we would like to join them for a dinner party/ BBQ.... to which we of course said... YES!

34 Darling street, South Yarra, Melbourne

WORK: Tick

Melbourne GP 2014
We started off working left right and centre... this included Nat working in Burger vans on music festivals! crazy work! really! Then both of us worked at the Melbourne Grand Prix doing some crowd control and Nathalie doing a little traffic controlling... I loved 'Being in control' and the most funny was that Nat was hence directing the burger vans she had worked for earlier! haha!

Fitness First
Sophie is working as a Sales Consultant selling gym memberships at the South Yarra Branch of Fitness First. Please note that Fitness First in UK is viewed amongst the least good gyms, however in Australia, it is the most luxurious gym branch together with Virgin Active etc. They are undergoing a huge re-branding!.

Cafe Insieme
Nathalie is working in a little Italian Cafe in the city centre. The job goes from selling the menu to customers, to waitress, to washing up pans, to preparing salads and foccacias... everything goes! but I am transitioning to another nicer cafe, 'Como Stables' which I will be starting working at on Monday!

I get to cycle along the Yarra river to and from to work.. love it....

SOCIALISING/ ACTIVITIES: Tick

Whilst in Melbourne, do like the Melbourners...

AFL Games
Choose your AFL Team, support them and go to the games!.
We have decided to support the Hawthorns.... and have been to 2 games. The Hawks are number 2 in the league at the mo....Colours... Yellow and brown.. ugly I know but hey!..

Hawks vs Geelong - 80 thousand spectators!

Beach Volleyball Training

Living near the water, we thought why not try out an activity that we would not really manage to do in London.. Beach Volleyball.. so here we are...

Sophie with one of her early birthday present! a Herschel Bag

Alex & Nadja's Engagement party - Botanical Gardens

With Alex & Nadja

The Electric Run

Funny enough, this fun run took place on the 12th of April in Melbourne and two weeks later in London, so Catherine did it then as well! 

IMPROMPTUS EVENTS: Tick

One day, cycling back from work, Nat had to suddenly stop... surrounded by tens and tens of....... well I'll let you see for yourselves!!!!

Yep.. NAKED PEOPLE!... for the Naked Bike ride!

Sophie's Birthday
Sophie turned 27 on the 18th April, which lucky her ended up being Good Friday and hence a public holiday for everyone, so we were both off on that day and hence celebrated with a few prezzies and then meeting up in the evening with our friends.

Birthday cards

Birthday balloons and mess

At the front of the picture, our neighbours, Archie & Alex

There we are... a little video is being prepared so be patient and you'll be able to live Melbourne, live....