Writing while I’m waiting to board a plane to go back home, I’m trying to reflect on this week spent in Western Australia. For the second time only in Australia I’ve found the Brisbane experience a very good one. I had the memory of a rude and rough Sidney, but it was also a long time ago… The nature and the ocean are still wild and beautiful as I reminded them from our trip in New South Wales. This time we didn’t go in any sanctuary to see and pat the animals, though I was dying to pat koalas again, they are so cute… instead we just went to see wild life in the wild, pademelons, roosters, possums, big bats, dolphins and whales along with short hikes here and there around Brisbane. To visit the city and go to work, we used quite a lot the citycycle system to avoid too much walk for my still hacking but not broken toe. It allowed to move quickly from one neighborhood to another. One thing that strikes me usually is the diversity of foreign countries but here it was quite the contrary. A lot of white people and more over blonde, a kind of Japan but whitish!!!

On the food side, not a lot of new experiences except for the already mentioned lemon myrtle that was a great discovery. A lot of local and fresh products though: delicious cheeses, fresh fruits and tropical fruits, local avocados and as it was autumn: pumpkin, sweet potatoes… One great discovery was the sunflower sprouts we bought at one of the organic store, really sweet and delicious. Very little cooking but enough to have fun and play in another kitchen.

Cooking consisted in lentil pasta with olive roasted zucchini, avocado and sunflower sprouts for dinner and coconut and buckwheat pancakes. Nothing really breath-taking but fresh and a nice change to restaurant food.