18 June 2013 When the snow merges with heavy rainfalls to flood the villages

Roads disappearing

Camping ground by the Garonne

 Leila checking the bridge

 Lower part of Barbazan

Highway Hotel in Loures Barousse

 Lourdes is in trouble

 La Garonne Bridge in St Beat

 Main street of St Beat where I used to go and spend time every summer when I was a kid

 

Young bear victim

Get out quick!

 Spanish side of the Pyrennees

Luchon

June in France

No Spring in sight, summer is shy....lets go to the Rio Loco festival in Toulouse to enjoy Jimmy Cliff and Casav in concert....entry only 5 euros per night....thousand of people stretching along the Garonne river....

There was such a queue to get tickets, did not want to miss Jimmy playing, we went straight to the gate, my niece said, this is my anty from Australia....we got in!!!!

A few sunny days take me to the Pays Basque, wanted to travel on minor roads accross to Spain, but they were closed due to the unseasonal high level of snow...

Rivers are flowing fast

Many contrasts between the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrennees

St Pe and Izalzu

Pays Basque

et Navarra

et


Green Vallee des Aldudes and dry
Sierra Abodi

On the way back, went to have a close look at the snow.......
Cyclists on the way to the Pic du Midi

Saint Larry de Soulan

Big party in the village











In France, you have to lock up your motorbike and keep an eye on it at all time, see who I caught taking my bike for a ride....thieves start young!

Trip to France

I took the opportunity to buy a cheap ticket on Air France to go and visit my family near Toulouse, lost luggage, damaged suitcase, organising a new motorbike insurance and other paper work took weeks....Enjoyed the first week of sunshine and then it has just been rain and cold....not much fun on the bike. Thanks to my friends Jeff and Romain, who had prepared the bike with new tyres, and installation of a lower link ordered in America; the Fazer is more manageable than last time.

 Snow still covering the Pyrennees

Cheery trees in bloom

Muguet is offered on 1st of May

Family reunions kept me busy, improvised a puppet show for Ambre's 5th Birthday with Skippy and Lola the Koala carrying a present from Australia via Africa, surviving encounters with snakes and crocs....good fun.

Ambre's Birthday

Skippy and Lola crossing Africa

Croc encounter

A trip to Montpellier to meet a lady who is looking for a video team for a project in Australia, however I will not get involved.....pretty town but lots of rude shop keepers.

University

Deserted terrasses

Angel's wings cannot resist under the weight of unconsciousness

kids making a living, accrodeon and flamenco

Tramways

 

A visit to the old cars and motobikes Show

old oïl containers sold around $200 each

 

I met a nice group of motorcyclists, les Arsouilles 82, who invited me to join them on their ride to Andorra, on the other hand, I wanted to join a 5 day ride organized by the Motards Toulousains, I was knocked back on the ground that they did not know me, have been a member of their forum for 2 years.

 

 

 

This is a country of contrast; some people are really nice , others are........

some things are cheap like cheese, wine and others are very expensive.

Yesterday,I bought 2 spatulas for $28.00 -there was no price on the items and had a shock at the cashier...then, went to a small cafe, full of locals where I bought a lovely coffee for $1.50!!!

 

My movies

The little story of the sunbirds in my garden filmed last summer was successful at the Mission Beach festival.

http://youtu.be/6-wPdc6t6KE : sunbird

The project at Open Channel Film School is now available to watch on utube. It has some editing technical faults , the riding shots are not great due to restrictions on the day but the song says it all...

http://youtu.be/zhh8v2M : Open road

Hot Summer in North Queensland

It has been hot camping in my van, quite cooler on the Atherton Tableland; parked at my friend's Claudine near Yungaburra, there was mist in the morning down the valley and I recorded the rainforest birds choir at dawn....the softeness of the colours amongst the tree was soothing.
We pulled out lantanna to clear for replanting trees during the next wet; if the wet ever comes....
it is so dry, in a way I used these beautiful days to restore my house once the tenants left. the front stairs needed repairs and I repainted them...lots of small things to fix and some bigger ones...put some stones at the rear of the house to get a better drainage and avoid termites which had a go at one of the posts; quickly I covered it up with a mosaic as a potential buyer was coming to look at the place...
Noticed that there are no more birds around my place, obviously they did not like the tenants...slowly they are coming back; the sunbird did not return to its nest, gone next door to a better place...frogs have increased in numbers and I even found a rare one, had to check in a book to make sure it was not a cane toad, it is a Torrent tree frog that did not like to be photographed and disappeared amongst the rocks. This owl took refuge at Elaine's house at Mission Beach; looked like it had been injured and could not fly very well.

The place does not feel like my home anymore....I hope I can sell it so that I can go on with my filming...

Cairns Eclipse 14 November 2012

It was great to see the Eclipse, such a magic moment early morning after the sunrise.

Photos by Helene La Poste