Gone Walkabout

Congratulations Kristy and Nick!!!

2007-11-22T20:35:00.000+11:00

Last weekend we drove up to Wollongong, about three hours north-east of Canberra, for the wedding of Kristy and Nick. It was a beautiful ceremony... and a superb day for a garden wedding - blue sky and sunshine...

Wedding blog

2007-10-27T13:34:00.000+10:00

It's a work in progress, but here it is, our wedding website!

We'll be posting information and pictures here over the coming months....

http://www.momentville.com/lianandlaurent/welcome

The last 12 months...

2007-08-19T19:45:00.000+10:00

Since I've been slack and haven't posted anything on this blog for a while, I will first sum up some of the highlights of last year. Regular or newcomer, fasten your seat belts: here is a snapshot of the last 12 months...

June 2006

The Beginning... of a new Life.
I'm pleased to introduce you to Timeo, our nephew and my Godson, son of Cedric Roussel et Laetitia de Schoutheete.

Tim was born on June 16th.

Bien entendu Tim est aussi barge que ses parents. We Love him. A real manneke.

Inutile de préciser que dès à présent ce blog sera inondé d'une multitude de ses photos. Ces petits bouts là, c'est magique.

July 2006

Uganda.
Green, lush, tropical, African.
Une mission passionante avec mon collègue Patrick.

August 2006

Cambodge.
Fasinating, sad, impressive, effervescing.

La magie des temples d'Angkor Vat, l'effeversence et les délices de Phnom Penh, la spontanéité et la douleur des visages marqués par une histoire collective pesante.

September 2006

Mozambique.
Rough history, relax people, pristine coastline.
Vida Boa. Beleza.

The drought has broken!

2007-08-14T14:41:00.000+10:00

Wow.... that was a looong blogger drought... we have plenty of excuses though! We've been busy packing up our apartment in Brussels, quitting our jobs, getting engaged, buying one-way tickets to another continent, holidaying in Vietnam, celebrating in Singapore, hanging out in Darwin, applying for jobs, moving to Canberra, buying an apartment, moving in, catching up with old friends, starting work, and planning a wedding. It's been a lot of crazy fun! Now that we are a little more settled we're hoping to get back on the Blog.... and Laurent promises to write one day... stay tuned (but don't hold your breath!)

Barcelona

2006-12-04T22:46:00.000+11:00

The fantastic thing about being in Europe is that the place is so small you can get on a plane and fly oh, 1 or 2 hours, and find yourself in a completely new reality… So when it’s cold and grey in Brussels, you get on a plane and fly to…. BARCELONA! That’s what we did one Friday in November – it was so damn good to be in the sunshine and 20 degree heat (which in the middle of a Belgian winter is a paradise on earth!)… We stayed with David and Cami – two luvly friends who have set themselves up there and caught up with Dimi (Laurent’s big brother).

Saturday night was spent touring the pubs, sampling the sangria and tapas…. I was in a very good mood until the last pub where I made the mistake of ordering the absinthe (nothing dramatic, but I paid with a seedy headache the next day).

If you ever end up in Barcelona, you should try and find the Champagneria (not sure how it is spelt)… a crazy little bar that sells great champagne and wine for 2.50-3.00 euros…. You’d think it would be packed with smelly tourists like us or students – it was. But there were also people of all ages - feisty little Spanish grandmas and grandpas who continued to brave the jostling crowds to drink their vino and savour their chorizos. Although you might have to fight for a little standing room, eat greasy food from paper napkins and risk wearing a portion of what you’re meant to be drinking, it is a lot of fun!

The only down side to a holiday weekend in Barcelona is that you have to leave again... :(

Cheers!!

2006-11-24T05:07:00.000+11:00

Seduction...... Charm.......

Congrats to Al and Nico who are getting hitched in Sydney in December!!! (we wish we could be there!!!)

Another successful Belgian-Australian merger!!

And some more....

2006-09-25T04:23:00.000+10:00

Vineyards...

Dad at the market...

Fresh blackberries everywhere....

The hospice at Beaune....

Pinicking on the cliffs, watching the paragliders take off....

Mum and the sausages...

Laurent high in the sky!

Images from Burgundy

2006-09-25T01:16:00.000+10:00

Here are some images from our trip to Bourgogne.... Vineyards, castles, Beaune...

La Rochepot, Bourgogne

2006-09-24T01:15:00.000+10:00

Laurent and I wanted to take my folks on a bit of a trip somewhere.... so we scoured the websites of not-too-close, but not-too-far, not-tooooo-touristy, not-too-expensive-but-still-charming potential destinations and finally came up with - ta-da-daa - BOURGOGNE (Burgundy)!!! We figured we couldn’t go too wrong with a French B&B surrounded by vineyards.

We found a little village called La Rochepot... and eventually got a booking with one of the many "Fouquerand" families that seem to rule the place (or at least the B&B industry).

After a lazy breakfast we managed to squeeze ourselves into the car. This was quite a feat considering Laurent had insisted on packing his paraglide (for those of you who remain unacquainted with Laurent's paraglide - when it is all packaged up it looks like a massive hiking pack and is approximately the size of a small cow!!).

But at least we all fit – and we were off! The trusty Michelin Man had told us it might take about 5 and a half hours to get there…. Unfortunately, due to a long lunch stop, several road works, a missed turning, a poorly-functioning GPS (and no map), it ended up taking closer to 8!!

I have to say though, it was worth it…. We ended up in a tiny little village of old stone houses and flower boxes, a centuries-old church and fruit trees. Nestled in a valley and overlooked by a medieval castle (Le Château de la Rochepot); La Rochepot was wunderful!

Alegría!

2006-09-21T05:00:00.000+10:00

While my parents were in town, Marie-Noëlle, Laurent's mum, treated us all to a night at "Alegria" by Cirque du Soleil.... It was incredible - the lights, the shows, the costumes... The most memorable act for me was that of the "snake women".... a couple of Chinese (?) sisters (?) who were able to bend themselves in ways and places that did not look humanly possible (below). It was fascinating, if but a little freaky....

(Ouch!?!)

We also spent time in Bruges (a famous city about an hour out of Brussels). It was lovely, although at times the horse-and-carriages and tourist boats on the canals made it feel a bit like an amusement park.

Off one of the main streets we found the peaceful beginhof. A beginhof is a little cluster of houses, centred around a garden and church, and surrounded by a protective wall. Beginhofs tend to date from the 12th Century and were originally constructed for and inhabited by a catholic order of unmarried or widowed women known as the Beguines. Basically, with the Crusades and the resulting gender-imbalances, many women found themselves without much chance of marriage and ended up establishing or joining such religious communities instead. (I'm sure that piece of trivia will come in very handy for you all).

The beginhof in Bruges dates from the 13th Century and is still well preserved. It was beautiful inside - whitewashed houses surrounding a grassy, tree-filled coutyard: A peaceful little island for the Benedictine nuns that still live there... (unfortunately I didn't have a picture of the beginhof so I've stuck one in of mum and dad scoffing their icecreams instead.... )

Although it was a nice break from dodging the other tourists on the sidewalks, we decided to get back on the streets and explore. As a warning (?) to all the chocoholics out there - in Bruges you can count on every second shop to be overflowing with pralines, white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, truffles, chocolate-dipped fruits, chocolate-covered almonds, liquer chocolates, chocolate-coated coffee beans... Life's tough in Belgium.

Sunshine from Darwin

2006-09-20T05:32:00.000+10:00

I don’t know what happened in August. After enjoying several consecutive days of sunshine (what the locals like to call a “heatwave”) in July, August felt like a slap in the face. It was cold and grey… I despondently pulled out my coat again and spent much of my time mulling tragically over the fact that what I would normally wear in WINTER in

Australia

, I was wearing at the height of the European SUMMER!

My only consolation was that I had been planning to take leave in September so maybe there was a chance that things would change back again… For some reason, luck was on side: my parents arrived in Brussels on the 30 August and with them came the sunshine! (Not that it probably would have worried mum too much in the end – she was well prepared with multiple sets of thermal underwear and tracksuits to sleep in! he he)

We spent the first few days around the centre…. Wandering up and down the tourist mecca that is the Grand Place and surrounding streets. We ran the gauntlet of cheesy restaurants behind the Grand Place and, like all good tourists, had a meal of mussels and fries at Chez Léon!! The weirdest part was when this enormous herd of tourists went past and their guide paused to point out what we were eating!

Laurent arrived back from Cambodia (work) on the 1^st of September… I went to pick him up at the airport then we all drove down to Porcheresse for the weekend. On Sunday Laurent’s mum prepared a feast for us and about 10 of Laurent’s extended family... We weren’t sure how the whole thing was going to go due to language barriers and the like. Mum had once taken a course at Alliance Française, but it had been a while ago and her French had reduced to about one line. Dad's inkling of French was from the time he was about 8 and his older brother David (who was learning it at school) taught him how to count to 10... (?! Hmm) Luckily many of Laurent’s family could speak at least some English and I helped to "translate" for the rest (my translations are actually quite effective as long as no genuine bilingual witnesses break the façade!)

In any case, there was plenty of wine and good food and much laughter. Seeing everyone together was rather quirky but in a nice kinda way!

To be continued…

Kelud Volcano

2006-09-20T05:08:00.000+10:00

I realise it’s been a while since we’ve put anything on the Blog so I’ll fill you in a bit first before getting on to more recent happenings…. In July I went to Indonesia for work. It was just a short mission aimed at launching a study on volcanic hazards and risk perception.

I was there for about 10 days during which we travelled out to Kelud volcano, located about 5-6 hours drive from Yogyakarta (Java). We met with our Indonesian partners from the University of Indonesia, as well as the Belgian volcanologists who were busy setting up the monitoring equipment which will hopefully provide much-needed data on the volcano’s activity over the next three years. Our role in the project will be to conduct a series of focus groups and interviews to examine community risk perceptions and attitudes to the volcano which will inform local disaster preparation and the development of warning messages.

When I was there, Yogyakarta, which is normally quite a bustling city, was still trying to recover from the earthquake and was emptier than what I remembered of it from my trip there in 2004. Merapi had already erupted once and people in the region were still wary that it might go again. It seems to be one thing after another. Whilst we were in Yogya, the coastline was hit by another tsunami…. It was surreal being there only months after the devastating earthquake and then to know that yet another disaster had hit so close by…. It was very sad…

On a more positive note I managed to catch up with Navita (for those of you who don’t know her – she’s a friend of mine I met whilst doing my masters in Sweden). We both ended up at CRED for our internships as well. It was great seeing her again and hearing about her work with JRS. I was lucky to catch her as she was just leaving Yogya for Aceh; it was just a shame it was so short….

KRILL live in Germany !!

2006-08-02T05:17:00.000+10:00

World Cup “Fever” in Europe was put to shame by the frenzy that occurred over music
sensation, KRILL, an up-and-coming Aussie band that hit German soil in June on an exclusive sell-out tour of dozens of hot venues throughout the country…

If you missed out on the KRILL experience, don’t fret; check out www.krill.com.au for all the updates, shows and snaps of the sexy band members as they continue to rock Australia, Germany and the World!

Introducing Timéo!!!!!

2006-08-02T04:32:00.000+10:00

The BIGGEST NEWS from Belgium is that on the 17^th of June 2006, Laetitia (Laurent’s eldest sister) gave birth to a gorgeous, healthy bub – the first in the NEXT generation for Laurent’s immediate family!!! Welcome Timéo and congratulations Laeti and Ced!!

Beaucoup des émotions et un coup de coeur inimaginable !!

Bangkok baby!

2006-07-28T01:55:00.000+10:00

June found me (Lian) in Bangkok for about 9 days for a work conference... Although my expectations of the city didn't go very far beyond 1. hot 2. crowded and 3. polluted - there was something about the place and the people that really appealed. It was much more than what I had imagined...

It was really too short a time to explore properly, but, like all good tourists, I did manage to visit the Grand Palace and the temple of the green buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) - which were an incredible sight....

A friend of mine took me to the markets where I goggled at the fried insects for sale (although I couldn't bring myself to try any... maybe next time!?) And we indulged in a cocktail or two at what is apparently the world's "highest open-air bar" (thanks Per).

I already want to go back... but this time to travel and discover the rest of the country. No definite plans yet but you never know.... Sawadee kha!!

Exeter and Exmouth

2006-07-26T03:30:00.000+10:00

FINALLY, in June (just before going to Bangkok) I managed to get myself over to Exeter to visit Chris and Elke – fellow Aussies and good friends from way back (along with TsuShan and Fio, Elke and I were running around Parap Primary School together!!!)

The weekend was wonderful and I was spoiled rotten… They organised a backyard BBQ (probably to stop me whingeing about how much I miss having them!), took me for beers by the river and devonshire tea (of course!) in a Dartmoor café.

I also spent the weekend catching up with Kristy Harris (an old friend and ex-housemate from Sydney) who happened to be visiting her family in Exmouth…. It was short but sweet!!!

Vegemite Kids unite!

2006-05-27T05:30:00.000+10:00

Finally, after filling out countless papers, collecting stat decs, old photos and letters, bank statements, police clearances, translations, a multitude of signatures and stamps, not to mention a hefty fee… we received the news that Laurent de Schoutheete (or Lozza as he may now be known) has officially been accepted as a resident of

Australia

!! Yippeeeeeeee…

I can personally attest to the fact that Laurent had, in fact, already passed (& with flying colours) the true test of any future Aussie resident, he:

Not only tolerates vegemite, he actually eats it voluntarily (albeit on a baguette, with Belgian cheese)
Has already owned a 4WD (AND it was a Holden)
Has lived in the “Outback”
Uses “mate” in conversations with Aussies
Has watched The Castle and found it funny
Knows what a Tim Tam is
Has watched an entire Test Series on the telly, and enjoyed it

But, of course, there is no denying his Belgian blood. It will probably take a long time to adapt to certain aspects of Aussie life and culture including the:

Mere existence of plastic cheese
Pre-packaged, pre-sliced supermarket bread
Absence of beer with a 12% alcohol content at the corner store
Absence of mayonnaise with your “frites” (that’s hot chips from now on)

Laurent has to set foot in Australia before February 2007 for the visa to take effect… In the meantime, we are already stocking up on the BBQ coals and preparing the green and gold face paint for June. Unfortunately, I will be watching the World Cup games from a hotel room in Bangkok, but Laurent has promised to cheer loudly and raucously (in true Aussie style) for both of us!

A deux en walkabout

2006-05-02T04:00:00.000+10:00

Ami francophone, ne crains pas.

Contrairement à ce qu'il a pu paraître jusqu'à ce jour, ce blog n'est pas uniquement destiné aux bouffeurs de rosbifs, burgers ou vegemite, mais également aux ardus de la moule-frite, du camembert et de la poutine.

Puisque te voici rassurer sur la capacité linguistique de notre walkabout, il ne me reste qu'à lever un coin de voile sur un mystère qui je soupconne te démange encore les neurones: qu'est ce qu'un walkabout et quel est le lien avec les quelques messages postés ici?

Pour ce faire, laisse moi me référer à l'encyclopédie libre Wikipédia:

Le walkabout y est décrit comme une expression de la langue anglaise qui porte plusieurs significations:

Walkabout is an Australian pidgin (or perhaps quasi-pidgin) term referring to the belief that Australian Aborigines "go walkabout" at the age of thirteen in the wilderness for six months as a rite of passage.
This meaning has lead to a jocular modern usage, whereby someone who has unexpectedly wandered off to destination uncertain is said to have 'gone walkabout'. It can also apply to a missing item, for example, "Have you seen my stapler, Doreen? It's gone walkabout again."
In the UK, a walkabout is a name for organised group meetings in which members of the British Royal Family walk past assembled crowds of onlookers, meeting and chatting with various members of the public.
Walkabout may be used to refer to a person's desire to travel without a planned itinerary or set destination; the commoner English term is wanderlust.

Bon, entre rite initiatique aborigène, errance inopinée, pavoisement briton huppé, et voyage bohème au petit bonheur la chance, avoue qu'il y a du choix.

On te laisse évidemment le soin de distinguer quelle signification est à la source de la dénomination de notre blog.

A bon entendeur...

A trip down memory lane...

2006-04-29T06:08:00.000+10:00

One of the best things about starting up a Blog is hearing from you all….

To keep things interesting (i.e. to give you a break from “us”), we thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane and show some photos of YOU... Enjoy!

Birthdays and Banquets

2006-04-26T06:58:00.000+10:00

First off, to all those other April babies out there (Kym, Laetitia, Jodie, Catherine, Brendan, Cormac, Barry, Renee, Jessica, Elke and Alice to name a few!) – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The 14^th of April 2006 was my (Lian’s) first Belgian birthday experience… The event began on the night of the 13^th when Laurent had very thoughtfully organised a small surprise birthday dinner for me. Unfortunately, the guests arrived whilst poor Laurent was reduced to bargaining with the other customers for the contents of their trollies (long story) and navigating the record-breaking queues at the cash registers. Despite the supermarket setback, we sat down to a banquet - it was a fun night!

The next day we set off on a magical mystery tour which Laurent had planned… ending up in the tiny village of Favieres in northern France, in the Baie de Somme region. The Baie de Somme is a beautiful place full of wetlands, dunes and stunning white limestone cliffs. Laurent had managed to find a cosy B&B, where, in typical French style, the owners served homemade bread, yoghurt, jam and brioche every morning, in front of an open fireplace. (As a die-hard fan of brunches along the beaches of Sydney, I was in bliss… somehow Laurent managed to loosen my grip on the coffee cup and drag me out of the breakfast room!)

One of the famous attractions of the region is the Parc du Marquenterre – a large reserve which hosts hundreds of species of permanent and migrating birds. Keen to explore, we piled on the jackets, grabbed our binoculars and headed out into the reserve… At first I couldn’t ignore the fact that there were almost as many people as birds (growing up in Australia spoils you…). However we eventually managed to leave most of the crowd behind… and it was great – geese, ducks, swans, cranes, African spoonbills and nesting egrets were everywhere… (Cautionary tip for the Australians though, if you are ever taken bird-watching by a European, bring rations and pace yourself – bird-watching is a serious business over here!)

The next day the sun came out (at the end of a very long and grey winter, that in itself was a major highlight!) and we set off for the southern end of the region which included Mers-les-Bains and Bois de Cise for an amazing view of the cliffs. That evening, we somehow managed to find a table in a restaurant we were told is usually booked out at a week in advance… Amid our mutual claims of being “not very hungry”, we somehow managed to polish off all three courses, a pre-entrée, bread, a pre-dessert (I never know such a concept existed!), cheese, chocolate, and a bottle of wine… And rolled back safely to our B&B. I now understand what they mean when they say that food (and everything related) constitutes a national pastime in France…

Our way back to Belgium took us via the world kiting championships (I’m serious) and along the coast (where we could see England across the channel!)…

Upon entering Belgium we were met with one of the unavoidable realities of living in one of the world’s most densely populated countries… trillions of other people on the highway. Not to be outdone we decided to get creative and take the back roads…. To cut a long (and rather unfortunate) story short, we rejoined what turned out to be a smoothly-flowing highway hours later. As my good friend (and linguistic phenomenon) Jodie Sutherland would no doubt say “Ça, mes amis, c’est la vie!”

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and birthday!!!

Once upon a time...

2006-04-22T22:17:00.000+10:00

Bonjour!! Ola!! Greetings!! from Rue Léon Frédéric 43, 1030 Brussels, the current chapter of what has been and is going to be the long and winding adventure of a simple gal from the Top End of Australia and a bashful boy from Brussels….

As many of you probably know, our story in Belgium started almost two years ago with the purchase of a one-way ticket to Europe. Many hours of plastic plane food and compressed air later, the Aussie girl tumbled (dishevelled and jet-lagged) out of Brussels International into the arms of her beau and the land of moules frites et mannekin pis… (Of course, the story goes back much further than that; this is the abridged version)….

Since then, many experiences have been had: French has been (is still being) learned, jobs have commenced, studies have been completed, places have been visited and friends have been found. In recognition of our unreliable emailing skills, in a late-night burst of inspiration an account was created, a name was hastily invented (you can probably tell from the very catchy Belgo-Australian fusion) and VOILA, our Blog was born…

Welcome to our Walkabout!!