The End!

This is it! The Beautiful World Tour is over!

Coming back was as intense as the whole year around the world to fulfill our family dreams. We saw our good friends. Kids met with their friends too. We saw our close family members. We reconnected with the “normal life”, getting ready to get back to work and school, which is actually a real joy. In fact, that year vanished in a finger snap!

On my (crazy) side, I could also fulfill the last two dreams I had on my list for this very special year: becoming an airplane pilot and a sky diver: check (I promise I will compensate those carbon emissions too;-)!

Here is the last photo album of our life journey!

And the last video, a pure adrenaline shot, looking at home from above and at 200 km/h! A great way to finish this very emotional journey with an experience to keep me young at heart: #forever20andtrippin’!

Tomorrow, we will all start our new life. The Corporate life for me (a big thank to my company for letting me go for a year), a new school for kids, and Naturespath consultations for Delphine… with many friends and family members around us.

One dream finishes with so many good memories. Another one starts.

#LifeIsBeautiful!

 

Bye Bye Lisbon!

Well, this is the end of our one month long dream stay in Portugal.

A big thank you to all our friends who have been offering us shelter, food and a lot of joy during those weeks that were a great way to land softly from our journey around the World!

We were lucky to be able to visit some of the most beautiful places in and around Lisbon, including amazing Sintra, one of the most mystical places on earth.

I was also lucky to get wind and decent waves almost everyday, allowing me to complete this trip with my favorite sport in one of my favorite spots: windsurfing in Guincho!

So here are a few pictures of beautiful Lisbon, a European capital that is proposing one of the best Lifestyle / Cultural / Natural combo!

I wish we could live here one day…

And here is the complete Portugal Photo Album as usual;-)

Now off to our last destination: home!

 

 

 

Australia Road Trip – The Video

4000 kms road trip from Melbourne to Noosa Bay, discovering beautiful nature, from cold Tasman sea climate to tropical bays north of Brisbane. Long roads, many hikes in natural parks, theme parks, surfing… and loooong moments stuck in the campervan practicing survival skills!

This is our Australian road-trip story.

Gold & Sunshine Coasts

After weeks of bad weather, we finally did catch some sun on the Gold and Sunshine coasts of Australia, even if we didn’t get completely lucky either.

A sign that we did indeed had bad weather so far, was to hear on the news the south of Australia being flooded, with Tasmania having the worst floods ever. Needless to say that we had some “survival moments” in the campervan, locked in it several days in a row waiting for the rain to stop;-(

The first stop was Lennox Head, the most famous right-hander surf spot where I could catch the end of a nice swell, but it was crowded like hell with hungry Aussies… and sharks as surfers had to exit the break the second day because of two great white sharks and one bouldog shark (two of the most dangerous species) spotted that day! Next was beautiful Byron Bay that is a surfer beginners paradise with a perfect point break where Jade and I had great fun: I even took a loooong wave with a dozen of Dolphins jumping around me under a red sunset: memories for a lifetime!

We then headed to Brisbane for a surprise for the kids: Dreamworld theme & water parks, where kids had unlimited fun for two days in a row;-)

Last stop on this part of the coast was Noosa Bay, that was both rainy, stormy, beautiful… and bloody crowded: parking was a real mission to access the natural park and surf spots. Despite a good swell, waves were so-so because of the strong winds, but I could still get two OK sessions at famous Tea Tree and other Noosa points with solid but blown-out waves.

Overall, despite some great beaches and surf cities, we found that the Gold & Sunshine coast are a bit over-rated… We constantly felt the crowd pressure, both on land and in the water where at every singles moment you had hundreds of people on the beach and in the water… Difficult to find calm in nature like we have constantly found before!

That’s almost it for Australia, but there is still a (wild) surprise coming for the family, hopefully for a nice “happy ending” of this challenging part of our world tour!

Here is the photo gallery!

Perfect Lennox Head

Beautiful Byron Bay

Beautiful Byron Bay

Byron classic sunset

Dreamworld amusement park near Brisbane

Not affraid!

Ulysses mastering flow rider

Jade mastering flow rider

Selfie with local

Noosa bay from the sky

Noosa bay from the sky

Tea tree surf action under the rain

Pelikans

Pelikans

Aigrette

Nature’s artistry

Nature’s artistry

Tea tree under the storm

Noosa point

 

NZ North Island – The Video

Here is the long awaited video about the last part of our trip in New-Zealand (that suffered from a bad computer crash;-(

After a dream road-trip in the South Island, we continued the exploration in the North Island, discovering the beautiful natural wonders of the center near Rotorua, going west to Raglan‘s world famous surf spots, and going to the east Coromandel peninsula that showcases some of the most stunning beaches on earth.

Enjoy this breathtaking video with lots of aerial footage giving an unusual angle on NZ’ beauties!

 

 

 

NZ North Island: Raglan surfers’ dream

We had a dream stay in Raglan, a place I first visited  17 years ago (makes me feel old…) and that completely mesmerized me at the time with its perfect surfing point-breaks and hippie vibe…

17 years later, the charm is still intact! The family stayed in the Solscape Lodge, a very special place where backpackers come from all over the world, and sleep in train wagons! It was great coming back to this place so many years after, and meet all those travelers who come here to share the same things: good waves, beautiful nature, and meet cool people! Kids could live that special feeling for almost a week, living in the communal area where people cook, chat and dream until late at night.

Surf wise, it has been a dream. We arrived for the beginning of a clean winter swell, 2.5m at 17 seconds period… which delivered perfect waves for 4 days in a row on all the Raglan point breaks, from classic Manu Bay and up to 4 meters sets on the outside of Indicators! I got a few of those barreling beasts and got rides from outside Indicators to the end of Whale Bay in just two waves (I guess a kilometer of riding), until I got seriously punished and broke my board in two halves…. One less board to carry;-)

We could also enjoy some hikes (including gorgeous Bridal Veil waterfalls) and a great mountain biking trail around the Raglan countryside.

Good memories for the whole family! Raglan has definitely something special!

Now heading to Coromandel peninsula, our last stop before leaving to Australia.

The view from the Solscape lodge where we stayed…

Magic Bridal Veil waterfalls

Bridal Veil waterfalls

Bridal Veil waterfalls

Bridal Veil waterfalls

Familyfie

Raglan countryside

Raglan countryside

Offroad mountain biking

Crossing some fields….

Manu Bay point break

Perfect point breaks over 2 kilometers….

Perfect surf

Magic Indicators & Whale Bay

Raglan countryside from above

Me before getting punished by 3m wave…

Exit by the rocks

One board less to carry;-)

Nicaragua – The Photo Album

Overall, Nicaragua has been a real adventure compared to other countries we visited earlier, which is expected from a “developing country” where things are quite different from our polished western world…

During those 3 weeks, we experienced tricky border crossing, rock’n roll car rides (having to avoid cows, horses, pigs, iguana, kids and drunk fellows), aborted boat transfers, one car accident, one police arrestation (due to my freestyle driving skills), and lots of unexpected encounters giving this trip a taste of adventure…

But that was the (normal) price to pay to discover beautiful and raw nature, meet extremely nice people truly interested into communicating with us, let’s the kids play with other local kids without a word of Spanish (kids language is universal), do challenging but rewarding hikes, experience the countryside lifestyle, and overall make of Nicaragua an unforgettable experience for us and the kids who went through an emotional roller-coaster!

We hope it has given them the taste for further adventures “off the beaten track” while they grow-up.

Here is the full photo album!

The Nicaragua Photo Album

We loved Nica and hope to come-back one day!

Nica Vida Beach Lifestyle

We spent the first 10 days of our trip in Nicaragua on the southern beaches of the country, near San Juan del Sur, followed by the most famous surfing beach: Popoyo. Even if some serious tourists’ infrastructures are starting to appear here and there, the country’s coast is still largely underdeveloped, which means you see few people, enjoy beaches not altered by constructions, and see wildlife everywhere both on land and in the water.

We were staying in small beach huts surrounded by monkeys and many birds.

The surfing was great all along the coast, with consistent waves despite the low season, with occasional competitive local crowds on the best spots like Popoyo. The only surprise was the water temperature that was sometimes below 20°C because of the strong offshore winds that blew during our time there. Nicaragua is certainly a year-round surfing heaven!

Like in Costa Rica, the country is also suffering from serious “El Nino” drought, and we experienced some water shortages as the dwells were running low… But it seems that Nicaragua is tackling some of the global warming challenges through water pipes construction (from the Nicaragua lake) and carbon neutral energy with many wind turbines newly installed on the wind exposed south-west part of the lake.

Overall, it was a relaxing moment in the middle of nature, and we could spend a lot of time to think about family’s projects when we will be back home…

Nest stop: Nicaragua inland!

Nous avons passé quelques jours dans le sud du Nicaragua vers San Juan del Sur à playa Marsella, où nous étions logés dans une petite cabane au bord de la mer au milieu des arbres… avec un réveil matinal par les singes hurleurs et les oiseaux.  Nous avons pu observer les familles de singe hurleur. Un endroit paisible propice à la réflexion… et aux bonnes idées!

Ulysses is 12!

San Juan del Sur

Family selfie

Our San Juan del Sur beach house

Popoyo river mouth

Popoyo: the break

Popoyo: the lodge

Great Nica surfing

Dropping on a local (bad)

Looong rides

Magic and creative sunset

The national emblem

Our neighbour

Another one

Bird

Popoyo mangrove

Popoyo mangrove sunset

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere

Rural life

Una casa linda

Portrait

Una amiga de Delphine

Jade enjoying the sunset

Costa Rica – The Video

A month in Costa Rica with endless beaches discoveries, magic sunsets, unforgettable jungle hikes, perfect surfing, and hardcore kiteboarding…

Here is the video of this first part of our Costa Rica visit.

Now we are off to Nicaragua, and back in Costa Rica in 3 weeks to further explore the south of the country.

Enjoy!

Kiteboarding Costa Rica

I knew the north of Costa Rica was windy, but not to this point.

Bahia Salinas in known for being the windiest place in Central America. This year, it was the windiest place on earth. During our 5 days stay, the wind never went below 40 knots, often nuking above 50 knots with stones flying on the beach and smoke on the water;-(

To get a chance to ride (survive), I had to borrow Ulysses tiny 7m kite and wait for the afternoon when the wind usually dropped around 40 knots… A real stretch for the body with some painful crashes: I might be to old for that!

You can have a look at the below video at 15′ to witness the mayhem.

And here are a few shots from the video…

50 knots+ = smoke on the water

leg stretching

fly over the rocks

12m+ jump

Bye Bye Lisbon!

This gallery contains 42 photos.

Kerala: God’s own country

This gallery contains 35 photos.

We are in India!

This gallery contains 19 photos.

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This is it! The Beautiful World Tour is over!

Coming back was as intense as the whole year around the world to fulfill our family dreams. We saw our good friends. Kids met with their friends too. We saw our close family members. We reconnected with the “normal life”, getting ready to get back to work and school, which is actually a real joy. In fact, that year vanished in a finger snap!

On my (crazy) side, I could also fulfill the last two dreams I had on my list for this very special year: becoming an airplane pilot and a sky diver: check (I promise I will compensate those carbon emissions too;-)!

Here is the last photo album of our life journey!

And the last video, a pure adrenaline shot, looking at home from above and at 200 km/h! A great way to finish this very emotional journey with an experience to keep me young at heart: #forever20andtrippin’!

Tomorrow, we will all start our new life. The Corporate life for me (a big thank to my company for letting me go for a year), a new school for kids, and Naturespath consultations for Delphine… with many friends and family members around us.

One dream finishes with so many good memories. Another one starts.

#LifeIsBeautiful!

 

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We had a wonderful stay in Kerala, the most religious state in India, often cited as “God’s own country”. Our Yoga & Meditation retreat in Varkala, our visit of Kollam, followed by a 3 days cruise on a traditional “Kettu Vallam” house-boat across Kerala, from Kollam to Allepey and  Kochin! This is the video of our amazing South India experience, a bewitchment of the senses!

P.S: YouTube has decided to prevent me to use the beautiful “Indifference” song from Pearl Jam, so the video has no music from 9’25” to 13’… which will feel a bit weird (algorithmic retrieval of the music which is supposed to leave the other sounds intact, but that’s not quite the case…), but it’s still worth watching! Enjoy…

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Here is the traditional boat visit, this time made by Jade, live from our Kettu Vallam (Houseboat) here in Kerala, India, for a 3 days cruise on the backwaters that go from Kollam to Kochi!

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“The Greatest Traveler is not the one who went ten times around the world, but the one who went once around himself.”

“Le plus grand Voyageur n’est pas celui qui a fait dix fois le tour du monde, mais celui qui a fait une seule fois le tour de lui-même”.

Ghandi – my Hero