Australie, sur la route de l'Océan - extrait - Échappées belles

I have the impression that it's not easy to navigate in the Sydney bay, there is wind. There is indeed a lot of wind today, it comes from the south, quite strong. But we will arrive faster at the destination and that's the goal. New Zealand is just there? Yes, New Zealand is just in front, a few hours away. But by plane. I'm going to settle for Australia, I already have a lot to see here. Look Sophie, on our right you see the quarantine area. Between 1832 and 1984, if you arrived in Australia by boat and someone on board was sick, you had to stay in this area for 6 to 7 weeks. Ah yes, it's quite recent anyway. This area was in particular widely used during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1920 and 1921. But it still remained in operation for many decades. Then with the arrival of aviation, it gradually lost its importance. My grandmother came here in the 1920s. She arrived from England and unfortunately someone on the boat fell ill. So she spent 3 or 4 weeks in a 3rd class building, right here. What's funny is that about 100 years later, I had the chance to marry my beautiful Ella, at the top of the hill, which is right in front of us. Ah yes, that's original. Why did you choose to get married at Kew Station? That's because I wanted to get married in an opera house. But Simon said it was out of the question to get married at work. We had to find somewhere else. So we were looking for somewhere in Sydney. And I like all the national parks in Sydney. And the whole of North Eddy, including the quarantine state, is a national park. So that's where we picked. So Annette, you wanted to put your husband in quarantine to be sure you were going to marry him. As Ella says, the Sydney Opera House is your workplace. And you have the chance to sing at the opera. Yes, I get to work at the opera house every day. And I'm looking forward to showing you around the opera house and telling you about the incredible story that I get to do every day. And also just to give you a little tour of my hometown. And I hope you're going to enjoy it as much as I do. Yes, thanks to you, I'm going to be able to visit this opera house. But we'll see about that later. Sophie, we're in the Darling Harbour area, on the Piedmont Bridge. And you see, I live in one of these buildings. Yes, you have a nice view too. Yes, it's one of the incredible things here. There are beautiful views everywhere. But we also have a lot of bars and restaurants in this area. This part of the harbour is in full rejuvenation. A new city is being built, year after year, month after month. I'm really proud of my city. It's really a great place to live. Sydney is a city of culture and history. We still have one of the oldest cultures in the world here. I grew up in Sydney, and I can't think of anywhere else to live. Definitely, Sydney is your home. I spent my childhood 40 minutes north of here. I did my higher studies here, at the university. I also went to the Conservatory of Music. They also say it's the country of Oz. It has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz, but it has to do with the little name we give Australians. Ozzy, is that right? Ozzy, Ozzy, you can say it however you want. O-Z-A-U-S, we'll accept your way of saying it. Because the only thing that matters is the pride of being Australian. And I'm sure the French do as well. In Sydney, the pride of being Aussie is combined with physical fitness. As soon as the sun rises on these iconic beaches, sport becomes a philosophy of life. It was fun. There weren't too many people. The water is warm. In these waves, simple amateurs or confirmed professionals give their all to the local passion, surfing. It's very cleansing. Very private. Something intimate. A shot of vitamin C. Go to the ocean and put everything back in place. It's pretty good. The city still wakes up when the athletes invade the Centennial Park by the hundreds. And there's no need to be Australian to demand your daily dose of adrenaline. I didn't ride my bike on Saturday. Sunday... What did I do on Sunday? Nothing, I think. I went for a little ride. I'm really not happy. By settling in Sydney for several years, Mathieu and Riyad, French sports enthusiasts, have found their little paradise. My typical day in Sydney is to wake up at 5 or 5.30am to really enjoy the day, the sunrise, like this morning, and to avoid too many cars on the road. So we train for an hour, an hour and a half, or even two hours, before getting back to work. Everyone is at least an athlete here. You can come at 6am and meet hundreds of athletes. And it's super motivating. Isolated on the island in the middle of the Pacific, the Australians have established sport as a religion. In Sydney, it would be the holy place. Sydney, Olympic city. The city of swimmers. Here, the pools are almost as numerous as the ice rinks in France. So you play in black, in black, white, white, white, and black. Great. We all have our colors. Come on, let's change. Get ready. Let's go in the water and start training. In this pool, Eammano and his team practice another flagship sport in the country, rugby. Subaquatic rugby. We're putting a basket under the water. It's our goal, with which we play rugby. The idea is to put the ball in the basket, while six other players try to stop you. I think that in its invention in Germany, this sport was called the submarine ball in gold, before renaming it subaquatic rugby. This has nothing to do with real rugby. The only similarity with terrestrial rugby is that it's a contact sport. But you can pass forward, swim all around, the ball is spherical, everything is completely different from real rugby. This time, we'll have one defender, in position in front of the goal, and two other players attacking from either side. The sport is to spend, surpass, and to integrate.