almost on top*

Florence and The Machine – Ceremonials

Michael — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:22:18 +0000

Nachdem ich bereits vom ersten Werk der Britin angetan war, folgte nun ihr zweites Album. Natürlich musste ich mir dieses bei meinem Besuch in London holen, denn ihre Stimme macht sowieso immer etwas her. Ich habe einige Kritiken gelesen, die durchwegs überzeugend klangen, konnte mir aber nach Lungs kaum vorstellen, dass sie dieses noch schlagen könnte. Weit gefehlt! Ich weiss nicht genau, ob es nur daran liegt, dass ich nur etwas neues gebraucht habe, oder ob die neue CD wirklich noch besser ist. Auf jeden Fall höre ich seit Wochen kaum noch etwas anderes als eben diese Platte. Ceremonials ist etwas anders als Lungs, nicht mehr so düster, falls man das Erstlingswerk so beschreiben wollte. Die Musik ist majestätisch und stark klassisch angehaucht, was mir besonders gefällt. Der Sound wirkt enorm klar und irgendwie unantastbar. Wenn man sich den Kauf überlegt, sollte man unbedingt zur Deluxe Version greifen, welche noch ein paar Tracks mehr hat. Die lohnen den Aufpreis bei weitem.

Channel auf YouTube

Offizielle Website

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Michael — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:43:34 +0000

Am letzten Abend in London, noch gerade vor unserem krönenden Abschluss mit einem Schokoladen-Fondue bei Haägen-Dazs, schauten wir uns im riesigen Empire-Kino am Leicester Square den neuen Sherlock Holmes-Film mit dem Titel A Game of Shadows an. Wie schon bei seiner ersten Präsentation sprühte der Streifen von Witz und Action. Professor James Moriarty hat geplant, Europa im Krieg versinken zu lassen und mit seiner Waffenproduktion das noch grössere Geld zu machen. Holmes mag dies natürlich zu verhindern und es kommt bei den Reichenbachfällen in der Schweiz zum grossen Finale. Auf jeden Fall ein sehr gut präsentierer Film, der nie langweilig wurde, auch wenn man wie wir im Kino nicht alles verstanden haben. Wem also der erste Film gefallen hat und die Art von Robert Downey Jr. mag, sollte sich das Werk nicht entgehen lassen.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNxhpNpnAkk

Offizielle Website

We will rock you

Michael — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:02:03 +0000

Das war nun das sechste Mal in London für mich. Es war aber auch das erste Mal für mich in einem Musical in dieser Stadt. Ist eigentlich schon etwas beschämend. Deshalb wurde diese Premiere nun nachgeholt. Eigentlich wollten wir Lion King sehen, der war aber über Tage hinweg ausgebucht. Stattdessen ging es also ins Dominion, wo seit mittlerweile 10 Jahren das Musical We will rock you läuft. So schlecht kann es also nicht sein und die Musik von Queen ist sowieso genial.

Nachdem wir also in einem relativ eleganten Restaurant gegessen und dazu sogar Wein bestellt haben, auch wenn wir beide das nicht recht mögen, ging es per Tube weiter ins Dominion. Unser Timing stimmte nicht schlecht und so fing es bald an. Die Vorführung war überaus unterhaltsam und witzig, die Musik natürlich atemberaubend, weshalb ich häufig eine richtige Gänsehaut hatte. Die Welt von Morgen wird von Globalsoft dominiert, freie Musik ist verboten und Instrumente existieren sowieso nicht mehr. Nur einzelne Rebellen haben hier und da Artefakte der alten Kultur gefunden, wissen aber nicht, was sie damit anfangen sollen. So machen sich Galileo und Scaramouche, die beiden Hauptdarsteller auf den Weg, das letzte Instrument zu finden und Globalsoft zu bezwingen.

Die Vorstellung konnte kaum lang genug gehen und man wird sicher nicht enttäuscht. We will rock you kann man unterdessen vielerorts sehen, aber ob es immer so eindrücklich wie im Dominion ist, wage ich zu bezweifeln. Von da her empfehle ich jedem, der es noch nicht gesehen hat und in London ist, sich das Stück anzusehen. Die teuren 40£ lohnen sich.

Offizielle Homepage

Weihnachtszeit in London

Michael — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:19:19 +0000

Letzte Woche war ich für fünf Tage in London. Schöne Sache, ich glaubte schon, dass ich 2011 tatsächlich nie dort landen würde. So kam ich aber darum herum und genoss die Zeit also umso mehr. Ich war ziemlich gespannt, wie es dort um die Festtage aussieht.

Dass es viele Leute haben würde, war mir bewusst. Dass es aber so enorm viele haben würde, war recht erschreckend. So löschte es mir bereits am ersten Tag, also dem 27. Dezember ziemlich ab und ich war recht erschöpft von dem ganzen Trubel. Am nächsten Tag wurde es dann besser und die Leute waren offensichtlich nicht ganz so morgenaktiv wie wir, vorausgesetzt man bezeichnet etwa 11 Uhr noch als Morgen. Die Läden waren angenehm leer und die Preise aufgrund des Ausverkaufs, welcher in den meisten Fällen Rabatt von 50% brachte, angenehm tief. So verbrachten wir viele Stunden damit, vom einen Geschäft ins nächste zu rennen und unser Konto zu leeren, was wir dann natürlich auch einmal geschafft haben.

Sightseeing gab es selbstredend auch noch ein bischen, aber da wir beide bereits einige Male in dieser wunderbaren Stadt waren, fiel das nicht sonderlich ausgiebig aus. Das Wetter war übrigens ganz in Ordnung, geregnet hat es nicht allzu viel. Ausserdem war es in London viel wärmer als hier. Nicht dass mir die Kälte etwas ausmachen würde, aber in London kann man eh nicht Ski fahren.

Die Beleuchtung war dann auch dementsprechend pompös den bekannten Strassen wie Oxford und Regent Street entlang. Ich fand es jedoch nicht allzu übertrieben, in anderen Städten wie New York wird sie bestimmt noch viel ausschweifender sein.

Diving the Reef

Michael — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:06:42 +0000

Same same, no difference. As usual it’s already a long time since my last article. Anyway this time I won’t relay on all the things that happened since then and only refer to the past week. I arrived in Cairns on Sunday the 5th after I went skydiving on the same morning. That was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had! Nothing compares to the void that you feel when you dive in after jumping out of the plane. The experience is certainly not for everyday but that’s only because of the exorbitant price! I can understand the boys, who gain their money with leading backpackers through the air. My guide told me it never really loses its thrill. I even got some pictures (which made the whole joy even more expensive) but I haven’t had a look at them yet. That’s because they’re on a DVD and my beloved MacBook Air doesn’t contain a disc drive at all. So I will wait. And so will you.

Since I’m in Cairns I have been on two liveaboard trips with Deep Sea Divers Den. A company, which provides trips to the Outer Reef and to the Northern Reef. I booked my first dive trip on Monday after arriving and decided to go for the PADI Advanced certificate. On the boat I met a funny Canadian guy and we had a great time over the three days on the reef. The crew was really laid back and relaxed. On the first day we had two dives from another boat, which brought us to the Ocean Quest. I had to repeat some details in mind but most of the important issues were still present. After these two I was back in the material. Later in the evening I had my first night dive. As we entered the briefing deck we met a quite scary surprise. The captain switched on the light on the back of the boat and there were about ten sharks going crazy about the fish, which came there because of the light. It was an amazing picture. The sharks were certainly not dangerous but it was pretty impressive anyway. The dive itself was not really special. Only the Giant Trevallies made it interesting because they just appear everywhere and quite unexpected. And they look mean. One of the highlights of the 12 dives on this three day trip was the sighting of two turtles, which were swimming around us in their own relaxed speed. It’s always a pleasure to observe these mammals under water. The Advanced course itself was cheap. All I had to do was completing the knowledge reviews for five chapters and pass some easy skills during five dives. So I wasn’t really stressed over the time. Twelve dives over three days is a bit much by the way. Especially because on the last one we only had three of them. That means on Wednesday we went for five dives and that’s almost more than is healthy. But we managed it anyway and I wouldn’t change anything.

The second trip went out to the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. All the guys I asked before said, if you really want to see the reef as you expect it, you have to go north as high as possible! What they meant were probably the spots I went to on Taka. That’s the name of the second boat and it’s quite popular. At least among divers. Whenever I told one of them that I leave on Taka next Friday I got jealous reactions. I like. We left Cairns last Friday on about 5pm and traveled until the next morning to reach the northern reef. We got a briefing and I spontaneously decided to continue my diving education with the EANx course. That’s just the short version of Enriched Air Nitrox and means that instead of 21% of oxygen in your tank you get up to 40%. It makes breathing a little easier and after the dive you don’t feel that tired. But the main advantage is that you can stay deeper for a longer time without getting the decompression illness. Disadvantage is the high price and the danger that comes with more than 21% oxygen. It can cause fire or even explosion but only with bad maintained circumstances. Further you cannot go that deep than without Nitrox. As if that would make a difference if you’re allowed to go to 32.7 meters than 33.5 meters. The most animals live at about 18 meters or higher so I doesn’t matter anyway. But the higher oxygen level the less depth. The benefit for me is quite small because I’m usually running out of air before I got the danger of decompression illness and I don’t use to go that deep. But anyway now I’ve got the licence to use it.
The diving on the first day started on the Ribbon reef #10 with the famous Cod Hole. The name comes from the numerous cod fish, which live on this spot. These are quite big gray and black fish, which are actually very friendly. Some of the divers with less than 50 dives had to go guided on the first one to show that we’re ready for diving in pairs. On the second dive we were finally allowed to do that but before that everybody participated the Cod Feed. That means every diver sat down in a circle around the guides and they then came around and fed the cods. The result was a great experience and some amazing pictures. Yes, I rented a camera and took over 400 pictures on the 14 dives. And no, I’m not a professional. But at least they’re self-made. Other dive sites we visited on this day were Pixie’s Pinnacle and the night dive at Challenger Bay. The pinnacle was amazing. It’s like one big tower raising out of the ground with uncountable corals and fish living on it. The night dive we later made was actually the best I’ve ever participated. All right it was only my third but not everybody has that much night dives. Animals we saw were two moray eels and I even found a white and yellow striped worm. The night that came after that dive was remarkable. The crew already said that the crossing to the famous Osprey reef would be quite bumpy and so was it. I felt it funny lying in bed and get pushed from one edge to the other. I think I even slept some hours. Maybe only because I was so tired and couldn’t sleep the last night. Our first dive on the Osprey reef was the North Horn. The name is because it’s the most northern point of the reef. It’s very impressive. You stay at your 20 to 30 meters knowing that only a few meters further it goes vertically down to 1000 meters and all you see is darkness. The second dive that day was the mysterious shark feed. Dive site was the same but this time the guides brought some dead fish in a container with them. As they released them the numerous sharks went crazy and it was like a huge ball of sharks fighting for these tuna heads. There were so many of them and you could really get goose skin of that. After a few minutes it was over and we continued our dive as usual. The sharks were everywhere and so where the remoras, the small fish, which always swim with sharks and other bigger things. They sometimes even follow divers, what is quite ridiculous. By the way the sharks were not dangerous at all. It were mostly Black- or White-tip reef sharks, which don’t get very big and don’t care about humans at all. Some of the guys saw a Leopard shark under the boat but unfortunately we were not there at this time. The two further dive sites on the Osprey reef were The Entrance and Half Way Wall. No night dive. I know the travel to Osprey was mad but you can top everything! The way back was far more scaring and I really was afraid to hit my head somewhere or just fall over while walking to the cabin. I even had the hilarious idea to take a shower during this swell. The result was a flooded bath. Never mind. Everybody survived the night and in the morning we went diving at the lower Ribbon reefs like #3. The dive sites were called Steve’s Bommie, which we dived twice and is also known as Temple of Doom. The next was Princess Pinnacle and eventually Beer Garden for the night dive. Bommie is a short form of an Aboriginal word with the same meaning as pinnacle. I really like these pinnacles. You see so many various animals on pretty few terrain and you can easily see the difference in the high. Down at 25 meters are other fish than on 14 meters. And if you’re not available to navigate on a pinnacle you’re just stupid. The Beer Garden night dive was the worst I’ve ever had. There was just nothing, not even Trevallies. All I saw was a big red crabs in a shell. That was nice but that was also all I found. The last two dives we spend on the Outer Reef on a site called Troppos. I knew this site from the first trip already and dived it five times completely. The first three times were better, if even because the water was only 23 degrees warm. At least we saw a turtle on the second dive.

As little money as I spend during the first two months traveling, the much I spend now for these two trips. Diving is very expensive but I don’t know when and if I will be here again and so it was worth it. The two trips were quite luxurious and the food was always great. The crews were helpful and nice and I had two great times. So I don’t complain about anything. I had now 26 dives over eight days and that was very much. In Gili I never had more than two a day so it was quite ambitious. I have some days break now and will go for my last five days on the weekend with Tiago. I think that will be more relaxed. Diving still great but I’ll also be happy when I am far away in the outback in two weeks. My time is running low here in Australia. Tomorrow in four weeks I will be in Switzerland again. There are things I will desperately miss about Australia like surfing or diving. Just the sea and the sun. But I also miss the good food and especially the bread in Switzerland. So it will okay to come back again.

On The Run/Time/Money

Michael — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:32:34 +0000

The time is running here in Australia and I spend some bigger amounts of money the last few days. That’s how I explain the strange title. And I was thinking of Pink Floyd. Since I left Byron Bay with a great night in the Woodys, I saw so many things. The time runs so fast and Byron Bay seems so far ago already. After Byron I was heading Noosa but decided on the way that that would be a little too far for one day and it was Saturday anyway and Noosa would have been flooded by Australians. So I made a stop in North Tamborine and its national park and saw a beautiful rain forest and the first wild kangaroos. Or wallabies, I don’t know. At least they were very small. So the next day I was on my way to Noosa. As I had a look on the GPS system, which released that it still was about 300 kilometers, I decided to take another stop on my way and I drove through Brisbane and ended up in the Glass House Mountains. There I went for a seriously dangerous hike on the top of the Mount Tibrogargan. At the information map was written that you need some climbing experience and I almost started laughing. How hard can it be for a Swiss guy in Australia? What I discovered was breathtaking. A steep rock without many hold looked quite scary even for a Swiss tourist. I didn’t expect that but the view on top was definitely worth it. These strange mountains situated all around you and you don’t really know how this can be possible. The next day I went strait into the Australia Zoo, the home of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. It was quite impressing and I saw a huge variety of animals. What I missed were the spiders and the price was extremely high with $59 per person. I really liked the tortoises and the crocodiles but my star for the day was a cute little Echidna, which was running around in his cage looking for what ever. Probably food hä. In the afternoon I finally got to Noosa and stayed there over night. The beach was beautiful and the sun was shining. Unfortunately there were no waves again and the possibilities to go surfing are running out. The last remaining is probably the town of 1770, which I will visit tomorrow. In the afternoon of the beach day in Noosa I continued my travel to Gympie and placed my car on the next caravan park. The next day went to Rainbow Beach with its beautiful Carlo sand blow. This sand blow was about the most stunning thing I’ve seen yet. The different colours of the sand with the blue sky and the endless Rainbow bay are unique and I took some great pictures. I spend the night on a caravan park in Tin Can Bay, where I went for a run. It’s not really entertaining when a Bull Terrier tries to catch you, even if he might only wanted to play. Then I finally arrived in Hervey Bay, the gate to Fraser Island. I spend one and a half relaxing days around the beach and started my three day trip on Saturday. The guys in my group were very funny and we always had a great time, even though the weather wasn’t that good on two of the three days. On the second day, the one with the good weather, I went for a scenic flight over the island and saw so many stunning natural stuff in only 15 minutes. I already miss it to take off for a flight in the back of our bus whenever the bumps in the sand road were a bit too big and the speed a bit too high. It was all hilarious. Swimming in the lakes was another nice thing, although the temperature was freezing. I just thought that I won’t be here again the next few days and you’d get dry anyway. On Monday I saw then my first big Australian spider called huntsman spider. It was pretty impressing and a little scary and on the same day we even saw a Carpet snake. I was satisfied. So yesterday evening the group splited and meant to meet again on the 1st of June in Cairns. But I guess I won’t be there already. Yesterday night in the hostel took an unexpected way. It was the last day the hostel was open due to renovations and all the staff went to the bar in the evening. The alcohol had to go and so it was quite cheap for Australian conditions. It was hilarious and everybody was dancing on the tables and getting out of control. I got an unexpected surprise as I wanted to put my bags in the car at the hostel. I just put the key in only to realize that only about 30 centimeters away was exactly the same spider as we saw on Fraser Island. I was hustling around a bit with the result that the huntsman spider was inside my car. Great success. After a few more determined trys I got the animal finally outside the car. Thanks for the welcome anyway.

And so here I’m now. Sitting in the Mc Donald’s in Bundaberg. Today I went to the distillery of the famous rum with the polar bear. I never really tried the stuff and was surprised how good it was. They even got liqueur, which you can only buy in the factory shop. Yeah, well in the end I spend almost $200 for liqueur and other merchandise including a mirror, which, as I had to find out, doesn’t fit in my bag. I will put it in the board bag and prey that it will survive until Switzerland. At least it’s in a strong box. Bundaberg is nice and has beautiful houses in the Victorian style.

Tomorrow I will go on to the town of 1770 and hope to catch the last few waves in Australia. The second plan is to go diving there. But actually I could also do both. We’ll see.

Glass House Mountains

Australia Zoo

Noosa

Rainbow Beach & Carlo Sandblow

Fraser Island

From the fridge back home

Michael — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:03:49 +0000

Time is running so quickly, it’s unbelievable. The last time I wrote I just left the Great Ocean Road and was on the way to the Melbourne. Now I’m already so much further, exactly at the place where all began. In Byron Bay. But step by step.

The weekend before I spend in Melbourne. A huge beautiful city, where you can just hang around for days or ran after sights without end. I did both of them. The first day I spend walking through the streets and take some pictures occasionally. Then in the afternoon the weather got a bit darker and I went to a Starbucks, where I met Tiago. He’s a Brazilian guy, who stays in a Language School in Melbourne. Later I even met his friends and in the evening we wanted to go clubbing. We ended up on a terrace in the middle of Melbourne and had a beautiful view at the lively streets under us. A friend of Tiago is renting a flat there and he told me that it is very expensive. So I was talking to Columbines and Brazilians the whole evening. On Sunday then I went for a walk along the Yarra river, the big calm river, which flows through the city. Unfortunately the weather was even worse and the heaven was quite gray. But I didn’t have my camera with me anyway.

After collecting two parking penalties over two nights I left Melbourne on Monday with the next goal Blue Mountains. My first stop was in Beechworth. A very small village a bit away from the Hume Highway and I really enjoyed to stay there. I got to know, who Ned Kelly was and that the city was built because of the gold rush. Even though it was pretty quiet and I wouldn’t like to live there it was worth the stay. In the morning I even saw a wild Koala bear climbing down a tree in front of my car and the next tree back up. I called him Freddy the Koala.

The next night I spent in Gundagai, another city of the times of the gold rush but that one didn’t impress me the same way and I left early the next morning. After many hours of driving I finally arrived in Katoomba, the gate to the Blue Mountains. I took some pictures and prepared myself for the walk the next day. What I was not entirely prepared for was the temperature. Katoomba is higher then the locations I’ve been before and it got very cold during the night. The next morning I hardly got warm again and was shaking while eating breakfast in the sun. After that I went for my hike. It was more or less the default way for everybody but there are not many ways through the forest. First the walk went all over the cliffs and had lookouts every 100 meters. Then it went down in the forest over a steep way with many stairs and steps. There were not lots of people but later it connected with a shorter version of the way and it started to be quite busy.

The temparature still not very warm and I was glad to leave the fridge the next morning heading to the coast. The first location I went there was Terrigal. Another small village which I found through the guidance of the Lonely Planet. It’s a nice little place in a quite little bay. After having lunch I left for the night and built up my stay in Swansea. Another interesting place along the East Coast. It went on with Nelson Bay and Anna Bay the next day and the night in Forster-Turcurry. All these places are calm and nice and you could easily stay some days, if you like to. In Forster I even saw some dolphins in the bay in the morning.

The next bigger stop was Port Macquarie, a town famous for its breakwall. Tourists from all over the world write something on the stones and that gives a very colourful image. Also the rest I saw of the city was pretty nice. It was weekend so many Australians were along the coast enjoying their leisure time. I also visited the Koala Hospital. I just like these little sleepy guys.

The trip went on over Crescent Head and Nambucca Heads to Coffs Harbour. Unfortunately the weather there wasn’t that good again and on the caravan park was the first time it really rained since I left Melbourne. Over all I’m very lucky with the weather!

The last place I visited before Byron Bay was Maclean. A little town, which says she’s a Scottish town in Australia. Almost all the poles for the electricity have another pattern of Scottish clans, which makes the town very colourful. Much more isn’t there but it was worth a stop anyway.

And now here I am. Byron Bay again. A little colder and without many familiar faces but it still have its lovely atmosphere. I even went surfing for the first time since Bali but the waves are just not here again. It’s a bit frustrating. It’s very windy but laying on the beach is always a good option.

I guess I’ll go on tomorrow after three nights in Byron and keep heading north. I’ll see how far I get and just live in the day. I hope the weather still that good.

From Bali to Australia

Michael — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 03:22:48 +0000

It’s a long time since I last wrote an article. I’m sorry for that. The reason is the time and the limited free internet access in Australia. I didn’t expect that. Anyway, the last thing I did in Bali, was visiting Tanah Lot, which is about the most famous temple in Bali. I met Thomas the day before and we had a excessive shopping trip, amazed by the pure quantity of surf shops in Kuta and Legian. If there were 50m without such a shop on the main road, it was almost a miracle. So that was the last bit sin in Indonesia for me. But in the end it was only two shirts, so it was not that bad, I behaved. The day after Tanah Lot I arrived in Sydney, where I stayed two nights. The city is beautiful! I arrived at the hostel at about 8am and directly went to take some pictures. After Hyde Park, which is not as big as that one in London, and St. Mary’s cathedral I suddenly stood in front of the Opera House. The sun was shining and the majority of the tourists were still sleeping. This view was breathtaking, especially because it was so unexpected. I was stocked and took many beautiful pictures. The harbour bridge was looking amazing and I spent the whole day walking around in the area. In the afternoon I went to the Sydney aquarium and really liked the tunnels, under which you can walk and see the sharks and rays swim over you. In the evening I went to the IMAX at darling harbour, which is the biggest screen in the world, and saw Suckerpunch. I was stunned by the size and the experience of it all. I had the perfect place either. Last row, seat in the middle. It was huge!
Unfortunately the next day it was raining or at least very dark and I found out that it’s going to get Winter in Australia for real. So I visited some museums and shops, which were open. Because of easter many shops were closed. I decided to go for a bridge climb in the afternoon. What I didn’t know was that it took 3,5 hours and cost about $260. I thought maybe in good weather but not that way.
The next day I was at the airport again. It went to Adelaide and then to Stirling by taxi. There should be my car. As I arrived there was nobody home and the car was not in sight. That made me a bit nervous, also because there was nobody around in the neighborhood and I had no chance to get some food or even a bed, if the family has left for easter, what many Australian families do. Later I found out I had the wrong address and found the car a few houses further the street. Luckily there was even somebody at home. After talking a bit I was on my way to Cape Jervis, the port to Kangaroo Island. The day after I was on a trip at this beautiful place. Actually I saw no kangaroos but many sealions, which isn’t bad either. The next day was driving only. Honestly it is quite depressing to sit in the car the whole day and have nobody to talk to. In the evening I arrived in Mount Gambier and went jogging for the first time since Byron Bay. It was a good feeling. The day after I went further on my way to the Great Ocean Road, my actual goal after I found out the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach near Torquay was over since Monday, the day I’ve been to Kangaroo Island. At midday I was at Warrnambool, which is the official first city at the road. There I eventually bought a sleeping bag. The last three nights without one were too much. I’m glad the public holidays are over. From then on it still took many kilometers until you arrive at the coast. But then it started. Huge sandstone sculptures with names like London Bridge or Thunder Cave appeared every half kilometer. I was like sitting in the car, driving a few hundred meters, stopping again and taking pictures. One of the last the first day was the 12 Apostles, the most famous formation. There were so many people like at the Opera House in Sydney. Anyway the stone pinnacles looked breathtaking. After a curvy road away from the coast into rainforest I arrived at Apollo Bay, a little village in the middle of the Great Ocean Road. It was a great day. And the next started equal. The rest of the road was not that special anymore but nice anyway. It was the beginning of Surf Coast Shire. After some hours I arrived at the Bells Beach, where people were removing the last few things of the Rip Curl Pro. The beach looked so nice and you could match everything with the famous pictures of past events. 8 kilometers later I was in Torquay, the city which is actually not special. The only thing is that every surf brand has it’s headquarter in this little town in Victoria. Here are the hugest shops of brands like Rip Curl, Quicksilver or Billabong. Unfortunately I bought already so much stuff in Bali that it would be insane to shop much more. So all I got was some cheap shorts of Oakley.
And here I am now, sitting in the Mc Donald’s in Torquay and using the Wifi, which is pretty rare in Australia. So that’s actually the only reason why I visit these restaurants anyway. And that also the reason why I can’t upload many pictures. The internet is not limited in time but in MB. So I have to economize a bit. I hope I can change that in Melbourne. I just booked a hostel for Melbourne for from tomorrow on for two nights. So I’ll travel on tomorrow. The only thing I’m concerned about is the place where I could leave my car. I guess that’s expensive in Melbourne. Yeah I will see. I’m looking forward to Melbourne and then the East Coast. I hope it’s gonna be a bit warmer.

I’m in paradise!

Michael — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:51:48 +0000

It’s four days since I left Bali and went to Gili Trawangan, which belongs to Lombok. We had beautiful weather while we were traveling by fastboat to the island and even saw some dolphins. As we arrived I already got a little shock because they forgot my surfboard on the boat. After a few minutes waiting I got it anyway. In Gili T I decided not to try to save much money and so I went directly to the Blue Marlin Dive Center, which has also several bungalows. Here I live now, even if it’s more expensive than I’m used to. After I put my luggage in the bungalow I went to the reception to book the Open Water course. I wanted to start the next day. After I completed the necessary formulary stuff, Ivan, one of the Instructors came in and said I could start right now with a few theory videos, which just got started. So my course started right after arriving on the island. As the theoretical lesson was finished we got in the pool and I finally wore the whole diving stuff for the first time! I started the course with Amke, a German girl, but we always had English instructors, what was not bad. I don’t like the pool. Maybe because it’s a bit boring and I’m always freezing. In the evening we celebrated Amke’s birthday with several other Germans, that Amke already knew from the place the all stayed before the Gilis. The next morning at 9am we went into the sea for the first time. It was an amazing feeling and we saw lots of turtles and other beautiful fish. Also one of Kim’s famous trigger fish. The spot was called Shark Point but we didn’t see one of these creatures. Back on the island we just switched the tank and directly got in the pool for two hours. Then at about half past one we finally got the chance to eat something. Later it went back into the ocean to a spot called Meno wall and had our second dive. And now it started with performing skills on the surface and underwater. For example snorkel to regulator exchange, cramp removal, to tow a tired diver or flooding the mask and clearing it afterwards. Some of the rarer fish we saw were a lion fish, a sea cucumber and even a moray eel. That one was very impressive. After this day I was stoked by all the new things I saw. But the other side was that I had strong pain on my right big toe because none of the fins during the whole day fitted me really. Further my face seems to be enough special to refuse most of the masks, so that I always have to take care to get the right one. That was actually not a big problem, the instructors and dive masters always took great care of us.
The second day started like the first one. Diving at a spot named Halik reef. Our group consisted of only four people and that was terrific. The great thing for me was that I found fins that fitted perfectly and additionally wore my wetsuit jacket. So I really felt comfortable underwater. We had to do some skills again like the controlled swimming emergency ascend but that was a short part. Then we went down and discovered the reef. We saw a trigger fish, trumpet fish, unique horn fish, clown fish, a turtle, a big sea cucumber and a colorful mantis shrimp. With a deeply satisfied feeling we returned to the dive center and had some theory again. After lunch we went for our last dive to the sunset reef. A few Open Water beginners joined us for their first dive and we were the experienced ones. We passed our skills quickly and after the problems of one of the guys with his BCD and ears we went for a little dive. The highlight of it was definitely the sight of a blacktip reef shark. The dive was not very long and the view was limited. But it worth it anyway. The last part of our Open Water course was the test. We had to reach 75% of 100 questions. It was quite easy and I reached 92 and Amke 96. After the successful course we could choose a t-shirt from the Blue Marlin collection. We ended the day with a good pizza and a beer with some of the instructors, who coincidentally saw us out of a cozy bar. Today I went to explore the island and walked all round it, what took a few hours. The weather was very good and the sun was shining most of the time. You can see so many things here. The last thing I have to do is to go up to the view point. I read you have a good view of the sunset there. Unfortunately the weather here is pretty stable in an odd way. In the morning it’s nice, at least more than less, and in the afternoon it usually rains or it is at least strongly covered. While walking around the island I also saw the surf spot here. It looks not bad, even if there are plenty of surfers out and the reef seems to be quite close. I don’t know yet, if I’ll check it out tomorrow. I think I’ll go for one or two last dives on Gili Trawangan. I want to go back to Bali on Sunday. It will be hard to leave the island because the people here are very nice and diving is great. I’m already looking forward to go to the great barrier reef back in Australia. There I will also rent a underwater camera if possible.

Blue Marlin Dive Center

In motion

Michael — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:42:28 +0000

I stayed in Lovina till the last Monday. The dolphin watching on Saturday was nice but I was a bit disappointed by how many boats there were out there. In the end we saw very many of these beautiful animals but I felt quite unconvenient after I realized how many visitors were on the water. On the other hand I quickly realized that the taken pictures doesn’t worth the effort. The dolphins jumping into the air would always be faster than my finger on the camera. Anyway there are some of them in the Lovina gallery.

Then I went to Sanur on Monday. It took several hours until we arrived there. The way between Ubud, where we made a longer stop, and Lovina is pretty nice with all its lakes and serpentines and rice terraces. I saw much of the backcountry of Bali during the two drives there and back again. Sanur itself was not very impressive. It’s big and you only see a part of the town and even that one is nothing special. The beach was very nice to look at but the tide was not good for more actions. Further the streets were overcrowded with taxis, which honked after every non-Balinese person. If that was not enough the weather was never really sunny. Actually I can’t remeember when it was completely clear for the last time. But the worst about my stay in Sanur was my stomach. I felt sick during the first night and I’m still recovering. After only two nights I went further.

And here I am now. I arrived in Padangbai by taxi, whose drive was interrupted by a sudden crash with a scooter. The taxi driver then decided to bring the victim on the motorbike to the hospital and suddenly I was alone on the road. The village would not be far anymore but walking on a lane with all that luggage including a surfboard was pretty unconvenient. Eventually a guy, who intended to go to Lombok by ferry, stopped and took me with him on his scooter. It must have been funny to look at. Two guys on a motorbike with that much luggage. Anyway I arrived luckier in Padangbai than the victim on the backseat of the crashed scooter. The second hotel I went to had a free room. When I sat down the next morning for having breakfast a german guy looked at me and said: “Dich ham’n wir jetz aber auch schon überall geseh’n”. I startled a bit and he said they saw us already at Padang Padang, then me in Ubud and finally Lovina. Bali is so small! So here I finally met some young people. There were several girls from Sweden, a Thailandish girl, who lives in Canada, a guy and a girl from England and those two guys from Germany. We had a great time yesterday. We went to the beach and had some Arak and stuff in the evening. Arak is alcohol gained out of rice and smells like medicine. But you can drink it with Sprite. Unfortunately all thouse guys left today and went to different places. Now I’m alone again. Except there is a Russian guy, but he doesn’t really speak English, so you cannot really have a conversation with him. I’m waiting now here in Padangbai until my visa is extended. I gave my passport to such an agency and they do all the necessary stuff. When I get my passport back I’ll going to the Gili’s to finally touch the sea again and do the Open Water Certificate. I hope the weather there is better than here.