::scipio's adventures

It's unbelievable how quick this week on passed by. I had a wicked time there. Just how it's meant to be. Perfect beaches. Great people (Hi folks!!), campfires on the beach, a couple of activities and some tanning.

I uploaded a couple of new pictures.

Means you fly on some mountain with a helicopter and go for a walk there. Handy thing. In my case I flew on the Franz Josef-Glacier and went on the walk on the ice.

Rating: WICKED

I flew to New Zealand this night and stay in Auckland. I wanna get some wheels as soon as possible and get out of town. I've got enough of cities. Time for some outdoor-stuff and landscape.

I went to Sydney and joined up with a bunch of Austrians I knew from home. Those guys have been traveling the country for the last 3 months and they know the place.

For my birthday I popped a champagn-cork into the Sydney harbour, standing next to the opera house. Stylish birthday. Just the way I like it.

After my diving trip I still had some time left and went for a quick trip to Cape Tribulation, a protected area of rainforest north of Cairns. Wasn't very exciting. But they had good icecream.

In the evening I gave Reef Teach a visit. It's a presentation about the life out on the reef. Tailored to divers and snorklers. VERY informative, but the guy there was acting too much of a clown than a biologist.

Spent 3 wicked days cruising and diving Great Barrier Reef. I'm an Advanced Open Water Diver now. Means I can dive down to 30 m. I picked Underwater photographer as speciality. (Pictures about to come soon) We also did navigation, buoyancy and computer diving.

This morning I saw a White Tipped Reef Shark (about 3 m) and a Green Turtle.

When doing a night dive the greatest attraction is the Red Bass. It will follow your torch and eat anything you point it at. Finally I can be god and decide about life and death *bruhahaha*

On the ship (Kankuroo Explorer) they had a pretty tough timetable. Every day we got up at 0530, did a morning dive before the sun came out, hat breakfast, did 2 more dives in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. When you go to bed you can virtually feel the nitrogen making you tired. But it might be as well the beer.

Next thing to do: In Cairns there is an organisation called Reef Teach. They talk about the fish you find out there. I think I'll pay them a visit once I had 8 hours of sleep in a row.

I managed to get a reasonably priced (380 AUD$) flight from Ayer's rock to Cairns. The climate is much warmer here in the North than in Central Australia. I guess that I'll stay for a week or so to explore the Great Barrier Reef and the Rainforest.

I'd really love to upload some pictures, but I can't resize them because this internet cafe has restrcted access to the command line. Be prepared for some pics to come very soon.

Today I've continued my diving course with a Swiss couple. We went on a boat and drove out to the sail rock. A massive stone formation half way to Koh Tao and 20 km northwest of Koh Pha-Ngan. You can onlly see the top of it, but it reaches down about 28 m. At 12 m depth there is a little sand bank and between 9 and 18 m there is a chimney to dive up and down. Cool stuff. It's fascinating to breathe under water and you can see loads of fish and corals.

Uluru is a sight for itself. It's just a rock in the outback and it looks best when you are about 1 km away from it. Once you get closer there are many holy sites, the Aboriginal people used for different ceremonies.

Accomodation: I'm staying in the Pioneer Outback Hotel. The only normal priced rooms you can find here, apart from the campsite maybe.