Australia 2001 / 2002
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
Thought of the week as read in Revolver:
"Any people willing to surrender basic liberty for security, deserve neither." - Benjamin Franklin
posted at 03:33
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
Hurray - I'm a PADI certificated Open Water Diver.
Hurray - I saw Stabbing Westward.
Hurray - I met Alice.
But let's begin with the diving stuff. The course we did with Frog Dive was really great fun. After the pool sessions last weekend, we finally went to the ocean. We did two dives at Shelly Beach (near Manly) on Saturday. This was very nice to get comfortable as you enter from the beach and the water was really clear. The water temperature at the bottom was 19 degrees Celsius and we went down to 10 m for 48 min and 6.7 m for 35 min. During these dives we saw Grouper, Puffer Fish, Mados, Goatfish, Cowry Shells, Catfish, Urchins and other interesting creatures. If these names tell you little (They didn't mean anything to me before... or now...), let me say it this way: we saw real big fish -about 80 cm long fat bastards - and real big snails-like animals that were about 60 cm long. We also saw lots of other smaller colorful fish.
On Sunday we went down to Bear Island / Laperouse for another two dives. If you have seen Mission Impossible 2 then you will know this place. Strange to actually walk around where they filmed the bullshit with the motorbikes. Well, we went down to 12.5 m for 48 min and to 14.4 m for 33 min. It was a bit rougher and the visibility was only about 2 m - which I found a bit scary at some times. We saw tons of interesting critters again: Nudibranch's, Starfish, Sargent Bakers, Scorpion cod, Port Jackson Shark eggs, Jelly fish, Giant Cuttlefish, Sponges and Sea Squirt. To put this is in more simple words: we saw shark eggs, a real dangerous fish that can even be deadly, some colorful sponges and hidden in some rocks we found a cuttlefish. These are the ones with tentacles and many eyes. This was really scary because we had to use the torch to actually see it and hit directly his eyes - interesting nonetheless.
Well, diving is surely great fun and a great feeling. I'm looking forward to dive at the Great Barrier Reef in about two weeks.
Second one: I saw Stabbing Westward live today. The did a acoustic set in my favorite record store - Utopia Records - for free. There were about 100 people or less around and it was nice and friendly. I really like big cities for these opportunities. After their set, they signed all kind of stuff and I was lucky to get autographs from every band member on my CD. Pretty childish to be excited about this, eh? ;-)
After the set, I met Alice in the city. This is just nice because I met her on the Internet about three years ago and after emailing for awhile we kinda lost contact. Well, we managed to exchange mobile numbers last week and so this time it was easy to actually met. It's just cool to be able to do this.
Oh, and I bought concert tickets for Faithless and System Of A Down. Both bands will be in Australia in January as they are part of the massive line-up for the Big Day Out festival. I will go to the festival, too, but seeing a band on their own show is just way better.
And last but not least, thanks to Sascha for sending me a package from Germany. I now have two cans of precious German beer and a bunch of new CDs. Kick arse! :-)
posted at 02:21
Saturday, December 01, 2001
On Thursday I started a diving course with a bunch of guys. After theory lesson on Thursday night, today was our first diving. We learned all the basics in the pool and it just kicks arse! :-)
Really, it is great after you get comfortable, slow down and relax. Just weird to breath under water... I'm very much looking forward to actually dive in the ocean. We will do this next weekend. Tomorrow, there's another lesson in the pool.
After the diving course, I met with some other guys and we went to see a basketball game in the Sydney Superdome. (Photos of this will come later.)
I'm not that much into basketball, but the whole stadium and atmosphere was just great. First there was some women basketball on - Sydney Paragon Panthers vs. AIS. It's kinda sad, but actually nobody really watched that game. The stadium was still real empty, but we had great fun anyways.
The main event was the Sydney Kings vs. Cairns Taipans. And what a game it was! This was just great! The Kings went francy during the first quarter and the Taipans just lost their heads. 49 to 21 or something after the first quarter. In the end the Kings won with 129 to 110.
The show in between the quarters and during the timeouts were most amazing. We got heaps of Cheerleaders, dances, loud music, Santa Claus ran around, some people where selected to throw from the three-point line to win big prizes (and all three failed) and there was even a t-shirt gun! I didn't knew that this really exists, but they where shooting t-shirts in the audience!
All of this fun for AU$ 14. Definitely worthwhile. :-)
Well, I have to get up at around five twenty in the morning, so I better quit now.
posted at 04:42