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2007 - March - Back to index |
Ola's blog |
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Soundtrack of my life Wanderlust David Sylvian |
The Mattick research group took some time off to brainstorm on the good old North Stradbroke Island. The four-day retreat was a success and the talks that people gave were just fantastic.
During our lunchbreak on Friday we headed for Point Lookout to grab some gelati and went for a walk on the cliffs. Saw several large turtles and a pod of some twenty playful dolphins from a distance. This was fancy enough, but the most extraordinary scene followed when we walked to the edge of the gorge: the waves had forced a school of large fish (each of which was the size of a rainbow trout) to the bottom of the gorge, and a 1.5-meter shark was chasing them around. In the photo Jan, Lorenzo, Marjan and Giulia are watching the drama.
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Masterpieces of international cuisine were served for dinner every night, and after the meal games were played. Below, Chol Hee, Fernanda and Paulo twist and shout.
Went diving northwest of the Flat Rock on Saturday, and had some amazing beginner's luck - the ocean was teeming with life. Pufferfish were abundant; a curious leopard shark investigated our intentions from a close distance for quite a while; five huge eagle rays passed by, as large and white as airplanes; and, last but not least, a dolphin mother and baby swam right above us, talking together in their beautiful tongue.
* Map courtesy of UniDive.
Towards the end of the captivating underwater show, I almost ran out of air, so I was forced to ascend far too quickly for my own good. With all the nitrogen in my blood, the fairly choppy sea, and the boat (which stayed anchored between the two dives) tossing and turning vigorously around every axis, I ended up feeding the fish and skipping the second dive. No regrets whatsoever, the first dive was worth every barf - and by the time the others descended for the second dive, the visibility had gone all bad anyway...
I had a surprise visitor at the uni. Her name is Squeaky, and she squeaks (hence the name).
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Soundtrack of my life Jumala halkaisi ihmisen kahtia YUP |
There's a bushfire somewhere, and Brisbane is covered with smoke. I love the smell, it reminds me of driving around in the green, lush hills on Cote d'Azur, where houseowners used to burn their rubbish in their backyards.
Went diving on Cook Island to complete my PADI Open Water. Nobody needs to hear this for the quazillionth time, but diving is nothing short of spectacular. It wasn't just the huge sea turtle, passing by me so gracefully right in front of my nose (in water he is beautiful), it was not only because of the batfish fluttering around in weird motions. It's the immense beauty you see in the evening behind your closed eyelids just before you're falling asleep.
One of the things you need to master to receive your certification is the fin pivot at the bottom of the ocean. You can think of a fin pivot as an underwater push-up, accomplished with your lungs instead of your arms. Well, before you can come up, you must go down - however, just as I was lying myself down on the seafloor, I noticed with surprise that it started moving around. A well-camouflaged LP-sized stingray fled from me, alarmed by this huge creature obviously planning to squish him.
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Soundtrack of my life She's an Angel They Might Be Giants |
Suddenly I felt this terrible urge to eat some blinis, but that's all right - they do sell buckwheat flour here.
The coastal road from Melbourne to Adelaide is famous for its picturesque scenery. Below a view over the Bells Beach.
The coast is littered with cute little townships such as Apollo Bay, which has some fascinating modern art including this gaudi-esque water fountain (or "bubbler", as they call it over here) on the beach promenade.
The highlight of the day was seeing the Twelve Apostles at the Port Campbell National Park (though in reality there are just eight of them). Touristy as they may be, these gigantic remnants of the old coastline rising from the turmoiling sea did take my breath away.
Many of the cliffs, such as the ones in Loch Ard Gorge, remind me more than a little of Bonifacio in Corsica.
The natural formations are constantly on the verge of collapse. One of the apostles spontaneously disintegrated only two years ago, while the gap in the London Bridge (left in the picture below) was created when an arch crumbled practically under the feet of some tourists in 1990.
After all these years, we're finally heading for Melbourne. Southbank, Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Greece, St Kilda - here we come!
Our hotel was located right across the street from the Queen Victoria Market. The selection of foreign beer and French cheese was enough to make a grown woman cry - how come there's nothing like this in Brissy?? Tiny pancakes a.k.a. poffertjes from the market's food court soothed my despair, however.
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The city has numerous phantasmagorical little bars hidden in tiny alleys. Double Happiness had beautiful coffee martinis, Cherry tremendously nice sofas, and Troika Bar an awesomely Mother-ish decoration (as in Mother Bar & Kitchen, Helsinki - may she rest in peace). The most inaccessible of bars was the Croft Institute, very much like the delusion of a mad scientist. The loo - excuse me, the female hygiene department! - of the night club was equipped with a stretcher in case it would be all too much for the occasional tourist.
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Brunswick Street in Fitzroy had some venues with very catchy names and was all in all downright shagadelic.
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