Variations of Perth

Perth is a beautiful city and the capital of the Western Australian State. Not that I was particulary bored but I had quite a nice view from my room so I thought I would share the impression with you. The photos show the Perth CBD from Canning Highway overlooking the breathtaking Swan River.





The photos are taken at 7am, 5pm and 6:30pm.

Pinnacle Desert

Some 250 kilometres north of Perth (The capital city of Western Australia) lays the world-renowned Nambung National Park. And within this biodiversity hot spot you can find the very unique and spectacular Pinnacle Desert. Rising mysteriously from the dune sands are thousands of limestone pillars, a landscape in strange contrast to the surrounding heath. The Pinnacles were sculptured from limestone by wind, rain, vegetation, sun and time for many thousands of years. These limestone formations of varying colours reach up to four metres.







But not only the Pinnacles are a truly fascinating sight, you will certainly enjoy some kangaroos or wallabies and also the beautiful white-sand beach is only a short drive away. This is the perfect day-trip from Perth and to round up your experience ‘on the road’ you should stop in Cervantes for a nice lobster lunch. Make sure you visit the Pinnacle Desert either during sunrise or sunset to ensure you get some nice photographs to remember your trip.

Beautiful Tassie

Tasmania is a beautiful island in the south-eastern corner of Australia about 250km from the mainland or an two-hour flight from Sydney. The nature is just stunning, some would compare it to the South Island of New Zealand but of cause you should never mention this to the locals here. Diving conditions can be quite beautiful around here, with fantastic visibility and some special creatures like the spotted handfish or the leafy seadragon. In wintertime the visibility is better but of cause the water temperature only around 12 degrees celcius.





I went for a nice drive around the Hobart region from Kingston to Woodbridge, Cygnet and back through the Huon valley. I also tasted some nice Sauvignon Blanc from the Two Bud Spur Vineyard in Gardners Bay. Yummy!

Diving in Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. The island is surrounded by beautiful coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. The beach town of Padangbai in the south east has both and this was the area I choose for some diving.







As you can see on my photos Bali is one of the top diving destinations in the world. Beautiful corals, encounters with Manta Rays and Sharks but also a wealth of macro organism like Pygmy seahorses make any dive trip worthwhile. In the North near Tulamben you can also find the wreck of the USS Liberty. Plan your dive trip around August to October for your best chance to see the fantastic Mola Mola or Sunfish.

Ну, погоди!

Nu pogodi! which means something like 'You just wait' is a Russian animated series. The series was created in 1969 and became a popular cartoon of the Soviet Union. One I crew up with and a very funny one indeed. The series follows the comical adventures of an artistic and mischievous wolf trying to catch (and presumably eat) a hare. Like Tom and Jerry, the series has additional characters that usually either help the hare or interfere with the wolf's plans.
The Wolf is initially portrayed as a hooligan who eagerly turns to vandalism, abuses minors, breaks laws, and is a heavy smoker. The Hare on the other side is portrayed as a supposedly positive hero. He gets much less screen time and is less developed than the Wolf, and most of his actions are simply reactions to the Wolf's schemes. Therefore, the sympathies of some viewers are more with the Wolf. I just love it and its a great thing to be able to find those episodes on the internet again.

Sanya

Sanya is the southernmost city in China's island province Hainan. Sanya is renowned for its tropical climate and is a popular tourist destination. The Guanyin Statue of Hainan is one of the main attractions. The 108 meter tall statue of the bodhisattva Guan Yin, has three aspects; one side faces inland and the other two face the South China Sea, to represent blessing and protection by Guan Yin of China and the whole world. This is currently the fourth tallest statue in the world.
The statue took six years to build and was enshrined on April 24, 2005, with the participation of 108 eminent monks from various Buddhist groups in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China, and tens of thousands of pilgrims.

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand and a paradise for scuba divers. It is named 'Turtle Island' after the turtle-like shape of the island. Coincidentally, the island is also an important breeding ground for Hawksbill turtles and Green turtles. You can reach Koh Tao by ferries from Surat Thani (4 hours day boat, 9 hours on overnight boat), Chumphon (1.5 to 3 hours), Koh Samui (approx 2.5 hours) and Koh Phangan (approx 1 hour). The island has quite developed in the last 15 years and the most popular place for tourists is Sairee on the West coast, which has a white sandy beach of 1.7 km interrupted only by a few huge boulders and a scattering of medium budget resorts and restaurants.
Koh Tao is less developed than Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, but has become increasingly popular especially with the mid-20's backpacker crowd in search of relatively inexpensive scuba diving certification. Apart from scuba diving there is also some great hiking, climbing, kayaking and free-diving on offer. Check it out, Koh Tao is definitely worth the visit. The photo shows the view down to Sairee Beach and Koh Nang Yuan.