Designing a Life
I have now been at home here in Norway for about a month. It's pretty good to be back,
but at the same time I really miss Oz. I sure miss my office down there, the climate,
my friends and the entire life really. go figure. :-P
After my return I have seen both my parents, helped my brother move into his new
house. He bought a very nice house together with his girlfriend. a very adult thing to
do. Whats even more adult is the fact that their having a baby in about two weeks. its
gonna be awesome! Our dad tells us that its only the first twenty years that are the
worst. I'm sure they'll do great.
After seeing my family for a little while I returned to Trondheim to find myself a
job. The last week before easter I got myself a part-time job as a driver for a
chinese restaurant. It will provide some cash, but its only temporary.
During this coming week I have three interviews for "real" jobs. It's going to be
interesting. The two dive centers in town also want me to work for them.
so at the moment there are no problems in getting a job here in Norway.
Its quite cool to be in this postition really. I have now the opportunity to design
the life I want. Do I want to work with kids in a kindergarden, or do I want to be the
manager of a housing complex for students? Do I want to work as a waiter and a
bartender, or work at one of the dive centers in town?
There are so many possibilities at hand, but the big question I'm struggling with is
what do I really want to do with my time? what goals do I have? Where do I want myself
to be a year from now? or five?
I've toyed with the idea of working here in norway for a year tops, before setting out
on the next world adventure. I really want to go and see latin america and maybe pick
up spanish. that would be awesome. And I still havent been to south east asia. or
Germany, France, Spain, Greece or most of Africa. not to mention Canada. would love to
see Canada, but I have a hard time in deciding which coast I should see first.
suggestions?
There are so many places to go, and so many things I want to experience,
and I'm not sure where to start.
Right now I'm borrowing a friends place while he's on easter holiday with his parents.
He'll be back by wedensday, and by then I will have to find somewhere else to live.
I'm a little concerned, but not too much really. I have plenty of friends in town, and
I will be able to crash at different couches until my jobs pay off. no worries, mate!
:-)
So thats my life at the moment. uncertain conditions, but I'm mostly happy and well.
Returning to the old country
I've now been in Norway for about two weeks now and it is a bit weird. Everything seems to be very much the same since before I left. Even so there are subtle differences that shows that things have changed after all. Or maybe I'm the one who's changed. I've seen and done great things, not to mention that I've met alot of really cool people.
My home town of Notodden has got a new football field. They recently placed four huge towers with enough lights to power a small latin american country. These lights are causing major discussions and there has been an outcry in the local paper Telen. So there's alot going on in sweet old Notodden.
The last leg of my journey was from London to Oslo, and due to alot of air traffic we had to fly north up to Stavanger. From Stavanger we flew over the mountains and it was really cool stuff. I looked out the window and I suddenly recognized Tinnsjøen (Lake Tinn). I could see Rjukan, and further south I saw Tinnelva, Notodden and Heddalsvannet. It was awesome. I ran across to the other side of the aircraft and was mesmerized by the landscape. I'm sure the other passangers wondered what kind of weirdo I was, but I didn't care. When we got closer to Oslo Airport I could see the oslo fjord all the way past Drøbak and further down the coast.
Its probably a good thing I'm not a pilot cause I'd be delayed all the time. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. due to unforseen events we will have to cruise around this mountain and over the fjord for about half an hour. A drink will go to the first passanger who spots any raindeer or whales." hehe...
My plan for the near future is to go back up to Trondheim again. The plan for now is to get a haircut and a job. I've applied for a job in a company that needs staff who can speak both swedish and norwegian. It will be great if I get it, and if I don't I'll find something else. no worries, mate.
I'm really looking forward to seeing all my friends up there again. I've been missing you guys. And believe it or not I have really missed the diving in Norway, too.
Drunken nights in Adelaide
Alright. The last two weeks of my stay here in Australia I have spent down in Adelaide, South Australia. This is where my brother Björn lives and studies, and he will be here for another year. I have been here two times before and its always a blast. We hang out on the beach, do some juggling or acrobatics and generally behave like we normally do. Other days we go to the pub and try to find out what is hiding in the bottom of all those pints. a great past time if you ask me.
Today we are going to go south to Victor Harbor and do some surfing. I have never tried surfing before so it will be interesting. Björn has done it a few times (surfing you perverts), so he will show us the ropes I guess. We've rented a van, some boards, and a couple of wetsuits. It is comforting to know that there are Great White Sharks in these waters. It will keep us on our toes for sure. haha..
A couple of days ago we left the brand spanking new appartment that Björn and his friend got the same day. we were just going to get something to eat so I didn't need proper clothes. I therefore strolled off in my singlet, a pair of shorts and a pair of thongs (australian for flip-flops). We ended up on a street side cafe where we met some of their other friends from school. We had a pizza and the beer jugs kept on coming. One of the girls had her parents visiting, and they shouted us the beer all night. horrible people. So needless to say we got rather smashed by the end of it. My brothers housemate went home cause he was not feeling very well. too much alcohol will do that to you. my brother and I stayed out a bit longer, and returned maybe an hour later.
My brothers friend, whose identity will be protected, had passed out on the floor of their new appartment. Björn and I knocked on the door, banged on the windows and shouted his name, but to no avail. he did not react. Björn called him, and we could actually see the display of his phone through the window. he really was passed out. luckily for us the window was open, but we could only open it a little bit. we pushed the fly screen in, and it fell down on to the floor. The friend did not react. Björn picked up the fly screen and preceded to hit him with it. several times. most people would wake up at that stage. but our friend? no no no... he was still passed out. well. he did move a little bit and started to moan. but he was still legally unconscious.
We had to do something else to get in. Björn started to squeeze in through the window, but it was really tight. he could barely get his chest through, but only when he had totally emtied his lungs. the stomach was easy, but then he reached the hips. his belt and pants got caught on the window, and to get in he had to take them off. We were both laughing our heads off, while he fell butt naked into the room. I'm sure our parents would be proud of us. I'm really glad none of the neighbors saw us, because it would be difficult to explain to the cops. Three drunk guys, one passed out and another one butt naked found in a totally emty appartment.
Since they hadn't gotten their stuff yet we just slept on the floor. Good times.
Thoughts....
roof is deafening. The streets are quickly turning into rivers and the visibility is down to less than 200 meters.
The thunder is rolling across the land some distance away. quite impressive really.
Almost a year ago I left Norway after enjoying lunch with a good friend of mine. after a rather uneventful journey I
landed in Cairns, and the humidity and heat was like walking into a brick wall. I did a little bit of diving before
traveling south. In Airlie Beach I met some dive instructors from Hamilton Island. we had a nice night out and I
continued down to Adelaide the next day.
My dad and another brother joined us in Adelaide and we traveled around for a few weeks. we went to Kangaroo Island, Barossa Valley and we also did a road trip to Bathurst among other things. The owner of a dive center on Hamilton Island called me and offered me a job, even though I hadn't applied. they needed instructors and they liked what they saw.
I went up to Hammo, and basically worked there for six months. I made lots of new friends, learned alot as an
instructor and had a great time. Torkel even came down to visit. I had a great time. Björn was also able to come
visit. great stuff. really appreciated that guys. The owner of H2O Sportz hated to see me go and offered me to stay
even though I really wasn't allowed by my visa.
But it was time to move on. I wanted to see more of Australia and not to mention the Great Barrier Reef.
I applied for jobs up in Cairns, the dive capitol of Australia. Some companies were interested and I quickly
accepted the job as a dive instructor on the Spirit of Freedom. Especially when they told me about the diving and
the fact that we were going to do shark feeding. Sharks have always fascinated me and I am always glued to the television when there's a documentary about the predators of the sea. This time I was going to interact with them for real.
My good friend Vegard came down to visit me in Cairns. he was on his way to go to Canada with his girlfriend and
another mate. He took and extra week off work and decided to come and see me as well. It was great to see you pal, even if we didn't do much becides drinking beer, playing poker and chatting to women. But that can be fun its own way too.
Right after I started working up here I got some good news and some bad news from back home. The good news was that my brother Tomas is going to be a father. The bad news was that my dad had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Suddenly my life in Australia felt very unimportant and I felt very far away from my family.
Not long after that I was offered a sponsorship. That means that Spirit Of Freedom will sponsor a four year work
visa, and in return I will have to work for them for another two years. What a dilemma! I have a great job that I like but at the same time I'm very far away from my family back home.
My family wanted me to come home and after thinking about the pros and cons I decided to go home. For this time
anyway. I might come back to Australia, who knows, but I doubt if I will work here again.
Even though I really don't know what I will do in Norway I will be alot closer to my loved ones. There are two
simple options as I see it. get a job in Notodden where my dad and brother lives, or get a job in Trondheim where I
have all my friends. I might also do a year of teacher ed and in that case I will be a qualified teacher. At the moment I favorise Trondheim because thats where I've been living for the last seven years. This last week I have been registering my CV in several different places and I have started to look for a job.
I'm quite fortunate to have friends who have offered me to come stay at their place for a while.Several of my
friends in Trondheim have told me that it alright if I want to go to Notodden to think things over for a while. as
long as I don't spend to much time thinking. If I do, they will come down, pack my things for me and take me up to
Trondheim. You just have to love friends like that.
I have seen and done some amazing things here in Australia. I have seen more sharks and whales than I could count, I have been swimming right next to huge turtles and I have been bitten by an eel. I've had a penguin on my shoulder (alright. technically that was in New Zealand), and I have been in my first and only fight. I have seen huge
spiders, almost stepped on snakes, and I have cuddled koalas and kangaroos. I might also have encountered some interesting women. It's been a great year. But now it's time to go home.
Klas
Leap of faith
It was done at AJ Hacket just outside Cairns, and it is beautifully located in the rainforest. I would pay money just for the view from the tower. emotionally I was scared but logically I knew it was safe (enough). I got myself psyched up, ran up on the tower and was the first to jump. It was awesome. I will definatly do that again.
anyway.. without much further ado... I give you Bungyjumping!
Another thing I do on a regular basis also requires some faith and trust in that everything will be alright. Out on Osprey Reef we organise shark feeding every saturday morning. Its pretty damn awesome I must say. I also think it is one of the most exiting things you ever will do under water. (sex included). haha...
Tomorrow I go out on the boat again and won't be back until monday the 24th. have a merry xmas everyone!
I'm still alive
Last week we had a large school of barracuda circling under the boat. The visibility was at least 40 meters and we also had lots of sharks in the area. words seem so inadequate to describe it all. I truly feel lucky to be able to experience what I do.
The coolest thing we do must be the shark feeding. every saturday we go to the North Horn of Osprey Reef. We position the guests in a semicircle with the coral wall behind them. When everyone is ready we lower a trashcan filled with tunafish on a chain. At this point there are at least 30 sharks circling us. When we open the trashcan and the tuna are exposed the sharks go into feeding frenzy. At that point the number of sharks probably doubles. White tip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, and silvertip sharks. Sometimes we get the occasional hammerhead as well. Potato Cods the size of small cars cruise in an give the sharks a run for their money. It is a gladiatorial spectacle with no comparison, and is probably the most exiting thing you can do under water. There are no cages, fences or anything like that. The sharks go after the tuna and we take photos. It's awesome. When the tuna is all eaten and the sharks swim away we can go in and collect the shark teeth that fell out during the fight.
enough about that.
I will be returning to Norway in February and I'm not sure if I look forward to that or not. I really like Australia, but at the same time I miss my family and friends. My family is in Notodden and most of my friends are up in Trondheim. Maybe I'll have to settle somewhere in the middle?
Tomorrow I go out for another week at sea. I'm sure it will be alot of fun. If you're lucky I'll tell you all about it when I'm back again.
Next stop Coral Sea
until next time...
:-D
Haircut and a job
I got up here to Cairns early sunday afternoon and I had quite a few butterflies in my stomach. no not literally, but the imagined feeling of having butterflies flying around in there. smartass....
Anyway. I got the bus into town, found a hostel and checked into a dorm room. I immediatly got along well with the guy in the reception, him being canadian and all. I always get along great with canadians for some reason.
After checkin was complete and I got all my bags into the room I went for a little walk. went to the local market and bought some rockmelons and some pineapples. great stuff! I came back to the hostel and found a hammock on the balcony. I must admit I fell asleep there for a few hours and it was great.
At night I went to the local pub and befriended some navy divers. pretty cool guys I must say. several of them had been to Iraq and all over the world. now they were on their way up to Torres Strait (the strait between PNG and Australia) to change some moorings or something.
Yesterday I got up early and got myself a haircut before I went back to the hostel and slept some more. Afterwards I called Tusa Dive, the dive center behind Spirit of Freedom and organized an interview. And two hours later I was the newest crewmember on board. I start next monday. I am just too handsome. haha...\
I will work one week on and one week off. that means I will be able to travel around and see some of Australia on my week off. good thing for sure. but the job it self is pretty sweet. We cater for the upper end of the diver market. There will be only certified divers on the boat and my job will simply be to guide them around the dive sites. We will go to the best sites and experience shark feeding and lots of other cool stuff. I cant wait to get out there.
This morning I was down in the reception talking to the friendly canadian when a familiar face walked in through the door. It was an old mate of mine from Norway. It was Rasmus from Dykkergruppa. He was just down here on a conference with his job. how cool is that? The world is a tiny place.
I am now on my way down to the lagoon to read a book and relax in the sun.
Do you hate me even more, Torkel? :-D
One adventure ends, the next begins
This morning we went up to the northern tip of whitsunday island for a little snorkel safari. I was responsible for taking the trained divers and two introdivers. I must say that todays conditions was the worst I've experienced in the six months I've been here. We had quite a big swell with large waves, and the visibility was less than 2 meters. The low viz was caused my a massive rain storm we had yesterday. Luckily I had two really good introdivers so the conditions were just barely acceptable. we saw heaps of fish and on the way back we even spotted two bottlenose dolphins.
I have learned alot from working in the Whitsundays. I was an experienced diver and instructor when I got down here, but I knew little about the resort life and how a dive center works. That bit has changed for sure. I have certified twenty-something open water students, a handfull Advanced students and also three Rescue students. Not to mention the about fifty introdivers I have taken diving.
I have also completed several courses. Recreational Boat licence, Elements of Shipboard Safety, Senior First Aid, and DAN O2 Provider. I have also accumulated a little more than 100 days of seatime. That will come in handy if and when I can do the next boating course.
More importantly I have made lots of friends down here. Not just on the island but all over Australia. I have also been invited to go to Canada, Finland, Reunion Island (East of Madagaskar), US of A and France to name a few places. It would be cool if I could visit just a few of those countries sometime in the future.
It will be a bit sad leaving the island but I am more exited than anything else really. Even though I don't have a place to stay, no friends and no job in Cairns just yet. But thats no problem. Who can resist my charming smile?
:-D
Sunday morning I am flying to Cairns. I have three companies up there who are all desperate for instructors. Spirit of Freedom is a liveaboard boat, Coral Princess is a cruiseship and ProDive is the largest dive center in Cairns.
The job on the liveaboard boat will consist of mostly guiding certified divers around some awesome divesites. No courses except for the occasional Advanced course or Nitrox course. It is a boat that concentrates on the upper end of the market and will offer some incredible diving.
The Cruiseship will also offer some pretty good diving, but will consist of more snorkling and introdiving. maybe even the odd Open Water course. and if there are a group of trained divers I guess we'll take them diving somewhere. It is a larger ship and also for the upper end of the market and I anticipate there is a pretty good chance of some large tips. The down side of this one is definatly dealing with overweight unfit (rich) people who want to do introdives. I have been doing that here on Hamilton for the last six months so it won't be a problem. It will still be frustrating at times. I think the cruiseship is the most desperate company because they have called me several times. they even asked me when I could start working before they had seen my CV.
ProDive is the largest and most busy dive center in Cairns. They have just certified their diver number 90 000. They are a factory producing divers every day. There will be ALOT of courses and even some trips on a liveaboard. They usually do all the classroom and pool training on land and finish of the open water dives out on the reef. They are supposedly very professional.
I'll tell y'all more about Cairns when I get up there.
Departure from the island
Today I sent an email up to five different dive companies up in Cairns applying for a job. I will leave Hamilton Island in three weeks and head up there and hopefully I will have a job waiting for me when I arrive. I'm not to worried anyway, cause friends have told me they always need dive instructors up there. If there is a problem somewhere I can always return to Hammo. The boss here told me he'd be happy for me to come back if it doesn't work out. But I see no reason why it shouldn't.
It will be a bit sad leaving the friends I have gotten to know so far, and at the same time very exiting to go to a new place. Not to mention that it will be great to return to the real world again. cars, supermarkets, movie theatres, KFC and not to mention lots of people. it is going to be great!
I'll hopefully know more about job opportunities within a couple of days.
The day I almost met Steve Irwin
Today I could have met Steve Irwin. If the poor bugger didn't scare that stingray last year that is. When we came back from an excellent afternoon snorkeling up at Hayman Island we saw "Croc One" in the marina. That is the boat that Irwin used when he filmed many of his documentaries from the ocean. It might even be the one he used when he had that accident september 4th last year. The boat just berthed as we came back and recognised their boat from the documentaries. It was really cool! After I had checked in at the dive shop I went over and had a little chat with two of the crew members. They let me take a picture or two and were very friendly. I even got a tip for where I should get a job after I'm done here. I was a bit dumbfounded and couldn't really speak properly.
I mean.. Steve Irwin , among other things, inspired me to come down to Australia in the first place. and now I saw the boat and met a couple of the guys that had worked with the man himself for many many years. The passion for nature portrayed by Irwin, Sir David Attenborough and Jaques Yves Cousteau , has in fact inspired alot of my interest for the wildlife, nature and not to mention the ocean. It was a great ending to an already very good day.
Last week I had an interesting dream. I dreamt I was at a large shopping center somewhere. All the people were gathered right in the center of it. It was a political rally and we were all waiting for Barack Obama. For some reason I knew him and I didn't really talk to any of the other people waiting. Before he went up on stage I had a little chat with him. I remember asking him what the difference between Clinton, Letterman (yes. Dave Lettermans son was also running for president) and himself was. He smiled to me and replied:" there is no real political difference, so I'll have to win it with my charm and my wit." I don't think I hung around to listen to the rally.
hehe...
Any suggestions on what this dream may mean? I know Vegard used to interpret my dreams back in the day, and it was always interesting to listen to what he had to say. hint hint....
Where am I now?
Well..tomorrow I have been away from Norway for 6 months and I have experienced alot. I have seen a little bit of Cairns and the dive industry up there, I have seen my brother in Adelaide, Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, and I have worked in the whitsundays for almost five months now. My good friend Torkel, and not to mention my brother Björn have both been here to visit.
Diving wise I have had 100 dives down under so far, I have also certified 15-20 open water students and probably around 30 introdivers. I have done a course that allows me to drive a boat (recreational boat licence) and also completed Elements of Shipboard Safety.
My work experience has been a learning experience for sure. I have been diving for many years now and have been very active in the dive club back home. I have was also an instructor for almost a year back home before I left for Australia. Even though I had lots of previous experience with diving, I felt like a complete newbie when I started working here. Beeing a dive instructor and working with paying customers on holiday is very different from what I was used to. We have to deal with people with bad or no swimming skills, being understaffed on the boat, making and serving food, and we have to do this in an efficient manner. and aways with a smile. the last part is not a problem because I do love talking to people.
Ideally you would like to use the correct amount of weights on introdivers and open water students. the right amount would be just enough weights to make them float at eye level with an emty BCD and a normal breath of air in their lungs. We just don't have the time to adjust the weights, so therefore we overweigh all of them to make sure that we'll get them to sink. This is just one example where we have to prioritise efficiency or economy above ideal diving. There are many more.
Another issue is the Hamilton Island as a whole. The island is very much the paradise resort. The real world does not exist here. There are no normal people just doing their own little thing here. You are either a guest on holiday, or you work in hospitality taking care of the guests. It's also a very small place, where everyone knows everyone. ut gets a bit claustrophobic after a while.
I am thinking about leaving the island and going somewhere else. somewhere I could learn more as a dive instructor, see more of Australia and last but not least I would like to work in the real world somewhere. somewhere with more than one general store and one bar.
We saw more whales yesterday just as we were leaving Bait reef. There were five of them and they came right up to the boat. There were two adult bulls harassing a female with a newborn calf and a yearling. They were all over her, trying to seperate her from her calfs by pushing themself in between. it was quite dramatic with alot of rolling and splashing. They almost pushed them up on the reef it self. The guests on the boat said things like "oh look.. they are so beautiful.. they are playing with eachother... thats so cute..."
I don't know, but two 35 tonne animals trying to rape another one, while almost drowning the calf is not very cute in my book.
hehe....
Sharks, progress and life in general
"aren't you afraid of the sharks?" This is a very common question people ask me, both friends back home and guests on the dive boat. I simply tell people that I am not to worried. After all... The crocodiles usually get them. :-P
On a more serious note I do see sharks from time to time. Around the islands I have seen sharks twice out of parhaps 40-50 dives, and around the outer reef I see them on 2 out of 3 dives. So they are around. We usually see white-tip reef sharks, but every now and then we see other species like blacktips, bronze whalers, lemon sharks, and wobbegongs. They are all pretty much harmless. There are also some other sharks around who are not quite as placid. There are tiger sharks, bull sharks and hammerhead sharks around here, too. They are however rarely seen, and therefore people forget about them. But they are around for sure. Two weeks ago they closed down the beach here because a large hammerhead came cruisin into the shallows. They tried to chase it away with a dingy, but the shark kept coming back. small incidents like that sure makes the diving around here a little more exiting. But I'm not worried. the last shark attack in this area happened almost ten years ago.
I posted an entry about goals for this year a while ago. among other things I want to get into better shape and learn how to drive boats. The last week or so I have noticed that I have lost a fair bit around my waist and gained some muscles. Yesterday I weighed myself and I have lost in total 4 or 5 kgs. I now weigh a healthy 80 kgs, and will probably loose a little bit more. I feel stronger, faster and more fit than I have done in a while. good feeling.
Last saturday I was over to the mainland and did my recreational boating licence, and I am going over there again. This time to do a course in Elements in Shipboard Safety. its mainly about how to prevent problems with fires, pirates and giant sharks. or something like that. I will let you know more after I'm back.
Tuesday I went out for a second day trip with the french guys. This time we had a really good BBQ for lunch. The dives were also really good. we heard whales, saw a couple of barracudas and even had really good visibility. The french guys have also become really good under water. so my job was easy. great day!
Private charter
The last weeks have been awesome. I have had a bunch of good dives where I've seen sharks, rays, lobsters, and nudibranchs. Not to mention the fact that the divers I've had lately have been pretty fit and of alright skill level. My favorite encounter was probably the Magnificent Chromodoris. I think I have the name correct on that one, but I'm not sure.
My underwater camera has a problem with reading the memory card. I'll try to sort that out as soon as possible.
In the meantime you'll have to be satisfied by checking out my friend Torkel's videos from his visit Down Under.
Enjoy!
Impressions, goals, and the next port of call
Today I flew back from Sydney to Hamilton Island. It was a two hour flight, and even if I slept some, I also did alot of thinking. I've done alot of that lately...
The surroundings here in the whitsunday islands are truly spectalular. I've had some really good dives during the past two weeks. I've seen a black-tip reef shark, barracuda and lots of different nudibranchs. we've had good visibility and its been really good in general. We've also had whales right up to the boat. again. On wedensday we had a female humpback and her calf play less than 25 meters from the boat. it was pretty cool, but I must admit that the novelty has worn off a little.
But then again there are som sides that are not so good. Hamilton Island is a tiny island with only a couple of thousand people. There are only a few restaurants, two pubs and one nightclub. not that I'm the one who will run around the nightscene all the time, but it gives you a picture on how small this place is. Everything on this island revolves around the tourism and there are not alot of the real world present. I miss things as a movie theatres, martial arts and other things from the real world.
My working holiday visa entitles me to work in Australia for a year. But only for a maximum of 6 months for the same employer, so my time is here is up the 21st of october. supposedly. BUT I have been offered to stay longer. The guy who owns the dive shop has several businesses and he told me he would gladly pay my wages through one of his other ones. That way we would go around the visa rules and regulations.
Australia is on the other hand a large and diverse country, and it would be a shame to stay in one place my entire stay. There are lots of other places which I could go to. Cairns and Port Douglas for instance. they have lots of dive companies that offer much more diverse jobs. everything from open water courses to day trips to liveaboards. Cairns is also a city of about 150 000 people and have lots of stuff you'd find in any normal city.
But then again there are other places that could be interesting too. I checked out Padi and they are looking for a swedish or norwegian dive instructor in Thailand. I have also been told the diving in New Zealand is supposed to be really good. The world is huge and the opportunities are everywhere. if you can see them. Even though I would like to see the south eastern part of Asia I think I will stay in Oz for now. the wage is better here, and I will only have this visa once in my life. So the question remains. where do I go next? There are also the possibility of going south instead of north. Like Sydney.
I just spent a weekend there visiting a friend of mine. not just any friend, but a cute canadian one. :-D She came up here a little more than a month ago and went out on the dive boat with us. she invited me down to sydney and I took her invitation seriously and went down there. The weekend was great. she took me to the aquarium and a zoo and I used a fake ID for the first time in my life. She works as a teacher and teachers get in for free, so she had borrowed the ID of a friend of hers so I also would get in for free. I'm a rebel. wuhuu.. We also went to Manly, a suburb to the north of downtown.
The nerd within me thought it was hilarious that alot of things in Manly is named after the area. Like the beach. Manly Beach... now say that again.... Manly Beach... and try imagine what kind of beach it could be.hehe.. I laughed my head off reading all those signs.
Anyway.. we also checked out a dive center down there and they said I might be able to work for them during weekends. they will need more instructors towards summer, but we'll see what happens.
Another thing I have on my mind is what I will do after this year in Australia is over. again there are lots of possibilities. My dad is offering me a job, but I'm not sure if I like the idea of working in and around Notodden (my home town. . Another option is to go to Trondheim. In Trondheim I have lots of friends from my study years, but I would need to find a job and somewhere to live. managable challenges for sure. And the diving up in Trondheim is alot better than Notodden for sure.. hehe...
I had this conversation with my mother not so long ago.she quickly replied: "do you have to come home then?"
Her point is that if I like the dive industry down here I should stay here. and not worry too much about what to do in Norway. she has a valid point I must say. Diving was a hobby before I came down to Oz, but now I realize that people actually make their living from it. maybe it is something for me? Time will tell.
Want to know what my favorite poem is? alright I'll tell you. It's "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
Oh yeah... another thing
I have been bitten by another fish again. this time it was a White Damsel, and it was protecting its little nest in the sand. Normally I see them when they swim towards me and shake their little heads in a general threat display. I just shake my head back at them, and keep swimming. this time I didn't see it coming and suddenly I felt a little bite on top of my head. I looked up and saw this little bugger swim off with a confident sway. hehe... funny little fellow.
A day at the office
Today I was the snorkel guide for about 25 people. a little hectic a times, but I had enough time to play around a little. Listen for the whales. Enjoy!
Whales and other news from Down Under
It has been whale season for a while, and I have been acustomed to seeing them every now and then. Sometimes we see the humpies (aussie english for Humpback whales) right outside the marina, and other times around the islands, but the most common place to see them is between the outer reef and the islands.
On our way home from the reef today we saw several whales. we saw three different groups of whales with a total of at least ten individuals. the second group came right up to our boat today. I got some semigood pictures and a pretty awesome video. It would have been so super cool to be freediving with them, but I guess we can't do that with a boat full of useless swimmers. Enjoy the footage!
And in other news....
A couple of weeks ago I had an Open Water student from New York. not only did he come from the Big Apple, but he also works as a journalist at the New York Post. If only all my students and introdivers were like him. excellent swimmers and totally at home in the water. It was really good to be able to concentrate on the diving itself for once. yes you do need to be able to swim before you do a dive course. but that's another discussion.
Anyway.. Michael wrote an article about his dive course, and what it was like to do it here in Oz and got it published. so with no further ado...
Open Water - Can a rookie diver survive Australia's Great Barrier Reef?
My celebrity status grows... :-P
Pic of the day:
Cuttlefish
Sunday we went out to Bait Reef again, and we had a great day. The weather was great with a clear blue sky and almost no wind. the water was like glass, and the ride out there was just great. We saw a couple of whales right before we got to the reef. Humpbacks as usual. They come up here to breed and to mate at this time of year and they are just all over the place now. Aren't they awesome? pictures are posted here.
During the snorkeling I saw what I first thought was a school of fish. at second glance I noticed that they didn't swim quite like fish. I held my breath, went down and had a closer look, and discovered that they were cuttlefish. Ain't english great? even if they are not fish, but molluscs, they are still called fish.
I went down again abit later and filmed a little bit. they changed color when I came close. it was awesome!
Today we did alot of maintenance on Reef Spirit, and among many other things I scrubbed the hull. It is quite weird hanging upside down in water for almost an hour, but I like it. I'm all alone and don't have any people I have to look out for, its relatively quiet and I get alot of thinking done. few of the other staff members at the shop like the hull scrub, but I'm used to low to zero visibility so I don't mind at all.
Entry nr 100! An interesting day
Lets hope I will keep it up in the future, too. :-)
I was supposed to get the day off today, and I planned to come out on the dive boat and just have a couple of fun dives. But things changed when the phone rang and woke me up at around eight o'clock. It was Scott, my housemate, and he wanted to go to the mainland today. They therefore needed someone to work on the boat, and since I was already on there, I might as well get paid. Great stuff!
To make a semi-long story short I messed up today. I was responible for getting everybody late in getting in the water at the dive site, and after the dive my group of divers had to do a 300 meter surface swim to get back to the boat. But when the day was over I still ended up with a 50 dollar tip. Why? Because I did all the briefings on the boat today. I did the safety briefing before we left the marina, and that is always fun. I always throw in lots of jokes to keep the passangers attention.
"Remember to pull down on the lifejacket when you leave the vessel. if you don't you will bite your tounge off, we will have blood in the water, and YOU will be kicked to the outside of the circle at that point."
They always love shit like that. hehe...
I also did the briefing for the snorklers and then I did the briefing for the certified divers. Including in that is quite alot of paperwork because we have to make sure that we identify potential risky people before they enter the water. Since I did all of this, and also socialized with the guests in between everybody got to know me a little. and the other way around. I am also pretty good at relating to other people and finding something that we have in common, even if it is only a dirty phrase in french. It doesn't matter. I can make people smile and feel good most of the time.
The rest of the crew did their job as well, or even better than me today. since they didn't cause any delays like I did, and did not get lost under water either. BUT the big difference is that they almost didn't talk to the passengers at all.
That's why I got the tip and nobody else did, and I have no bad conscience when I keep it to myself.
Tomorrow I will be on the snorkel safari in the afternoon. It's going to be good. always is. :-D
The Vikings went to Australia!
I have been to this spot probably twenty times or so, and I thought I knew it inside out. But I noticed something new that means that the Vikings probably went here when they conquered the rest of the world about a thousand years ago. Check it out here!
The whale season is upon us down here, and I have seen them on several occasions. The first couple of times they were far away, and I could just barely see them when they surfaced. Then on the way home from Bait Reef (one of the outer reefs and a part of Great Barrier Reef), we saw them breaching. Now THAT is impressing. seeing an animal up to 35 tons hurl itself completely out of the water. totally awesome. A couple of days ago three of them came right up to the boat. The skipper informed us that there was two or three males chasing a female. It was probably something in between a mating ritual and a gang rape. They got right up to the boat and swam under us. I got some photos and uploaded them to my profile on facebook.
The coolest experience with a whale , sofar I might add, was when I took two trained divers diving out on Bait Reef. We started in the shallows of the protected lagoon and enjoyed that for a while. Then I took them to the outside of a row of coral bommies we call The Stepping Stones. The outside drops off from about 10-12 meters down to 25-30 meters. If you go straight out you can obviously go deeper. The visibility that day was incredible and we could easily see more than 25 meters. There were lots of fish, several of them pretty large pelagics, and a slight current. we just followed the wall going with the current and suddenly I could hear whales singing. not faint and as a part of the background, as I have heard them lots of times before. No.. this time it was very loud. I could just feel it agains my chest and they must have been pretty close. It was just amazing!
After the dive we saw two whales surfacing in the exact spot we just had been diving at. they surfaced about 30 minutes after our dive so they were probably the whales we heard during the dive.
Do you remember the snake I saw a couple of weeks ago? I sent the picture to a reptile park so that they could try to identify it. I got a reply back a couple of days later with a confirmed ID. It was a Whip Snake , but they weren't sure which of the six species it belonged to. most likely the Collared Whip Snake
"..is a venomous species that has variable responses from people being bitten, dependant in part upon the their immune response. Normal response would be similar to that of a bee or wasp bite, but as with these the response can be varied and dramatic"
I have tomorrow off, but I'm still going out for a dive. We haven't been able to go out to the outer reef in about a week because of strong wind. on some days it has been up to 30 knot winds, which results in 2 meter swells and a boat full of seasick people. But now the weather has improved and we're on our way out again.
Looking forward to it!
:-D
P.S. Torkel just left Australia, but last saturday we had a blast. he even got me into singing karaoke. the sucker even filmed us, and not only did he do that but he also posted the video on youtube...
Ninja turtles, whales and finnish pickup-lines
I got myself an underwater camera a couple of weeks ago, and it works great. just check out my pictures on facebook. Today we went up to Blue Perl Bay on Hayman Island, and it was great. No wind, good snorklers in the water and superb visibility. saw lots of the common local life and also ran into a Green Sea turtle. check out the video.
Pretty cool, eh? There was some fog on the lens during this filming and it annoyed me when I later found out. No problem, though. I will get more chances for sure.
A humpback whale surfaced right next to our boat, but I had but my camera inside the cabin. crap! Oh well.. they will be around the islands until the temperature heats up again in september. no worries, mate!
Last week two finnish guys came into the shop and wanted to do their open water course. Unfortunatly I didn't teach them, but I met them on the boat and told them some of the things I know in finnish. useful stuff like;
- Turpa kiini! = shut up
- Haloatko norjalaiista makkaraa? = would you like to taste my norwegian sausage?
- yksi touplahampuralainen perkelen paljo valkosippoli, kiitos = One double hamburger with a hell-of-a-lot of garlic, please
I got on really well with them, and will probably go and visit Björn in Brisbane. It almost felt like I've known them for years. We went out drinking saturday night, and I also ran into them monday night. We had dinner together last night, and it was really great getting to know them. Marti, who is Björns father, lives on Reunion Island an hours flight from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. I told him even though I realy wanted to I couldn't really promise to come visit.
They improved my finnish with the following:
- Olen Hyvä Sängyssä
- Saan Sinut Ulvomaan.
- Teille vai meille?
ten point to whoever you can translate what I learned...
Snakes and broken arrows
Last week I was leading a group of people up the walking track when suddenly appeared right next to my bare foot. normally I don't wear shoes anymore because I don't need them anymore. I jumped when I saw the snake and stepped aside. the snake started to slide away but wasn't very alarmed. It wasn't a python because it was to slender for that, but thats about where my snake skills end. Does anyone recognize this fellow?
anyways..
Last tuesday I went to a seminar/show about being all you can be. no, it was not staged by the recruiting office from the military. hehe. It was about living up to your potential and the guy hosting it showed us that many times fear stops us well before we really need to. He demonstrated this by breaking boards and getting people to mimic him.
He also put an arrow with the tip to his throat and broke it by walking through it. He then volunteered about six of us up on stage to do the same. And since the rest of the group took a big step back, I was the first to go. which was fine by me.
I put the tip of the arrow to my throat, focused on the eyes of the person supporting the other end of the arrow and took a big breath. I was nervous yes, but I knew I could do it. firstly I had seen that guy do just the same thing, and secondly I knew that he wouldn't get strangers to do things that would be potentially harmful. thirdly I know that I have a high threshold of pain and am able to push myself quite far. especially when my brothers are present. If they are not I can easily put them there mentally. anyway. I took a big breath and walked through the arrow. it split into three pieces and they flew across the room. Pretty cool stuff.
check out the guy's web page.
out.
Random glimpses from Australia
The high light of their visit was an amazing sailing trip we did around the islands. We were part of a group of 11 backpackers and 2 crew as we "sailed" around in the Ragamuffin II. I say "sailing" because we had almost no wind at all during the three days we were out there. we had clear skies both day and night and it was really cool. One of my fondest memories from the trip was laying up on the deck of the sailboat at night time, talking to Björn and Torkel, and just admiring the thousands of stars above us. I will always treasure that memory.
The areas we went to were the same places I go to umpteen times per week, so the trip was more about the company than the destinations really. Both of them have gone from the island now. Björn is back down in Adelaide, and Torkel is on his way north. first for a stay up in Townsville and Cairns and then he will go back to Norway.
I must say that I really appreciated the visit, and they mean so much to me both of them. nuff said. instead of writing more girlietalk I will now show you some of the photos of the mean killer crocodiles. :-D
The striped whale
One of the managers of the dive shop told me an interesting story the other day. It all happened about fifteen years ago at White Haven Beach. An instructor was conducting an introdive for a couple of non-divers in the shallows right off the beach, and he lost sight of one of the introdivers. The general rule in diving when it comes to losing fellow divers in the water is very simple. you search for the missing part for 1 minute. If you don't find the person within that minute you go to the surface and find them there.
The instructor did that but the introdiver didn't surface. after a short while they found the bubbles, and went over there just as the diver surfaced. They asked the woman what happened, and she replied:
" I saw this really cool striped whale, and I was able to follow it for maybe five minutes before it disappeared."
The instructor and the rest of the crew went pale, and told everyone to get out of the water. They were going home imediately.
There is no such thing as striped whales. This is what the woman was following.....
And it must have been a fairly big one, too.
We normally go to White Haven Beach two times a week. but I haven't seen any striped whales yet. :-P
Wetsunday Islands
The weather forecast just said that there has been low temperature records all over Queensland during the last couple of days. The cold weather is caused by some freak winds that originate all the way down in the Antarctic. Where is that global warming everyone are talking about?
This photo was taken last week outside Popeye's, the local fish 'n chips shop. I had just finished work and noticed that a couple of lorikeets were bothering an old lady. She was just sitting outside trying to enjoy a cup of coffey. The little buggers are cute, but very smart and cunning. The bird was pulling quite hard and the old lady was holding on. her affection for the little flying rat was quickly turned into anger when it wouldn't let go. hehe... I had today off, and went to the Airlie Beach together with Scott. we caught the first ferry bright and early at seven this morning, and it is all thanks to him. left to myself I would've slept til noon and maybe caught the two'o clock ferry. what can I say? I really like sleeping in.
anyway. First thing I did in Airlie was going to MSQ and got my ROPES book. ROPES is an acronym for National Record of Practical Experience and Sea-Service. The australians really love their acronyms, just like the americans. By completing this book I will cut the seatime required for my coxswain ticket. down from 365 to 182 days of seatime. If you want you can download your own copy here.
Our captain is really eager to teach me all about the vessels, navigation, signals and everything else you would need to know at sea. And I'm eager to learn. I do have some experience from back home, and it has already come in handy.
After we came back I went to the sports club for a bit of a workout, and afterwards I relaxed in the sauna for a while. I was all alone in there (no I didn't fondle myself), and my mind drifted. It drifted to the beautiful saunas in Finland, and a familiar tune started playing in my head.
"Lissa laula, lissa laula, paaalevoo
Lissa laula, lissa laula, paalevoo..."
Good times.
Introdiving on national TV
Uncertified people can come out with us and to an introdive if they choose. They will have to meet up at the pool in the morning where we'll go through some theory (equipment, never hold you breath, and equalisation), followed about half an hour of pool training. People need to be able to perfom some skills in the pool before we will take them out in open water. if they can't do them, they fail and they will have to snorkel instead. for their own safety as well as for ours. The diveshop run through a lot of different people every year and there is a pattern to the country of origin and whether they pass or not.
People from the following countries usually suck (not in the good way) in the pool. China, Japan, Pakistan, India, and Ireland. The last one was a suprise to me, but people from Ireland are really really bad in water. It is perfectly alright to be a non-swimmer. But why , oh why, would you want to go scubadiving if you can't swim for shit? I simply don't understand that.
anyway...
This morning we had ten introdivers in the pool, and I didn't think it would be much of a hassle because we were three instructors. I was given the four irish girls since I was the most experienced of us.
Before we could start the pool training we had to talk to the weather girl at Sunrise Weather Winnebago. They were here on the island this morning and did their sunrise show from the pool where we do our morning training. The producer came over to us in the morning and told our boss that they wanted to interview some scuba divers in the pool. Our boss volunteered me and the four irish girls about three seconds later. We were put on the bar stools in the island bar. yes.. there is a little bar in the pool we do our training. The weather girl came over, chatted to us for a couple of minutes, and before long the lights came on and the cameras were rolling.
The girls were asked a couple of questions, and before I knew it she turned towards me. She only had one question for me, so I didn't really have time to get nervous. I think she asked me if the drinks we got from the bartender were real drinks or something. and then they had a commercial break and we got to continue with our training. check this out.
I could elaborate alot about how the training with the irish girls went, but lets just say that they were very irish. not a single one of them passed the pool session.
Shit happens and other bloopers
For the most part I have done what I was supposed to do, and have done so fairly well. There has, however, been a few hickups.. or bloopers if you like.
On board Reef Spirit, the 20 meter diveboat, we have two toilets. they are connected to sullage tanks below deck and they need to be drained when we are not in a harbor or in a marine park. The drainage pipe has a valve on it and that valve needs to be opened whenever we leave harbor/marine park, and closed whenever we enter again. usually the Deckwatch, the second in command, will tell someone to open of close the valve. And last week Scott was the deckwatch and he told me to go and open it as we left port. I have done this alot of times now and I know how to do it, but when I climbed down the hatch by brain had a little blackout. I remember looking at the valve and thinking. "hm.. someone already opened this". Because the valve was open I just left and went back up on deck again. In reality it was still closed. You might ask yourself if that really is a problem, and yes it is. Because we are traveling at 20 knots water will be pushed into the sullage tanks and they will overflow. The contents of the tanks will be floating around in the storage compartment. very nice...
When we got to the dive site someone went down there to close the valve again. But they discovered that a) I forgot to open the valve, and b) we had a mix of salt water and fecal matter floating around down there. nice.....
That afternoon we cleaned it all up, and were actually able to pump most of it out with the fire hose. the remaining water slushing around the keel was sucked up using the vacuum cleaner.
After about a month the skipper we had gave me credit for not getting lost during the diving. usually people would surface everywhere, but I always surfaced pretty close to the boat. My response to him was that I will probably get lost eventually. I am very glad I have done alot of diving back home in Norway with many times bad visibility. That has taught me to pay attention to the small details that will tell you directions. angle of the sun, patterns in the sand, direction of current, how to measure distance, and also to some extent sound all play a role in determining where you are.
Yesterday I got lost for the first time. And I actually had a compass with me at the time. very embarassing. I was a little too arrogant and didn't really take a good look at the compass before we decended. the plan was to follow a bay back to the boat, but when we reached 15 meters and still no corals I knew something was wrong. I tried to picture the charts and the direction of the bay, but to no use. I was just lost, and after almost twenty minutes I brought the guest back to the surface, had a look around, and swam back to shore. we continued the dive from there. The crew on the boat took the piss out of me for getting lost. can't blame them.
:-)
Welcome to Aussie, Mate
Since this is his first time here in Australia I though I should post a small dictionary. The Aussie english can be quite different. most often because australians are a lazy people and will not pronounce the entire word if they don't really have to.
barbie = barbeque
brekkie = breakfast
tazzie = Tazmania
kiwi = someone from new zealand
aussie= australian
mate = dude, friend, pal etc
hog = Big Dick
fair dinkum = no bullshit
howsigoin? = how is it going?
avo = afternoon
tah = Thank you
Shano = someone named Shane
Johno = someone named John
Damo = someone named Damian.
and so on....
:-D
But now I'm off to work. Today we're going to the northern side of Hayman Island, to Blue Perl Bay. I'm not sure wether I'll have snorklers or divers today, but it doesn't really matter. The bay is a great place for both in any case. Very friendly fish and lots of them. mainly because they have been fed for years. lots of coral bommies, fish, colors and lots and lots of good diving. the good parts are shallower than 10 meters. We are having a overcast and the temperature is barely over 20 degrees today. brrr... it's another cold day.
Spearfishing
to Eduard island to the east and went diving and spearfishing this afternoon.
It was a great afternoon. not only because I got to go spearfishing again, but mostly
because we didn't have any tourists to take care of. I could just sit back, relax, and
just take it easy. Scott and I went spearfishing while the rest went scuba diving or
snorkling.
I was exited to go spearfishing. first of all I haven't been spearfishing since I left
Norway, and second I wondered how much of a problem the sharks would be. When we go
diving here we see sharks maybe half the time. And now we were going to shoot fish and
fish rarely die when you shoot them. If you hit them perfectly they will die, but that
doesn't happen very often. most of the time the fish will still be very much alive,
swimming panicked around you in a circle with the spear sticking out on the other
side. back home that is not a problem since we don't really have any sharks to speak
of. I asked Scott about it and he said that we make sure we hit the fish in the head
and bring them back to the boat quickly. no problemo.
We towed a little surfboard with a box on top it after us, so we could get the fish
out of the water as soon as possible. it worked quite well. Because I haven't got my
own freediving gear yet I borrowed some fins and a speargun from a friend of mine.
After about 45 minutes I shot a coral trout and raced it back to the surfboard. I
reckon it was about two kgs or so. not long after that Scott surfaced and called
out:"Fuck!!" He had just shot and injured a large coral trout. he had it up on the
surface but lost it. The poor bugger swam off with its guts hanging out after it. He
turned around and said to me that we would probably see some sharks now. hehe...
But we didn't. I was actually looking forward to see some active sharks. normally they
just sleep on the bottom or swim sluggishly away.
I got tired after a while more and got back on the boat. Scott , however, couldn't
come back until he had killed something so we had to wait for him. He shot a nice
coral trout after a while and home we went. It was a great afternoon, and the weather
was great the whole time. not a gust of wind at all. just blue skies sunny sunny
sunny. beautiful.
The fins worked out well, and I was able to go down to probably about 15 meters or so.
difficult to say really. I timed the dives with my watch and they usually lasted
between 30 seconds to a little more than a minute. hopefully both depth and time will
improve.
Pictures are posted here.
Powerade Hamilton Island Cup - by night...
This weekend is the second most busy weekend of the year in the entire Whitsundays, both by day and by night.
even though they only had a single stage and only three regular bars/clubs here, it really felt like the good ol' Blues Festival back home. They had closed off part of the street and had street vendors selling food, tshirts and other stuff you would regret buying after a week.
I went out for a couple of drinks every night of the festival. because I worked on friday and sunday I mostly took it pretty calm and only had about three to five beers every night.
Some interesting things happened throughout the weekend though. I met up with Sarah, fellow instructor, and her two brothers on friday night. They are all from Scotland, and I thought Sarah had a pretty strong accent. that was until I met her brothers. I can understand almost everything of what they are saying when we are all sober and there's not much background noise. There is something completely different when we've had a couple of beers and we are listening to a band. it was quite funny. It was just like Robin Williams's standup act when he is talking about scots. It was brilliant.
me: "So Chris.. what do you think of the band? do you like them?"
Chris: "Aye! 's arrhight, boh aye fhin... *something something*...perdy fukn laldy..*something*... idn'it?
Me:"eeh... come again please?"
Chris: "Aye! 's arrhight, boh aye fhin... *something something*...perdy fukn laldy..*something*... idn'it?
Me:" eehh... alright!
I just had to smile and wave probably one-third of the time I was talking to them.
After midnight I decided to go home, but before I made it all the way I met some friends. they convinced me to join them at this after party. I wasn't too keen on drinking more, but I joined them anyway. Besides.. they lived about 35 meters away from my door. I could hear some familiar blues melodies as I took off my shoes and entered. Three guys were playing instruments and singing the blues. it was great. and the three of us coming in were the only ones there. They played famous blues songs like "blue M&Ms are better than green", "Cucumberhead" and many more. One guy was playing the guitar, another the harmonica and the last dude was improvising a didgeridoo out of a vacum cleaner tube. hehe.. Even though the guys had been drinking for a while they were still pretty good.
Sunday night was the best night for sure. all the paddlers were done with the races and they all went out to party. The closed off street was packed with people and the crowd was jumping from about eight o'clock at night. One of the teams that took part in this weekend was called up on stage to dance in front of the rest of the audience. I think I might start outrigging...
Halfway through the night I was talking to one of my former students, when suddenly the guy in front of us threw a tequila shot over his shoulder and almost hit me in the face. luckily it only hit my shirt. I looked over his shoulder as we yelled, and he immediatly appologized to us. he was very sorry and it was an honest mistake. he just didn't want to drink any more shots that people bought him. He asked us if we wanted drinks, and we tried to decline. Seconds later he was back with not only one drink for the two of us, but he also had about eight extra drinks with him that he also gave us.
oh the horrible fate. It turned out that he played in the warmup band and he got the drinks for free. good night. and I also got the day off on monday because of bad weather and no bookings. even better.
Powerade Hamilton Island cup 2007 - by day
Last weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, we hadquite a spectacle on the island. It was the annual Powerade Hamilton Island Cup 2007, and it is the biggest outrigger regatta in the southern hemispere. The island had about 1500 more guests than usual and every accomodation imagined was booked. There were about 90 different teams from all over Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hawaii, and Fiji here to compete in many different events. The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe that originatet here in the pacific
They competed during the day, and during the night there were several concerts and other festival activities. I was able to see the races up close sunday morning. That was the day for the main event, the 42 km marathon. They competed in 6 man canoes. Because of the distance they had 10 paddlers that took turns paddling and resting. During this race I was a part of the support crew for the mixed team from Hong Kong.
It was alot of fun and I got to see the race from up close. My job was basically to assist the team when they got in and out of the boat. Because there were more than 90 teams, and each team had a support boat, and lots and lots of spectator boats the water was pretty much crowded. I am glad I didn't have to drive the boat , because there were people in the water and boats everywhere. there was a real chance of collision or running someone over if you didn't pay attention.
To my knowledge there were no accidents yesterday.
Here's the map over the local area and the route of the 42km marathon.
The southern end of the course was quite rough and we had some pretty heavy rain and thick fog in between Hamilton Island and Pentecoast Island. The team even rolled over after beeing hit by a rouge wave. You'd think that it would be pretty difficult to roll over with an outrigger, but it is still very possible. I saw several other canoes roll over as well. The winner of the mens division finished in just more than three hours. thats an average of 9-10 knots an hour, battling big waves, wind, and currents. pretty impressive stuff.
My Goals for this year
the last day back home in Notodden, southern Norway, with my dad and two of my
brothers. Tomas asked me what plans I had with this year. And I replied that I hadn't
really made up my mind on that yet. He told me to make full use of this year, and
don't just waste it on women, drinking and the occasional scuba dive.
While I didn't think of it at the time, a quote from the late George Best comes to
mind:
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."
funny guy, eh?
I have spent some time contemplating myu goals for this year.
Here's a list of some of the things I have set in mind:
- get lots of sea time and get my coxswain (boating certificate).
with the certificate in hand alot more opportunities will open up for me
- work in a couple of different dive centers. (townsville?, cairns?) and get experience with lots of different aspects of the dive industry.
- improve my language skills. possibly brush up on my german. I will definatly pick up some japanese since alot of the customers are from the land of the rising sun. Aichan is also one of my housemates and she has promised to teach me some basics.
- get in to much better shape.
(have already improved my strength by lifting tanks every day.)
Do you guys have any suggestions for more goals?
Here's a satelite image of Hamilton Island which I borrowed from Google Earth.I have
added a couple of details. Catseye beach is about 600 meters long to give you a
general idea of the size of the Island.
It takes me about four minutes for me to walk down the hill in the morning and about ten to walk back.
You'll see the airport in the bottom left part of the island. it is rated as one of the most dangerous ones in Australia because of the water on three sides, and also because the approach is chock-a-block full of hills. I spoke to a pilot and he told me they never land without a visual on this one. I totally understand why
Passage Peak and more - a possum climbing the lamp
four in the afternoon or four in the morning. that way you can catch the sunrise or sunset, whatever tickles your fancy. Once you're up there you get a spectacular view of the surrounding area. enjoy the pictures.
The last picture above is of the nest of a colony of Green Tree Ants. pretty cool little critters. they don't taste too bad either. :-P
Last time I checked my email I was down at Toucan Tango's, a local restaurant. They've got wireless LAN there, and it is free and pretty fast too. anyway.. I was sitting at a table drinking a Carlton Draught (pronounced "Draft"), when a waiter suddenly ran past me. He was chasing a Possum and it really didn't want to leave. The waiter went
back when he thought the possum was gone, but because the restaurant doesn't have either windows or doors, it returned within minutes. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but suddenly I heard something right next to my head. the little critter was climbing up the lamp I was sitting next to. I grabbed my camera and got a pretty good picture of it. Even after beeing around them for a couple of months now I still find them interesting.
Maybe I should've studied Biology.
The first month I worked here on Hamilton Island I had two days off. The shop was pretty busy and we were short on staff. Now it is less busy and we've got more staff, so I have got 6 days off in the last 10 days. A day off is nice, but this is too much. I still need the money to pay my bills. Because nobody has a contract we don't get
payed id there is no work. There is another company on the island that also does trips out to the reef, and they supposedly pay more, have a standard contract, and can guarantee work. I really like the place I am working at now, but If it doesn't pick up I will have to do something about it. My housemate Scott tells me that school vacation
is coming up and work will pick up again pretty soon. but still.
Gone fishing
Yesterday I went fishing with a couple of the people at the diveshop. We went out with the glassbottom boat and it was pretty cool. The sun had just gone down and it was almost pitchblack except for the stars. oh and the lights on and under the boat. it is pretty cool to light up the water underneath the boat and look at the corals. unfortunatly we didn't see any fish. just a bunch of different corals, and the occasional giant clam.
we did some fishing outside the airport, and I am glad they don't land any planes here after dark. an approaching jumbojet 30 meters above our heads would probably be quite intense.
After landing a couple of nice fish I felt something really big on the hook. it was alot heavier than the previous fish I had caught, so I was supprised to see an eel when I brought it up to the surface. I had hooked it in the stomach, and that caused it to be pulled up sideways, and that's why it felt so heavy. I lifted the eel into the boat, and when I tried to grab it by its neck, the little fucker turned around and sank its teath into my wrist. The damn fish locked its mouth and clamped down. It felt like a pair of pliers with teeth. the teeth were pointed backwards, so I couldn't just pull my hand out. I grabbed it by the neck with the other hand, and slowly pried open the jaws and got my hand out.
I started to bleed a little from my hand, and it became a little swollen. but other than that I was fine. we got out a camera to capture the moment. I'll post the pictures tomorrow or something. I'm at an internet cafe at the moment.
Last week a canadian customer on the boat asked me why the crows only come out at night. I had to inform her that what she thought were crows are fact large fruitbats. hehe.....
Edit:
here are a few pictures from the incident. enjoy
Scott looked it up in a fishbook and it is a juvenile Giant Snake Eel. They grow up to be approximately 2,5 meters long. I'm glad it wasn't very big at all. Our skipper Jason informed me that I was lucky the bite didn't get infected. fishbites usually get infected apparently.
Here's a picture of one of my neighbors. don't know her name yet, but she is pretty friendly and has walked straight into our living room several times. 
She is a Possum and carries around a young one in her pouch. very curious and investigative little critters these possums. they will plunder the trash, and if they can get into your house they will have a field day. together with the cockatoos They are the major pest of the island.
cute, but really a pain in the ass. fortunatly not literaly. :-P
Animal encounters
Here are my new neighbours. I moved in with these guys last week, and it sure is alot better than the old place. Scott (kiwi) and Aichan (japanese) are fellow diving instructors at H2Osportz and we get along great. good people.
Today has been an interesting day. Today was the Triple Treat adventure, which is
alway a nice and easy day. got out of bed about 6 o'clock in the morning, and went
down to the shop about 0715. Today we didn't have any people doing the Discover Scuba
Diving course, so we all just cooked todays lunch. we always make the same stuff, and
you might think we would get tired of eating the same stuff every day. but no. the
food is superduper delicious. potatosalad with egg and bacon, pastasalat, fried rice,
grilled chicken, tossed salat, and some sausages.
At around 9 the guests started to arrive, and my job is to fit them with fins, masks
and wetsuits (if they want one). at around 9:30 we departed the marina and set sail for HAzelwood Island and chalkies Beach. At Chalkies Beach I did open water dive 3 and 4 with a student. I must say that having
less than four students is just a dream. it is almost just like having fun dives with some skills included.Today I saw a couple of sea slugs or nudibranchs I haven't seen before. pretty cool stuff.
We went up to Hill inlet and did the walking trails. (check the previous post for some
pictures). Today we saw a couple of sharks from the lookout. One was pretty big.
probably between two and three meters long, and it was just cruising along in the
shallow water. Bull sharks or Tiger sharks will go up in the shallows during high
tide. So will the stingrays to feed of the crustaceans and small fish. Not only did we
see that one big sharks, but we also saw about five other smaller sharks. pretty cool
stuff.
On our way down we met a Goanna in the bush. It was a little more than a meter long and were just crawling along at a slow pace. I stood still and the lizard passed me at a distance of only three meters or so. Haven't
been that close before, and it was pretty cool. My camera just happened to still be on the boat. Damn it!
On the way home to Hamilton Island I talked to our skipper Jason about the saltwater
crocodiles. The island is located only 25 nautical miles away from the Prosupine
River, which is the home to about 350 salties. Jason told me that the dominant male
crocodiles will claim a stretch of the river. The smaller ones will be driven away,
and we already got at least two salties living in the waters around Hamilton Island.
Supposedly they are only about a meter long, so they are not a threat. Not yet anyway...
:-P
Todays sunset. pretty, eh?
Tomorrow we are headed out to Bait Reef again. I have two other students, and we are doing open water dives 3 and 4. It will be a good day for sure.
My first two Open Water students
Some of them are already certified, some are halfway through their course and I certified the other two yesterday. We did open water dive 3 and 4 in local water around the islands. the visibility was below 3 meters, and they
were a little disapointed, but I told them that shitty viz is good for training. it teaches you to stay close to your buddy, swim slowly and relax. and besides... we did se alot of cool stuff anyway. like a moray eel, a really big ray, some clownfish, and some kind of sea snake. and last but certainly not least we found a nudibranch. havent seen them here in australia before.
Today I had the day off. the second day off in three weeks. I really don't mind working, but I must say that I really appreciated the day off. I went to the mainland and got some clothes, a pair of running shoes and some other stuff I needed.
When I came back to the island I hooked up with Damir again. we had agreed to do some martial arts practice and we met up in the gym. he taught me some kung fu moves, and I (tried) to teach him some judo. after we were done he taught a class in the gym. today he taught stretching, toning and a mix of pilates and yoga. lots of different forms of pushups and situps. It was great. my first training session since I got on the island. I will go to next weeks practice for sure.
These pictures are from Hill Inlet, a very beautiful and scenic part of Whitsunday Island and Whitehaven Beach.
Not the worst place in the world.
Some times kids or worried adults ask us if there are any sharks in the water, and if they are a problem. Usually we tell them that they don't have to worry because the saltwater crocodiles eat the sharks. hehe..
The sharks are no problem because they are only small and they are mostly reef sharks.
the crocstory is not however very far from the truth. Prosupine River is not far from here , and there are about 350 salties in that river. The river is located just west of Cedar Creek Falls, and Conway Beach on the mainland. Our skipper told me
yesterday that the salties sometimes swim out to hamilton island. usually it will be the case of young males being chased off by the larger dominant males in the area. I will definetly do the croc safari the next time a get a day off. or maybe I should wait for Torkel. he will be here in about a month, and I can't wait.
oh well. until next time.
More pictures
Here is a couple photos of the marina. There are lots of really expensive yatchs and sailboats ankered here. some of the boats are in the 10 million dollar price range and up. a friend of mine works as a dive instructor/skipper on board one of them, and he is bored. Not because he doesn't like his job, but because the owner doesn't like to do much when he decides to use the boat. he just reads his newspaper, sunbathes on the upper deck and may take the boat out for an overnight trip. It sure sounds like the guy has got way to much money. He's got a really expensive boat (with a crew of three) on standby, and he rarely uses it.
This is the main street on Hamilton Island. The island has the highest concentration of golf buggies in the world. (I might have mentioned it before), and they are all over the entire island. Supposedly there are more than 600 buggies here.
The Dive Shop. nuff said. :-)
Sunset last week.
That's all for now folks.....
Oh and last but certainly not least a picture of my eye. it was taken the day after the fight sunday a week ago. Enjoy.
Good Day
will be listening to a live concert with Counting Crows, or good ol' Bon Jovi.
This morning was no different. As I was walking along a frightened a little
wallaby (small kangaroo) that was having breakfast in the bushes next to my
neighbors house.
They just make me smile. usually they are only out and about after dark, but
this one was a bit more bold. I saw another one on my way home not so far away.
I think it was the same one. This time I stopped and tried to talk to it, and it
was intrigued for a little bit. after a minute or two it skipped off into the
forest.
Today was a good day. I got to work at about nine in the morning, two hours
later than usual. I started late because we only had an afternoon trip and not
the usual full day trip. We can thank the weather for that. it has been kind of bad lately.
This morning I started in the pool with two introdivers before we went out on the halfday trip
The last week we've had lots of rain. And I mean real rain. this is the tropics and when it rains it
really rains for sure. You can't walk more than a couple of meters before you
are totally soaked.
We have also had South East winds between 20 to 35 knots the last week. That has
prevented us from going out to The Great Barrier Reef and Bait Reef more
precise. The boat could handle it for sure, but the people on board would
probably not enjoy it too much. three hours boatride with waves between two to
four meters is not a joke. especially if you're a tourist and you want to have a
relaxing vacation.
We have therefore just stayed around the Whitsunday Islands for the last week.
which is just fine. The visibility is usually between five to ten meters, but
the last week it has been less than three meters. very much like home except for
the corals, the tropical fish and the turtles. :-P
Yesterday we also had some dolphins play around the boat. I didn't see them
because I was diving with some sertified divers, but I'll catch up with them
some other time.
This is The Reef Spirit. The big dive boat that we use on the fullday
trips or trips with more than 15 passengers.
when I got home and took care of my laundry I found a really big centipede
hiding under one of my socks. it was cool. If I could I would send it to my
brother Björn, cause he would really get a kick out of it.
Today we went out with Wild Dream. it packs two 150 horsepower outboarders and is a pretty fast going vessel.
My eye is almost back to normal again. I only have a little bruise left and the cut has healed properly.
A Weekend to remember
Friday
went out to Bait Reef again. dove with resortees in the morning, and was a snorkelguide in the afternoon. I have discovered that snorklers don't stay near if I tell them it is important for they own safety. They do stay close if I tell
them that I know where all the cool stuff is, and they stay even closer if I free dive down to 10 meters and hang around under water for about a minute. impressed people are pretty easy to keep close.
That night we all went out and all the students from the open water course were all over me. they wanted pictures, my email, and I basically felt like a movie star. I can understand that alot of instructors abuse their Godlike status.
;-)
Saturday
this is the day for the triple treat adventure. that is a full day trip around the whitsunday islands with three stops. hence the name. first we went to Tounge Bay where we went ashore. We trekked through the dense tropical forest to the top of the hill where there is a lookout point. The view is spectacular and you can see the entire 6 km stretch of Whitehaven beach down below.
Then we went down to the beach below and hang out there for a while. I had company of a new girl named Vanessa and we got along really well. After about an hour or so we went back to the boat for lunch. after lunch we dived at chalkies beach. I had company of two open water students and a discover scuba diver. The
visibility was really crappy. maximum 2 meters. but there is always alot of fish at this spot. After the dive we went across the bay and goofed off on White Haven Beach for a while. an hour later we were on hour way home.
back at the marina Vanessa, Steve, a new guy named Damian and myself made plans to go out later that same night. During dinner with steve I understood that Steve didn't feel to good. he was feeling down, depressed, and didn't want to join us. I tried to cheer him up but it didn't work so I just left. he said he
would stay home.
I met Vanessa and Damian and we went to the Yatch Club. that is the place to be on saturday nights, mainly because of the karaoke. it is a pretty average pub, situated down on the main street right next to the marina. Alot of people go there and it is always alot of fun. this night was no different. I had heaps of fun together with Damian, Vanessa and a lot of other people from the dive shop.I had a great time and when the pub closed at twelve we moved on to Boheme's, the local nightclub. after a glass of water Vanessa and I left. we went and got
something to eat. And this is when the night turned from really good to really really bad.
A van pulled up, and Vanessa went over to ask the driver if he could give her a ride home. I was right behind her, and was really surprised when Steve got out. he looked at both of us and asked us what was going on. he suddenly walked off, and I could tell he was really upset. I went after him, but he totally ignored
me and his pace increased. He picked up a chair and threw it across the street. Vanessa saw this and was also really worried. we talked for a bit and after a while I went home. I thought that he would have cooled down, but I was wrong.
I opened the door and Steve was out on the porch smoking a cigarett. before I could say hello he started to scream at me:" You Cunt! you fucking Cunt!Get away from me! I'll fuck you up!"
And with that beeing said he jumped through the room and threw a haymaker punch at me. I was stunned and parried the fist with my left eye. I blacked out for a semisecond but was still able to grab him and take him to the ground. I landed on top of him but he was able to get me in a headlock. he tried to choke me, but it was obvious that he didn't have much experience on the ground so I wasn't really worried. I became more worried when I felt my face was all warm and wet and saw all the blood on the floor. he fucking split my eyebrow. I shouted that
he should calm down and let me go. I tried to calm him down and pretty soon the neighbors came knocking on the door. unfortunatly he didn't let me go and he didn't calm down either. I let him continue trying to apply his rather poor choke and tried to calm him down. I called for the neighbors to come in and help me, and Damir from across the hallway came in.
he tried to talk to steve, but he only got more pissed off. When Steve started to elbow me in my back I
understood that he wouldn't calm down on his own. I had to do something. At this stage I still wasn't very angry. But now I was fed up. I threw a couple of knees and probably hit him on his thigh, side or kidneys. He let me go and I jumped up on my feet again. The commotion pushed Damir out of the room. Steve followed me and went for me again. and this time I hit him with as many fists as I possibly could. most of them missed and I am not really sure where I hit him. most of this is still quite blurry. I grabbed him again in a standing clinch and used my knees on him again. still not sure where I hit him, but I know that at least one of them him him pretty good in his side. I probably got one in his nuts as well. I stopped and tried to talk to him again, still holding him as tight as I possibly could. he tried to knee me in the groin but I blocked him. He didn't attack me any more and just
cried on my shoulder. he was sobbing. The closet door fell down during the fight and blocked my way out and I couldn't just let Steve loose. I didn't know what he would do. He might pick up a weapon or something. I rotated slowly around maneuvring into position to remove the closet door without letting Steve go. As soon as I got the door freed up I pushed Steve away and got out of the room.
In the hallway a couple of people looked at me as I came out. I couldn't have been a pretty sight with blood all over my face, tshirt, and pants. One of the guys helped me to the bathroom so I could wash off. After about 5 minutes the security showed up and I got patched up. after giving them my statement at their office I was dropped off at a friends house.
The next day Steve was fired and shipped off the island in a matter of hours. I have a cut above my left eye and probably should have gotten a couple of stitches, but because the medical center was closed I still haven't been
stitched up. Now it is too late, but I don't think it really matters that much. it still only a minor cut, and I will be fine in about a week or so. unfortunatly I can't dive before the eye has healed properly. But that's alright. there is plenty of work in the shop and I can always be the deck watch for a couple of days.
The whole thing is really sad because I thought I had found a good friend in Steve. We got along really well and I liked him alot.He told me alot of crazy stories about his life and I understood that he hasn't had it easy. That doesn't exuse his totally crazy behaviour and I don't think I can ever trust him again. he snapped over a minor thing that didn't even happen and couldn't be reasoned with at all. pretty scary stuff in hindsight. I am really glad he didn't have a bottle or a knife in his hand. If he did I might not have been here today.
I am equally glad I have practiced judo for a couple of years. that pretty much got me out of the situation.
But life moves on. Life here on Hammo is still good, and I am still pretty exited about everything here.
Don't worry, Mom. I am alright.
Day off - Airlie Beach
After Steve and I did some chores around the appartment I got on the ferry towards Chute Harbour and the mainland. It was good to get away from Hammo for a couple of hours. One of the major reasons I went there was that I needed to go to the Queensland Office of Marine Safety. They are the authority that organizes boat licences (coxswain ticket), and I think I might as well get that sorted out. Having experience on boats combined with a licence to drive dive charters will improve my "employability" in the diving industry. So that will be my next challenge, along side improving my instructor skills.
I need 365 days worth of experience to get my coxswain sorted out, but since I get open sea time I only need 180 days. We go out in open water (great barrier reef) 5 times a week, so it should not take too long to get it done.
Thursday we went out to Bait Reef. again. :-P I dove with some resortees with yet another Discover Scuba Diving course. we saw a Humphead Parrotfish, a small white tip reef shark, and some giant clams. pretty cool stuff.
After a delicious lunch I was the snorkel guide for about ten snorklers. We all had alot of fun, and I even got to borrow the skipper Jason's free diving fins. the are longer than longer fins and really good for underwater swimming.
An Open Water course was doing some exercises on the bottom at about 7-9 meters or something. After watching them for some time I swam down and sat down next to one of the students. it was pretty funny because the instructor didn't quite notice at first. When she did, she looked at me all funny a couple of seconds before she realised why I didn't have a bcd and a tank. hehe...
Pirate line of the day:
"if we don't have dese deck swabbed by noon, the captn will have us dance the hampin' jig from de yards..Aarggh"
Some people should not enter the water...
As you all know I work as a diving instructor on Hamilton Island in Queensland , Australia. This island attracts alot of middle to upper class people. you will not find any backpackers here. You will , however, find rich, middle aged people. Most of them are alright, but then you fill always meet the other kind. the kind that is very confident and expect other people to serve their every little wish. They are not used to follow simple instructions and listen to what they are told. I had an experience with that kind yesterday, and it could have become a dangerous situation.
yesterday morning I went out with the full day trip out to Bait Reef. Since I had three resortees doing the Discover Scuba I had already been in the pool with them in the early hours. One woman was having difficulties with clearing her mask and freaked out in the pool. I got the other instructor to take care of her, while I took care of the other three people in the pool. (we also had a trained diver with us). After the pool session was over I asked my colluege how she went, and he said that she did alright. I told him that the three I had in the pool did really well and if something should happen it will be with that lady.
The trip out to bait reef takes about two hours and we have alot of things to go through. gear needs to be set up, and we have several briefings that we need to get out of the way. There was almost no wind what so ever and it was a beautiful day. When we got out to Bait Reef the certified divers got in the water, and so did all the snorklers. we put on our gear and we got in the water. we decended down along the mooring rope and did a little swim around the boat and surfaced after about 20 minutes. The lady that freaked out in the pool was swimming quite fast and I had to tell her to slow down several times. but she would not listen. When we do the Discover Scuba diver course the instructor controls the bouyancy. They are not supposed to touch the inflator hose. that is my little toy. we do it this way because otherwise they would bounce up and down during the entire dive, and it will be difficult to control them, and they will also have a less enjoyable dive. I had told them all about this before we went into the pool, on the boat, and also on the surface. She lady did not listen however, and kept playing around with it. So she was bouncing up and down, and I had to keep her down for her not to float to the surface during the entire dive.
then we had lunch and after about an hour and a half we got back in the water again. they all seemed more confident about the whole thing. "hey we mastered this shit. let's do it again!"
We followed the same mooring rope down to the bottom at about 7 meters just like the previous dive. I could see that the lady kept playing around with her mask, but she said she was alright.
when we got down on the bottom I made them do the Fin Pivot Skill which is a very useful way of getting your bouyancy right. After a short while she signaled that something was wrong with her mask. I approached her and told her to calm down and focus on her breathing. She had tightened the mask strap so tight that the strap slid up and over her head. it was on top of her head, and it was only kept in place by the water preassure. I was about to put the strap back on when she half-a-second panicked and signaled that she had to go to the surface. She kicked off the bottom and started to swim for it. I grabbed her vest with one hand and kept the regulator in her mouth with the other. ten seconds later we surfaced, I filled her vest up with air, made sure she was ok and gave the boat an ok signal. She wanted to go back down again , but there was no way I was going to bring someone who had just panicked, so I told her to swim back to the boat.
Meanwhile the other two resortees were still on the bottom performing the Fin Pivot Skill perfectly, and I went down to take care of them again. after I got down and made sure they were fine we continued the little swim. The rest of the dive was alright and everyone enjoyed it. even I. we had company of a large Maori Wrasse, and a small White Tip Reef Shark also checked us out. when we returned to the boat we found another white tip just sleeping on the bottom right below the boat. that was pretty cool, and after that a large school of Bumphead Parrotfish swam by. during the safety stop a Giant Trevally hung out with us.
The panicked lady was crying when we got back on board the boat, not because she got scared and panicked, but because she couldn't dive with her husband. her husband talked to her for a little while and the dive supervisor said that if she was up for it I could take her for another dive. that was if I was still up for it.
I think we have the typical conflict of interests that divers in the tourist industry encounter all the time. On one hand we have to take care of the safety of the guests/customers, but on the other hand we also have to make it a fun and enjoyable experience. we have to think about customer service, our reputation etc... most times the two interests don't conflict with each other, but this time I felt it did.
After I had talked to the lady herself I decided to do another dive with her. she was still upset, but she was fine. This time I stayed within 15 meters of the boat and I was not more than 1 meter away from her at any one time. I brought her down to the sleeping white tip shark, showed her a couple of GIANT CLAMS and a couple of LEMON DAMSELFISH. after about 15 minutes I brought her back to the boat again.
Moral of the story: My intuition about peoples abilities in water is pretty good. I should probably grab a hold of potential trouble makers during the entire dive. I should also stress the fact that event they can solve problems in the pool by standing up, they cannot do that out on the reef. Stop, think and breathe.Another good idea would be to convince them of doing just snorkling instead of diving.
New friends
This fellow here is one of my new friends here on the island. It's a large white parrot with some yellow feathers on the back of his head. I believe it is a Cokatoo. anyway. when I had lunch the other day it landed on a branch a couple of meters away. It was clearly interested in the food I was having. after a minute or two it landed on the hand railing and kept eyeballing me. I almost expected it to say "Polly wants a cracker" or something like that. You're not supposed to feed the local animals here (and that would include the australians as well), but I did anyway. The bird almot followed me into my appartment after I gave it some bread.
This is a couple of the people I work with, and I must say that they have given me a warm welcome. the crew consists of about 12-15 people and they come from all over australia. there's even a couple from new zealand. and we also got two japanese instructors. Anyway...
I have a couple of more photos I want to post, but I have to run off to "work". today I am taking a couple of trained divers on a guided dive.
Welcome to my new office
some amazing stories about all the different jobs he has had, like the time when he worked on a crocodile farm. I know that the favorite past-time of alot of Aussie's is to bullshit the foreigners, so I try to shave off a little from his stories. And since he's a skipper he sure knows how to talk like a pirate. He often times talks like a pirate to the customers. hehe..
"Ay.. can't see thro the storm, captain. the wind be as fickle as a woman, aaarhh"
I think we will have alot of fun together on this island.
Saturday
Landed at around noon. I was sent out on the reef in less than an hour and was a snorkel guide with eight customers. we snorkled for about an hour at Chalkies Beech before we went over to White Haven Beach for some cricket, snacks and sunbathing.
Sunday
aSunday morning started in the pool at one of the hotels here. I helped Sara out with a discover scuba diving course. in the afternoon I repeated the same snorkel trip I had on saturday. this time we saw a pretty large turtle. not to mention all the hundreds of tropical fish. it is a custom here to feed them with fish food. just a little to keep them interested. there's this school of sargent majors that go crazy whenever shake the bottle of fish food. figure that.
Monday
Started the morning in the pool with Codi, and this time we had eight people on the Discover Scuba course. after the pool session finished we went back to the shop again. The resortees (people living at the resort) went out for the open water dive in the afternoon. I got the rest of the day off. went out for drinks with the rest of the staff at H2OSportz.
Tuesday
This morning I started at 0715 because we did a full day trip out to Bait Reef , and it was fantastic. my job on board was to be the snorkel guide. stay in the water with the guests and assist them with whatever they need. I also functioned as a general helping hand on board. the other crew members pretty much tells me what to do. the task I was given was everything from making lunch in the early morning, packing gear, welcoming guests upon arrival, doing the dishes on board, filling out the Risk Managment Assessment form etc.
The snorkling was fantastic. we saw sharks, cleaning stations, cute little nemo's, a huge Napoleon Wrasse named Wally and many more cool things. The boat itself , The Reef Viewer, is a 70 fot dive boat with the capasity of about 40 passangers.
Wedensday
Another full day trip. this time to Chalkies Beach, White Haven Beach and then to Tounge Point. it was another awesome day. Met a couple of interesting guests, among them a couple of teenage boys. a couple of dive stories
and some juggling later I had my own little fan club. after the day was over I washed down the boat and went for dinner.
Steve and I met some girls from the boat at one of the local bars later that night. they wanted to take us out for drinks, but they didn't drink anything themselves. Steve and I made sure they didn't slip something in our drinks.
After a late night pool game I went home (yes. alone, you dirty bastards). I got thursday off, and was offered to join the full day trip for some diving. free of charge off course.
Thursday.
woke up at about eight, called the shop and told them I wasn't doing the diving and went back to sleep. got out of bed at about eleven. ran around the apartment and did all the things I hadn't done. like the dishes, my laundry, put up a poster etc.
All in all it has been a pretty intense week so far, and it is probably not going to calm down either. tomorrow I am going out to Bait Reef again, and the boat is fully booked. I am looking forward to it.
I am trying to upload pictures but the thingie won't work today. I'll try again later...
My new adress down here is:
Klas M. Sundelin
c/o H2O Sportz P/L
P.O. Box 19
Hamilton Island 4808
Australia
Hamilton Island
I arrived here on Hamilton Island saturday afternoon at around noon. The boss at H20Sportz , Marie, came and picked me up at the airport. this island is really tiny so the majority of the people here drive around in little golf buggies. She brought me down to the shop and introduced me to a couple of people, before driving me to my new home. The staff accommodation is located up on the hillside and is basically just an alright room. It's got two beds, a small kitchen sink, refridgerator, freezer, microwave, AC, and there's also a fan in the ceiling. oh yeah, I've also got a TV and a VCR.
Marie only let me drop my gear off before returning me to the shop. I was put in a boat with Scott, one of the skippers, and eight guests all booked in for a afternoon snorkel trip. We went to Hazelwood island and did a little snorkling there, before we went to Whitehaven Beach for some snacks. we returned to the harbour at about five in the afternoon.
Saturday evening Steve, a new skipper from Perth, showed me around a bit and we went to the local bar for some drinks. There are about 1000 employees on the island, so there's a lot of things going on at any given time. we had an early night, since showing up hung over on our first day would not be very good.
Sunday morning I met another instructor , Sara from scottland, and I assisted her in the pool with a Discover Scuba Diving course. Discover Scuba is really nothing else than the first Open Water dive from the Open Water Course. first a bit of theory, then a pool session, and then they go on a dive on the reef in the afternoon. This course had only two students, which was good. After they finished up, Sara and I had a free snorkel session where people could borrow mask, snorkel and fins and play around in the pool.
Sunday afternoon we went out to Hazelwood island again with a different crowd for a little snorkling. this time Codi tagged along. I did my Instructors Exam with him and he's also the one that landed me this job. He showed the guests all the good spots, and we even found a turtle. no sea monkeys though....
Monday morning started in the pool again with a fresh crowd eager to do some diving. Codi and I did the pool session for another Discover Scuba course and afterwards we had the free snorkel session again. The kids really love playing around with us. especially the kids with fat lazy parents who don't take proper care of them. and I just love throwing a couple of kids around in the pool.
After lunch Steve and I was supposed to go out with the big boat to do the open water diving, but Marie had booked it all out. but no worries, we'll get to go next time. tomorrow we're going out to Bait Reef for some excellent diving with a couple of certified divers.
I could get used to this life......
:-)
More spiders
This first one is the Redback spider. it is supposedly the australian relative of the black widow.
But Björns true favorite spider is not this one or the black housespider I posted earlier.
His favorite is the Huntsman.
He says it's because it has a very nice and soft fur. :-P
Anyways...
Saturday morning I'm flying off to Hamilton Island to start working at the dive center. I am really looking forward to it , but I am at the same time anxious and have about a million butterflies in my stomach. I'll let you all know more about it all in a few days.
oh.. another thing. wedensday night someone thought that I was canadian again. and the guy was actually half canadian, half australian! Imagine that. I think I'm just gonna start saying that I am from Canada. hehe...
Roadtrip to Burraga
stories from his time down here. He has always wanted to come back and see what
the farm looks like, and now we had the opportunity. After the impressions from
the trip to Kangaroo Island had settled, we decided to take the car for a
roadtrip.
Dad worked outside the little village of Burraga not so far from Bathurst (about
200 km west of Sydney, and Saturday morning we got in the car and hit the
highway. Unfortunatly Björn had to stay at home and work on a school assignment.
we spent saturday and sunday in the car traveling towards east. at first we went
over Adelaide hills, before crossing endless plains. The road was flat, straight
and not very interesting really. The longest completely straight part we
measured was about 19 km long. when we got closer to Bathurs the landscape
changed into a more hilly area. after two long days of driving we had reached
the blue mountains.
we arrived Bathurst sunday afternoon and found a motel for
the night. We then followed the map south to the old farm dad worked at. on our
way down there we saw a couple of 'roos (yes.. australian for kangaroos), and a
few rabbits. We actually saw plenty of 'roos along the highway but they were all
dead. The roadtrains, and that's what they really are, kill plenty off kangaroo
every night.
anyway.. I'm loosing track of the story here. We found the little village of
Burraga and stopped and asked at the local store where the farm was. the old
lady knew very well which farm it was, and where the former manager was living
now. he had quit the job many years ago and was now living in Bathurst. we got
the directions to the farm and off we went. after about 18 km we found the farm.
It was really interesting to see the old man. he remembered lots of little things that
had happened, told us how the landscape had changed and so forth. I wonder if I
will behave in the same way 40 years from now.
"This was the place where the Divers basement was located. over here is the spot
your dad threw up after too much beer, and this is the spot where my buddies
tore off my underwear. aren't you proud of your dad?" hehe...
the sun was about to set so we got back to the hotel. Because this area is
situated up in the blue mountains about 1000 meters above sea level it was quite
cool at night.
Monday morning we went down to the farm again and got some more pictures. we
also saw how the farmers used dogs to herd their sheep around. One man and two
dogs had total control over a couple of hundred sheep. pretty amazing stuff
really.
at noon we started on our return journey. not much to tell you about and tuesday
afternoon we arrived in Adelaide again. during this trip we traveled almost 2800 km.
Here is the route we followed.
in Notodden refer to as "Råner". hehe..
Reisefanten - My trusty travel companion
given to me from Sivert and Margrethe so that I would be all alone during my
travels. They were worried that I wouldn't have anyone to play Rose with, but
thanks to Reisefanten I don't have to worry about that any more.
He studied alot about australia on the plane down here, and he sure has helped
me out a couple of times. For instance he joined Frank and myself when we played
Rose over the internet last week. But he was a very gready player and got a
majority of the cards.
Tuesday to thursday we went to Kangaroo Island together with Björn, Tomas and dad.
Kangaroo Island was one of the first areas where people settled in South
Australia, mainly by sealers. you can find more info Here.
After lunch we went down to a beach and went for a swim. Reisefanten decided to work on
his tan, and stayed on land. can't really blame him, cause he's still all pink,
even after an entire month. Too bad the sun was setting. he only got a couple of minutes before
it disappeared behind a hill.
Wedensday morning we went and had a look at a colony of fur seals. It was
pretty cool to see them in real life. we obviously had to bring our own
"Hakapik", because they didn't have any at the fur seal center. Reisefanten wanted to cuddle the seals, but I
wouldn't let him. they are dangerous you know.
After that we went fishing and that was alot of fun. I haven't fished for ages,
and this was Reisefantens first fishing trip. He was really enjoying himself,
but I am sure you can tell that from the picture.
This photo was taken on a lookout called Prosperity Hill and we experienced an
amazing sunset up there.
That night Reisefanten had a bad dream but I was able to confort him with a
lullaby. he fell asleep after a little while and slept the rest of the night.
We also did a small scuba dive Tomas and I, but Reisefanten couldn't join us since he haven't got a certificate(yet). the diving was pretty good, and I was expecting to see great whites at any moment. No shark for the entire 40 minutes we spent under water. after the dive the people at the dive shop said that they had only seen them three times the last 30 years or so. One shark actually circled around a dive course once. what a way to learn diving. hehe... oh well. until next time folks...
Oh yeah. I need to play around with the coding to improve the layout of the page. maybe later.
Departure to Kangaroo Island
have a nice week.
The spider on the picture is a Black Housespider, and one of my brothers favorite spiders. they are pretty easy to find, but they are mostly harmless. unless you are bitten off course.
Cleveland Wildlife Park and the job offer
went up to the Cleveland Wildlife Park. It is located about 12 km east of
Adelaide up in the hills. Because it is located at higher altitude and outside
the city, the temperature was alot cooler than what we have down in Adelaide.
The temperature was approximately 15 degrees and quite comfortable.
The park is surrounded by an eucalyptus forest and many of the animals inside
the park also inhabit the forest around it. check out
http://www.parks.sa.gov.au/cleland/index.htm
for more info.
In the park you actually get to feed and pet koalas, kangaroos, and emus.
pretty cool stuff I must say. But I must admit that the size of the emus
intimidated me a little. I am not sure that I 50 kg chicken with a very limited
brain is something you should let walk around with people.
enjoy the photos.
A couple of days ago the phone rang, and it was the owner of a dive center up on Hamilton Island. it is part of the Whitsunday Islands and is located outside of Airlie Beach. Anyway... he was calling me to see if I was still looking for a job as a diving instructor. I was very glad to get the offer, but at the same time I had second thoughts.
The dive center,H2Osportz, is located in a small place, and there are not many other options around. Originally I planned to go
Cairns and work there, because up there you have more than several dozen different dive shops, charters, centers and tour operators.
After I did some thinking I decided to accept the offer, but I am a little reluctant to celebrate just yet because we haven't written any contract yet. But it sure does seem promising. I am a happy camper now.
Tomorrow we will go to Jacobs Creek and test some wines. that will be good. remind me to not drive the car afterwards.
Random events...
I can't really remember what I did on monday but I am sure I had fun. at monday night I went to judo practice with Björn again. The two coaches really bragged about my brother's achievment during the competition. I could see how he grew with every word. The practice was alot of fun as usual. we did some leg sweeps and they are always interesting because people often underestimate them. They are really good to start with, and use them to deceive your opponent before you go for a shoulder or a hip throw.
On the way home from practice a car came flying past us with the police chasing it. it was pretty cool even if they didn't shoot between the cars.
on tuesday I did a long walk on the beach. I walked down to Seacliff, the next suburb south of brighton. There were some kiters there, and I got into a conversation with them. two of them came from south africa and had that really cool accent. just like Leonardo in Blood Diamond.
On wedensday Tomas and my dad came down here. Björn and I went to the airport in the morning and when we waited this elderly man had an epileptic seizure. his relatives kept him safe,but about four police officers and three paramedics came along and helped him to an ambulance.
Dad and Tomas were pretty much exausted because of the 30 hours they spent getting here, but Björn and I still dragged Tomas to judo practice wedensday night. We had alot of fun, and I got a really nice choke in on Björn during ground work. Torkel would have cheered if he saw it. I can't really describe the satisfaction a proper choke gives me. hehe...
I also got a job offer from a resort out on Hamilton Island, which is one of the whitsunday islands. I have told them I am interessted but I guess we will see what happens. Tomorrow I will talk to them again.
After practice I went out with a couple of Björns friends to a local bar and had a few beers. It was alot of fun especially since I was practically sober.
Thursday morning Tomas and I went for a little run on the beach. I really don't like running on my own so much, but when I have someone else with me I enjoy it quite a bit. after breakfast we went to the local mall and bought a TV for one of Björns room mates. after that Tomas and I goofed off in a video game hall before we went home.
Thursday night we met a judopal at a local pub and we all had a few beers together. After I came back home to Björns house I got to talk to Frank from the diving club back home. after a short conversation we were suddenly involved in the same old drinking game.The game that puts the focus into the meaningful conversation. This time we played Fjernrose via msn and webcam. it was hilarious. just take a look. Notice that Frank is drinking in the background. hehe...
Friday morning Tomas and I went for another run on the beach. We are both trying to get rid of some extra kiloes. not that either of us is overweight really, but still. we have a plan to continue that for the rest of our stay here.
We also booked a trip to Kangaroo Island. we will go there from tuesday to thursday, and hopefully we will se some awesome wildlife there. they've got kangaroos (duh!) and some pretty amazing sea lion colonies. And where there's sea lions you've definitely got Great White Sharks. my favorite shark. I can remember that I have always been very intrigued by them. If I ever get the chance I will go diving to see great whites. maybe I will see one out there.
I look forward to it.
Tonight a few people came over to the house and we had some drinks and talked for the whole night. Tomas came over and we shared a bottle of wine. good night.
:-)
Oh yeah. I know how you guys loved the other video, so I have uploaded another one as well. This one would explain why Björn (and the rest of us) have a knack for wrestling and other types of martial arts. hehe.. enjoy!
My brother the champion
the blond just came out of nowhere and just walked around wearing nothing but her bed covers. I guess she had gone to bed in one of the rooms and needed to go and get something.
And no.. I will not post more revealing photos. even if I hypothetically took a picture of halfnaked backbacker babes I would post them here for the world to see. it wouldn't be very nice now would it?
It would be much better to post them somewhere I will get paid for them. hehe....
Saturday was alright with not to much of a hang over. Saturday night Björn took me out for some pizza and some pool with his girlfriend and some of her friends. I got to spend a little more time getting to know his girlfriend and that was very nice.
Sunday started at sunrise because ewe had to go to the Judo competition. we ate breakfast and took the train a couple of stations south. after a little walking we found the elementary school where the competition was held. Björn weighed in at 82.7 kg and was therefore put in the Under 90 kg weight group.
There was only one other player in that group so Björn voluntaired to fight against a bluebelt who wheighed in at 137 kg. No worries, thought Björn. He didn't even concider not fighting him. hehe..
He also signed up for the Mens Open, which doesn't have a weight group, so anyone can sign up. Björn totally fought four fights and he actually won two of them. He won the first and the last one. I filmed everything and will post them on youtube.
The first fight was really cool. Björn dove inn and attempted a double-leg takedown and caught the other one by supprise. His opponent was able to turn halfway around in the air, but Björn still got three points for it. Björn immediately jumped on his back, secured the position and thrust one arm around his opponents neck. Two seconds later the opponent tapped out due to a perfect rear naked choke (hadaka-jime).
Björn wasn't sure how hard he should apply the choke when he got it, so I yelled at him and told him to go for it. and so he did. I am a very proud older brother.
He lost his next two fights, but he gave his opponents a good run for their money. The second opponent was the huge guy I told you about above, and the third opponent was a very experienced blackbelt who had been competing for at least twenty years. both of them has done nationals and international competitions. Björn is still very inexperienced in judo, but was still able to avoid several of his opponents attacks. His last fight was against another bluebelt, and this time he won. The opponent tried a leg sweep and björn just did a sidestep and slammed him down on his back. I like. eez naiz.
So totally Björn won the gold medal in his weight group and a third place in the mens open group. He can become really good with some practice.
here are some pictures from the competition
Blame the canadians
anymore. I thanked the last guy, and took it as a compliment. He obviously thought my english was good.
His reply was:"and in what world would it be a compliment being mistaken for a canadian, mate?"
hehe...
Yesterday we watched the movie "Blood Diamond" with Leonardo in one of the leading roles. I must say that I was very impressed by him, not to mention the movie itself. After "The Departed" and this one Leonardo De Caprio is proving to be a pretty good actor. I think the movie is a really good one, so if you haven't seen it I urge you to go and do so. the violence and the whole setting was just gruesome, and it really showed how little a life can be worth. And just like every decent movie with Leo, he dies at the end. sorry to ruin it for those of you who haven't seen it.
Tonight I will be attending a party thrown by my brothers classmates. My brother will unfortunately not take part because
of his competition on sunday, and also because he would rather go to the movies with his girlfriend than come drinking
with his older brother. go figure.
Before the party I need to take the bike and go over to the australian equivalent of NAF, RAAA - Royal Australian Automobile Association, and book a motorhome for when my dad arrives next week.
They close in about an hour, so I need to get going.
have a good one.
Oh yeah! another thing. I checked my bank account and Padi Pacific has now deducted the certification fee and the exam fee. That means that I will soon have all the necessary paperwork in order. after I receive a confimation email I will be able to teach diving courses down here. I must admit that I am looking forward to that.
Days of Testosterone and crab fishing for men
The dojo is situated at Flinders University, where he studies, and it is approximately 7 km from his house. we used bicycles to get there (thanks to Tor for lending me his bike) so we were all warmed up and ready to go when we got there. On the way there we halfway raced with the bus, a couple of other cyclists and off course each other. The judo practice was a lot of fun. it always is entertaining to wrestle and playfight. it was also really cool to see my brothers progress from the last time I saw his fighting skills. The coach has actually decided to award Björn with an orange belt, even though he has only practiced judo for about two months.
Normally people have to practice for about seven to eight months before getting that far. I guess years of Sundelin Martial Arts has been a good preperation for him. hehe..
He has got a really good combination that might work very well for him. first he tries a leg sweep (O Uchi Gari) and then he changes direction and goes for a shoulder throw (drop seio nage) instead. He is also quick, strong and very agile. His opponents on sunday will not get an easy match.
after practice we biked home again.
Tuesday morning we got out of bed at around eight and went directly down to the beach for a little run. We ran up to Brighton jetty and back, and we also did a bunch of pushups. for some reason we always end up doing ridicilously amounts of pushups when we brothers meet. be it cardgames, bets, or just plain I-can-do-more-than-you-can attitude. this time we agreed that we would do five pushups for each dog we ran past on the beach. It seemed like the entire suburb of Brighton was out walking their dogs, so we ended up doing somewhere between 80 and 100 pushups.
The wind picked up some more and large waves started to hammer down on the pier, and it also started to rain. we had ran out of beer, and got pretty much tired of sitting outside all exposed to the weather. Then I saw a shimmering warming light in the distance. It was the gentle lights from a bar right next to the pier. After a small discussion, maybe 3 seconds, we decided to leave the trap in the water and go for a beer.
It sure was alot more confortable sitting inside sipping on a pint of beer compared to beeing outside in the wind and rain totally without beer.
This is how you should fish crabs! :-) after a beer or two we all went out and checked our trap, but we didn't catch a single crab. bummer. one of the fishermen on the pier actually gave us one of his crabs, cause he caught too many anyway. Blue swimming crab is the species, and they are absolutely huge. We've got swimming crabs back home in norway as well, but they are tiny in comparison to this one.
wedensday I biked all around the suburb collecting information about rental cars, renting a motorhome, accomodation and other information that will be useful when Tomas and dad get down here next week. I covered about 20 km doing that, and then after dinner Björn and I went to judo practice again. so totally I biked about 35 km yesterday. we also did quite alot of ground fighting at practice, and I sure can feel all the exercise today.
:-)
Finally some pictures
This first one is of "Fozzy", the captain from the live-aboard trip I went to. He was a very relaxed skipper as I am sure you can tell.
This is from Ayr, where I dove the Yongala. Excellent wreck and I would love diving there again. did I mention that one of the instructors where followed by a bull shark as they launched the boat?
Here are the guys I did my Instructors Exam with. In the middle we have Mike Hayes the examiner, an ex-kiwi now settled in Cairns. He also teaching how to fly planes in addition to being a dive instructor. The guy with the cap on is Seven. yes. that is his name, and his only name. he does not have a family name. don't ask me why. He shears sheep for a living and earn as much money working 5 months a year as most people does during an entire year. I believe his record is more than 400 sheep in one day. The guy in the green shirt is Raymond, and he is a tree surgeon. He cuts down trees that are too big for most people to cut down them selves. he uses climbing gear and huuuge
chain saws, and also makes a fair deal of money. both Seven and Raymond travel all around the world with their job. The guy in the top left of the picture is Codi, and was forced to do his instructors course by his dad. His dad own the largest resort on Hamilton Island not far from Airly Beach. It is probably not a surprise to find out that Codi is quite spoiled.
This is off course yours truly. I am quite happy after passing the exam and look forward to my next adventure here Down Under
Relaxing with my brother
Glenelg is one of the suburbs here in Adelaide, and Björn and I biked up there saturday afternoon. we first went to the local dive center and got to know all about the local diving. they have a mix of coral reefs and kelp
apperantly, but the reefs here don't grow to the same size as on the northern side. The temperature is also alot colder than
up in Cairns. Up there we dove in waters that were up to 29 degrees centigrade, but down here they usually stay between 15 and 24 degrees. The biggest difference in the diving here and other places I have been is that they actually have to take precations against the great white shark. They were something called The Shark Pod, which creates an electric field arround the diver. this electric field is unbarable to sharks, and they will not come close to a diver wearing one of them. They also use a larger model on the boat to keep the sharks away from that as well.
After the dive shop I got my hair cut at a local barber shop. nothing much to tell about it really. What I do need to tell you about is the Rodney Fox Shark Experience. Its a local shark museum dedicated to educate people about sharks and also promote trips. you can actually scuba dive with great whites from the safety of a steel cage with this company. pretty awesome stuff. the down side is that it costs from 1500 dollars an up (approx 7500 kr) , and that is way out of my league. Maybe I will be able to do that in a couple of months time when I have worked a bit, but not now.
One of the girls in Björns class had her birthday party saturday night. It was a fun party, but it was weird talking alot of norwegian again. I have mostly been speaking english the last couple of weeks. We met alot of cool people and had a few party games. after a couple of hours Björn and I stumbled home and made a late night snack. it was a good evening.
Björn studies to become a nurse here in Adelaide, and they learn all about our bodies, and the physiology and so on. I was therefore very supprised when I realized that most of them smokes even though these people must know alot more about our health than most other people. Yet they still choose to smoke. How does that really work out? there are probably like 80 % smokers among the nurse students. its totally crazy if you ask me. They know all about the dangers and how totally stupid it is, but they still do it. it really proves that when you're first addicted to
that crap you really have no real
choice ymore.
The only difference between the smokers and the drug addicts is that tobacco is legal and cocaine is not. yeah yeah I know that the effects on the mind are alot different, but I am talking about the addiction it self.
oh well... with that off my chest I can continue.
sunday was just a slow day. everybody was tired and hung over after the party. we went down to the beach with a couple of Björns fellow students. the beach is about 250 meters away from his house. I brought my frisbee with me and we all threw that around for a while. I went for a quick swim , but I couldn't really
relax much knowing that great whites inhabit these waters. and since we were the only people in the water we would attract a fair amount of attention. The locals say that the beach is a fairly safe area since it's very shallow and there is not a seal colony nearby for miles. with that said there has been about one attack every year in this area. my swim was therefore only a very short one.
Today Björn and I went to judo practice. it is always alot of fun to wrestle and to play fight and this practise was no different. My brother has recently joined the local club and is actually going to take part in his first competition on this
coming sunday. He is quick, agile and very strong and because of all the wrestling back home he is also a fast learner when it comes to things like this. even though he has only practiced judo for a couple of months in Norway before coming here, the coach here will upgrade him straight to an orange belt. He said he is doing it because Björn has that level of skill. I participated in this practice as well and it was a very good practice. I am looking forward to the practice on wedensday and not to mention the competition on sunday. Björn is actually the only participant from the club. no one else is entering, and I find that strange. back home we were always a group attending the competitions. oh well.. I guess these aussies are just a bunch of wankers. I am confident that Björn will beat up a couple of them. hehe...
Adelaide
Tuesday night was spent drinking with Troy, a local guy from Brisbane. He's a really cool guy who I met up in Airly Beach. I have probably already mentioned that. anyway. we went out on tuesday night, and started at a backpacker bar called "Birdie Num Num". A really cool place with a pool table, two bars, a dance floor and their own pool. we hung out and played some pool while we got drunk. which was nice. He doesn't drink beer however. which is kind of weird, beeing australian and all. The only thing he drank was scotch and lemonade. (yes I know you'll get upset Kristoffer). me on the other side had beers, scotch, vodka and red bull and I also tried the scotch and lemonade. I must say that it wasn't all bad.
After a couple of hours we left for Down Under Bar, which is a nightclub for students and backpackers in Brisbane. The place was rocking when we got there, and the guys were outnumbered by the girls with something like three to one. It sure was a nice place.
We ended up on the dance floor and I ran into some japanese girls. and I almost got smacked by their male friends (also japanese). I was just dancing and one of the japanese girls came towards me, so I danced even closer. When I tried to put my arms around her she giggled and screamed loudly with a huge smile on her face, while she jumped back. she was appearently embarassed or something. Some time later the other japanese girl came a little closer while the Dj was playing an old rock 'n roll song from the 50's. I figured it was a good opportunity to dance some old school swing and grabbed her hands. she didn't jump away like the first one did, but played a long. Not even 15 seconds later one of her male friends came along and squeezed himself in between and pulled her away while he showed us both that he wasn't happy with the situation at all. Appearently it wasn't appropriate by her to dance with me or something.
we had more drinks, more fun, and when the place closed we all left for McDonalds for some late night food. Troy tried to buy sex from the girl behind the counter and for some strange reason she didn't like it. she looked like she would call the cops on us or something. hehe...
after a short taxi I was back at the hostel and went to bed. wedensday was spent on the south bank, which is an area of Brisbane with museums, restaurants, and a large lagoon among other things. I played some frisbee with some people from my hostel and we all enjoyed the sun and the girls in bikinis. After a couple of hours we returned to the hostel again. the rest of the people there got drunk during the evening but I had an evening without alcohol for a change. It was a little strange but good. I might try that again some time.
Thursday I got up early and went to the airport because I was really anxious to see Björn again. I got to the airport something like four hours before my flight left. a watched the movie "Red Sonja" on my laptop to kill some time and I must say that Arnold is a pretty funny guy. I mean who else would say: "prepare to be conquered!" to a women he is about to put his ding-dong in to. hehe....
I got to Adelaide, met my brother and went to his place. he shares a house with three other norwegian guys. they all go to the same school and knew each other back in norway.
Tonight we'll go and catch a movie and tomorrow there's a party here. I look forward to that. Maybe I can get them to play rose. that would be good. haven't played in about three weeks now.
Interesting discoveries
The second thing I have noticed down here is that I don't get half as hung over here as I do back home. It could be that the general consumtion has increased, or maybe the aussie's water down the drinks. either way I can go out drinking from seven 'til three o'clock and I will wake up at ten the next morning feeling quite alright.
The third thing I have noticed is that there are more canadians and english people down here than there are australians. There are also quite alot of scandinavians around. I guess the shitty weather back home inspires us all to come here. I have now met so many canadians that I am starting to be able to seperate them from the americans.
you know what I mean, eh?
:-D
Today I came into Brisbane after a mere 18 hour busride. It went by pretty fast really and wasn't half as bad as I had anticipated. I first went to a hostel named Brisbane City Backpackers, but they were full, so now I am at another one. tonight I will go out for a couple of beers with Troy, a guy I met up in Airly Beach a couple of days ago.
Still need to know what y'all want to read about.
The journey continues
Tonight I will get on a greyhound bus and leave Airlie Beach. I am done with my exam and will now continue south to Brisbane. even though I am used to traveling I am not really looking forward to an 18 hour busride. That's gonna be a real pain in the ass. for real. the good news is that I will be hooking up with a guy named Troy down there, and we will go for a beer somewhere. wedensday I think I'll just relax and take a look at the city and thursday I will continue to Adelaide. this time by plane.
you guys reading this seem to have lost interest in leaving a comment or two. I wonder if the lack of stories about diving, drinking and nudity is to blame. what do you think?
what do you want to read about?
I did end up at a foam party the other night. by total accident I assure you. I was out drinking with some people from my hostel and one thing led to another and suddenly we were at a bar where they had a covered the dance floor with a layer of foam about 1,2 meters thick. at first I was a bit apprehensive, but I quickly lost my inhibitions and continued partying. it was alot of fun and afterwards we went down to the lagoon here in Airly Beach to wash off. it turned out that most people from the foam party had the same idea and if it weren't for the fact that we didn't have any more alcohol it would be a great afterparty.
this one girl had her clothes stolen so she was just walking around in string and a bra going:" excuse me? has anyone seen my clothes?"
hehe.. pretty funny stuff. until she tried to steal our clothes. we had to take our clothes back and tell her to get lost.
Have a nice day everyone!
:-D
Final day of exams!
Today we had the last day of exams, and it started bloody early let me tell ya. we got up before the sun today at six a.m. , by crikey. it was a bit difficult because of last night. there might have been a few drinks and even a limbo competition at one of the bars here in Airly Beach. anyway, I got picked up by Cody, another DM doing his IE, and off we went to Abel Marina. a really nice katamaran waited for us there, along with some more people doing a daytrip out to the Whitsunday Islands.
If anyone of you readers ever go to Australia I can really recommend the whitsunday islands to you. there are about 74 islands of different sizes and shapes clustered together outside of Airlie Beach. gorgeous beaches, nice resorts, lots of sailing, and prestine waters.
The daytrippers went off with the diving instructor and the rest of us got ready to finish up on our Instructors Exam. We did some briefings on the boat, got our gear together and jumped in the water. the four of us did two skills each and we switched roles from being the instructor, being the divemaster and being students.
Divewise it was a little strange dive. there was absolutely shitty visibility of maximum 4 meters and a bit of current, so that was kind of familiar to the diving in Norway. the water temperature of about 28-29 degrees and the amount of fish we saw was just spectacular. it was obvious that the fish had been fed in the past because they came right in between us almost begging like dogs at a dinner table. a huge napoleon wrasse also came by to say hello. on one occasion I couldn't really see what the instructor at the time was demonstrating because there were so many fish circling in between. I sure do miss Harriet back home. You better take good care of her, Torkel!
after the skills we surfaced and did a rescue scenario. it basically consisted of finding an unconscious diver at the surface, establish positive buoyancy, starting mouth to mouth, and towing the patient while removing the equipment.
When the rescue scenario was over we returned to the boat and did some debriefings. and that was it. we were done. The Instructor Examiner then pulled us aside one and one and went through our entire performance at the IE and also finished with :"you passed!" or " sorry mate, you failed.."
I am very pleased to report that we all passed. yep! I am now a Padi Open Water Scuba Instructor.
:-D :-D :-D
now my vacation starts and I can let my shoulders down. This really made me happy guys. Now I have a working visa holiday, the certificate in order, still got some money in my account. Appearently there are plenty of jobs up in Cairns. I will go there and look for a job after I have been down to Adelaide to visit my brother.
But that's later. Tonight I am going out with the rest of the guys, and we just might get a tiny bit hammered. maybe. possibly...
Klas will go to bed early, but his evil party twin Sjlasius will emerge after sunset.
"....lambo lambo mine herrer lambo...."
Halfway done with exams!
Today I started on my instructors exam, or IE if you like. It is a two-day exam and it consists of two theory exams, one classroom presentation, one confined water presentation, two open water presentations, a skill circuit consisting of 5 skills, and last but not least a rescue scenario. as you might realize this is quite comprehensive stuff. today I got out of bed at 0645, and for a backpacker (or a student) that is quite early. we started off with the theory exams which were the most feared subjects among the four of us.
I passed the theory exams with a good margin, and then we went over to the pool demonstrations. since I have been a CMAS instructor for a year, and have been in the pool a couple of times before, it wasn't really too hard. it went pretty alright. the only thing I need to work more at is that I need to slow down. I finish way to early. now doesn't that sound like something I probably have heard before, eh? :-D
anyway.. the classroom presentation went alright, and now I am all set for tomorrow. we will go out to the Great Barrier Reef to to the final parts of the exam there. (The Great Barrier Reef sure beats Nidaroehallen) were gonna do two open water skill demonstrations and then we will finish up with a rescue scenario. I am not too worried about tomorrow, so I think I will be fine.
but now I am off to prepare for tomorrow. then I will get some food, and finally I will get some beer in honor of St. Patricks day.
:-)
Diving the SS Yongala
It seemed like the all the fish in the area were much larger than usual. another strange thing was that the fish were not at all afraid of us. they approached us and many of them came
closer than 1 meter. we could observe lots of cleaning stations, and also some hunting behaviour. at one point I swam through this massive school of small bait fish when suddenly about 10-15 giant trevallys came sweeping in and attacked the bait fish. The baitfish panicked and the giant trevallys picked up the pace and they just raced past me and almost went into a feeding frenzy. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen under water. The dive center Yongala Dive
(http://www.yongaladive.com.au/) have some nice pictures from the site.
When they launched the boat we
used from this beach one of the crew members was out in the water to see if the water was deep enough.
Suddenly he came running out of the water with a dorsal fin chasing him. he was screaming:"shark! shark!" and yes...
he was being followed by a small bull shark. what a great way to start a day of diving.
around to get a better view the shark disappeared. So even though we didn't see any sharks during the dive, they were definetly not far away.
when we returned from the diving we did some BBQ , or "barbie" as the Aussie's call it. after that it was time for me to leave Ayr and get on the bus down to Airlie Beach. after a pretty boring bus ride I arrived
in Airlie, checked into my hostel, and went out for drinks. I didn't really have to walk far because the hostel I am staying at
has a pretty popular bar. I can pretty much hold my breath from my room and down to the bar. hehe...
I hooked up with some english people and they could inform me that the manmade lagoon here is actually the local sperm bank. appearently people hook up in the bars and then they go down there for a quickie. The lagoon is therefore just called "the shagoon".
after the bar closed we went to the neighbor club and watched some girls gelwrestle. even though some of the girls were pretty hot it was all kind of silly if you ask me. all that nudity gets in the way of drinking.
:-P
Blowing the Didgeridoo
The kangaroo was dark red, and reminded me of deer steak or something like that. the crocodile had white meat, and event though it wasn't the best meat I've had its still meat. and meat is good...mm.....fresh meat....
And I must hand it to the australians about the sausage. it was really great.
After the dinner the guy in charge, Gabriel, pulled out some Didgeridoos. they are basically a stick hollowed out by termites. the aboriginal people of australia used to play them. He then randomly selected four people from the crowd, and I was off course one of them. I always end up getting picket out to do stuff like that. Gabriel gave us all a crash course in playing the instrument and then we had to perform. in front of 50 people or something. that wasn't really too bad, even though I sucked (not literally) at it.
I got some pictures, but for some odd reason I can't get them online. maybe I'll have to mail someone back home or something.
today I'm on the bus down to Air and tomorrow I'll dive The Yongala. supposedly the best wreck in Australia. after that I will be going down to Airly Beach for my instructors exam on saturday and sunday. I'm really looking forward to that. after I'm certified I will start looking for work. You will know when I've got a job.
Oh yeah.. another thing. the temperature here in Cairns is about 35 degrees and it is humid like hell. but I'm slowly adjusting.
my bus is leaving in 15 minutes so I've got to go now. later....
Diving the Great Barrier Reef
Alright. I did mess up my spelling and grammer in the last entry I made, and a few of you buggers out there were very kind and pointed the errors out to me. I'll try to improve guys.
I spent thursday getting to know downtown Cairns a little bit, and I got to know some of the people at my hostel. Cairns seems to be a town very much oriented towards backpackers and tourists in general. there's a company organising tours on every street corner, and there are lots of hostels and gift shops all over the place. Not to mention dive centers. They are truly all over the place. I think I saw at least ten dive centers thursday afternoon. late in the afternoon my hostel informed me that there was going to be a liveaboard out to the Great Barrier Reef friday morning. There was only one available spot left, and when I found out that there was a 75 dollar discount I decided to go. I am not regretting that even for a second. Even though I did't sleep for more than 2,5 hours I woke up before my alarm went off at about 05:30 friday morning. It was probably because of the jet lag as well as general exitement.
The tour operator, ProDive, came and picked me up and off we went. After a short stop by the dive shop we headed for the harbor and boarded the boat that we were going to live on for two and a half day. Compared to the other dive boats this was a rather small one and could "only" accomodate about 35 people. The larger ones can handle five times that amount. pretty crazy if you ask me.
we left the harbour area and started to eat breakfast. During the breakfast we were introduced to the crew, the routines on board, and we were also divided into different cabins. The crew consisted mainly of young instructors from England, New Zealand, and Australia. the other passengers were from all over europe and there were also a couple of americans. One of them actually started diving in 1969. pretty cool guy. His favorite underwater activity was spearfishing. no wonder he was such a cool guy. :-)
during this trip I got 11 dives, and that might seem like an outragous figure. especially because we normally only do 2 dives pr day back home. The diving was very strict and organised however. there was two guys at the surface at all times, and there were also one or two instructors in the water. We were given maximum depths and maximum dive times, and we had to sign ourselves in and out of the water every time. the day started with the deepest dive to a maximum 18 meters, and the last two dives of the day were shallower than 12 meters, often times not deeper than 9-10 meters.
The reef was great. I could probably have written page up and page down about all the cool stuff we saw. but that would probably be boring to some of you and the rest of you will just hate me if I tell you how great it was. so I'll just cut it down to a minimum.
We went to three different reefs and saw lots of cool organisms of all sorts. White tip reef sharks, blue spotted stingrays, butterfly fish, damsel fish, clown fish (yep... that would be Nemo), unicorn fish, lobsters, giant clams, turtles and a bunch of other cool fish. One of the coolest sightings was a Giant Moray Eel at a cleaner station during the middle of the day. normally they only come out at night, but this was was getting cleaned up a bit. there were cleaner shrimp going in and out of its mouth and some tiny fish were picking parasites on its skin. pretty neat stuff.
We just got back on shore just a couple of hours ago and tonight there's going to be a big party organised by the dive center. it will be tons of fun. I will hopefully be aquainted with the Australian beer, and maybe the australians will get to know Rose tonight. who knows.... hehe...
oh yeah. another thing. all the australians say :no worries, mate!" all the freaking time. they are hilarious.
I will see if I'm able to post some pictures tomorrow when I'm hung over.
later...
Australia here I am!
anyways... I am fine, I got my luggage, and I have fund a nice to live. no worries, mate!
tomorrow I will walk around the different dive centers and see what job my winning smile , my certificates, and last but least my superfit body will get me. :-p
later...
Departure Day
I actually slept quite good last night. Usually I will have some problems with that the night before a long trip, but this time I was calm. Kind of strange really. this is the first trip where I don't know how long I will stay, exactly where I will go and so on. But thats alright. It will be an great adventure and I'm looking forward to it. Its a win-win situation as I see it. If I'm able to get myself a job within the diving industry, that would be great. I would love it, and would be able to support myself and be able to do some more traveling. If, on the other hand, I'm not able to get a job, I will have to settle with some amazing world class diving. what a bummer that will be.
Can't really say that I will miss the wet and cold climate of Trondheim too much. Last I heard it was a staggering 29 degrees in the water off the coast of Cairns. The water in Trondheim was about 6 degrees last week.
I will try to update the blog as I go and I think I might have as much as five hours between flights in Hong Kong. so we'll see.
See ya'll down under!
K
Australia here I come!
To make a long story short this is what has happened the last 6 months. I have quit the university and dropped out of my master degree. I found out a little late that it was not for me. A friend of mine started to ask me some questions about it and I suddenly realized that my advisor had been a real prick, and did contribute to the choice I made. oh well... 'nuff said about that.
One of my brothers, Björn, is studying to become a nurse in Adelaide, Australia. Last year my dad promised that he would pay my ticket to australia so we could go and visit Björn. Since I have been dreaming about diving in the tropics and maybe even work at a dive center, this was a really great opportunity for me. I have a brand spanking new passport, a working holiday visa, and a bunch of diving certificates, so I'm all good to go.
Last week I also broke up with my girlfriend. actually it might be more accurate to say "we broke up", than " I broke up", because it was more a common agreement than anything else. She finished her masters degree and got a nice job up north. She moved there about a month ago, so I haven't seen her in a while. since the relationship haven't really been the best the last couple of months and we're now not even living in the same city, this was the most logical thing to do. It's sad, but necessary I'm afraid.
I have quit my job, and moved out of my appartment in Trondheim, so now I guess home is where my rump rests (to paraphrase Pumba in The Lion King).
anyways... back to Australia. I'm leaving norway on monday (that would be the fifth of march), and will land in Cairns. The first week or so I will try to get some contacts, do some diving, and maybe do an Oxygen Provider course. I will need that later to get a job. Then I will sign up for the exam for the Padi Instructor. I will be able to do that in Airly Beach a short busride south of Cairns about the 16th to the 18th of march. After that I will be all set to get a job as a Padi Diving Instructor. It's gonna be great! this is something I have been wanting to do for several years, and I know that if I don't do it now I will always regret it. So I'm off!
The last week in Trondheim was fantastic. alot of friends came and said goodbye, and a friend even posted a video on YouTube. I was actually very moved by that. he spent a lot of time and effort to make that film, and I have never been given something like that before. thanks alot, mate (yep... practicing my Aussie english).
Click
Ufrivillig artist...
Anyway....
Vi stakk først nedom Samfundet der Pirum varmet opp. etter en stund spaserte vi over Elgseterbrua og bort til Frimurerlosjen der en eller annen linjeforening fra Gløshaugen hadde fest. Pirum kom, sang, og så gikk vi igjen. Jeg og en annen fyr fikk litt problemer i døra, fordi vi ikke var med i pirum, men det årna seg når jeg sa at vi var groupies.
hehe..
Etter oppdraget dro vi tilbake til Samfundet der pilsen ventet. Øyvind sa at han skulle kjøpe meg like mange øl til meg som jeg klarte hangups. jammen satte jeg ikke ny rekord fra takbjelken i Sangerheimen (som da er Pirum sin hybel). tror jeg klarte 13 st, eller no i den duren.
Vi fjasa hit og dit og var innom flere andre hybler, blandt annet også SiT's hybel. Samfundets Interne Teater har en egen hybel, og der har de en bitte liten scene. (hallo.. de er skuespillere). Vi ble raskt forklart at de som gikk opp på scena måtte opptre. Greit nok tenkte jeg. skal vel klare å holde meg unna den.
Men etterhvert måtte jeg på dass, og da jeg kom tilbake var det fryktelig mye folk i lokalet. jeg forsøkte å komme meg tilbake dit jeg var tidligere for å fortsette praten, men det var vanskelig. så ser jeg at på den ene siden av en gruppe folk var det åpent og ledig helt bort til dit hvor jeg satt. "aha" tenkte jeg og begynte å gå forbi på den letteste siden. Plutselig fikk jeg en lyskaster i ansiktet og opptil flere begynte å rope og peke. Jeg hadde trampa opp på scena....
I løpet av ca 2,5 sekunder var det blitt helt musestille i lokalet og ca 75 mer eller mindre fulle mennesker glodde på meg. Jeg visste ikke helt hva jeg skulle finne på. Heldigvis ble jeg reddet av mine rutinekunnskaper innen Fyll og Fest. mormors gamle fyllevise. Jeg sang den, og fikk en skikkelig applaus etterpå. Det var litt artig at jeg fikk det til. Fikk litt adrenalinkick av det faktisk.
Without much further ado.. I give you....(fanfare)
När jag är fuller är jag glad
När jag är glad är jag vacker.
Jag vandrar rundt i min lilla stad
i bland dess hus o barracker.
O alla träden jag välter kull.
Det gör jag alltid när jag är full
O vacker....
P.S. Hvis jeg skulle havne i samme situasjon igjen kommer jeg til å være en full forvirra finne. hehe..
P.P.S. Langt senere på kvelden presterte jeg å bli kasta ut fra samfundet fordi jeg forsøkte å betale for min drikke. forstå det den som kan. :-P
Herran e Vakmestern!
Torkel:" ja hallo?"
Undertegnede:"ja hallo ja. herran e vaktmestern. æ schtår uttfor hybeln din og ska innj me en ny sæng te dæ."
Torkel:"ka du meine du? Det her har æ ikkje hørt noka om"
Undertegnede:"jo du skjønne at æ har fådd beskjed fra UNI om at sænga di vart ødelagt i hælga. æ schtår no uttfor hybeln din og lure på om de e grettj at æ låse mæ inn. du e jo itj hær."
Torkel:"hæ? æ trur ikkje at sænga mi ska byttes æ."
Omtrent her klarte jeg ikke holde meg lenger. jeg feika trøndersk dialekt og lurte Torkel trill rundt. Det rokka vilt! Endelig fikk jeg hevnet meg for peket han spilte meg ifjor. Da kidnappet han klærne mine og ville presse meg for penger. hehe...
until next time....
By Crikey, Mate! He's gone!
Helt siden jeg var liten valp har jeg vært fasinert av dyr. Det begynte allerede da vi bodde i sverige og var naboer med en familie som drev en dyrebutikk. vi fikk komme på besøk og ha store papegøyer på skuldrene, og en gang fikk jeg også låne med meg en Boa constrictor (kvelerslange) hjem. Mamma ble ikke spesielt glad da hun lå og halvsov på sofaen og jeg kom slepende inn på en stor slange. hehe.. ikke lenge etterpå flytta vi til Norge.
Denne fasinasjonen har ikke gitt seg med årene. snarere tvert i mot. Jo mer jeg har lærer om dyr og natur jo mer spennende blir det. av og til lurer jeg på om jeg ikke burde studert biologi i stedet for informatikk og geografi.
I flere år har jeg sett dokumentarer på Discovery, Animal Planet og National Geographic Channel. En av mine favoritter var og er Steve Irwin med hans glødende entusiasme og pågangsmot. At han hele tiden risikerte liv og lemmer for å fange ville dyr gjorde ikke programmene hans mindre bra. snarere tvert i mot. Et tydeligere eksempel på ADHD skal en vel lete lenge etter. Jeg ble nærmest bergtatt av hans væremåte, og jeg har vel sett omtrent alle hans programmer. Han har bidratt til min fasinasjon for naturens sammenhenger.
De fleste har på dette tidspunktet fått med seg at Steve ble drept av en Stingray. Jeg nekta å tro det selv inntill jeg så nyheten på cnn, bbc, norske og ikke minst australske nettaviser. Siden rykter om hans død har gått verden rundt i flere år måtte jeg sjekke det litt nøye. Helt oppriktig ble jeg lei meg da det gikk opp for meg. Fader ass... jeg skulle jo besøke parken hans i Brisbane og greier. Dæmmit!
I følge Yahoo News var fisken som leverte det dødelige stikket temmelig stor (ca 100 kg). Piggen var anslagsvis ca 20 cm lang og dekket med en. Steve svømte over fisken, fisken ble skremt og piska til med halen. Piggen traff mellom ribbeina på venstre side av overkroppen, og gikk rett inn i hjertet hans. Mer uflaks skal en lete lenge etter. Hadde piggen truffet et hvilket som helst annet sted ville det ikke vært dødelig. Skaden ville vært alvorlig nok i seg selv, for det er jo ingen spøk å bli stukket med en taggete bajonett.
Steve ville ha gått opp til overflata og kauka: "By Crikey, that ray was in a bad mood let me tell ya! It was a magnificent fish, don't ya think?"
Steve har fanget sin siste krokodille. I'll miss ya, mate
K
P.S. 10 poeng til den som klarer å identifisere dyret på bildet. Steve til høyre, og dyret til venstre.
He's back!
- jeg har deltatt på kurs i marinbiologi. Det var skikkelig artig og dreide seg stort sett om de dyra og plantene vi kan møte under ett dykk.
- Sammen med mine brødre og min far har jeg vært med på årets langtur på sykkel. Vi sykla nordover fra Notodden, opp til Gransherad, fortsatte langs Tinnsjøveien opp til Rjukan. Derfra tok vi Krossobanen opp på Hardangervidda og syklet så tre mil innover vidda til Kaldhovd. så hvilte vi en dag, før vi sykla ned igjen. totalt ble det 25 mil. På veien ned stoppa vi opp i Gransherad (ca 2 mil fra notodden) og kjøpte is. Der opplevde jeg å bli forsøkt sjekka opp av ei lita jente på maks 19 år. Foran mine brødre og min far. Uten at jeg skal gå helt inn på hva som skjedde så kan jeg si at jeg har sjelden opplevd ei jente være så vanvittig frempå. Det var bare et under som gjorde at jeg kom derfra med helsa i behold. hehe...
- Siden 3 juli har jeg jobba fulltid i resepsjonen til Sit Bolig. Der har jeg flytta folk inn, flytta folk ut, trøsta internasjonale studenter som ikke har fått bagasjen sin, tatt i mot klager, spora opp folk som bare har flytta uten å si opp og mye annet moro. jeg er nå nettopp ferdig med fulltidsjobbinga, og nå vikarierer jeg bare hver mandag.
- I forrige innlegg skrev jeg at formen min ikke var den beste. En liten gladnyhet er at jeg siden jeg kom opp til Barteland i begynnelsen av juli har jeg trent jevnlig. I kjelleretasjen rett under resepsjonen på Moholt ligger et ganske bra treningsrom, der vi som er ansatt kan utfolde oss. Vi har vært en liten gjeng som har trent der to til fire ganger i uka. Jeg merker at formen er stigende, både fysisk og psykisk.
- Mine tre brødre trener nå kampsport alle tre. Tomas har trent Tae Kwon Do en god stund (1 Dan). Bjørn har nettopp begynt med judo og/eller brasilian ju jitsu og Magnus har begynt med Tae Kwon Do. Hvis jeg ikke gjør noe med min egne ferdigheter kommer jeg til å få en god dose smekk. Noe jeg ikke har til hensikt å få. Derfor har jeg tatt opp kampsport igjen.
Så langt har jeg vært på Brasilian ju jitsu, Krav Maga og judo. De to første er mest allsidig, og de har også flinke trenere. Ulempen er at det er forholdsvis dyrt, de har heller ikke garderober/dusj og treningslokalene ligger et godt stykke unna. Jeg har enda ikke helt bestemt meg for om jeg skal ta meg råd til å trene med dem, eller om jeg skal trene judo med NTNUI. time will show.
Fysisk forfall og SAS
I går ble jeg med mamma på ett seminar i Motiverende Samtaleteknikk. Det var spennende og dreide seg om hvordan helsepersonell skal kunne motivere og styrke pasienter til å foreta en livstilsendring. selve problemet hver enkelt pasient vil ha vil være forskjellig, men endringsprosessen er temmelig lik. hvis jeg har forstått saken riktig. Det kan være snakk om vekttap, slutte å røyke, drikke mindre alkohol, lære nye språk, endre jobbsituasjon osv. Det er snakk om at for å foreta en endring må folk selv ønske det, de må være motiverte, de må ha evnen og kunnskapen som skal til for endringen, og de må få den støtten som trengs. De fleste har det som trengs for å gjøre det. De må bare styres i riktig retning. Det var litt artig å se at den måten vi husverter er kurset til å snakke med studenter på er veldig lik denne måten. Jeg kunne faktisk bidra litt på seminaret. spennende greier.
Etter seminaret handlet vi litt stash før vi spiste middag og dro på svømmetrening. Mamma driver nemlig og trener svømming og konkurrerer aktivt som Master-svømmer. for ikke lenge siden stakk ho av med tre medaljer i SM (Svenska Mästerskapet, og ikke tvilsomme seksuelle leker for de moroklumpene som skulle til å kommentere det). På treninga gikk det opp for meg at jeg må seriøst komme meg i bedre form. jeg er gammel svømmer, og anser meg selv for å være i grei form. trodde jeg hvertfall. Men på svømmetreninga i Karlstad ble jeg forbisvømt ørten ganger av en gammel kar på 70 år. Om ikke det er flaut så vet ikke jeg.....
Jeg skal herved gjøre en skikkelig innsats for å forbedre min egen fysiske form og helse. ikke bare prate om det.
Forøvrig ser det ut som om det blir endel pils i Oslo i kveld. Kabinpersonalet til SAS streiker, så jeg ender opp med å ta nattbussen nordover. pytt pytt.. litt dårlig timing helt klart, men de har all rett til å klage sin nød. litt verre for selskapet som helhet som ikke får lov til å leie inn folk som kan gjøre jobben til de latsabbene som ikke gidder.
:-D
10 000 dager!!!
I dag er jeg nøyaktig 10 000 dager gammel! om ikke det er en grunn til å feire så veit ikke jeg. :-) Siden jeg ikke er autist kan jeg ikke finne ut av sånt på egen hånd. Min gode venn Vegard (heller ikke autist) lagde et lite program som finner ut når en blir 10 000 dager gammel. dere finner det på siden hans etter å ha klikket på Features. ganske artig påfunn. Han hevder at han ikke er sikker på om koden funker som den skal, men jeg tror Vegard bare er beskjeden. Vegard har jo tross alt programmert hvertfall siden begynnelsen av 90-tallet. akk... jeg husker godt klassikeren "Teacher-killer" som han lagde på commodore 64. det var tider det...
mandag morgen tok jeg flyet sørover for å besøke familien før påske. jeg begynte turneen i oslo, der Björn studerer. vi tok bussen til Notodden og har vært her i halvannet døgn. her fikk jeg drukket Whisky med Kristoffer, spilt Magic med Björn og Tor (kompis av Björn), spilt bowling med Pappa, My og Bjørn. Bowlinga var skikkelig artig. vi spilte tre serier, og første serie gikk litt dårligere enn det pleier med 95 poeng. De siste to derimot.. de gikk knallbra. endte opp med 160 poeng på den andre, og 148 poeng på den første. jeg straika masse. tror jeg hadde fire på rad eller no.
I dag skal Björn og jeg innover til Oslo igjen. han for å gå på skole, og jeg skal videre til Karlstad i Sverige for å besøke mamma. etter å ha vært der en liten stund stikker jeg tilbake til oslo på fredag og forhåpentligvis skal jeg også fly oppover til Barteland igjen. Dessverre ser det ut til at det blir en streik eller to i SAS. Det var visst no grinete kabinansatte som ikke var fornøyd igjen. aarrrghh....
until next time....
Nye Sverige
Fra Wikipedia:
"Nye Sverige eller Nya Sverige var en svensk koloni i Nord-Amerika i området rundt den amerikanske delstaten Delaware. Kolonien eksisterte i 17 år fra 29. mars 1638 til september 1655.
Wikipedia forteller ingenting om hva som skjedde i 1655, men det er nok mulig at svenskene og finnene hadde drukket om kapp, og dermed var satt ut av spill. kanskje de inviterte indianerne på litt bastu og drikkespill. ting kan fort gå galt da. empiriske undersøkelser fra Helsinki kan tyde på det.
en har jo fått høre utsag som: "Kom i håg. det är int kul att plocka tänder med brutna fingrar..."
hepp...
Polarhelter
I dag er det på dagen 94 år siden Robert Scott døde under sin ekspedisjon til sørpolen. Robert Scott var en oppdager, vitenskapsmann, marineoffiser og sist men ikke minst en Britisk gentleman. At han mente det var lurt å bruke ponnier i stedet for hunder under kappløpet til Antarktis skjønner ikke jeg.
Han etterlot seg haugevis med notater og brev. Både fra karrieren, og fra den siste ekspedisjonen. Det er ganske artig å lese om forholdet til Amundsen.
Følgende skjedde da Scott og hans menn ble informert om planene til Amundsen, og hans iherdige forberedelser:
Scott wrote, "There is no doubt that Amundsen's plan is a very serious menace to ours". Although Scott took the news in good stride, many of the others were very angry and wanted to march right into the Bay of Whales and have it out, once and for all, with Amundsen
Mer kan leses her:
Ellers er dette en artig side om andre polarhelter:
Hvor får en i dag se ftilsvarende jobbannonse:
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in the event of success".
Den er fra The Times of London i 1907 og var signert E. Shackleton. Neste dag sto det 5000 mann i kø på gata utenfor.
Barndommens helter
"Oh my god! they've got russian weapons. you know what that means...."
Tilbake til A-Team .
A-team var good guys gjennom hele serien, og den ble kåret til verdens mest voldelige tv-serie. Det var alltids masse eksplosjoner og vanvittig mye skyting i hver eneste episode. Gode greier.
Den aller tøffeste av de fire hovedrolleinnehaveren var B.A. Baracus, som ble spilt av Mr. T.
Han var alltid kledd armybukser, singlet, og masse gullkjeder. sikkert flere kilo. han hadde også en vanvittig tøff sveis. Jeg trodde, som sikkert mange andre, at det var fordi manuset sa at han skulle være sånn. Den gang ei. De som følger linken over kan lese at både sveisen og gullsmykkene var sånn han var. Snakk om å sette premissene selv. hehe...
I Tv-serien var B.A. Baracus veldig omsorgsfull mot ungdommer, og drev alltid og hjalp de lokale ungene med et eller annet. tror han var med i en ungdomsklubb eller no. Dette var også noe Mr T har holdt mye på med. han hadde også en kortvarig karriere som rap-artist, der han oppfordret ungdom til å være fornuftige.
sjekk denne musikkvideoen
All Hail Mr. T.!!!
Løsepenger og andre sjofle triks
jeg flyttet blikket opp, men klærne lå ikke der. de lå heller ikke på en av de andre maskinene, og jeg fant de ikke i det hele tatt. og jeg kikka nøye igjennom hele kjelleren.
Jeg har bodd på studentbyen i litt over fem og et halvt år, og dette er første gangen klærne er blitt fjernet fra vaskekjelleren. Det kan muligens hende at jeg talte litt høyt og utbrøt ett ukvemsord eller to. Kursen satte jeg hjemover, mens jeg febrilsk forsøkte å huske om jeg kanskje hadde henta klærne tidligere på dagen. Det skal jo sies at jeg har en tendens til å være litt distre.
Da jeg kom inn døra fant jeg ut at jeg var blitt utsatt for et sjofelt triks. Noen hadde kidnappet klærne mine og krevde løsepenger, eller skal jeg si løsepils, og løsepizza. Bare se på bildet selv.
:-)
Klen tröst
Språkskjerpings...
Flånepumparia = Få låne pumpa di, da
Bøkkejirei = Bør ikke gi deg!
Snaruatta? = Hvordan har du hatt det da?
Skråppiantasje? = Skal du opp i annen etasje?
Næreværsjtjaørt = Nei, det er det verste jeg har hørt
Dætiarem = Det er ti av dem
Møtraepøsban = Møter deg på Østbanen
Fesjempel = For eksempel
Skrua? = Hvor skal du, da?
Frikkerea? = Hvorfor ikke det, da?
Filsejemma = Du får hilse hjem, da
Jakkesetnpåråda = Jeg har ikke sett ham på år og dag
Skruvæmut? = Skal du være med ut?
Dæveldevel? = Det er vel det, vel?
Manror = Med andre ord
Fnisa! = Få en is, da
Tapræåblima = Ta på deg og bli med, da
Mæsjmæsjefæra? = Hvem er det som er sjef her, da?
:-D
tørrdraktskurs
Killer bunnies og brukne rygger
Les mer på: Monsterhare Angrep hunder.
Mennesker blir ofte overvurderte, og jeg skjønner ikke hvordan vi har kommet så langt som vi har gjort. bare se på hva dette ekteparet klarte få til:
Festet sikringstauet til bilen
Hvis fyren over hadde strøket med hadde han vært en god kandidat til årets
Darwin Award
hepp!
Besøk til tannlegen
paybacktime.... hehe...
Røntgenbildene og den etterfølgende undersøkelsen fortalte at vi ikke har noen hull, men at vi må jobbe litt bedre med tanntråd og ikke minst pussing. gjett om en har hørt det før.
Etterpå satte han igang med å bleke tennene på oss. Vi måtte gape over et stort rødt plastinstrument som skulle åpne opp munnen (hørte jeg "smile like a doughnut"? ).
 | Tannkjøttet ble smurt inn med ett beskyttende gummimembran,og etter at beskyttelsen hadde herdet litt ble tennene klatta inn med blekemiddel. Vannstoff (H2O2 er visst den kjemiske betegnelsen), og når det blir bestrålt med UV-lys slippes Oksygenradikaler løs. Oksygenradikalene binder seg svært lett til alt mulig og i dette tilfellet til fargepigmenter i emaljen, og vasker det bort. resultatet er at tennene blir hvitere. |
selve behandlingen tar totalt en time, og det er fryktelig kjedelig å ligge der så lenge og bare vente. Det ble litt mer spennende når pappa plutselig utbrøt:" å faen, er klokka så mye? jeg må løpe ut og handle litt før dem stenger butikken. jeg kommer straks tilbake."
Tomas fikk litt instrukser på hvordan han skulle gjennomføre siste delen av blekinga. veldig betryggende å ha Tomas hengende over seg i et rom med masse skalpeller, bor, bedøvelse av alle sorter og mye annet rart. hehe...
men det gikk bra. resultatet av blekinga kan skues under. ser jeg ikke ut som en filmstjerne nå, eller?
:-P
snart skal vi i krigen
ville bare informere om at Pappa og Tomas har demontert trebordet vi hadde på verandaen. De har bygget den om til en rakettrampe
Grav skyttegraver, på med hjelmene, og finn frem whisky'n. her er vi klare!
Nyttårsaften
long time, no update.
De tre siste ukene før jul jobba jeg på Polet på Nedre Elvehavn i Trondheim. det var en artig og lærerik periode, spesielt siden jeg ikke har jobba i butikk før. oppsummert kan jeg fortelle følgende:
- i løpet av 13 arbeidsdager knuste jeg to vinflasker og en flaske sprit.
- jeg har lært litt om vin, og en god del mer om ljuging og salgsteknikk.
- Damer i tredve-førti åra blir veldig sjarmerte når en spør om legitimasjon
- Jentunger på 18,5 år blir fornærma hvis ikke venninna deres som akkurat har blitt 18 også blir spurt.
- Gamle damer har veldig ofte koden til sitt visakort skrevet ned i lommeboka
- Besøkende i Sommarland er ikke dummere enn resten av befolkninga. veldig mange er akkurat like dumme/korttenkte. (eks. "hvor er utgangen", "har dere vin?", "hva mener du med at det ikke er penger på kortet mitt? jeg har da brukt det i hele dag!" osv)
etter at jeg var ferdig med jobbinga den 22 flyttet jeg tinga mine fra den ene siden av studentbyen til den andre. grunnen til at jeg flytta var rett og slett at på den andre siden har de oppvaskmaskin og et vanvittig bra bad, for ikke å snakke om at jeg nå skal bo sammen med to gamle judokompiser.
endelig blir det lekeslossing hver dag. yay! :-D
jeg dro hjem lillejulaften og har vært hjemme siden da. i løpet av sist uke har vi lekesloss i snøen, fyra bål og sprengt no gassbokser i skauen, og vi har til og med vært over til Rjukan for å besøke svømmehallen der. Det siste var skikkelig artig. vi hoppa og plaska ganske mye, og denne gangen klarte jeg å unngå altfor store mageplask. Tror ikke jeg skal gjenta det i pirbadet for en måned siden med det første nei. selv om Torkel sikkert betaler for å få se det igjen. :-P
Tomas og Magnus svømte om kapp, og Tomas måtte se seg slått med en halv armlengde. De svømte 50 meter og Tomas leda hele veien fordi han hadde en litt bedre start. men så kom Magnus opp på slutten og strakk seg forbi storebror sin. Det var artig å se Magnus så glad og stolt, og minst like artig å se Tomas tape. han er ikke den beste taperen. kan vel si så mye at han hater å tape. samtidig så er han skikkelig stolt over at lille magnus nå begynner å vise muskler.
En litt mindre artig ting var kjøreturen til Rjukan. særlig når vi kjørte mellom Saulandsstøtta og opp til Gransherad. jeg kjørte vel litt over 70 km/t da vi nærmet oss en ganske oversiktlig kurve. det er en svak kurve mot venstre før veien retter seg opp igjen, og på venstre side er det en liten myr.
vent litt... nå blir det sikkert bare forvirrende her. *finne kart på nettet*
Sånn... her er veistrekningen jeg kjørte på.
jaffal... inn mot kurven slapp jeg opp gassen fordi jeg syns det gikk litt vel fort med tanke på føret osv. mine mistanker var begrunnet fordi motorbremsen gjorde at bilen begynte å skrense mot venstre. jeg korrigerte, men overstyrte så vi fikk en større skrens andre veien. jeg gjorde det samme en gang til, og nå skrenset vi enda mer til den første siden igjen. vi skrenset 180 grader rundt og smalt bakenden på bilen inn i snøskavlen og endte opp med hekken halvveis i grøfta og fronten midt i veien. totalt 270 grader altså.
De tre av oss som satt i denne bilen ble litt shaky, men kunne heldigvis konstatere at alle var uskadd (inkludert bilen). Pappa og resten av folka fra den andre bilen kom tilbake og hjalp oss å dytte bilen ut på veien igjen. vi var heldige som ikke møtte en tømmerbil eller annen trafikk overhodet. men men.. alt gikk bra. :-)
Kristoffer sendte meg en sms igår der det sto at det var offisiellt fest her hjemme hos oss, noe som overrasket både pappa og meg. han skulle bare tøffe seg litt, så eventuelle rykter som skulle gå rundt er falske og ubegrunnede. blir sikkert artig med litt festivitas i kveld, men jeg trukke jeg gidder å ta den helt ut. får vente til ICC og Helsinki.
:-)
Godt nytt år alle sammen og måtte det nye året bringe lykke og hell
K
nå er det jul igjen...
"nei nå er det jul , unge mann. jeg skal ha de store flaskene!" så lo og humret hun godt.
jeg skal legge ut litt julebilder her snart. men det blir nok etter jobb.
The Dark Secrets of the Liquer Trade...
Når jeg tusler rundt i butikken og fyller på i hyllene så hender det titt og ofte at kunder spør meg om ting. når de spør om ting som er mer avansert enn "hvor finner jeg rødvin fra spania?" eller "hvor er utgangen?", så må jeg ofte kapitulere og be de spørre noen andre.
heromdagen spurte jeg en av de fast ansatte hvordan hu går frem for å anbefale vin til en kunde som spør. hu fortalte at en må spørre de litt om hvor mye de er villige til å betale, hva slags druesort de er ute etter, hvilke land, hvorvidt de liker litt garvesyre, hvor søt eller tørr den skal være osv...
jeg spurte Randi rett ut om hvordan i huleste hu kan sammenligne hundrevis med forskjellige viner og holde dem fra hverandre. Randi svarte at etter litt kursing og ett par års erfaring gjorde at hu kunne endel om forskjellige vindistrikt og hva de sto for osv.. bla bla bla... pisspreik tenkte jeg.
Når jeg pressa ho litt så innrømte ho at det anbefalingene egentlig handler om er å finne ut hvor mye kunden "vet" om vin, og så anbefale et eller annet passende. Kundene vil bare få bekrefta at det de drikker er eksklusivt og utvalgt av noen med peiling. det koker altså ned til simpel salgsteknikk.
etter noen timer i kassa på torsdagen kom det frem en nordlending som så ut som han kunne være snekker eller no i den duren. blåkläder, og grove never hadde han hvertfall og han var vel litt under gjennomsnittshøyden. han smalt hvertfall den største cognac-flaska (1,5 liter) i disken og vifta med sitt kredittkort. "jasså, " sa jeg. "du kjøper den store flaska ser jeg."
"ja. det må no faen mæ være såpass!" svarte kunden, betalte og gikk. jeg lo lenge og vel av han.
hehehe......
Fornedringens benkerad
Han har knakende morsomme stand-up show og dette showet var intet unntak. han harselerte med blandt annet Ringenes herre (ja han ser ut som gollum, og frodo og sam er homo så re griner etter), Knutby, Gud, de ti bud, Jesus, hyperreligiøse, politikere, hans tilskuere, pluss sikkert endel som jeg har glemt.
Han kalte første rad for Fornedringens Benkerad. vi satt på første benkerad, på midten, rett foran det hvite krysset der han sto i sikkert 75% av tiden showet varte. At jeg var eneste unge knakende kjekke mannen med vett i panne, mot i brystet, og står i ben og armer hjalp ikke heller akkurat. ca tre minutter inn i forestillingen stoppet han helt opp, kikka på meg, og utbrøt: "Nej men vad har vi här? en kjekk nårsk ung gutt!" så tindret det i øya hans og han begynte å lage grimaser mens han sakte klatret ned fra scena og snek seg bort mot meg. hehe....
Det var ganske artig. da han var på ca en halv meters hold, strålekastern var fokusert på oss, og omtrent hele salen på ett par tusen pers gapskratta, strakk han frem hånda og sa: "hej! jag ville bara hälsa lite".
litt senere kjefta han på Anne for at hun ikke hadde hengt fra seg kåpen i garderoben for så å stikke av med den. kåpen altså. ikke garderoben. kort sagt fikk vi nokså mye oppmerksomhet gjennom hele forestillinga. hehe..
han kødda ikke bare med oss. han lot sine kreative sider gå ut over flere andre på første rad, men jeg tror nok at jeg fikk mest oppmerksomhet. En kar fikk rollen som den dumme publikummeren som ikke skjønte noen ting, ei dame fikk rollen som den grisete damen som bare var interessert i snuskete vitser. jeg hadde rollen som en av salens to svensker, den kjekke unge mannen, og den stakkars publikummeren som uheldigvis satt rett foran komikeren. men artig læll.
han inviterte til trekant oppe på hotellrommet hans. hadde vært artig å sett hvordan han ville reagert hvis vi kom og banka på døra. men det får bli en annen gang.
ellers har jeg nå jobba to dager på Polet. jeg skal være ekstrahjelp nå frem mot jul og jobber på nedre elvehavn rett ved Solsiden. så langt har det vært ganske artig med lemping av flasker, påfylling av varer (jepp.. flasker) og salg i kassa (nok en gang flasker). huttetu jeg blir tørst av å se og ta på så mye god drikke. hvertfall når jeg fyller på med whisky. jeg får forresten kjeft av Kristoffer hver gang jeg skriver Whisky med E. Whiskey whiskey whiskey!!! ha! der fikk du den.
hvis jeg er heldig kanskje jeg kan lære litt om de edle brune dråper. Da blir re krute maks tel jul, Kris! jarra!
Men i dag ble jeg tørstest. ja tenk det heter tørstest. ikke "mest tørst". nesj.. det blir bare tøysete å si sånn. men jaffal ble jeg skikkelig tørst når jeg satte ut no fransk hvitvin i hyllene i dag. da må jeg innrømme at det hadde smakt veldig godt med litt kald hvitvin ja.
nuff said for dis taim.
:-D
Matematikk er vakkert
men nå over til noe helt annet. matematikk kan være utrolig irriterende. matematikk kan være utrolig artig, lærerikt og spennende når en får det til. andre ganger er det rett og slett bare vakkert. som på bildet under.
It's like my first kiss...
hehe...
jeg skal nå avgårde for å delta på juleølsmaking og vaffelspising sammen med no folk fra DG. det blir artig. regner med å få tyn fordi jeg har med Ringnes, Aass, og CB juleøl.
until next time!
Notodden i hundre
Dagen i dag har jeg brukt sammen med lillebror Björn (som slettes ikke er liten lenger) og pappa. jeg våkna med et smil rundt munnen når jeg hørte pappa rope "hvis dere har pussa tennene og vaska dere under forhuden kan dere komme og spise frokost!". etter litt nybakte boller og en kopp julegløgg tok vi på oss arbeidsklærne og gikk ut. Både pappa og björn var ivrige og ville vise meg hva de hadde gjort i løpet av høsten. De to har blant annet pussa opp i garasjen og laget et arbeidsrom der, og så har de bygget en liten redskapsbod i bakgården. selv om det ser litt ut som en byggeplass her hjemme så er det blitt veldig trivelig.
Vi gikk rundt huset på baksiden og tok frem alt en trenger for å male litt og satte igang. slenger med et lite bilde av åssen pappa og björn kan se ut når de holder på med slikt fysisk arbeid.
Det gikk ganske fort når vi kom igang og det var ganske trivelig å holde på med et eller annet sammen med dem. Vi tok noen småpauser innimellom for å kaste litt øks Björn og meg, og det var like artig som før. ulempen nå er at øksene og skaftene ikke minst begynner å bli temmelig slitte. klarte likevel å få opp til flere økser til å sitte. Gimli er ei pingle!
Vi begynte etterhvert å prate overlevelse i skauen og andre mandige ting. Da fant vi ut at vi må prøve å fyre opp ett bål uten bruk av fyrstikker. Etter boden var ferdigmalt satte vi igang med å lage et lite borr, en liten bue, en trebit vi kunne borre i osv. Vi slo opp i en av de mange bøkene vi har om friluftsliv og der fant vi ut at borret må være av et hardt treslag og trestykket en skal borre i av en mykere sort. det sto også at alle delene må være helt tørre og dette siste punktet gjorde at vi bare gikk i haugen småved på verandaen og forsynte oss der. aner derfor ikke hva slags treslag vi endte opp med å bruke.
vi mekka alt vi trengte og det viste seg at en blir god og varm lenge før en har noe bål. jeg trodde egentlig ikke vi kom til å få til noe som helst, men etter en liten stund begynte det å lukte brent, og både borr og underlag var blitt tydelig merket av høye temperatur.
Av ukjente årsaker klarte vi likevel ikke å lage noe bål. Björn holder nå på inne på stuegulvet for å se om det er lettere å fyre der.
Litt utpå kveldinga stakk vi ned til Fylkesgalleriet. Der har det denne helgen vært en forestilling som heter "Notodden i hundre" og er rett og slett en feiring av byens hundreårs jubileum.
les mer i TA eller i Varden
En kan også lese mer på www.telen.no men da må en også betale for det. hvem gidder vel det?
Det var over 300 deltakere og ett vanvittig show. ganske artig egentlig og jeg lærte en hel del nye ting.
Noe av det artigste var når Jon Olav Hovde sang en omskrevet versjon av DJ Ravi's "Tjeriou". Dæven det rocka! eller når Kåre Virud sammen med mange andre lokale bluesartister spilte og underholdte. må si at jeg gleder meg til Bluesfestivalen til høsten igjen. kanskje jeg skal jobbe i år igjen. hadde vært artig.
jeg forsøkte å ta noen bilder av forestillingen, men det ble stort sett bare bare tull.
Dere kan jo se selv på det beste bildet jeg tok. det er ikke akkurat no bra, men artig læll....
until next time.
:-D
Uken som gikk
Her er et lite bilde fra en gang vi var og dykka på Notodden. Det lå en bøye i havna som jeg bare måtte klatre på. :-D
Ha en god helg!
mental note to self
:-D det er artig i stockholm. nå skal vi ut og drikke oss fulle... bare litt.. Tomas og Magnus hilser. Magnus er teit som ikke drikker whiskey
hulk skåle med alle!
Onkel reisende Mac
Det var også meninga at Vegard skulle bli med over for å feste. Men han er slik en opptatt arbeidskar, så han kunne ikke helt rive seg løs fra jobben denne gangen. Litt synd, men det betyr bare mer brennvin på oss andre. Ikke så trist at det ikke er godt for noe. våre veier krysses nok om ikke lenge. akk...
Noe annet som er litt synd er at jeg ikke får vært med på Finlandstrening denne helga. Dykkergruppa skal trene på å dra til Finland i helga. Det innebærer drikking i flere dager i strekk, vandring rundt i bluesdress, synge obskøne finske viser i offentlig rom, bedriftsbesøk (Dahls bryggeri), finlandsfergesimulator, bastubading og mye annen moro. Den virkelige turen til finland går av stabelen i januar. Jeg lurer på om det ikke var rundt den 20 januar. Da drar de som har lyst over til Finland for å besøke vår vennskapsklubb PSK KUPLA PSK Kupla. Det er en uke med mye moro, og ikke minst drikking. Det er stort sett det finner gjør. De drikker, banner og bader bastu. Alle sammen. Hele tiden. Det er hvertfall min erfaring etter tre besøk i den finske hovedstaden. Hehe...
'nuff said.
Regner med at jeg skal klare å oppdatere bloggen hvertfall en gang til i løpet av helga. spørs hva Tomas finner på.
Onkel reisende Mac
We are the champions!!!
alle medlemmene av familien min har vært med på ymse konkuranser oppigjennom tiden, så vi har alle sammen et ganske velutviklet konkuranseinstinkt. følgende har skjedd:
- Lillebror Tomas har vært med i Riksmästerskapet i Tae-Kwon Do i Sverige. der vant han bronse i sparring og bronse i mønster. Hvis jeg husker rett gikk han fem kamper i sparringa og vant tre av dem. så han havna på en delt tredjeplass. Han har trent mye, hardt og målbevisst det siste halve året og nå fikk han igjen for det. Grattis Tomas!
- Lillebror Magnus var med på svømmestevne i Moss. Der ble det totalt tre gullmedaljer. han går første året på idrettslinja på videregående i Porsgrunn for tiden. Der trener han ganske mye generelt, og så er han i tillegg med i svømmeklubben der nede. Go Magnus!
- Morsan, Annika, vant sammen med sin makker kretsmesterskap i Bridge i Karlstad (Sverige) i helga. det medfører at de kvalifiserer seg til SM i Bridge. Grattis Morsan!
Er det rart jeg er stolt? :-)
Selv var jeg på dykketur på Hitra i helga. det var vakkert og veldig bra på alle måter. kjempebra sikt, mye tareskog og liv i sjøen. og alt var bare fryd og gammen. Sammen med Harriett fikk jeg skutt endel fisk. så nå har jeg fryseren full av fileer og kamskjell. nammnamm!!!
Se så vakker Harriett er:
until next time!
Torkel i Thailand
men hvertfall...
Torkel sa at han hadde litt problemer med å forlate Thailand. fikk et bilde fra han her om dagen. kan ikke skjønne hva han snakker om. gjør dere?
Any requests?
jeg ser på statistikken her at det er mellom 10 og 18 unike besøkende hver dag. hvem er dere? veit at Krute Kris i england er innom, og like så Vegard. det går også rykter om at til og med mamma leser bloggen min. men hvem er dere andre?
Statistikken forteller også at det har vært innom totalt mer enn 300 unike besøkende. eller... dvs besøk fra over 300 unike IP-adresser. det er sikkert noen som er innom siden min fra forskjellige datamaskiner, men likevel. jeg kjenner ikke så mange som 200 pers, og hvertfall ikke opp mot 300. så jeg begynner å lure. hvem er det som banker på min dør?
og hva vil dere at jeg skal skrive om her i bloggen min?
And now over to something completely different.
i morra fredag 4 november slipper Sid Meier fjerde utgaven av. Civilization jeg skal faktisk ta meg råd til å kjøpe spillet. en piratkopierer som meg har begynt å kjøpe dataspill. jeg tilstår.
men nå må jeg løpe og være studass.
until next time...
lang tid mellom oppdateringer
- Håkon har fått seg jobb i Stavanger. Grattis! han har vært så og si arbeidsledig fra han var ferdig i våres til nå, men nå fikk han også en kjempebra jobb. synd bare at den er så langt unna. vi bodde sammen her på Moholt i tre år, og jeg må si han er en knakende god kar. Må si at jeg kommer til å savne kortspillinga, og alle krigshistoriene. For denne karen kan fortelle artige krigshistorier. De artigste er ofte fra da han var med Rommel i ørkenkrigen i '41/'42. :-Dkommer seff til å savne fyren også, men å innrømme noe sånt er jo litt tvilsomt, er det ikke? hva kommer folk til å tro da? :-P
Håkon "the man" Skevik - På lørdag var jeg på Halloweenfest sammen med mine naboer. hvis min italienske nabo blir litt gal av en pils eller to, hjelper det ikke akkurat at jeg forer han med whiskey. men artig, lællMeg, Anna & Giordano - Meg og Kjetil - Crazy Giordano
- Det skjedde no artig på grunnkurset i dykking sist lørdag. les mer på Great White Hunter
- I dag (teknisk sett igår, tirsdag) var jeg med på undersøkelser i Nidelva. denne gangen med NVE. Det kom to karer fra Olso, og en kar fra NVE her i trondheim, en fyr fra vann og miljøteknikk, og så var vi tre st var geografi. elvebunnen ble kartlagt med to instrumenter. det ene var en ADCP (Accoustic Doppler Current Plotter) den måler strømstyrke og retning i alle dybder. artig sak.
Det andre instrumentet var en Georadar som måler hvilke sedimenter som finnes nedover i bakken. det kan vise seg svært nyttig å få data på hvordan bunnprofilen er bygd opp. kanskje det kan bli nok datamateriale for en masteroppgave. time will tell....
Her er ADCP'n sett in action - mens vi var nede vel elva ble vi vitner til en trafikkulykke. En bil bremset opp, og sjåføren av bilen bak var uoppmerksom og kjørte rett i rævva på bilen foran. det smalt godt, men skadene på bilene så ut som kun overfladiske skader. sjåførene av begge bilene nærmest spratt ut av bilene sine. dama i bilen foran begynte med en gang å prate om hvorfor hu hadde bremsa opp osv, Føreren av bilen bak, tok opp mobilen og begynte å ringe.
Det var tydelig for meg at begge to var rimelig oppskaket. jeg måtte avbryte dama og spørre om alle i bilen hennes var uskadet, eller om dem trengte hjelp. hu sa at venninna hennes hadde fått kjempevondt i nakken. da jeg kom bort så jeg at hun storgråt og skrek nesten samtidig som hu holdt seg til nakken. det var ganske ubehagelig.
vi fikk sjåføren til å kjøre bilen sin inn på parkeringa. Veiledern fra Geografi tok seg av den skada passasjeren mens jeg ringte 113, og i løpet av kort tid var ambulanse, brannvesen og politi der.
Hu dama var helt ute av seg, og ble så dårlig at hu kasta opp og greier. venninna som kjørte var overaskende rolig. de var nesten litt som natt og dag. av førstehjelp fikk dama med nakkeskade bare litt trøst og en pose til å spy i. Setet hennes ble lent litt bakover, men mer enn det turte vi ikke gjøre siden nakken kunne være alvorlig skadet. Ambulansepersonellet ga ho smertestillende og fikk ho over på en båre.
oppsummert i ettertid ser jeg at jeg burde ha tatt litt mer kontroll over situasjonen og brukt litt mer utestemme. dama med nakkeskade kunne fått mer omsorg og trøst og trafikken kunne blitt dirigert bedre. men alt i alt gjorde vi nok det rette, selv om vi kunne reagert litt raskere kanskje. kanskje en skulle ta noen førstehjelpskurs hos Røde Kors ? hmm.. skal sjekke opp når det går kurs.
bilder av diverse ting dukker plutselig opp, so stay tuned....
:-D
Don't try this at home, kids!
Hvis hodet er dumt får kroppen lide
I går var jeg på lesesalen for første gang på en stund. jeg hadde akkurat fått installert ArcGis på lappisen, og skulle til å plugge i kontakten. På min lesesalsplass er det to kontakter, men når jeg skulle plugge i ledninga fra laptopen så jeg at det satt en liten pinne i det ene hullet. Et kjapt overblikk sa meg at det var en av de to metallpinnene i en vanlig stikkkontakt som hadde brukket og nå satt igjen.
 | Til venstre har jeg lagt ved et lite bilde for å illustrere situasjonen. "Pinnen må fjernes!" tenkte jeg, og skred til verket. Det er jo ikke uvanlig at det går strøm i slike, så derfor var jeg litt forsiktig. Først pirket jeg litt borti metallpinnen med ene fingeren. siden det gikk greit tenkte jeg at den ikke satt langt nok inn for å være strømførende. Uten å gå noe mer rundt grøten tok jeg et godt tak i den med pekefinger og tommel og plutselig hoppet jeg sikkert en halvmeter rett opp. For den driten var jo strømførende. folk snudde seg litt og kikket på meg fordi jeg gispet sikker ganske høyt. |
La meg bare si at empiriske forsøk viser at det kan være ganske vondt å putte fingeren i stikkkontakten. Det verket faktisk i finger og hånd i hvertfall en time etterpå. hehe..
Jeg fant ut at det smarteste var å trekke ut skjøteledningen som sørget for strømmen i min kontakt før jeg tafsa mer der. hvem sier at smerte ikke er en god lærer?
:-P
Dykkekurs og gjevt besøk
han kom oppover fordi han skulle på konsert med Seigmenn torsdag kveld. og når han først var her, så tok han likesågodt hele helgen her oppe i barteland. det var artig å møte ham igjen. vi ses sjeldent, men det er alltid bra. Det ble litt pilsing på fredagen. og så var vi innom et vorspiel hos noen islendinger på lørdag kveld. det kom også ei jente fra Finland dit. skal si hu ble overaska over at jeg kunne flere finske fylleviser enn ho kunne. hehe... :-)
Lørdag og søndag hjalp jeg til på ett grunnkurs i dykking. Dette var kurshelg nummer to , og var første gangen elevene dykket i sjøen. vi var på Trolla som ligger rett utenfor byen mot Flakk.
Grunnkurset arrangeres gjennom klubben av en instruktør som nettopp har flytta hit fra Bergen. (vakker setning. min norsklærer ville vært stolt). jeg skulle være hjelpeinstruktør og følge elevene under vann og geleide dem gjennom diverse øvelser. de vansligste øvelsene er masketømming, oppdriftskontroll og forskjellige andre med ventilen.
lørdag formiddag skulle jeg bli med to elever på deres første sjødykk. jeg rakk omtrent ikke komme mer enn en meter under vann før jeg kjente vannet renne inn i høyre erme på tørrdrakta. først tenkte jeg at glidelåsen ikke var skikkelig stengt, så jeg forsikret meg om at ikke var tilfelle. det hjalp lite. jeg lå så i ca to minutter og vurderte om jeg skulle gjennomføre dykket likevel. Jeg kjente fort at det ble litt kaldere enn jeg skulle kunne akseptere under dykket, så jeg bestemte meg for å avbryte.
Heldigvis kunne Jan ta over siden han også hadde drakt med seg.
supre saker at du kunne ta over Jan! lekkasjen i tørrdrakta fant vi først dagen etterpå da jeg skulle i vannet nok en gang. denne gangen testet jeg drakta alene uten elever å passe på. jeg fant dessverre fort ut at det ikke var glidelåsen som ikke var lukket ordentlig. vannet rant like fort rett inn i drakta. jeg gikk opp og Jan lokaliserte lekkasjen.
Ser dere hva som er feil med drakta mi?
:-)
For øvrig var det supre forhold for dykking i dag. noen få minusgrader, sol fra klar himmel, og vindstille. Det var litt kaldt i lufta, men vi fyrte opp et bål som varmet oss hele dagen. Søndagsdykket gikk til Flakgalten og de tok Fjøset og passerte oss på veien ut. etter at de hadde dykket ferdig kom de tilbake og stoppet litt hos oss. De hjalp også til under en droppe-bly-øvelse. se så flott det var på bildet under.
trokke jeg hadde så mye mer på hjertet i dag. until next time....
:-D
Høstfest med Geografi
Siden jeg jobber som stud ass på skolen, kunne jeg ikke dra så tidlig. Det var flere som måtte dra senere så vi slo oss sammen og delte bil på vei oppover. Da vi kom opp var de andre på vei tilbake fra sin vandring i geografien. Vi var fire masterstudenter som kom opp litt senere og vi hadde med oss pølser, pils og mye godt humør. vi tok med oss litt ved og gikk noen hundre meter bort i skogen for Hytta og fyrte opp satte oss ned på noen benker. Det lå en liten hytte rett ved siden av og når vi åpnet døra så vi at den kun inneholdt en dobbeltseng og noen pledd. senga fylte hele gulvet sånn at det ikke var noe som helst tomrom mellom den og veggene. skiltet over døra forklarte alt.
:-D
etter at vi hadde pilset litt og ble litt varme i skjorta stakk vi tilbake til Hytta og joina resten av folka, som nå hadde satt seg i bastua. Jeg hadde en anelse om at kanskje ikke alle var såpass avslappa som vi i DG er hva bastu angår. mine mistanker ble bekreftet for å si det mildt. jeg gikk inn i bastua helt riktig antrukket. dvs uten antrekk. men det viste seg kjapt at jeg var den eneste som gjorde det. alle andre hadde enten undertøy eller bikini på seg. vederstyggelig med tekstiler i bastua. 'nuff said.
Etter en stund i bastua ble det badetur til Blomstertjønna.
så var det middag, pils, dessert, pils, prating, pils, dansing, pils, pils, mere dansing, limbo, og kanskje en liten pils til.
litt utpå natta måtte jeg vise et av kveldens par bort til hekkestua. de var visst veldig nysgjerrig på hvor den lå hen. merkelige greier. vi hadde jo så gode senger på sovesalen.
alt i alt var det en bra kveld, og det ble jammen også endel bra bilder. skal kanskje legge ut noen av dem her etterhvert.
Forresten tror jeg Terje vant limbokonkuransen.
:-D
Gale Italienere & nakne damer
jeg tenkte hu hadde glemt å pusse tenna, eller noe sånt, men i stedet snudde ho seg mot meg og sa: "Klas! Vi må feste! Vi har ikke hatt noen fest her enda." et øyeblikk trodde jeg at hun mente at vi måtte feste med en gang (og det hadde vel ikke vært no problem for min del), men hun mente at vi skulle invitere litt folk og det til helga.
Vi ble enige om at fredag passa bra. Jeg inviterte noen stykker, Anna likeså og vår nye italienske nabo inviterte også noen. Han heter noe sånt som Giordano. litt vanskelig å si egentlig for han er ikke akkurat stødig i engelsk. Han er veldig blid og hyggelig, og svarer stort sett alle spørsmål med et stort smil og "yes?".
Det er også litt av problemet. vi vet ikke helt hvor mye han skjønner. han kan snakke litt, og vi er glad for det, men av og til går det opp for oss at han ikke har skjønt de siste ti minuttenes samtale.
For de av dere som har hørt mp3-fila "the Italian who went to Malta" kan jeg si at Giordano snakker akkurat som han fyren der.
utover kvelden kom det innom litt folk. ikke så mye som forventa, men det ble artig likevel. mest på grunn av Giordano. han drakk maks tre pils og en bitte liten karsk han fikk av meg. de er så dårlig til å drikke disse sydeuropeerne. noen av vennene hans kom også, men til sammen drakk de som en bitte liten 14 årig jente fra nordtrøndelag. nå drikker de i nordtrøndelag kanskje litt hardt, men læll...
siden Italienerne ikke var så stødig i språk brukte vi store deler av kvelden på å lære dem nødvendige fraser som: - du er søt - få øl - en øl takk - fine sko, skal vi kline/pule? - få karsk! Giordano var spesielt flink til å trene på språket. og han var helt propell også. de andre smilte, og pratet lavmælt mens han gale naboen vår var høyrøstet, lo masse, og snakka som en foss hele tiden. lurer på om han hadde røyka noe han ikke burde.
men vaffal....
de andre dro hjem sånn i halv ett tiden, og da lå stakkaren på sofaen på kjøkkenet og ropte høyt:"øl?karsk?pule?kline?"
med en meget sterk italiensk akksent selvfølgelig. jeg lurer på åssen det vil gå på byen for denne karen. en annen gang må vi stikke ut og se om han får noe på kroken. han var hvertfall sykt morsom. tror han vil få mindre juling enn hva kanskje andre ville fått. men litt juling får han nok. hehe... :-D Until next time.
en ting til. jeg var edru selv fordi jeg skulle opp tidlig og dykke neste dag. Hva har så nakne damer med dette å gjøre? vel... ei Anita fra DG dro meg med på kunstutstilling i dag. Den het "Female" og ble holdt på Galleri SG (www.galleri-sg.no/utst.htm). der var det en utstilling av 14 forskjellige avkledde kvinner og det var mange fine bilder. dere finner noen av dem på linken over.
Adressa (www.adressa.no) har også en anmeldelse på http://www.adressa.no/kultur/article580270.ece
jeg må si at jeg føler meg mye mer kultivert og dannet etter denne utstillingen. lurer på om jeg ikke skal fortsette med slike ting. :-D
Menneskehandel i Trondheim
grunnen til at jeg tok dette opp var rett og slett at jeg så ett oppslag i byen på mandag ettermiddag. Jeg tenkte jeg skulle skrive no morsomt rundt det, men så ble jeg sittende og tenke litt. og det er egentlig ikke mye morsomt. men jeg legger ut bildet , læll.
Ved nærmere ettersyn var dette en reklame for Operasjon Dagsverk. regner med at adressa www.od.no er til dem.
Forøvrig er Mine Undervannseventyr oppdatert. klikk på http://klas.blogg.no/dykking
Band of Brothers
Sist lørdag kom de to yngste brødra mine på besøk hit til Barteland. Björn på 19 og Magnus på 16 år kom med ettermiddagstoget fra Oslo. De skulle egentlig komme oppover med nattbussen natt til lørdag, men teite bussmannen nekta å slippe de ombord. Bare fordi de ikke sto på lista hans måtte han være vanskelig. jeg tror det var litt forvirring om hvilken dag billettene deres gjaldt eller no sånt. aner ikke.
Hvertfall så var de strandet i Oslo fredag kveld, og hadde ikke no sted å være. Jeg ringte Roar, en gammel kompis som nå jobber i Oslo, og han kunne heldigvis hjelpe dem. siden brødra mine ikke er kjent i Oslo kom Roar like godt ned til bussterminalen og henta dem. Tusen takk til Roar! :-D jeg håper brødra mine takket så meget for hjelpen.
Når brødra mine endelig hadde kommet seg opp hit var det fullt program hele helgen. lørdag kveld dro vi på en fest med husvertene jeg jobber med. husvertlederen Anne hadde bursdag og hadde invitert alle sammen. Først var Björn o Magnus litt i tvil om de hadde lyst til å bli med, men det bedret seg når de var kommet frem til festen. der var det biljards, vin , piker og sang i noen timer. når folka dro på byen stakk vi hjem.
Søndag morgen sto vi opp tidlig og dro ned til Nidelva for å dykke. Dykkergruppa har fått dykkejobb av universitetet og skal hjelpe til med å undersøke erosjon og rasfare i utvalgte kulper i elva. vi var totalt 7 stykker hvorav to dykket. dykkinga ble utført en og en på line, med linemann, redningssvømmer og redningsdykker på overflata. Are hadde med seg sitt digitalkamera og fikk filmet. Det viste seg at en kloakledning hadde lekkasje for det fløt rundt endel papir, bind og snus. Han ene dykkeren sa også at vannet smakte kloakk. jeg er glad jeg kun var linemann. hehe...
Søndag kveld spilte vi litt rollespill med no gamle (og nye) kompiser. Det var skikkelig artig å spille litt igjen. Mandag dro brødreklubben ned til Vitensenteret og lekte i orbitronen. Skal legge ut no bilder derfra. på ettermiddagen ble det gårdstur via jobben som husvert. det var et lokalt arrangement vi arrangerte til en lokal besøksgård. På kvelden tok jeg med Björn og Magnus på trening i undervannsrugby. Siden de er gode svømmere og vant til bryting og herjing var dette midt i blinken for dem. de skårte opp til flere mål. wuhuu!!
her er no bilder av gutta boys når vi kjører orbitron.
tirsdag morgen stakk vi bort til Tyholttårnet og spiste lunsj. fikk vist dem store deler av Trondheim fra lufta. etter maten dro vi til pirbadet atter en gang , men denne gangen for å leke og plaske litt. Magnus går idrettslinja på videregående og de har visst nettopp hatt endel stuping. så han viste oss baklengs salto og fallstup. fallstup fikk jeg til ganske greit, men saltoene får jeg vente litt med. litt skummelt fortsatt. tirsdag kveld fikk jeg kjørt dem ned til stasjonen og satt de på bussen.
det var kjempekoselig å se dem igjen, og jeg kan nesten ikke vente til neste gang.
:-)
Om ni läser detta, björn o magnus, så ska ni veta att ni kan alltid komma och hälsa på mej. kram på er.
Sammensurium
selv om jeg ikke har oppdatert siden siden unionskrigen av 1812 så er det hyggelig å se at folk er innom siden likevel. Noen få kommentarer utviklet seg til å bli litt av en diskusjon, og i skrivende stund er det over 50 kommentarer på forrige innlegg. det er litt artig. :-)
For en uke siden ble jeg ferdig som leder av NTNUI-Dykkergruppa. Det var ett år med mye moro, jobbing og ansvar ikke minst. Det var skikkelig artig, men jeg er nå veldig glad for å være ferdig. Med tanke på arbeidsmengden jeg har hatt generelt den siste tiden er det bra å ha en ting mindre å tenke på.
Nå er det "bare" husvertjobbing, studassjobbing, mastergrad, og det vanlige kjøret med vin, piker og sang som tar tid. :-P
for ikke snakke om trening.
jeg har jo begynt å trene undervannsrugby denne høsten. det er skikkelig artig, og i ettermiddag blir jeg faktisk med til Ålesund på min første cup. Dessverre har jeg klart å bli skikkelig forskjøla, men jeg blir nå med likevel. det er langt fra sikkert at jeg kan være med i bassenget, men jeg skal få skikk på Rose-spillinga på kvelden. det er nå helt sikkert. Sivert, Knut og meg skal nok få kjørt de andre litt på den fronten. hehe....
Jeg er en av de få i Dykkergruppa som har harpun og som regelmessig jakter med den når vi er på dykketur. for ett år siden fant en kompis av meg ved navn Jörg og meg ut at det er vanskeligere å fange liten fisk. logikken her er seffern at liten blink er vanskeligere å treffe enn en stor en.
her er et lite bilde av min foreløpig minste fisk.
men nå må jeg jammen løpe.
skal prøve å oppdatere bloggen før nyttår. :-D
Drita full før drøbakssundet...
jeg kan fort nevne husvertjobb, stud.assjobb, ledervervet i DG, hjulpet to kompiser å flytte, damestyr osv.
Det har vært like før jeg har gått på veggen, men det har løsna litt nå. En god kompis av meg, Kristoffer, har fått tak på gratisbilletter til danskebåten i helga. så vi er tre stykker som skal drikke drinker, se på damene og komme med grisete kommentarer. kristoffer fikk tak på billettene via sommerland hvor han har jobbet i sommer. Jeg mistenker at han har vært temmelig løssluppen og tøsete for å få lankene på disse billettene. det ville ikke forundre meg. :-P
Det skal hvertfall bli veldig bra å komme seg vekk fra trondheim noen dager og gjøre noe helt annet.
neste helg skal jeg også gjøre noe helt annet. jeg skal nemlig på Finnedykket som i år går ut til Stokkøya. jeg gleder meg som en unge for jeg har ikke dykket på over to måneder nå, og jeg har heller ikke truffet finnene våre. lurer på om jeg ikke skal utvide mitt finske vokabular før dem kommer. som det er nå kan jeg følgende:
- telle til ti
- bestille hamburger
- "yksi Olut kiitos!" = En øl takk!
- "Turpa kiini!" = Hold Kjeft!
- "olet todella kaunis!" = du er søt
- haloatko kahavia = vil du ha kaffe?
- haloatko norjalaista makkara = vil du smake min norske pølse?
alle sammen nyttige til sitt bruk, men jeg tror kanskje jeg kunne utvidet mine horisonter litt. Time will tell.
Until next time....
Helgen er over oss...
Som en ekte Geograf stilte jeg opp med Khakifarget skjorte og bukse, jungelhatt, kart i brystlomma og mitt store dykkekompass på armen. fikk høre at jeg så ut som en blanding av Steve Irvin og brødrene Dahl.
"nei søta. jeg aner ikke hva klokka er, men jeg kan fortelle deg at bardisken ligger mot nord."
hehe..
ikveld skal jeg avgårde og trene undervannsrugby igjen. gleder meg til det. for de som ikke helt vet hva det er kan jeg fortelle at det er en vannsport. Det er en slags blanding av svømming, basket, bryting og fridykking der det er om å gjøre å putte en synkende ball i motstandernes kurv.
klikk på bildet for å se hvordan det kan være på cup.
Ha en god helg!
Forøvrig er Mine Undervannseventyr oppdatert.
klikk på linken til høyre
lørdag er arbeidsdag
I dag sitter jeg på kontoret på universitetet og jobber. eller burde jobbe hvertfall. sliter litt med arbeidslysten. følgende ting burde jobbes med:
- Redigering av feltkursrapport
- skrive problemstilling og et ark med generelle tanker rundt masteroppgava mi.
- lage øvinger til høstens GIS-kurs.
- Finne hvertfall en bil til morradagens søndagsdykk.
- Få tak på noen av de involverte folka i en klagesak jeg som husvert er involvert i.
Som dere ser har nok å holde på med for tiden. kanskje jeg burde kutte ut søvn en stund. jeg kan jo for eksempel bare fly rundt som en slagbjørn i Lierne og så bare gå i hi når det roer seg litt utover høsten. spørs om det er så lurt egentlig. slagbjørner lever jo som kjent et hardt liv.
Jeg får heller prøve å strukturere meg litt. gudene skal vite at det trengs. kan foreksempel kutte ned på all fjasinga på internett, og kanskje drikke noen færre halvlitere med pils.
Dette minner meg om et lite dikt av en herremann som heter Jacob Sande.
Etter ein Rangel
I morgon vil eg byrja på eit nytt og betre liv, trur eg.
Eg skal aldri gå på fylla meir og skjera folk med kniv, trur eg.
Eg skal aldri skråla visar meir i laddevinsrus,
men synge åndelege sanger i Zions bedehus, trur eg.
Alle kvinnfolk som eg møtar skal eg sky som bare fan, trur eg.
Og gå vyrdeleg forbi dei som ein nybakt kappelan, trur eg.
Eg skal sitte som ein munk i ein misjonskone-ring,
og drikka kaffe medan drøset går um åndelege ting, trur eg.
Det skal ingen meir få sjå meg når det lir til høgste natt, trur eg,
koma ruslande på heimveg utan stivety og hatt, trur eg.
Eg skal legga meg når grisen går til kvile i sitt bol,
og stå opp når hanen flakser og gjel i morgonsol, trur eg.
Ja, i morgon skal eg byrja på den gode veg som sagt, trur eg.
Taka striden upp mot kjøtet og den heile develsmakt, trur eg.
Men i dag lyt det få vera, for eg er so spøkje tyrst
at eg må ha eit ølkrus til å leska meg på fyrst, trur eg
Nytt semester - nye muligheter
Semesteret begynte i dag med innmatrikulering av alle de nye studentene. og en ting slo meg. jeg begynner å bli gammel. Høstens unge håpefulle er født i 1987 og dermed ni år yngre enn meg. så unge, så naive, og så uvitende. Nei Kristoffer. du skal ikke komme opp og lære dem en ting eller to om en ting eller to. De vaser rundt med forvirring i blikket og følger etter en eller annen med FadderTskjorte og leter febrilsk etter Stripa, eller Auditorium X hvis de er på Dragvoll. litt artig å se egentlig.
:-)
Det var litt rart å plutselig støte på folk i gangene på Dragvoll igjen. I hele sommer har jeg tasser rundt i sokkelesten og nesten ikke møtt en eneste person. nå er kantinta plutselig full og en må møte opp litt før lunsj for å sitteplass. er nesten blitt litt folkesky, men jeg tror jeg skal klare å venne meg til folk igjen. må bare ta det litt gradvis. over til noe annet.
Den bilen ble det ikke no av. bilen var litt tvilsom og forhandleren enda mer. jeg trenger uansettt en laptop og bruker mest sannsynlig penger på det. men det er litt gøy å se på bil likevel. skal nok ha øya oppe, og kanskje slå til på no billig hvis det ser bra ut. men det spørs. pengene ryr ut nesten fortere enn jeg får dem inn. laptop, medlemsskap på samfundet, ntnui, og DG. Så har vi husleie, telefon, og en ikke helt umerkbar ølpost.
Av og til sier jeg som George Best: "jeg bruker 80% av pengene mine på damer og brennvin. resten sløser jeg bort." :-D
Men ikveld er jeg flink. sitter faktisk på Dypet og ser på at andre drikker. tro det eller ei, men jeg er klinkende edru. tenkte jeg skulle prøve det en gang. har hørt så mye om det av andre som har prøvd. så langt må jeg si at det er ikke så verst. dette går fint. Jeg skal forøvrig også være flink på lørdag. siden jeg skal dykke på søndag blir det lite pils lørdag kveld.
Brum Brum
I dag skal jeg avgårde og kikke litt på denne bilen. følgende sto i annonsen:
VOLKSWAGEN JETTA KUPP!! PENBIL PERSONBIL 1984 180 000 KM, KR 9 000,-
HEL OG PEN BIL. BILEN ER I GOD STAND, GODE DEKK, ÅRSAVGIFT BETALT, EU-KONTROLL OK, DETTE ER MASSE BIL FOR PENGA SOM IKKE ER OPPRUSTET, SJEDEN BRA STAND. SELGES RIMELIG -- FØRST TIL MØLLA
Hvis jeg slår til, så blir denne bilen først og fremst brukt til dykking. nei jeg skal ikke kjøre over kaia i sentrum, men jeg trenger transport når jeg skal dykke. med egen bli slipper jeg å mase hue og rævva av meg for å få en tur i det våte element. krysse fingra nå.
:-)
Trygda er kommet - nesten
Fikk en sms i dag fra Lånekassa om at søknaden min er behandlet og jeg får trygd også i år. i år kunne jeg for første gang også søke via internett. det er jo et fremskritt fra ifjor da kun norske statsborgere kunne gjøre det.
MEN.... de grøthuene i lånekassa tenkte like så godt at de kunne sende brevet jeg må signere hjem til folkeregistrert adresse selv om de vet:
- Jeg studerer på NTNU i Trondheim
- Jeg har en adresse i Trondheim
Så det som i utgangspunktet var ganske smidig var ikke så smidig likevel. men det ordner seg om en uke tenker jeg. pappa og brødra mine er for tiden i sverige og kan derfor ikke sende brevet oppover riktig ennå. :-P
pytt pytt...
P.S. nytt innlegg i Mine Undervannseventyr (klas.blogg.no/dykking).
P.P.S. Må prøve å finne ut av åssen jeg legger inn en link her. håper jeg slipper å betale masse pæng, men jeg ser ikke bort i fra at jeg må oppgradere kontoen.
Off-shore, kontoret og en liten tur til Metro
Tjolahopp!
denne helgen begynte rolig og greit med ett par pils fredag kveld. jeg var invitert til et vorspiel på Ila av en kompis av meg. Det var hyggelig selv om jeg ikke kjente så mange der. Jeg pleier ikke ha vanskeligheter med å prate med fremmede og ha det artig, og det var ikke noe problem denne gangen heller.
Etter en stund fant jeg det best å gjøre min sorti, og forlot åstedet. På veien hjem syklet jeg innom no venninner av meg som nettopp er tilbake i Bartebye. Vi så litt film, og prata litt før jeg stakk hjem og la meg.
Tidlig neste morgen sto jeg opp, frisk og rask som aldri før, og stakk til kontoret. rett før helgen fikk jeg nemlig en mail fra veilederen min. Der sto det: "Du er ferdig med prosjektrapporten på mandag, ikke sant? " Så jeg ble sittende på kontoret noen timer på lørdag. Min konsentrasjon og utholdenhet var ikke helt på topp, og derfor ble blandt annet denne bloggen opprettet. Jeg fikk etter noen timer skrevet ferdig første utkast av rapporten. Jeg skriver første utkast fordi jeg nærmest går ut i fra at jeg får den tilbake for å skrive mer på den. De er ikke så lette å tilfredstille her på instituttet. faglig hvertfall. andre måter veit jeg lite om. :-P
På grunn av rapportskriving gikk jeg glipp av Off-shore VM som ble holdt her i byen. Noen medlemmer av klubben skulle ut med Fjøset (båten vår) på fjorden for å se på bråkebåtene, og jeg hadde tenkt å være med. men den gang ei.
En stund etter at jeg kom hjem ringte en kompis og sa at de var tomme for øl på vorspiel og lurte på om ikke jeg kunne ta med meg en kasse dalhs og hjelpe dem. joda. det er ikke no problem det sa jeg. En liten snartur ned på Dypet (vår klubbkjeller) senere hadde jeg en kasse øl i den ene hånda mens jeg styrte sykkelen med den andre. Å sykle med en kasse øl var ikke så vanskelig som det kan høres ut som. Jeg bare vekslet mellom å ha den bak på bagasjebrettet, støtta mot min venstre hofte og fram på stanga. uansett tok det bare ti minutter å sykle fra Dypet og bort til Jan, så det var ikke lange biten.
Jeg kom. spilte rose og så dro vi på byen. Vi dro ned til Naboen når vi var tomme for øl. Der ble det mer skitprat og ikke minst mer øl. en kompis av meg har fått jobb i India og dette var hans siste utedag i Trondheim, så jeg hadde lovet å ta en øl med ham litt utpå kvelden. Siden han stort sett holder seg på Metro, dro jeg dit etterhvert.
Sivert og meg dro som sagt til Metro og satt i baren og tok en øl. artig plass med ganske mange alternative mennesker. For de som ikke visste det er Metro utestedet hovedsakelig for byens homofile og bifile mennesker. En kamerat av meg sier:"Metro er et bra sted for heterofile å treffes. Det er også litt av et kjøttmarked for oss homser".
Utover kvelden viste dette utsagnet seg å stemme. vi drakk øl, dansa, prata med masse folk og hadde det generelt sett artig. spesielt artig var det at en ble litt grafset på, og at en fikk endel komplimenter. Jeg er ikke homofob, men jeg må si at jeg ikke er helt komfortabel med å bli forsøkt sjekket opp av andre menn. Måtte si til mer enn en fyr at jeg dessverre var hetero. han ene smilte bare og sa "Det er bra du er hetero for ellers hadde du stukket av med alle de kjekke guttene..." jeg lo høyt.
når det var på tide å dra hjem samlet vi sammen litt andre dykkere, og så stakk vi opp til dykkerkjelleren for å spille drikkespill. Det er alltid lurt når en allerede er dritings fra før. på veien opp ble det selvsagt litt lekeslossing. Ei ny jente i klubben har tydeligvis trent litt kampsport og synes det er artig å lekesloss. Det er ikke noe jeg er vanskelig å lure med på. vi kom vel opp til Singsaker studenthjem før hu kasta seg over meg og prøvde å slenge meg i asfalten. jeg klarte å forhindre det og fikk velta ho over på gresset. Sivert brøt inn og lurte på om han ikke skulle holde våre jakker så dem ikke ble ødelagt. det var en god ide og vi ga fra oss jakkene før vi fortsatte. hehe
etter en liten stund gikk vi tre videre. neste gang hu angrep meg klarte hu faktisk å slå meg så leppa sprakk litt. litt artig. når vi lå der på asfalten og rulla rundt kom plutselig Håkon forbi. han smilte og sa et eller annet lurt. vi avsluttet slossinga (jeg vant seff. kremt) og gikk videre oppover.
ca fem minutter senere hoppa hu jenta på Sivert for å se om hu kunne denge ham, noe hun også nesten klarte. Sivert svetta og pesa så mye at han tok av seg på overkroppen. det så sikkert veldig lurt ut. etter slosserunde nummer tre var jenta så sliten at hu ga seg og vi kunne komme oss oppover til kjelleren.
vel fremme skyndte jeg meg litt vel mye. jeg løp gjennom vått gress før jeg løp inn i blokka og skulle løpe ned de seks til åtte trinnene ned til kjelleren. Det var tydeligvis noe galt med trinnene for plutselig forsvant beina under meg og jeg landa på ryggen. midt i en betongtrapp. Jeg lurte litt på om jeg hadde ødelagt meg og kjente godt etter før jeg beveget på meg. heldigvis var jeg ikke mer enn litt forslått. jeg låste opp døra og vi gikk inn.
Vel inne på Dypet fant vi frem bolle, kortstokk, øse og øl. empiriske undersøkelser viser at det er fort gjort å få litt mye øl når en allerede er dritings.
Etterpå avsluttet vi kvelden med en bastu. Det er hvertfall lurt når en er dritings. jeg tror jeg kom meg i seng sånn i seks-halv sju tiden på morgenen.
artig kveld/natt/morgen
Min første selvskutte fisk
Dette beistet av en Lyr (Pollachius pollachius) var den første jeg skjøt med harpun. det var et spennende dykk som resulterte i en god middag. :-)
Endelig min egen blogg!
Jeg har lenge hatt lyst til å lage min egen blogg, men det har inntil i dag blitt med tanken. siden mine programmerings og webkunnskaper ikke er all verden var jeg avhengig å få tak på noe som var gratis.
hva skal jeg bruke denne bloggen til? tja.. si det. foreløpig kan jeg tenke meg å kanskje legge ut dykkeloggen min, no bilder , og eller fortelle litt om hva jeg bedriver dagene med. og nettene... hehe...
Dere som leser kan jo kanskje komme med forslag?
:-D
K
Mitt første innlegg
Velkommen til min blogg!