Diving and bushwalking June

Hey all,

Here we go again, another month is gone. June was a very quick month I must admit, way too quick. Being away from Melbourne during two weekends helps the time to move quickly :)


Early sunrise by Blanket Bay June 19 - Great Ocean Walk with MUMC

First week of June was a warm up for the second week with lots of work (me backing up on a colleague as a Resource Manager), did a daywalk in the Dandenong NP (Sherbrooke walk, footy game on the MCG between Collingwood and St Kilda (the Saints lost big time - Go Saints next time) and volonteered at the Swedish Church Sunday afternoon when the Swedish priest family had their farewell party day.

Second week was a good week with a long flight up to Cairns on Thursday afternoon after work. The warm Cairns was very welcoming to a chilly cold me and a sweaty warm Mick who didn´t like the hot QLD as much as I did. On Friday morning we took our dive medical and were picked up by Jason, the dive instructor from RumRunner and had the first theory day on our Open Water diving license course. Tiring long day with lots of video watching and dives in a cold pool was ended with a good and warm Greek dinner in the small city of Cairns with almost no traffic :). Saturday morning we got up early at 6am for the boat departure from the harbor at 7.45 with the destination Great Barrier Reef. Had our first 2 dives in the open water with some practices and skill tests. All good except for me and Mick being seasick on the boat and throwing up overboard. I got so seasick that I couldn't eat anything for almost 24 hours, just had some water and slept for more than 14 hours ... what a boat ride, damn big waves ...
On Sunday we had our last 2 dives, where the first one in the morning was down to the magical 18m deep (Masa the instructor for the morning dive took us down on a sand patch and put the number 18 on his writing board) :). We all passed the dives and tests (me passed the mask removal after some well needed practice) and headed back to Cairns - me sleeping the whole way back since the waves were big and I didn´t want to throw up again.


Me trying to smile ... hard to smile while diving :)


Group picture from left; Jason, me, Mick, Naomi and Singh


On RumRunner on the way back to Cairns, the sun was warm and I could sit down for a while without being seasick

Back in Cairns we hired a car and headed up to Cape Tribulation for 3 days of laziness filled with sleep, food, beach walking and book reading. Tried Jungle Surfing in the rainforest south of Cape Trib, preatty cool and not scary at all, see below ...


Jungle surfing in Cape Tribulation, here upside down on the last section of the surfing

Headed back to Cairns on Wednesday June 15 and flew back to the chilly Melbourne. Always hard to leave a warm and beautiful place...

On the weekend of 17-19 June me and a group from MUMC headed out from Melbourne for a bushwalking trip along the Great Ocean Walk (GOW). We started (12 people with me as trip leader) from Apollo Bay and finished the fist day in Blanket Bay and the second day by Aire River. Had a good time walking and contemplating on the beach, muddy walk sections and good long sleep in the warm tent. We saw a koala and a wallaby on the way and the Canadian guy Felix was happy and exited that he had seen some native Australian animals on his first bush walking trip down under.


Beach walk from Apollo Bay via Marengo Beach, weather was crazy with sunshine one minute and rain one minute


Koala on the ground, didn't or couldn't climb up the tree, could have been sick, poor thing


All of us by the end of the walk, Aire River - happy walkers resting sore feet with blisters

The rest of June was spent at work, dancing, watching the BANFF Mountaineering Movie Festival with MUMC, tried to give some blood (but couldn't since the nurse picked a bad place and my blood didn't fill up the bags) and attended a midsummer party at the Swedish Church with Mick.