More diving, snorkeling, and suntanning

Getting to be quite spoiled! Added a few more highlights to my time in Australia by diving the SS Yongala wreck. There’s basically two operators who run regular trips out there – one located in Townsville which takes 3 hours by boat to reach the wreck, and the other located in Alva Beach (a short drive from Ayr, which is one hour from Townsville) which takes only 30 minutes to reach the wreck. Stayed two nights in Alva Beach, which had zero mobile reception and internet, and not even a grocery store! But I felt a better camraderie with other divers staying in the lodge, who weren’t solely in Australia to get drunk every night.

One guy was pretty brave doing the Yongala dive as his first dive after finishing his Open Water! He said, “As long as you don’t panic, you’re fine.” Which is true – but I would definitely have panicked if I hadn’t logged the recommended 20 dives. It was quite a difficult dive, with extremely bad current even during good weather. The normal procedure for buddy separation is to search for one minute, then if you still can’t find your buddy, meet at the surface; for this dive, our procedure was to search for thirty seconds, then meet back at the mooring line (and NOT at the surface – otherwise the current could sweep you clear from being sighted from the boat!). We swam against current on the “sheltered” side of the wreck, then around to the other side, where we just let the current sweep us back to the line for our return. Quite nice, but only because I knew exactly where the line was. If there was no clear navigation points (i.e. a 109 m long wreck!) I would find being swept away by the current the opposite of relaxing.

A girl had just started with the dive company as a divemaster-in-training despite being almost a total newbie with on. I thought, how lucky is she?! She gets to dive one of the world’s top dive sites every day for 3 months! On the boat ride out, she got really sea sick… Ended up vomiting over both sides of the boat after each dive. And she gets to do this every day for 3 months?.. Ooops!

Spent a few nights on Magnetic Island, which was a nice respite from Townsville. Rented snorkel gear to snorkel at Arthur Bay, which is supposed to be the best snorkel spot on the island… Accidentally took the “Forts Walk” path instead of the path to Arthur Bay, so” instead, so 2 hours later finally ended up at my intended destination. Wasn’t all lost though – the Forts walk, which goes through the military fortifications installed during WWII, has some great views of the island. Snorkeling was alright! Visibility was horrible because it was high tide for most of the day. But I did see, amongst the usual fish (damselfish, butterfly fish, wrasse) a sea snake and a school of baby manta rays!

Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island

Fortification on Magnetic Island

Arthur Bay, Magnetic Island

Tomorrow I go on OceanQuest for 5 days! Speaking of which, Kana emailed me photos finally! I just get a huge grin whenever I see this photo of me petting a Maori humphead wrasse

Maori humphead wrasse are generally quite friendly, and followed us like a pet dog during part of our dive! Petting them is fine as long as they’re receptive to it, and you stroke them on the side of their body and don’t touch their delicate fins

Me checking out a wall under 22m (70 ft) of water

Splashed out and rented an underwater digital camera for this trip, so hopefully I’ll have a few more nice shots to share next time!

from one backpacker dive to the next

I wanted to get on the Taka, which is a 7 day trip that if weather conditions are good, would go out to Osprey Reef, a dive site recommended by the divemasters I worked with on OceanQuest. However, after checking with the office a few times, they still weren’t taking applications, because they said they were taking bookings 4-6 weeks in advance, only to have people cancel on them. Even with less than 3 weeks until the next available departure, they wouldn’t take me! Grr! So I decided to sign on again to volunteer on OceanQuest. When will I have another chance for free diving and great food?

I couldn’t wait around Cairns with nothing to do, so escaped the backpacker dive that is Cairns, and took the bus down to Townsville. From Townsville I’ll be going to Ayr for two nights, from where I’ll dive the SS Yongala wreck, one of the top 10 dives in the world apparently! Sort of a birthday present to myself, although it’ll be a few days late (diving on September 17).

Townsville is an even bigger backpacker dive than Cairns, and actually has me missing Cairns in comparison. Wet t-shirt contests, all night drinking parties, filthy hostel kitchens… Not exactly what I was hoping for. Cairns was a bit of a dive in that way but Townsville is worse. And there aren’t any gelato places in Townsville to make up for it!

However, the town itself is rather pretty. And it’s fairly easy to avoid the drunk backpackers, as I go to bed fairly early while they’re out partying. By the time I wake up for my morning run at 7:00, they’re either passed out already or just stumbling back from the bar, and trying to down a few more beers before bed. They don’t venture too far outside the hostel or the two streets in town that have all the pubs.

After Ayr, I’ll return back to Townsville, from which I’ll make a side trip out to Magnetic Island, which is so close to Townsville, you could practically swim there. Perhaps also another side trip to a farm stay?

After that, I’ll return to Cairns to work on the OceanQuest again, from September 25 til 29. Then off-gas for two nights before flying back to Brisbane. Aiming to be back in Canada around October 4th or so, though I likely I’ll only stick around Canada for a week… Still need to finalize my tickets.

Yongala replica – the ghost ship

Townsville

Man-made lagoon pumps and filters jellyfish from sea water to make it safe for swimming. Magnetic Island across the way

My amazing week in Australia… so far

These past few days have been absolutely amazing! The day before I left on the liveaboard, I signed up a tour that came highly recommended – “Uncle Brian’s”. It came highly recommended by other travellers, and when I went online to read reviews, one blogger wrote, pay whatever they’re asking – it’s worth it! The brochure advertised “fun, fun, fun!” and to bring your singing voice aboard “Gus the magical bus”. I was pretty skeptical it would be “fun, fun, fun” (maybe just “fun”), but something magical did indeed occur! I don’t know how or what happened, but something about the tour guide’s energy is just infectious, and by the end of the day, we were all singing along to the songs on the bus! It reminded me of all the great road trips I’ve taken with my girlfriends.

Gus the magical bus

The tour itself went to some scenic places, but it was really only the backdrop to an experience that I would go as far as to say was life changing. Some of the things we saw and experienced were so bizarre taken out of context, that if I write about them here, it wouldn’t really make sense – you’d have to go on the tour yourself to really know. The feeling of being “high” that I felt during the tour (and without drugs, I’m happy to report), I remember thinking I wanted it to last. I would love to inspire that feeling of comraderie in others.

Atherton tablelands

So now, I’m back from working on the liveaboard, and didn’t puke once! Though now I’m feeling a little “land-sick”, and keep leaning to one side when I walk. I would have to say working on the liveaboard was one of the best experiences of my life! Every day was a long day, with only 30 minutes break from 7:20 AM to 9:00 PM; if I did the morning dive and stayed up to socialize with the crew, days were even longer from 5:50 AM until 11:00 PM. There were lots of trying moments, like trying to keep my sea sickness at bay while vacuuming under beds and cleaning bathrooms – concentrating on areas inside cramped interiors while being assaulted by the smell of cleaning agents certainly don’t help! But it was all worth it, without a doubt! I actually got off fairly easy, as the company guarantees that we volunteers can do 2 dives a day; because there weren’t so many passengers on board (at one point we had 10 passengers and 12 crew!), I could have potentially done 4 dives in a day some days. I was diving so much that I actually dreamt I was diving!

Girls’ crew quarters. Not too shabby! Plus delicious meals three times a day – I’ve become quite spoiled now

The first dives I did were quite stressful, as I’ve never dived without a guide. Most people dived in buddy pairs unless they hired a guide – I could tag along if I didn’t have a buddy, but the main reason the company looks for certified dive volunteers is so they don’t have additional burden on the dive masters. And I also didn’t have much experience free descending, especially since I’m quite slow to equalize, adding to my anxiety. On top of that, apparently I have tiny feet that are too small for all the women’s fins they had on board – I had to wear children’s fins! So of course it took me a lot more effort to swim through surface chop with my small fins, and to keep up during the dive, making me slurp up air pretty fast. Before the trip, I didn’t consider myself a good diver, but after getting in 11 dives, bringing the total up to 27, I feel much more confident and comfortable in the water. I also thought I was good on air but really I’m not! Japanese girls are amazing on air! I usually dived with Japanese girls working on the boat, and on one dive (we start with 200 bar), I returned with 30 bar (below the 50 bar safety rule of thumb). Kana, the Japanese girl I was the closest to on the boat, and did almost all my dives with, returned with 100 bar!!! And she was diving deeper than me for most of the dive to boot.

Kana and I

Dive briefing

The biggest things that improved my diving was figuring out I was way overweight (too many weights on my belt) and learning to relax and not be so stressed during descent. By removing 33% of the lead weight I was carrying, I was no longer swimming vertically, so I used less effort (and air) to swim through the water. And the bubbles leaving my mouth were no longer continually bumping my mask around, forcing me to stop and constantly clear my mask. All I need now is a reliable set of fins that fit my tiny feet. Well, a whole scuba set up would be nice But don’t know if I’m that serious about it.

Kana had an underwater digital camera, so I’m waiting impatiently for her to email me the photos she took. There’s one of me petting a giant humphead maori wrasse We saw so many amazing things under water – white tip reef sharks (both during the day and night dive), lion fish, clown fish, pipe fish, sea turtles, juvenile wrasse (which looks like a spotted clown fish), painted lobster, parrot fish, and on and on… On our last dive, a school of huge parrot fish swam by – absolutely amazing, and the three of us diving together just hovered, while I stared almost slack jawed and breathless. What a great last dive!

I had wanted to volunteer on the Taka that goes out to Cod Hole and Osprey Reef (heard raves about it), but all the slots are filled up until October. Also, people told me if I’m getting queasy on Ocean Quest, I would definitely get sick on Taka… But the diving is supposed to really spectacular, as opposed to just “nice” on the shorter length liveaboards out of Cairns. Lucky Kana got on Taka for September 16, the date that was open to me earlier, but I didn’t have the minimum number of logged dives at the time. I could easily see myself doing the work/dive thing for several weeks, though I couldn’t really see doing it for years. I chatted with one divemaster, who said he’s almost diving just out of habit, and is unsure whether he’ll continue to work in diving when he returns home to Sweden. But, divers I spoke to said it’s like riding a bicycle; you don’t really forget.

Great Barrier Reef!

So long, Ocean Quest!

Amazing Australia!

I just had an amazing past week! Both the day before I departed for the liveaboard, and the time I spent on the boat. I would say both experiences rank up there as among the best I’ve had in my life! Right now I’m back in Cairns for the time being, unfortunately. Will blog more later! And hope that my dive buddy emails me the photos from our dives!

Photos of Bangladesh

Finally… Quite an amazing experience in Bangladesh, looking back on it!

Old Dhaka walk

A small crowd of extremely curious Bangladeshis would gather whenever our walking group would stop. I was laughing the whole time – just look at the dumbfounded expression on their faces.

Bangladeshis love having their photo taken

Cha vendor

Riverfront along Old Dhaka

 

This is how I usually dressed in the insane heat and humidity of Muslim Bangladesh. Looks nice but you can see the sweat pouring off my face.

Cox’s Bazaar – enjoying a coconut juice along the world’s (second) longest uninterrupted beach

Love how Bangladeshis would get so much joy out of running towards the water, fullly clothed, then run back screaming when the tide came in.

As I mentioned before, had mixed feelings about photographing inside the Myanmar refugee camp near Teknaf. I do wish now I had taken more photos.

Kids, full of hope and oblivious to life outside the slum.

 

Horrible living conditions inside the slum. This was a section that was less dense, and doesn’t really give you a complete picture as to how densely populated the area is.

The new camp – much improved

Stayed at the Elephant Sanctuary Eco-cottage, a nice, but simple place. Farmer working in the fields nearby.

Rain, rain and more rain – it was monsoon season after all

I loved how the rickshaw wallahs wore plastic bags on their heads to keep the rain out of their eyes. Their heads must be sweltering! But whatever works!

Rickshaw art

Minority villages were the highlight of my visit to Bangladesh

Particularly the village in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, only recently reopened for tourism after terrorist activity. The special performance put on for us, which made me feel quite honoured!

And of course, hosting wouldn’t be complete without a special feast! I thought the man was incredibly striking!

Srimongol, where we visited tea plantations! Stayed out in the countryside, where a tractor is the local bus

Trekked in a forest reserve, where we spotted primates in the wild

… and village day walks

5-layer tea… the best cup I’ve had in my life I would say!

Tea plantation workers

Catching up in Cairns

My experience in Australia so far has been pretty different than travelling in Asia. I had already mentioned being in a “developed” country, my expectations are quite different than in Asia – in Asia I’m prepared to go through trying moments, whereas in Australia it really throws me. Travelling alone, I’m forced to either try to meet people, or else spend the time alone in my thoughts. Most tourists in Australia (that stay in the backpacker hostels) are fairly young – 19, 20, 21 years old – and mostly interested in partying and getting drunk, so often times my initial reaction is to think they have nothing in common with me.

If I don’t make the first attempt to speak to someone, I would say 99.9% of people assume that English is my second language, and would rather not make the attempt to struggle to converse with me. I have met a few nice people so far during my travels, especially in Brisbane, where I went out drinking with two Irish guys – also engineers! I commented that they couldn’t really drink that much, especially for being Irish! Derek replied, “oh, it’s only because I’m a bit sick! Just wait until I get better!” So, I’ve got quite a few challengers (male, too) lined up across the globe now Ireland, Singapore… We also met some Australians in the backpacker bar, and I had some fun with them by making them guess where I was from when they asked. I said I was trying to break down the stereotypes in Australia (being Asian and speaking perfect English). Spoke some French too, which was a hint, but it just further threw them off. One guy kept insisting that I was American and lying about it!

Next morning, I had to change dorm rooms, because I didn’t extend my stay early enough, and they booked out my bed. Turned out to be good fortune, although in the morning I wasn’t enjoying getting up for 10 AM checkout and waiting around for 1 PM checkin. I ended up meeting an Irish girl in my new room – my age (30)! Myself, the Irish girl, and a German girl from our dorm went out for my last two nights in Brisbane, along with the Irish guys. The Irish girl, Olivia, made the observation that we look like Charlie’s Angels! (A redhead, a blonde, and an Asian – kind of cute!) Also chatted with a girl from Edmonton, and kind of funny to be able to talk about our neighbourhoods (west end!). I tried to compare our accents, and though similar, she spoke moe with a “valley girl” accent, and had picked up some Australian phrases after being here for some months. Had some good times in Brisbane, but here in Cairns I decided that I’d try to get back into a normal routine by going jogging, avoiding alcohol and trying to eat a bit better.

In Cairns, haven’t been up to too much, as a day was spent trying to get a job, though now I’ve given up. Am happy that I did get on the dive boat as a volunteer, so just waiting around and doing excursions from Cairns. Met an Australian, who took me to see some of the northern beaches of Cairns. The beaches aren’t that spectacular, but it was nice to see at night with the reflection of the planes headlights coming into the Cairns airport.

My weekend trip to Cape Tribulation was a nice getaway. The brochure photos are much more impressive than what I actually saw however. What do you think?

Brochure photos:

My photos:

Croc cruise on the Daintree river

Beach House accommodations – rather nice!

The first evening and morning after, hung out with two Swedish girls. One girl, when asked whether she could ride a horse, responded, “Uh… Yes… No… I don’t have any muscles anymore! I used to compete.” Hah – can’t ride? She ONLY used to compete! I was a bit scared of the horses at first. But like I mentioned, the horses were used to newbies. The man who ran the stable told us how his neighbour would wake up every morning to find that his loaf of bread would go missing. So he set up some pots and pans to awake him when the thief entered his kitchen. Sure enough – next night, ran into his kitchen after hearing some ruckus, turned on the light switch to see his horse in his kitchen, loaf of bread in his mouth! Apparently the horse was able to escape from the stable by stepping down on the bottom wire of the fence, easing his head under the top wire. I had no idea horses were that sneaky and smart! We watched the same horse after we finished our ride, try to sneak into the feeding area through the wire fence to get some molasses for the horses that worked that day. Pretty funny!

Second evening at the Cape Tribulation Beach House, met a German guy and girl travelling together. I met up with them after their dinner in the bistro, and joined in on a game of scrabble. They thought it would be good practice to play in English with me, but actually maybe it wasn’t so fair because I beat them pretty bad, by using words that weren’t in their German-English dictionary, so they had to take my word that I wasn’t cheating! That night, dreamt I was playing scrabble. So strange that the “stress” of playing a game I haven’t played in ages kept running through my mind at night.

Chatted with an American girl in our room as well. She only had to speak a sentence before I knew without a doubt that she was American. She spoke a bit loud, with a hint of a drawl, and in a “familiar” way (the way I might speak to a close friend of mine).

Sunday afternoon got picked up from my tour company, and we stopped at a few scenic places (though for far too short a time).

Mossman Gorge. Asked someone to take a photo of me wading, but of course they never take the exact photo you want. Still nice though!


Beach of Port Douglas

Finished reading Shantaram finally! The ending was a bit disappointing, though I could see how it’s difficult to wrap up. Apparently there’s going to be a sequel as well? In any case, it’s thought provoking and has changed my view on some things. Going to mull over what I read.

So, will be in Cairns, at the Caravella 149 hostel until Thursday morning, at which point I will probably drop off all cellular towers and the world wide web until Monday evening.