Beautiful day on the water

It had been a few years since I last stood on water-skis and let me tell you, I need to get back in shape. A few short moments of skiing pleasure had to be paid with 3 days of deep muscle-pains.

Don a colleague and friend of mine took us out on this boat (a V8 Malibu!) to visit the beautiful Gold Coast. What a beautiful day!

Wish I could Ski some dolphins though.

San Diego (CA)

Despite my sincerest efforts not to have to travel so much lately, the opposite seems to be happening. On the 1^st of May:

• From 00:30 till 06:30 from Darwin to Brisbane
• Then from 09:30 till 23:30 to Los Angeles
• Then from 02:30 till 06:30 from Los Angeles to San Diego (where it is 11:00 the previous day).

A total time of 30 hours of travel, only to arrive the same day at 11:00 AM? Funny that ey? Basically I’ve just done the impossible and created myself a 43 hour day. See that picture of me? yep, that is exactly how I felt... completely shagged.

San Diego is at a stone’s throw from the Mexican Border and we are celebrating Cinquo de Mayo here. Nice place! Nice People! Nice Colleagues. All in all, well worth the mind-numbing flights.

As cuddly as a running chainsaw

A Salty is a real mean bastard and I don’t use the word lightly... They will not die easily (several shots to the head won’t do it), they have over 3600kgs of biting power (to put that in perspective: you and I have about 20kgs), they’re sneaky and stealthy, patient, smart, lightning fast and really freaking large. It is as cuddly as a running chainsaw and generally has a despicable temper... as I said: a real mean bastard.

Common and moderately intelligent people tend to keep a safe distance between themselves and a Salty. Emma on the other hand prefers to get close and personal: tease them, make ‘m jump, scare away the fish they are trying to catch and swim with one... This one, being the 3^rd largest Crocodile in captivity in the world.... A real mean bastard.

Oooo, welcome to Australia

A compilation of 3 years in oZ. My present to my Wifey.
(Best enjoyed with sound)

Top end of Down-under

Darwin is like nothing on earth. If a cyclone doesn't blow your house to the other side of the bay, or a crocodile doesn't chose to stay in your private pool, or the hot and wet season doesn’t drive you completely and utterly out of your mind, or the box jelly fish doesn't sting you, then you’ve had a good year.

I managed to convince my bank to extend Credit Card limit and with good reason. Darwin is freaking expensive! Some of the day tours are well within the realm of exorbitant. We chose to view the famous Jim Jim falls from a plane as the roads are still closed in this season. (Catch 22 really: once the roads open, Jim Jim falls will not be as mighty as when you can't get there)

So, why go here (or live here) at all? Good question. I guess you’ll have to fly down here to find out. I’ll show you a couple of reasons.

1. The nature is still really wild here.
2. The Saltwater Crocs are something to behold.
3. Kakadu and Arnhem Land are mind bogglingly huge and most of it is untouched.
4. The people have this rugged funny sense of humour.
5. The fishing is in a class of its own.