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https://www.mymapblog.com//rss/olya The lasts posts from user olya en-us At the moment it is very hot and humid here. And that is soo good, that they have very many shopping malls here! The only chance to escape from the heat outside...

In the morning I started to walk towards Little India, but eventually got a bit lost and ended up on the Orchard Rd. And here there are shopping malls without any end, just one after another.
As I came to the visitor centre I found out that now is a big sale in Singapore, right now, these days, till the end of May! And I'm here! And there will be even a special shopping competition tomorrow (although I'm not going to participate in it, I just go shopping for myself :-))). I've already spent some money today and there is another day tomorrow... I'll see what it brings. :-)))]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/29_05_09/City_exploring_and_shopping/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/29_05_09/City_exploring_and_shopping/ Yes, it is a bit sad, but also good, it is the right time (summer!) to go back home and see all of you, my dear family and friends!

Thanks for visiting my blog, take care of yourself, enjoy your life and keep in touch with me!

Ok, I don't say good bye, I just say, SEE YOU SOON!!!! ]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/28_05_09/Last_day_down_under/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/28_05_09/Last_day_down_under/
I saw Jim Jim falls, Twin Falls, Edith falls, they are still full of water this time of the year and the Twin falls has just open as we came there, it was actually the first day they have been opened for visitors.

Then I also could get to Katherine Gorge, which is another smaller national park, in south of Kakadu. That day I walked for about 16-17 km and enjoyed the scenery of the gorge. It was hot, but with a hat and enough water in my backpack and some sunscreen on my skin I was fine.

The last day we went to Litchfield and visited the most popular places there, which was nice, but a bit overcrowded.

It was a great tour, I slept in a swag, watched the stars on the night sky, sat on the camp fire... was bitten by mosquitous...got a few scratches... and was just tired from a lot of hiking and swimming. :-)))
Kakadu is great!]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/27_05_09/Last_but_not_least~dot~dot~dot/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/27_05_09/Last_but_not_least~dot~dot~dot/ Darwin hasn't changed much, but today I've been to the Water front and there is a many new things to see, there is a new lagoon, beautifully made and even with artificial waves.

The weather is a bit too hot, as I arrived here on the 19th of May, I came out of the airport and it was a big shock, because it was hot and very humid, almost impossible to stay outside for too long.

Since yesterday it is getting better and today it is still hot, but not that humid any more.

Anyway, from now on I only have a week left... so I'm enjoying the time and will make the most of ot. Check my blog out next week, till then I'll have no chance to write in the blog.
]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/21_05_09/Where_everything_started~dot~dot~dot/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/21_05_09/Where_everything_started~dot~dot~dot/ In the office I talked to them and they said, that if I feel something is wrong, it is my own risk, mostly it must be ok, but it could also be quite painful, so I was thinking about it for a few minutes and decided not to go, because my ears are more important for me.
So, no skydive, but a lot of money saved for other pleasant things... :-)))]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/18_05_09/Cant_do_the_skydive~dot~dot~dot/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/18_05_09/Cant_do_the_skydive~dot~dot~dot/ The trip was very well organized, we had plenty of food and drinks and the diving sites were fntastic! The boat is very comfortable, the crew is absolutely brilliant and professional, so I'm completely happy about this trip!

We were also lucky with the weather, it was nice.
Now I'm back on the Mainland and a bit tired, but this is ok, I'll recover till tomorrow... :-))]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/17_05_09/Pro_dive_3_days_trip/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/17_05_09/Pro_dive_3_days_trip/ I had to wait for the bus till 4.30pm so the whole day I spent in Cape Tribulation, but I just sat in the hostel under the roof and read a book, because it was raining almost all the time.
Hmmm, this was not a good trip, I'm very disappointed... But, what can we do, if the weather is like this? It is a WET rain forest, so there should be rain, of course. But it is such a pity, that I didn't see much...]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/11_05_09/Back_in_Cairns/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/11_05_09/Back_in_Cairns/ The tour was going to pick me up at 7.15am and I was ready to go, but no one came and after half an hour from the planned pick-up all other people already left on their tours I started to get worried. I gave a ring to the mumber on my voucher and was said that the tour had some kind of delay and is on its way and will pick me up in 10min. After another half an hour even the man at the hostel reception started to get worried and asked me if I'm waiting for the pick-up and offered to ring them, what he also kindly did then.

Anyway, after a bit more than an hour of unnecessary waiting the tour arrived and I felt not happy because I waited so long and if I knew it before, I would not stand up so early and hurry and I also would have time to brush my teeth. Well, actually I probably had another lesson in being patient and being able to wait. :-)))
Then we drove for about an hour and came to the Rainforest Habitat, where we saw many native australian animals and the friendly stuff tried to persuade us to buy a picture with koala or a piton or a crocodile. It started to rain cats and dogs during our visit to the Habitat, so that no one could really enjoy it there and everyone was happy to get back on the bus. But, it still was very nice, I saw a tree kangaroo for the first time (yes, this is not a joke, there are really tree kangaroos!).
Than we came to the Daintree River and after lunch went on a one hour river cruise, where we saw one huge crocodile, relaxing on the shore, some very beautiful colourful tropical birds and a big piton, sleeping on the tree. Than it started to rain heavily again and we went back.
After that we drove to the Alexandra lookout and could see literally nothing... but clouds and rain... Instead of a spectacular view, our enthusiastic tour guide Fraser played a didgeridoo for us and explained how the circular breething works. Everyone tried it as well, but no one could, of course (you need some practice to be able to do it).
We crossed the river on the ferry and continued our way to the Cape Tribulation, where the first day of our tour was over. Most of the people were only for one day with us, so tomorrow only 2 of 22 are going to continue the way up north (including me). Some people went back to Cairns today, some others stay over night here, in Cape Tribulation. There are some things to see and do, but it would be much better is the weather could be better. At least there is no water shortage in this area. ;-))
And today I saw many different spiders, all af them are quite big and look dangerous. In the wet tropical forests they are everywhere...]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/10_05_09/Cape_Tribulation_tour/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/10_05_09/Cape_Tribulation_tour/ My hostel is (again booked with the travel agent!) quite far away from the centre and without a shuttle bus it would be terrible, especially at night time and when it rains (like today in the evening).
Went to the city in the evening and looked around, I like it, small and nice, many restaurants, bars and shops, a night market and so on. If the rain could also stop soon...
Maybe in a few days the weather gets better a bit. :-))) Hope so.]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/07_05_09/Last_stop_on_the_East_Coast/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/07_05_09/Last_stop_on_the_East_Coast/ I was a bit disappointed, that the travel agency in Sydney did it like this for me and didn't say, that it is much easier just to take the ferry from the island on the same day as I take the Greyhound. Never mind, at the end everything worked well and I had a short walk in the centre of Townsville, haven't seen much, because it was dark already, but still, got an idea about the city.]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/06_05_09/Back_from_Maggie/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/06_05_09/Back_from_Maggie/ Today we had our last open water lesson in the morning and in the afternoon we had a chance for an extra "fun dive", which everybody decided to do as well. First I thought to skip it, because I was tired after the first dive, but then I had some lunch, took a short break and felt much better so that I also went for another dive. Because we did 2 dives with a short break on the surface each time (yesterday and today), we've got 6 open water dives now in our dive log. This is amaizing, even though that we were not so lucky with the visibility.
I hope I can see more of the Great Barrier Reef when I get to Cairns...]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/05_05_09/Open_water_dive_day_4/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/05_05_09/Open_water_dive_day_4/ Ok, this is a completely new experience for me and that is how it feels, new, unknown and scaring.

The morning was very windy and our open water dive was planned for the ocean and Lydia (our instructor) said, that this is all right and we will be fine. And so were we. We put our gear on, went to the beach, which is so close, about 20 metres from the pool where we get our gear, that is very good, because you have to carry so much weight on you! I don't know exactly how much weight, but it feels like about 25-30 kilo. And with this weight on our shoulers we had to go into the water, better to say in the waves, which were quite high today and put our fins on. That worked well and we started to go out, to the place where we going to descend (go down). Lydia was always there and also another girl, her assistant Ariane. Somehow it makes me feel more confident, when I know that someone is near by and can help me if I need help. But I could manage everything without any help so far. We started to descend and landed on the sand. The visibility was bad, maybe maximum 1-2 metres and after that you see absolutely nothing, just the blurry greenish water... We stayed close together and held to the rope and when we moved further we held to the hand of the buddy (in diving the person who you are diving with is called buddy). It also gives you some safety feeling, that someone is close and is also struggling against the water movement. Anyway, we had some kind of an underwater tour and could see some corals, when we got close to them. At one place we stopped and fed the fish, but it looked like the fish also can see nothing, it was not very spectacular, although I had some fish coming and eating directly out of my hand.Than we had to do some skills, like put the regulator (which supplies you with the air) out of the mouth and then back and clear it so you can breath again, practiced to clear the mask, when water gets in it and so on, what we also did in the pool with the difference that here we were on the depth of about 4-5 metres under the sea level and the water around was moving and the visibility was awful. As we finished the practice we ascended and stayed on the surface for about 10 minutes before we started the second dive. On the surface we had to do some other excercises, like towing the buddy and another one was taking the BC off and putting it back on without loosing it (BC=bouyancy control, looks like a west full of air, when you are on the surface)
.
On our second dive we practiced some other skills and swam around, without actually seeing much, just for practice.
Successfully came to the surface, we started to move back to the shore and this was the most difficult part for me, probably because I was tired from all the time under the water. As I tried to exit the water, on the very last part, when you already can stand and the water is not deep any more, you feel the weight of your gear again. And there it was, I couldn't stand up in the right moment and the next wave threw me down, pulled my mask off and literally rolled me. I tried to stand up, but sunk in the soft sand and than Lydia came and helped me out, Anna (my buddy) also fell down, so she couldn't help me much and needed help herself.
But it was a kind of funny, we were lauging and everything went well. We came back to our school camp, took off our gear and talked excited about what we have just experienced and what we saw (or what we didn't see, better to say in this case). And this were my first two open water dives!
After the shower we came back and filled out the divelog book, our first pages in it, with all the details of our dives.
Exciting!]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/04_05_09/Open_water_dive_day_3/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/04_05_09/Open_water_dive_day_3/ We have finished the theory and had another pool dive for about 1.5 hours during which we have repeated the skills that we've learned yesterday and did some more complicated ones.
Than we had to pass the swim and float teast and then the theory exam.... I feel like in a survival camp, have to work all the day from the early morning till the evening, with only half an hour break for lunch (and I have to prepare my lunch in this time as well, so it is a bit short).
And a lot of learning for the time given! We have finished the complete book already.
But I'm very excited and like it very much. Look forward to going open diving... ]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/03_05_09/Open_water_dive_course_day_2/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/03_05_09/Open_water_dive_course_day_2/ It is very-very nice and really beautiful here on the island. Frangipani flowers are on the trees, such a wonderful flower! Just fabulous, so simple and so beautiful... And their flavour! I can't get enough...
The hostel is moore like a resort, directly on the beach, with palm trees along the ways and a swimming pool... Wonderful place, I'm glad to be here! ]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/01_05_09/Another_Island/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/01_05_09/Another_Island/ again, although here there was not so much fish, but more corals to see. And the beach was very nice as well. We spent
there a couple of hours, before returning to the boat and slowly heading back to Airlie Beach.
All 3 days it was a challenge to stay on the boat with so many people on such a small spot and using the ladder every
time when you want to get to your cabin or to the toilet. The toilet and the shower is a separate story, actually...
On the first day Matty explaine]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/30_04_09/Sailing_day_3/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/30_04_09/Sailing_day_3/ Than we were sailing for the whole morning and till the early afternoon, actually till the lunch time and after lunch we came to the place where we could finally snorkel. Stinger suits on, snorkel gear in the bag, we were brought to the beach from where we could easily start to float around with the noodle (such kind of floating toy, which is very useful for
snorkel, you can just lay on it and don't have to move a lot, as it holds you on the water).
The snorkel was wonderful, so many fish, so colourful, just amaizing! And Matty played games with us, he was throughing something in the water, some kind of fish food and they all came so close, looking directly into your face! I was fascinated and couldn't help, but laugh, it was so funny and exciting...
Than we had some time on the beach again and could soak up the sun and relax.
In the evening was a lot of socializing, everyone got to know each other better and better and we were talking till late in the night, when some people started to build their beds on the deck again, this night there were much more of them, as
everyone liked to sleep under the sky full of stars. I stayed inside again and went out for cooling down at in the middle of the night again, watched the stars, lying on the deck. ]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/29_04_09/Sailing_day_2/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/29_04_09/Sailing_day_2/ members: Richard- the skipper, Matty- his assistant and our guide on land, and last but not the least- Sarah- our host, which means that she is responsible for cooking and cleaning and also helping the skipper and Matty, pretty much with
everything.
Sarah met us at the meetimg point and led us to the boat, where we first of all had to give up our shoes, tey are not allowed on the boat, because they damage the deck. During the day it is fine without the shoes, but in the evening I wanted to have some on and I did, luckily I took my Crocs with me as well as my thongs (which they collected).
On the boat Sarah showed us our cabins and my cabin was tiny, the smallest room I've had during my whole travel. It turned out that we were 5 girls and there were actually only 4 bank beds... Sarah said, that the travel agencies have booked the double banks as single beds and here we were, 5 girls who just met on the boat and somebody has to sleep
together in one bed? I was lucky to get to the cabin first and could reserve one bed for myself, although a very narrow one, but at least I don't have to share it. Well, for every problem there is a solution and we were offered to sleep on the deck, there are some matresses that can be brought there and spare blankets are also available. One of the girls
decided to sleep outside, which was actually much better than inside, where the air got sticky and it was very hot during the night. One time I woke up and had to go up and get some fresh air and to cool down before I could sleep again. But it was wonderful outside, the stars are just amaizing. We have new moon at the moment and even this small moon went down a few hours after the sunset, so that we had absolutely perffect conditions to watch the stars. I stayed outside for more than half an hour and was just watching and watching the stars, their constellations and the fascinating Milky Way... It
is so beautiful, and the boat was swaying slightly, with a gentle breeze on the almost calm water, where only sometimes one or another fish was making a bit of noise when jumping out of the water for some reason...
Yes, the evening and the night were very special and unusually beautiful. But the day was also wonderful, we were sailing with all the sails and watching different islands on our way, enjoyed a rich lunch and in the afternoon we arrived on the biggest island of the group- Whitsunday Island, which has the 3rd
beautifull beach on the Earth (as Matty said)- the Whitsunday Beach (sometimes there is not much creativity with the names in Australia :-))).
On the island we had a short walk through the forest and came to the lookout over the Whitsunday beach, which was fascinating and inredibly beutiful, the colours like in a dream... with all whites, blues and greens of sand, water and forest.
From the lookout we came down to the beach and stayed there for about 2 hous I guess, just relaxing and doing whatever we wanted to, I took pictures, as usuall. Some people went for a short swim, I didn't, it was not hot enough for me and I felt better on the sand. Here in this region there is a danger of a jelly fish and we have to wear stinger suits, which
should protect you from the stingers as well as from the sun, which is definitely very good. Everyone got a suit and I didn't want to put it on, were too lazy and prpbably t]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/28_04_09/Sailing_Day_1/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/28_04_09/Sailing_Day_1/ nothing special, more or less like many other markets of this kind in Australia, where people sell souvenirs, clothes, jewellery and other things that tourists might byu.
I strolled through the market for a while and then moved further and looked what else is there in the town. To my big disappointment there is no Westpack ATM in this part of the town and the other part is as usual quite far away to get there
without a car. Never mind, I'll survive.
I found the office of Whitsundays cruises and checked in for the trip tomorrow. They handed out a map with the way to the place where I should be tomorrow morning. Unfortunately the map is of poor quility and I can hardly read the names of the
streets and like often happens, the streets themselves don't always have a sign with the street name. So, I decided to try to find the place today onstead of being in stress tomorrow morning.
It turned out, that the stress was already foday... The unfriendly lady in the office told me that it takes about 15 minutes to get to the meeting point (which is long enough, if it is in the morning and I have to wake up earlier because of that).
I started to walk and follow the unreadable map... After half an hour walk I thought, that the map must be wrong, or the time the lady told me is maybe wrong. There was nothing to see for the next 20 minutes of walk. I continued and became more and more disappionted and even angry. After 50 minutes of walk I called the office and said, that I can't find the place and they should pick me up in the morning from the hostel (which is absolutely common for any kind of trips in Australia). The guy on the phone told me that they habe no pick up service and that I should come to the office today and he would explain me how to get to the place tomorrow. Well, after an hour of walking back to the town I was exausted, tired (also from the sleepless night I suppose) and angry. In he office he tried to explain me the same way on the same map, which in my opinion doesn't
match with the reality.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll have to find this way somehow, please wish me good luck!]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/27_04_09/Orientation/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/27_04_09/Orientation/ The day seemed to be long, but I walked on the beach, read a book and had nice fish and chips for lunch, so it was a nice day.
On the beach I noticed small heaps of sand balls, which small crabs usually do during the low tide. Now I started to look at them more carefully and could even see the crabs themselves, they are different and those I saw were blue and another ones were more dark, probably dark brown or balck.
First I spotted one crab running on the sand and tried to take a picture of him, but they are very shy animals and try to run away as soon as possible. This one was looking for an empty hole to hide and tried a few of them, but obviously they were
occupied, so he ran to another one and tried to knock on their doors (or at least it looked like he would, but noone wanted to let him in :-))). He was probably terrified by the fact that I was following him with my camera and tried to run faster
and faster and eventually found a hole, where he could quickly get in under the sand surface. Funny, that they think, that if they are under sand, I can't see them! Just like an ostrich, which puts his head in the sand and thinks that he is safe. :-)))
On my way back from where I started my walk I spotted more crabs, this time they were running in groups, some groups were huge, maybe around 100 or more of them. They were moving all in the same direction, I don't know why. And as I tried to get
closer, they probably heard my steps and all of them at the same moment were in the wet sand, just disappeared. But, I am also clever, I stayed at the same place and didn't move, so after a while they started to come out again and gather in their
groups, then I could take some pictures of them.
Well, this was a day of many observations of this kind. ANd in the evening I was finally sitting in my bus...]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/26_04_09/Day_on_the_beach_again/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/26_04_09/Day_on_the_beach_again/ Our way was again through the forest and very bumpy. Somewhere on the way Craig stopped and showed us an unbelivable strange tree, which has a trunk with many deformations and some of them look like animals or faces of people. One especially
remarkable part looks like a head of a dragon, just like from the "Never ending story"!
First was Lake Wabby, a beautiful small lake which occured because one of the sand blows has stopped the small water stream, which was goin to the ocean. Now there is the eucaliptus forest on the one side of the lake and the sand blow moving slowly from the other side. Probably in a few years the lake will disappear under the sand dune, as it continues to move forward.
We spent a couple of hours on the sandy shore of the lake and then walked to the ocean over the sand dunes.
Our lunch was in the nice resort with an "all you can eat" buffet, whic was very nice. After another very bumpy drive we came to the Lake Birrabeen, where we stayed in the afternoon, it was beautiful: crystal clear water, changing in colour from slightly blue to greenish-blue and to deep blue in the middle of the lake, where it is about 9 meters deep.
Than unfortunately it was already time to leave this beautiful island...ke and the sand blow moving slowly from the other side. Probably in a few years the lake will disappear under the sand dune, as it continues to move forward.
We spent a couple of hours on the sandy shore of the lake and then walked to the ocean over the sand dunes.
Our lunch was in the nice resort with an "all you can eat" buffet, whic was very nice. After another very bumpy drive we came to the Lake Birrabeen, where we stayed in the afternoon, it was beautiful: crystal clear water, changing in colour from slightly blue to greenish-blue and to deep blue in the middle of the lake, where it is about 9 meters deep.
Than unfortunately it was already time to leave this beautiful island...]]> http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/25_04_09/Cool_Dingo_tour_day_3/ http://www.mymapblog.com/olya/25_04_09/Cool_Dingo_tour_day_3/