July 13 - landed in Perth after some delays and just before dark. On the way from the airport could just see the skyline of the most remote large city in Australia, mainly consisting of Oil, Mineral & Insurance skyscrapers. Went out into town to have a look around and had a quick bite to eat at a wonderful sushi place as I was craving for some raw salmon which I had not eaten since Sydney. Was not in a very sociable mood and pretty tired so decided to go to the movies with a big bag of popcorn and call [View Full Entry]

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July 10 - the flight the next morning was delayed as Melbourne Airport was shut because of fog. After a 4-hour delay (which actually was quite handy as I could arrange my accommodation and tours for the next days) the plane finally took off for Alice Springs, my next destination, and would finally take me to a long-awaited and much looked-forward to encounter with the Red Centre and the "outback". Managed to get a spectacularly good deal on the rental car, basically a huge Toyota Landcruiser 4WD for the price of a basic car. Was just as well as I was [View Full Entry]

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July 7 - early arrival in Melbourne. Had a very friendly cabbie (emigrated from Greece in 1966) who gave me a good view on life in Australia as a foreigner and he was utterly positive about his experience in general and Melbourne in particular. Melbourne was great, a relatively spread out city with several city centres. Central Melbourne was quite reminiscent of a European city with similar shops, style and atmosphere. The cold weather (and the fact that there were several Aussie rules games on) made that not that many people were on the street. Found a nice hotel in the [View Full Entry]

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July 3 to 6 - arrived late morning in Sydney from Brisbane with the weather perfect and in a cheerful mood. I was glad to finally stop frightening people with my zombie skin colour on the beach as the past week and a half of sunshine had done its magic. Coming into Sydney I did not manage to see the famous Opera House or Harbour Bridge so went straight to them after checking in at my wonderful hotel in the centre. Whilst taking pictures met up with Julia, an Italian girl that moved to Sydney looking for work recently. She agreed [View Full Entry]

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June 30 - city life at last! Must say it was nice to see high rise buildings again after some time. As I was told in Noosa, Brisbane would prove to be a lively place (the advice given regarding Brisbane was to "duck", referring to the somewhat lively and fisty endings to most Saturday nights there). Took a short stroll through the harbour area and enjoyed the view of the skyline. At dinner I met a group of late-30s locals who took me on an evening tour of Fortitude Valley, the Soho of Brisbane. Had a splendid evening with them and [View Full Entry]

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June 23 to June 30 - from the moment I drove into Noosa I liked the place. Finally a little town with style and not just fast food restaurants, diving shops and car dealerships (Australia's East Coast up until now was just like Florida but then with nicer and genuine people). Drove through the various parts of Noosa (basically three small suburban centres linked by bridges) and went for an apartment on Hastings Street (the King's Road of Noosa), close to the beach, shops and restaurants. Had been longing to stay somewhere nice for longer than 2 days so decided [View Full Entry]

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June 20 - checked in at the motel, a cosy place along the Esplanade. Had a room with my own washer and dryer so spent good part of the day taking care of the laundry and planning for the trip the next day. Lunch along the beach was nice, but the weather was windy and there was nobody on the beach. Nightlife and restaurants were thoroughly disappointing so decided to call it a day early and watch some TV June 21 - pickup at the motel at 7am, "no time for a white man" as some people say. Was greeted [View Full Entry]

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June 16 - Made my way to the booking office to confirm the booking and order my alcohol for the trip (not too much I promise...) and was just in time as the courtesy bus was leaving at that time. Was slightly late for the bus and had to pack my bag for the trip in a hurry as only a small bag was allowed, luckily nothing essential was forgotten. After good research and tips to go for a boat with only a small number of people, I had chosen the Southern Cross boat, a 68ft (22m) converted former America's [View Full Entry]

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11 June - Got picked up early to get to the marina to board the Spirit of Freedom, a large diving boat for approximately 40 people with a large sundeck, eating room and TV room with a bar. Also there were 8 cabins with 4 people sharing and 5 double bedroom cabins, all with their own bathrooms. After the briefing by Tony (the captain) & Abbi (trip director) and crew introductions we set out towards Norman Reef, 3 hours outside Cairns. The water was quite choppy and the sun was hidden behind a cloud cover, so no tan improvement opportunities. All [View Full Entry]

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June 9 - Arrived in Cairns via Sydney in late evening and arranged a PADI refresher course since it was almost 6 years since my last dive in Zanzibar and I can honestly say that I had no clue on how to set up my gear etc. June 10 - Started early for a full day refresher course. Spent 4 hours in the morning tagging along with a group of PADI students on their last day of the pool and theory part. After getting a bit of help in setting up the gear I rehearsed the necessary PADI skills with Cat, [View Full Entry]

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