A couple of days ago I went up to Passage Peak with a friend of mine. It is the highest peak on Hamilton Island, and is about 350 meters above sea level. The walk up there is pretty easy, even though it is quite steep. The path is well maintained and a lot of people use it all the time. Supposedly the best time to go up there is either
four in the afternoon or four in the morning. that way you can catch the sunrise or sunset, whatever tickles your fancy. Once you're up there you get a spectacular view of the surrounding area. enjoy the pictures.

  
The last picture above is of the nest of a colony of Green Tree Ants. pretty cool little critters. they don't taste too bad either. 😛

Last time I checked my email I was down at Toucan Tango's, a local restaurant. They've got wireless LAN there, and it is free and pretty fast too. anyway.. I was sitting at a table drinking a Carlton Draught (pronounced "Draft"), when a waiter suddenly ran past me. He was chasing a Possum and it really didn't want to leave. The waiter went
back when he thought the possum was gone, but because the restaurant doesn't have either windows or doors, it returned within minutes. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but suddenly I heard something right next to my head. the little critter was climbing up the lamp I was sitting next to. I grabbed my camera and got a pretty good picture of it. Even after beeing around them for a couple of months now I still find them interesting.
Maybe I should've studied Biology.

The first month I worked here on Hamilton Island I had two days off. The shop was pretty busy and we were short on staff. Now it is less busy and we've got more staff, so I have got 6 days off in the last 10 days. A day off is nice, but this is too much. I still need the money to pay my bills. Because nobody has a contract we don't get
payed id there is no work. There is another company on the island that also does trips out to the reef, and they supposedly pay more, have a standard contract, and can guarantee work. I really like the place I am working at now, but If it doesn't pick up I will have to do something about it. My housemate Scott tells me that school vacation
is coming up and work will pick up again pretty soon. but still.

Yesterday I went fishing with a couple of the people at the diveshop. We went out with the glassbottom boat and it was pretty cool. The sun had just gone down and it was almost pitchblack except for the stars. oh and the lights on and under the boat. it is pretty cool to light up the water underneath the boat and look at the corals. unfortunatly we didn't see any fish. just a bunch of different corals, and the occasional giant clam.

we did some fishing outside the airport, and I am glad they don't land any planes here after dark. an approaching jumbojet 30 meters above our heads would probably be quite intense.

After landing a couple of nice fish I felt something really big on the hook. it was alot heavier than the previous fish I had caught, so I was supprised to see an eel when I brought it up to the surface. I had hooked it in the stomach, and that caused it to be pulled up sideways, and that's why it felt so heavy. I lifted the eel into the boat, and when I tried to grab it by its neck, the little fucker turned around and sank its teath into my wrist. The damn fish locked its mouth and clamped down. It felt like a pair of pliers with teeth. the teeth were pointed backwards, so I couldn't just pull my hand out. I grabbed it by the neck with the other hand, and slowly pried open the jaws and got my hand out.

I started to bleed a little from my hand, and it became a little swollen. but other than that I was fine. we got out a camera to capture the moment. I'll post the pictures tomorrow or something. I'm at an internet cafe at the moment.

Last week a canadian customer on the boat asked me why the crows only come out at night. I had to inform her that what she thought were crows are fact large fruitbats. hehe…..

Edit:
here are a few pictures from the incident. enjoy
  

Scott looked it up in a fishbook and it is a juvenile Giant Snake Eel.  They grow up to be approximately 2,5 meters long. I'm glad it wasn't very big at all. Our skipper Jason informed me that I was lucky the bite didn't get infected. fishbites usually get infected apparently.

Here's a picture of one of my neighbors. don't know her name yet, but she is pretty friendly and has walked straight into our living room several times.


She is a Possum  and carries around a young one in her pouch. very curious and investigative little critters these possums. they will plunder the trash, and if they can get into your house they will have a field day. together with the cockatoos    They are the major pest of the island.
cute, but really a pain in the ass. fortunatly not literaly. 😛

Here are my new neighbours. I moved in with these guys last week, and it sure is alot better than the old place. Scott (kiwi) and Aichan (japanese) are fellow diving instructors at H2Osportz and we get along great. good people.

Today has been an interesting day. Today was the Triple Treat adventure, which is
alway a nice and easy day. got out of bed about 6 o'clock in the morning, and went
down to the shop about 0715. Today we didn't have any people doing the Discover Scuba
Diving course, so we all just cooked todays lunch. we always make the same stuff, and
you might think we would get tired of eating the same stuff every day. but no. the
food is superduper delicious. potatosalad with egg and bacon, pastasalat, fried rice,
grilled chicken, tossed salat, and some sausages.

At around 9 the guests started to arrive, and my job is to fit them with fins, masks
and wetsuits (if they want one). at around 9:30 we departed the marina and set sail for HAzelwood Island and chalkies Beach. At Chalkies Beach I did open water dive 3 and 4 with a student. I must say that having
less than four students is just a dream. it is almost just like having fun dives with some skills included.Today I saw a couple of sea slugs or nudibranchs I haven't seen before. pretty cool stuff.

We went up to Hill inlet and did the walking trails. (check the previous post for some
pictures). Today we saw a couple of sharks from the lookout. One was pretty big.
probably between two and three meters long, and it was just cruising along in the
shallow water. Bull sharks or Tiger sharks will go up in the shallows during high
tide. So will the stingrays to feed of the crustaceans and small fish. Not only did we
see that one big sharks, but we also saw about five other smaller sharks. pretty cool
stuff.

On our way down we met a Goanna in the bush. It was a little more than a meter long and were just crawling along at a slow pace. I stood still and the lizard passed me at a distance of only three meters or so. Haven't
been that close before, and it was pretty cool. My camera just happened to still be on the boat. Damn it!  

On the way home to Hamilton Island I talked to our skipper Jason about the saltwater
crocodiles. The island is located only 25 nautical miles away from the Prosupine
River, which is the home to about 350 salties. Jason told me that the dominant male
crocodiles will claim a stretch of the river. The smaller ones will be driven away,
and we already got at least two salties living in the waters around Hamilton Island.
Supposedly they are only about a meter long, so they are not a threat. Not yet anyway…
 😛

Todays sunset. pretty, eh?

Tomorrow we are headed out to Bait Reef again. I have two other students, and we are doing open water dives 3 and 4. It will be a good day for sure.

Yesterday I certifyed my two first open water divers. The course was alot of fun and we had about 7 students I believe.
Some of them are already certified, some are halfway through their course and I certified the other two yesterday. We did open water dive 3 and 4 in local water around the islands. the visibility was below 3 meters, and they
were a little disapointed, but I told them that shitty viz is good for training. it teaches you to stay close to your buddy, swim slowly and relax. and besides… we did se alot of cool stuff anyway. like a moray eel, a really big ray, some clownfish, and some kind of sea snake. and last but certainly not least we found a nudibranch. havent seen them here in australia before.

Today I had the day off. the second day off in three weeks. I really don't mind working, but I must say that I really appreciated the day off. I went to the mainland and got some clothes, a pair of running shoes and some other stuff I needed.

When I came back to the island I hooked up with Damir again. we had agreed to do some martial arts practice and we met up in the gym. he taught me some kung fu moves, and I (tried) to teach him some judo. after we were done he taught a class in the gym. today he taught stretching, toning and a mix of pilates and yoga. lots of different forms of pushups and situps. It was great. my first training session since I got on the island. I will go to next weeks practice for sure.

  
These pictures are from Hill Inlet, a very beautiful and scenic part of Whitsunday Island and Whitehaven Beach.
Not the worst place in the world.

Some times kids or worried adults ask us if there are any sharks in the water, and if they are a problem. Usually we tell them that they don't have to worry because the saltwater crocodiles eat the sharks. hehe..
The sharks are no problem because they are only small and they are mostly reef sharks.

the crocstory is not however very far from the truth. Prosupine River is not far from here , and there are about 350 salties in that river. The river is located just west of Cedar Creek Falls, and Conway Beach on the mainland. Our skipper told me 
yesterday that the salties sometimes swim out to hamilton island. usually it will be the case of young males being chased off by the larger dominant males in the area. I will definetly do the croc safari the next time a get a day off. or maybe I should wait for Torkel. he will be here in about a month, and I can't wait.

oh well. until next time.

I know you guys like the pictures more than my semi-coherent ramblings, and I will therefore post more of them in the future. starting with today.
  
Here is a couple photos of the marina. There are lots of really expensive yatchs and sailboats ankered here. some of the boats are in the 10 million dollar price range and up. a friend of mine works as a dive instructor/skipper on board one of them, and he is bored. Not because he doesn't like his job, but because the owner doesn't like to do much when he decides to use the boat. he just reads his newspaper, sunbathes on the upper deck and may take the boat out for an overnight trip. It sure sounds like the guy has got way to much money. He's got a really expensive boat (with a crew of three) on standby, and he rarely uses it.
  
This is the main street on Hamilton Island. The island has the highest concentration of golf buggies in the world. (I might have mentioned it before), and they are all over the entire island. Supposedly there are more than 600 buggies here.

 
The Dive Shop. nuff said. 🙂

Sunset last week.

That's all for now folks…..

Oh and last but certainly not least a picture of my eye. it was taken the day after the fight sunday a week ago. Enjoy. 

When I walk to work in the morning I usually listen to my MP3-player. Usually I
will be listening to a live concert with Counting Crows, or good ol' Bon Jovi.
This morning was no different. As I was walking along a frightened a little
wallaby (small kangaroo) that was having breakfast in the bushes next to my
neighbors house.
They just make me smile. usually they are only out and about after dark, but
this one was a bit more bold. I saw another one on my way home not so far away.
I think it was the same one. This time I stopped and tried to talk to it, and it
was intrigued for a little bit. after a minute or two it skipped off into the
forest.

Today was a good day. I got to work at about nine in the morning, two hours
later than usual. I started late because we only had an afternoon trip and not
the usual full day trip. We can thank the weather for that. it has been kind of bad lately.
This morning I started in the pool with two introdivers before we went out on the halfday trip

The last week we've had lots of rain. And I mean real rain. this is the tropics and when it rains it
really rains for sure. You can't walk more than a couple of meters before you
are totally soaked.

We have also had South East winds between 20 to 35 knots the last week. That has
prevented us from going out to The Great Barrier Reef and Bait Reef more
precise. The boat could handle it for sure, but the people on board would
probably not enjoy it too much. three hours boatride with waves between two to
four meters is not a joke. especially if you're a tourist and you want to have a
relaxing vacation.

We have therefore just stayed around the Whitsunday Islands for the last week.
which is just fine. The visibility is usually between five to ten meters, but
the last week it has been less than three meters. very much like home except for
the corals, the tropical fish and the turtles. 😛
Yesterday we also had some dolphins play around the boat. I didn't see them
because I was diving with some sertified divers, but I'll catch up with them
some other time.

This is The Reef Spirit. The big dive boat that we use on the fullday
trips or trips with more than 15 passengers.

when I got home and took care of my laundry I found a really big centipede
hiding under one of my socks. it was cool. If I could I would send it to my
brother Björn, cause he would really get a kick out of it.

 
Today we went out with Wild Dream. it packs two 150 horsepower outboarders and is a pretty fast going vessel.

 My eye is almost back to normal again. I only have a little bruise left and the cut has healed properly.

This is the second entry today, and there is a good reason for that. Some aspects of my weekend was really good, and other aspects were really bad.

Friday
went out to Bait Reef again. dove with resortees in the morning, and was a snorkelguide in the afternoon. I have discovered that snorklers don't stay near if I tell them it is important for they own safety. They do stay close if I tell
them that I know where all the cool stuff is, and they stay even closer if I free dive down to 10 meters and hang around under water for about a minute. impressed people are pretty easy to keep close.
 
That night we all went out and all the students from the open water course were all over me. they wanted pictures, my email, and I basically felt like a movie star. I can understand that alot of instructors abuse their Godlike status.
😉

Saturday
this is the day for the triple treat adventure. that is a full day trip around the whitsunday islands with three stops. hence the name. first we went to Tounge Bay where we went ashore. We trekked through the dense tropical forest to the top of the hill where there is a lookout point. The view is spectacular and you can see the entire 6 km stretch of Whitehaven beach down below.

Then we went down to the beach below and hang out there for a while. I had company of a new girl named Vanessa and we got along really well. After about an hour or so we went back to the boat for lunch. after lunch we dived at chalkies beach. I had company of two open water students and a discover scuba diver. The
visibility was really crappy. maximum 2 meters. but there is always alot of fish at this spot. After the dive we went across the bay and goofed off on White Haven Beach for a while. an hour later we were on hour way home.
back at the marina Vanessa, Steve, a new guy named Damian and myself made plans to go out later that same night. During dinner with steve I understood that Steve didn't feel to good. he was feeling down, depressed, and didn't want to join us. I tried to cheer him up but it didn't work so I just left. he said he
would stay home.

I met Vanessa and Damian and we went to the Yatch Club. that is the place to be on saturday nights, mainly because of the karaoke. it is a pretty average pub, situated down on the main street right next to the marina. Alot of people go there and it is always alot of fun. this night was no different. I had heaps of fun together with Damian, Vanessa and a lot of other people from the dive shop.I had a great time and when the pub closed at twelve we moved on to Boheme's, the local nightclub. after a glass of water Vanessa and I left. we went and got
something to eat. And this is when the night turned from really good to really really bad.

A van pulled up, and Vanessa went over to ask the driver if he could give her a ride home. I was right behind her, and was really surprised when Steve got out. he looked at both of us and asked us what was going on. he suddenly walked off, and I could tell he was really upset. I went after him, but he totally ignored
me and his pace increased. He picked up a chair and threw it across the street. Vanessa saw this and was also really worried. we talked for a bit and after a while I went home. I thought that he would have cooled down, but I was wrong.

I opened the door and Steve was out on the porch smoking a cigarett. before I could say hello he started to scream at me:" You Cunt! you fucking Cunt!Get away from me! I'll fuck you up!"
And with that beeing said he jumped through the room and threw a haymaker punch at me. I was stunned and parried the fist with my left eye. I blacked out for a semisecond but was still able to grab him and take him to the ground. I landed on top of him but he was able to get me in a headlock. he tried to choke me, but it was obvious that he didn't have much experience on the ground so I wasn't  really worried. I became more worried when I felt my face was all warm and wet and saw all the blood on the floor. he fucking split my eyebrow. I shouted that
he should calm down and let me go. I tried to calm him down and pretty soon the neighbors came knocking on the door. unfortunatly he didn't let me go and he didn't calm down either. I let him continue trying to apply his rather poor choke and tried to calm him down. I called for the neighbors to come in and help me, and Damir from across the hallway came in.

he tried to talk to steve, but he only got more pissed off. When Steve started to elbow me in my back I
understood that he wouldn't calm down on his own. I had to do something. At this stage I still wasn't very angry. But now I was fed up. I threw a couple of knees and probably hit him on his thigh, side or kidneys. He let me go and I jumped up on my feet again. The commotion pushed Damir out of the room. Steve followed me and went for me again. and this time I hit him with as many fists as I possibly could. most of them missed and I am not really sure where I hit him. most of this is still quite blurry. I grabbed him again in a standing clinch and used my knees on him again. still not sure where I hit him, but I know that at least one of them him him pretty good in his side. I probably got one in his nuts as well. I  stopped and tried to talk to him again, still holding him as tight as I possibly could. he tried to knee me in the groin but I blocked him. He didn't attack me any more and just
cried on my shoulder. he was sobbing. The closet door fell down during the fight and blocked my way out and I couldn't just let Steve loose. I didn't know what he would do. He might pick up a weapon or something. I rotated slowly around maneuvring into position to remove the closet door without letting Steve go. As soon as I got the door freed up I pushed Steve away and got out of the room.

In the hallway a couple of people looked at me as I came out. I couldn't have been a pretty sight with blood all over my face, tshirt, and pants. One of the guys helped me to the bathroom so I could wash off. After about 5 minutes the security showed up and I got patched up. after giving them my statement at their office I was dropped off at a friends house.

The next day Steve was fired and shipped off the island in a matter of hours. I have a cut above my left eye and probably should have gotten a couple of stitches, but because the medical center was closed I still haven't been
stitched up. Now it is too late, but I don't think it really matters that much. it still only a minor cut, and I will be fine in about a week or so. unfortunatly I can't dive before the eye has healed properly. But that's alright. there is plenty of work in the shop and I can always be the deck watch for a couple of days.

The whole thing is really sad because I thought I had found a good friend in Steve. We got along really well and I liked him alot.He told me alot of crazy stories about his life and I understood that he hasn't had it easy. That doesn't exuse his totally crazy behaviour and I don't think I can ever trust him again. he snapped over a minor thing that didn't even happen and couldn't be reasoned with at all. pretty scary stuff in hindsight. I am really glad he didn't have a bottle or a knife in his hand. If he did I might not have been here today.

I am equally glad I have practiced judo for a couple of years. that pretty much got me out of the situation.

But life moves on. Life here on Hammo is still good, and I am still pretty exited about everything here.

Don't worry, Mom. I am alright.

I had my first entire day off last wedensday. sure I have had an afternoon or a morning off before, but not an entire day. On tuesday I was finished off work at about six o'clock, went to the grocery store and picked up a frozen pizza and went home. After devouring my dinner I collapsed on my bed, watched a little bit of TV and then fell asleep at around eight o'clock. I slept like a baby and didn't get out of bed until twelve hours later. I guess I really needed a day off.

After Steve and I did some chores around the appartment I got on the ferry towards Chute Harbour and the mainland. It was good to get away from Hammo for a couple of hours. One of the major reasons I went there was that I needed to go to the Queensland Office of Marine Safety. They are the authority that organizes boat licences (coxswain ticket), and I think I might as well get that sorted out. Having experience on boats combined with a licence to drive dive charters will improve my "employability" in the diving industry. So that will be my next challenge, along side improving my instructor skills.

I need 365 days worth of experience to get my coxswain sorted out, but since I get open sea time I only need 180 days. We go out in open water (great barrier reef) 5 times a week, so it should not take too long to get it done.

Thursday we went out to Bait Reef. again. 😛 I dove with some resortees with yet another Discover Scuba Diving course. we saw a Humphead Parrotfish, a small white tip reef shark, and some giant clams. pretty cool stuff.

After a delicious lunch I was the snorkel guide for about ten snorklers. We all had alot of fun, and I even got to borrow the skipper Jason's free diving fins. the are longer than longer fins and really good for underwater swimming.

An Open Water course was doing some exercises on the bottom at about 7-9 meters or something. After watching them for some time I swam down and sat down next to one of the students. it was pretty funny because the instructor didn't quite notice at first. When she did, she looked at me all funny a couple of seconds before she realised why I didn't have a bcd and a tank. hehe…

Pirate line of the day:
"if we don't have dese deck swabbed by noon, the captn will have us dance the hampin' jig from de yards..Aarggh"

*disclaimer: This entry ended up being quite long, but bare with me guys.

As you all know I work as a diving instructor on Hamilton Island in Queensland , Australia. This island attracts alot of middle to upper class people. you will not find any backpackers here. You will , however, find rich, middle aged people. Most of them are alright, but then you fill always meet the other kind. the kind that is very confident and expect other people to serve their every little wish. They are not used to follow simple instructions and listen to what they are told. I had an experience with that kind yesterday, and it could have become a dangerous situation.

yesterday morning I went out with the full day trip out to Bait Reef. Since I had three resortees doing the Discover Scuba I had already been in the pool with them in the early hours. One woman was having difficulties with clearing her mask and freaked out in the pool. I got the other instructor to take care of her, while I took care of the other three people in the pool. (we also had a trained diver with us). After the pool session was over I asked my colluege how she went, and he said that she did alright. I told him that the three I had in the pool did really well and if something should happen it will be with that lady.

The trip out to bait reef takes about two hours and we have alot of things to go through. gear needs to be set up, and we have several briefings that we need to get out of the way. There was almost no wind what so ever and it was a beautiful day. When we got out to Bait Reef the certified divers got in the water, and so did all the snorklers. we put on our gear and we got in the water. we decended down along the mooring rope and did a little swim around the boat and surfaced after about 20 minutes. The lady that freaked out in the pool was swimming quite fast and I had to tell her to slow down several times. but she would not listen. When we do the Discover Scuba diver course the instructor controls the bouyancy. They are not supposed to touch the inflator hose. that is my little toy. we do it this way because otherwise they would bounce up and down during the entire dive, and it will be difficult to control them, and they will also have a less enjoyable dive. I had told them all about this before we went into the pool, on the boat, and also on the surface. She lady did not listen however, and kept playing around with it. So she was bouncing up and down, and I had to keep her down for her not to float to the surface during the entire dive.

then we had lunch and after about an hour and a half we got back in the water again. they all seemed more confident about the whole thing. "hey we mastered this shit. let's do it again!"

We followed the same mooring rope down to the bottom at about 7 meters just like the previous dive. I could see that the lady kept playing around with her mask, but she said she was alright.

when we got down on the bottom I made them do the Fin Pivot Skill which is a very useful way of getting your bouyancy right. After a short while she signaled that something was wrong with her mask. I approached her and told her to calm down and focus on her breathing. She had tightened the mask strap so tight that the strap slid up and over her head. it was on top of her head, and it was only kept in place by the water preassure. I was about to put the strap back on when she half-a-second panicked and signaled that she had to go to the surface. She kicked off the bottom and started to swim for it. I grabbed her vest with one hand and kept the regulator in her mouth with the other. ten seconds later we surfaced, I filled her vest up with air, made sure she was ok and gave the boat an ok signal. She wanted to go back down again , but there was no way I was going to bring someone who had just panicked, so I told her to swim back to the boat.

Meanwhile the other two resortees were still on the bottom performing the Fin Pivot Skill perfectly, and I went down to take care of them again. after I got down and made sure they were fine we continued the little swim. The rest of the dive was alright and everyone enjoyed it. even I. we had company of a large Maori Wrasse, and a small White Tip Reef Shark also checked us out. when we returned to the boat we found another white tip just sleeping on the bottom right below the boat. that was pretty cool, and after that a large school of Bumphead Parrotfish swam by. during the safety stop a Giant Trevally hung out with us.

The panicked lady was crying when we got back on board the boat, not because she got scared and panicked, but because she couldn't dive with her husband. her husband talked to her for a little while and the dive supervisor said that if she was up for it I could take her for another dive. that was if I was still up for it.

I think we have the typical conflict of interests that divers in the tourist industry encounter all the time. On one hand we have to take care of the safety of the guests/customers, but on the other hand we also have to make it a fun and enjoyable experience. we have to think about customer service, our reputation etc… most times the two interests don't conflict with each other, but this time I felt it did.

After I had talked to the lady herself I decided to do another dive with her. she was still upset, but she was fine. This time I stayed within 15 meters of the boat and I was not more than 1 meter away from her at any one time. I brought her down to the sleeping white tip shark, showed her a couple of GIANT CLAMS and a couple of LEMON DAMSELFISH. after about 15 minutes I brought her back to the boat again.

Moral of the story: My intuition about peoples abilities in water is pretty good. I should probably grab a hold of potential trouble makers during the entire dive. I should also stress the fact that event they can solve problems in the pool by standing up, they cannot do that out on the reef. Stop, think and breathe.Another good idea would be to convince them of doing just snorkling instead of diving.

As you all know I work as a diving instructor on Hamilton Island in Queensland , Australia. This island attracts alot of middle to upper class people. you will not find any backpackers here.