This flight didn't suck as bad. Quantas jets (A380) are pretty sweet. That and I got a window seat with nobody sitting next to me. Hooray!
Friday I checked into hotel #1. Vibe in North Sydney for 2 nights. There are a ton of things going on while I'm here so hotels are hard to find. I have to move 4 times! This weekend is Valentines Day weekend. Apparently it is customary for everybody to get a hotel in Sydney. Thursday is the AC/DC concert so I think the whole country is coming to Sydney for a long weekend. I haven't looked into tickets yet but I'm guessing they will be expensive! Mardi Gras is kind of a big deal here too. Lots of activity!
I met up with the people I'm working with yesterday afternoon. They took me out for drinks at the Slip Inn and we chatted. It was a good time but then they all had to go home. I decided it was time to find a new bar. Next up was the Heritage Belgian Beer Cafe.
I made some new friends at the bar. Faith, Rachel, and #3 (can't remember her name). Didn't have my camera though. I'll have to take it out tonight. Maybe I can find me a valentine!
Everything seems to be going good except for the weather. It is humid as ever and rainy. Hopefully it calms down tonight so I can go to the beach tomorrow!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I'm Back!!
G'day to you! So I failed miserably with keeping up to date with my blogging efforts. At least Australia is well-documented. Speaking of which, I am en-route to Sydney again! They decided that I didn't screw up the first job enough so I get to try again. :)
Sitting in LAX at the moment. It is much nicer here than in Kansas City or Dallas. Anything above 40 degrees is nice... Sydney should be plenty warm!
This trip is going to be 3-4 weeks. Not exactly sure how long but I'll be home sometime in March. Hopefully in time for March Madness but I guess if not I shouldn't complain.
Stay tuned. Hopefully I get myself into lots of trouble and have many stories to tell.
Cheers!
Sitting in LAX at the moment. It is much nicer here than in Kansas City or Dallas. Anything above 40 degrees is nice... Sydney should be plenty warm!
This trip is going to be 3-4 weeks. Not exactly sure how long but I'll be home sometime in March. Hopefully in time for March Madness but I guess if not I shouldn't complain.
Stay tuned. Hopefully I get myself into lots of trouble and have many stories to tell.
Cheers!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Hired Camera Photos
Here is a link to the pictures that I took with the hired camera. Some good ones. Enjoy!!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/DivePicturesHiredCamera?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/DivePicturesHiredCamera?feat=directlink
Trip up North
So the dive trip was awesome! For a first time diving it is going to be hard to beat. I have talked to some divers back home and they are very jealous of me. There was so much that I have seen and don't know what a "crappy" dive site is. Lucky me. :)
So the rest of the dive trip was a great time. We got back on Tuesday afternoon and settled up at the dive shop on our bills. I bought a t-shirt that looks pretty cool. Maybe I can take a picture with it. I went back and checked into the hostel again. This time I was just ready for sleep. However, I didn't get any. I went back out because the group was planning on meeting at a restaurant and hang out, exchange info, and have some booze. Pretty much everyone showed up except for the dive instructors. Weak. Dave (dive master) and Max (chef) showed but that was it. So the rest of us hit up the bars.
The night was full of drinking, dancing, and having a great time. I don't know where the hours went but the next thing I know I was walking back to the hostel and it was late. I was politely asked to wake up at 10:30 AM by the hostel manager because checkout was at 10:00. Oops.
So I packed my things up and headed to Avis. Ol' trusty Avis. They had some decent cars so I snagged a Ford Falcon XR6. The key is to book a cheap car that they don't have and then get a free upgrade. It worked for me!!
I headed north and it was a bit difficult to drive.
#1) I had a bit of a fuzzy head
#2) Everything about the trip was completely backwards. I was driving on the wrong side of the car, the blinkers were on the right-hand side, the shifter was on the left, everybody drove on the wrong side of the roads, and I was driving North and the weather was getting warmer. It is like a crazy bizarro world!
Lucky for me I had a Pepsi and I caught on quick with the car. I stopped at about 5 beaches throughout the day. It was amazing! Most of them I was the only person there. The views were amazing and such a beautiful day!
I made my way up to Port Douglas. This city is a pretty cool city. It seems to me that it is where the rich vacationers go. I stayed in a hostel. It was the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. I had my own room and everything was very nice. I think it has only been open for 2 or 3 years. Very pleased for 30 Australian!
After a good night's sleep I hopped back in the car and drove through the rainforest up to Cape Tribulation. I stopped at a river area in the rainforest and took a swim. The water was pretty cold! It was good fun though. Who would've thought, rainforests in Australia?!? Not I.
After stopping and relaxing at a few beaches and stopping for ice cream I made my way back to Cairns for a final night. I decided to book the Holiday Inn because I had a free night to use. Those things come in handy. It was a nice change from a small bed on a boat and hostel beds. I even got upgraded on my free room because of my rewards status with them. I feel special.
On Friday I headed to the airport and back to Sydney. It was pretty uneventful and I had no flight troubles. What a great week!!!
So the rest of the dive trip was a great time. We got back on Tuesday afternoon and settled up at the dive shop on our bills. I bought a t-shirt that looks pretty cool. Maybe I can take a picture with it. I went back and checked into the hostel again. This time I was just ready for sleep. However, I didn't get any. I went back out because the group was planning on meeting at a restaurant and hang out, exchange info, and have some booze. Pretty much everyone showed up except for the dive instructors. Weak. Dave (dive master) and Max (chef) showed but that was it. So the rest of us hit up the bars.
The night was full of drinking, dancing, and having a great time. I don't know where the hours went but the next thing I know I was walking back to the hostel and it was late. I was politely asked to wake up at 10:30 AM by the hostel manager because checkout was at 10:00. Oops.
So I packed my things up and headed to Avis. Ol' trusty Avis. They had some decent cars so I snagged a Ford Falcon XR6. The key is to book a cheap car that they don't have and then get a free upgrade. It worked for me!!
I headed north and it was a bit difficult to drive.
#1) I had a bit of a fuzzy head
#2) Everything about the trip was completely backwards. I was driving on the wrong side of the car, the blinkers were on the right-hand side, the shifter was on the left, everybody drove on the wrong side of the roads, and I was driving North and the weather was getting warmer. It is like a crazy bizarro world!
Lucky for me I had a Pepsi and I caught on quick with the car. I stopped at about 5 beaches throughout the day. It was amazing! Most of them I was the only person there. The views were amazing and such a beautiful day!
I made my way up to Port Douglas. This city is a pretty cool city. It seems to me that it is where the rich vacationers go. I stayed in a hostel. It was the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. I had my own room and everything was very nice. I think it has only been open for 2 or 3 years. Very pleased for 30 Australian!
After a good night's sleep I hopped back in the car and drove through the rainforest up to Cape Tribulation. I stopped at a river area in the rainforest and took a swim. The water was pretty cold! It was good fun though. Who would've thought, rainforests in Australia?!? Not I.
After stopping and relaxing at a few beaches and stopping for ice cream I made my way back to Cairns for a final night. I decided to book the Holiday Inn because I had a free night to use. Those things come in handy. It was a nice change from a small bed on a boat and hostel beds. I even got upgraded on my free room because of my rewards status with them. I feel special.
On Friday I headed to the airport and back to Sydney. It was pretty uneventful and I had no flight troubles. What a great week!!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The other 5 dives
So I got 9 dives in total with this trip (+ 1 snorkeling session). The remaining 5 "pleasure" dives were exactly that. We had rules that we were to follow from the dive master. If we broke them then we couldn't dive the next dive. The rules were pertaining to depth, remaining air when we got on the boat, and the time that we were to get back on board.
My first of 5 was exciting! I had no dive buddy since my training dives I was partnered up with an instructor. He was going out with some other people for additional training. Once again, the odd-man out. Finally someone volunteered to be my buddy. Sebastian and I hit the water and of course we broke the rules. Our max depth was to be 14 m and I hit 18.1 m! Oops! I was chasing a fish and forgot the rule. Luckily the dive master was lenient on this dive. After this one I was sure to follow the rules.
We saw tons of different kinds of fish. I don't know what they were all called but very cool. The experience is very difficult to describe. My best attempt is to say go to an aquarium and step into it and swim around! There were sharks, turtles, "Nemo", rays, barracudas, and just about every tropical thing you can think of. I only had a camera on 2 of my dives, which, is enough for me because I don't want to live life through the lens of a camera. I like to take in the view and enjoy it. Perhaps a bit selfish because I can't share the exact picture with others but that's too bad.
On the other dives I had Mario as a dive buddy twice and David as a buddy once. He is the one you will see in the pictures.
We did a night dive. Since it was my first night dive it had to be "guided" by an instructor. This kind-of sucked. At night you can't see as much but you can get closer to fish because they can't see you either. The big down-side was we had 7 people following the instructor. I was in the middle of the pack with 2 other people and we spent more time looking at the people's fins in front of us than looking at fish and coral. Next time it will be better when I can go out with just a buddy. "Torches" are a necessity. It is definately a different experience when it is at night and I would like to try it again.
Here are the photos from my camera. I will be uploading the batch from the other camera that I rented. Please stand by ...
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/DivePicturesMyCamera?feat=directlink
Cheers!
My first of 5 was exciting! I had no dive buddy since my training dives I was partnered up with an instructor. He was going out with some other people for additional training. Once again, the odd-man out. Finally someone volunteered to be my buddy. Sebastian and I hit the water and of course we broke the rules. Our max depth was to be 14 m and I hit 18.1 m! Oops! I was chasing a fish and forgot the rule. Luckily the dive master was lenient on this dive. After this one I was sure to follow the rules.
We saw tons of different kinds of fish. I don't know what they were all called but very cool. The experience is very difficult to describe. My best attempt is to say go to an aquarium and step into it and swim around! There were sharks, turtles, "Nemo", rays, barracudas, and just about every tropical thing you can think of. I only had a camera on 2 of my dives, which, is enough for me because I don't want to live life through the lens of a camera. I like to take in the view and enjoy it. Perhaps a bit selfish because I can't share the exact picture with others but that's too bad.
On the other dives I had Mario as a dive buddy twice and David as a buddy once. He is the one you will see in the pictures.
We did a night dive. Since it was my first night dive it had to be "guided" by an instructor. This kind-of sucked. At night you can't see as much but you can get closer to fish because they can't see you either. The big down-side was we had 7 people following the instructor. I was in the middle of the pack with 2 other people and we spent more time looking at the people's fins in front of us than looking at fish and coral. Next time it will be better when I can go out with just a buddy. "Torches" are a necessity. It is definately a different experience when it is at night and I would like to try it again.
Here are the photos from my camera. I will be uploading the batch from the other camera that I rented. Please stand by ...
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/DivePicturesMyCamera?feat=directlink
Cheers!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Snorkeling
Here are a few pictures as a teaser and a link to my picasa album. Enjoy!
I don't have all of the pictures posted yet. These are from my snorkeling adventure.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/SnorkelingPics?feat=directlink
I don't have all of the pictures posted yet. These are from my snorkeling adventure.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sheldonbucl/SnorkelingPics?feat=directlink
Training Dives
Dives 2, 3, and 4 were pretty much just going through all of the basic skills that are needed for diving. You have to show how to properly put gear on while on the boat, on the surface of the water, and at depth. Also have to do all of the "what if's" so that if you do have an emergency you don't die. That would suck. Drowning wouldn't be a fun way to go. Shark attack, maybe, (would be a good story for everyone to tell) but drowning, no.
I passed the other 3 dives with flying colors! We only did 1 more dive on Sunday and the experienced divers went and did a night dive. We also got in a good bit of snorkeling time. I took my camera with me while snorkeling and got a few good pictures.
After the 4th training dive I was a fully certified scuba diver! Yay! 5 more dives to go during the trip!
I passed the other 3 dives with flying colors! We only did 1 more dive on Sunday and the experienced divers went and did a night dive. We also got in a good bit of snorkeling time. I took my camera with me while snorkeling and got a few good pictures.
After the 4th training dive I was a fully certified scuba diver! Yay! 5 more dives to go during the trip!
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