Even if I never ever buy any gossip magazines (things like the german „Gala“) – I like to read them from time to time, of course. Especially the english girls obviously can't live without these mags and therefore you can find lots of them in every hostel. As I had a little cold (again...) after my diving course, I was happy to scan trough „Womens Day“, „New Idea“ and whatever they are called. Now I'm completely up to date with „Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt“ and all that stuff. So far so good.

But what I found then in the latest issue of „Womens Day“ is just surreal. You might know that the danish prince, Frederik, married an aussie girl, Mary, last year and their first kid was born a few weeks ago. The Aussies seem to freak out with that...


„Frederik and Mary“ - OUR LITTLE PRINCE

A double sided poster with the little family on both sides – Oh! My! Goodness! I love it, I think, I'll take it with me for my (offline) diary... Some things are just to surreal to be missed out! :-)

You did not hear from me for a while now. That is not because I'm lazy. I just had nothing interesting to tell so far. But now I have. I did my Diving-Course. I'm a certified open water diver (allowed to dive down to 18 meters) now. The first two days of the course were filled with lots of theroy and training in a pool. Yesterday and today were the „real“ diving days then. To become a certified diver, you have to complete a theroy test first and then four dives in open water with an instructor. On every dive you (and your dive buddy – you never go alone) have to complete different skills. What to do if... this or that happens. If one of you runs out of air or if you loose your air supply from your mouth and so on... You train all that in the pool but have to show you can do it under real conditions then as well.


Before the dive – gearing up.


Buddycheck – double check all gear.

The first dive was a bit scary, of course... I was quite worried I would not be able to „equalize my ears“. If you dive, the pressure gets higher and higher. That is no problem for your lungs and for your breathing – the machine gives the air to you in the right pressure every time. But as the air in your ears gets squeezed, you have to equalize the pressure by holding your nose closed and gently blow into it. But I managed it very well, ears seem to be ok and I had lots of fun! We saw lots of fish, even sharks, sea-cucumbers, coral – pity I don't have an underwater camera!


After the dive – exhausted but happy.


I know, it loos like a pool – but it's the Great Barrier Reef!

I'm leaving Melbourne towards Cairns today. Will be pretty hot up there I guess. The ideal weather to do what I missed at the Westcoast – a diving course. I have not decided yet what kind of course I will do, there are so many of them. As I have never done a dive before (except my skydive, of course... ;-) ) I think I will go for a basic four-day-course. The license you get after that allows you to dive up (or down?) to 18 meters. Yeah, I think that is the right thing for the start. Who knows, I might hate diving...