Exmouth to Broome - Karijini National Park

After my days diving in Exmouth, I joined the next Bus travelling from Perth to Broome and met a new bus full of very nice people. During this trip, we spent most of the time in Karijini National Park, exploring different gorges and many different sites. My knee and (non)fitness did not allow me to go down all the gorges - I nevertheless got to see some amazing views and swum in some lovely places. We spent most of the nights in swags, sleeping outside and admiring the beautiful sky full of stars. The night sky down under is amazing, with so many more stars to be seen than at home. And no city close by meant that we could admire the stars without any interference of artificial light!

Here a few pictures of the last 5 days:


All my pictures from Exmouth to Broome are stored here.

Diving in Exmouth

Being on the Westcost and on Ningaloo Reef, I had to go diving some more, especially in Exmouth. Exmouth grew thanks to the US Navy establishing a communications center in the 1960s. Part of this military site is the Navy Pier (see picture) which has become a very popular dive site and is said to be in the top 10 dive sites in the world.

Already getting to the Navy Pier is an adventure, because the US Navy is still controlling the area and has to check the identity of all the people entering this area. Getting into the water can be a challenge as well: first you have to carry down all you equipment down the yellow staircase and then jump with all your gear on from the lower platform. It's only about 2.5m but I was pretty impressed!

Then the dive site itself: we were diving under the pier, in between the steel construction. And finally the fish swimming around there was incredible: lots and lots and lots - small, big and colourful. Highlight were the reef sharks and white tipped sharks staying there. We could watch them from very close and at one point, one of them even swum right below me. It was an amazing experience. Even more so, that I did my very first night dive there as well. The colours, thanks to the torches were much brighter in the night than throughout day dives. If you ever are in the region and enjoy diving do not miss the Navy Pier!

The next day I went for a day diving at the Murion Islands. Off with the boat in the morning, two dives during the day, snorkeling at lunch time and back late afternoon. The dives were very nice, again with some sharks and with the feeling of swimming in an aquarium: all in turquoise and with lots of fish around me. Lovely day!

Perth to Exmouth - discovering Western Australia

Travelling by myself, I decided that the best way for me to explore Western Australia and its great distances, would be to join an organised tour. So off I went an booked myself on a ten day tour to Broome. I did a two days break in Exmouth for some diving and then joined the next bus from Exmouth to Broome.

We were a group of 18 people leaving Perth to travel north. We were a really nice group and we had a lot of fun during all these days. The days were full with sightseeing, exploring, swimming, cooking, lot of driving and enjoying a cool beer in the evening.

For me this first contact with Australia was AMAZING. The distances, the colours, the sights, I don't really know where to start.... maybe the below pictures will help:



Some of all the places we visited during these 5 days included The Pinacles, Kalbarri National Park, the dolphins at Monkey Mia. For me the highlights were the day in Coral Bay, spent diving and snorkelling with the Manta Rays and the beach day on Ningaloo Reef (swimming on Sandy beach and snorkelling in Turquoise Bay).

All my pictures are located here.

Sri Lanka - Yohan and Noemie's wedding

After Taiwan it was time to go to Sri Lanka and join into the festivities around Yohan and Noemie's wedding. Unfortunately my camera died the second day of my stay in Sri Lanka... but hopefully I will be able to receive some pictures from other picture takers. (but don't worry, I have bought a new camera, so there will be pictures from my trip in Australia!)

But back to Sri Lanka: the wedding took please in a lovely hotel garden in Kalutara (south of Colombo) and followed the traditional Sri Lankan wedding procedure. The ceremony was lovely and a unique experience for all us Swiss people (over 60!) attending it.

Following the wedding I joined a group of girls and we travelled the country for 10 days: the beach in Kalutara, into the country and uphill to Nurawa Eliya, where the famous tea plantations are.

All met up in Kandy for a few days as well to attend the famous Pehara: an annual procession which takes place at the July/August full moon. Amongst many elephants (70 of them) there were dancers and other performers telling the old tale of Buddha's tooth, which is kept in the Temple of Kandy.

My time in Sri Lanka was short, but I very much enjoyed every minute of it: discovering the culture, the landscape and joking and sharing these moments with a group of girls was fantastic.

Now I am in Perth, where I have prepared my travels for the next few weeks: up north to Exmouth and Broome, then Darwin, Alice Springs, Cairns and finally Sidney. More to come when I get again some time to access the internet - now I must go because I have booked myself a ticket for today's Opera performance: The Pearl Fishers from Bizet.

Taiwan - World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung

From the 21st to the 29th July, I spent an extraordinary week in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Tchoukball was one of the invitational sports of the 9th World Games and participating in such an event was a wonderful experience for me and all others of the Tchoukball family.

For more information, please have a look at the International Tchoukball Federation's website - I was updating that website throughout my stay in Kaohsiung... so more news to be found there - especially under "Life in Kaohsiung".

Hong Kong

After Malysia, I went to Hong Kong for a few days, meeting up with friends before going to Taiwan together. It was great to meet some known faces, get some news from back home and just be together. Although we did not have the best of weather, we did have some good fun: tasting many different types of food (Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese), shopping and some sightseeing. And for those still wondering: the Swimming pool of the Metropol Plaza is nor on the top floor nor on the ground floor - but on 9th floor!