Geoverse

Tonight I have been playing ultimate for the first time. I’m surprised how popular the sport is here as professional players don’t actually get paid for playing. I found it good fun though and it’s something new which I like. The frisbee throwing techniques are far more complex than at first sight but I think I did pretty well. The backhand in front of your body is relatively easy but the forehand, like skipping a stone over the pond, requires some more skill and proper handling. The key is to give the disc enough spin so that it flies in a stable trajectory through the air. In two weeks the new season starts so i’ll be joining up with the RSES team (if there are enough players hopefully) and we’ll see how I will fare in the tournaments. In the meanwhile I need to practice, practice and practice 😛

Tomorrow i’m off for a hike in one of Canberra’s national parks with the mountaineering club. I’ll take some pics as well. The river gorge and the caves are said to be absolutely beautiful!

See ya!

I’m living in another country. But Australia does belong with the developed countries like the USA and countries in western Europe. So what exactly is different apart from the fact that the language spoken is different? Here are some differences i noticed between the Netherlands and Australia:

1) At the supermarket (no matter which one), you are greeted friendly and the cassiere even sorts out your shopping items in plastic bags for you. They also take your keycard (pinpas) and swipe it themselves for you.

2) Pin transactions are similar with a 4 digit pin code but you have the opportunity to select which account you want to use. That’s savings for me.

3) Always when waiting in line, wait until you are called. It’s ‘rude’ to step up when you think the person before you is done and walks away.

4) Cycling on the road is allowed but the roads are not build for cyclists. Cycling on the sidewalk where pedestrians walk is much more common and apparently also allowed. There are some bicycle tracks in Canberra. In Australia people drive on the left side of the road.

5) You must wear a bike helmet by law or face a fine up to $50

6) There are few custards (vla) and yoghurts and a smaller selection of brand cheeses or you have to pay a lot for little.

I’ll add some more things later on.

I feel like i’m becoming a different person lol. You wouldnt believe how much shopping I’ve done so far. Just today I got myself some great bargains. A 3 persons tent for $40 and a pair of excellent running shoes for $60. I also got over the last few days a good firm pillow, mobile phone, bike helmet and whatnot. Now that I finally get properly paid it feels kinda good to be able to afford this kinda stuff. Next week there’s a computer sale at the Canberra university (not ANU!) I probably want to check out. I’m looking for a nice and big flat/widescreen monitor so I can properly watch movies but they dont come cheap :-). I’m still keeping in mind to get a double bed too but they are hard to find for a good price. That’s it for now. I’ll post some lab pics and a brief description of my work at the uni this coming week.

G’day.

Yesterday I have been out and about. As I have recently been able to temporarily borrow a bike, I thought this would be a great moment to check out some of the features Canberra has to offer. I have visited the botanical gardens of Canberra which contain about 7000 of 21000 species of plants Australia has to offer. It was a pleasant walk through the gardens learning all about plants I have never seen before including many eucalyptus species. The park has been layed out in such a way that the locations of the plants in the park reflect the locations of the plants in Australia. High up in the park a bush trail leads to the black mountain summit to where the Telstra communications tower stands. Admission is 6 AUD$ (3 Euro something) but it was quite worth it. I was rewarded with a great panorama over the countryside. See pics below. At around 3 pm I rode past the australian national university (ANU) to the Australian National Museum. The architecture of the museum is rather weird but probably comparable to buildings I have seen in the Netherlands he he. Below is a link to the photos i took that day. Enjoy!!

Botanical gardens, panorama, ANU, museum photos

In some pics you see a creature called the Echidna. I was really lucky to see this creature as it is one of the few mammals that lays eggs.