Categoria / Category Traveled places

In + More..., America, Curiosidades Venezuela, Venezuela 2012 On  25/07/2012  No comments

The time zone in Venezuela is considered one of the Chávez’s whims. Here the time zone is -4:30 hours (UTC/GMT). I asked many people about the reasons for having a 30 minute time difference. They all answered me: “I don’t know, it is Chavez idea”. It is incredible to think of an eccentric president that one day wakes up and decided to change the time of the whole country to 30 minutes earlier…

See more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/09/19/us-venezuela-time-idUSN1927682520070919

In America, Venezuela 2012 On  24/07/2012  2 comments

The arrival in Venezuela was “errant”. I got at the airport in Caracas having no idea where I was going to stay. I just knew I had a reservation for an air ticket to Los Roques for next day, 3pm. But event that flight, I hadn’t received the confirmation ticket.

As almost everywhere in South America, arriving in a city we are harassed by a great number of men trying to sell transport and money exchange. Passing through them it is an accomplishment.

The first thing I did was to check my flight with Chapi Air. I had to get my luggage and walk to the domestic terminal. Getting there I found out my they were closed until next day 2 hours prior boarding time.

My second action was to decided where to sleep. So, I went to tourist information desk and tried to get a room. The one they recommended me was full, so I got a taxi driver recommended by them and he took me to a hotel. My only request was to have wifi and, of course, not to be so expensive. He took me to a place in Playa Grande...

In Australia, Oceania On  17/04/2012  No comments

The Great Ocean Road, also called Surfcoast Highway, is one of the main attractions of Australia. My idea was to rent a car and drive on it. But, unfortunately, I forgot my drive license at home. So, I decide to get a tour. The pro side is that you don’t have to worry about driving, about maps, about which side of the road to go… The down side is that you have quick stops in each place, it is the fast tour: get out of the bus, take a photo, hop on the bus again…

The road was constructed between 1919 and 1932, when soldiers came back from Turkey from the World War I (The memorial to the soldieries reminded me my visit to Gallipoli in Turkey).  Our fist stop was Bells Beach, an Australian icon for surfing. Getting there, our tour guide played the audio of Point Break, a movie by Kathryn Bigelow with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, Bells beach is the location of the huge surf wave...

In Australia, Diving & Snorkeling, Oceania On  16/04/2012  One comment

Here I put some info on the dives. After some months trying to download the information of my Mares dive computer on a Mac or Linux OS. I happily found Dive Board, an online scuba logbook where I could download my data. Here is the link to my dives in Australia

Day 1

1st Dive – Petaj Mooring http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/12198
Date: 2012-02-09 – 11:05 Max Depth: 16m Duration:47mins

2nd  Dive – Petaj Mooring http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/11737
Date: 2012-02-09 – 14:34 Max Depth: 10.1m Duration:48mins

3rd dive : Whale Bommie http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/11738
Date: 2012-02-09 – 16:44 Max Depth: 11m Duration:47mins

4th dive : Whale Bommie http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/11739
Date: 2012-02-09 – 19:41 Max Depth: 11.5m Duration:31mins

Mergulho na Grande Barreira de Corais from EcoArte on Vimeo.

Day 2

5th dive : Whale Bommie http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/11740
Date: 2012-02-10 – 07:33 Max Depth: 18.6m Duration:53mins

6th dive: Tennis Court http:/...

In Australia, Diving & Snorkeling, Oceania On  16/04/2012  One comment

In order to dive on the Great Barrier Reef I decided to get a 3 day / 2 nights live aboard. Early in the morning we meet at the dive shop (ProDive) and went for a breakfast on the boat before departure. The trip to the Great Barrier Reef was smooth, no storms and no seasickness. It was interesting to notice that during the whole trip nobody got seasick. We were very lucky with the weather. Even so it was rain season, we had sun light every day. There was some rain, but not in the way to damage our dive days.

Our first stop was at Petaj Mooring, a dive site at Milln Reef. The crew of the boat was excellent in doing the dive brief. They showed us a map of the site, explained what we could see and the best way to explore the place. For the ones that did not remember how to use a compass, the give a quick refresh. The importance of using the compass was because we were in our own, there was no divemaster guiding the dive...

In + More..., Australia, Australian Curiosities On  15/04/2012  No comments

It is incredible the amount of signs of prohibitions in Australia. In the great majority of the beaches, before one get in, there is a sort of “menu” of signs of things one can and cannot do. The feeling of controlling is so strong…

In Australia, Oceania On  10/04/2012  No comments

Another great day trip out of Cairn is Cape Tribulation. Actually, I don’t recommend it as a day tour, the best way is to stay a night over there to enjoy the forest, all agencies give you that option of staying over and getting back with the next day tour.

Our guide, Peter, was very funny; with him I learnt “no worries, let’s keep going”. During the trip he explained us about the sugar industry, as this part of Queensland is a big producer of sugar cane. He mentioned me all the time during the tour since (for him) I was one of the “competitors” in the sugar market.

We stopped a few times for lookout and had some walks on the forest. Here again, it is very neat. The path is very well constructed, wooden made, beautiful and they scare you to not wander around, you are not allowed to walk outside the path, otherwise dangerous things will get you. One is a plant that will make you itch for 6 months.

It is a beautiful rain forest, some of the trees are similar with the ones in...

In Australia, Adventure, Diving & Snorkeling, Oceania On  10/04/2012 

One of my reasons to come to Australia was to dive in the Great Barrier Reef, so I got an airplane to Cairns on northern Queensland coast. The city, at this time of the year, reminded me Brazil (Salvador). It is hot and humid, and I loved. It was the rain season, so there is a bit of rain almost every day and, at the same time, there is bright sunlight everyday too, like tropical Brazil.

Cairns seemed a calm tourist town but with a lot of activities: diving, rafting, ballooning, national parks, islands, crocodile watch, skytravel… There were so many options it was hard to choose one. First I wanted to get a sense of the place, see the town, so I waked a lot around the port, the marina, the esplanade. Then, I rented a bicycle (actually, I borrowed from Stephen’s friend on Gilligan’s) and went on a bike trip around town. It was a bit rainy but good to get a broader view of the city.

After that, I spent some time relaxing on the city Esplanade Lagoon...

In Australia, Oceania On  20/03/2012  One comment

Uluru is a place in Australia I always wanted to visit. It is my second reason to visit the country, right after the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time, this place wins in fascination, even before I learnt scuba dive, this huge rock fascinated me, when I saw in photos and movies. Deserts in general fascinates me, I believe what attracts me it is the immensity, like the sea, they are a dry version o the sea, it makes us feel small, to respect the nature. Movies as Rabbit-Proof Fence, A Cry in the Dark, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, showed me the Australian Outback, this enigmatic desert.

On my arrival at Yulara I got I little disappointed because there was no village, it was only a resort, and I don’t like big resorts, they are the same everywhere, even airports can have more personality. However, the 4 days there seduced me and I changed my mind.  On my first day I met Star and he invited me to see Allison for a talk on aboriginal’s culture (See Star post on...

In Australia On  20/03/2012  No comments

After the first initial days of staying in Ayers Rock Resort, I was feeling rather conflicted as although my photography was reaching new heights in creativity and I felt a huge connection to the raw power of nature which was providing new learnings and insight, I felt something was missing out of my vision quest as I had seen from before the start of the trip that I was to connect with the Aboriginal tribes around Uluru and learn from their ancient and enduring wisdom and culture.

Even the friendly staff at the Resort reception weren’t able to help in this as the local company with Aboriginal led tours had just been recently taken over by another company and therefore was not operating for another month. 
And every time I was in the park no matter how much I saw myself meeting Aboriginals I never meet one.

Fortunately I was informed that a local aboriginal Alison Hunt, held Bush Tucker Tours every 2nd day near the town square in Ayers Rock Resort...