30.3.2009 Monday, The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

Tonight I was entertained by two individuals with exceptional passion for performance, Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. Their warm-up act, Louis XIV, was all good and well and professional and with nice sounds, but...the start of the main gig felt like defibrillation. Wholeheartedly recommended.

10.3.2009 Tuesday, Sydney, NSW

As my readers (both of you who haven't fallen asleep just yet) may have noticed, this is not so much of a blog as it is a travel diary. This webpage is generally not a place for statements, opinions or politics. The exception makes the rule, however, so here goes nothing.

My suggestion to each and every Finnish citizen reading this blog is - if your passport is about to expire any time soon, get a new passport right now, while you can, before the new Finnish biopass legislation comes into effect this spring. According to the legislation, anybody who applies for a passport in the future will have his or her fingerprints taken and stored permanently into a national database. (Some Finnish authorities have claimed that this is required by the EU, but they are deliberately lying. There is no EU rule whatsoever that would require the existence such of a database.) As soon as that database will be opened up for the Finnish police authorities - and it will be, despite the current claims that it will not - your fingerprints will be accessible by all European Union police authorities as described in the Prum Contract. The European Union includes countries such as Bulgaria and Romania where the criminal element has traditionally been all too capable of fraternizing with the law and order.

Please notice that I am not suggesting that once the mob has your fingerprints, they will make a latex copy of them, press them onto a murder weapon and start blackmailing you! On the contrary, I think the odds for that are very low. Similarly, the odds for your child of contracting tetanus while living in Finland are extremely low. So my question to you is - why did you have him or her vaccinated, then?

-Once I had submitted my application for a new, fingerprint-free passport, I had lunch at Cockle Bay Wharf (or maybe below Cockle Bay Wharf...maybe in the Subcockle Bay Wharf area? We don't know.) While Sydney itself is not the most beautiful city I've ever seen, its harbour certainly goes straight to world top three. I was amazed by the abundance of large fish in the water at the very heart of a city. This is very unlike Brisbane River: it is allegedly steeming with bull sharks, but you never see them, as the silty water is inpenetrable to the gaze.

8.3.2009 Sunday, Shag Rock, Straddie, QLD

Despite the thought-provoking name, Shag Rock was apparently so named because of the abundance of shags on top of it. The underwater scenery was bloody good, with the most gigantic jellyfish I've ever seen, plus a school of stealthy&camouflaging squids performing the best moon wrasse impersonation you could hope for.

7.3.2009 Saturday, Manta Ray Bommie, Straddie, QLD

Headed for Stradbroke Island with UniDive. Manta Ray Bommie, off the eastern shore of Straddie, had quite a bit of current, but we managed to make our way to the bottom for some prime time with awe-inspiring manta rays, gentle turtles, and sleek leopard sharks (pictured).

The most amusing underwater encounter awaited us at the next dive spot, Flat Rock: a 2+ meter Queensland Grouper had caught a large porcupine fish and tried to swallow it - without much success, as porcupine fishes tend to puff when they are threatened. Try eating a spiky football and you'll see how easy that is!

1.3.2009 Sunday, Bunya Mountains NP, QLD

Fall means it's harvest time. We pick, gather and steal a trunkful of bunya cones. The seeds are the size of a small potato and taste like chestnuts.