Martijn's Blog

I bought this underwater camera and made some stunning pictures of fish, coral and an octopus or so I thought. When I went back to pick up my photos it turned out that the camera was faulty and it never distributed the film so no pictures except this one:


I found him

Well it has been a while since I posted anything on this site. The reason (excuse) is that I spend the last 4 days on a boat.

I arrived in Cairns 2 days after cyclone "Larry" hit the coast of northern Queensland. To be honest, in Cairns, apart from some branches on the roads and the rainy weather there was very little evidence that a very strong cyclone had hit so close by.

In Innesfail which is about 90km from here the damage was much worse: 50% of the buildings were heavily damaged.

Anyway I have been taking a dive course here in Cairns. I finished my PADI open water and advanced open water course on a ship near the Norman and Saxon reefs. Absolutely unique experience with the beautiful corals, the varied fishes and the night dives between the reef sharks.

I will post some pictures later on.

Ok I have finally left Lancelin and am in Perth now. Only for a day and a half because my flight to Cairns leaves Wednesday morning. Cairns has just been hit by a cyclone and I hope that the weather will have cleared up by the time I arrive.


the sand dunes in Lancelin


just a sunset beer


and some jumping

I haven't written for a while and this is mainly because I am really busy here in Lancelin. In the mornings surfing, in the afternoons windsurfing, in the early evenings beachvolley and at night party.



Lancelin lies about 130km north of Perth and is a renowned windsurf location. There are also many kite surfers of course but the waves are high and the wind is reliable so perfect for either.



The hostel here is excellent: nice people, clean and a lot of fun so I decided to stay 2 weeks here instead of going to Kalgoorlie. Time is almost up before I fly to Cairns.


typical backpacker lunch

Rottnest Island also got her name from a Dutchman (well really a Belgian of course) Willem de Vlamingh in 1696. He thought the animals he saw on the island we very big rats and therefore named it Rattenest Eiland which corrupted to Rottnest Island.


Nice beaches with good snorkeling


Quokka (Rat, but really a marsupial like the kangaroo, koala and possums)