As different aspects of life take over, I find it difficult to find the time and energy to write posts for this blog. I must admit that maintaining three blogs, Facebook and Twitter makes it feel like I’m repeating myself sometimes.

All that aside, the purpose of this post: scuba diving is awesome.

I learnt how to dive on my recent trip to Cairns. I sincerely hoped that the exposure to diving there would result in a lifelong hobby and I’ve recently made that happen by signing up to upgrade my dive certification to Advanced Open Water. Furthermore, I’m going on a night dive tonight off the Ammunition Jetty at Woodman’s Point here in Perth. I’ve only been on one night dive and I’m extremely glad to go on another one!

There are many things about diving that really fascinate me. The first is that I’ve always loved being in, around and under water, but was never really good at swimming (I failed Grade 3 swimming several times before my parents stopped sending me to swimming lessons). The feeling of serenity and weightlessness when being underwater is very calming.

Secondly, diving introduces you to a whole new world. The animals you see down there are completely different to the ones you see topside. Fish will let you get a lot closer before running away, as well. I imagine that humans are a smaller perceived threat.

Thirdly, I can combine it with the other new hobby of mine: photography!

I’m really keen to go diving regularly and I’m stoked that I’ve finally managed to kick myself into doing some in my own city. Only going diving when you’re on holidays can make dives few and far between…

My next trick is to sort out how I can easily take dive equipment to dive sites on my bike. I’ve just ordered a versatile bike trailer and I’m hoping to design a method of pulling ~50kg of dive equipment without it coming to grief on a sharp turn or when I have to brake suddenly. The added bonus of getting a bike trailer is that I’ll be able to carry a carton of beer home on my bike

Unfortunately, I have observed that the popularity of dogs and bikes leads to some tensions.  Let me tell you some stories…

The most common type of bicycle in Berlin is a city bike.  They have big, padded seats with springs, fat tyres and frames that remind me of exercise bikes more than a “real” bike.  They’re built for short-distance trips to the shops or to friend’s houses.  The problem, though, is that they are incredibly slow.  I’ve never seen anybody ride one faster than 10km/hour.

On my recent trip back from Potsdam, I was riding along one of the narrow bike paths along a major road.  These paths have very little room to manoeuvre.  I was cruising along at between 20-30km/hour.  My heart rate was up and I was thoroughly enjoying the sweatiness.  Suddenly, there was a middle-aged woman on a city bike in front of me, riding in the very middle of the lane.

She either didn’t notice me or didn’t care, as she made no effort to give me any space to overtake.  When it was safe, I nipped onto the adjacent footpath and quickly passed her.  I didn’t think any more of it.  What really got me was what she did next…

I came up to a red light.  Bicycle lanes have their own traffic lights, and the white line at which you have to stop is generally about 2 or 3 metres away from the intersection.  The delightful lady that I had previously passed rode off the cycle path, onto the footpath and forced her way through the pedestrians until she was at the kerb of the intersecting road.  When she had a green light, she crossed the road, went back onto the cycle path and was in front of me again.  Of course, I had to overtake her again.  Unfortunately, this happened several times.

Her behaviour irritated me a little.  I suppose that you, dear reader, will have some sort of opinion based on what sort of cyclist you are.  Needless to say, I felt that she was extremely rude, inconveniencing cyclists and pedestrians alike.

Now, my dog story.  I wasn’t personally involved in this one, but it’s certainly a good example of how Berlin’s variety of people and lifestyle sometimes don’t mesh very well.

I was sitting in Alexanderplatz, waiting for a friend.  She was running late, so I enjoyed the chance sit down and watch the people go by.   I was approached by no fewer than two beggars, but that’s a topic for a later post.

There were many people sitting around me, including a reasonably well-dressed white woman with a large white dog on a lead.  I’m afraid I couldn’t identify the breed.

Suddenly, her dog started barking – I looked up and noticed three bohemian looking gentlemen, complete with dreadlocks, numerous piercings and well-loved clothing walking by.  Accompanying them was another large dog, a brown one of also unknown species.

The brown dog looked at the white dog, sniffed the air and made a couple of steps towards it.  The bohemian gentlemen just ignored the barking dog and kept walking.  The brown dog decided to follow their lead, ignoring the white dog.  It was a perfectly happy and harmless encounter, until the well-dressed lady started yelling at the bohemian gentlemen, telling them to keep their dog on a lead.  The gentlemen yelled back and the whole thing degenerate into an argument at 4km/hour.

I found the whole situation quite amusing, really.  The brown dog was incredibly well behaved and obedient, and certainly didn’t need to be on a lead.  If anybody needed any kind of lead or muzzle, it was the owner of the white dog.

Right!  That’s enough storytelling for today.  Not many pictures either, I’m sorry.  Next week I’m flying to visit my grandmother in the Rhineland.  There are bound to be many pictures of the breathtakingly beautiful scenery.

My day started relatively lazy, and it took a lot of motivation to put on my cycling clothes and go somewhere.  I had previously decided that I’d go to the Grunewald and see what the tracks there were like.  I figured they couldn’t be as bad as the MTB track that I cut my teeth on – the one that gave me scars.

I kitted up my trusty steed and, being lazy, hopped on the S-Bahn to get to the Grunewald.  It would involve about twenty minutes of travel and two changeovers to other trains.

I got to Westkreuz train station without many problems, only to discover that the train line I wanted to take wasn’t running at all!  A friendly driver recommended I catch his train to the Messe Süd station, as that wasn’t much farther from Grunewald than the Grunewald station itself.

My iPhone led me the way along towards the Grunewald, and I stumbled across this:

One of the famed cycle roads of Berlin!  No cars or pedestrians allowed, only cyclists!  I was intrigued and wanted to know where it headed, so I decided to follow it.  Sure enough, I eventually came across a sign.

My uncle’s girlfriend had already recommended I visit Potsdam, because it’s very pretty.  Less than 10km away?  Child’s play!  I had only already cycled 10km already, so another wouldn’t hurt.

The cycle path was heaven to ride on.  Of course, many roadies overtook me, but I was still cruising along at around 30km/h (on an MTB, with knobbly tyres).  Unfortunately, the path didn’t not go ALL the way to Potsdam, and I eventually had to share roads with cars and paths with pedestrians.

I passed the Wannsee on the way and tried to master the art of taking a photo of one’s self.  I was somewhat successful, but you shan’t see the countless terrible photos I took.  Thankfully, a kind tourist was kind enough to take a photo of me when I stopped just after the bridge into Potsdam itself.

I wandered around Potsdam, occasionally checking a map on my iPhone, and discovered that there was a large park not far from my location.  I meandered along, trying to find it, and came across Sanssouci Park, locationof Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great of Prussia.

The only problem was that I wasn’t allowed to enter the gardens themselves because I had a bike with me.  I wasn’t even allowed to wheel it along!  I wasn’t going to let my bike out of my sight, so instead I decided to find some lunch.

Once again, with my trusty iPhone, I located some nearby restaurants and one immediately caught my eye, Café KieselStein.  They claimed to be organic, vegetarian and smoke-free.

After a hearty lunch of red lentil soup with chestnuts, spinach and potato bake with feta, an organic wheat beer, espresso and a piece of chocolate truffle torte, I felt re-energised and revitalised and ready to tackle the ride home!

Turning, once again, to my trusty iPhone, I calculated a route that would take me home along the shortest route possible.

Berlin has cycle ways along every major road, so I simply assumed that this path would get me home without many issues.  Thankfully, I was right (even though I accidentally rode the wrong way for a few kilometres).  Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to take any photos on the way home…

As it is, I got home, eventually, and hopped straight under the shower.

The result of the day?  A pleasant, unplanned trip and 53km of cycling.