On 1st September I boarded the aircraft at Zurich Airport, heading for Incheon International Airport in Korea, stopping in Dubai. Roughly 15 hours aboard the plane, followed by a three hours Bus ride to Chungju and another five minutes by taxi. Final destination: Grand Hotel Chungju. That was the plan, and despite some communication issues it worked quite well – there I went straight to bed just before midnight, exhausted but excited. Continue reading
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The blog is still alive …
For quite some time blog.felixsalomon.net has been rather quiet – a change is in sight, though! Main reason is my new engagement at GP Solar in Konstanz as a Process Engineer | Cell Technology. The first official day of work I spent on a plane to South Korea where I’ll be staying until the end of the month. Frequent trips like this into different corners of the world lie ahead which means there will be stories to be told and photos to be shown. Stay tuned …
Job als Chance – Bewerbungstraining für Akademiker
Zwei Wochen Seminar. Zwei Wochen Gruppenarbeit. Zwei Wochen lang lernen, wie man eine Bewerbung schreibt? Zwei Wochen lang lernen wie man sich auf ein Vorstellungsgespräch vorbereitet?
Ein ganz klein bisschen skeptisch war ich anfangs ja schon. Aber nach der Einführungsrunde war dann eigentlich klar: das kann eine sehr spannende Sache werden. Und nachdem die letzten Formalitäten geregelt waren, gings dann los. Mit 13 wildfremden, mehr oder weniger frischen Hochschulabsolventen, die alle das gleiche Ziel hatten: Wie finde ich möglichst bald einen Job, der möglichst gut zu mir passt? Continue reading
Buschfeuer toben in Victoria
Sorry, but this post is not available in English
Julie T. Heller Immigration
A couple of weeks ago Julie’s new hompage it went online! I programmed and designed the page, trying to incorporate Julie’s thoughts and expectations. And even though Internet Explorer kept driving me cazy (if only the different versions were equally uncapable but they actually exceed each other) it was a lot of fun to play around with the site. Pay the page a visit if you feel like it and let me know what you think of it or what you don’t like!
Diplomarbeit zum Download
It has already been a little while but you can now download my Diploma Thesis here.
Refractive index modifications in glass play an important role in fibre optic communications. One of the more challenging issues in fibre optics has been how to process the light in optical systems while avoiding the losses which are inherent in the process of coupling light out of fibres. Using bulk optics to perform reflection, difraction and filtering, inevitably increases the system complexity and at the same time decreases its performance. Hence there is great interest in developing in-fibre equivalents of devices such as beam splitters, filters or optical mirrors as they would potentially perform this processing more efficiently. Moreover, ‘fiberised’ devices would increase the stability, reliability and simplicity of fibre optic communications.
To date, the common method used to write refractive index structures into glass involves the use of a UV laser source. This method is constrained by a number of restrictions which could possibly be avoided by using the high energy X-ray light of a synchrotron to produce in-fibre devices. Mid last century, researchers performed experiments on the exposure of glass to synchrotron light. This diploma thesis expands on these initial results with the benefit of modern experimental facilities, to investigate the effects of synchrotron radiation on different glass samples and intends to thereby gain a more coherent, fundamental understanding of the effects of synchrotron light.
In order to produce appropriate samples, various optical glasses and fibres were taken to the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and irradiated with synchrotron light with an energy above 500 eV and a peak energy of 7.8 keV. Tests were subsequently performed to measure the compaction (densification) of the material and possible changes in the refractive index. By means of surface analysis, evidence has been found that compaction occurred and this densification has been quantified. A model for the refractive index modification has been developed and, using ellipsometry, initial measurements have been performed to prove the model.
Am 25. Dezember bin ich dann also in den Flieger gestiegen, nachdem ich noch zwei Wochen zuvor Abschied genommen hatte von Melbourne und meinen Freunden dort. Außerdem mußten noch 85(!) Kilogramm Übergepäck verschifft werden – hab mich für den Anbieter JettaExpress entschieden, da kostet das so etwa 8 Dollar pro Kilo. Gerechnet hatte ich ja so mit um die 30 Kilo, und klar, alleine das Fahrrad wiegt 16. Aber dass dann doch soo viel draus wurde? Naja, nach einigem Hin und Her sieht es jetzt sogar so aus als könnte ich die Sachen morgen von München abholen Daumen-drück!
Am Flughafen ging auch nichtalles so ganz reibungslos, obwohl ich schon sieben Kartons verschickt hatte, war ich trotzdem noch einige Kilos zu schwer … um genau zu sein ungefähr 15. Zum Glück war die Dame am Schalter wohl in Weihnachtsstimmung und hat mir einfach kurzerhand mein Handgepäck eingecheckt – für umme! Der restliche Flug verlief gut – konnte viel schlafen, hatte traumhafte Ausblicke auf die russische Tundra, unter einer dicken Schneeschicht begraben und kam schließlich gegen Mitternacht in München an.
Jetzt bin ich krank – die Kälte war wohl doch ein zu großer Schock. Immerhin gings von etwa +30 Grad auf -7 runter – brrr!
Also jedenfalls freu ich mich schon sehr, einige von Euch mal wieder zu Gesicht zu bekommen und werd mich im neuen Jahr mit aller Frische auf dem Arbeitsmarkt anbieten.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hervey Bay – Byron Bay – Brisbane – Sydney
When we’d got the van in Cairns there had only been a three seater available. So we gave Karin a lift down to Brisbane, stopping at Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay on the way where we watched some dolphins having breakfast at the beach. We spent one night in Brisbane in a dark back alley and caught up with the Belgians from Fraser Island before driving on to Byron Bay the next day. A relaxed little town with a nice atmosphere. We also visitied Nimbin, a town full of hippies and drug dealers. Quite a trip! We almost got totally lost on windy roads through dark forest. But we eventually managed to arrive at this quite different place …
The next day we dropped the car off in Brisbane and caught a plain to Sydney – or we rather tried I should say. First the inbound flight was late and then the whole airport ceased operation due to heavy thunderstorms – I wonder how they’d survive snow!
But we made it to Sydney in the end and met my friend Tom who let us stay at his place in Bondi Beach for a night. After that we moved to a hostel nearby where we lucky enough to find two beds – really every place is fully booked around this time of the year!
One day I went climbing in the blue Mountains, where I met up with a local for the day. And while Claudia stayed in Sydney I took a train down to Melbourne to prepare my journey back to Germany …
Fraser Island via Town of 1770 and Agnes Water
A very short night in Airlie Beach was followed by a very long drive to Turkey Beach near the Town of 1770 (named after the year James Cook set foot on land – how inventive!). On the way we actually had to stop at the side of the road for a bit because of heavy hail and rain.
Town of 1770 and Agnes Water are two little towns with a beach and a backpackers – that’s pretty much it. The waves are rather moderate and attract many first-time surfers. Claudia gave it a go, too, while I went for a swim and took some action shots. Between there and Hervey Bay lies Bundaberg, famous for rum. We tried to visit a turtle tour where you can watch turtles crawl up the beach, laying their eggs and then crawl back into the sea. But it would have taken too long so we drove on to Hervey Bay, departure point for our Fraser Island trip.
At 7am we had to attend the briefing and 30 people were split into three groups. We were in a group with Karin who we knew already from the Whitsundays and then there were the Belgian squad Jorn, Stijn, Peter and Mattias; Catherine from England and Eimear and Stephen from Ireland.
After a quick shopping tour the barge brought us to the worlds largest sand island! I made the start to drive along sandy tracks and through deep potholes, trying not to make the passangers sea sick. It rained most of the day but that didn’t really bother us too much when we stopped at Central Station for a short walk through the rainforest and Lake Wabby one of the many perched lakes of the island. When we hit the east coast we set up camp and had a big BBQ dinner. An amazing sunset welcomed us and promised better weather for the next day. Later that night a dingo had a closer look at the tents and caused a rush of people equipped with cameras running down to the beach, hoping to get a good shot of the wild dog. Not sure if anyone was actually successful…
I spent the night on the roof of our car and woke up with the rising sun at 4.30am (bloody Queensland doesn’t have daylight saving time!) but luckily managed to get some more sleep before breakfast at 7am. We had to start driving up 72 Mile Beach around 8 to catch the few hours before and after low tide. Just when we were about to leave, we were lucky to see another dingo walk right up to the cars and pose for some shots!
Driving on the beach was pretty cool! Some parts allowed to go 80kph whereas in others I had to slow down to get across little wash-outs and creeks. We stopped at Indian Head to walk up to the lookout and enjoy the view before chilling at Champagne Pools for quite a while.
On the way back we stopped at the Pinnacles and the Maheno wreck and put up camp near Ellis Creek.
On our last day on Fraser we headed inland again to Lake Mckenzie Amazing! Crystal-clear water, white sand … simply stunning! Probably my personal highlight of the trip although the whole island is just unbelievably awesome. And with ‘the best group ever’ it was probably one of ‘the best trips ever’!
Whitsunday Islands (via Townsville and Bowen)
Driving down the east coast to Townsville is not really the most exciting thing to do. Miles of sugar cane fields, some little towns not really worth stopping and the road doesn’t actually run along the coast but rather a few kilometres inland. The only exception is the turn-off to Mission Beach where you find golden sand and blue water. When we arrived in Townsville it was just about time to torture our van ‘Think about’ up the steep road to the top of Castle Hill from where you have a beautiful view across Townsville. After sunset and a huge dinner we went for a little walk through the centre and guess who was yelling down from a balcony: Adam, one of the guys from Newcastle we had met in Darwin. We joined him and his mates from Newcastle James and Steve to play some cards and went out to a pub to watch soccer and play some pool.
Not really willing nor able to drive back up Castle Hill we stayed in the car park in the middle of Townsville for the night and went for a swim in the Rockpool in the morning.
Further south lies the little town Bowen where they recently shot the movie ‘Australia’ and someone had recommended Rose Bay as a nice beach. In fact we would have loved to spend more time there than just two hours! It was really beautiful, a little beach surrounded by rocks. They even had chalk marks on them and I was very close to get my climbing shoes out … But also for people who are not such mad climbers it’s definitely worth a stop! We on the other hand had to catch our boat the next morning and therefore had to be in Airlie Beach the same night.
Airlie Beach is a bit like a small version of Cairns: Heaps of backpackers and tourists. But it offers one thing that Cairns doesn’t have: the Whitsunday Islands. 74 Islands, mostly uninhabited (there used to be Aboriginals but they all got killed. There’s actually some rock art on the islands which can’t be translated ‘cos there’s noone left of the tribes that used to live there. Another sad fact about such an amazing place!) and of course there is Whitehaven Beach, voted the world’s second-most beautiful beach.
Our boat was a catamaran called ‘Wings’ with focus on diving and snorkeling rather than partying all day and night. The crew consisted of Skipper Harry from NZ (love the accent!), Kat our hostess and the diving instructors Nic and Flo. The group of 25 was a colourful mixture of young and old, single and couple, and lots of different nationalities.
Weather conditions were perfect and while we shipped towards Hayman Island the crew gave us a short briefing of what we had to expect – basically an awesome trip.
At Blue Pearl Bay we stopped for a first snorkel and dive. Surprisingly I really enjoyed diving although the corals were way less amazing than up at Cape Trib.
We stayed in the bay for dinner and the night and when I woke up the next morning Harry was already racing to our morning destination Mantaray Bay where we went for another dive and spotted the local hero George the big Hump Headed Maori Wrasse. There’s actually a funny story about those fish, wanna hear it? Thought so but I’ll tell it anyway. So usually in one hunting area there is a group of them with the oldest and biggest being the alpha-male and the rest female. As soon as the old one dies the oldest female takes his place – and turns male! Clever decision I reckon. Anyway, the second dive was already much nicer so I decided to go for another one in the next bay. We dove through the tunnel of love and visited Nemo city (yes I found him!). On the way back to the boat (once again I was first to run out of oxygen so the dinghi picked me up) we spotted a turtle so I jumped back in and followed it for a while, snorkeling close behind it. An amazing animal!
Later on the same day we went on land to visit the famous Whitehaven Beach and it is in fact a really stunning view. We spent a couple of hours at a more secluded part of the beach, away from the masses. Later, back on board we had another great dinner before hitting the sack anchored in Cave Bay (Some keen German girls went for a night dive with Flo but that was licensed divers only).
7am the next day I was back under water again, the last dive and actually the best of all. Equipped with a bigger bottle for some extra air we drifted with the current past towers of corals and saw another turtle (the other group even saw a reef shark). A great finish for a great trip!
On the last few miles Harry set sails but we made about ten metres in 10 minutes due to the lack of wind. Nevertheless it was an awesome trip with a great crew on a nice boat.
We finished the night off with a dinner at Rumbar in Airlie Beach and a few drinks with Karin and Flo in one of the bars (do I have to mention that I bumped into someone I had met way earlier?).
Back in bed it still felt like the floor was shook by the waves …
