Sadly, I didn't bring the underwater camera along this time, so you'll just have to deal with other peoples' pictures of fish and other underwater critters again.
Anyway, I've been fortunate enough to find a really great group of diving buddies, and we've planned things such that we've all been able to go on several trips together. I carpooled up to Port Stephens with a couple of them, and we arrived at the accommodation, which was essentially a massive house with bunk beds all over the place (this military-style bunk arrangement is turning out to be all-too-common). Conveniently, the house was right across the street from the Nelson Bay RSL Club - essentially an all-in-one bar, casino, game room, and dining establishment. I suppose I should also mention that glasses of wine were ~$3.50. It also bears mentioning that these shockingly-cheap glasses of wine did not kill me and, more to the point, were actually quite good. Being that we are a rowdy group of rascals, a few of us headed across the street to wait for the rest of the group and to unwind. It was a great way to start the trip, actually - had a couple glasses of wine, played about 30 games of Keno (nobody won it big, but it's surprisingly fun for a game that involves watching numbers appear). We spent a few hours there, and finally returned to the house at a somewhat reasonable hour.
The next day, we headed out to the boat and into the bay. I believe I've mentioned it already, but I've found a miracle drug that does wonders for my seasickness, so naturally, I was chowing down on the delicious gummy candy and cheese and crackers that were provided on the boat the entire time. A welcome change of events to hanging limply off the side of the boat from the trips of yesteryear.
Both of the dives the first day were quite cool - to the best of my recollection, the dive sites were called The Looking Glass and The Docks. The former was a tall but narrow channel going through a gap in to massive rocks. It also had a tendency to create a good bit of surge. Surge is one of the fun parts of diving (I say that half-jokingly, of course) - it's where the water rushes one way, and then suddenly rushes back the other. Essentially, you can be kicking as fast as you can and still be going backward, only to find yourself being rocketed forward by the surge the next moment. See? Half tiresome, half fun.
In The Looking Glass, we were fortunate enough to see a few grey nurse sharks (if you're a devoted reader, you'll recall my adventures with these bad boys from my Fish Rock dive trip). They were definitely not in the same numbers that were present at Fish Rock, but still no less awesome. There was one particularly mean-looking one with a big hook and thick fishing line dangling from its mouth. We made a run through The Looking Glass (ha), turned around, and headed back to the boat to go to the second dive site.
While The Looking Glass was a cool experience all in its own, The Docks promised to have more life available. And life it had - a few things I had never before seen underwater, actually. The first critter we managed to hunt down was an Eastern Blue Devil Fish. Somewhat skittish and difficult to find, they have some of the most brilliant blue coloring I've ever seen on a fish; almost a cobalt blue. The next critter we came across nearly had me speechless (not that speaking underwater would have done any good anyway): the Australian Giant Cuttlefish. Now, I had seen cuttlefish before on some of my previous dives, but at best, those were about 7-8 inches long. This one was pushing close to 3 feet. They just kinda sat there in the water, not really moving, but their side little flappy bits rippling away.
After 2 successful dives, we made our way back to the harbor and returned to the house. That night, we had our obligatory BBQ with beer, and there was much rejoicing (yay).
The following morning, stirring groggily from our beds, we were notified that conditions were not ideal for diving (read: 30 mph winds and 9' swells). Sadly, this meant we had to cancel our dives for the day. There are 2 upsides to this. The first is that I had heard the weather was going to be a bit iffy, and had purchased travel insurance ahead of time, which resulted in getting the appropriate cost of those dives returned to me (sweet). Second, a bit of foul weather was not about to stop this group from having a bit of fun, so we piled into our cars, and headed back toward a couple of signs we had seen just outside of town.
The Birds 2: Ibis Boogaloo
The first place we stopped was kind of an all-in-one fun park thing. We had seen the signs driving in, and were stoked for one reason and one reason alone: they had a luge. I had first been exposed to the wonders of the summer luge a couple of years ago in Austria, where there was a massive luge track at the foot of the alps. So much fun. Unfortunately, the Australian track was not made from cement as the one in Austria had been, but was instead made of metal. In addition to the high winds, it had also been raining. This tends to makes things rather slippery and, well...closed. But fate smiled upon us yet again! The rain stopped long enough for them to open the luge, and we lined up to hop on the carts (if you're not familiar with summer luge, you essentially sit in a large plastic egg carton with roller blade wheels on it, and control your speed by either pulling (brake) or pushing (lift brake) on a metal rod. That's it. No seat belts, no roll cage. Anyway, here's a video:
Despite the fact that the rain had stopped, it still caused a few problems for some people. Well, one particular problem, as it turns out. During their runs, some people discovered first hand the frictional properties of water on metal. More specifically, they flew off the track. No one was injured, but a few people ended up with damp buttocks and slightly-bruised pride. All in all, I would call it a great success.
Indoors at the same venue, they had a rock climbing wall. We naturally had to try this as well.
Indoor rock climbing or obscure fetish
house? You decide.
Shortly after this I tried to save someonewhose equipment malfunctioned and they
ended up dramatically slipping through my
fingers and falling into a ravine to their
death. I haven't climbed since.
Also, just for some additional entertainment, they had a large platform with a booth set up at either end. Each booth was outfitted with a large basket suspended under a hole in the roof by large rubber bands. The purpose of these baskets was to launch water balloons at the opposite booth in an attempt to drench the other people. We had about 10 minutes of fun with this, until we found out you actually had to pay for it. After a minor reprimanding, we went back to the cars.
Sadly, as a result of the positioning of the hole
and the slingshot, most of the time you just
ended up smashing the balloon into the underside
of the roof of your own booth.
Heading down the road a bit more, we found a new haven of fun: go-karting. Even more fun, go-karting on wet tarmac. There's nothing like tossing a small vehicle around a wet corner and powersliding across the pavement. Anyway, this was perfect for me because it satisfied two of my major needs in an activity: 1) it's highly competitive, and 2) it involves driving. I started in the 4th position and ended up weaseling my way up to first. Toward the end of the 15-minute race, a pileup caused me to hit the side of the track and slip into second. Such is life. We all had a blast and agreed that we had much more fun taking that little break than we would have diving the second day.
That's me in the middle, preparing for my inside
sweep to take the lead.
All in all, quite the fun weekend.
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