Middle Earth, a.k.a. - New Zealand

I recently celebrated my 26th birthday (a-thankya) by heading down to New Zealand for a week to do some driving, skiing, and generally to have a good time. Some of you may recall my earlier trip to the north island last year. Having heard excellent things about the south island, I had made a mental note to head back there at some point to check it out. I suppose this is me actually following through with that mental note.

I would also like to add that I will try and make as few Lord of the Rings references as possible. Apologies in advance.

I flew out mid-week into Christchurch, which would be the starting point for my 470 km drive across the south island to the holiday town of Queenstown.

My driving route - from Christchurch (A) to

Queenstown (B).

Along the way, I stopped for all manner of zoos, giant fish, huge fruit, beautiful lakes, and anything else that was shiny / caught my attention.

See the full album here.

Additionally, here are a couple of videos from my visit with the lemurs at the Orana Wildlife park.

Additionally, I figured that while I had taken the time to go to New Zealand, the global capital of all extreme activities, I should do something I'd always wanted to do: skydiving.

Sitting in the plane strapped to my instructor

Marcus, just before the jump.

Nothing like dangling one's feet out of

a plane 15,000 feet in the air to awaken

one's senses.

No warning - suddenly there's nothing

but three miles of sky between you and

the ground.

60 seconds of freefall.

Despite my jowls' best attempts to cover them

up, my eyes are, in fact, open.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

No, it's *flappuh flappuh flappuh*

Little-known fact: skydiving has an 86%

chance of turning you into Michael Jackson.

Coming in for a graceful landing. It looks like

even the Russian judge can't score this one low.

Success! Not shown: soiled underwear.

The entire trip was an incredible success. New Zealand is such a spectacular country, whether you're looking for food, fun, or just a place to unwind. I will definitely be going back.

Diving at Port Stephens

A couple of months ago, prior to my trip home for the holidays (this should give you an idea of just how far behind I am on some of these posts), I went on another dive trip up to Port Stephens - just a few hours north of Sydney. It was just meant to be a weekend trip, with 4 dives planned, but also what was said to be some of the best shore diving in Australia.

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 someone

whose 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.

Diving at Fish Rock

If there is one thing I am very quickly beginning to appreciate about living in Sydney, it is the incredible proximity of some of the most incredible diving in the world (that I've seen, anyway, and assuming the world = Monterey Bay and Australia).

This past weekend, I left on a 4-day, 3-night trip to South West Rocks (the actual name of the city, located about a 6-hour drive north of Sydney). This little coastal town is home to some of the greatest diving in Australia, the central focus of which is Fish Rock. Located in the East Australian Current, Fish rock is a massive boulder 30 minutes off the coast of South West Rocks. Going through the center of the rock is a massive cave. We were to swim through this cave. With nothing but our lights, our wits, and our Costco-sized tubs of shark repellant.

That's right, sharks. Fish Rock is a conservation zone for grey nurse sharks. These critters, though generally considered the Bea Arthurs of the sea, are nonetheless huge (14') and sharp (um...toothy). For those of you who know me reasonably well, know that I am terrified of two things: spiders and sharks. Fortunately, the former couldn't get to me in the water (with the exception of the great spectacled dolphin spider), but I was also going straight into the midst of some of the largest concentration of the latter. As a side note, my fear of sharks largely stems from the fact that I saw Jaws when I was about 5.

A map of Fish Rock Cave. I'll walk you through

it shortly.

I left work midday on Friday to drive down with a couple of guys I had met at the dive orientation the week before. Carl is in IT, and Brett is in recruiting. Both were really nice guys, and we had a blast driving up to SWR. I won't go into details, but we all decided we would shortly be leaving our day jobs to buy 95 acres of land out in the country, buy some bulls and heifers, and 'borrow' some of the vast amounts of concrete / gravel apparently not being used to repair the highway in Australia. Why we would be doing this, we hadn't quite decided, but the deal was just too good to pass up.

We got into town a smidge before 7, and met some of the other folks in the group down at the local pub. It also bears mentioning that we were driven to said pub in what can only be described as a steel tank / station wagon with a massive pushbar on front. Instead of pulling up to the curb, our driver nonchalantly drove up onto the lawn and stopped in front of the stairs leading up to the pub to let us out. We hung out at the pub for a few hours, had some beers, and one of the best $5 steaks I've ever had. Well, the only $5 steak I've had, come to think of it...

We made sure to turn in at a reasonable hour that night, as we would be heading out the next morning to do some diving. The plan was to do 2 dives per day over the next 3 days - 6 dives total for those who are really terrible at math.

This is the lovely Costa Rica motel / dive shop

where we spent most of our non-diving hours.

Here's a significant portion of our dive group.

Fun group of folks.

This is Carl, who was kind enough to drive us back

and forth from SWR. He is pictured here standing

next to the well. Which is actually a BBQ. Not

a well.

This is Brett, who Steph (our divemaster)

loving referred to as Nick Nack (James Bond fans

will get the reference). This photo was taken shortly

after he exclaimed "Nah, I don't do drugs. S'bad

for you." And yes, that is a cigarette in one hand,

and a bottle of beer in the other.

The following morning, we didn't have to be on the boat until 11 am, so we could take our time getting ready in the morning. Having recently discovered that I am quite susceptible to seasickness, I skipped breakfast and took one of my motion sickness pills before we departed. As an aside, the pill I took was recalled in 2003 for causing hallucinations, etc. They appear to have fixed it since then, as the following few days were hallucination-free.

Loading up the boat getting ready to go out.

The view from the docks just before our departure.

We drove to the docks and threw our gear in the boat, a small-ish 12-person craft. Our captain and skipper were Larry and Simon, the former being a witty, seasoned man of few words, the latter being a younger free-diver extraordinaire. They were both incredibly helpful the entire trip.

The boat engine roared and we pulled out into the water. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze, and hardly a cloud in the sky. With the Travacalm keeping me hallucination and hurling-free, we sped across the harbor out to the open sea. The boat ride out was extraordinary, as there were several moments of weightlessness as we leapt over waves only to slam back down on the water a moment later. We left the harbor, went by Green Island (another dive site), and slowly made our way around the coast to Fish Rock, a tiny speck on the horizon at first.

This is Fish Rock.

What would make this trip especially cool was the fact that one of the divers at work had allowed me to borrow their Nikon D200 and underwater housing to take pictures while diving. While the camera and housing weigh about 10 pounds out of the water, they are essentially neutrally-buoyant once in the water, making it much easier to handle. Our first dive of the trip was just to be in the area around fish rock. Jumping into the water (60 degrees - quite a bit warmer than the 49 degree Monterey water to which I was accustomed), we buddied up and started our descent. No more than a minute into our journey into the blue, we had our first shark sighting. It really was something that I can't do justice with only words. Here we were, out of our element, with a creature that has survived for millions of years as a result of being such a perfect predator, in its direct element. There is an initial moment of shock when you tell yourself 'holy crap, that is a rather large shark no more than a few feet away from me.' But that moment passes and you realize what an incredible opportunity you have to be able to share the waters with such a magnificient beast.

The first of many, many sharks we would see

on our dives.

Keeping always one eye on the shark, and one eye on the rest of my surroundings, I made my way with the rest of the group along the perimeter of the rock. Soon, other sharks began to swim by. Two, three, four... As we neared a rock outcropping, Larry took a knee on one of the rocks. I did the same, and just took in the scene. Hundreds upon hundreds of fish of all different species, moving in any and all directions in the water. Peering through the swirling mass of fish, I saw no less than 8 sharks, all of which were larger than I am. Some were swimming in slow loops. Others were just floating motionless a few inches off the bottom.

A larger gathering of sharks.

Here's an interesting fact: most sharks can never stop swimming, as they rely on the constant motion of water through their gills to breathe. Nurse sharks, interestingly enough, have spiracles that act as a means to force water across their gills, so that they remain motionless without risking asphyxiation. Cool.

And just to prove I was actually there (note the

sharks in the background).

This is a wobbegong, a species of shark. There were

a considerable amount of them on all of our dives.

Wobbegongs can actually get quite large (nearing 10

feet with a jaw nearly a meter wide). They have

incredible camouflage when they settle on the ocean

floor.

We were actually in more danger from the wobbegongs

than from the nurse sharks, considering they can be

a bit cranky if people happen to accidentally kneel / step

on them. They have tiny, hooked, dagger-like teeth

and have a tendency to bite and not let go. It's not

uncommon for a diver to come back up to the

surface with the wobbegong still attached.

Our first dive had gone swimmingly (pun clearly intended). And I was looking forward to our next dive, where we would be swimming through the cave.

Referring to the first image in this post (go ahead, I'll wait while you go look), we would be dropping down by the deep entrance of the cave (right side) and swimming in, up the second chimney, through the complete darkness of the cave for a little over 60 meters, and then out the shallow end (left side). After a surface interval where some lunch was served, we geared up again, this time with my trusty tri-LED light, and swam around to the correct side of the rock. Then, we descended.

The view prior to our descent.

We had to drop to about 70 feet to get to the entrance, which is difficult to notice in the first place because it is obscured entirely by fish. Think of the greatest concentration of fish you've ever seen, and then multiply that by ten. It essentially requires you to push the fish out of the way to get by. It also makes it difficult to see nurse sharks until they are right in front of you (didn't happen to us, but we were told it had happened before). While we were waiting for everyone to descend, I decided to take a quick peek around the bottom. Something out of the ordinary caught my eye, and I ducked down to get a closer look. Though I didn't have my camera with me this first time through the cave, I came face to face with another one of nature's dangerous little beauties, the lionfish. This was really a sight to see, as all of the cooler fish seemed to be on their own, rather than in massive schools, making them a much rarer sight.

Once everyone had reached the bottom, I followed Larry into the cave. My light reflected off the massive schools of fish, flashing color and silver wherever the beam hit. The wall of fish gave way to a narrow tunnel, through which we swam until we appeared to hit a dead end (which, as it turned out, also contained a resting wobbegong). Looking up, I could see Larry swimming toward a large open cavern, and following him up, found myself in the complete and utter darkness of the cave. The beam from my light cut through the darkness and revealed the awe-inspiring nature of the cave. Rock walls shot upward. Schools of fish meandered lazily. Massive double-spined lobsters, with antennae reaching upwards of 3 feet long. At one point, we spotted an enormous bull ray resting on the bottom, more than 4 feet from side to side. The most incredible spectacle was yet to come, however.

Part of the way through the cave, we could see the glow of the shallow entrance. Before making our exit, we ascended into the larger of two bubble caves in the rock. We were able to take our regulators out and breathe - 15 feet under water. The expelled air from divers gathers in these caves, and since not all oxygen is used, it's breatheable. After enjoying the cave for a few precious moments, we dropped back down and headed toward the shallow entrance.

If I had any idea that the deep entrance contained a

lot of fish, it was very quickly whisked away when

I set my eyes on the shallow entrance.

This was just an awesome sight, to see the shark

wreathed in fish.

Yes, we got rather close to them.

For a little while, we just sat on the rocks (and almost a wobbegong) watching the hordes of fish move, making out the faint outlines of sharks swimming through them. We slowly made our way along the left side of the entrance, as to not scare the sharks (a funny thought). As we were floating along, we came upon the first of many turtles.

This little hawksbill turtle was kind / sleepy enough

to let me pet him for a bit.

We continued to swim along and I caught sight of a few other cool fish.

This chunky boxfish did not want to be photographed,

so this shot was taken as I was swimming frantically

after him.

Here are a couple of eels under a rock. If you look

closely, you can see the tiny one behind the larger

one.

Toward the bottom of this shot, you can see

a trumpetfish.

These moon wrasse, while a bit evasive, are beautiful.

Colored in oranges, blues, yellows, and greens.

You can see a better pic of one here.

There were quite a few of these large blue

groupers around. While we were doing our safety

stops, an inquisitive one would usually come around.

By punching your fist into your open hand under water,

you could actually get it to come over to you and pet it.

Just before we ascended up over the ledge back toward the boat, we dipped down over the hill to see one of the most incredible creatures I saw the whole trip. What appeared to be a boulder at first was - in fact - definitely not.

This enormous loggerhead turtle was like nothing

I had ever seen. The image does not do it justice.

Its head was easily the size of a football, and its

body a good 4-5 feet in length.

It sleepily lay on the bottom, allowing me to settle

in front of it and capture some great images (and pet

it as well, obviously).

Then it gracefully soared off to the surface. Incredibly

beautiful to watch so up close.

While we were doing our safety stop at 15', Larry pointed to a few cracks in the rock. Peering in, we saw a total of 3 octopi spread across the rocks. They were rather fascinating to see up close.

Larry floated in the group's bubbles as we waited

on our safety stop.

The remaining dives of the trip were amazing. We saw a giant black cod at one point, which can grow up to 2m in length (ours was ~1m). This was especially cool, considering they are a highly threatened species. I also saw 4 cuttlefish at one point (but nearly didn't, as they blend quite well into the rocks). At the end of one dive, we surfaced only to see a whale breaching a couple hundred meters away.

On the very last day of diving, we received a bit of inclement weather, but decided to do the dives anyway. With some light showers raining down upon us, we headed out to the rock. The wind and rain had stirred up a bit of sediment, so the visibility was not as great as it had been, but the dives were still fantastic. Between the two dives, I took a fantastic nap in the rain on the bow of the boat (this was made easier by the fact that only my face was exposed). For the very last dive of the trip, we were to do the cave one last time. Upon exiting at the shallow end, we noticed considerably more current (Fish Rock, interestingly enough, is located in the East Australian Current, which means if you let go, you'll likely end up in New Zealand). The current was pushing us back toward the cave, so we had to literally crawl along the rocks, pulling ourselves. This also resulted in the second time this weekend when I almost put my hand on a stonefish. At one point, we were waiting in the current for about a minute for a lull to head up over the rock into calmer waters. Not only was the current pushing an immense amount of water toward us, it was also pushing no less than 15 grey nurse sharks in our direction as well. I should also mention that I was in the very front of the group, and was very close to having over a dozen sharks bumping right into me. It was humbling being at the mercy of such a powerful force, and as the sharks drifted within arm's reach, I was - for whatever reason - overcome by bravery and the overwhelming need to touch things. Reaching out, I ran my hand along the tail of a passing 12' grey nurse. It was an incredible experience, and I was relieved when the shark did not react.

We eventually crawled over the rock wall and into the shelter from the current. Surfacing, we were tired, but had so much adrenaline pumping through us at the same time. Boarding the ship, we made for land.

At one point during the weekend, we also managed to make it up to Smoky Cape Lighthouse on the cliffs overlooking the water. It provided us with some amazing views.

Cute little lighthouse.

Looking down, there are some fantastic views

of the surrounding beaches.

At one point, from our vista area, we could see a pod

of dolphins splashing happily through the water. There

was also a single dolphin who was splashing around in the

water nearby when we were at the docks preparing

to leave.

Heading back to the hotel, we noticed a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road due to something in its way. As we drove by, I shouted 'Ooo - a snake!' Naturally, we had to pull over to have a look. This was one of the larger wild snakes I had seen in the wild, and was easily over 6 feet in length. Considering I had been to more zoos in the past couple months than most people generally visit in several years, I was certain that it was not one of the many venomous species that was waiting to pounce in the bush. It slowly started to slither off the road as we gathered around it, and as I am usually inclined to do, I had to touch it. I got my fingers on its tail, which sadly caused it to slither off faster and actually start to climb a tree.

After doing a bit of research, it would appear that

our green snakey friend is a type of python, likely

a carpet python (non-venomous).

After having our fill of snake, we made our way back to the hotel. On the drive back to Sydney, we took turns driving and got home at around 12:30 at night. This had been one hack of a weekend, but I was glad to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Final count of critters who received a healthy dose of petting: 5.

Diving in Jervis Bay

Disclaimer: I do not own an underwater camera, so these are all photos of things I saw taken by others to give you an idea of what it looked like. That being said, I really want an underwater camera now.

So, this past weekend I went on my first diving excursion since my arrival here down in Jervis Bay. The main draw of this dive is that we were to dive with seals, so I was pretty stoked, as they are essentially the puppies of the sea. I will preface this tale with the statement that these were two of the best dives I've done so far.

After picking up the rental car (again, our good friend the Toyota Kluger), I headed out of the city. For those of you who to whom I've not yet explained my car woes about wanting to bring my car over here, Australians drive on the opposite side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right side. This is not as problematic as it sounds, as I was comfortable with it within about 5 minutes. The one thing, though, that I never quite got the hang of was the fact that the turn signal and windshield washer stalk are also reversed. I imagine it's relatively easy to spot American / German / etc. drivers on the road down here, as they are are the ones indicating their turns with a brief cleaning of their windshield.

At any rate, the drive down was quite pleasant, and took a couple of hours to the town of Huskisson where the group was staying in a large shared house. Our divemaster, Pete, was a greying man of few words, but at least he knew what he was doing. There were some nice folks on the trip, including a couple in their early 30s, Shane and Zorka. They were a riot and the three of us stayed up until 2 talking movies (I was in heaven). Probably wasn't the best idea to stay up late, considering I woke up at 6:15...

Anyway, Pete fixed us pancakes for breakfast, which I sadly didn't eat (some of you may know - despite never suffering from motion sickness before ever in the past, the last boat dive I took I fed the fish, as it were). Armed with my ginger pills and slightly stronger pills as a last resort, we made our way to the docks.

The boat was nice and the crew was fantastic (both named Steve). They gave us a quick briefing and we hit the open water. The trip out to the dive site took about 45 minutes, and we stopped a couple of times along the way to get a few fun facts about the area. First, Jervis bay is several times larger than Sydney Harbor. When Captain Cook first sailed by, he took an intial glance at the area, labeled it as a swamp, and sailed onward before finally landing at Sydney. Because he had labeled it as a swamp (which it's not), it was many, many years before anyone set out to explore it further. They didn't even have electricity until the late 1950s. The second stop was 100m off of some cliffs, which one of the Steves explained was because it was a breeding ground for over 8,000 fairy penguins. A few minutes later, we were finally at the dive site - and it was quite obvious: there were about a dozen seals in the water, barking, leaping, poking their heads out. We dropped anchor, geared up, and hopped in.

The visibility was about 50 feet or so, which is better than the soup I'm used to in Monterey. The bottom was a good 80 feet down, so once you jump in, you're surrounded by nothing but blue in all directions. Taking out my knife, I started banging on my tank with the hilt, as the seals are very inclined to check out such noises. After about 20 seconds of clanking, I started to see dark shapes moving around the very edges of the visibility. Soon, we were surrounded by no less than a dozen seals, all swimming around looking curious. If you've not seen seals up close, they can be a bit dauting at first underwater, as they easily weigh a good 400 pounds. Once they came to check us out, we were told we could keep their attention by acting crazy underwater. Having majored in crazy, I began to wave my arms, makes singing noises through my regulator, and somersault. It apparently worked, bescause shortly after my antics ensued, a handful of them swam closer. By closer, I mean they were no more than a couple of feet away. They began to mimic my movements, flipping, waving, swimming by with their mouths open. I would chase after them, and they would then chase after me. As they got more comfortable, they would start a game where they would swim rapidly straight at me and within a foot of me would change direction. It was their equivalent of 'chicken.' Another game they enjoyed was to wait until my attention was focused on something else, and they would swim up behind me and just float a couple of feet behind me until I turned around, at which point they would flip around and dart off. We were playing with them for a good 35-40 minutes before surfacing. It was probably one of the singularly most incredible experiences I've had in my life.

Back on the boat, they served us a quick lunch and we motored off to the next dive site. On the way over, we looked off the stern of the boat and saw about a half dozen dolphins leaping in our wake. They followed us for quite some time, and it was amazing to watch.

We anchored at our second dive site, The Docks, and were briefed on the location. This one was apparently full of caves to explore, and promised tons of fish. This was no understatement. We hit the water and began our descent. After dropping to the bottom, we immediately began to see fish. Lots of them. Upons swimming toward the first cave, I could see inside a massive school of fish (not certain of the type), and I swam right through them. Coming out of the other side of the cave, I was greeted by some large angelfish, a large blue grouper, and many biscuit stars. After a few minutes of swimming around, I spotted another dive pair beckoning me, pointing at something, and putting their hand vertically on top of their head like a fin (the international divers' sign for shark). Swimming over, I peered into the cave and saw just the white underbelly of a Port Jackson Shark. It was a bit menacing just sitting there in the darkness. After admiring it for a bit, I swam on. Finding another cave, I decided to try my luck with it. Had no problem getting in, but the cave narrowed considerably toward the end, closing to only slightly wider than my body / tank. I had to pull myself out through the final crack at the end. Still, a pretty cool experience. A short while later in the dive, I saw my buddy gesturing and pointing at something behind a rock. Swimming over, I peered down and saw two ~5-6 foot long leopard sharks relaxing lazily on the floor of the bay. Being that they were a bit larger, I wasn't about to attempt to cuddle with them has I had the kangaroos, as the sharks are considerably more...bitey. But I did watch them for a bit - they are really cool looking critters. Continuing on toward the end of the dive, I returned to the first cave, where I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Right near the entrance was an odd-looking rock. Swimming to ~12 feet away, I looked more closely at it. This rock had eyes and fins. Turns out it was a stonefish. For those of you not familiar with the stonefish, it is the most venomous fish in the world, and among the top 10 most venomous creatures. The venom from its spines can cause shock, paralysis, tissue damage, and death if not treated within a few hours. Needless to say, I didn't touch it.

After the end of the second dive, I headed home and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.

I'm going on a 3-day dive trip in a couple a weeks to the South West Rocks, an incredible underwater cave brimming with nurse sharks, eels, turtles, spotted eagle rays, and other large pelagics. So good.

Skiing Down Under

So, the past few days I've been on our office ski trip. There were about 250 of us, and we all went over to Lake Crackenback for a few days to ski at Mount Perisher (I'm not making this up - judging solely by the names of these places, I was certain I would not come back alive).

Most people had to go in one of several chartered shuttles. Because I know people, I got to ride with a few of my teammates in a rented car (a Toyota Kluger, for those of you wondering). There were 5 of us total - cruising in style.

We left the office at a little past 10 on Wednesday, and started our drive down to the snow. It was a relatively uneventful drive - most of the landscape was made up of long, rolling hills, trees, and rocks. We did stop for lunch at Subway, though.

Glazed donut? Check. Giant merino? Check.

Look of abject terror? Check.

The rest of the drive brought some more changes in scenery. But still no snow yet.

This is George Lake (I think). It used to be a lake
at one point - now it's just a big flat plain.

Then we drove into some rolling hills.

Then we drove back into some rocky plains.
Still no snow.

As we got closer to our final destination (after about 5 hours of driving - which really didn't seem like much), we got to the last "major" city before before the resort.

This was the sleepy little town of Jindabyne. We
stopped at a mall called Nugget's Crossing. Much to
my dismay, there were not, in fact, any nuggets,

chicken or otherwise. Good thing I had eaten

some for lunch about an hour ago.

When we finally got to the resort area, it was gorgeous. There was a tiny bit of snow up on the hills, which were the backdrop for a placid lake dotted with lakeside cottages. This is where we would be staying. Not a bad end to the week.

This was quite a beautiful locale. And look -

snow! Kinda.

This friendly little fella was perched on the railing

of the balcony outside of one of the units. We opened

the door a bit and he made like he wanted to come

inside.

My team got ourselves settled, and began our prep for the remainder of the stay, which included stuffing name placards with lift passes and ski maps.

We also got one heck of a blazing fire going.

After a long day of driving, we all retired to our respective rooms in preparation for the long day of skiing ahead of us.

The following morning brought a very tasty breakfast prior to hitting the slopes. We took a shuttle to the snow tube station, and then a train through the mountain to get to the snow. Once we came out the other side, it was a completely different world. There was snow - lots of snow. It looked like a proper ski resort. But the weather was grey and overcast.

Weather could have been better.

It could have been worse, I suppose. I ended up joining a group of very experienced skiiers with whom I would be spending my day on the slope. We geared up, headed to a lift, and headed up the mountain. As we approached the top of the lift, the most incredible thing happened.

We were on top of the world.

The lift carried us above the layer of clouds spread across the mountains. This picture really doesn't do the view justice. You could see the snow around you, and then nothing but clouds for as far as the eye can see. This was a fantastic start to the day.

I had no idea how reflective my goggles were.

I was slo glad I had found the group that I did. We immediately set out in search of some challenging runs, spending most of the day on double-blues, blacks, and even a double-black called Kamikaze (aptly named because of the series of 5 foot drops that start out the run). At one point, we even set out into the forest outside of the ski boundary area. It was a rather new experience skiing right at the tree line.

Speaking of new experiences, I had the pleasure of becoming introduced to several new ways of getting up the mountain - the t-bar and the j-bar. The t-bar is a giant upside-down 'T' that 2 people hold between themselves, the short legs resting against the back of their legs, so that it pulls them up the hill (quite a long distance in most cases). The j-bar, on the other hand, is a bar with a 7" circle on the end that one sticks between one's legs and is, rather surprisingly, pulled up the mountain by one's crotch. Sounds like fun, right?

No tall, jagged peaks here. It was mostly long,

rolling hills with the occasional steep drop.

This was our lovely little jaunt through the woods.

We eventually all agreed that the guy who had

suggested it had been wronged at some point in

the past by others in the group and chose

this route as revenge.

Remember how much I love funny juxtapositions?

This one is solid gold.

Where we stopped for lunch (and I had fish & chips).

There were a bunch of chairs facing the pristine

valley in the distance.

The view from lunch.

Probably my most severe injury received throughout the day was not, in fact, as a result of a drop onto an exposed boulder, nor was I clotheslined by a tree, nor was I impaled by my own ski. No, it was from a ski lift chair. Not just any chair. This was a three-person chair known as the Widowmaker (note: this is my name for it; other names may include Ol' Kneebreaker, the Hobbler, the Ski-lorean, and Betsy). As we stood waiting for it to come around the back of the lift wheel, I heard what could only be descibed as the main rotor of a Blackhawk helicopter starting up. Caught off guard by this, I tensed. Fortunately, they have a safeguard to protect against injury: a little blond girl who scrapes snow away and tells you to "just bend your knees!" Epic safeguard failure. She managed to get halfway through 'bend' before several hundred pounds of steel came screaming up behind me at 88 miles per hour. Bending one's knees might work for some people, but considering I am taller than most, this tactic was utterly useless. The front of the chair hit me square in the back of the calves, and I collapsed onto the bench. Both of my calves felt as though they had a permanent cramp in them for the remainder of the day. Oh, and did I mention this happened twice?

No, I guess I didn't. Well, it did.

The end of the day finally arrived, and, legs miraculously still attached, I made my way back to the resort. The evening brought a warm shower, a party, lots of free food and drink, and a poker tournament!

Here are a few more pics from my time there.

They had a couple of enclosed trampolines.

Side note: don't try this after a large

breakfast.

Straight out of the Matrix.

Another one of the cool birds that Australia

gets and we don't. Note the wacky webbed feet.

A real street name. I want ice cream.

This was first in a long series of signs. Shortly down

the road from this one was an equestrian crossing

sign, a wombat crossing sign, and a Beatles

crossing sign.

On the drive home, we stopped in Canberra for a late lunch. Canberra is the capital of Australia. It is also quite boring. In hindsight, our trip through the city was a blur - I mean that literally. The one picture I got was a blurry shot of the Canberra parliament building from the car. It's so bad I won't even bother posting it. Instead, this is what it's supposed to look like.

There was also a very pretty sunset on the ride home.

This was taken from the car, hence the blurriness.

It was not intentionally blurry, but I think it lends

itself nicely to the scene.

Next up - petting the wallabies in Blacktown.

Talk to you all soon.