Blogs from Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Hello People, We were supposed to leave early this morning to go to the Blue Mountains again with the hope that the weather would be better, but we checked the weather forecast and it said rain from 1pm. As it takes about 2.5 hours to get there we decided not to risk it. We went out for breakfast about 8am as Jade had work at 9.30am, we went to one of their favorite cafes and had a great cooked breakfast each. (Jade paid and wouldn’t let us, thanks so much) Instead Erin took us on a lovely long walk around the Cronulla beaches, it took about 2 hours (10km) and is a lovely walk following the coastline south and looping round. Some parts of the walk were through knee high water, as the tide was in ... read more

Monday 17th February & Tuesday 18th February, 2014. Cronulla and Cleaning, NSW, Australia This was the last day of our weekly ticket so we felt we had to GO somewhere! The weather was much better today, So after breakfast, we went down to Central Station and caught a train to a place called Cronulla which had been recommended to us by a lady we met on the Manly ferry in the rain last Sunday. It is beach side suburb, in southern Sydney, 26 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Although it is a relatively short distance it still took just over 1 hour to get there. Once off the train we went in seach of the RSL which was where the lady had recommended we took lunch. ... read more

All of my training in the past few months has lead up to these few days, The Instructor Development Course (IDC) and the Instructor Exam (IE). It was finally time to test me on my skills and knowledge about the dive industry, to see if I was suitable to teach people about the underwater world that I have come to both love and respect. And it was quite a journey, and prove to be one of the most dreaded and wonderful times of my life. Fresh off of my internship at Heron Island, I was eager to come back to Sydney and reunite with not only my friends here, but to begin my training as an instructor. I was ready to begin, but had no idea what I was in for. Just a background of what ... read more

It's been a busy few weeks here out in Australia and I'm finding myself more tired as the days pass. It seems that the diving is really running a toll on me, more then I was expecting. I haven't had a day off in about 2 weeks, and when your doing 2-3 dives a day, and then come home to do studying/homework, I get excited if I can get to bed by 10. At this point in my internship, I can officially say that I have passed my advanced open water, search and recovery, navigation, nitrox, deep waters, emergency frist responce, and rescue course. I am currently working on my divemaster program and have been in the shop from about 7:30am-5:30pm, and as I said, I'm exhausted. Since I've been spending so much of my time ... read more

So my first few days in Sydney have passed, and I can't say I hate it. Starting off my week here in the land down unda, diving has proven to be a very tiring activity none the less. I average about two dives a day, sometimes three, and it ends up being about 8-5 everyday, by the time I clean my gear and leave the shop. Being used to diving off boats, diving off the shore is proving to be a daily thing. A bit more difficult having to haul all of my gear about half a mile from the car to the shore in 80+ degree weather, and then returning to get a new tank before my second dive. The marine life is so alive here, so plentiful. Rays of all sorts and huge schools ... read more