Tonight we're gonna party like it's...1770?

Two of the boat crew are leaving (Priscilla bc she's going to study for her skipper's license, and Tim bc he broke his leg drunkenly jumping over a fence; "oops"), so I stayed up in 1770 last night for the farewell festivities.  As you can see, a good time was had by all.

This was the beginning of the evening

The whole crew, complete with broken leg

Why yes, this is the boat captain.

Can I come home with you???

I have never seen puppydog eyes on a fish before!!!  

This little guy was cracking me up yesterday.  We had a quiet day, so I went out in the lagoon by myself in the afternoon and was just sitting on the bottom taking photos when I noticed him swimming around my legs, tickling me with his fins.  He followed me around like a little lost puppy the entire time I was underwater, and would swim up and sit in my outstretched hand.  Too cute!!!  (btw, he 's a honeycomb grouper)

A bad day at the office

Seriously - we did not see a SINGLE turtle yesterday.  Rough life, I tell you.  The boat drivers had the day off, so we had to do both our dives inside the lagoon.  What we DID see on the second dive was a small school of these guys, bumphead parrotfish:

They were about 3 feet long - pretty weird, no???  After making it back to dry land, we had to contend with the evil sand flies that decided I was Dinner.  And that was the the worst part of my day.  Not too shabby...

Busy, busy, busy!

Wednesday was a public holiday here (ANZAC Day; similar to Veterans' Day in the US) so the boat was busier than normal this week.  I went out on lots of dives and got to see some really great things, especially in the last couple of days.

On Weds, the wind was really strong and on our first dive, there was a rip current on the surface.  We dropped into about 60 feet of water and started swimming headfirst into the current, which was still quite strong at that depth.  I ended up getting pulled away from the group since I was carrying the line to our dive flag floating on the surface.  I waited for a few minutes to see if they might swim back in my direction, then prepared to ascend and return to the boat.    I turned around just in time to see a huge manta ray* gliding gracefully past me!!!  Surprise!    I was so thrilled that I didn't even mind missing the rest of the dive, especially since the rest of the group didn't get lucky enough to see mantas.  This one had three sharksucker remoras under it, two attached and one just swimming along.  The free-swimming fish ventured closer to me and started giving me the eye.  I got the feeling that he had heard about me from his cousins in Belize.**

Remoras:  lazy little bastards.

*For those of you who don't dive, mantas (and whale sharks) are one of the most exciting, elusive things you can hope to find underwater.  Mantas can grow up to 20+ feet across and do not sting or bite.  Click here for more info & pics!
**Backstory here

Minor Differences

The old commute

The new commute

The old motorman

The new motorman (AKA Captain Mick)

The old office

The new office

So, this happened...

...

And then THIS happened:

No, James, they do not make real gila monsters that big.  Not even in Carefree.  Beer + no tv + Google = mucho hilarity, I tell you.  Our house is always an interesting place.

Best.Line.EVAR.

‘Hey, Ashley?  There are some puppies down here…”  I almost killed myself in my mad dash down the stairs (no easy task what with my monstrous post-Easter hangover) to see why puppies were in our yard.  Turns out they had gotten loose from the house across the street, but until we found their owner they were happy to roll around in the tall grass, chase each other, and try to eat my fingers.  The little Houdinis even managed an encore – after lunch, we found them hiding out under the car.  Definitely a very nice surprise, unlike the earlier discovery that I noticed after waking up to see my purse covered in blood stains.

Just in case the gouges from my recent diving incident weren’t enough, I evidently thought my legs needed a few more battle wounds.  And this, boys and girls, is why you don’t START drinking at 1pm.  Or if you do, you don’t continue  until 1am.  “Oops!”  I blame the Aussie country club owner who encouraged his friends to play ‘be your own bartender.’  Free beer is an even bigger enticement in a country where a 6 pack of Bud costs $16 (Australian!!!).  Happy Easter, indeed…

1770 Adventure

So yesterday I actually made it out to Southern Great Barrier Reef; woohoo, actual diving!!!  Boat days are a bit of an endurance trial.  I dragged myself out of bed a little after 5:30am, and the bus dropped us off at the house at 6:30pm.  Let's just say I had no trouble falling asleep.

Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera yesterday, but I am headed back to the boat tomorrow, so I will bring back plenty of photos to post.  Hopefully the underwater visibility will be somewhat improved so I can introduce you to George, the resident giant estuary cod at the place we dive, who's at least 4 feet long & about 300 pounds.

I managed to get my rescue diver certification wrapped up, which is a huge relief.  It resulted in a lot of REALLY perplexed Japanese tourists, I must say.  There was a small crowd gathered at the railing looking very concerned as I performed a simulated rescue on my "drowning" fellow DM trainee.  I was especially entertained by one woman who showed up for a day of sun and water adventure dressed in a long black velvet  skirt, black & gold brocade jacket, and loads of pearls.  We speculated that perhaps she had gotten her tours mixed up and would show up for a dinner theater engagement that night wearing her bikini...

Goooooooooonnnn!!!!

So I had quite the eventful day!  First off, I spent the entire day battling the after-effects of waaayyyy too much goon last night (Aussie slang term of the day!  Goon:  wine in 4L boxes that cost around $10).  One of the other DM trainees who’s staying in the house had friends in town, so we had an epic drunken poker tournament.  The guys couldn’t find a full deck of cards, so I volunteered my brand new, oh-so-fancy pink & green Lilly Pulitzer deck, not knowing that the lack of black suits would ultimately be my downfall.  Evidently when you’re drunk, it’s difficult to differentiate between a green club and a green spade.  Needless to say, much mocking ensued.  Fortunately, the buy-in was a grand total of $6 each.

Queasiness aside, I finally found a reasonably priced (for Oz!) hair salon and banished the appalling 2” roots I’ve been walking around with for weeks.  Even more exciting, I visited the doctor for my dive medical and got a clean bill of health!!!  I had a nasty case of otitis media with effusion, so I was reluctant to dive until it cleared up, but it looks like I’m in good shape now. 

I also had my first encounter with the Law down under – suffice it to say that they take their seatbelt laws rather seriously.  Not to worry, I lied my ass off & managed to escape with just a warning.  J

Life in Bundy

Intersection of the main st and the st we live on

So the main street in this town is called Bourbong St, but most of the signs have the G scratched off.  It’s especially funny when you consider the size of the “city” of Bundaberg.  Compared to the cities where I’ve lived, this place has very much of a small-town feel to it.  It’s been really nice so far since I don’t have a car; it’s a quick walk to the grocery stores and the dive shop.  The owners of the place where I’ll be doing my Divemaster internship have a house where the students all stay together for the low, low price of $90 AUS per week.  This is a comparative bargain, as the hostels in town run about $150; however, the quality of accommodation is reflected in the reduced rate, mostly notably in the lack of any internet service.  Fortunately, the local public library is only a short walk.  

I have managed to accomplish quite a bit so far – we started my Rescue Diver course and completed the pool training and the textbook & exam, and finished the Emergency First Response course and CPR training.  Sadly, the weather has been less than cooperative since my arrival – first we had heavy rains and flooding up north, and now we’ve moved on to high winds.  Hopefully things will quiet down soon so we I can finish up my courses and move on to my DM training!

God's Waiting Room

Ah, home sweet...hostel.  This is a portion of the garden area at my temporary home, the lovely Woolshed Backpackers in Hervey (pronounced Harvey - don't ask me) Bay, Queensland.  As you may have guessed from the title of this post, lifted directly from my guide book, the area is a little on the quiet side.  It's actually been a pretty nice change to just sit around and do nothing - well, almost nothing - for a little while.  I do have to work for two hours every morning for free accommodation.  Rough life, right?  Did you notice the hammocks?  :-)  My Kindle has definitely come in handy!

Aside from lounging, I have in fact been doing some waiting of my own.  My next move up the coast will be to either Bundaberg or Airlie Beach.  My destination will be decided by the dive shops where I have applied for internships.  Some shops offer a program, referred to as a traineeship, which involves unpaid work in exchange for "free" Divemaster training and work experience.  I have my fingers crossed for Airlie - I'll update as soon as I have any news!

Bridge to staff housing

Sydneyside - the Aussie Adventure begins!

Australian currency - much more colorful and interesting than we have at home.  How can you not love a currency that has a platypus on the 20 cent coin???

Sadly, this may have been one of the highlights of my unscheduled 2 day stopover in Sydney.  After a 15 hour flight and a week of partying like a rockstar in LA, I spent a large portion of my visit sleeping.  I did manage to drag myself out of bed long enough to notice that Sydney was about as appallingly expensive as NYC.  A cheap "schooner" of beer (less than a pint!!!) averaged about $5.  My hostel in King's Cross, one of the more *colorful* areas of the city, was $32 a night - obviously a much better deal than your average hotel room, but definitely on the high end in the world of backpackers.

I was disappointed to discover that Bad Religion had a show scheduled for the evening of the day I was due to depart.  They were playing as part of the Soundwave festival which ran over a few days.  I met some British & American guys who worked with some of the bands at the closest bar with A/C.  Did I mention it's bloody hot here???

I did accomplish two important things, despite my hours spent snoozing - I managed to open my Australian bank account, and of far greater importance, set up my local phone number!  Hooray!  If anyone feels like running up the long distance bill, just email me for my new #.  I'm also typically on Skype at least once a day.

Review of Jackaroo Hostel :
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g255060-d1950653-r125919075-Jackaroo_Hostel-Sydney_New_South_Wales.html#UR125919075

The Great Aussie Adventure!!!

Just to give you all an idea of where I will be for the next year!  The Whitsundays are a group of 85 islands off the NE coast of Queensland, between Brisbane & Cairns.  This area is known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.  If you're interested in reading more about the region, click here!