Two years later

 Cave diving, Other  1 Response »
Feb 272013
 
Two years later

Ag died in Tank Cave, two years ago today. It’s still not clear exactly what happened that meant she couldn’t return to the surface. I don’t know that it ever will be. More importantly, I don’t know that it matters as much as the fact that two years on, she’s still dead. Last year I felt very strongly that sometimes divers take risks for themselves without considering that their friends and family are the ones who will have to live with the consequences. This year I’m getting closer to really understanding that being dead lasts for a very long time. In the weeks and months after Ag died, I saw her on a near daily basis. A stranger walking across [read more…]

3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier, Other  No Responses »
Oct 292012
 
3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

For those CDAA members who attended the talks associated with our Annual General Meeting over the weekend, you will remember JDZ’s introduction to some new cave mapping techniques. Cave explorers are familiar with counting knots in the line and noting depth, direction and azimuth all the way home. Dive complete, you exit to dry land, translate your scribbled notes for entry into a computer program and check out the stick map of your progress. This time consuming exercise has been the only way for your average diver on a budget to produce accurate maps of our underwater travels. Beyond being time consuming, errors can creep into a survey over time. This is especially true in complex caves with multiple branching [read more…]

Dive Trip Planning

 Ocean diving, Other, Reef diving  No Responses »
Sep 242012
 
Dive Trip Planning

Sometimes I think that the planning and anticipation of future dive trips is the best part of the whole process. Then I remember that the diving is pretty good too, which leads to more anticipation. As such, I’m very excited to be diving from The Arenui in the seas of Indonesia, from August 6th to 19th, 2014 with Liquid Diving Adventures. The Arenui provides a luxurious setting for divers keen to experience the remote and pristine waters of Indonesia. On this 14 day trip I’m hoping to encounter big pelagic life, and hopefully get up close and personal with a manta ray or three. As with all wildlife diving, there are no guarantees, but I know if it’s not mantas we [read more…]

Video in Murra-El-Elevyn

 Cave diving, Nullarbor, Other  2 Responses »
Aug 202012
 

About the site I dived in Murra-el-Elevyn cave in Easter this year, and wrote up one of my favourite shots from our dive here. Compared to the other Nullarbor caves, Murra has smaller, shallower passages with red, orange and pink walls. The limestone scalloping and shapes in the rock make for stunning pictures. The remote location means its rarely dived and when we arrived the water was crystal clear. About the dive In total we had four dives over three diving days in Murra. Of these, I spent two taking still photos, one exploring small nooks and crannies (camera free!) and one taking video footage. The aim of the video dive was to find the end of a side tunnel [read more…]

Nullarbor Night Skies

 Cave diving, Other, Roe Plains  No Responses »
Jun 042012
 

Don’t be fooled by the video above….it’s actually a series of photographs. I took this timelapse of the Milky Way spinning through the Australian night sky while camping on the Roe Plains. After a productive day of diving, we returned to camp, stoked up the fire, and settled in to tell tall stories. Despite the crystal clear skies, it was a warm night and I wandered down the track to find a good vantage point for the camera. The warm evening meant I didn’t have to worry about dew settling on the camera, although I did use a small drybag as protection from any unforeseen change in the weather. In this video you can see the shadows of the trees [read more…]

Neil Armstrong interviews with CPA Australia

 Cave diving, Other, Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 302012
 

And now for something slightly different… Neil Armstrong was part of a three man team that flew to the moon in 1969, and was the first person to step onto the lunar surface. In the 43 years since, he’s given very few interviews and avoided the public eye. In an interesting twist, he recently agreed to talk to the CPA. The CPA is the professional body for accountants in Australia, and as their CEO explains, Armstrong’s dad was an auditor. With that inside knowledge and a little persuasion, they managed to convince the elusive hero to speak to them, and the camera. With my interest in exploration, extremes and risk taking, I found the four-part interview fascinating viewing. Watching the archival [read more…]

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