Off camera strobes on the wreck of the Kate bomber

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  4 Responses »
Jul 022012
 
Off camera strobes on the wreck of the Kate bomber

About the site Following up from two weeks ago, I thought I’d add a few lines about another plane wreck I dived while staying at Lissenung Island Resort. The place featured above is a Japanese “Kate” bomber. Unlike the Allies, where American crews were assigned to a single aircraft, Japanese crews jumped in the closest available plane. The occupying Japanese moved to destroy all records in PNG towards the end of the war, and these two facts mean very little is known about the history of the Japanese plane wrecks around Kavieng. This particular plane was a Nakajima B5N, nicknamed a Kate bomber by the Allies and wrecked sometime during WWII. With a crew of three, she was the standard [read more…]

Through the window in Murra-el-elevyn

 Cave diving, Nullarbor  1 Response »
Jun 252012
 
Through the window in Murra-el-elevyn

About the cave Murra-el-elevyn begins as a large doline, or hole in the middle of the desert. Once you’ve lowered yourself 10m below the ground level, scrambled down a scree slope of tumbling rubble and picked your way through the boulders, the water is so clear it’s easy to miss. Stepping down from one rock to what looked like a good place to put the dive gear together gave me a wet foot, and even once I knew where the water line was it was hard to see. Despite my wet foot, it seemed like a good omen. From the entrance pool seen in the photo below, tunnels extend in multiple directions. Several come back up to air chambers with [read more…]

Propellors of the PBY Catalina

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  1 Response »
Jun 182012
 
Propellors of the PBY Catalina

About the site The Consolidated PBY Catalina was a hugely successful American-made flying boat, produced from the 1930s and still in service well into the 1980s. A multi-function aircraft, Catalinas were used through WWII for long distance patrol bombing, as convoy escorts and for rescuing downed crews from the ocean’s surface. This particular Catalina, the A24-11 was being operated by the RAAF as a munitions carrier when she crashed in January 1942. Shortly after takeoff from Kavieng Harbour a wing bomb exploded, and the aircraft went down in approximately 20m of water. Despite another Catalina pilot witnessing the accident and landing to rescue survivors, the 9 crew aboard went down with their plane. About the dive This was my second boat [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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Spider crabs under Rye Pier

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  3 Responses »
May 282012
 
Spider crabs under Rye Pier

About the site As well as the great wrecks lying out in the ship’s graveyard, diving from Melbourne also features a great set of piers. These shallow and easy shore dives showcase a wide variety of marine critters. Flinders Pier on the east side of the Mornington Peninsula is known for its weedy seadragon population, and scorpion fish, pot bellied seahorses and thousands of nudibranchs can be found between sponge-encrusted pylons all around Port Phillip Bay. While a favourite of macro photographers, the piers aren’t my usual weekend diving destination. Rye Pier lies on the south east side of the Bay, a bit over an hour’s drive from Melbourne. It has a max depth of 5m or so, and as [read more…]

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