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John Van Lieshout (from Mar 2000 Newsletter)
Going to Australia has been my dream since my school days. During one geography class I learned about the strange and wonderful wildlife that resides on that continent. Of course, I'm talking about the life in the cities too. Everything about Australia seemed so strange and exotic. In January it seemed much warmer too.
As an avid scuba diver, the extra attraction was the Great Barrier Reef -- the only life form visible from the moon, so I've been told. The Barrier Reef is a diver's Oshkosh, except the food is better and there are no line-ups for the washrooms.
I departed for Australia on December 26th. The flight was arduous but comfortable. My mode of transportation was a state-of-the-art Airbus 330-200. Shortly after take-off, I asked for and was granted a visit to the flight deck. Very impressive indeed! The panel looked like the equivalent of ten Garmin 430s, ten Sandel HSIs, and a few hundred oher lights and switches. Walking down the aisle to my seat, I realized that there were only 21 more hours to go. Definitely more interesting up front.
After brief stops in Vancouver, Honolulu and Fiji, we finally landed in Sydney on December 28th. What's the deal with this international date line thing anyway? It seemed like I only left yesterday. My connecting flight to Townsville left four hours later, and that evening I boarded my dive expedition boat.
The Spoilsport set sail at 8.30pm and steamed for the Coral Sea. By morning we were moored at the first of many dive sites on the outer reefs. More than 38 hours to get there. Five hours to Oshkosh in a 172 seems so speedy now!
During my eight days on Spoilsport, I was blessed with clear skies, calm seas, vivid sunshine and no snow. The water visibility was incredible too. Visibilities in excess of 100' - that's almost like having a CAVOK day. However, the boat staff constantly reminded us how much better the water was in their winters. They boasted that the clarity of the dive sites can reach 200' between June and September. But I was just thrilled with 100'.
The diversity and numbers of life forms was, well, unbelievable -- sharks, sea turtles, eagle rayhs, lion fish, cuddle fish, stone fish, guitar fish, sea snakes and hundreds of other species. Huge and tiny, stunning and ugly, fast and slow, dangerous and harmless, shy and grandiose ... it was all there to enjoy and admire.
But there is a lot more than fish. The coral reef itself is staggering. The colours and shapes of the coral are inspiring - sea fans, stag horn coral, plate coral and brain coral. You can't help but feel really tiny.
After a great day of diving, a huge tasty dinner was always waiting for us. During the feast, 43 other guests and I would jubilantly express our sightings and discoveries of the day. My day usually ended after dinner lumbering to the top deck to gaze at the universe. So far away, so peaceful and calm. Ahhh, that sea breeze. Eventually I would wake under the stars and stumble down to my cabin.
My favourite dive of this trip was on New Year's Eve. Surprisingly, only five others would participate in this historic dive. The next morning, many regrets resounded as the other guests realized that they chose a hangover instead of this once-in-many-lifetimes event. At 11.40pm the still of the water was abruptly halted as the six of us jumped from the boat. We floated on top a little for photo opportunities, but we were soon descending to our planned rendezvous. The six of us gathered on the sandy bottom some 200 yards of a little sand cay. This was part of Flinders Reefs, about 230km offshore from Townsville.
A few minutes before midnight we formed a circle 63 feet below the surface and stared at our coordinated dive watches. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (Try that with your mouth full of regulator.) We hugged and shook hands. The couple from Finland was buddy breathing. Hey wait! They're not breathing at all.
I sang as best I could being extra careful not to lose my breathing regulator [good plan John! Ed] I used about half a tank of air for a couple of bars of that tune. When the Fins finally stopped for some air, they surprised the rest of us with a bottle of champagne which they brought from Paris. We uncorked the bubbly and toasted the new millennium with a sip from the bottle. A little salty, but a fine drink. We reflected for a few minutes on the uniqueness of our experience.
Heading back to the boat, our swimming paths were crossed by a huge sea turtle that seemed to hover over the corals like the 'close encounters' mother ship. My last -- or first -- hurrah was to hitch a ride on the back of that magnificent creature. I don't think it knew I was there because it made no effort to evade me. The ride was brief but indelibly printed in my mind. We later named her Milly, for the event we had just celebrated.
Now back on the boat, and dried off, I visited the bridge with my camcorder. I wanted to record the latitude and longitude from the ship's GPS for future reminiscing: 017'43.333" south, and 148'26.817" east. I had a few glasses of champagne and celebrated with my ship mates. I can't remember falling asleep, but I did wake under the stars again.
During my stay on Spoilsport, I did 26 dives including six night dives. The divers' Oshkosh dream was fulfilled. I will go to the Great Barrier Reef again, because, like Oshkosh, I have this feeling that I missed a lot.
After my dive expedition, I travelled back to Sydney for a week. I did all the touristy things: toured the Opera House, climbed the Harbour Bridge, cruised on the ferries, visited the Olympic site, sightseeing at the beaches, more sightseeing at the beaches ... The residents of Australia are, well, health (know what I mean? wink, wink!!). Sydney, in a word, is fantastic.
I did try to do some aviating in Australia but that plan was grounded due to a major fuel contamination by Mobil refineries. More that 5000 piston-powered aircraft in and around Sydney were grounded by Australian Civil Aviation Authority. Mobil refuses to accept responsibility.
The latter half of my vacation was spent travelling the east coast. I visited Coffs Harbour, Fraser Island, Brisbane, Mackay, Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, the rain forests of Karunda, Cairns and Port Douglas. And yes, I went to the 'Rock'. It's big, and it's red.
All good things must come to an end (who the hell came up with that??). I arrived back in Toronto on January 27th. And the first thing I did when I got back home -- I picked up my dog Mikey from friends in Orangeville. He sure was happy to see me. I was happy too -- he remembered me.