Dilemma Wobbegong

         Alrighty then, I can not believe I have already been here for over three weeks! So theres about ten more to go, but the past week has been eventful yet more laid back conserding it was our first "free" weekend without any large group trips. Mondays and tuesdays consisted of work and classes as usual. I think I have pretty much learned the public transport to get around everywhere. haha i have a better sense of direction here then in the US =P  but I presented in sociology on the Culture and Identification of Australia and received an 83 (which translates to an A in our scale) and have really become part of the crew at the clinic.(I was invited on Dr. LaForest's boat for a harbor bbq and day on the water with everyone!)

     I own tickets to the St George Open Air Cinema from school to see The Dilemma. So you walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are gorgeous, right to the harbor where you look out at the bridge, opera house and Sydney. there is staging and chairs that look at this huge screen that is set on posts at least 25' in the water, that raises up in front of you. At dusk the bats came out and were flying over head and you watched the light come on across the city as the sunset, it was just amazing.

We reached record temperatures in decades this past weekend at 107F or 42 C! so we hit up Coogee beach where there was a constant 8-10' swell that rolled in. The water was amazing, cool and clear. Upon getting out of the water you were dry within 10 mins, at which point we got back into the water for at least 30 mins. after a few cycles like this we decided to call it a day and head back home. After making dinner and getting motivated we got ready for a night on the town, when to my dismay I realized I had not figured out how I was going to get to the meeting point of Manley beach, across the harbor, on a Sunday, via buses trains and ferries, for my dive charter. So I did not end up going out but soon found out I had an interesting morning that was to start around 5 am. Luckily I did make it to the meeting point and even met a nice couple originally from Seattle now living in Hong Kong (who actually followed me there because " it looked like i knew where i was going" HA). We headed put to Magic Point and Old Mans Hat. The water was a whopping 20C or 68 F and everyone dawned either 7.5mm suits or even a drysuit. the DM came to tell me that my buddy would be a man who had only dove 6 times 18 months ago!  woohoo. but since we were diving in a led group he really wasnt my worry and i could continue on when he got low on air because they would send him up on others. I quickly went over how sharing air would happen with my long hose and air2 but he was very good at staying right behind me anyways. The poor DM did not know what to do when he did an air check because while most people told him between 80 and 120(bar) i signed 2100(psi). So he tried to send me up until i wrote on a slate that 1500 psi was half a tank. But got to see Wobbegong carpet and nurse sharks.

 I also played with a rather large cuttlefish who tried to eat my computer. It was a very nice time out in the Sydney waters.
        After getting back I got to watch the endless movie Picnic at Hanging Rock for class and then get ready to head to the Chinese New Year Parade that made its way down the city through china town. It is the year of the Rabbit (if you didnt know). It was a good time with all the dancing dragons and lions and rabbits everywhere, lights, fans and martial arts performers marched their way down George st.
      Upcoming events this weekend include booking a trip down to Melbourne for after spring break, and going to a RUGBY GAME!!!! yeaaa and most likly some nightly entertainment thrown in as well ; )

another week gone and still so much to do!
lots of love for everyone from down under
-- Julie

Fun Fact:   Sydney was originally known as Warang by the aboriginals and now that I live here I am a Sydneysider