B-log

Well, my first dive in Australia…no it wasn’t in the Great Barrier reef (yet).

Two hours south of Sydney is Jervis Bay, a quaint little holiday town. Our home for the weekend was a patch of grass in the campground, where we pitched our very roomy 5 man ten (the more space as you can have in a small space, the better) and laid out our gas bottle and grill. A note on the differences of camping in the Philippines and camping here in Australia…first of all, in the Philippines, we hike long distances up mountains, through rainforests, creeks and plains, carrying large and often times not too efficiently packed backpacks, all the food and water for personal consumption (and then some, because we like to share), and a tent (if you are the lucky one to draw the tent straw), and all your personal items (sleeping bag toilet paper, etc)…oh and if you are carrying the tent, you are probably not carrying the cooking gear (lucky you!) BUT it needs to be brought anyway.

Well here in Australia, camping generally means, loading up the car with the necessities, the tent, the swags (a roll up canvas bed…its like an all in one roll…and its supposed to be weather proof too), the eski (this is what they call a cooler) full off food—which consists of meat, chicken, and some more meat…oh and a couple of tomatoes thrown in for roughage. Bread too. Other things that go in the car are your bag of clothes (it doesn’t have to be a backpack, cos it stays in the car) toiletries (sans the toilet paper—and I’ll come to why in a second), large containers of water, the grill to cook food on (heavy duty iron), the gas bottle (they are small, but still heavy), a skillet (cast iron, and heavy too) and a billy, which is a really cool aluminium pot with a spout…it can be used to boil water for tea or to cook soup and other liquids in. After packing up the car, you then proceed to drive to the campsite of your choice, pitch the tent set up your grill, and away you go. The campsites are sectioned off into powered and non powered sections (big caravans need power), and most campsites have an amenities block which has his and hers toilets (with a seemingly unending supply of toilet paper) and showers with hot and cold running water, laundry rooms, and a common bbq area. Talk about camping with style. What we call camping or mountainclimbing is what they call bushwalking. Talk about spoiled…the only thing I really had to carry was the food…from the eski to the grill…or the dirty plates to the washing area and back…

Ok now the difference in diving and dive operations…first of all the gear…I bought my very first wetsuit, it is 5mm thick and has little mountains where my boobs go (the first time I ever saw a wetsuit like this, its moulded to a womans shape!!! Cool) anyway, other people here wear hoods and vests, and two piece suits, and even dry suits to dive. The water temperature there was 22 degrees, which was actually warmer than being above the water, which brings me to the next difference…getting to the dive site. What I’m used to: sitting on a bangka, and puttering on calm water, the warm sun on my back…what the diving weekend was like for me here…sitting on a powered boat, with my wetsuit fully done up because of the whipping chilly wind, occasionally getting splashed by the water (ok, to be honest on the second day we got wet even before we hit the water!) upon arriving to the dive site, the dive masters sort out the buddies, give a very short brief on the site. An aside here…dive masters who are diving for a living, and obviously bored doing so are not really very comforting people to dive with…our dive master was this way…we organised to go down with him but we had to abort our first dive because for one, my buddy couldn’t equalize, and by the time we resurfaced the dive master and the rest of the group were all long gone…they left us!! Even after we told him we wanted to dive with him. So both of us called that dive a bust…back on the boat I was nearly seasick from the rocking of the water…the surge there is pretty nasty. I was miserable and was hoping that the second dive would be better. The next difference is the surface interval meal. What I’m used to: a full sit down meal on the bangka, with (eat all you can, or eat till its gone) rice, meat, and vegetables, (or if diving close to the resort, a buffet meal waiting for you at the resort). What we had (on a rocky boat): a choice of either one cup of chicken soup, one cup of hot chocolate (how they prepare this is amazingly simple, but not so simple on the rocking horse action of the boat), or one cup of tea, crackers and cheese, and bread, and something sweet—on the first diving day it was fruitcake (not good for someone who is about to hurl), and chocolate easter eggs on the second day (it was easter Sunday, after all!). When they give you the dive brief they pretty much leave you to dive your own plan, on your own (with your buddy)…which is pretty daunting for one who’s underwater sense of direction is just as bad as it is above water, and who’s dive buddy’s is pretty much the same…when you come up they ask for max depth and time under and then they tell you how long they think you should be for the next dive. They still change the tanks for you, and help you out with gearing up, and weight issues, but they generally don’t look after you in the water as well as the wonderful dive masters in the Philippines. (hint hint, nudge, nudge)

Underwater life…now here is where I don’t’ mind the differences too much. I have two words that make diving here worth all the numbing cold and sea-sickness…WEEDY SEADRAGONS. These are the most bizarre underwater creatures I have seen yet. Bizarre and pretty all at the same time.

(picture not mine)

Although I’m used to the tropical aquarium diving that is the Philippines, its still a nice difference to see big fish. We saw a couple of big pretty purple groupers, and a few other fish I have yet to learn the names of.
All in all despite the difference, its well worth it. Its not something we can afford to do every weekend, but its still worth it.
We are saving up for the great barrier reef…its going to take some time, but we’ll be there.