May 202012
 

Just over one week ago I had surgery to fix my busted shoulder. In the end it was relatively minor – an arthroscopic subacromial decompression – but required a general anesthetic and an overnight stay in hospital. I emerged with three dressed but not stitched incisions, some funky drugs, and a fixed shoulder. I haven’t worn a sling and although the shoulder is still sore, it’s a different kind of sore. An “I’m getting better” kind of sore, I guess. I was driving four days after the operation, so it can’t have been too serious!

With luck I’ll be sufficiently recovered to take my new gear on a few shakedown dives before I head over to tropical paradise.

No photos this time!

 Posted by at 4:35 pm
May 032012
 

It’s been an exciting few days. As part of Tasting Australia I took part in a food and wine writing course, where I met a lot of great people and learnt a lot about journalism. Probably more than I’ve learnt at university, to be honest. Not only did I learn about writing, I attended courses and classes and events and had exposure to some serious people to absorb information from. Perhaps I’ll use those new skills to write about the upcoming adventure…

Speaking of which, I have ordered the Hero2 with BackScatter housing. The plan is for lapse compilations or even videos of the good dives and cool things I see, probably on YouTube.

Shoulder surgery is happening next Friday and the surgeon doesn’t see any problems with keeping the departure date as August 5th, so I can go ahead with getting the long-term visa organised.

Finally, here is a photograph of Ian Parmenter, OAM, presenting me with a certificate at Tasting Australia. Thanks to Liz from Strayed from the Table for the photograph!

 Posted by at 6:08 pm
Apr 252012
 

I’ve decided that I definitely need a Hero2 with a Backscatter housing and filters. I need to be able to take awesome video of underwater fun and above water time lapse. Buying now.

 Posted by at 12:16 am
Apr 222012
 

Flights are locked in: Adelaide-Sydney-Bangkok, Singapore-Melbourne-Adelaide, Adelaide-Singapore, Singapore-Adelaide. I’m coming home for a week or two in October for a wedding, work, and to see friends.

The gear that I ordered has hit Australia. I was expecting free shipping to take forever, but it’s surprisingly fast. I’ll have fun putting everything together, but I still need to buy more stuff. At the moment I’m trying to decide if I really need a GoPro Hero2 with a blur-and-colour fixing case/lens. I think the answer is yes – I just don’t need the stupid underwater light for close-ups.

I’m arranging things at work – I’ll be able to work remotely, and I need to finish a few large projects before I leave. It’s all good, though, I’m not expecting any troubles.

Here’s a photograph from Easter on Yorke Peninsula.

 Posted by at 6:08 pm
Apr 152012
 

Life works in mysterious ways.

Recently, an interesting set of circumstances have arisen and I am now in a position to do something that I have wanted to do for many years but haven’t been able to justify.

I’m planning to spend at least eight months from August 2012 on the small Thai island of Koh Tao, where I will train as a dive master and underwater videographer. I can’t wait.

There’s a lot to do before I leave, though. I need to spend far too much money on gear and gadgets, plane tickets (I’m coming home briefly in October), diving equipment, and other miscellaneous junk that I don’t really need but kinda do.

 

I’m kind of nervous, seriously excited, and the next few months of preparation will be intense.

 Posted by at 3:10 pm