Australia Day

Time to celebrate all things Australian!

From what I can tell, it involves cricket, drinking, BBQs, going to the beach, and.........did I mention drinking?

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!!!

SHARKS

I went spearing the last two days and found some excellent coral reefs. This one area has some of the best selection of bommies and little caves for fish to hide in. This area was crawling with a limitless amount of fish to spear. The area is so good that it has another permanent inhabitant; the whitetip reef shark. This area had a bunch of them, from 3ft. babies to 6ft adults. It's tough to spear in the area because they will be attracted to the fish I spear and will try and take them from me. If I do spear a fish I have to swim like hell back to the boat before one of them sharks me; steals the fish off my spear. I know they are supposed to be relatively harmless to humans but they are still sharks. It is hard to tell yourself that you are fine when you have a six footer swimming nearby with the theme music to JAWS in your head.

From Under the Sea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Mom!~~~Happy Birthday Sherman!

Both my Mom and Father-in-law share the same birthday.

Dolphins

We were on the boat looking for a place to stop and spear some fish. This family of dolphins swam by. There were at least 5 of them swimming around. They stayed in the area for a few minutes then I lost track of them.

From On the Water

From On the Water

Finding Nemo

From NEMO

From NEMO

I FOUND HIM!

Poker

It was poker night. Long story short, I get to keep the poker trophy for another week. Go me!

My first coral trout

I went spear fishing today and got two fishes, one cod and one coral trout. I heard coral trout are extremely good eating and I wanted to find out. And he was a decent sized fish at 50cm. It took me about an hour and a half to get the trout because he was determined to live and I was determined to get him. I took at least three shots at him with my spear before I hit him the first time. When I hit him the first time, he wormed his way off the spear; it must not have gone through. That was when I spent an hour trying to find him again. I was about to give up when he gave me one last shot. I finally got him with a clean shot through the side of the head. He was also the first fish that I got to clean myself.

Those roos...

I love them but they are as dumb as the dirt they hop on. I was driving into work this morning for my sun-up to sun-down shift and I know they are active when the sun is not out. There must have been an all-night kangaroo fiesta because I saw at least 20 of them near the road. Now to drive around them safely, you have to slow down to a crawling speed when (if) your see them because they will do some stupid things. They are known for jumping in front of the car at the last minute. Or they will see you coming a block away, try and escape across the road but forget what they are doing and stop in the road. They also hide in the bush on one side of the road and dart to the other side for now reason. But what happened to me this morning is one of my favorites. I saw my roo next to the road and slowed down. I then moved the car to the center of the road to give him some room and try not to spook him. As I was almost past him, he jumped into the side of the car. I was in a hit and run from a roo. It was ok, I think, because I could not find him after I turned the car around. It is not my week for driving related incidents!

I am an amateur stunt car driver.

I had an adventure on my way into work today. I crashed one of the government cars and rolled it over. The front tire drifted off the pavement into the soft dirt and burst; possibly due to the rough transition back onto the pavement. It caused me to spin around almost 180° and slide sideways into the brush. I must have been moving fast enough that it ended up flipping the car. I know I completed at least two full rotations before landing back on what tires I had left. I exited the vehicle without a scratch.

From Car troubles

From Car troubles

A rough New Years Day

I spent my first day of the year like many others I'm sure; tossing my cookies, losing my lunch, or just plain old vomiting. But my reasons were a bit different because it was not alcohol related. I decided to go fishing out in the Indian Ocean. I figured out that I am extremely prone to sea sickness in the open ocean. I didn't even cast out a line, I just fed the fish with my unique offerings. At least the day wasn't a total loss, I got to see a few turtles in the water, a bit more than I was expecting. They were doing the hibbity-bibbity!

From On the Water

I hope everyone has a successful New Year.