17 - 23 January 2008
I spent 5 days and 4 nights on a swaying boat in the sea, and it was awesome! Not so much the swaying, but more the scuba diving. I've really missed the sea a lot. The diving may not have been extraordinary, but I would still rate the trip as one my most memorable experiences. We were aboard the M.V. Taka, a liveaboard able to carry 30 passengers and 12 crew members. The crew was amazingly tough and hardworking. I'd recommend this dive tour to anyone who would like a taste of the Great Barrier Reef or Coral Sea.

Besides the Great Barrier Reef, we also went further up north and out to Osprey Reef (apparently halfway to PNG!)…very exciting. Here's a map of the journey we took (marked by white ant line). Most of the way, we were surrounded by the open sea, with no land in sight.

And of course we did spend some time in Cairns. One word: HOT. Hotter than Brisbane, hotter than Malaysia. But still, it was very pretty.

No way of covering all that happened during the trip, but here are some highlights:

Out of this world experience - Shark feed @ North Horn, Osprey Reef

This was the highlight of the trip. Simply amazing. An eye-opening experience, which gave me a newfound sense of respect for these creatures.

In hindsight, a description of the shark feed would have given me the heebie-jeebies. The sharks had not been fed for weeks (weather had not permitted the feed so far, so lucky us, the weather was good), we had to swim to the reef and hang on to a rope (before descending simultaneously while more than 40 hungry sharks circled below...talk about shark bait. Nice.

Trent (trip director) setting up the shark feed while we watch in anticipation:
          

The feed begins!!!
         

Scary experience - Getting up the boat after a returning from Half Way Wall, Osprey Reef

The duckboard was rising and falling with the surge about 3 feet. My mask was almost knocked off with my 1^st attempt of getting on it. Very scary indeed. Finally Col (the skipper) managed to pull me (or the tank which was connected to me) on to it. Phew…

(mum actually caught some of it on video…but somehow can’t upload it)

Crazy – getting back from the reef (North Horn & Half Way Wall dives) to the boat

I thought of a name for it: “Underwater skiing”. Due to the boat being moored a fair way away from the reef, and rough weather conditions, we had to be towed to the liveboard with a speedboat. I never imagined it would feel the way it did. It was what I’d imagine being put in a washing machine to be like. Clutching onto the rope, the tiny bubbles from the outboard motor fizzing past…nuts. And we had to do it twice!

 Fun – Cod Feed @ the Cod Hole, Great Barrier Reef

To be honest, I was slightly disappointed. They looked much bigger in those Scuba mags. Maybe it’s the fisheye lenses. Nevertheless, bigger than any cod I have ever seen. Anyway, now I can say I’ve seen Potato Cod. I’ve always wanted to see them, so mission accomplished.  Like the sharks, they had not been fed in awhile. We were really lucky that weather permitted these 2 feeds, otherwise the trip would have been disappointing.

 Cod feed (Trent was feeding again):        

Cod coming in to check us out after the feed:
       

This was also my 1^st time using a digital camera underwater (used to have my old film Nikonos V). It was pretty fun. I like the option of switching from pics to videos occasionally. Anyway here are a couple of vids & pics I like.

Some Barracuda and a school of Trevally circling us:    

An inquisitive Batfish circling sis & I:
       

Cute turtle munching on soft coral:
    
Sharryn (Instructor) & Justin (videographer):
      
Underwater communication by ~jo666666 on deviantART
      
Dusky Nembrotha by ~jo666666 on deviantART
      
Sweetlips,Great Barrier Reef 2 by ~jo666666 on deviantART

Man…I miss diving already. To think I won’t be diving for at least a few more months (uni’s starting soon…*sigh). Now that my dive gear is here with me (thanks to dad for bringing it over), I might be able to squeeze in a dive trip sometime. Hopefully.

I'm in such a good mood today. Not even a psychotic neighbour shouting profanities at the top of his lungs can bring me down (seriously...he swears and yells at someone who never answers at times. Freaky...)

Anyway, it's such a jolly good day. I have a good job, it's my summer holiday (no uni for 2 months), and I'm going to pick my dad up tomorrow. Yay!

In the mean time, I've been busy.
     
Playing with pink noise by ~jo666666 on deviantART
     
Who killed Watermelon? by ~jo666666 on deviantART

Good day calls for a good song. My favourite oldies song in the world = Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch. So good. You can't not sing along with this playing.

Speaking of oldies...
I used to love watching the Archies TV show. Their 69' intro...Sugar, Sugar. Omg...flashback! I used to buy their comics too! And now I feel like making a T-shirt of them (even though I seem bent on making my own designs so far).
Haha...just found the 68' intro..."we ain't the Archies without the Jughead beat!" HAHA! Thank God for YouTube!

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Random discovery #1 - I Heart Guts. You can buy a purple plush kidney. Because kidneys make you feel warm and fuzzy just like teddy bears, naturally.

Random discovery #2 - FunkRush. Another T-shirt website. The designs seem simpler as compared to DesignByHumans. I'm no expert, but t-shirts seem to work better when their prints are simple. Nonetheless, both good sites.

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It's already the 5th, but I'm still gonna post this song. It's perfect to start the year.

   

"The New Year"

So this is the new year.

And i don't feel any different.

The clanking of crystal

Explosions off in the distance (in the distance).

So this is the new year

And I have no resolutions

For self assigned penance

For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on

Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once

Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn

As thirty dialogs bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days

Then i could travel just by folding a map

No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways

There'd be no distance that could hold us back.

There'd be no distance that could hold us back [x2]

So this is the new year [x4]

Speaking of Death Cab, I've liked their stuff for awhile but never checked out their videos. Good but slightly disturbing video (a heart gets smashed and mutilated repeatedly). Song is called Someday you will be loved. This video has given me an idea for a T-shirt. Hope the t-shirt won't turn out to be disturbing.
   

So...2008 is here. I've always thought it was a bit silly, the excitement over the coming of a new year. It's just a date...you just change your calendar, start having to correct yourself when you keep writing 07 in all your dates for the 1st week or so...

That's just cynical. Anything new is exciting I suppose. But people tend to get all excited about the new year and what's in store, thinking up new years resolutions, and forget about what's been going on in their lives the past year. I think it's a good time to reflect. Has it been a good year for you?

Me. Some little things I can say I have experienced this year (what can I say? Every little thing counts).

• Started playing basketball again after a half year hiatus
• Bought a car
• Adopted 2 very adorable rats
• Experienced 3 different jobs (japanese curry...old files...sandwiches...)
• Visited an exciting place - Melbourne
• Bought paints, did some painting again
• Learned a bit of vector art
• Saw Tegan, Sara and Kaki King perform in the flesh (Woohoo!)

New Year's resolution - do more new stuff (whatever they may be). Not that I need a resolution to do that.

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The quote goes "a picture speaks a thousand words" (more in my opinion), so here are Jessica's pics:

Steamboat at Rachel's, and we later braved the wind and rain to see the fireworks!

          
Windows Live Spaces
Jess took great pics. As for mine...I'm still not used to the array of controls on my camera. Take a pic, find something's dodgy, then change one setting. There are so many settings/factors that I can change, it's really hard to keep them all in mind. The solution - I have to practice more and take more pictures.

Here are a couple of personal faves of mine.
  
NYE 2008, Brisbane 4 by ~jo666666 on deviantART
  
NYE 2008, Brisbane 2 by ~jo666666 on deviantART

Pre-NYE dinner at Cafe21, pancakes at the Pancake House.

          
Windows Live Spaces

Thanks guys, had heaps of fun. Now I know where to find great pancakes at 3am :)

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Kaki T-shirt's been printed. Yay!
       
Blown Away printed T-shirt by ~jo666666 on deviantART

Cutting the stencil and actually stenciling it on the shirt took ages! All worth it. It's weird how good a little T-shirt can make me feel :)