Hey Gang.
I hope all is well.
We did our helicopter ride to the Great Barrier Reef, where we were transported to the ship on which we were to spend the night. They welcomed us aboard and told us about the ship's schedule which was pretty much: dive brief, then eat, then dive, repeated about six times throughout the day. Despite the rainy weather, we did manage to get four dives in. It was awesome!
We got to do two regular dives and one night dive. The next morning, our 6 am dive was cancelled due to weather (but I was up and ready...Lasagna was getting a bit sea sick and debating over whether or not she would do the morning dive)...But the weather cleared and we got to go out on a smaller boat and fall in frog man style. Again, awesome! All my
Ralph Phillips type daydreams came true.
We're here in Melbourne at the moment...on the last leg of our trip. It's been a lot of fun and I'm not regretting giving up a kidney and lots of sperm to get here...
I have taken hundreds of pix, both digital and with a reusable underwater cam...Hopefully those turn out...I had almost forgotten about old fashioned film...The digital camera has spoiled us...Maybe I'll got through all the pix at a later date and organize them in some way...We'll see how that goes...
So in Hawaii, we drove by Dog's (The Bounty Hunter's) office, but to be honest the driver wasn't all that clear on where it was...So no pic of that...But our flight from Cairns to Sydney en route to Melbourne was cool for me. Lasagna wanted to go and brush her teeth when we landed at Sydney airport, so she left me at the seats near a window. I thought I'd power up my laptop and see if I could get online somehow...but if not, I was gonna look at some of our pix...I happened to look over at the passengers of a flight that had just arrived and I saw someone from behind who looked a lot to me like Mikey from one of my favourite shows, American Chopper. He was wearing a navy blue T-shirt, shorts and sandals. His pony tail looked a little longer, but he had that Mikey walk...Then a few more people came out and suddenly there was Paul Sr.!!! Lasagna was nowhere in sight and I had all my gear out...I put it down and moved in for a closer look. It was them! So I started to power off my laptop and had planned on carrying all the gear with me to get a pic of the O.C.C. boys...No Paul Jr. though...Anyway, as I was about to put everything away, Lasagna appeared and was approaching. I gave her the rundown and told her to hold tight with the gear and that I would be right back...I grabbed the camera and powered it on, as I prepared to sprint through the airport (and maybe to get tackled by an over-zealous security guard)...So as I turned the corner, Paul Sr. was waiting near the restroom area with his small entourage. (I think Mikey had to drop the kids off at the pool, maybe)...Anyway, I got some pix and they were pretty nice during our brief encounter, considering that they seemed a bit tired from travel...
Paul Sr.
Mikey!
Paul Sr. said they were filming in the area, but not building a bike...I mentioned that I look forward to the episode and other nerdy fan stuff and shook Mikey's hand (I hope he washed his hands, but I didn't really care)...And then Lasagna and I caught our flight to Melbourne.
We went on a city tour early the next morning that was to last 'til late into the night. My personal highlight was witnessing some dude getting arrested in the street...
It was a long day of touring and we got to see more kangaroos and wallabies and koalas...
But the night was to culminate with the viewing of the march of the penguins, if you will...
We were seated in concrete bleachers, waiting for night to fall so that the little penguins would come out of the sea and waddle to their nests. No photography or recording devices of any kind are allowed at this place, (but they have floodlights and loudspeakers and ignorant spectators who make all kinds of noise)...They're trying to keep the penguins free from human intervention...Weird...I guess they want tourists to spend more on pix and souvenirs...It's for a good cause, I guess...
I did manage to get a few pix of some of the early birds at the beach though...
Anyway, that's it for now...I just thought I'd post an update...I only managed to visit a few of my Blogger Pals, but I hope to check in with everybody...eventually...
Take care out there!
If I get ambitious (not likely) I may set up a photo Blog for some of the better pix I've taken...We'll see...
Your Pal,
Zambo.
Anyway, we flew to Cairns today. Yesterday we swam with sharks at a place called Ocean World in a city called Manly. Yup, Manly. A local sports guy was in the tank just before us and there was a lot of media attention. (I told the girl behind the counter that we're celebrities in Canada, and that I hoped the press would give us some privacy 'cause we're on vacation).
Remember, timing is everything!
