Due to the extensive wide-ranging lockdowns and travel restrictions both in-country and between Australia, New Zealand, and other countries the OWUSS Board made the decision to defer the Australasian Scholarship in October 2021 until June 2022.  The 2021 Scholar, Millie Mannering will recommence her scholarship activities in June 2022 after the annual OWUSS meeting in […]

Written by Millie Mannering *This blog was written July 2021 when I first began my scholarship journey before deferment due to Covid-19 * They say that good things take time and after 15 months of waiting, I was extremely excited to begin my year as the Australasian OWUSS Scholar! As you can imagine, my grin […]

Kia ora, My name is Amelia Mannering (most people call me Millie) and I come from the beautiful Aotearoa, New Zealand. I am extremely excited to introduce myself as the 2021 Australasian Rolex Scholar for the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society. It is an honour to have been selected and I am humbled to have […]

I take a big breath in and feel myself rising. Rapidly, I blow bubbles out of my nose to try and stop the ascent, but I’ve overcorrected and start to sink again. I frown in frustration and remember Pete’s words in my head ‘step 1 – maintain PP02, step 2 – set minimum loop, step […]

I sat on the train watching endless beaches pass by, each filled with keen surfers, roller-blades and fisherman. It was the quintessential Californian scene, where coastlines, sunsets, beaches and surf reign supreme. As I made my way further down the coast, beaches were traded for suburbs as I reached the final stop on my Californian […]