The 19th of March saw me crossing the ditch from Christchurch to Sydney to attend OZTek ’09 the Australian diving convention and exhibition. This was my first opportunity to meet the Australasian scholarship family and I was fortunate enough to meet Mat Kertesz the 2007 (and first) Australasian scholar, Steve Lindfield the 2008 Australasian scholar and Jamie Brisbin, Steve’s North American counterpart. It was a really great introduction to the scholarship year as the guys had loads of advice on how to make the most of this opportunity and how to survive the hectic year ahead.

The weekend’s activities got off to a flying start with an informal get together on the Friday night for scholars, sponsors and supporters of the scholarship at a fantastic Chinese restaurant, organised by Jayne Jenkins the Australasian VP. The dinner set the tone for the next two days which were a whirlwind of meeting and greeting while manning the scholarship booth and attending some very interesting lectures at OzTek.

Over the weekend I was introduced to some of the big names of the Australasian Diving industry as well as many supporters and sponsors of the Our World Underwater Scholarship, including Sue Crowe (TUSA), Kevin Gerr (VR Technologies), Dave Moran (Dive Pacific) and Richard Taylor (TDI/SDI). The final night saw us in Darling Harbour along with around 200 dive professionals to attend the final dinner of OzTek 2009. This event was an opportunity for everyone to catch up and unwind over dinner and drinks and a great night was definitely had by all.

Too early the next day, I flew back to NZ to begin preparing for the next event on my calendar the scholarship weekend in New York which promised to be a weekend to remember…..