I arrived in Sydney still feeling the effects of the weekend in New York however, any remaining jetlag was soon forgotten upon visiting Sue Crowe at TUSA Australia.As one of the many perks of the scholarship TUSA outfits the Australasian scholar with a complete set of dive gear which includes not only all the standard gear needed to dive but also a drysuit (wahoo no more cold diving for me!!). In addition to all this gear I was also kitted out with some very cool wetsuits from the Swedish company Waterproof. Now that I had all these new toys it was time to go and test them out.

At OzTek Jayne had arranged with diving instructor Richard Taylor of TDI/SDI Australia to put me through some dive training during my time in Sydney. This was a great opportunity as Richard is a hugely experienced member of the Australasian dive community and a good rugby watching Kiwi to boot. Richard took me under his wing and over the next few weeks though a range of pool sessions in Frog Dive’s heated pool and open water dives all round Sydney I completed my intro to nitrox, wreck, and deep courses. This training was a great way to prepare me for the huge amount of diving that I have in store over the next 12 months.

One of the requirements of the scholarship is to make a short doco of our travels using a video camera and underwater housing that we are loaned for the year. As I had no previous experience with underwater video George Evatt of Coral Sea TV offered to show me how to use the housing and take me for a dive off the beach at Manly to test it out. Anyone who has used video underwater will tell you it is quite tricky and my dive with George was no exception, however, I hope to practice these skills and post some video to this blog as I get the handle of it.

While in Sydney I was lucky enough to spend a week with the Maritime Archaeology branch of Heritage New South Wales. This was a great opportunity for me to work alongside a team of professional maritime archaeologists involved in the ‘real world’ practice of maritime archaeology within a government framework. One of the major projects Heritage NSW is involved with is the management and protection of the M24 a Japanese Midget submarine that was sunk in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese attack in 1942. This site is not only a significant historic wreck but also a war grave and I was fortunate to be involved in the planning of a forthcoming biological survey of this unique site.

My month in Sydney flew by and before I knew it I was once again at the airport this time heading off to Europe for the next leg of my year – stay tuned for more.