Diving - 2019 07 - Straddie

Coralie had organised an awesome weekend away at Straddie as part of our clean up efforts to help reduce marine debris. 

Friday was an early start for me, up before the sun to pick up the club boat. Luckily the sign guys that have a workshop near the club house were in and shuffled cars making my egress easier. I then met a few passengers at the Ferry carpark to transfer gear into my car and hop in.   

Nelly arrived and as we started to load gear she clicked to open her boot. No clack. Clicked her key fob again, still no clack. Boot was stuck shut! We fiddled for a while with the boot lid, then turned out efforts to lowering her back seats, without much luck. We turned to the manual and Lynn found the instructions which were wrong! There was an extra and wrong steps but eventually I figured out and we were able to retrieve her dry suit.  

Still plenty of time for the barge and the weather is near perfect so it was a smooth easy ride over.  

After the barge we headed straight to Amity to meet the rest of the crew, many who were on an earlier barge. I was surface watch for the first dive and watched as the others geared up and got ready to start collecting underwater rubbish. Unfortunately more bad luck for Nelly, a split along her wrist seal in the dry suit. There must have been a heap along the wall as it wasn't 20min before divers were back on the surface with full buckets and heading down for more. 

There was a heap of rubbish along the wall, definitely warrants a few return trips. When all said and done we had to empty out the Anchor box to fit more in! Back on shore Nelly waddled up the beach, about half her suit full of water :( A cold dive for her so she made the wise decision to sit out the next. 

The rest of us got set and headed off to Cherubs Cave, through the north channel of the South Passage Bar. Great conditions today and barely a bar to speak of. It was even so good that it glassed out on the way back in. The same couldn't be said for underwater though, barely 5m vis. Still it was a good dive on Cherubs and despite a few fishers in the area not much rubish at all. Which I guess is a good thing. 

With the smooth run back we got to Kens mid afternoon and begun the clean up of the massive haul from the Amity wall. So much line, sinkers, squid jogs and even two (yes, TWO!) oven elements. Finding places to sleep at Kens place is always a balancing act, where are the snorers sleeping..... where are the people with heavy boots.... or early risers... or late partiers.... 

Anton and Al D cooked up some amazing Spag Bog... but we forgot to pack the past last wednesday... wooops. Al ducked off to the shops to grab some and we all had a good dinner. Bed wasn't too long after. 

The next morning we had a fairly leisurely start, at least so far as diving mornings go. Not leaving Kens until 8. By the time we made it out to Flat Rock there was already 2 boats at the shark gutters so we swung around to Turtle cave and dropped in there. Surpsing vis compared to the pea soup that was yesterday, almost a good 10 meters. There was also a bit of rubbish to collect making it a worthwile location to dive. Sadly I overshot the moring on the way back getting to the surface quite a ways away from the boat. Nothing like a good surface swim to work off that dinner from last night!

Second dive was around at Shag Rock. A few fishers on the surface and 1 very enquisitive dolphin that swam within 3 meters of the boat. Underwater there was a bit of waste to collect, including a dive slate. Alex and Iwent through the swim through and around the Eastern half of the Rock. Few turtles and heaps of fish. Usually see a Frog fish in that location but didn't seem to find any this time. On the return Alex was getting a little low on air so we popped up, I was dead on target this time, but still ~30m short making another (albiet smaller) surface swim to the boat :o  Sadly in the last 5min of the dive the bucket I had snapped off to my D-ring must have bumped into my tank and broke lose sending it flying :/ Had a few sinkers in it, so it should sink but I didn't see it fly off but we've made a net positive this trip and we can get it next time. 

Back to Kens again for sorting the rubbish and making sure it is recorded properly. In the afternoon most people headed up to Pt Lookout, some just for the Ice Cream, others to do the Gorge walk. I took a short walk down the beach but mostly chilled back at Kens and got a jump start on setting my gear up for Sunday. Some of the locals hopped by to help. 





Another great dinner, thanks to Jez for cooking the meat and Coralie and Marja for the Salads. A more lively night tonight with ome very good scotch by Al, and some Port that was donated. It's great going on dive trips like this where you can wittle the night away sharing trip stories, or planning the next ones! We had decided to beat the other boast in the morning so the night didn't drag on too long. 

Up and out of Kens by 7 for another smooth beach launch, conditions are great on the surface this trip. Looked like outher boats were already on their way out but we were at the rock with plenty of time to spare (they arrived after we were well and truely down) and were able to get the prime moring, right at the Shark Gutter. At least a dozen or more Grey Nurse Sharks in the gutter and a few in the side gutter. 50+ Mobula Kuhlii Rays schooling too, plus 2 Devil Rays near them. On the dive Kristie also found a Dive torch, looked likt it had been down a little while, but not too long. Battery was flat, but we chucked in one of mine to test it and it was a bright little package. Good find. 

On the surface we were treated with a few shows from the migrating Hump Backs, the closest just a little under 50m away. Kristie got her mask and Fins on and hopped in trying to see them underwater but unfortunately with the vis that was all but impossible. My buddy decided the sun and whales was enough for him so I joined Kristie and Jez on the second. Soon after out descent was a Cow Tailed Ray and then back to the many many Sharks.

Not too much to sort out after todays dives, and clean up was pretty quick. Some awesome Bacon wraps made for returning divers and then a quick sweep of the houses. We had plenty of time to go before needing to be on the barge so it was off for another IceCream, so I went this time too. Great view from the Point Lookout Knoll. Dolphin Pods and Whales off in the distance. We hung around for a bit, but then it was time to get to the barge and start heading home. 

Another smooth ride back and a quick transfer of Yanir and Lintons gear back to their respective cars and I was off to return the boat to the Club house. Good traffic the whole drive back and was long before I could Gerni off the boat and tuck it in the shed. Off home myself and dive gear away (washed it at Kens) and eat some Grub. 

Another awesome URGQ weekend away. 

Hiking - 2019 07 - Conondale (Summer Falls)

Thomas and Callan were keen for a little hike so I joined on and we chose to head back to Summer falls. It's the first camp (anticlockwise) for the Conondale Great Walk, 12k in and out. I have camped there a few times, once as part of the full loop, and it's a good spot.

I had also thought I managed to convince a friend, who had been talking about joining me for a while now, to come along for their first ever overnight hike. Even to the point where the pack was full of gear (some borrowed) and ready to go. With a big week and not ready for a big hike they ultimately bowed out. Mixed feelings for me, would have been great to have them along, but also means I got my tent back :) We'll have to aim for a shorter one next time so they can join. 

We stopped off at Malaney on the drive up for a smoko pie and reached the Booloumba Creek carpark by 930. Laced up the shoes and set off up the hill. The Mt Allan Fire Tower was unfortunately closed off due to some concerns about one of its supports. Bit of a shame as it's a great view from the top of the tower, but it saved us the decision on a 1.4km side trail.  

At the top of the hill we had a brief stop for lunch with pack weights etc being discussed. Callan gets away with a 36lt pack, which would be awesome, but that means Thomas has the tent, cookware, water filter and his fancy new chair (which is almost 900g itself!) 

We got to camp just before 1300 and Thomas was able to set up his chair... I hate to admit but the thing is pretty comfy! I still don't think I would carry it though. It was weird when I sat in it, you get a much different perspective. I'm use to sitting on logs/rocks where you naturally lean forward and look down, but in the chair you can lean back and look up at the trees much easier.  

After a few snacks we went down to the waterfall and Thomas got out his RPA to fly around and get some awesome shots of the falls. You can see it on his Instagram here. Explored the creek for  while too, much more water flowing through at the moment than any other time I've been here. Definitely improves the look of the falls.  

Another pair of hikers arrived but kept completely to themselves after saying hello. I'm definitely like that sometimes too, though usually rarely... while camping. I like hiking alone, on the move, but definitely prefer company and a chat when sitting around at camp or lunch spots.  

Thomas braved the chilly water... by going about ankle deep. Still more than just running a hand under it like I did.  

Two more solo hikers strolled in followed by a father and 2 young (10-11 ish) boys and then a little while later a mother and her (~14yo) daughter just after 1530. Camps are fairly spread out here though so it's not too bad. I wonder what the max capacity here is though, that's 13 now. It was a fairly quiet night but got quite cold, colder than I thought it was going to get. Still managed a good sleep in. We had a leisurely pack in the morning. And were just barely second last out of camp. 

We made really good time up the hill and decided that despite not being able to climb the tower itself it was worth heading up the hill to the Fire Tower. Callan's boots were causing her some pain (mainly on the heels) heading up the hill. We taped them yesterday but unfortunately that didn't seem to completely stop the issue. There were a bunch of Bees enjoying the wild flowers near the tower and it still looked pretty good, but you could definitely tell that one of the posts was rotting. 

On the road up there was a pretty cool mushroom poking almost 200mm out of the ground cover. Still enjoying the wet weather from the past few weeks. The trip down was much faster, smashing almost 5.5km per hour. Being downhill the entire way certainly helped. Once down we didn't spend too much time before hopping in the car to head home. Realising that it was the end of school holidays and not looking forward to the traffic.... There was a little on Steve Irwin Way and again stop/go for a bit when we got onto the Bruce but overall it wasn't that bad and we were home soon to Luna and Charlie (Callans dogs) giving us a big welcome home.