Its Been A While

Sorry for that.  I have lost my home internet connection and yesterday lost my USB broadband modem.  So my only internet connection is on campus.  The internet is becoming a major negative impression on Australia for me. 

I am in discussion for a dive trip to Thailand in April as my next set of excitement.

March Madness Down Under

Doesn't exist.

Its a terribly sad thing, I know.  The soccer team has a website and forum where I tried to explain:

Its time once again for the greatest sporting event in all of America: the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, affectionately known as March Madness. Its actually the greatest in the world. If it were to be in a death match with the World Cup, I would back Madness every time. For three weekends, Thursday to Sunday, hardly anything else matters. The lost time estimates for businesses in March run in the billions. Millions are traded in office pools around the country in what pretty much amounts to illegal gambling in most states. The President fills out his bracket from the White House and any one can use his picks to attempt to win thousands in cash and prizes from the major sports networks.

And it is preceded by another of the greatest sporting events, the Big East Conference Tournament. Made better by the fact that my UConn Huskies did the unthinkable and won 5 games in 5 days to claim the tournament trophy. For you EPL fans, the Huskies did the equivalent being Everton and beating West Brom, Sunderland, ManU, Chelsea, and Man City on consecutive days in a single elimination tournament. From a seeding perspective at least. The competition is better in the Big East.

As wonderful as the Uni Cup is, it is a tragedy that Australia doesn't have proper college athletics. Or tournament brackets that make some sense.

Anyone follow?

Full disclosure, I am an unabashed fan of the Women's tournament as well. When your home team is outrageously dominant, there's nothing wrong with that.

The responses I got:

/a rolling eye smiley face

 And:

all i read was... 'womens tournament' ... Mmmm.... women....

But followed by the useful (not that I have an Android phone though):

Austin - you can download an android app for NCAA March Madness.. Gives you updates, scores, newas.. the lot.

And:

Another reason why Americans are barking mad.

College sports? Who cares.

The things I must put up with.   But ESPN sums it all up nicely:

Destination Great Barrier Reef: The Diving - General

Another diving post!  When I run out of material, I might have to go again.  This will just be about general diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Destination Great Barrier Reef: The Diving - Shark Diving

I suppose at some point I should actually discuss the diving on the Great Barrier Reef.  There's lots to talk about, so I'll break it down.  First up, because it is exciting, terrifying to some, and mostly just awesome is shark diving!

None of the dives we did were really billed as shark dives.  There a few tours that cost more and go farther out that have legitimate shark dives with feedings and the like.  But, this was pretty exciting for my first real contact with sharks underwater.  Most of what I'll call shark dives were actually night dives, which makes it just that much more awesome. 

Destination Great Barrier Reef: The Boats - OceanQuest

My second trip in Cairns was aboard OceanQuest.  It was a much different experience than Scubapro II, but still a good time with some great diving.

Destination Great Barrier Reef: The Boats - Scubapro II

Next up in the trip log for my diving excursions are the boats.  While in Cairns and more importantly on the Great Barrier Reef, I stayed aboard two live aboard vessels, Pro Dive Cairns' Scubapro II and Deep Sea Diver Den's OceanQuest.  Each was a unique experience in itself.