In addition to visiting Tristan and Adrienne in Sydney, I visited Joe and Annette, who Jimmy and I met scuba diving in Fiji off Taveuni about three months earlier. It was nice to catch-up and reminisce about the Great White Wall.

Unfortunately I missed Adrienne’s birthday during our time studying abroad four years ago (I was in the Outback), so it was a top priority of mine to be in Sydney to help celebrate this time around. It was quite the pub golf pub crawl!

Alas, the day after Adrienne’s birthday celebration it was time for me to leave Australia and continue my South Pacific adventure. Next stop, Apia, Samoa. And with that, consider this South Pacific trip a success (and blogged)!

We then turned north to visit the Grampians National Park before we entered the Outback on the way to Broken Hill. My dad and brother saw their first wild kangaroo in the Grampians, and little did we know at the time that we would be seeing/dodging many, many more of them in the Outback.

From the “remote” town of Broken Hill, we turned back east to Newcastle via Dubbo and the wineries of the Hunter Valley. Here I introduced my dad and brother to my Newcastle friends, and at this point especially it was quite surreal to be with family so far from home!

Finally, after about 3000 km of driving, we returned to Sydney where I said goodbye to my dad and brother until my return home in August. The road trip complete, it was time to help a good friend celebrate her birthday…

I spent a week in and around Perth hanging out with Don and his friends. We were lucky to have unseasonably warm and sunny weather while I was there in early June, and when you put everything together, it felt like 1985 in suburban Los Angeles. Don showed me the sights, and when Saturday night rolled around, we joined the thousands of Perthites in the bars and clubs. My drink of choice? Redback.

I assisted with two Open Water courses from start to finish. Each Open Water course was four days: the first two days were spent in the pool learning the 20 basic Open Water scuba skills, and the second two were spent on the Great Barrier Reef refining scuba skills in the ocean (i.e., open water).

The open water portion of the Open Water course was conducted on a 3 day/2 night liveaboard trip to the Great Barrier Reef. In brief, the liveaboard trips included lots of diving (up to 11 dives for certified divers), plenty of sun, and all the food you could eat. Since I was primarily being evaluated on my divemaster duties over two Open Water courses, that meant I got to go on two liveaboard trips.

On each liveaboard trip I was evaluated both in and out of the water. In the water I assisted with Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses, and out of the water I helped out with deck duties such as logging divers in and out of the water and filling tanks. In other words, the practical application involved the actual duties of a divemaster, and take it from me that you certainly learn by doing! Here are a few photos from the first liveaboard trip.

My brief stay in Brisbane was followed by 3 weeks spent in Cairns; I was in Cairns to complete my PADI Divemaster certification, and inherent to the course, I was able to do some awesome scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. That being said, the next few posts will be highly diving-centric, so buckle up your cummerbunds, make sure you have your diving buddy, and prepare to make a giant stride into the adventures of a Divemaster Trainee. We’re going to have a great dive!