jane

For many years I had wanted to learn to dive and finally six years ago I gathered up enough courage to learn and completed my Padi OW in July 2002. Despite loving water and being a reasonable swimmer, diving was not something that I found particularly easy to learn and I certainly was not one of those lucky people who seem to have a ‘good buoyancy control’ gene!  After that my life started to change pretty radically in order to accommodate what has now become my passion in life. In 2004 I sold my house and bought a flat so that I could work part time and dive more. Obviously this is a double-edged sword, as I don’t earn as much! …………… However by living on baked beans and fish fingers I have managed a two month trip to NZ travelling round both the islands and sampling the diving available, from Milford Sound in the South Island to Poor Knights in the North Island.  Christmas 05 saw me return from a six-month trip to Australia. This time I had invested in a decent second hand camera and housing before going, and picked up a strobe when I arrived out there. I bought a car in Perth and drove all the way round the outside of Australia (with a brief foray into the middle to visit Alice Springs, Ayres Rock and Kings Canyon). I have some fantastic memories of this trip the environments were awesome with everything from desert to rainforest. Probably the thing I loved most was being able to live outside for six months. Most of the time the weather was reasonable but people have very stereotypical ideas about Australian weather and assume it’s hot everywhere all the time! In fact it can get very cold as I realised when I saw the ice on my tent! (June nr Perth)

So this is who I am.  Where I am going is quite another matter…………