We arrived back from the Pacific Ocean yesterday after 5 days of great diving and wonderful company, aboard our boat the Taka. The boat was brand new and purpose built for diving expeditions, which makes life to much easier and the whole crew, from the chef to dive leader, were qualified dive masters or instructors - very reassuring! The advantage of a 'liveaboard' boat is that you don't waste time returning to land each day so you can get more dives in each day ...

We arrived in Brisbane early this morning from Auckland. The three hour flight saw us take a 10 degree increase in temperature and during the day we have gradually wilted under the intensity of the sunshine. Brisbane is a rapidly developing city, with some beautiful old colonial architecture backed by the obligatory big city skyscrapers. Locally, it's called Bris-Vegas due to the casinos and 'Pokies' (Poker machines) which are abundant in town. The main...