Albany
Thursday 28th may
Jools phone is now mended after being submurged in salt water, a guy told us to soak it in a bucket of Methyalated spirts overnight and then it will work, we thought what the hell we might aswell give it a go! and it worked so if you drop your phone in water its worth giving it a go.. Went out for our first launch after the boat was mended, so we found 2 boat ramps that we could launch from, one was near the Whaling station and looked a slightly risky as it wasn't very sheltered so we opted to drive around to the other one, we went down a steep hill and found the boat ramp in a sheltered spot in a bay, perfect!!! but then we soon realised that we needed a 4WD to put the trailer into the water as the ramp only went so far!!! we both decided we couldnt take the van on the beach that would be to risky so decided to unhook the trailer and put the boat & Trailer into the water, this worked pretty well, although i was a little worried about getting the boat out after the dive!! We Did a nice dive on "The PERTH"another navy destroyer which was purpose sunk for diving, We had a lovely dive on the wreck its massive went in a few rooms, they have left lots of items on this wreck which makes it more intresting to dive, there are bunk beds, a mess room, captins bridge the list is endless, saw some massive silver fish probably neraly as long as me just patroling around the wreck looking for little fish to each, which we soon realised were gathered around us, it seemed like we were their safety for the day, unsure of what these huge fish are i must look them up on the internet, i did know one thing they wernt sharks :-)

We had a lovely ride back on the boat, then time to get the boat out of the water!! we pushed the trailer down into the water, managed to get the boat on safely then we had to push it out of the water about 4m in total which felt like about 2 miles! once near the ramp surface Jools backed the van towards the trailer with about 1m left to spare before the beach started, which we though was very safe indeed, hooked the trailer on and off we went! but then disaster struck!! the ground gave way and one side of the van was stuck right up to the top of the tyre, I tried pushing at the back but as you can imagine i didnt do much, then 2 people drove up and tried to tow us out with the car, no joy, 3 of us then were stood on one side trying to rock the van, still no joy!!!! They then took jools to search for a 4wd to pull us out, a while later one arrived and managed to pull us out!! Disaster seems to follow us around, all we could do was laugh about this and be glad we were out!

Friday 29th May
Decided to launch from a different boat ramp today after yesterday, its slightly further away from the dive site but we didnt want any trauma's today. Set out slightly choppy when we got out the harbour, then we were joined by 3 dolphins riding on the bow wave of our boat, jumping in and out of the water playing around, amazing to see them! they stayed with us for about 5 mins then off they went. Did two great dives at the back of Michalmas island, looked for cray fish(lobster) so we could have one for our tea but couldnt find any. Came back to the harbour, safe and sound!
Went to the white star bar, its changed in there lots since i last visited 10 years ago, we walked up the pub where i used to work, the city (well its more of a small town) hasnt changed much at all, we also walked up the the backpackers where i used to Live and work when i was travelling before. We found a quiet street in a residential area to park up for the night.

Sunday 31st May
Woke up early this morning before sunrise...got up quite early this morning as we are going out for 2 dives today, did the normal 3 weetabix and coffee then sorted al the dive stuff out and launched the boat, we hardly have any room to put everything so in the evenings so we are always moving our suitcase and other stuff into the front seats so that we can go to bed, Had 2 amazing dives, saw rays, colourful corals and lots of different fish, I was really hoping to see Whales today but didnt see any at all. There was a classic car race on in the town today, they remove all the speed bumps that go down the main street and then race the cars around, it was pretty cool.
Drove to Bremmer bay, whilst driving we had loads of bugs hitting the windscreen, it was like in the film where there are swarms of locuses (well not quite, maybe a milder version of that) but still very freaky, there were birds swooping down in all directions trying to catch them all. We then nearly ran into 3 Kangaroo's that looked like they were having a party on the road, only jusst missed them. Bremmer bay is a very small place, it seems like the hardware store is the only shop in town which sells everything from fishing tackle to tins of peaches. stayed right near the beach looking out to the ocean, a 5 star view but maybe not 5 star accomodation! We had a beautiful view in the morning, The ranger then turned up and asking Jools loads of questions, i hid around the corner of the van... hee hee. He fined us £25 for ilegal parking then tried to accuse us of dropping litter, which then i marched around the corner of the van holding our bin (a carrier bag)of rubbish we didnt mind the fine but didnt like him accusing us of dropping litter, he then sped off on the beach to try and catch some hoons (ozi talk for people driving fast) We packed up as slowly as we could and headed off to another beach for a dive, which was an amazing little place quite a bit out of town, beautiful white sandy beach and clear sea.

Wednesday 3rd JUne -Day 1 of Nullabor crossing
We started the long drive accross the Nullabor which is 1986km to Adelaide where we need to go! the drive is very dull indeed, i've already renamed all my photos and am now writing my blog, we have nearly eaten a full bag of cookies and we have only just set off, the roads are increadably straight which kind of makes it worse and seem lots lots longer. Obstacles on road today 3 alive Kangaroos,1 Massive Eagle & endless road kill. It got to about 17:oohrs and we could see a dead Roo up ahead but something was moving on it, in my mind i was thinking it may be the Roo half dead with its hind legs thrashing around which i really couldnt cope with seeing! as we got closer it was a massive eagle its wingspan must have been about 2m accross, Jools honked the horn at it and it took off, but only in the direction of the front of the van, the eagle flashed straight before my eyes and just clipped the passenger wing mirrow with its tail feathers but it carried on flying away and looked ok, I then nagged Jools to stop even though he thought it was still safe to drive. We parked up in a rest area on the side of the road and set up camp for the night. Whilst cooking tea Jools got bitten by a massive ant, i do remember that everything over here is 6 times the size of our animals back home.
Thursday 4th June - Day 2 of Nullabor crossing
We set off again driving we have 9hours of driving to do today, i've already counted 15+ road kills(Roos) from last night and we have only been traveling for an hour. The road trains just plough straight through them and dont even slow down so you can imagine the carnage on the road. Nothing much else to report Road, road and more driving. obstacles on road= 2 alive Roos, 1 sheep, 1 dingo. We also created a new game to help with the boredom, see who can keep the tick tack the longest. ooh what fun i hear you all saying, Jools refused to play eye-spye :-(
Friday 5th June- Day 3 Drove to Whyalla to dive with the cuttle fish that come into the bay to lay there eggs, dropped down into the water and there must have been about 30 of them within eyesight, amazing to see them up close.