Bubble Bubble Bubble

Had a "Try Dive" session at the gym last night. Much fun in all.

Spent a short while being introduced to the equipment and taken through basic use and safety, then into the swimming pool for 45 minutes. Sat on the bottom for a while getting used to it. Swam about a bit. Tried removing and replacing the regulator and clearing the mask. All ok. The only slightly weird moment was when I didn't have the mask tight enough at the start and it leaked a small amount of water round the base of my nostrils. Very difficult trying not to inhale at that point, but sorted it quickly.

Almost certainly booking in for a full training course before the Australia trip, which is now looking likely to be

Thursday 29th Sept. Fly to Bali, stay somewhere nice but reasonably cheap for 4/5 nights
Tuesday 4th October. Fly to Melbourne, staying with my sister through the weekend. Do the Penguin Parade and possibly the Ocean Road. Clare will probably take us to a winery.
Monday 10th October. Fly to Cairns. Stay there for about 6 nights, including 2 on a boat trip out round the Barrier Reef to do some diving.
Sunday 16th October. On to Fiji and just relax for a few days, coming home on either the Friday or Saturday.

That itinerary is with a couple of travel agents to get us quotations, but we're well on the way to being sorted.

Very broke for a while I think

Now Done the Deed.

We spent nearly two hours on an extended lunchbreak at the travel agents, perusing the bill of fare they provided, making some adjustments and booking. The trip is now

29th Sept to Singapore overnight, stay for 3. Then on to Melbourne on the Sunday, again overnight - we'll arrive very early, but Clare's used to night shifts so that shouldn't be a problem. 6 nights with little sis later, fly to Cairns as first thought. We've not booked in to any diving trips and will probably sort that once we're there. Shuttle down to Brisbane to fly over to Fiji and stay in a relaxing small island hotel (300m off the main island according to the brochure) before heading back via Sidney airport on 21st. Gives us a weekend to recover from jet lag - almost certainly nowhere near enough, but it will have to do.

Now for an approach to the bank of Mum and Dad.