Hello everyone hope that your all well i am back form Nelson bay I had a fantastic yime and did some great diving. I did my first 40+ meter dive which is a big step from normal diving as you are diving of all the standard charts, so you have to do all the deep stops and safety stops.Also the build up of nitrogen in you body at that depth sends you off you tree it's like being drunk! so apparently the more you drink the better you become!

  I also did my first dive with twin tanks which is also another big step as you have alot more to think about and do.

I also clocked up dive 100!

Anyway I am back in Sydney now  and we are  about to have a few leaving drinks with Mike as he goes home tomorrow.

Hope that your all well love Ben

It's ok Ben, went to your Mum and Dad's yesterday and your Dad told me its a place!! I thought it sounded a bit strange and was thinking more along the lines of some festival or other. Geography not brilliant at the best of times and knowledge of the Southern Hemisphere rather patchy I'm afraid!

All still fine here but the weather is very changeable. It was our duty day at the Lake yesterday but the  very wet and windy weather meant that no one fancied sailing so we went home early.(via Amberley!) Your Mum and Dad said you're having a great time diving and it sounds like wall to wall fun. Kev's just phoned to tell me that he's done 1/10 of his time at work this week so you can tell how much he's loving it at the moment!

Take Care Ben lots of love us xxxxxx

Thrilled  to see your certificate Ben - congratulations! The new photos are very colourful and you all look great but what exactly are you meant to be?? (We don't have that in the Uk do we?!!!) lots of love xxxx

Hello everyone its been good to see all my friends again back in Sydney. We had a club night the other night with a Vanuatu theme, it was great fun as you can see from the photos.

I am moving in with Carl and Rachel now and we are going up the coast diving for a couple of days so that will be great. Carl is taking the nelson bay dive trip  then a few of us are driving up to meet up with him a have a few dives  and have a few nights away. Should be good as I have not had a holiday for a while! Anyway thats sunday tomorrow i am taking the boat dive with the sharks so that will be good.

hope that your all well ben

The best set of photos yet!!  You're actually on most of them and you both look so well and happy! Makes me feel quite envious sitting here on a dull Thursday morning!

Have just spoken to Ian on the 'phone. He went to the hospital for an xray today and they confirmed that he had broken his collar bone so no rugby for 6 weeks It's an injury that he did here months ago that's been playing him up from time to time and left a large lump on his shoulder but he never actually went to hospital here. 

It's World Book day today so Chris has gone to school dressed as Joe the Barbarian with one of Gramp's saucepans on his head, a dusbin lid shield, tea tray armour and a toasting fork and wellies. He's got woolly gloves and a cuddly dog as the character ws taking the dog for a walk when he got transported to 'Muddle Earth'!

We got the letter confirming his place at St Peter's today so that's good. He'll find out if any of his friends are going there too so he'll be quite excited I should think.

I'd best do something useful now so take care and enjoy your diving. Lots of love from all of us XXXX 

Great pictures Ben and Michael! We have just had a quick peep but I will need to study them again when I have more time!! Pleased that you have arrived safely-you obviously have had a fabulous time and the beer looks right up your street. Did you manage to get all your kit back on the plane? What are your plans now?

We are still recovering from the skiing trip-legs a bit tired and playing'catchup'at school. Jacko has had a lovely time with Harriet and I think with some of his friends also. Still lots of rain here so we have a black and brown Jacko at the moment-fresh from the common!

Barb has been into school today to work with some of the older children -she said she enjoyed it but I will give her a ring later to get a fuller report. Going to have supper now-take care and keep in touch -loads of love M and D xx

Hello everyone, we are back in Sydney now so the road trip has finnished very sad!

For the last week of the trip we have been travelling with two girls that we met up the coast and we all had the same plans to go south of Perth. We went canoeing to penguin island but bid not see a single penguin.

We then went down  to the Margaret River wine region and did a couple of tours one to the Amberley winery the other was a wine tour "wine for dudes" which was a very good day we tasted many different wines and got to blend our own which was fun.

We then we down to Albany through the national parks where we had the opposite to kakadu as we walked for miles through the woods to see the waterfalls and they were bone dry!

Then we went back to perth sold the car and flew back to Sydney.