One lucky day my wife gave me a birthday gift of a Scuba diving course. This was something I always wanted to try. I thought it would be useful so I could go up to Queensland every couple of years and dive the Great Barrier Reef. Well, Michelle wasn't ready for the monster of a passion she unleashed in me. Having completed my Open Water training in Victorian waters, I wasn't ready for the incredible amount of great diving in southern Australia. There is so much colour and fish life, it was awe-inspiring. To say I was hooked, is an understatement. Forget about waiting to fly up to Queensland, I needed to dive, and dive a lot! Once I had joined the Aquatic Adventures now with Academy of Scuba's dive club, I was in the water every chance I got. I'm sure Michelle was regretting giving me the Birthday present and thought I couldn't get even more obsessed with my diving until that fateful day I was able to get on the Eliza Ramsden wreck! It was then I knew exactly where my diving had led me: to Rust. Little did I know all that time, I was a rust head in love with wrecks.



Every chance I get now I try to dive on a wreck, and luckily Victorian waters abound in all manner of ships that have met different fates from ones that were mined and sunk during WW2, to others that were sunk since they were no longer useful to their owners. The drive to see all the wrecks I could, took me into Technical diving so I could go deeper and spend a little more time inspecting and studying these historical treasures. I soon discovered the wonders of Rebreathers. These units scrub the Carbon Dioxide out of your breathing air allowing you to safely stay longer underneath the water carrying less gas. This of course meant more time on the wrecks! After diving on wrecks for many years, I decided to become a Technical Instructor so I could pass on the knowledge of safe decompression diving to the next group of divers that get bitten by the bug! I find this very fulfilling to see divers complete their first Decompression dive safely and their big wide grins they bring on the boat when they know they now have the skills to see even more of Victoria's dive spots. Diving has also led me all over the globe onto some incredible wrecks; but you will always find me out at the weekend spending time in Victoria's Graveyard touching a piece of history few ever get to see.