Rainer brought along an American friend, Sherry - who's just re-located to
Oz from Singapore - to join Julian, Dave and myself.  Fortunately, Julian
forgot his wetsuit and while we waited for him to skedaddle back to the shop
to borrow one, Poe and Cynthia turned up.  :-))))

Regrettably the conditions weren't great, especially as Sherry hadn't dived
for some while and it was her first dive in Oz.  Nevertheless, she still
managed to be impressed by the large Eastern Blue Grouper that swam up to us
and demanded to be patted and tickled under the chin.  The wobbegongs that
we saw were well behaved and there were large schools of pomfrets, seapike,
yellowtail and hula fish, together with a large variety of wrasse,
leatherjackets and several different types of damsels. We also managed to
find a few nudibranchs, several rays and stingarees and - on the swim back
in - a beautifully coloured Tassel-snouted Flathead lying in the sand. :-)

The bugger of it was that - unlike Poe and Cynthia, who not only saw several
but brought back the photographic evidence to prove it!<bwg> - we never saw
any Weedy Seadragons. :-)

Over coffee in the carpark afterwards, it was interesting to see the number
of other divers kitting up who were using backplates, wings, necklace and
long hose! :-)

Strike