Diving Australia

I froze in Adelaide wearing a 7mm semi dry in Feb/Mar! The water dropped from 18-15 at times depending depth! Brrrr

at 20+ metres, stationary in a shark cage in June... I swear it feels like single figures! But don't quote me on that...

I had 2 dives in Sydney last year (27 Nov and 12 December) where it got below 14ºC! Fortunately, I was wearing a 3mm one piece under my 5mm two piece.

Back on topic, April in Sydney (if you end up diving here) it is usually around 20-21ºC.

Well it was very hot when we were there, I thought it was normal for January. I remember we debated whether to take our dry suits and were relieved when the decision not to (weight) was OK. I to would want to be in my dry suit in conditions quoted. I guess we were lucky with 20degC and the heat topside.

Tim Digger

The Yongala is nice, but having dived on her last week the vis wasn't what I might have expected from tropical diving - we got 10 to 15m. See here for some of my shots. All the fish are huge, which makes the wreck look smaller than it actually is at 109m long. Definitely go with Yongala Dive out of Alva Beach or you're looking at a 3 hour boat ride from Townsville.

Closer to Sydney, the diving out of Jervis Bay has great underwater scenery. Fish Rock Cave at South West Rocks is definitely on my list - a giant swimthrough full of sharks. The Solitary Islands out of Coffs Harbour are lovely but a long boat ride out. If you don't mind the cold, Tasmania has kelp forests and huge sea caves at Bicheno and Eaglehawk Neck a bit further south.

It's a big country with lots of coastline...pick a section and enjoy yourself!

Consider Wolf Rock at Rainbow Beach if your travelling by car up the east coast to Far North Queensland. Its a Grey Nurse Shark Dive and is Queenslands best kept secret if you ask me.

Queenslands usually synonomous with coral gardens, but Wolf Rock is more like the diving you'll get around the north/central coast of New South Wales...similar to Bryon Bay (Julians Rocks) and South West Rocks(Fish Rock). Its a deep dive though (35m), and conditions can be difficult.

I'd add at least one of these to the list if your heading north from Sydney though (Wolf Rock, Julians Rocks or Fish Rock).

I might be bias here but I think you can't go pass Byron Bay's Julian Rocks and South West Rocks Fish Rock. Two of the best dive sites in Australia and 4 hours drive between them. Last April we had warm clear water in Byron with Manta Rays, Leopard Sharks and always heaps of Macro and Fish Rock had Grey Nurse Sharks. The water temp was around 23-24c in Byron in April and about the same at SWR.

Logistically you have daily flights to Ballina or the Gold Coast which service Byron Bay. There are major hire car companies in the area where you can hire a car and drive down to SWR. SWR is about 4-5 hours drive North of Sydney and Byron is about the same North of SWR.

I recommend diving with Peter and Kevin Hitchins at South West Rocks Dive centre. They also have accomodation available above the dive shop from basic dorm style to a private house. SWR itself is a beautiful area surrounded by National parks.

To give you an idea of what you can see underwater at both locations have a look at my flickr link as most of my work is at Byron with occasional trip to vist SWR.

Any further question please feel free to contact me

Regards Mark

Here are few shots from last April at South West Rocks, Fish Rock.

Here is a trial video I did with the Nikon D7000 swimming through the cave at Fish Rock:

Here a video I took in March 2009 showing the amont of Grey Nurse Sharks:

Regards Mark

Here is some examples of Byron Bay's Julian Rocks last April:

Wide angle first:

Julian Rocks at Byron Bay is also a meeca for macro photography. On the southern side of JulianRocks there is a site called Hugo's Trench which is simply full of macro and Nudibranch's. It is very common to find over 15-20 different species of Nudibranch on a single dive.

Here are some examples of macro:

Regards Mark

If it was me, i would hire a car & start from sydney. The trip would be, nelson bay, south west rocks, north solitary islands & finish at byron. Then head back & do it all again.

Otherwise stay in sydney as there are heaps of good dives around sydney itself.

Cheers Pete.