640,000 tons of ghost gear is lost into our oceans annually.
Here at Ghost Fishing NZ, our focus has been primarily inshore marine debris - shopping trolleys, street cones, bottles, and piles of tyres and plastics.
However, as a GF team we are constantly practising our skills, focusing on the big offshore nets that we know are there.
In fact we were given an image of a fairly big net in February of 2017. The net looked to be of a commercial size and in 20 m of water. So Rob Edward, Serena Cox, and I set out on our Dive Xtras scooters to investigate - sadly after traversing pretty much the entire bay along the 15-20m contour we came up with nothing.
Such is the nature of exploration - not always do the planets align.
Anyway - let's fast forward to December 27th 2018, Serena and I decided to do a bit of a deeper dive (not looking for anything in particular) along the harbour entrance - we started in Kau Bay and then headed into 15-18m of water and scootered South.
On our way, we discovered a whole heap of large bent and twisted metal objects on the sea floor, a lot of which had lines caught on them and two of them were chains with anchors.
So, after a brief altercation with the biggest Conger Eel the two of us had EVER seen, we were now scootering into shore with these two anchors... 

Ok, with two anchors under one arm and a substantial amount of chain we started to scooter straight back into the bay and we were a surprising way out into the channel.
We were scootering from the deeper water up now into about 9m of water and heading in to 6m for our first decompression stop.
As we scootered, I noticed something in the gloom..... this was literally in seconds as we blasted over the top on the scooters..
​but something in my head told me.. there was an adventure here....

As the image above shows, that's basically all I saw - so relatively soon after we had cleared our stops at 6m and surfaced.
​I tried to memorise visually on the surface where exactly we were as I was very keen to investigate what these floats were, so far offshore.
The net that we had been described previously had been in the bay north of us, and it kinda fitted a fragment of what I had seen - basically described by another diver as: "Two subsurface buoys suspending a net beneath". Now all I had here was what I thought was two buoys of some description - who knows what's on the end of it.... right...!!
In the back of my mind I had a fairly strong feeling this was a net... but, considering how many other items we had found in this bay with floats it was highly unlikely and even finding it again would be extremely difficult due to the visibility and distance from shore.. literally a needle in a haystack.. 
So again fast forward to June 2019 and we have been told by the Ghost Fishing boss, Pascal Van Erp, that we have a Nat Geo team inbound and they want to video us recovering a net.
We have only one location that we have been told where there is a net, but it's in a fairly exposed offshore area (and we have never actually seen or surveyed it).
The dates were literally a few weeks out and the weather patterns were all over the place in our full Winter and fell within a period of big tidal currents as well.
So we soon realised that the offshore recovery was impossible.
                                                                                 WE NEEDED A NET!
We started diving to try to locate something as quickly as possible and in a location we could recover in pretty much any conditions.. surely impossible... surely.. 
We did six dives in various locations where we suspected we might find nets - we found fragments but nothing big.
Eventually I said, right let's find those floats and see what's on the end of them.... So we sat down on Google maps and tried to work out where we both thought the floats were - cross referencing my surface transect and depth profile on our dive computers.
D-day 24th of June 2019 - scooters are charged, it's perfect conditions - let's go.

​We traversed 1500m in 80mins at various depths and sadly again to no avail.
Sand and big lumps of metal, but no floats or even anything remotely similar.

Disheartened, but not out, I said to Rob Edward and Geoff Miller, the very next day, to get their scooters charged and let's do it again with the help of some of the super talented Ghost Fishing NZ Free Team.
(Sophie Hamilton - Josh Bird - Chris Phelps - Shelley Gurney - Anna Hobman.)
The first image that greeted me as I lifted my dive kit into the car was this... (Above image.)
Now that's about as close as you could get to the Ghost Fishing emblem.. I was feeling pretty good about finding whatever it was - even though I knew it was literally a needle in a haystack that we find the floats.. and even if we did who's to say it's actually a net anyway... regardless.. we push onwards..
This day, however, the weather was not pleasant, gusting 20-25 knots maybe more.
You can see in the image above the area south where our search stopped, so I said to the guys let's start outside that area on scooter and head due East and see what we can find.
So the Free team power off and the Dive Xtras scooter team fire up the props and head to the middle of the bay.
Compass is set - in water dive kit checks done.... LET'S GO...!!

Flanked on my left by Geoff Miller and Rob Edward on my right we head of in a spearhead formation into the typical harbour gloom.
The dive PC clicks over the depth as we fly like fighter pilots across the sandy desert sands 8-9-10m slowly getting deeper and the visibility gets worse and worse... then out of the gloom.. I see a column of shape in front of us start to form...
I could feel it building inside me.. the anticipation then, as I closed my eyes focused, I saw the shape of this tornado of wound net and floats - just as I had imagined it...!!!! ( I was absolutely astonished.. speechless.)
Excitement hit me like a wave... we had actually found a net...!!
The previous run with Serena we had only just missed it be a few metres... this time we swam right into it.
So out came the famous Halcyon hot pink SMB and we fired it off to the surface 14m above to mark our find for the Free Team, and then to come back and log it with the GPS on the now famous WETTIE float boat (AKA "The Tow Fish".)
​

Shelley, our GFNZ Free team leader, watched from the shore as a tiny speck of pink appeared on the surface a long way out.
"They can't have found it so quickly." - Shelley mused. 
But, within minutes, the GF scuba team surfaced like the crew that had just blew up the Death Star - I was ecstatic..!
So we grabbed the Wettie "Tow Fish" GPS and headed out into the now stronger northerly wind.
Surface scootering to the net drop zone was like the ride of the Valkyries -However, on arrival at the site,
I suddenly wondered how we could actually pinpoint exactly where  the net was beneath us as the GPS tracker simply draws a line.... 
Now here's where the beauty of team diving comes in. I can't remember who used the - "Spare brain analogy" - I think it was Gareth Lock on his Human factors course - but this was it at its best.
Big waves, towing a float boat in one hand (with my cell phone in it..!) trying to think.. "How...?"
So I turn to the team.. "Guys how can we do this..?" 
Rob Edward calmy responds between waves in the face - "Just do a couple of circles round and round it" - HOLY CRAP that's genius..!
I drop the P2 into 4th then 5th gear and start punching the nose of the scooter through the waves as I circle  round the marker, round and round.. (Free team are looking at me like I am completely mad.) 
​And so it was done.
​I messaged a couple of very close friends and I was so excited, I could hardly speak.
I got the most lovely message back saying - "Look at you go - I am so proud of you." - I was ecstatic!

We get back to shore triumphant and Shelley turns off the APP and saves the GPS location so we don't lose it.
That night myself and GFNZ 2IC Serena Cox sat down and overlaid NAVIONICs (marine nautical charts) and Google Earth to attempt to get an exact GPS point to dive the next day to check if we had it right.
After a good few hours of attempts, we got everything from the Bering Sea, to off the coast of new Plymouth.. we finally managed to crack the exact site where we were thinking it was.
First thing the next day, we are on the beach and gearing up - it's an absolutely perfect day - flat, calm, and great conditions.
So we lock the GPS coordinates into the tracker, drop it into the Wettie tow fish, and start to surface scooter out.

It's an incredibly nerve wracking moment as we descend down the drop line into the murk.
Depth drops - 5 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13m and we are on the sea bed.
Its gloomy as always, but the visibility has been way worse - in fact it's actually pretty good.
Literally right in front of us is the familiar tornado of mangled net - INCREDIBLE..
We took into account so many factors to get the GPS location including even the surface wind as the SMB on the day was not straight up and down more like a low 45° angle, and we had worked it out perfectly.
I absolutely "Yahoooooo'd" through my Halcyon dive regs - big high five.

We then go back to the team at GF HQ and Healthy Seas and tell them the exciting news that we can recover a net to show what we do here in New Zealand.
We are all very excited but the weather forecast is for gale force conditions.
So it's time to put a team together to join Serena and I. One that will be prepared for any conditions.
One of the first people who came to mind was GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) diver James Croker "JC" - JC has pretty much every GUE cert you can get and his dive skills are simply mind bending.
JC is a mentor - friend and a brother.

Next up I thought that we should grab Rob Edward and Ebi Lincon.
Ebi is a GUE Tech 1 level diver and runs the highly successful Project Baseline Lake Pupuke.
www.facebook.com/SavePupuke/ <--- check it out.
So Ebi is well versed in operating in extremely low visibility environments.
Rob has GUE training and is trained on multiple CCR (Rebreather) platforms Rob is also a mentor to me and an uncanny navigator, and utterly unflappable in the water.
Rob is also a trained service tech for all of the gear we dive from Drysuits - to Mk25 regs.
Both of these guys are great divers and I regard them both as family.

We are a few days out and gale force Northerlies are forecast - so bad in fact that our usual support vessel can't even cross the harbour the day before to get to the site, to assist us the next day.
(Matt Fabish and the Underwater Solutions team have been a constant support to us at Ghost Fishing NZ.)
www.underwatersolutions.co.nz/ <---- check them out
​It's been driving rain and we have had a big nasty weather bomb dropped on us for the past few days thus the inner harbour visibility is some of the worst we have seen.
Faced with 40+ knot winds on both days of filming and we are now without a support vessel literally a day out from the National Geographic teams arrival - not ideal.
Thankfully Lee one of the NZ organisers for the Nat Geo team managed to source a vessel from Cook Strait Charters.
The Seafarer II is a deep hulled 15m (50ft) ex commercial lobster fishing boat - it's a beast and not afraid of anything the inner harbour can throw at it.
Its skipper, Jono Delich, is a well seasoned veteran of the southern ocean and on the day his skills and abilities were nothing short of amazing  - he could turn that big ship on a 20c piece.
www.cookstraitfishingcharters.co.nz/

So let's fast forward to the day. We have met the Nat Geo team and one of them is a Kiwi - none other than the famous Kina Scollay. Kina has been instrumental in Great White Shark research and is a well known professional.
We are all pretty excited about working with Kina - Kina, being a veteran diver himself, saw the conditions we were looking at and also knew it was going to be a challenge.
The Nat Geo crew were focused and professional, Johnny and Andrea were amazing people. I knew working with them was going to be easy.
www.kinascollay.com/shark-researcher

Day #1 was shooting some B roll with Kina from the shore and a bit of a shakedown dive for us all.
All good and what Kina managed to shoot in the 1/2-1m visibility was astounding.
A testament to the professional he is.. 

                                                                 Day time image credit - Shelley Gurney (above)

Day #2, its game time. We board the Seafarer II at Seatoun wharf at high tide and start heading for Mahanga Bay.
The Seafarer is swift through the high winds and ocean chop produced by the wind.
The visibility looks really bad... even for Wellington.
But spirits were high and I chose the team for taking this removal head on in any conditions.
All of us on 32% Nitrox for these dives and we were ready... 

We loaded in the GPS points to the phone and handed it off to the Free Team to drop in and swim to the target point then drop a down line onto it for the dive team to go in and recover the net.
The skipper expertly maneuvered the Seafarer II into position and via his own sea scan directed the free team to the net which was showing up on the sounder as the familiar tornado shape standing off the seafloor.
Chris swiftly powered his Ruku blades to the drop zone and dropped the 4kg drop weight onto the target.
I ask Chris to check on the seabed if the net is there - Chris drops in... surfaces after a minute or two with a grim look and clearly states: "The net isn't there...!" - (Now the sounder clearly showed us it is there, but in visibility lower than 2m, finding anything can be extremely challenging and with a net involved... dangerous..)

Being well versed in Wellington diving, I had already planned for this situation and we had a Halcyon explorer reel ready to drop in and search from the drop line on the seabed.
The visibility is so poor on the surface that we can't even see our feet/fins as we float in the waves.
I had hand picked this team for some very particular reasons and J.C's underwater, under duress, line skills, and search ability are second to none - "J.C drop down.. run the search and let's find this net.."
J.C and Ebi disappear into the olive murk following the down line to the seafloor to run a line out to search.
Serena and I bob helplessly on the surface...  

Minutes feel like hours as we surface scooter against the strong northerly wind which is trying to push us south off the target.
I have never been one for much patience and it's slowly eating away at me.
There is lot riding on finding this net and Nat Geo team are waiting. 
I turn to Serena and say: "Ok let's just head down and see if we can help."
(In low visibility less is often best - but the clock was ticking.) 
Serena and I slide down under the waves and into the gloom. The vis is so bad that we have even lost the down line.
I flag Serena down and signal "Follow my navigation". She acknowledges and I swing the compass round and start heading north... a few kick cycles forward and I see a white line running on an angle in front of me left to right.
(I know on the right hand end of that line is J.C and Ebi swinging round in a circular search pattern.)
I signal Serena to jump on my side as we take up the search on the line mid way.
Within a few seconds, I see the familiar vertical pillar of the net. I grab J.Cs line and give it a couple of sharp pulls to let J.C know we are on it. Seconds later I see two lights in the gloom as J.C winds the line in.

When recovering nets there is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into the actual removal.
But, as with all things, there are always variables and unknowns that can rear up on the day.
On this day, and in these conditions I was taking no chances.
We set the lift bags like a special forces team laying charges on a bridge. We target specific weak points and areas where we can best pressure the net off the seabed.
Starting with heavy duty plasma rope, Serena and I back kick and maneuver around in the gloom to avoid the visibility dropping to complete zero. We wind the rope around the tower of net.
The famous "Messersmith Manta" 185lb custom Halcyon lift bag was the first to attach.
(Named after Halcyon's Mark Messersmith as he sponsored this one for us and also as its shaped like a Manta ray.)
Then the 80lb ones were next... (The pound rating refers to the amount of lift the bags create when inflated.)
We worked away - effortlessly - this is what we do. 

Realising that Serena had the 80lb units and I had the lighter units again, I took a large breath in and rose vertically up the pillar  beside Serena - Kina was right on her filming as she attached the bags to the vortex of net.
I slid up beside her and unclipped the bags from her side as she worked.
I then went in closer to show her I had swapped the 80s for the lighter ones and that less lift was required on the top, as these nets have heavy weights on the base and the top already had two buoys attached.
An "OK" hand signal was lit up by her 21w Halcyon canister light.
Meanwhile, J.C and Ebi silently monitored our progress from the edges, supplying light, and watching for any entanglement.
J.C, in the gloom, was not only managing his own trim and buoyancy, scooter, and supplying light for us, but he also had all of our scooters clipped off as well..his.. mine and Serena's as we worked to avoid the possibility of our own entanglement.
Incredible..  
Serena secured the last bag to the upper section and added a fraction of gas to to keep them up and vertical ready to lift.
Then we dropped down and signalled to both Kina, and J.C and Ebi that we were about to lift the net, or attempt to.
A few good blasts of gas from my tanks, 30% in the 185lb unit and about 15-20% in the 80s and I felt the net shift..!!!!
I give the embedded base a slight pull then push and the familiar sensation of the net rise begins. Many, many years of damage from this net is about to end as the net's shameful face will meet the sun after decades of darkness.

I am literally screaming through my regulator in joy .This has been a long time in the planning. Stress was lifted off us as the net soared in a blanketing explosion of ocean sediment.
The team rises and forms in the typical GUE* ascent circle. (*Global Underwater Explorers.)
High fives and fist bumps all around as we ascend to our 6m stop to allow the nitrogen in our system clear.

Like reverse parachutists, we ascend from the depths back to the surface.
The thumbs up goes up as the Shearwater dive PC's clear us for surface landing.
The dive profile is text book for the work we did.
All done in an incredible 37 mins - search pattern and discovery - then recovery.
But on the surface all is not well. There is no net hanging on the lift bags.. NOTHING..!
Panic washes over me as another wave breaks over my head. I shout to Chris from the Free Team...
"Chris where's the net... where is it...???" - ( I had visions of it not quite reaching the surface and drifting off mid water never to be seen again.)
Chris looks at me quizzically - "What net....?" - my heart falls right out of me and back down to 13.1m below me...

The horror on my face even through my Halcyon mask must have been obvious as he beams at me and says:
"Ohhh the net... yeah that's already on the boat."  My heart came racing straight back up from 13.1m and slammed into my chest bringing with it pride and astonishment at these two guys and what we had achieved.
Chris and Josh were machines as they powered back and forth in the very strong surface current and 30 knot winds.
I can't remember exactly what I said then but I am sure it involved some colourful metaphors. 

On the surface, there were was strong surface winds and currents and I was glad that I had trusted my instincts and insisted on scooters.
The Dive Xtras units are always integral for us as a dive team.
We were caught in the wind and starting to get pushed well away from the vessel, but the job was done and now it was the victory lap as I turned the P2 scooter into the fairly big waves and started to punch into the wave's face as it broke over me.
The sensation was truly magical. I heard the "Ride of the Valkyries" as we powered home to the mighty Seafarer II.
The skipper, Jono Delich, greeted is with a broad smile - "Well done guys, you did us proud.." a comment like that from an experienced sea captain and fellow Wellingtonian was just icing on an already wonderful mission.
Against everything that was thrown at us, we had fought and won the day for ocean conservation.

Back on the boat, the skipper has a BBQ running for the hungry, cold crews. The weather topside was cold, seas rough, and wind high.
Some warm food was most welcome as we cruised back to Chaffers Marina, triumphant.
I had mentally drifted away - I was thousands of miles away celebrating and recounting the journey that we had all undertaken to get to this point - the people - the effort.. the support and the love. 
And that's why we do what we do, for love. For the love of our oceans and to attempt to preserve what remains for our future generations.
We will not go quietly into that good night.

Well - I am back from another incredible and totally unexpected adventure.
​Picture this...
I am sitting watching Star Trek re-runs and I get a cryptic message from Mel from Tech Dive HQ asking if I am free in an hour for a phone call - I have to say that did make me a little nervous - ha ha ha ha.
​Next thing I know the iPhone is playing "The A-Team" soundtrack (my ringtone) and its flashing "Mel Jeavons" - I had no idea of the life changing opportunity I had lying in wait for me as Mel asked me to open up a website with this huge research vessel bristling with boats and even a Submarine.
​I browsed the site wondering what on earth I was looking at this for and Mel said - "Rob, how would you feel about going away on this vessel for a few weeks..?" I actually cant remember what I said but I think I stammered "When ..errr..?"
​Mel responded that we were leaving in two weeks. I was overwhelmed with multiple emotions.
​But without a second though said "Yep I am in". Mels reply was "Great I will book the tickets now, oh I forgot to mention its in Fiji.." she laughed.
​I was almost on the floor and it was obvious, I was going on a mission with the GUE team again.
​And if the Blue Creek expeditions were anything to go on I knew I was in for a hell of a ride.

The GUE NZ Blue Creek expedition is where a great deal of my work with Jamie and Mel and the Tech Dive NZ team began.
​Jamie and I have a very interesting friendship, and it has always been apparent when I make jokes and only he laughs as its only Jamie that gets my at times, extremely obscure movie references.
​One example I always return to was when he asked me to get a very specific shot of the Blue Creek expedition team - I was struggling to get a mental image of exactly what he wanted.
​Jamie knows me so well that he just said: - "Ok think 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' - Indy is threatening Belloq with an RPG from above.."  Without a word of a lie, I was up the bank with the image in my mind with incredible clarity in seconds.

,My mind was running pretty fast at the thought of diving with the likes of Todd Kincaid one of the cornerstones of Global Underwater Explorers itself - I had watched videos of Todd since I first started my GUE training in 2009.
​Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever meet the guy let alone dive with him.
​One thing Todd said during this trip was when somebody said this expedition was: "A trip of a lifetime.." Todd quickly corrected that in style.

Within a few hours of arrival on the absolutely incredible vessel the Ad-Vantage, it was a flurry of action to get the gas blending set up sorted and our equipment checked and ready to dive.
​Jamie, Russ and Ben (Ben Brodie the Ad-Vantage crew Divemaster) worked furiously to get the gas blending sorted in record time, even before the U.S team had arrived I was seeing some pretty shiny dive gear.
(Those who know me will now be laughing... ha ha ha.)

We were quickly introduced to the crew of the Ad-Vantage - a crew we would be working in very close quarters with over the course of this expedition. The crew had everything from Chefs to Submarine pilots.
​Lets meet the crew - click L/R to scroll through images.

.Next up the science team - We had Professor Ciro Rico from USP (University of the South Pacifc) I did 95% of my dives with Ciro and Brian and it was an absolute pleasure hanging in the blue 28 degree waters of Fiji with them.
​Ciro was the link with our team and the local officials - and getting permits for diving and exploration was no easy task.
​Ciro sorted the permits out in style and he was welcomed with open arms as he smiled and greeted the chiefs.
​We also had Amandine Marie one of Ciro's USP team join us for a dive. It was great to see her in action with the science team as well and she even joined us for a dive in the big blue Fijian waters.
Then the man from Atlantis - Brian Walker. Brian is another highly qualified Scientist from the Nova Southeastern University.
​Brians ability with his 4k captures made my underwater photography work extremely difficult - ha ha ha - this provided us with some great fun over the duration of the trip. (Side note: Brians gas consumption as a diver was fairly impressive..!)
​A good sense of humour is always something I welcome to the party - its essential to have some laughs.
Last but by no means least was Charles G. Messing, Ph.D.Professor from NSU's Departments of Marine and Environmental Sciences - and in his own words - someone who enjoys "Messing with Science" - (Ha ha ha :) )
​These three gentlemen were amazing to work with, solid pros, but each of them gave me a good laugh with their wit an humour - Charles especially never missed a beat for a quick quip and Brian wasn't far behind him.
​Miss you guys already.

Then the GUE team from the United States - We had GUE founder and Project Baseline boss Dr Todd Kincaid and Kristie and Ginnie. We had Martin McClellan, GUE diver and Project Baseline Lake Taho boss. And Amanda White from Project Baseline and GUE HQ as the media boss. Shane Zigler from Global Sub Dive and also Randy Holt a Submarine pilot and expert on the Submarines and their maintenence.
​I really had an amazing time with each of these people.
Martin and I talked to the early hours about the Taho projects and cameras, we shared a great deal of ideas and knowledge.
​I was fascinated with Martins methodology for making everything he had perfectly neutral in the water.
His big Aquatica housing coupled with the amazing Panasonic GH4 was a dream to use.
​Martin was an amazing diver that brough a weath of experience to the table.

Shane Zigler and Randy were the Sub guru's. I spent a day with Shane on the "Jupiter*" (*Sub Support vessel from the Ad-Vantage). I was amazed at Shanes knowledge and professionalism as he monitored the Subs directions and vitals from the PC uplink and sensor array lowered off the side of the Jupiter.
​It really was awesome to see Shane in action and it was very clear to me why Shane was in the position that he was.
​Randy was the same - I start the day at 0630 and by midnight, still see Randy and Barry surrounded by Submarine parts as they check/test/service the sub for the next days mission.
​Randy and Barry worked tirelessly - Randy was the pilot that took myself and Russ down on the last day for our Submarine experience - a trully amazing and quite surreal adventure that was.

Next up was the GUE and Project Baseline Media boss Amanda White - Amanda and I worked from day one of the expedition until literally yesterday (10/06/17) - so even though the project was finished we still had edits and photos to sort.
​Amanda had clear vison from day one as to what she wanted and so did I - the great thing about that was that we shared the same vision (and in reality that is very often not the case - as most people rarely share the same creative ideas.)
​I was very happy to work beside Amanda and provide her with as many images each day as we felt necessary to document the entire trip. This involved a lot of hours for us and Amanda and I would be the last to shut down our PC's pretty much every day as we edited video and images.
​Between us we managed to pretty much stay ahead of our work on a daily basis - we shared ideas and we worked really well as a team - and continue to do so...!

Last but not least from the US section of team GUE was Todd Kincaid and his family Kristie and young Ginnie (aptly named after the cave system Todd has extensively dived and explored). Kristie was another person like myself and Amanda that was glued to the Laptop for very long extended periods of time.
​Kristie was tasked with uploading and checking all the data from the cameras and video taken from the primary dive team.
​(The primary dive team was Jamie Obern, Martin McClellan, Mel Jeavons and Todd Kincaid).
​Ginny provided us with all kinds of hilarity - often making some very tired divers smile (no easy task right..!!).
​I dont know how many different faces and sounds she asked me to make - I could manage a few of them but I simply could not open and close my nostrils as well as she could. Really good fun..!
​Todd was everything I had imagined and quite a lot that I hadn't. As most of you reading this will know I am very conservation focused and Todd is pretty much the 'Conservation' wing of GUE - which was very exciting for me as the head of Ghostfishing New Zealand. Todd had dive plan everyday - we met at 0830 and he wanted us off the boat in like 22mins...!!!!
Sometimes we made it sometimes we didn't - but we always made it work.
​One of the coolest things I have heard was something that Todd said on a recording that I had overheard from the Sub dive that he was on where we rendevoued with him and Ciro in the sub.
​Todd gestured to myself and Russ outside the sub as I manouvered to get the shot of the sub and told the Sub team.
​
"Look at these two -
I have never met either of them before... and I would dive with them anywhere.."
​
This is one of the most amazing things about GUE - the training is of such a high standard and gear configuration is identical - it gives us the flexibility to literaly turn up anywhere in the world and jump straight in and work/dive to high standard.
​To hear this even in passing was very cool...!

​Todd is a professional diver in every sense and his experience and skills shone daily - the guy was totally unflappable.
​And as a side note for our Freediving GFNZ team Todd is a hell of a Freediver..!.
​It was a pleasure to dive with them all - and to see Ginnie on a DPV for the first time was amazing - its very clear to me that she will be following in the famous GUE footsteps.

You might have got to this stage and are thinking "why all the people..?" - all these bio's and intros to these folks.
​Why..?? because they all make the machine work - without the Sub Pilots the Sub goes nowhere - without the crew functioning the boat stays in port. Each person is an ingergral cog in a goal focused mechanism - one cog fails the system and the machines perfomance slows or even stops.
​Without the divers and planning and scientists we get no data - the list is obvious and goes on.
​Every person on this list I have mentioned so far worked every single day to make this project work. It was an absolute testiment to the sheer professionalism of the Ad-Vantage team and GUE team skills and dynamics.
​So let me now introduce who made this whole mission possible - Jamie Obern and Mel Jeavons of Tech Dive NZ.

This is Mel Jeavons of Tech Dive NZ - one the highest qualified female Technical Divers in New Zealand.
​I have known Mel since pretty much 2009 and although I havent dived often with her I can assure you the dives I have done were nothing short of amazing - I am still astounded she managed to get me into one of the cave systems in the south island as far as she did. I swore blind I would not go past the 6m habitat... Then I saw the Siren like beckoning finger as we descened a lot deeper into the Resurgence than that - but thats another story. 
​Mel and Jamie have been like family to me since day one - love you guys..!!

This is Jamie Obern (GUE IT) - Jamie has been my teacher and friend since I tried to walk out of my GUE Fundies course in Aucklands "Olympic pool". I am so glad he stopped me as my adventures with GUE have taken me now on four amazing expeditions since getting my Fundies badge in 2009 ( I was one of the very first three students to pass their Fundies in NZ under Jamie - my team was a dream team - Tom Crisp and Mike Batey).
This picture for sure has to be one of my favorite images of the trip - as a photographer to capture an image that tells a story its an amazing feat - to capture an image that screams a story is a whole different thing.
​This for me is one of those images, hydration for serious dives is absolutely imperitive. The dives that Jamie and the team were doing on a daily basis at depth for up to 4 hours at a time in the heat both above and below the surface required proper hydration. Jamie pictured here was tanking up the water to ensure proper hydration and nice circulation.
If anybody knew me better than I knew myself it would be Jamie. I have trained under Jamie regularly since 2009 and only last year decided to undergo my Tech 1 - which again exploited my weaknesses and strengths - again building me as a stronger diver.
​Jamies patience and leadership has inspired me greatly - and I will never know how the hell he knows what cards I am holding when I am playing poker..!!!
​I look forward to many more adventures boss...

Last two of the GUE NZ team are myself and newly badged GUE Jedi master (GUE Instructor) Russell "Russ" Hughes.
​Whos name I regularly butchered - "Russ-cules" (When lifting the CCRs or some object too heavy for me) - "Russ-O-Lini" - "Rusticles" - or some other variation.
​I hadnt actually done much diving with Russ prior to Fiji so I was keen to get in and see his new found GUE instructor skills as every cheeky Jedi Padawan wants to.
​And I was far from disappointed as "Russ-O-Lini" was absolutely on top of his game. Russ was an amazing diver to have on side as I photgraphed and videoed everything that was thrown at me - especially when the conditions went a bit wild and we ended up drifting for over a mile - Russ as you can see in this image I shot on that dive was still as cool as a Cucumber.
​Russ busted his back every day and always gave us all a good laugh with his jokes and general banter.
​He actually started this expedition with a very bad Flu and battled it in relative silence for a great deal of the first part of the trip - later to also damage his knee and still continued to work as hard as ever.
​I have an immense amount of respect for Russ - for sure another GUE brother from another mother.
​Russ you rocked it man.

                      So whats the Project all about - lets get into that now.

Well Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) conducted a conservation inititative - under the Project Baseline banner - mission was to document coral reef ecosystems in Fiji to better understand the health of Fiji's deep and shallow reefs and how they may be changing due to climate change and population pressures.
​The Project team was us GUE Technical divers and Marine biologists from Fiji's USP (University of the South Pacific) and Florida based NSU (Nova Southeastern University).
​Coupled with the Ad-Vanatge team and armed with a Triton 1000m rated Submarine we were going in strong.
​The Sub was focusing on the Mesophotic/Mesopelagic Corals that live below 90m the Sub is capable of 1000m depth but below that Bathypelagic depth we were not to venture in the Triton - beyond 1000m is where light will never penetrate from the surface. The area beyond that is Abyssal by name and nature... deeper than that you are heading for places named after Hades itself. - I believe without certain Military permission you may not decend below 1000m anyway... ​

​We traveled far and wide within Fijian waters and experienced some amazing people and culture.
Myself a few of the team met with the Turaga Ni Koro of the village of Solevu on Malolo and the villages of Tavuki and Dravuni in Kadavu, as well as several of the villagers from each including the Chief and 17 school children from Darvuni. All were invited aboard m/y Ad-Vantage and provided with tours of the ship and the sub, as well as an overview of our mission and its relevance to sustaining their historical and continued cultural relationship with the sea. We also met with and described our mission to municipality leaders in Vunisea and representatives of Fiji’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.
An amazing experience for sure.

So how do we gather the data?  - The Primary CCR dive team use a combination of cameras and sensors to record and document everything from salinity differentials to essetially "Fish camera's" to visually record the amout of fish we see on each pass. The Sub was to record the deeper reefs while the dive team was documenting the shallower reefs from 40m upwards to the surface.
​
What happens to the data? - All the data and imagery our teams assimilate will be directly added to GUE's growing Project Baseline database, which is aimed at establishing baselines for underwater ecosystems worldwide.
​And all of the data is available to the public on Project baseline's Online database.

​Did we achieve what we went to do? - Absolutely - and possibly more - we gathered all the data we needed,our Sub team possibly discovered some new deep sea species. We raised awareness and mad the local people much more aware of what was going on in their local ecosystem. We did some amazing dives - photographed some inceedible reef.
And got to meet some amazing people on the way.

Whats next? -  We do it all again in order to create the Baseline which we will now monitor we must continue to observe the future changes from the data we already have - thus begins the Baseline.
​Also we will be travelling to new locations and starting new Baseline projects.

The primary dive team use three main cameras for the Coral documentation.
​SVS, Benthic and the big Aquatica housed GH4.
For the SVS transect you start by selecting a starting point on the bottom (benthos) and laying down a 10 meter / 33-foot line.  At the end of this line we attached a 50-meter fiberglass tape measure.  The reason for the 10-meter gap is because this SVS video is trying to capture “fish density” in their natural habitat and if we were to start filming right away, all our activity (tying in line, setting up SVS camera system, synchronizing the cameras, etc.) would startle the fish.  So the scientists have us set-up, swim the 10 meters and then begin filming the 50-meter SVS video transect while the other diver lays out the tape measure “following behind” the camera diver.  Now simply swimming along, quiet with our rebreathers, just like another fish in the ocean, the cameras pointing forward capture an undisturbed fish video.  Once we get to the end of the first 50 meter SVS video, the diver managing the tape measure lets out a series of “Whoop, Whoop, Whoop” which the camera operator can hear and the first transect ends.  At this point we then attach another 10-meter line, swim it, attach another 50-meter tape measure while following the camera person until we get to the end of the second tape.  At this point, the fish diversity SVS transect is complete and we are 120 meters away from our starting point. 
Now, if you think about it, we are 120 meters / 400 feet away from our starting point.  Now what?  A benthic (bottom) study begins.  The camera operator points the cameras down and video tapes the bottom of the seabed from a 30 centimeter / 1-foot distance.  This whole process takes about 30 minutes and we do this process twice at each depth; 90m/300f, 60m/200f, 30m/100f and 15m/45f.  The team provides the scientists with two videos, process them with computer software and create a high quality 3D video allowing them to study and count the fish species we have captured on the SVS video cameras.  - Martin McClellan (Baseline primary dive team.)

Well the adventures I was in for with the Fiji team encapsulated so many facets of adventure that I had only dreamed of.
​I was diving with some of the most amazing divers - I was on board an incredible vessel bound for virgin reefs - I was getting up close and personal with a multi million dollar submarine - and some of the coolest Scientists and crew I had met.
​And I did it all, I dove on these virgin Coral reefs, I traversed the ocean in the Ad-vantage and not only did I get to dive with the Triton Submarine - I got to dive in the Submarine..!!

As you can see in the above image I managed to get to dive a couple of times with the Triton submarine - this was the second occasion I had. The first Submarine task that Russ and I were given supplied us with the very first image at the start of the blog.
​The second dive was a nice gentle scooter down to the Sub which was nicely resting in a mid water hover as Todd interviewed Ciro Rico from USP - I videoed the interview from outside the sub then Russ and I were a bit cheeky and grabbed a few pics of each other hovering outside the Sub.
The first dive however was a fairly challenging dive as the surface conditions were very very poor and the Fijian squall was hitting us full on, it was rain and wind and waves. Russ and I geared up in fairly exciting conditions and dropped into the maelstrom to get the pic we needed - and we did.
​The adventure didnt stop there - here is an exert from my FB diary of the day:

I had a look through some of the pictures I fired off as we floated in the current under the Fijian squall above us yesterday - made me think how lucky I am to dive with guys/and girls with skills like Russell Hughes and I could clearly see the GUE instructor in him yesterday as he just clicked into auto pilot on the deco - I was getting a fair bit stressed at the thought of the surface the conditions were concerning - and also that we had no ''Tow-fish'' like the primary dive team working on sub operations deep below us - so essentially the surface boats will be following the primary team and not us in the very poor visibility and rain.
Russ fired the SMB away to the surface as we rode out the decompression - we waited as the minutes clicked down for our safe ascent to the surface - the sounds of the Submarines engines were long gone as the Sub descended well out of our depth range with the main team - the silence was deafening, no Sub and no boat engines above - we sent up another SMB just to increase our location chances.
Russ I am sure could see the concern in my eyes as I looked about for any sign or sound of our vessel - nothing - but Russ was super chilled and secure - having someone on side that is totally chilled out makes all the difference as we rode out the ascents.
The final 5 mins of our stops and I heard the familiar 'Clunk' of a motor going into gear above us and it was an amazing sound - I totally felt like an astronaut who had just come out from behind the dark side of the Moon and was back in radio communication.
The Ad-Vantage team clearly had the whole thing totally in control as I saw the flotilla of vessels holding position.. amazing team work - it had been an amazing experience.
Thanks to Randal and Ben Brodie from the Ad-Vantage crew for their awesome surface support and thanks to Brian Walker and Ciro Rico for assisting us as we got all or kit ready in the poor conditions - we needed to do this as fast as possible to RV with the Submarine and the Rebreather team at depth.
​
​I think that paints a fairly clear picture of just one of the adventures right there.

So what was it like in a Submarine? - well its kind of hard to describe,its like going for a dive but completely different.
​The coolest sensation I found was on descent as the bright sky is engulfed in pristine bubbling blue water, and then water envelops the 6 inch thick acrylic sphere we are sitting in.Gradually we go forward with the whine of the quad magnetic props.(Side note: the sub from a divers perspective was clearly heard at a substantial distance. (Pun intended).
​Russ and I had a blast down on the ridge of the reef with Randy at the helm - we had some great laughs.
​Randy showing me that the hatch was easy to open at depth was hilarious - the external pressure on the outside of the sub is so great that the hatch lock at depth is obsolete - so rotates freely..!
​Perfectly safe as there is no way you could open the hatch against that pressure..
​I wasnt so sure - ha ha ha ha...

A lot of the crew from our Kiwi Ghostfishing team asked me how prolific the lines and evidence of fishing was.
​It was there and we found fishing lines and even the remains of Longlines strewn across the reef.
​Mel Jeavons removed the most fishing line - almost every day she had fishing line in her Santi drysuit pocket.
​The fishing line seemed to be a lot more evident at depth.
​One thing that was evident to all of us was the lack of any sizeable fish for pretty much our entire time in Fiji.
​The biggest creatures I saw were the typical Reef Greys and White tip Sharks - and they were very skittish and afraid.
​Jamie on the RB on their biggest dive saw a +4m Tiger Shark which would have been pretty amazing.

So I am going to stop there - its been an amazing experience for me to have yet again been a part of a GUE expedition.
​Every time I head anywhere with GUE I walk away with new knowledge and skills.
Thank you to everybody that has been a part of this expedition.
​Regards Rob Wilson GUE NZ - Ghostfishing NZ.

Rob thanks:
www.gue.com - Global Underwater Explorers - Education/Conservation/Exploration.
​www.ghostfishing.co.nz - Ghostfishing New Zealand.
​www.techdivenz.com/ - Jamie and Mel - NZs Tech training facility.
www.projectbaseline.org - Project Baseline International.
www.globalsubdive.com - Randy and Shane.
www.santidiving.com - Santi drysuits international.
​www.halcyon.net/ - Always providing the best dive equipment.
www.ghostfishing.org - Team Ghostfishing international.
​nmde.org/ - Martin McClellan's page.
​www.usp.ac.fj/marine - Professor Ciro Rico
cnso.nova.edu/overview/faculty-staff-profiles/charles_messing.html​ - Professor Charles Messing.
​cnso.nova.edu/overview/faculty-staff-profiles/brian_walker.html - Research Scientist Brian Walker.
​www.divesigns.com/ - Best diver signage around - made my SMB stand out in the Fijian squall for sure.
​yacht-vantage.com/ - Ad-Vantage crew and vessels.
​www.inspiredtodive.com - Always inspired by GUE divers Ali and Cam's work.
www.facebook.com/S.C.Drysuits/ - Rob Edward South Coast Drysuits - best service around by far.​

In 2009 I embarked on a journey I had no idea would carry me through to 2016 - In 2009 I decided to undertake the Global Underwater Explorers Fundamentals course - GUE - "Fundies".
​Late 2015 I said to myself I must take the next step and go for my Technical Diver 1 rating with GUE.
​Lets just have a quick look at what GUE themselves have to say the course entails:

​"GUE’s Technical Diver Level 1 course is designed to prepare divers for the rigors of technical diving and to familiarize them with the use of different breathing and decompression mixtures. Additional course outcomes include: cultivating, integrating, and expanding the essential skills required for safe technical diving; problem identification and resolution; the use of double tanks/cylinders and the potential failure problems associated with them; the use of Nitrox for accelerated and general decompression strategies; the use of Helium to minimize narcosis; and the applications of single decompression stage diving, with respect to decompression procedures."​

Sounds easy enough doesnt it...?
​Well, that depends if you have done the Fundies course or not.
​My Fundies course was with two well known NZ Tech Divers - Tom Crisp and Mike Batey.
​Both had done numerous dives with double tanks and were both very capable divers - so as a shallow water single tank Wellington diver I was well out of my depth - and as a result I struggled.  ​My second twinset dive ever was day #1 of the course, in the pool in Auckland.
​And as you can imagine that didnt end well - but I passed the course with a "Recreational" pass (Rec) and worked hard to re-sit the exam for the "Technical" (Tech) pass a few months later. ​Since then I have been working on the skills/drills and preparing for this next step.

So a few weeks back I joined a good bloke called Lee and we did the Tech 1 course and together we knocked out 519 mins of in-water training, and it was tough - I struggled just as I had with Fundies, so I was pretty shocked that after all the years I had to prepare as I was still completely taken un-aware.
One of the most facinating facts that my dive mentor Jamie highlighted to me was the fact I had done these skills before and had absolutely no issues, gas switching alone seemed so difficult.
​And I had less than a few months prior I had done gas switching with J.C with no problems.
​Jamie noted: "And the reason why, is because J.C did eveything.." - he monitored depth, ran and planned the decompression, basically single handedly managed the dive.
​That was quite a realization...
​On top of that I also had difficulty in reaching my tank valves and even venting gas from the drysuit on the fast ascents we did from the HMNZS Waikato.
​End result was we both scraped through the course first time and passed - It was a hell of a ride.​

​"The team was ready and we were ready to do this dive as a multi functioning machine - we were the Swiss Army knives of dive teams.........!!!!"

Special thanks to:
Dr Serena Wilkens NIWA
​Tristan Jongejans
Jamie Obern & Mel Jeavons Tech Dive NZ
Kate Malcom and the team at Dive Tutukaka
​Shane and Julia at Northland Dive
Global Underwater Explorers
​Halcyon Dive Systems

​And a parting quote of exellence - Regards Rob Wilson

​"The More I Practice The Luckier I Get.." - Arnold Palmer

The title, "Fight for the future" sounds a little dramatic. When you look at the picture above, imagine all the plastic and man-made junk from a global perspective, it's insurmountable. it's a war against plastic and man-made junk; a battle against ignorance and only a few are prepared to lift a sword against this oppressor.

Well yesterday was a day where a renegade legion of mercenaries banded together for a fight at Greta Point in Wellington Harbour, a location which myself and a few others dived the weekend before and found a great deal of rubbish.

After that dive I sat a home and trolled the net, as usual I saw the amazing work of the "Ghost Fishing" crew on Facebook. For those who haven't heard of the Ghost Fishing crew. (Check them out here - http://www.ghostfishing.org/)

"Ghost fishing is a term that describes what happens when derelict fishing gear ‘continues to fish’ " - Ghost fishing crew.

So I thought, it's time to stop talking and get something organised.. So before we knew it, we had a team of divers ready and we were on the beach getting some site pictures taken and sizing up exactly where the Patent Slip protected zone was. The Patent Slip is a historically protected site now thanks to MAANZ. See here for more information http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/evans-bay-patent-slip

This time it was short notice and a bit of a test to see how things would fall into place. Ground crew chief was Zachary Best who did an amazing job with his team getting the huge bags of rubbish up and out of the water from the divers. Dive crew was a varyied skill level of diver but all very keen to help and make a difference. We had also organised with a company to get some big underwater capable mesh bags made up specifically for these types of mass clean ups.
The lady whom we talked with to on the phone turned out to be the owner of the company, once she realized that we were paying for the bags out of our own pockets for a volunteer event, she donated them to the cause...!! We were all stunned by such an awesome gift to the cause, and I have just found out after we let the owner know the incredible success of her custom bags she gave us another two...!!!!! (And these were not cheap bags.)
The bags took some incredible punishment as well, tyres batteries, very sharp glass and was very durable with withstanding the harshness of the environment and the means of getting out of the water with ease.

The divers and crew from the day were Zach, Laura and partner ,Lorraine on the camera, Barb and Christian, Shayne, Kerry, Tracey and her VUCEL crew - David and Hannah, Shayne, Kerry and myself. These legends were not afraid of getting their hands dirty, Zach Best and David Burr did an absolutely top notch job getting the heavy loads of junk out of the water from the divers.

Zach before most arrived had already jumped in and had a freedive around the place and even set the dive flag on one of the locations where there was a significant amount of junk (6.4m deep). Zach and Laura had done their Divemaster mapping on this site prior to this dive as welll so Zach also had a fair idea where the bad spots were.

This wharf before the rebuild for the SOI restaurant was home to the Greta Point Tavern which must have closed down 10 years ago or more, sadly the beer bottles and similar remains reminded us that 10 years is nothing underwater as there was a mass grave of all sorts of bottles and junk. In my years of dive clean ups I have never seen so many bottles come out from the ocean.. It was just ridiculous.

The wharf rebuild which took place in the late 90s or early 2000 also had created a fair bit of mess as we found a great deal of junk from the builders etc. Building sites above water can be problematic and also Wellington and it's wind can be a huge issue for things getting blown over the side. Not only just that the things could be accidentally disposed off in the water, but we also found items that were intentionally disposed of. We found two car batteries just off the end of the wharf and also an aluminium ladder literally tied to the wharf pile in about 2m of water.

Christian Jones and I attacked this as Justine managed the rubbish bag which was getting fairly heavy. Christian took to the ropes like a chainsaw and after a few minutes of cutting in .5m visibility we had it free.. "High five" and we were off to an area with better lighting to strop the bag and other junk to the lift bag to send to the surface.

Most of the divers were down for over an hour, Justine and Christian and I did at least 4 trips from the sea floor to the shore with a good load of junk each time. The visibility was not the best with the ~20kt southerly wind that chopped up the water a bit. Underwater the vis has been a lot worse on other dives so it was well manageable, although when you start to tie objects together or pull items from the silt, the vis (visibility) drops to zero for a while.

Learning to manage zero vis is an art in itself. Also very good buoyancy and trim on dive such as these is very important. Poor kicking technique or using hands to create propulsion U/W comes with disastrous results as the clouds of silt will engulf you in seconds... This can be very frustrating and extremely dangerous for the divers in the immediate area if they're in the process of lifting something bigger.

The rubbish was a constant flow for the ground crew as multiple lift bags hit the surface one by one and junk came out by the load each time. Car tyres which can be very heavy when filled with silt are another vis destroying object. Especially when fighting against the suction of the tyre in the silt.

Car batteries are another common find, and are very hazardous to handle as battery acid is toxic and can cause burns.
Even batteries that have been sitting on the sea floor are still just as dangerous if not more as they are a sealed unit.
Apparently they are worth $12 a pop for the lead in them alone.

So where does it all end...?
It doesn't.. This is an ongoing battle against a relentless enemy. We will continue to organise clean ups and just keep chipping away at the beast lift bag by lift bag.

I would like to say a huge thanks to everybody that came to support us at the clean up, it was an amazing turn out and everybody did an amazing job. Barb also for the occasion baked some lovely cupcakes and brought some Fresh Up juice for the crew which was magic.. So with that and Cheese Balls the crew was well fed.. Ha ha ha..

Also thanks to the couple that lived on site at Greta Point for lending us their hose for cleaning up at the end of the dive.
Final thanks to John Curran and the team at the Wellington City Council for sponsoring us with 120 bags and 100 pairs of gloves for handling the junk.

Great work team...
Regards Rob Wilson.

Well that time had come again when we load up the trucks with everything from Oxygen bottles to remote flashes.
It was trundler time.. at Blue Creek..
Last year I was lucky enough to have been invited on a trip to Blue Creek with GUE New Zealand and expedition leader Jamie Obern.The trip last year was quite an expedition as we had to carry a lot of heavy equipment  over terrain that wasn't lovely flat surfaces.Getting to the Blue Creek resurgence on a daily basis for the diving required ~22kms of dirt road driving to Courthouse Flat (Named in memory of the old Courthouse that once was there) and from Courthouse flat to the actual dive site another 1.7km one way winding uphill via rough foot track.
(4 runs out and back in a day were not unheard of on last years trip...!)
On the subject of Courthouse flat, the current residing judges, juries and executioners are the New Zealand Sandflies, so, when we strap the tanks to the trolleys and gear up the equipment, its more like a Military drop.. we form an all round defence and then head off in rapid patrol formation to safe ground beyond the flat.
Thankfully this is really the only area they exist in this incredibly beautiful spot of New Zealand bush.

Now before I go any further, lets take a look at what Cave Diving is and where it sits at the table of the "Most dangerous sports" - (So we will have a look at just how serious this form of diving is.
Firstly, here is the definition of "Cave Diving" -

Cave Diving according to Wikipedia -
"Cave diving is underwater diving in caves which are at least partially filled with water. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, and ranges from breath hold to surface supplied, but almost all cave diving is done using scuba equipment, often in specialised configurations. Cave diving is generally considered to be a type of technical diving due to the lack of a free surface during large parts of the dive, and often involves decompression.

In the United Kingdom it is an extension of the more common sport of caving, and in the United States an extension of the more common sport of scuba diving. Compared to caving and scuba diving, there are relatively few practitioners of cave diving. This is due in part to the specialized equipment (such as rebreathers, diver propulsion vehicles and dry suits) and skill sets required, and in part because of the high potential risks, including decompression sickness and drowning.

Despite these risks, water-filled caves attract scuba divers, cavers, and speleologists due to their often unexplored nature, and present divers with a technical diving challenge. Underwater caves have a wide range of physical features, and can contain fauna not found elsewhere."

Cave Diving is something that requires training and an extreme respect of the cave and environment.The image to the left shows exactly what defines a Cave dive or an overhead dive environment.Cavern dives are where the exit or a light source is still visible and a clear exit.Open water dives also can have what's called an "Artificial overhead" this is of course due to the decompression obligation divers have on deeper dives.

The trip to Blue Creek started, for some, in Auckland. Jamie and James both drove down to RV with us at GUE Welly HQ (AKA "Mums house" - ha ha) from there Jamie and I and newcomers to Blue Creek Colin Davison , Nicole and Brendon Lawton another GUE diver from Wellington.
We piled the dive gear and photography equipment into the Landcruiser and had a bit of surplus space until Nicole arrived with enough bags to start an Indian market..Now we had the trucks rear loading area stacked to the roof and bags between the two passengers in the rear seats and also some gear on laps.. ha ha ha.. (Classic stuff)
But either way the truck was ready for some action with fresh oil and lovely clean glycol and even fresh diff oils thanks to "Oilchangers" in Lower Hutt.. (Great work at a super cheap price).
The Bluebridge Ferry was our first port of call and, after an eyebrow raising arrival, (Roaring laughter from inside the truck as well.)  my truck thundered up the ramp and into the belly of the iron barque. We were ready for the 4hr wait as we crossed to the Southern island of New Zealand.

On arrival at Blue Creek, we said hello to our amazing crew at the homestead, Ed & Lorraine, who organise our accommodation while we are in the Creek area.Location wise, Blue Creek is between Motueka and Nelson, just out of a lovely little place called Tapawera,where the steaks are all the same and the beer runs like a river.
Actually I had the "Fish of the day" in the Tapawera Tavern and expected it to be "Fish of the year" but actually it was really very good,in fact all the meals there seemed very good.. Brendon's inch thick "Meat-lovers Pizza" looked a little over the top though.. (Inch thick before the layers of meat).
Anyway,at Blue Creek we must literally hit the ground running. Day #1 had Jamie showing  Colin, Nicole and I how to set up the zip line which we use to get the double tanks , stage bottles and gear into the cave.
Next day we were straight into loading the gear into the cave.
We were Team #1 (Jamie,Rob (me),James,Brendon,Nicole,Colin) and we all carried the gear in with not too much bother.

It's always a bit of a shock to the system pulling tanks on a trolley.

Just a snippet of history here on the alluvial gold mining,the area of Blue Creek was excavated as a site to extract gold from quartz,the regions quartz had slivers olf gold woven through the rock.
There is an old Quartz battery still standing strong close to the resurgence where the gold was processed.
Next question I guess is after the quartz was mined how was it processed..?
From here I will hand you over briefly to our resident historian Colin.

"The extracted quartz was paced in a stamper battery and pounded to a fine paste where it was added to a berdan with large metal balls and ground to a fine paste from there Mercury was added to the mix. Gold and Mercury stuck together was then added to a retort and heated . The mercury boiled off at a different temperature leaving the gold ready for refining into ingots" - Colin Davison

Sounds easy.. I cannot even begin to image the difficulties involved at that time with this sort of processing.
Incredible stuff.And managing drills and all manner of heavy pressure operated tools alone could be health hazardous without the likes of Mercury.

Well, the heavy gear was in and the rest of the team was inbound as we headed for full capacity.This year the entire team was myself and Colin, Brendon, Jamie, Alan, Tom,  Axel, Courtney, Russ, Louise and Nicole.
This years team was made up of a few of the veterans of Blue Creek and a couple of newcomers.
New to the team was a gentleman by the name of Axel Busch and, when I say gentleman, I mean it. Axel has some of the most incredible video and camera equipment I have ever seen.
On top of that equipment he has the skills and intelligence to really get some amazing footage. ( trust me, he did just that.)
Axel and I fought with our Si-Tech wrist seals until we both conceded and read the manual and found out it really wasn't that difficult to get the Dry Gloves off the suit ha ha ha..!
Axel was the driving force in the team to get some video and stills both above and below the surface.
Watching Axel in action on location, really motivated us all,myself included.

 Here is another newcomer to the crew, fellow Welly diver Colin Davison.
Now in the world there are some good characters and he is one of them.
Colin is not your average person, he has a mind wired quite like few others.
Think "Anchorman" meets "Rain Man". His knowledge of WWII tanks and some of the most obscure facts was bordering on the ridiculous.
In a close knit situation stress rises day by day as does the tiredness of lugging gear 3.4kms over rough ground everyday.
(Lets just say people get a little tense)
Colin was always there with some quote or snippet of information that would either raise an eyebrow or a bunch of nodding heads or roars of laughter.
People like Colin are an essential part of the whole machine,laughing and joking and having a bit of fun is an incredible stress relief.
Colin himself had a decent fall in the slippery riverbed and had to manage that on top of all the other stresses involved in such a journey.
Well done man, you did yourself proud.

Next up in the new crew were Russell Hughes and Louise Greenshields, a couple of absolute classics.
Russ wasn't scared of hard work either, lugging a great deal of heavy dive equipment on a daily basis while some others mysteriously disappeared when the tanks appeared ha ha ha..!!
Lou' and Russ' gave me some great laughs during their stay at Blue Creek and both were incredibly capable divers.
Russ, apart from being a crack up dude and a great diver, is also a killer in the kitchen. Some of the food he prepared was just amazing. (Hell, I even ate Shepard's Pie for the first time,actually Scots Pie as it was beef mince.. and he even made a special no onions version for me..!! LEGEND)
Lou' also had hidden talents. Initially, after her saying that she doesn't know how to play poker or cards, we were soon to find out she knew exactly what she was up too... ha ha ha..
Really great to have met you guys and look forward to meeting you again.

Last, but by no means least, Dive Wellington's Brendon Lawton.Brendon is another GUE trained Diver from Wellington and raised his hand this year to take on the challenge of Blue Creek.
Brendon as a Chef took over the cooking on a daily basis and did a sterling job.We never went hungry on this trip as there was always food and plenty of it. You burn a lot of calories walking and dragging gear.
Diving in the sheer cold of the Blue Creek resurgence at 6 degrees also saps a lot of energy and calories.
Brendon and I did our dive in style. We planned it and executed it well within safe boundaries for our skill and training level.
Brendon and I did two dives in the resurgence and both dives went very well and to plan. On the second dive we did, we were tasked to drop some deco bottles at 21m for some the bigger dives going on that day. The vis at 6m, where the habitat was,was very very poor so pushing down to 21m in a 45 degree angled tunnel in total darkness in very cold water was difficult, to say the least.
But Brendon did it in style.. great work man. Would dive with you anywhere.
Maybe even Mexico..

The rest of the team were Blue creek veterans. Tom "Team Hobbit" was back this time no Mike though.
(I think the big guy is off adventuring somewhere,missed you bro..)
Courtney was on form, as usual, getting the lunches sorted as she did last year.
Any member with a sense of humour like Courtney is going to get on with a nut case like me.
Alan Jeavons (See below) was there again and it was great to catch up with him. I always enjoy his sense of humour, a real classic is Alan.He didn't hit it big this year on the cards,but I know he will be back for round two next year.
Nicole Miller was with us again for almost the whole duration and did everything from diving to dishes in her typical efficient manner. Never saw a camera in her hand this year but I know she was helping Axel with his gear and also doing some survey work for GUE NZ chief Jamie Obern.

James and Jamie are the backbone at Blue Creek, both are two of New Zealand's most highly qualified divers. They are just awesome guys who ooze relaxation and Zen. James is the sort of dude who quietly carts everything that nobody else wants to and never once complains. He is an incredible guy and a bloody good judge of beer.
These guys do dives that I can only dream of.
For these guys, the work starts long before Blue Creek and ends long after it has passed.
Doing accounts at the end, blending gas and making some of the best beef curry I have tasted, Jamie and James deserve a great deal of the credit in keeping the oil of the machine cogs rolling.
And it's amazing how suddenly that machine jolts to a halt in their absence...!!!! (Rock on guys).

So where am I going with all this..?
I have focused more on the people than the actual diving. Is there rhyme to the reason? Yes of course.
Its all about "Teamwork" - its the people who make expeditions happen ,it's people who make the cams lift so that the engine can gain speed.They say there is no "I" in "Team" and its a bit of a well worn phrase, but, in reality, its true.
( We all had a reminder here and there to shift up a gear and pull our weight,,some realized it without being told and others, well, some do need some subtle encouragement.
If you are coming to Blue Creek be prepared, it's not a holiday camp. Stuff needs to be done, the wheels need to turn and the Captain needs to steer the ship and crew to its destination.
Not all dives are fun... the habitat for one, is not a particularly fun job yet the guys who went in there and did the job came out smiling. They got out what they put in. The rewards are different, but just as good.

Well if you made it this far I thank you..
Its been an amazing journey and this is just a few facets of the actual trip, and only a few slices of credit to those who deserve it.
I still don't know who was magically doing my washing...!!!?? (Just for one example)
Below is the team at the almost closing point as we sadly separate and go our own different ways.
I thank everybody for their participation in the Blue Creek experience.
But as usual I would like to thank Jamie Obern for making the entire trip possible.
( How the guys knows what cards you are holding is still a mystery to me "Rob I know you have the two of spades" ha ha ha - good times)
Thanks all - Rob Wilson "Frontline Photography"

As of late, I have been approached to start doing some videography. I have done some in a minor capacity during our GUE trip to the Blue Creek resurgence but recently I have been asked to film a music video for an up and coming star here in Wellington New Zealand, Jake Stokes - (But that is a whole different story to come.) In this instance I was lucky enough to be allowed to assist on a Global Underwater Explorer's Fundamentals course or, in short, a GUE Fundies course.
For those of you non divers who may not have heard of GUE, it's worth having a look at their website and seeing what they are about.
GUE really are world leaders in diving and Exploration and their training and skills are of the highest degree.
They are also leading the way in conservation, Project Baseline and Ghost Fishing to name but two.
So naturally their dive courses are very tough and demanding.
Have a look at what they are about below.

First off I know Tao or Taoism is actually a Chinese concept, and I am going down the path of this story relating to the similarities of the GUE dive training to training in the traditional martial arts of Japan. This has nothing to do with China in the direct sense.
So I just thought I should clear that up before we go any further on this road...

Well, as a student of the Japanese arts, I always find myself on a path and when it came to diving I never even really thought of it being even remotely a spiritual journey or a journey of any kind whatsoever.
Pay your money do your course get the plastic and hopefully get some skills and or training on the way.
This was until I first did a trip to the Poor Knights Islands of New Zealand.
Now for some of you who haven't heard of the "Knights" - you had better check it out as dive legend himself Jacques-Yves Cousteau  rated it as one of the world's top dive locations,and I can tell you first hand it is magnificent.
Anyway, I was struggling my way through Blue Maomao Arch when I saw a guy below me drifting through flat in the water and cycling his legs through the water like a Frog in a pond. He had no BCD just an old style harness and wing.
He looked completely effortless and so relaxed tthat  I was immediately interested as to what sort of magic or training was afoot here.

As soon as I was on the boat, I had a spy at  Andy's gear and thought.. "Wow, this is the old style"
Andy Connor was happy to explain to me why he dove this style and what a Backplate and wing was and its benefits.
This was the first time I had heard the letters GUE.
I had seen the Halcyon Dive Systems gear in the dive shop where I was working at the time,but I was a hard core AQUALUNG/ U.S Divers fan and was not going to be swayed... However I was intrigued..
"Was it the gear or was it the training or was it both..?" - my mind was in motion and I knew that  I wanted some of those skills.

Andy and I grew to be friends and I signed on to a Wreck course on the Waikato with him and another instructor whose name I had heard mentioned a few times.. Jamie.
I did the course on the HMNZ Waikato up at Tutukaka and I was loving it, Jamie took me out for the last dive of the day and I knew from that moment that this guy was something very different. He weaved me through the doorways and decks of the ship and I was in dive heaven.. soon after I was signing up for my GUE Fundamentals course with New Zealand's freshly certified GUE instructor Jamie Obern.
Now Fundies, as its called, was something that took me by complete surprise. The first thing that surprised me was that you could actually FAIL the course.
I signed up to do the course the hard way and do it in twin 12l tanks for the magical "Tech Pass" - boy was I in for a shock.

That was 17/07/ 2009 and it was the toughest course in Diving that I had ever done.
(That was before my next Jamie class...! )

Now here's where the similarities start to gel. As a 22 year oId,  was graded to Sho-Dan or black belt in the art I was studying  with the late great Michael Gent. He handed me my belt as I sat battered and bruised aside Mr Hinemoa, who was the solidly built Maori chap who had been throwing me about for the past 20mins.
Sensei Gent leaned in with his typical one eye closed squint and said "I am giving you this grade as I know you don't deserve it quite yet but I know you will work your ass off to keep it.." He smiled, and I felt tears well, with the pride of finally achieving something I had waited for all my life and I did,from that day, work my ass off to be the best I could be..

His lesson has stuck with me in everything I do.. and daily I draw on the skills I have learned through the Bujinkan Dojo..

And diving was the same.. I had been diving for years, I was qualified Open Water in 1987, and possibly thought I knew all there was to know about diving.
The day after my Fundies course, I felt a very similar sense of achievement and I knew that I had just been given my first grade in the art of GUE in the shape of a REC pass (Recreational Pass) and I was absolutely stoked to have passed. I had given the course 150% and it busted me good and proper. (That TECH pass was another 6 months away)
On my course, I had two solid divers who had done a lot of much more serious dives and were used to diving together and in twin tanks. GUE day one was my 2nd twinset dive.
Tom Crisp and Mike Batey were the two absolute best team members I could have got. Their sheer strength carried me well beyond what I had thought I was even remotely capable of doing,and their's and Jamie's encouragement during that course is something I will never forget.

This was my first real taste of team diving.

Just as martial arts has its kata or repetition of patterns to develop 'muscle memory' or the body reacting in a way that its almost in auto-pilot, GUE instils the same ideas.( The Japanese call this Mu-Shin 無心 or 'no mind' )
Clipping off regs and gauges as the norm and practising out of gas drills so that in times of extreme stress you can still function,or focusing on Kamae or posture to create a streamlined profile in the water, just as the arts use Kamae or stances to create a solid foundation for fluid and balance movement.

The foundation of any good style is to have a strong base to build upon and any good Karate or similar is the same its all about weight distribution and understanding your centre of gravity.Diving is exactly the same. GUE focuses on horizontal trim and using good technique to create a low drag profile in the water for a number of reasons.
Protecting the marine environment and using less breathing gas are just two off the tip of the iceberg.
I always remember when we went to the first Australian held "Tai Kai" where the instructors came from Japan to teach us here in Australasia.
Hatsumi Soke (The Grandmaster featured in image)
via his translator told us all we must work on the Kamae (Postures). All the high grades were horrified and groans and moans came through the ranks until he explained why.. "All of your Kamae is poor" - I did chuckle then and still find it amusing as Kamae is something I always held high and important.
He explained: "There is no point teaching us how to walk when we cannot stand" - I was in heaven..
For a great deal of the day, we focused on how to stand and how and why we use posture in defending and attacking. It all made perfect sense and really improved my own skills.
This was very first time I had ever seen my own instructor Sensei Gent getting thrown about by the Japanese, I was humbled by the way he trained as a student side by side with myself and the others.
No ego, just a thirst to learn and understand.

Now don't get me wrong I am simply comparing the similarities in the mind and body training involved not the similarities to the arts themselves as one is born of the feudal battlefield of the Edo period and the other is born of the Cave Divers of the WKPP.GUE promotes good in water trim and buoyancy as the foundation for building stronger divers.GUE focuses on solid posture and in water balance and drills to create a modular platform for various types of dives and diving environments.
Environments which include caves and similar overheads, and also deep dives on Trimix (Helium,Nitrogen,Oxygen) and also the likes of shipwrecks.
Shipwrecks and caves are two classic examples of where trim and buoyancy skills are imperative as poor finning technique and  buoyancy can lead to what's called a "Silt out" ( when mud or sand or rust creates zero or poor visibility ).
Deep diving is also an important one as the deeper you go, the more in water decompression you will require,so sitting mid water as your tissues off gas loaded nitrogen from the breathing gas for long periods of time become life threateningly important.
Doing your Deco in a trimmed position can allow the tissue compartments to off gas at the same level and being able to maintain good buoyancy and trim so not to blow those mandatory stops as you ascend from depth is obviously critically important.

So here I am filming Dive Instructors and divers with some with over 500 dives doing the GUE Fundamentals course and memories of my own course and training flood back.  I still remember the difficulties and stressful nature of the course .Before studying with the Bujinkan Dojo, I had also studied various forms of Karate and this was actually to my disadvantage as I had a certain amount of un-learning to do to get my self sorted out. For most of us, diving is the same. I have certifications from PADI and NAUI and TDI and it was clear to me in observing other Fundies courses that there were others who also needed to stop some of the habits or quirks that they had grown into in order to adapt to the GUE way of training.
To list a few.. hand sculling, kneeling on the sea floor ,vertical dive position, poor balance and trim are always common.
The recent course was an especially good one as we did have a lot of experienced divers to work with,who really worked their skills and pushed themselves to get in trim and manage themselves as a team.
Teamwork is one of the true cornerstones of the GUE divers skill-set.
Everybody undertaking a GUE course will find out that working as a team can be difficult and that's without any external variables such as current and surge or waves to disrupt team dynamics.
Even basic decompression stops on the first few dives were proving to be difficult..

Huge thanks to Dive Wellington and VUCEL and Dive & Ski HQ for their help during the GUE-F course.

So why bother with the GUE configuration of kit...?
Just because its been tested in some of the harshest diving conditions.. why bother..?
Well, a great example was straight after my GUE Fundies course when I went away and practised and not long after through the GUE network I discovered that there was a GUE instructor in Tokyo where I was headed on holiday.
So yeah, no guesses what I thought might go down well while I was there- some training.
This time it was with JUE obviously a branch of GUE, Japan Underwater Explorers.
JUE boss, Thomas Jonsson welcomed me in a message when I simply enquired about some training and within a few days we had scheduled a GUE DPV 1 course. I was soon to find out that these were not your average dive scooters. They were a very fast and very expensive bit of kit and huge amounts of fun.. hell the Cuda 550s even had gears..!

Anyway, I rocked up in Japan and everybody has the same dive equipment and set up,so we all know the configuration and all had spares as all the gear is the same. It was brilliant.It was the first time that I really saw the whole GUE idea at work. We suited up and started training and it was amazing.
I had never met or known any of these people before and we just moulded  together as a team and went straight to work.
I struggled skills wise as I always do but I persevered and finally started to get the hang of the Cuda thanks to Thomas's incredible patience.
The graduation dive was just incredible. I just  re-read my dive log entry before and I was buzzing at the time .It really was an amazing experience to literally scooter out of the bay and back again.
The DPV or Diver Propulsion Vehicle was my new best friend and it has never been far from my mind since this course in Japan.
(Which I would highly recommend doing if you are even remotely interested)
Another amazing thing is that I still have contact with all of my team from my DPV 1 course and my Fundamentals course years later. In fact, I had a re-union with my original team on a Cave Exploration trip to Blue Creek early this year where I had the pleasure of diving again with Tom and Mike as they deftly set up the U/W habitat for the dive teams Deco.
Tom and Mike have both travelled to Mexico and have had some amazing skills with their new certifications in both Cave and Tech.
I also had an amazing dive into the Blue Creek with Mel Jeavons who is easily one of NZ's highest qualified Cave divers. Mel managed to lure me past the first bend of the cave and I was totally blown away by the entire experience.

So last but not least... it must be asked I guess "Why do we do it..?" - why strive for excellence and go that extra mile?
"Does it really matter..?" ( I mean aside from the spectacular Caves and Wrecks )
I have had people joke to me in the past "Are you going out for another 4 hour hover in trim today Rob..?" Others ask why do I spend so long working skills in the pool or in the ocean?
This weekend was a classic example. I was told that my new Fourth Element Drysuit had arrived in Auckland at Auckland's premier dive shop Global Dive. ( Like that Andrew.. ?? ha ha ha )
So I snagged a ride straight up to Auckland with GUE NZ boss Jamie and we talked diving 90% of the way.
(Poor Jamie ha ha ha ha )
And after being spoiled by Mels cooking we were at Global Dive before I knew what was happening.

Rolling into Global, I met Kev from Oceanblue Adventures,an absolutely classic guy and a brilliant diver and skipper on the MV Mazurka which runs trips out of Tutukaka harbour to the magnificent Poor Knights islands.
I have done a few trips with Kev now and trust his judgement as a skipper implicitly. His on board meals are pretty kick arse as well... especially his Chicken curry.
Below is a pic of the other diver hanging on as Kev quite happily swings the MV Mazurka around to head home after a great dive on the Waikato in conditions most wouldn't venture out in.
Legend..

Not two minutes after Kev had left, in walked Pete Mesley who is pretty much a dive legend in New Zealand.
He runs dive trips to places most only ever dream of like Truk Lagoon and Bikini Attol.
I had spoken to Pete many times in the past and picked his brains on various occasions and subjects so I was very happy that the timing had allowed our paths to collide.
Pete's U/W photography in wrecks and similar is in a total league of its own He manages to take quality images at depths and in locations where many would fear to tread let alone to have the tenacity to compose images.
Check out Pete's amazing work via the below link.

Iin the shop, Pete came to me and said "Robbo, your images inspire me mate.." - to hear that from a photographer whom I feel is absolutely light years ahead of me was incredibly humbling.

One day I will get that U/W housing and get out to some of the magic locations Pete offer's.

So after all the fun at Global, we get the 32% fills for the twins and myself and Colin head out to Goat Island to to a DPV dive with NZ GUE boss Jamie Obern.Now Colin had been in twin 12l tanks at a recent dive camp and had an absolute nightmare dive in the gear and he told me he was completely uncomfortable and was not keen to dive in them again.
We told Jamie this and he said it was entirely up to Colin as to how deep and how long would we dive with the scooters and if need be we would just play in the shallows.

He dropped in with twins and a load of new Halcyon kit for the second time he had ever dived twins and had a bit of coaching from Jamie.
Colin sank below the surface and started scootering about... and it just got better from there.
I was in heaven. All the training in the pool and with Thomas came together it was just adding a tool to do a job and it simply slotted in with no effort .It was diving at its best.
All the reasons we do things without trapping the long hose, why we dump gas from the buoyancy compensator in the manner we do.. it all falls into place..

Next thing you know we have embarked on a GUE NZ favourite which is a 360o loop of the entire Goat Island itself and with all the fish there it was thrilling, huge schools of fish and Stingrays and big Snapper.. ohh my!
I was chilled and relaxed and just completely enjoyed the dive as I drew in the 32% through my Scubapro G250V in style...

As I sat on Jamie's wing like a bomber crew heading for a target, I banked left and right and I knew then why we do it. There was no question about what was the point.. it was just magic .It was like all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place and,  for an entry level GUE diver, I was loving it.
We did a complete loop for 100mins max depth 21m and four scooters,one spare and we cycled the scooters to optimise burn time... just magic..
As someone who aspired to be an Astronaut as a child, I was more than happy to have become an Aquanaut in inner space as we floated in zero gravity....  in this liquid world..

Now I don't regard myself as a black belt in GUE diving..
But in the immortal words of my old instructor Sensei Gent...
"I will work my ass off to get there"

Regards Rob Wilson ( GUE Fundies diver extraordinare  )
Huge Thanks to Jamie Obern from Tech Dive NZ and his lovely wife Mel

Halloween or Hallowe'en (/ˌhæləˈwiːn, -oʊˈiːn, ˌhɑːl-/; a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening")also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It initiates the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.
Typical festive Halloween activities include attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films....

"Typical..." -  is never where we live at FRONTLINE...
So we headed off to KAOS HQ for a crazy night of life and death entertainment,this time we had Paul Moss along for the ride who kindly sponsored some lighting for the KAOS fund-raiser.
And we had our fair share of departed dead and martyrs attend.. everyone from Death who was making a killing on the door sales to Pirates ready to plunder and pillage.

Paul and I met at 16:00 to head in and start the ball rolling with the lighting,and it was a relatively easy set up as Paul has done a lot of large events from downtown Wellington, to large events in much further afoot locations far as even Turkey.
We met up with Katie Roberts who was running the show last night and made an excellent MC.
Being an avid Pole Performer herself she made a perfect MC as she knows the moves and the skills and difficulties involved in performing.
And it was great to work with her and Mei again.


Mei - "Aka "5 feet of fury" is another amazing character who is not only a Pole Performer but also a fellow martial artist,and not your typical art either she is a student of Wing Tsun 詠春 made famous of course by its most famous student Lee Jun-fan 李小龍 or more commonly known as Bruce Lee, who then went on and in his own way stylised (or bastardised) depending on how you view it his own art Jeet Kun Do or as its now known:
Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do (振藩截拳道) - anyway lets not go down the Martial Arts tangent any further.
Short story she kicks ass and is really working her skills as a performer and martial artist.

The show was on track basically 40mins after we set up Paul's lights and it was all on from there,so nice to see great acts from some of the usual suspects Kapi and Em "Lexi" and a lot of the girls I have met previously at the NZAPP who absolutely smashed the stage.
It was a fantastic show that only slowed for a break.. it was a product of great organisation and great MC work and as usual a dollop of solid teamwork.

The crowd was populated from people of all ages and runs of life which always makes for an interesting night.
And after a bit of an education on how to be an audience from an experienced Pole Performer Katie herself.. they really started to respond and understand just how amazing the acts are and sheer power needed to perform some of these very difficult moves.

As a Photographer it was as usual an incredible night of learning to vary my styles and also my levels of light as we shifted from area to area.
Off to a horrific start with two memory cards failing in both slots of my trusty Canon 5D MkIII I was left with no option but to go straight to my back up MkIII and start shooting with it until I could have a few seconds to work out exactly what had failed - This is the reason why any Pro-Photographer will have at least two camera's on site at a shoot.
The sensation of losing a camera during a shoot was truly horrible,it happened right during an act as well so I was in full shooting flight when the camera told me the cards were all full - 10mins into a gig I knew there was no way I had used almost 20GB.

Hannya - 般若 :
My Hannya mask was purchased in Japan in Sugamo Zizou it is a protective item from harmful spirits.
The Hannya mask is a mask used Noh theater, representing a jealous female demon or serpent. It possesses two sharp bull-like horns, metallic eyes, and a leering mouth split from ear to ear.
The most renowned character is Hannya, who is actually not a devil or a demon but passionate jealous woman, which feeling for revenge have reached extreme highs. - how awesome is that -

I actually have incredible faith in the 5D MkIII as its an absolute beast and designed with hard core outdoor users in mind and one thing I was pretty sure of was - was that it wasn't the camera - and of course it wasn't.
It was crap memory cards.
Go Cannon..

Kapi was on fine form with her usual jaw dropping contortions,she has recently posted a video of her kicking herself in the face. (Apparently there is a video of me attempting to do the splits somewhere as well,but lets not get into that.)
Kapi rolled out with freaky white eye's and a Santa costume as she started to gain speed the Santa suit went in all directions.
How she can spin upside down and grip with only minimal contact with the pole is absolutely beyond me.
A real rising star in the Pole community is KAOS's Kapi so watch this space.


Also check out the KAOS Facebook page and remember its a fantastic way to get fit and really build some amazing core an ancillary muscles - get in there - and its not just for the ladies there are a lot of guys involved as well.

The night went fairly quickly and held a great pace,really top work to Katie for her MC work.
I also had to laugh as Katie could just bust out the most awesome moves at the drop of her Police hat for demonstrations and technical explanations.
Also thanks as usual to Julia from KAOS for having such a great crew.
Many thanks to all for letting me come along to document your event -

Kind Regards to all Rob Wilson

The start:
Well the bat signal went up a month or so back for a paranormal investigation of a Homestead built exclusively in Totara in the year of 1912 for a Major Charles.(not rumoured to be haunted in any major sense to my knowledge)
So yesterday we piled up the VX Cruiser with gear and myself, Jayne and Jo then hit the road for a nice easy drive up the main line to the investigation site.
On arrival the place was serene and air was filled with birdsong and sky moved with slow shifting overhead clouds.
Having a quick scout around, it was obvious that this was quite a location with a great deal of history locked in the walls.
The rest of the team arrived with James (Team leader see image inset)

The team this time wasn't a full compliment, but we had a good turn out,myself Jayne,James,Denise,Deb,Jo and two videographers from Te Papa who were doing a short documentary on our team.
Once the team was all there myself and Jayne went on an extremely important mission... to get some Fish & Chips.
After passing a few locations one stood out like the Statue of Fish and Chips Liberty,big U-turn across the traffic in the Landcruiser.
We saw the signs as we drew into the side of the road.. Group of smiling Maori exiting with a pile of food,two local ladies also with a big bundle - then the crowning factor which was a big burly farming dude looking like Fred Dagg complete with hat and Gumboots..!
As I walked towards him and his enormous bundles of wrapped food I said: "Would you recommend this place bro..?"
With a huge broad grin he said "Sure do.. the whole town does..!"
I also grinned and said.. "I will believe any man in a SWAZI top..!" - he again grinned and gave us a big thumbs up.
Just a classic moment where Kiwi's know what's good...!
Fish & Chip's in hand we drove back to the site and feasted briefly on Tarakihi and chips,and a cool can of Golden Pash - some more classic Kiwi stuff.

(For those of you not in NZ - SWAZI is in my opinion the finest hunting and tramping gear you can get your hands on.
Even the New Zealand S.A.S agrees...!
And for the Fish & Chip run we were in fact in SWAZI's home city of Levin,CEO Davey Hughes is a bull of a man and has travelled the world and done some absolutely mad mission's, check out the gear at www.swazi.co.nz - especially the Swazi Tahr XP anorak (Some shyite pinched mine but I can assure you the Tahr and the new XP is the absolute bomb..!)
And if you have a chance read his book which is also great "Untamed" )

After the feed it was game time.
I geared up with newly painted head torch and got out into the dark to start shooting the exterior of the building.
I felt completely relaxed in the dark alone as the wind rustled the trees high above my head.
Moisture had already started to collect on the lawn grass.I was looking at how I could capture that with the house in the background.. no easy task so I just ripped out the 16-35mm and the MkIII and started trying to:

1.  - Get the whole house in.
2.  - Get some decent focus.
3.  - Manage the ISO so not to create too much grain in the final shot.
4.  - Get low enough to get the shifting clouds in,which required getting down on the aforementioned wet grass.
5.  - Not get my bum wet on the grass.

Investigation:
Investigation wise, we were ready for anything from "The Thing" to the "Conjuring" - well maybe not quite "The Thing" as we had left the Dynamite and the Flame-thrower at James' house. (Pesky weeds in the garden)
Come to think of it, we didn't have any Catholic priests at the ready either or Ed and Lorraine Warren waiting in the ranks,so yeah scratch the above.
But we did have everything from Electromagnetic Field sensors and laser point temp gauges and all manner of other paranormal paraphernalia,and enough cameras to make Canon proud.
I even managed to get my hands on a ZEISS lens for the first time and a quick play with the amazing Canon EOS-C; what a magical bit of kit that is.
I have yet to venture into any serious videography with Frontline but that is about to change in the near future.
I still have plenty to do in a photographic capacity at this stage but its definitely an avenue that is of interest to me.

The team went room to room hunting spirits or unsettled throw pillows and checked for any signs of anything abnormal or in anyway paranormal.
Little was found,some tension and uncomfortable sensations were encountered by some of the team members,along with some hard to pin point draughts.





I suspect the draughts were coming from the age and weather twisted Totara window frames,but in all honesty failed to really find any strong source of air movement from them.
Considering the age of the place and construction, I was very surprised at the lack of creaking and groaning as the chill Levin air attacked the warm interior integrity of the Homestead.
The yawns started and the curtains were being drawn on the investigation.
I was still keen to carry on until the early hours but it was a long way back to Wellington.So down came the DVR cameras that James and the team had set up during our food run.
(We won't know until later if the cameras have picked up any Spooks.. )

One thing I would like to mention is the latest bit of outdoor kit I tested during my time at the investigation site and that was the NAO headlamp from PETZL. (See image) The version shown below is the "NEMES1S" - edition as I repainted it from Barium meal white to a far sexier OD Green and Tan.
The NAO is the latest headlamp from Petzl - which brings together all the technological innovations of the past few years.
Cree XP-G LED’s as a light source, 18650 Li-Ion cell as a power source, programming modes and charging via USB.
New Zephyr carrying system and "Reactive" - the system that automatically adjusts the light to your needs.

Now I was HIGHLY sceptical about the "Reactive System" and how it would function but as it had a MANUAL mode as well I thought I would still give it a go.
To my surprise it is actually a very clever bit of out door kit, for everything from Photography to night trail running.
The top sensor of the three in the cluster being aptly dubbed "The Eye of Sauron" is actually a sensor that takes in the amount of light reflected back at it and regulates the amount of power that is required to light whatever it is you are looking at.
For example, when I am looking at the remote timer in my hand for a Star Trail the light will be low so that I can still read the displays on the meter, and when I look up at the rocks in the distance to get focus the beam increases to the full ~300 lumen's.
How awesome is that..

Rob Rating 8.5/10

Conclusion:
Well regardless of any major activity it was a good run up with a great bunch of people,and I enjoyed getting out for some photos of an old and unique venue.. even if there was no major activity..

Thanks all.. Regards Rob

Well, after the two outings with the NZAPP Pole Comps, I have still kept in contact with a few of the dancers who were interested in getting some images for their crew
which is based in Wellington "KAOS" -
"Kaos Aerial Arts,is where fitness meets circus!
They are Wellington’s Premier Academy for Pole dancing/fitness classes, aerial arts and much more!
Kaos is all about having fun, being challenged and learning amazing new skills while you get fit.
Come and have a go at this fantastic fun way to work out!"

Julia Harris is the head honcho at KAOS and she has been learning pole fitness for 6 years and teaching for 5 years. She started out of curiousity and quickly developed a great love for the sport. Training with international pole champions such as Pantera, Jamilla DeVille, Chelle Hafner, Zahra & Stacey, Kim, Rafaela Montanaro, Nadia Sharif and Natasha Wang has taught Julia a lot about technique and safety. Julia has also trained as a fitness consultant and personal trainer to further her understanding of the body and how it functions when exercising. This has helped with both learning and teaching pole fitness.(How awesome is that..! - Rob )

Mei was my point of contact for the team so when I arrived on the day of the shoot it was great to see her there, and also Katie's smiling face who was also a competitor from the NZAPP.
I have to admit as a photographer I felt honoured walking in there as its essentially a changing room so most were 'between costumes' shall we say,and all greeted my with a typical "Hey Rob".
I had blended successfully into the background.. was great to be welcomed as one of the team.
Quickly I distracted myself and started setting up the camera gear.. ha ha ha..

Now for those of you who haven't ever tried to haul yourself up a jungle gym in the past few years you might get a bit of a shock at how incredibly difficult it is to physically do these sorts of moves,and I can assure you these girls are not only strong but they are tough...!
As I ran around trying to capture the girls pole moves I was in awe of their sheer strength and agility and in Kapi's case outrageous flexibility..!!
Kapi is featured in the image above,which in no way demonstrates her uncanny ability to put her feet behind her head and all sorts,And Kapi isn't the only one,all the girls are amazing.
I even cracked out an attempt at doing the splits myself after all these years.. it was far cry from my flexibility of old.

We had some great laughs and chatted as I shot them in action,day was capped off with a nice warm cup of Hot Chocolate thanks to KAOS boss Julia..
Thanks Julia and thanks to Mei for organising the day.
Great fun with awesome folks.

Regards Rob Wilson

It will be fun Rob they said..
Imagine paying money to beat yourself up over 6kms of rough terrain and mud.. ridiculous..
But fool that I am I decided it would be good for team building so I signed on.

Well before you knew it it was race day,we were duct taping out shoes to our feet as apparently the mud gets so thick and deep the sheer suction pulls your shoes clean off your feet.
"Clean off your feet" that is the only time you will see that word in this tale of woe..

Siren is sounding and we were off at a slow jog,straight up a hill and it was all on.
The turn out was incredible.. I thought... "Damn people are crazy.. how awesome is this.." - heaven forbid, I found myself smiling and enjoying it.
We waded through water,slipped in mud and at one stage we.. well I was wading up to my neck in filthy water. (Being slightly, vertically challenged)
Soaked and staggering from fatigue we ran-walked and jogged the course with the best of them.

We laughed and we screamed at the frigid waters,but we were all Divers.. we live in the cool green waters of the Southern Ocean.
The cold is no stranger to us.. so we flourished like Lillies in pond scum.. flowered in the greying skies.. and we fought..
We lost a lot of good men that day,well no we didn't really.. although the electric fence shocked most of us in our soaking wet kit which of course amplified the effect.

At the end we crossed the finish-line as we had started.. as a team..
And we all vowed to be back next year as well.. bring on 2014 TG&G challenge...!!