Discovery and exploration.

I began scuba diving in 1991, when my brother organised for us both to do a PADI Open Water Diver course at Shellharbour. Little did I know at the time that I would be living in the Illawarra many years later.

In an earlier life, I helped organise and run one of the world's largest underwater photography competitions, the Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year, while serving three years on the committee of the South Pacific Divers Club.

I was part of search teams that located and identified shipwrecks off the coasts of New South Wales and Tasmania. I designed and built a personal closed-circuit mixed-gas rebreather, then planned and executed deep dives with it (using heliox) to explore shipwrecks off the Australian coast.

In the late 1990s, Jason Rogers, Rodney Nairne, and I began homebuilding rebreathers. The old Australian Amateur Rebreather Group (AARG) website, documenting that work and the diving around it, is now archived. Visit the AARG archive here.

For many years I dived shipwrecks off Australia's east coast with Max Gleeson. Max took me under his wing, taught me an enormous amount, and gave me the opportunity to build experience through some fantastic adventures. Those years deepened my passion for shipwreck diving and exploring the underwater world. Visit Max's website here.

In 2022, I was lucky to dive with Great White sharks at the Neptune Islands, ticking off a bucket list adventure.

• Disciplines
  Open water, deep, mixed-gas rebreather
• Built
  Own closed-circuit rebreather
• Wrecks
  NSW and Tasmania search teams
• Bucket list
  Great Whites, Neptune Islands, 2022
• Committee
  South Pacific Divers Club, 3 years
• Event
  Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year

From 2009 to 2014, I was part of archaeological excavations run by the Greek Ministry of Antiquities on the islands of Kythera and Antikythera in southern Greece. It all began thanks to my good friend John Fardoulis, who invited me to Kythera for a holiday that first year. We ended up travelling to Antikythera, where our archaeological adventures began.

For three consecutive seasons (2011, 2012, 2013), I was a part of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities team excavating the famous Mentor shipwreck off Kythera. The Mentor sank in 1802 carrying part of the Parthenon Marbles, and its excavation has been one of the most significant underwater archaeology projects in the Mediterranean.

• Region
  Kythera and Antikythera, southern Greece
• Period
  2009 to 2014
• Authority
  Greek Ministry of Antiquities
• Project
  Mentor shipwreck, 2011 to 2013
• Team
  Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities

I started going to the gym in the 1980s, the heyday of bodybuilding: Conan the Barbarian on the screen, Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" on the radio, and the "Life Be In It" campaign on TV. Nobody really knew what they were doing, but it was fun and it stuck.

In 2016, walking past a CrossFit competition at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre kicked off a new chapter. From there, I dieted and trained for a run of amateur bodybuilding events, taking out several trophies and culminating in a 5th place finish in age group at the Australian Nationals in Melbourne.

I even managed to meet Arnold twice in the same month: once at Gold's Gym in Los Angeles, and again a few weeks later at the Melbourne Fitness Expo. I no longer compete, but I still train.

• Best result
  5th, Australian Nationals (ICN), Melbourne
• Trophies
  Multiple amateur competitions
• CrossFit
  From 2016 onwards
• Arnold
  Twice in one month, LA and Melbourne
• Started
  1980s, the bodybuilding boom era

Two wheels, open road, the constant feedback loop between machine and rider. From learning to ride at age 14 on a cousin's farm at Grenfell in western NSW, through long-haul Australian touring, to years of MDMC group rides across Southeast Asia. The full story sits on its own page.