Heading to Austraila for ~3mo... looking to blow some bubbles at times

[jeremyl]

Hello!
My wife and I are heading to Australia for ~3mo to escape the cold, dark, wet winters of Oregon, USA. It will be our first OZ trip! We will be based in Sydney from Xmas thru the end of Jan - and we will be housesitting so can't really take off for anything more than a day trip. This will be the 'chill on the beach' part of the trip (or one of them).

So first off - my wife doesn't dive (she has some disability and can't do it)... so when diving it would just be me. I have ~550 dives, mostly throughout Indonesia, but some in Philippines, Palau, Truk, etc... I won't bring gear except my mask and computer. We are doing a 1yr+ exodus from the USA so traveling light. I'm not tech/deep/etc certified (just PADI AOW)... not so interested in deep caves or big wreck penetration... I def want to see the weedies and leafies, tho my friends down in Adelaide will hopefully show me some. I like pretty fishes and beautiful reefs. And large pelagics are great, of course, but not really after white shark dives.

We plan to spend a decent bit of time in Adelaide and Melbourne to see friends, and some wandering coastline trips to see the beautiful scenery... We have time to go off to other places, and while diving is far from the focus of this trip, I would like to do some, esp since we are there and it will likely be a while before that happens again.

It seems the season is wrong for diving much north of Sydney, and it's a ways to get up there...
SO... what should we put on the radar???

Much thanks!
Jeremy

 

[astr0b0y]

Can't speak with much authority on Sydney areas (plenty on here can) but I think you'll find lots of nice spots there through summer, in between storms.
Melbourne and Adelaide are south coast spots, cool temperate classification. I dive a 5mm all year round but that's because I'm too tight to go dry. There's some nice pier dives in Melbourne in Port Phillip bay, they get pretty busy in summer. Lots of lovely boat dives inside the bay and outside the heads that would suit your certification. One of the local dive shops has a good list of sites:

Melbourne Dive Sites Map - The Scuba Doctor

An interactive map of Melbourne and Victorian diving and snorkelling sites from The Scuba Doctor.

www.scubadoctor.com.au

And this site has a good list of sites around Sydney and other parts of the country:

Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

And another with a good list across the country:

Australian Dive Site Info | MARINE LIFE NETWORK

marinelife.org.au

Would be nice to meet another Jeremy when you get to Melbourne.

 

[Mike1967]

I'm too tight to go dry.

Mate I have an awesome drysuit going super cheap if you're interested, depending on your size ofc. PM me if you're keen!

 

[clownfishsydney]

Great diving in Sydney, as good as anywhere. No problem with diving north of Sydney at anytime of the year (presuming you mean within a day's drive). Even two days is no problem. Use the link to my website in post #2 to read about all the sites.

Good diving in Melbourne, although a fair drive from the city. All the capital cities except Darwin have good diving, although sites are distance from the centre of some cities.

 

[jeremyl]

Can't speak with much authority on Sydney areas (plenty on here can) but I think you'll find lots of nice spots there through summer, in between storms.
Melbourne and Adelaide are south coast spots, cool temperate classification. I dive a 5mm all year round but that's because I'm too tight to go dry. There's some nice pier dives in Melbourne in Port Phillip bay, they get pretty busy in summer. Lots of lovely boat dives inside the bay and outside the heads that would suit your certification. One of the local dive shops has a good list of sites:

Melbourne Dive Sites Map - The Scuba Doctor

An interactive map of Melbourne and Victorian diving and snorkelling sites from The Scuba Doctor.

www.scubadoctor.com.au

And this site has a good list of sites around Sydney and other parts of the country:

Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

And another with a good list across the country:

Australian Dive Site Info | MARINE LIFE NETWORK

marinelife.org.au

Would be nice to meet another Jeremy when you get to Melbourne.

Thanks for the info! Always good to meet another Jeremy - I've never met a bad one. I'll ping you when we get to Melbourne - likely first of Feb. Maybe we can go out and blow some bubbles together.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

So many good spots in the south, but if you do get up to the Far North Queensland, to Cairns, it's the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and a lot of options. See here but feel free to drop me a DM as I'm based up here so can point you in the right direction.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Join the scuba dive sydney FB group. the admin, David Nitschke is a great guy.

Just watch out for the dropbears at Clifton Gardens.

 

[Nedster]

So many good spots in the south, but if you do get up to the Far North Queensland, to Cairns, it's the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and a lot of options. See here but feel free to drop me a DM as I'm based up here so can point you in the right direction.

And stop off on the way and dive at the Yongala. It is an awesome wreck dive