Treasure trails...

I love them.

Recently I had the absolute privilege of spending a few hours wandering around The Rocks with one of this country's leading archeologists and historians. He told me so many stories about the people and places that made Australian's who we are. It was an intimate insight that I know I'm very lucky to have had his knowledge shared with me.

While wandering around, standing on seemingly innocuous patches of bitumen or paved land, the stories of the land beneath my feet became more than pages in a long lost school history book. They became real. Very real. Men became more than characters in history, they became real men. Some of the stories of these early settlers even had a connection to my home town of Ipswich. We talked about the artifacts that had been excavated. Most of which helped build a picture of a very different day to day life than today.

This just added to my recent found love of Australian history. I've been dreaming of finding a connection to the past... Dreaming of being a treasure hunter.

I know where to look too. It's not where many other people have looked before. I know this because it's off the coast. There is a spot off the coast I've had my eye on for a few years. I know there is something there. I know this because I've been diving there and I've found things there before. I've brought these things to this historian and he's told me about the life that these objects had before ending up on the sea floor... even how they may have got there.

I've just ordered a new underwater housing for my camera and I so want to go and find something more. I know where to look. I've found a couple of broken items there before. I know it may take a couple of dives to try and find the exact location again.

I know the dangers of diving by myself. But, I'm bloody keen. Stupid brain and stupid sense of adventure. I know I need this. C'mon, you know me, you know I like stuff like this. Something takes over and I just follow the desire. But, I've put the call out for a like minded dive buddy, but so far no luck. Sydney divers aren't interested in this sort of dive. It's all "let's keep moving", pretty fishes or nothing to most of them. This dive would involve being in one spot and searching.

There are men like me out there... I know it. There has to be.