The day kicked off with a 150ft hanging abseil over the biggest sea cave in Wales, where Glyn slipped and ended hanging upside down over the edge, a very scary moment! We landed on the beach below where a Sea Lion had stolen John’s shorts (we all had shorts on outside our wetsuits to help with wear and tear), and after our first jump and short swim to the boat we were whisked off in the boat for lunch at South Stack Lighthouse.

We visited the most inaccessible stretches of coastline to be found anywhere in Wales, with towering sea cliffs, sea caves and sea stacks some of the obstacles that we needed to negotiate on our route, our view was some of the best sea cliff climbs to be found in the British Isles. The sea was described as ‘lumpy’ by our hosts, having 5-10ft swells which made for an interesting time.

It was ominous beginnings, starting with 7, then going to 6, then 5, then 4 as each person ended up getting hurt/smashed with the high coastline waves against the sharp rocks, it finally ended up with just the three of us for the last couple of hours, myself and Mike being defiant while the rest huddled together to keep warm on the boat.

There were some spectacular take downs, our guides advice was to go with the waves and when a wave lifted you in the air onto the rocks if you didn’t have a good grip then just let go.. unfortunately that isn’t what instincts tell you and that’s where most got injured, trying to resist the pull of the sea and getting smashed into the razor sharp rocks.

In total we spent around four hours in the murky water and a great time was had by all, there were some terrifying jumps and I even managed a couple of somersaults. We saw a couple of Sea Lions who were interested in what we were up to and keeping an eye on us – though they were big fella’s so we probably looked like dinner, they probably got put off from the thought of getting through all that rubber we were wearing.

We had a good end to the day when we swam through a tight gulley which towered what seemed miles above us to only have a huge wave then come in towering a good 8ft powering it’s way towards us, it was like something out of the Goonies! We braced for impact and waited to get dragged over rocks and spat out the other end but it luckily wore itself out and we got hit by no more than a trickle.

After an exhausting day it was nice to have a warm shower, grab some food and have many beers recounting our exploits!

12345►

You can find more informaiton and downloads @ Corisx-TH Forum, download for Corisx-TH and the Original Demo of Theme Hospital can be found here.

Roll on multiplayer! Enjoy!

There’s lots going on at the moment, which is keeping me busy and out of trouble, but I’m going to make regular trips to updating my blog, as there’s lots of things still to post and what I’m currently upto.. watch this space.

Within the first hour of the trip, were all perched on the front of the boat as it glides through the sea, listening to Richie give us a talk on diving and snorkeling, of course none of us are taking any notice of him with the two baby hump back whales playing in the water behind.

This wasn’t the last of the whales to be seen on our trip, in total we saw about eight or nine with lots breaching, a dolphin playing at our bow, couple of sea snakes.. some say fighting.. I think more sweet romance on the waves.. I mean who would meet in the middle of the ocean for a dust off? Some turtles and millions of different types of fish, this was all from just being on the boat.

Pull up to a beautiful cove after a couple of hours and I volunteer to do my first dive in my life, so we all get togged out in full gear, suit, tank and weights and do an intro course into how not to drown with my dive buddies, Eoin and Lisa. We get the basics pretty much nailed, so down we go and explore the reef around us, while only 4-6 meters deep, there was still fantastic schools of fish around.

Day Two. Did someone order in rain this morning? Wake up in my cosy little cabin, with my fellow ship mates to the teeny tiny pattering of rain on our porthole.

If you were standing on Whitehaven beach that day, you would of seen teams of flubbering, floundering seals pulling themselves slowly onto shore.. that would be us all dressed up in wetsuits for our day on the beach.

Despite the rain we all had a jolly good time, going up to the look out, viewing the crystal blue waters and all the black shapes of the manta rays in shore. We all then had a splash in the sea, did some funky things with a camera.. well Jake did funky things with the camera, we just looked stupid doing things – which wasn’t hard for me!

After lunch headed off for my second dive with Lisa in the world wide ocean. I think Richie was trying to compliment me, but he kept giving me too little weight, or maybe I just look fatter than I am? Donning two wetsuits was terrible, I was like a buoy to the surface. Eventually I got down, lots of interesting things to see, but nothing highly exciting.. not this dive.

Day Three. Did someone order a side of chips with that? The running joke was that no-one wanted to dive with me and Eoin, as both our feet were bleeding.. you could understand why hey? Scaredy cats! So down we go to explore a wall which drops some 20 meters plus, but as new divers we stay above the 12 meter limit. Richie our dive instructor starts crunching a bottle to see if he can attract any sharks, straight away four or five zip in, some white tip sharks and bronze whaler sharks – they investigate us for thirty seconds, decide all that rubber and metal isn’t worth the effort and head back into the reef.

What we found out afterwards was interesting. What we didn’t spot except for one girl, was that a large bronze whaler came right up behind Richie, the girl was pointing frantically. Richie has does this a lot in his life.. and he was pretty concerned the way the sharks were behaving.. they were on the prowl for food that was for sure.. luckily we all survived to live another day, huzzah!

Everyone aboard Emperor Wings was amazing, the people were great, the staff couldn’t do enough for you, Richie was ace and always on form, Jake did a great job keeping us fed and taking really funky pictures, Stewie & Mike kept the boat from sinking, plus Stewie liked his blonde wig a bit too much for my liking and Caroline was just awesome friendly! Can highly recommend these guys for sure.

And I only got sea sick twice and I contained my stomach’s contents.. just!

12►

First things first, you should know of a great little tool on LinkedIn, if you go to Contacts > My Connections > Network Statistics, you will get full statistics of how LinkedIn you are. Of course, don’t go now, read the article first before I loose you… doh, too late lost some of you!

For those still reading – thanks for sticking with me, here’s a quick break down on my view of the argument on quantity of contacts vs. quality, I would be interested in hearing yours.

Some want to build a huge network, they will invite every man and his dog. Rightfully so, as LinkedIn is about networking and being found, simple maths state that the more contacts you have, the higher the probability you have of being found – all elementary stuff dear Watson.

Others stick to a quality network, as stated in LinkedIn’s T&C’s, you should only invite people you have in some way actually associated with. Which is great for those that come into contact with an assortment of individuals daily.

My belief is that it’s best to take the middle ground. You will eventually exhaust all your contacts you associate with, and these will grow very slowly as time goes on. You really need to take the initiative if you want LinkedIn to work hard for you – that new job, contract, employee won’t just land in your lap. Use the advanced search (top right) to start searching for new contacts, you can filter these results to locations and industries.

For example, your an SEO Guru, so first off you start by connecting with all the recruitment firms in the area’s you want to work, next you have a prime list of companies you’ve always wanted to work for, say Google is one of them, so you start introducing yourself at different levels and see if they are agreeable to connect – you have to make your own opportunities to get anywhere in life.

There’s a couple of articles I’ve written previously you can read up on:

Make LinkedIn work for You!

Getting Started with LinkedIn.

Hope this helps, Mark.

We all had to take a breathe test before we could do the climb, and not everyone made it through… tsk, tsk, these young whipper snappers nowadays huh?!

Having a perfect sunny and clear day to experience the 360 degree views of Sydney, the east of Sydney Opera House, the Blue Mountains and the Harbour city surrounds.

Our guide Scott was awesome fun, albeit relentless with the bad jokes onslaught! I nearly tried to unstrap myself and jump.

Reaching the top was a huge sense of achievement that I’ll never forget – conquering an Australian icon recognised the world over!

I felt right at home – they nearly didn’t let me leave and attempted to rush me back into the monkey cage!

12►

I managed a couple of weeks on the slopes in the end, starting with a Rocket Pass, which consisted 3 days of lift passes, gear and some training – my bum was sore by the end of the 3 days, having bruise upon bruise! Then I bought a seasonal pass and rented board and boots.

My run was about 9 or 10 days of solid snowboarding straight, dragging myself relentlessly out of bed each morning, my body was like a well oiled machine… that had broken down! Towards the end of my boarding I was on my heel, toe, linking in turns, getting dragged along by the T bar up the slopes with a flurry of snow in my wake!

Snowboarding was such awesome fun and one which I shall return to for sure and get better at. When I finished I was building up my confidence for more speed before attempting some jumps… but unfortunately I ran out of time. Whakapapa and Turoa where great mountains to learn on, while they could of done with a little more snow, for me it was all new, so it was good enough.

123►

On my travels I’ve been slowly updating and tweaking my blog, unfortunately it only shows a small proportion of what I’ve actually been up to, due to a combination of Internet access, bringing my blog up to date and laziness – I mean being so busy of course!

Near the end of May I finally hit the North Island, spending a few days exploring Wellington, and by exploring, I mean several nights out at the pub getting very dwunk! *hic*

Next stop Napier to visit the Art Deco capital, which was nice and quaint as a stop over.

Then to Rotorua, the thermal hub, visiting the Craters of the Moon en-route. Here I went to the Kiwi encounter to see a real live Kiwi, albeit it in an enclosure, and a trip to a Maori night. When coming to Rotorua you need to prepare yourself for the constant smell of rotten eggs, ugh!

Went to Wai-o-tapu, a thermal wonderland, all the pools a variety of yellow, red and green’s and a couple of hours chilling out in the spa.

Drive over to visit Hobbiton, which was amazing, to see the town about one third rebuilt, now if they could get their act together they could get filming, grrr!

Go to Waitomo, going under ground to visit the three caves, see the glow worms, following on next day with a 100m abseil and spending a few hours working our way back out – if you’ve ever watched descent, there was one part which was extra spooky, especially when I was left on my own, eeek!

Next stop is the National Park, with lots of walking and an attempt on the Tongarrio Crossing, only possible to go so far due to the weather, boo! Which was still an amazing trek.

Finally I drive down to visit my friend on the outskirts of Wellington and had a grand old time, walking, great company, amazing home cinema, even more amazing Japanese dishes and a Diablo 2 session.

Time to head down the East coast, first stop being Wanganui, with an elevator built into the hill, going down a 238 metre tunnel to get to it, supposedly only one of two in the world.

Then to New Plymouth, with a great coastal walk, watching the kite surfers playing in the sea, looks like great fun, it’s going on my to do list!

Onto Hamilton, which is friendly, one of the bigger places in NZ. Go around the Coromondel, amazing views and fantastic beaches.

Drive all the way up top to Kaitaia, to visit Cape Reinga light house and drive down the 91 mile beach – which is in fact only 63 miles long. Get to do some surfing down the great dunes, filling up places with sand that shouldn’t be O.o

Over to Raglan and spend a couple of days learning to surf, manage to stand up quite a few times on my first go, it’s awesome fun! Pickup a scar on my cheek though for my troubles, damn surf boards, I know why surfers are so fit, no-one told me it would be such hard work *puff, pant*.

Finally I’m now residing in the National Park for a few weeks, I’ve picked up my gear for some snow boarding and just waiting on some decent weather to get out on the slopes.

Met so many great people, had some great crack and entertaining stories – sorry it’s all a bit brief, but gives you an idea of where I’ve been. Well, best grab some lunch, belly says it’s hungry and who am I to argue, later dudes!

Visiting Cape Reinga with Harrisons Cape Runner, the trip consisting of a visit to the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, Wagener Park, Rarawa beach, Cape Reinga, Tapotupotu Bay, Te Paki Sand Dunes (got to toboggan down the massive dunes) and drove down 90 Mile Beach (actually only 63 miles long) where I saw some wild horses hiding out in the dunes.

The Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean crash together as they meet below the Cape Reinga lighthouse, with lots of swirls and different colours, it was certainly a sight to behold, albeit a little windy *grabs onto a fixed object*

We picked up a hitch hiker at the Great Sand dunes, he was Murtle the Turtle, who had been found on the beach, and we were kind enough to give him a lift to the DOC site, I hope he didn’t get car sick, I wouldn’t want to shell out for the cleaning bill.

Very lucky to have a great sunny day, considering I visited in the winter, but it is true, the further North you go in New Zealand, the warmer it gets. One of my favourite parts, not including the tobogganing (getting sand in unmentionable places) and the amazing views, was our lunch stop, where lots of Kiwi Quals came out for lunch too and excitingly weaved in and out of our feet picking up our crumbs.

12►