Transcript

00:00:00

Welcome to the Scuba Goat podcast.

00:00:02

With Matt Waters, let's dive right in.

00:00:08 Matt Waters

Hey there, dive buddies and welcome back to the show. Now I know it's been a while since our last episode and I want to start by saying a big thank you and a bit of an apology as well for that delay. I've been very, very hard at work on something truly exciting and that's my travel company, nomadic scuba. Later this month, we're going to be launching a brand new website and I'm super stoked to see how it goes.

00:00:29 Matt Waters

So stay tuned for all the details.

00:00:32 Matt Waters

But that's not all. The excitements on the horizon coming up later this month as well is the very first go diving show right here in Sydney. It's modelled after the popular UK event and it's shaping up to be a fantastic experience with a line up of exhibitors and speakers from all over the globe. Today we are going to give you a sneak peek at who's attending what time they'll be on stage.

00:00:52 Matt Waters

And what you can expect to hear now, I may know quite a few of the speakers, but I've called in some help from another industry Titan, Adrian Stacey, editor of SCUBA Diver magazine A&Z, and the guy responsible for coordinating this amazing.

00:01:04

And.

00:01:05 Matt Waters

Adrian, welcome to the show, Buddy. Now, before we dive into the go diving show itself, let's take a little step back, get to know you a bit better. So how did you get into scuba diving? Where did it all begin?

00:01:17 Adrian Stacey

Well, let, yes, exactly. Let's let's start from the beginning then I diving, I suppose I I first got into diving when I was 23. I did a around the world.

00:01:27 Adrian Stacey

Trip.

00:01:29 Adrian Stacey

And.

00:01:31 Adrian Stacey

About halfway through, I ended up in Cairns and I was keen to have as many different experiences as possible, so when I was in Cairns I signed up for open water course with with Pro Dive because they had a little Liver Board section as well where you went on a couple of days on the Great Barrier Reef on the Liver Board.

00:01:50 Adrian Stacey

So I did that and yeah, that was by far and away the my, my favourite thing I did on the trip was was scuba diving. Absolutely loved it. So yeah, from from.

00:02:04 Adrian Stacey

There.

00:02:05 Adrian Stacey

When I got back home, went back to my my normal job and when I could, I'd I'd go out or go off scuba diving didn't happen that often. I have to admit, which was a a shame, but I I'd love it. Then I suppose. When I when I reached.

00:02:21 Adrian Stacey

About.

00:02:23 Adrian Stacey

30 when I was about 30 years old.

00:02:25 Adrian Stacey

I had an early midlife crisis. I thought there's gotta be more to life than selling. Photocopiers in London for a living. I so I.

00:02:38 Adrian Stacey

I thought, well, I love travelling and I love diving, so why don't I become a dive instructor? So I I I went to Egypt obviously.

00:02:50 Adrian Stacey

Quit my job. Told my parents they were stunned to begin with, but sort of saw the the benefit or the the wisest of the decision, so or the merits of the decision. So yeah, I I left.

00:03:04 Adrian Stacey

I think I was about 31 when I eventually left, went to Egypt and and did my open water through to instructor with Emperor.

00:03:17 Adrian Stacey

And that was the beginning. That was the beginning. Yeah. I I then spent the next 13 years travelling around the world to various different places, so I obviously was probably about four or five years in, in Egypt about four years, couple of years in Costa Rica, then over to Thailand.

00:03:17 Matt Waters

OK.

00:03:38 Adrian Stacey

Indonesia, I did a little island in the Caribbean called Sabre for a year. Mexico also and some travelling around. In 2014 we went.

00:03:50 Adrian Stacey

To South America, to Brazil, to watch the World Cup and then do some travelling around there. So yeah, that that was the nomadic lifestyle for a while. I met my girlfriend who's now my wife in Thailand and she's Australian, which is hence we.

00:04:10 Adrian Stacey

We ended up here. So we we discovered when we were working in Indonesia and Komodo, we're on Labuan Bajo and we found out that she was pregnant. So that was the end of the nomadic lifestyle for for us. So then it was a decision to be made. Would it be.

00:04:29 Adrian Stacey

The resettling in Brisbane in Queensland, or back to London.

00:04:38 Adrian Stacey

So.

00:04:40 Adrian Stacey

Whilst I love London and had a a fantastic upbringing there and enjoyed my 20s in London immensely, we thought bringing up a family probably probably would be better off in in in Brisbane and after 13 years of travelling around.

00:04:56

Yeah.

00:05:00 Adrian Stacey

Tropical and desert environments, the thought of the London weather was not that appealing.

00:05:10 Matt Waters

Mate, it's it's. It's a scary thing when you say that you don't wanna go back home, isn't it? And I'm. I'm exactly the same. It's just I never used to bother me. The weather. And then you move abroad and do you know 10 years or so or whatever and go back home. It's middle of the summer and you're.

00:05:21

Yeah.

00:05:25 Matt Waters

Freezing.

00:05:26 Adrian Stacey

It's just ridiculous. Yes. Yeah, it is, I think.

00:05:30 Adrian Stacey

I think if you had defined seasons in in the UK you'd you'd be OK if it was really cold and snowing through the winter fine and hot during the during the summer. Great. But it's when all the seasons kind of bleed into.

00:05:44 Adrian Stacey

One with a couple of weeks, maybe of nice weather that it it starts to get you down a bit. So. So now I just enjoy going home for a few weeks.

00:05:55 Adrian Stacey

And then coming back to the nice weather here. So yeah. So that's that's kind of how that was the my diving career when we first got back to Australia, the scuba diver magazine.

00:05:59 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:06:11 Adrian Stacey

Wasn't wasn't actually running then Mark, I think Mark and Ross had just set up.

00:06:19 Adrian Stacey

Scuba diver in the UK, so when I was here.

00:06:24 Adrian Stacey

I needed to find a job and my my CV for a normal nine to five job didn't read fantastically well, so I got a job for flight Centre actually working as a travel agent specialising in adventure travel.

00:06:36

OK.

00:06:41 Adrian Stacey

So I did that for four years. I think it was. And then I left in January. I I started doing part time there and part time.

00:06:51 Adrian Stacey

With the magazine with scuba diver A&Z because they'd set that up by.

00:06:55 Adrian Stacey

Then.

00:06:57 Adrian Stacey

And then I went full time with scuba diver A&Z leaving Flight Centre in January of 2020. So.

00:07:07 Adrian Stacey

Just before COVID shut everything down, I I managed to escape the travel agency. My so my my timing was fantastic.

00:07:15 Adrian Stacey

On on on that one.

00:07:16 Matt Waters

Impeccable. Yeah. Yeah, I was the other way around. Everything hit right then we had a we'd spent a considerable amount of money on a website for my travel agency, nomadic scuba. And I think it was a week before or 10 days before we were due to launch the website COVID hit and that was it destroyed everything.

00:07:36 Matt Waters

So we were kind of or I was, I was kind of stuck in that, that COVID nortre pot for however long it.

00:07:37

Yeah.

00:07:44 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah, it was. I mean it it it came with as difficult as as I was glad I wasn't working for flight Centre but still trying to keep the magazine running and obviously we had to close down for not closed down, but we had to stop printing for a little while. We carried on with the web posts and and that side of things. But I think in the end it was only.

00:08:05 Adrian Stacey

Three months that we we stopped printing for and then and then we restarted again so but yeah, it was, it was difficult, thankfully that.

00:08:08 Matt Waters

There.

00:08:15

It's.

00:08:16 Adrian Stacey

Pretty much behind us now. I think there's still a a few lingering aftershocks, I think still from flight costs and all that sort of thing from from COVID but.

00:08:26 Adrian Stacey

It seems to.

00:08:27 Adrian Stacey

Be in firmly in the rearview Mirror Now, which is good.

00:08:31 Matt Waters

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we're never gonna see that kind of thing again.

00:08:35 Adrian Stacey

No, no, I don't think so.

00:08:37 Matt Waters

I.

00:08:38 Adrian Stacey

Well.

00:08:38 Matt Waters

There will be.

00:08:39 Matt Waters

I think there'll be wars in every country around.

00:08:41 Matt Waters

The world if it if it went.

00:08:42 Matt Waters

Off again.

00:08:45 Adrian Stacey

Yes, there's there'd certainly be a a few complaints and a few. Maybe the odd riot here and there, I think. Yeah. No one wants to go back to that.

00:08:54 Matt Waters

So that lands you with the big job of looking after the scuba diver magazine in a NZ. So that's that was 2020. How how? What's the what's the growth been like since you you took on that role?

00:09:10 Adrian Stacey

Well, it's it's been great. I mean the the magazine probably when we start over here probably.

00:09:18 Adrian Stacey

Late 2018, beginning in two early 2019, is when the magazine actually started. Yeah, probably early 2019 is when the magazine actually started, so the guys have done a few issues, but before kind of I got involved and I knew Mark because I contributed to to.

00:09:37 Adrian Stacey

Sports diving when he was the editor of that and had just always stayed in touch.

00:09:41 Adrian Stacey

With him. So, yeah. Then they started to to grow the magazine over here and and and and knew I was here. So we we had a chat and and they offered me the job as a say on a part time basis 1st and then then it grew so yeah, it was it was good we'd we'd grown the magazine prior to COVID.

00:10:02 Adrian Stacey

So we started off.

00:10:04 Adrian Stacey

What 68 pages? We we've grown it up to 84 pages. We had a good distribution network, things were going well. Plenty of people interested in advertising because obviously we're we're free magazines. So we we kind of relied on the advertising revenue. So yeah, it was all it was all looking good.

00:10:24 Adrian Stacey

And then of course, 1 by 1 the.

00:10:28 Adrian Stacey

It's.

00:10:29 Adrian Stacey

Was COVID hit? Kind of the reality of COVID hit one by one or obviously, all the advertisers dropped out.

00:10:36 Adrian Stacey

Understandably, of course. So yeah. So that that was, that was difficult, but then.

00:10:43 Adrian Stacey

We restarted as I say probably.

00:10:47 Adrian Stacey

There's only a few months, so we, yeah, when we start probably towards the end of 2020 and since then it's it's been good. It's been a pretty reasonable growth rate back up to where we were at at 84 pages.

00:11:05 Adrian Stacey

So plenty of advertisers and yeah, things are things are going well generally for the magazine. We started North America version.

00:11:16 Adrian Stacey

Of the magazine as well that that started off just before.

00:11:21 Adrian Stacey

COVID NIT, but that was a quarterly magazine. It's now gone up to bimonthly.

00:11:27 Adrian Stacey

Magazine and in January next year, we're looking to launch a German version of the magazine as well.

00:11:37 Matt Waters

Oh, OK.

00:11:39 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, German speaking 7.

00:11:39 Matt Waters

That time and with the with that time in with the book.

00:11:42 Matt Waters

Show.

00:11:42 Matt Waters

At all that's launched.

00:11:43 Adrian Stacey

Yes, I believe that is the idea. Yeah. Yeah. And. And of course, there's the there's, there's the dive show in in the UK and and of course the, the, the dive show, the inaugural dive show here in in Australia later this month.

00:11:56

Yes.

00:12:04 Matt Waters

That's a fantastic lead in mate. The dive show, the inaugural dive show in Sydney later this month. Right on cue. You couldn't you couldn't write?

00:12:12 Matt Waters

That.

00:12:16 Adrian Stacey

Good, glad, glad that worked well.

00:12:20 Matt Waters

But how how's it coming along? How's that? You've still got hair so clearly you've not been pulling it out.

00:12:25 Adrian Stacey

Not around the back, I don't, but.

00:12:30 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, it's it. It's been, it's it's been a steep learning curve. I have to admit, the first time I've I've done a show so.

00:12:36 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:12:42 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, kind of. We were at. We were at DEMA in last year and Ross said Ohh, by the way, we're we're thinking of doing a dive show in in Australia, you know, UK ones going really well. We're just gonna emulate that in Australia.

00:12:57 Adrian Stacey

So that was obviously November, he said. When do you think a good time of year would be? It was probably September, so he's he like while we're at demo, he he he found the showgrounds like we had availability at the end of September.

00:13:11 Adrian Stacey

So that's that's. That's when he decided or that's when him and Mark and and everybody decided we'd we'd do the dive show. So they said right, you've got nine months or so.

00:13:23 Adrian Stacey

To get it.

00:13:23 Matt Waters

Done. Yeah. You've now, you've now just got a lot busier.

00:13:26 Adrian Stacey

Then.

00:13:28

Yeah.

00:13:28 Adrian Stacey

Yes. And I'd also already, I'd already booked a holiday back to the UK, see my family in September.

00:13:39 Adrian Stacey

So we go away on Wednesday couple of days time we don't get back until like a day before the show so.

00:13:49 Adrian Stacey

We land, we.

00:13:50

OK.

00:13:51 Adrian Stacey

Land.

00:13:51 Adrian Stacey

That's awesome timing. We land, we land on like the 20 Wednesday the 25th in Brisbane, drop the kids off with their their grandmother and and then we fly down to Sydney on on the 26th on Thursday. So looking forward to Nice bit of jet lag.

00:14:06 Matt Waters

Nice, nice.

00:14:09 Adrian Stacey

That, yes. So yeah, it's yeah, it's it's been as I say it's it's been interesting. It's been yeah, as I say a bit of a a a steep learning curve. We took my wife on board as well to to help out because it would have just been too much for me to.

00:14:30 Adrian Stacey

You know, to to the magazine and all of the show stuff. So she's been great helping out, dealing kind of with.

00:14:38 Adrian Stacey

With the exhibitor portals and dealing with the customers once have all signed up and you know kind of the OR the ad and customer service side of things, it's taken a lot of the strain off me which which is good. But yeah the shows.

00:14:45 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:14:53 Adrian Stacey

Looking good. We've we're we're pretty much full. I think we've got 1 Booth left to sell that. I think there's there's a couple of people interested in so we should get that sort finished in the next day or so just before I go away.

00:15:08 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:15:09 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, we've. Yeah, I'm. I'm really, really looking forward to it. We're, we're all all excited about it. It's I think gonna be a bit different to anything that's that's been before, certainly in, in recent times. So yeah, it's it's exciting, very exciting for us.

00:15:28 Matt Waters

Mate, it's got. It's got the makings of a fantastic event. I mean the the only or the 1st dive show that I went to when I got here in.

00:15:38 Matt Waters

2018.

00:15:39 Matt Waters

Was a very small dive show that was just swallowed up by the boat show. So much so that a lot of the staff that were in the grounds didn't even know where the dive show area was. You know it was.

00:15:51 Adrian Stacey

Hmm.

00:15:51 Matt Waters

Uh.

00:15:52 Matt Waters

It was just it was just drowning underneath a lot of boats, so to have an independent show that is all for diving and to have this lineup of individuals on the stage giving their their talks is is it's going to be something that's fantastic and brand new really.

00:16:08 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, yeah.

00:16:09 Matt Waters

I think we've had like T dex that you know, we've had presentations at Tex and Sue Crow, and the team did a fantastic job with that, but that's that's purely technical, isn't it? So having a show like this that is open to everyone, from DSD through to the, the, the tech hierarchy, it's, it's superb to get everyone.

00:16:29 Matt Waters

One place.

00:16:30 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, yeah, I think that, I mean that was a bit of the reasoning behind trying to emulate what we do in the UK as as just having a, you know, a recreational dive show open to absolutely everybody you know from your, your experienced diver, down to your, your newbies and and families trying to get families involved as well. So.

00:16:51 Adrian Stacey

To you.

00:16:53 Adrian Stacey

Grow the industry and you're only going to do that with new divers and younger divers the next generation. So yeah, it was. It's hopefully it has something for everybody. I think, you know, we've got a lot of interactive elements as well to the show. You know, we've got the the Tri dive pool, we've got a demo pool where they're going to be.

00:17:13 Adrian Stacey

Demonstrations of various.

00:17:15 Adrian Stacey

Things going on, I think it's we've got a shark bus museum, which would be interesting. We've got VR areas.

00:17:28 Adrian Stacey

And yeah, a lot. Lots of lots of interactive elements. And of course, a fantastic lineup of of speakers the guys have done a great job getting. Yeah, speakers across all, all all kind of disciplines in.

00:17:45 Adrian Stacey

In the diving world, you know from tech and cave, you know through photography and yeah, travel as well. We've got strong travel elements to the show which should be good as also. So yeah. And of course Steve.

00:18:00 Adrian Stacey

Bagshaw.

00:18:01 Adrian Stacey

Which?

00:18:02 Matt Waters

Yes.

00:18:04 Matt Waters

Yeah, that's a that's a good grab to get him coming over.

00:18:09 Adrian Stacey

Yes, especially seeing as he's he's recently been on mainstream TV over here, I think it was on ABC. He was on with the documentary about Wales. So and he's he's done a couple of talks before, for for us at the UK show.

00:18:21

MHM.

00:18:27 Adrian Stacey

So you can do this.

00:18:30 Adrian Stacey

He's going to do A and Z and then next year he's doing UK again. So yeah, it was it was. It was good to get a a headline headline headliner like like Steve involved.

00:18:42 Matt Waters

The year well, one of the many questions I keep getting asked and I just redirect people to the go diving show web page. Let's go divingshow.com is you know when the speakers are on whether it's just one day or two days and.

00:18:56 Matt Waters

Off the bat there I miss Steve Backshall. He's on both the Saturday and the Sunday on the main stage, isn't he?

00:19:02 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, we've got the the main stage speakers, people like Jill Heiner, obviously Steve Backsaw, Pete Measley. Who else have we got on there?

00:19:20 Matt Waters

Uh.

00:19:22 Matt Waters

Richard Harris.

00:19:24 Adrian Stacey

Richard Harris. Yeah, is on the main stage as well.

00:19:25 Matt Waters

This park has been.

00:19:28 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:19:30 Matt Waters

Tell you what, let's let's have a let's have a run through the guys, shall we? Cause they'd be we're we're we're naming people. There might be listeners that just don't know. All of them that we're talking about. So.

00:19:42 Matt Waters

Steve Backshall, let's start with a big fella.

00:19:46 Matt Waters

Do you wanna do you wanna give a little overview of who Steve Bagshaw is for the Aussies that don't know him?

00:19:52 Adrian Stacey

Well, Steve Bagshaw is well, how would you describe Steve? I suppose he's a TV personality TV presenter.

00:20:01 Adrian Stacey

He does the deadly 60 which we get over here and and is in the UK. As I mentioned, he's he's done various documentaries.

00:20:11 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. How to describe him his.

00:20:14 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, very enthusiastic, I think.

00:20:18 Adrian Stacey

Very family orientated, kind of his, his target market I think is is quite family or was until this this Wales documentary that he's done. So he's an explorer and yeah. Yeah, very, very entertaining individual when you see your show. So yeah, I suppose.

00:20:39 Adrian Stacey

His most famous or most well known programmes will be the deadly 60s that he did.

00:20:46 Matt Waters

Yeah, he's definitely a a popular chap in the UK and I must have it. I'm looking forward to seeing him on stage and he's like he's so very passionate and I suppose he's a he's a slightly calmer version of Steve Irwin. He's not.

00:21:01 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:21:02 Matt Waters

I love these critters.

00:21:05

Yeah.

00:21:05 Matt Waters

And I'm sure he's got many a story that he can relay on stage as well.

00:21:09 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, but only slightly calmer than Steve Irwin.

00:21:12 Adrian Stacey

I think.

00:21:14 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, he's definitely very passionate.

00:21:19 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

00:21:19 Matt Waters

Well, I mean, going, going from the start on the Saturday, they've they've got the the first speaking event on the main stage there is at 9:45 and that's the little legend himself, Nazi by guy and diving into the darkness.

00:21:35 Matt Waters

And I've gotta applaud this chap. I mean, he's been on the podcast before and, you know, a very small and and relatively quiet chat. But his skill with a camera and trying to portray a story and get a get the communication across through his.

00:21:53 Matt Waters

Movies is Docker movies is just exceptional, isn't it?

00:21:57 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, we've, we've got this screening of diving into the darkness on the main stage. So yeah, that that will be that will be very interesting, I think, yeah, I've, I've. I've not met nays. But yeah, I've heard a lot about him. Of course he did.

00:22:13 Adrian Stacey

I am.

00:22:15 Adrian Stacey

Diving with column as well with PT. So yeah, interesting chap. So yeah, looking forward, looking forward to that on the mainstage, definitely.

00:22:24 Adrian Stacey

And then and then.

00:22:25 Matt Waters

Ohh yeah sorry, I've got that. I got that slightly wrong there, didn't I? So the the the showing is on the main stage, 9:45 to 11:15 and then nays is on the inspiration stage at 2:45.

00:22:32 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:22:36 Adrian Stacey

Yes, that's right. Yes.

00:22:39 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah. So we've got the diving into the darkness and then seamlessly that follow flows into that's 9:45 to 11:15 and then 11:30, the first speaker will be Jill Hynek herself.

00:22:54 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah. And for anyone who doesn't know, diving into the darkness, it's all about Jill.

00:23:00

Yes.

00:23:02 Adrian Stacey

Exactly. So yeah, we're we're looking forward to to, to having Jill there. She's speaking, as I said, 11:30 to 12:15 on on the Saturday. And then on the Sunday, she's going to be on the tech stage from 1:45 to 2:30.

00:23:23 Matt Waters

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:27 Matt Waters

Excuse me, and incidentally for if there's anyone out there that can't make it to this weekend event at the.

00:23:36 Matt Waters

Go diving show.

00:23:37 Matt Waters

Jill and nays will be at the Hayden Orpheum in Sydney October 1st through to October 7th.

00:23:45 Matt Waters

And they're showing diving into the darkness there, and Jill and nays will be around for, I think it's the first three nights or maybe four nights where they'll be doing some Q&A's afterwards as well. So we'll put that link into the show notes for anyone who can't be around or is away for the for the go, go diving show and can't make it to this this weekend.

00:24:07 Matt Waters

Wait, so once Steele finished, we've got.

00:24:10 Matt Waters

Yeah, we've got Richard. Doctor Richard Harris coming on stage, and I'm sure every Aussie in in the world probably knows who Richard Harris is. They should be.

00:24:19 Adrian Stacey

Yes, absolutely. From the Thai cave rescue. Although he obviously he's a passionate cave diver and I think his stories.

00:24:30 Adrian Stacey

To extend beyond the Thai rescue? Yeah, he he's probably bored of telling telling that one now. Almost probably everyone asks him to to speak about that, but yeah, he's he's going to be he's on the Saturday. Yes, 12:30 to 1:15.

00:24:50 Adrian Stacey

And then he's back on the Sunday as well. At 10:15 to 11:15. For if people can't make it on the Saturday, then he's. Yeah, obviously there on the Sunday as well.

00:25:00 Adrian Stacey

They'll be recounting some of his stories.

00:25:00 Matt Waters

Nice.

00:25:05 Matt Waters

Is there anything in particular that he's?

00:25:05 Adrian Stacey

I'm looking.

00:25:06 Matt Waters

Going to be looking at.

00:25:08 Matt Waters

All the counting, sorry.

00:25:11

Who is he?

00:25:13 Matt Waters

Look.

00:25:15 Adrian Stacey

Richard.

00:25:19 Adrian Stacey

The lore of the deep.

00:25:21 Adrian Stacey

Say he explains how his interest in deep technical diving arrows. Now he's used his experience and knowledge to explore some of the world's deepest caves. The latest expedition to Bushman's Hole in South Africa, which ended in a dive to nearly 284 metres. Wow.

00:25:42 Adrian Stacey

And A and a brush with decompression sickness.

00:25:45 Matt Waters

Oh yes, yeah.

00:25:48 Matt Waters

I did read about that.

00:25:49 Adrian Stacey

Yes. And then?

00:25:53 Adrian Stacey

Hydrogen and deep diving, so he's also going to talk about the use of hydrogen to push the limits of deep diving.

00:26:00 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, that that should be should be very interesting. Lot of single mention of the the the Thai Cave dive rescue so it's.

00:26:05

Yeah.

00:26:12 Adrian Stacey

Clearly moving on for that.

00:26:15 Matt Waters

Yeah, I think so. After after, Richard, we got Steve, Steve, Gospel. Yeah.

00:26:17 Adrian Stacey

And.

00:26:20 Adrian Stacey

We've got Steve, Steve, Steve bagshaw. Yeah. So, yeah, that should be a 1:30 to 2:30. That should be an interesting talk.

00:26:33 Adrian Stacey

Say looking looking forward to that, we've had him before in the UK, so he's always very popular or always brings a crowd so.

00:26:42 Adrian Stacey

Looking forward to seeing you.

00:26:42 Matt Waters

And then we've got the. Then we've got the Kiwi himself.

00:26:46 Matt Waters

The the lust, lust, the rust, Pete Mesley.

00:26:47 Adrian Stacey

Mr Mr Lust for us.

00:26:53 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yes, we just, we've actually just in the August issue of the magazine, we just published an extended length feature on the wrecks of New Zealand that Pete did for us.

00:27:07 Adrian Stacey

And in fact, the one of his pictures made the front cover is his. His images are spectacular of of wrecks, the.

00:27:13 Adrian Stacey

The manages to light them all up, so yes, looking forward to hearing from from Pete.

00:27:21

Uh.

00:27:23 Matt Waters

Yeah. I mean, he's he's really good on stage as well. And he made a passion. He's got him what he.

00:27:27 Matt Waters

Does.

00:27:27 Matt Waters

It's it's fabulous to watch. So I expect that one to be well expect all of them to be very busy and that one in particular.

00:27:35 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yeah, absolutely so.

00:27:38 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, he's he's 2:45 to 3:30 on the Saturday and then again on the Sunday. He's 1:45 to 2:30.

00:27:46 Matt Waters

Yep.

00:27:49 Adrian Stacey

And then we have finally for the Saturday we have Liz Parkinson.

00:27:55 Matt Waters

Yes.

00:27:58 Matt Waters

Now I think this is going to make a very interesting topic as well.

00:27:59 Adrian Stacey

5.

00:28:03 Matt Waters

You know, looking at Liz's background on what she does now.

00:28:06 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yes. Yeah. Looking forward to that like stunt woman and.

00:28:14 Adrian Stacey

Tech diver and everything. So yeah, that should be should again be another interesting 1. So Liz is Lizzie's 2345 on the Saturday and then she is at 11:30 to 12:15 on the Sun.

00:28:34

Right.

00:28:36 Matt Waters

Happy days.

00:28:38 Matt Waters

And and then this is. This is where people are gonna have to make decisions because there's a bit of an overlap because we've got, we've got the main stage, then we've also got the inspiration stage and the tech stage. So people are gonna have to make a diet stage as well, yes.

00:28:38 Adrian Stacey

So yeah.

00:28:52 Adrian Stacey

And the photography stage, I understand.

00:28:59 Matt Waters

So you're gonna have to flick flag all over the place, ladies and gents, and and decide who you want to go and see before you get there, I think.

00:28:59

Yeah.

00:29:06 Adrian Stacey

Yes. Well the you've got the the main stage and the A&Z slash inspiration stage are are in the main hall.

00:29:16 Adrian Stacey

So you, I mean opposite ends of the hall, but it's quite easy to.

00:29:20 Adrian Stacey

To kind of flip between the two, if you so desire, the text age and the photography stage have kind of got their own little own little wounds. So yes, then there are choices to be made depending on what your preference is.

00:29:37 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:29:39 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, on on the, so on the, on the uh, sorry on the A&Z and inspiration stage.

00:29:48 Adrian Stacey

First up, we have who will start at 10:30. The other stages will start at 10:30 is just the main stage. Starts 945 starts early because of the the film screening. The other stages will start at 10:30.

00:30:06 Adrian Stacey

Inspiration stage is going to start off in Z slash. Inspiration stage is going to start off with a talk from the Master Reef guides.

00:30:15 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:30:16 Adrian Stacey

Which is a great programme in in Queensland where they train their their guides up.

00:30:26 Adrian Stacey

To be not only very conservational aware, but you know to to understand the reef a lot more to to give visitors a a a better experience of the reef and A and a safer experience and more environmentally conscious experience as well. So that's kind of a unique thing.

00:30:46 Adrian Stacey

For for here in in Queensland. So yeah, that's that's.

00:30:50 Matt Waters

No, it's.

00:30:51

It's great.

00:30:52 Matt Waters

Is the is the master reef guides independent or is it a Paddy thing or an SSI thing? Is it a? Is it an agency thing or?

00:31:00 Matt Waters

Does it stand alone?

00:31:01 Adrian Stacey

No, it's a. It's a stand alone thing. I I from what I understand, it's an initiative that.

00:31:10 Adrian Stacey

Has been kind of championed by a lot of the operators in in Queensland to, you know, to to provide a better experience, but I believe it is.

00:31:24 Adrian Stacey

Organised and.

00:31:29 Adrian Stacey

Done by who is it? The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

00:31:36 Matt Waters

Gotcha. Gotcha.

00:31:40 Adrian Stacey

Let me just double check.

00:31:40 Matt Waters

And then following the following, the magical reef guides we've got.

00:31:44 Matt Waters

And the lovely lady Ronnie on the stage at 11.

00:31:48 Matt Waters

30.

00:31:49 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:31:52 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, it's the. Yeah. Sorry. Going back to that one. It's a Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Association, I believe who?

00:32:02 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Who kind of run the Master reef guides, so, yes. Then we have Ronnie, who's going to be talking about the Philippines. One of our yeah, kind of destination talks. So obviously Philippines vast area, fantastic kind of variety of diving there so.

00:32:22 Adrian Stacey

Ron is going to be talking about the various different dive areas and regions and kind of what you can expect.

00:32:29 Adrian Stacey

If you are looking for a trip to the Philippines, which would be very interesting.

00:32:32 Matt Waters

She knows. She knows that you've only given her 45 minutes, right? Because this lady gets very passionate about the Philippines. She can talk.

00:32:39 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yes, absolutely. Oh, and look, actually one thing I should mention as well, just going back to the mainstage the, the whole event or or the whole mainstage is is going to be MC D by Anthony Gordon.

00:32:55 Matt Waters

Oh yeah, yeah.

00:32:58 Matt Waters

We missed him on his. His name's not in the list so.

00:32:58 Adrian Stacey

So.

00:33:03 Adrian Stacey

Because he's not actually a speaker as such, but.

00:33:05 Adrian Stacey

He is the glue.

00:33:06 Adrian Stacey

That he's gonna hold the the main stage together. So, yeah, Anthony's as I say, he's a passionate filmmaker himself.

00:33:18 Adrian Stacey

Now very much involved or keen to get the next generation of diver involved in in, in diving in the sport.

00:33:26 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, he's he's a a very passionate, very enthusiastic guy. He's gonna he's going to make a a great MC. I think he'll he'll be hosting. Also forgot to mention that the final the final slot on the main stage at the end of Sunday at 2:45 to 3:30 is like going to be a panel.

00:33:46 Adrian Stacey

Session that will be hosted by Anthony. So we have some of the main stage speakers kind of doing a bit of a panel session bit of a Q&A.

00:33:48 Matt Waters

Yes.

00:33:51 Matt Waters

OK.

00:33:58 Matt Waters

Happy days.

00:34:00 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, that would be good, but back to A&Z slash inspiration stage, yes, we we have Ronnie and yes she is where it's 45.

00:34:09

Uh-huh.

00:34:12 Adrian Stacey

Minutes.

00:34:15 Adrian Stacey

Following from that, we we have Tori Klett who's who's from Sea Shepherd.

00:34:21 Adrian Stacey

It's always going to talk about some of the things that they've got going on at the moment. We've we've kind of featured them in the conservation section a couple of times. And yeah, they've got some.

00:34:32 Adrian Stacey

It's amazing projects going on at the moment conservation project. So yeah, that that will be another very interesting talk.

00:34:42 Matt Waters

Yeah, and and then we got Terry Cummings.

00:34:47 Matt Waters

The legend that is, yes.

00:34:49 Adrian Stacey

Yes, absolutely. Yes, Terry is going to be talking about his favourite topic, which is diving in Queensland and and the Great Barrier Reef.

00:35:01 Adrian Stacey

You know the conservation side of things a bit and you know, just just putting into perspective, I think also kind of what what's happening on the Barrier Reef at the moment. So yeah, that will be that will be Terry, I'm sure will be a very informative.

00:35:20 Adrian Stacey

Talk from Terry. So we're looking forward to that.

00:35:24 Adrian Stacey

Uh.

00:35:25 Matt Waters

Yeah, I think if there's that, there's a few people in the world that know a lot of information about certain areas. And I think if you want to know a lot about the Great Barrier Reef, then Terry's probably one of those guys.

00:35:35 Adrian Stacey

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. He's he's possibly one of the better informed of what's going on there. So that that should be good and of diving in Queensland in general and he's just.

00:35:47 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, he's just kind of bought dive Queensland back to life as well, so to to help promote.

00:35:55 Adrian Stacey

Diving in Queensland so that that that's really great for that. Terry's got that back up and running again.

00:36:02 Matt Waters

We've we've literally just got back 2 days ago and we went with our mates and they've got a a little dive boat of their own. So we went there just the four of us and spent.

00:36:12 Matt Waters

3.

00:36:12 Matt Waters

Nights out around there, Lady Musgrave and some of the surrounding roofs like Lewellen.

00:36:20 Matt Waters

And it was just fabulous where, you know, when you get those rare moments where the sun's out and it's just glass.

00:36:24 Matt Waters

Flat.

00:36:25 Matt Waters

There's literally not a ripple of water movement at all. We had pristine conditions and daresay it was surprisingly stunning. And then to find a couple of dives where we had plenty of Mantas, obviously. But one melanistic and a pink manta. The pink.

00:36:46 Adrian Stacey

Panthers around is.

00:36:46 Adrian Stacey

It.

00:36:47 Matt Waters

Yeah, the Pink Panther. I've never. I've never seen a pink manta with my own eyes before.

00:36:54 Matt Waters

And the first time I thought I.

00:36:54 Adrian Stacey

No, no I haven't.

00:36:56 Matt Waters

Was like, Nah.

00:36:58 Matt Waters

Simply whiskies last night or something, but it came round again. Like, Yep, definitely pink.

00:37:02

OK.

00:37:03 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, I I wouldn't have believed it, but we, we someone submitted a piece on it for for the magazine. So, yeah, I've I've seen pictures of it. So yes, it's, yeah, strange looking thing. But there we go. Pink. Yeah. I mean, there are some fantastic dives along along the Great Barrier Reef. You know, it's just so massive.

00:37:22 Adrian Stacey

So many places that are rarely dived that are in pristine condition. It's yeah, there's yeah. Well worth making the effort to to to get there.

00:37:26

Hmm.

00:37:34 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, I think it gets a bit of a a bad wreck with people saying that it's all dying, etcetera, etcetera, but.

00:37:41 Matt Waters

For the bits that are dying and the damage that's happening naturally and through bleaching, there's there's an awful lot of it that's not seeing that kind of stuff at all. It's it's stunning. Yeah.

00:37:49 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it's thousands of kilometres long, you know, I.

00:37:55 Adrian Stacey

Think it gets.

00:37:56 Adrian Stacey

Possibly exaggerated. What's what's happening to it? Of course. There it is under stress. But yeah, as I say, but I think Terry's going to delve into that a little bit deeper as he's got probably a lot more knowledge than.

00:38:10 Adrian Stacey

And you and I on that.

00:38:12 Matt Waters

Yeah, just a bit.

00:38:16 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

00:38:16 Matt Waters

And then following Terry, we've got Nayes who we mentioned earlier on. He's on from 2:45 to 3:30.

00:38:22 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:38:23 Matt Waters

And that's then.

00:38:25 Matt Waters

Sorry, Connor.

00:38:26 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, we've, we've, we've got maize. So again looking forward to, to hearing, to hearing him that that'll be good. And then, yeah, following on from nays, we've got Deborah Dixon Smith, who's?

00:38:43 Adrian Stacey

Obviously going to talk about all things, travel and destinations up and coming destinations and so on. So yeah, looking forward to to, to hearing Deborah as well.

00:38:56 Matt Waters

Yeah. And should we do the should we do the Sunday of the inspiration stage or do you want to move to the tech stage on the Saturday?

00:39:05 Matt Waters

Here we go.

00:39:09 Adrian Stacey

Let's we I suppose we might as well just go through the the stage on Sunday as well. Then since we're we're.

00:39:18 Adrian Stacey

In that region. So yeah, kicking off on the Sunday 10:30 to 11:50. We've we've got Danny Chilton of, of Murex Resort fame and lembe. So, uh, yeah. He is going to be talking about Indonesia. There's a destination that.

00:39:38 Adrian Stacey

Last destination.

00:39:40 Adrian Stacey

And kind of what? What's an offer there so that we're we're looking forward to as well.

00:39:49 Matt Waters

That's another one that's a lot to squeeze into 45 minutes, isn't it, Indonesia?

00:39:54 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yes, I think it'll have to be the highlights.

00:39:59 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

00:40:03 Matt Waters

Now what's following on from Danny? We've got James Hunter at 11:30 to 12:15. What's, what's James gonna be talking about?

00:40:11 Adrian Stacey

Well, James is.

00:40:16 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, very interesting chap. So James is a doctor of archaeology. He's works for the Maritime Museum in Sydney and he's been involved with finding the cooks endeavour.

00:40:37 Matt Waters

Oh, OK.

00:40:38 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. So they, they've, they've, they've discovered that.

00:40:44 Adrian Stacey

Off Newfoundland, I think it is anyway. So he's he's going to be talking about archaeology in in particular marine archaeology and in particular about how how they found and piece together information to find the endeavour.

00:41:01 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, he's. I mean, he's another one with many, many great stories, but I think this one is who will focus on the endeavour cause obviously it's got a strong connection to to Australia.

00:41:05

Hmm.

00:41:11 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah.

00:41:14 Matt Waters

And on the stage after James, we've got Holly Wakley, who I had a had a brief.

00:41:19 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:41:20 Matt Waters

Email back and forth with her earlier this week for another 45 minutes, 12:30 to 1:30. Well, she's on for an hour.

00:41:27 Adrian Stacey

Yes. Well, Holly is, it's not one of the youngest ever course directors. It's not the youngest, they're not entirely 100% positive, but they they they're thinking she might even be the the youngest course director. So yeah, she's just a an inspirational figure for for for the next generation.

00:41:35 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:41:47 Adrian Stacey

For younger people to to get into diving and so.

00:41:51 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, she'll be. She'll be talking about. You know what? What? What got her involved and her passion for her for diving and teaching people. So, yeah, that that's another inspirational person who's who's going to be.

00:42:02 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:42:06 Adrian Stacey

On the stage.

00:42:08 Matt Waters

Well, if you're a young person that's listening to the show, then definitely earmark that one pencil it in your diary or even in your phone nowadays, isn't it? But Holly Wakley would definitely be want to worthy of listening to because she's flowing up through the ranks from, I think she started when she was about 13.

00:42:25

Yeah.

00:42:26 Matt Waters

I think it was open water at 13 or maybe even no. In fact, Junior Walk Junior open water, so younger. But then to be sat at 21 at at course director. It's.

00:42:36 Matt Waters

It's quite a feat. So yeah, youngsters listen to Holly. Follow her guidance.

00:42:38 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:42:43 Adrian Stacey

Absolutely.

00:42:46 Adrian Stacey

And then we have from 1:45.

00:42:50 Adrian Stacey

All the way through till the end 3 thirds we have a.

00:42:53 Adrian Stacey

Double dose of Mateus from Dan. He's the he is the head medical guy, Dan, and he's coming over from from the US to to to talk and have a Q&A session. So yeah, that that's apparently again.

00:43:13 Adrian Stacey

Here's another one. As you can probably imagine with with quite a few interesting stories.

00:43:20 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, he's certainly one that I'm keen to go and have a a listen to and maybe throw a few questions as way and make myself look even more stupid than I usually do.

00:43:34 Matt Waters

I think he's he's been. I think he's been we've done a long, long time, hasn't he?

00:43:34 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

00:43:38 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yes, yes.

00:43:38 Matt Waters

Maybe the night.

00:43:40 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:43:41 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah, he he has been. He has been there a long time. So yeah, he's vice president of medical services. So yeah, he he's been working with Dan since 2006.

00:43:55 Matt Waters

Well.

00:43:57 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:43:58 Matt Waters

Long enough, yeah.

00:44:00 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, yeah, almost 20 years.

00:44:00 Matt Waters

OK.

00:44:01 Matt Waters

So that rounds out the that rounds out the inspiration stage for the weekend.

00:44:02 Adrian Stacey

I've had those.

00:44:07

Yep.

00:44:07 Matt Waters

Is there anyone MC in that stage or is it just flowing on its own?

00:44:12 Adrian Stacey

No, that's that's going to be flowing on its own.

00:44:16 Adrian Stacey

Hopefully, yeah. Now, as I say, we've got the main stage is, is, is.

00:44:16 Matt Waters

Got you.

00:44:24 Adrian Stacey

Anthony Anthony's domain. Yeah, the others, we. We're just hoping it can be left to their own devices a little bit more or we're well. I mean, we'll be there and kind of thereabouts as well, so.

00:44:35 Matt Waters

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll just have to check. Double check with Ronnie then. Cause Matthias could be finishing at 7:30 at night.

00:44:41 Matt Waters

If you'll allow a run.

00:44:45 Adrian Stacey

Are they're on different days, so I.

00:44:46 Adrian Stacey

Hope not.

00:44:50 Matt Waters

Jokes running jokes.

00:44:55 Matt Waters

OK, let's let's take a look at the tech stage on what's happening over the weekend.

00:45:00 Adrian Stacey

Text age. Yes, so that kicks off again, as I said, that will be 1030 and John Kendall kicks us off on that one. I believe at 10:30.

00:45:01 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:45:16 Matt Waters

He's he's another one that says the archaeology and stuff, isn't he?

00:45:20 Matt Waters

Ohh photogrammetry. That's what it is.

00:45:23 Adrian Stacey

Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. 3D photo telemetry. So yeah, he's, he's and obviously he's a bit of an explorer as well.

00:45:37 Adrian Stacey

Uh.

00:45:39 Adrian Stacey

Tech, obviously tech diver, so yeah. But yeah, he yeah, he he does.

00:45:47 Adrian Stacey

Do a bit of archaeology also. So that's gonna be that's gonna be who's kicking off the the tech stage and then at 11:30 to 12:15, we have Mike Mason, who I think's been on the podcast.

00:45:50 Matt Waters

Hmm.

00:46:05 Matt Waters

Yes, he has. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I like Mike again. And I was chatting with last week.

00:46:12 Adrian Stacey

Yes. So for the human diver, yeah, I'm looking for. I'm looking forward to that as well. I think, you know combining a A.

00:46:13 Matt Waters

But he's.

00:46:16 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:46:22 Adrian Stacey

His his experiences as a as a jet fighter in the in the Air Force with with diving. And that's yeah, that should be. That sounds like an interesting cross.

00:46:36 Adrian Stacey

No.

00:46:37 Matt Waters

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm in. You know, Mike's career in the military. I mean, we were both in the Air Force in the UK, but Mike was a fighter pilot and then he's now he's over here in Australia and he teaches qualified pilots how to use their jet as a weapons platform. So, you know, he's very humble about it. But in my opinion.

00:46:58 Matt Waters

He's like the kind of the guy that's teaching the Top Gun how to do.

00:47:00 Matt Waters

Their.

00:47:00 Matt Waters

Their stuff when when it gets real. So he's got a very level head and I think.

00:47:03 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

00:47:06 Matt Waters

Is that background? He's just. He's the perfect man for delivering what we learn in the military about.

00:47:17 Matt Waters

The the The, the human factors and bringing it into the diving world under the guidance for Gareth Locke, I think he's he's going to do very well very well indeed and he is already.

00:47:26 Adrian Stacey

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. Yeah, that's that. That should be a a great one to listen to, I think.

00:47:38 Adrian Stacey

And that following on from there, we have 12:30 to 1:15.

00:47:42 Adrian Stacey

John Garvin.

00:47:44

MHM.

00:47:47 Adrian Stacey

So.

00:47:49 Matt Waters

This dude, this dude's got a he's a pretty interesting background and he was having a I was having a look online the other day and writing screenplays for the likes of Sanctum and James Cameron's deep Sea Challenge 3D, you know, and I must admit, I mean, it's the first time I've.

00:48:06 Matt Waters

Heard his name?

00:48:08 Matt Waters

But.

00:48:09 Matt Waters

Yeah, very impressive CV.

00:48:12 Adrian Stacey

Yes. Yes. He's he's. Yeah, he's. He's another one. That will be 1:00 to 1:00 to watch. Yeah, with his.

00:48:22 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, with his background in films.

00:48:26 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, should should have some interesting stories to tell.

00:48:31 Matt Waters

I think I wonder if he was, he was on the Avatar movie as well because I know Pete Wesley was involved in that one as well.

00:48:40 Matt Waters

Have to find out.

00:48:42 Matt Waters

I'm sure he was. If he was messing around with James Cameron, I'm I'm sure he's getting called on quite regular by the dude.

00:48:48 Adrian Stacey

Yes, it would make sense. I don't know. It doesn't. Yeah, he has. He's. He has helped out on Avatar.

00:48:50 Matt Waters

Hmm.

00:48:59 Adrian Stacey

So he knows.

00:49:00 Adrian Stacey

His way around the film industry, clearly.

00:49:03 Matt Waters

Just a smidge, yeah.

00:49:08 Matt Waters

OK. Moving on from there, we have Yanna is up next, isn't she?

00:49:13 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:49:16 Adrian Stacey

Again, quite a youthful injection of youth into the the speakers tech stage speakers.

00:49:28 Adrian Stacey

Which is good, but you full with a.

00:49:30 Adrian Stacey

Quite an impressive CV already.

00:49:33 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, just a bit, yeah.

00:49:37 Matt Waters

Let's see here. We've got over the past 10 years, she has dived in over 35 destinations across 3 continents, all whilst balancing her career as a full time global market here.

00:49:46 Matt Waters

And I just happened to dig a little deeper. In fact, I know that she's involved.

00:49:52 Matt Waters

And working with McAllen whiskey.

00:49:56 Matt Waters

So Yanna and there's a great a great bearded guy here that loves whiskey. So if you happen to bring some McCallum with.

00:50:04 Matt Waters

You just let me know.

00:50:04

Yeah.

00:50:07 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, and yeah, she's going to be talking about her. Her adventures in in Greece, where she's taken part in numerous deep dives, her wreck identification.

00:50:16 Adrian Stacey

Guides, including the Vickers Wellington bomber. So yeah, that that will be an interesting one for for rec enthusiasts.

00:50:28 Matt Waters

Yeah, I just see that she was. I can't even pronounce it. Vaad Yellen, 11 expedition exploring The Cave system located beyond the Arctic Circle.

00:50:38 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:50:39 Matt Waters

Oh, it's in Norway. That's why I can't explain it. I can't read.

00:50:41 Matt Waters

It probably no region for yours, yeah.

00:50:46 Matt Waters

Very interesting.

00:50:46 Adrian Stacey

Yes, that's tiana. And then of course, we have the the industry legend that is David Strike.

00:50:54 Matt Waters

Uh, yes.

00:50:56 Matt Waters

I've not. I've yet to meet David, but he lives here in Sydney and I just love his posts that he puts up on social media. Fabulous guy.

00:50:56 Adrian Stacey

Insulin.

00:51:04 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, he's he's. Yeah, I mean he's. He was in the Navy for for for many years. So he's got some exceptional stories to to tell. So he's going to be chatting about.

00:51:21 Adrian Stacey

Probably about some of his experiences in the Navy and depth diving limits and Navy diving, plus some cautionary tales for techies and diving mishaps and misdemeanours.

00:51:35 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah.

00:51:37 Adrian Stacey

He's 2:45 to 3:30 and then rounding off the Saturday at 3:45 to 4:30 is Kerry Burrow.

00:51:49 Adrian Stacey

So.

00:51:51 Adrian Stacey

Kerrie's Kerry's done a few articles for the magazine, and she she's.

00:51:58 Adrian Stacey

She's very much into her cave tech cave diving at the moment, but she she takes some stunning images as well. So yeah, great photographer.

00:52:10 Adrian Stacey

And very much into cave diving at the moment. So yeah, fairly.

00:52:18

Hmm.

00:52:21 Adrian Stacey

Relatively new into into the diving scene so you know not always nice to have a a perspective from someone who's kind of not exactly starting a journey, but you know kind of towards the beginning of it anyway so.

00:52:40 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, that, that.

00:52:43 Adrian Stacey

You should make for interesting something a bit different.

00:52:44 Matt Waters

I like the.

00:52:47 Matt Waters

Yeah, I had a I had a couple of emails back and forth with her, just that I was.

00:52:49 Matt Waters

Picking up while.

00:52:50 Matt Waters

I was offshore and she was saying that she's gonna be covering some insights and experiences in the caverns and caves of Australia, Europe and Mexico and just giving people an insight into, you know, cave diving with a camera.

00:53:07 Matt Waters

And the.

00:53:09 Matt Waters

The errors that she came along the way, learning points, the importance of safety and camera settings for low light conditions, all this kind of good stuff that if you want to get into this kind of photography and this kind of exploration then or you know it's the early early stage stuff that you really need to know about so that you can actually focus on what you're doing rather than puffing around with a camera all the time. So.

00:53:32 Matt Waters

I think if you're wanting to go into dark locations and maybe get your photography up and running, then maybe Kerry would be a good one to have a listen to.

00:53:43 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah, I I think so. As I say as well, you know her, her images are are stunning also. So yeah, it's definitely to listen to.

00:53:53 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, that's that's the tech stage.

00:53:55

For.

00:53:57 Adrian Stacey

Saturday and then Sunday again starting at 10:30 to 11:15. We've got another Kiwi, Matt Carter.

00:53:58 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:54:06 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:54:08 Adrian Stacey

Although like Kiwi or is he just living over there at the moment?

00:54:12 Matt Waters

Ohh he's Kiwi, yeah.

00:54:15 Matt Waters

He's been on the show as well. He's he's a lovely chap and he's he's Australasia's leading technical diving marine archaeologist.

00:54:25 Matt Waters

And he's the research director for the major Projects Projects Foundation.

00:54:29 Adrian Stacey

He's going to be speaking about the ghost Rex of the Blue Pacific.

00:54:34 Matt Waters

Ah, good stuff.

00:54:36 Adrian Stacey

Sounds like an interesting topic, so yeah.

00:54:37 Matt Waters

Yeah, that's that's that's a very interesting topic because they're trying to prevent the oils and fuels leaking out of these wrecks that are obviously decaying over years and prevent the pollution of the surrounding seas.

00:54:50 Adrian Stacey

And then after Matt, we've got a bit more of David, David's coming back for the Sunday David's strike, so a bit more striking on on Sunday.

00:55:01 Matt Waters

Mm-hmm.

00:55:02 Adrian Stacey

And then follow that 12:30 to 1:30. We're gonna have Richard Taylor.

00:55:08 Matt Waters

Because I've got it listed here as Jill on at 12:30 we had a bit of a switch around.

00:55:14 Adrian Stacey

I've got. Yeah. Richard Taylor 12:30 to 1:30. And then Jill at 1:45 to 2:30. They might have swapped them around a bit, but that's what I've got on my list here from.

00:55:27 Matt Waters

What's what's Richard Taylor going to be looking at? Have you got any insights?

00:55:31 Adrian Stacey

Obviously tech diving guru, but just waiting to hear what he's going to be talking about, so no doubt, no doubt something fascinating.

00:55:42 Matt Waters

And then we've got, we've got our John's closing out the show on Sunday. Isn't he on the tech stage, John?

00:55:48 Matt Waters

Yes, all right. The last stage in the list by no means the least important is the photo stage.

00:55:56 Adrian Stacey

No.

00:55:57 Adrian Stacey

The photo stage. Yes. So yeah, we've.

00:56:02 Adrian Stacey

We've had a photo competition that's been run by.

00:56:07 Adrian Stacey

Tim from underwater Australasia and and Brett from underwater images. Brett Wayne, so they've they've organised our photo competition, there's going to be results announced at the.

00:56:22 Adrian Stacey

At the show, kicking off the photo stage, we have 10:30 to 11:15. Is is Nigel Marsh.

00:56:31 Matt Waters

He's based up your way.

00:56:32 Matt Waters

Isn't he?

00:56:33 Adrian Stacey

He is? Yes, he's a he's a fellow Queenslander here here in Brisbane. He has a regular column in the magazine, unique Australian marine life, something which is very passionate about. So yeah, he's going to that's what he's going to be talking about.

00:56:51 Adrian Stacey

The the unique marine life you, you get around the shores of Australia.

00:56:55 Matt Waters

And following him, we've got my good buddy Nico. Nicholas. Remi.

00:57:00 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

00:57:03 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, I think what was Nicholas gonna talk? I think he.

00:57:05 Adrian Stacey

Was gonna talk about.

00:57:07 Matt Waters

He's he's going to talk.

00:57:08 Matt Waters

About.

00:57:09 Matt Waters

The correct lens to choose for particular dives and critters and scenes and scenarios.

00:57:15 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Which is, which is actually really useful because you're always wondering what what lens you should be should be using. So I think that that will be a very helpful talk from from Nicholas, who knows his stuff as well. So that should be good.

00:57:35 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:57:36 Adrian Stacey

And then we've.

00:57:36 Matt Waters

You've got a. Have you have? Have you? Have you popped on the underwater club at all?

00:57:42

Do you know?

00:57:42 Adrian Stacey

What we've.

00:57:44

Hmm.

00:57:44 Adrian Stacey

We've we've actually just published an article on the Underwater Club PT did a review of it and I was actually speaking. I I haven't had a chance to, to to look over.

00:57:50 Matt Waters

So.

00:57:56 Adrian Stacey

It yet, but I was.

00:57:59 Adrian Stacey

Who's I speaking to? I was speaking to somebody recently and they and they said that they've actually. It was when I was in the Philippines recently.

00:58:09 Adrian Stacey

Lady over there, her and her husband, they said they've they've joined it. And so I was just chatting with another boat and she said yeah, they've joined. And she said it's it's really good. She said it's fantastic, you know, really helpful. She said there's a nice no one's looking score points on anyone. She says it was really nice and friendly and informative. Everyone's looking to help each other.

00:58:14

Oh.

00:58:23 Matt Waters

Yeah.

00:58:30 Adrian Stacey

So she said it was really, really nice forum for, you know, sharing views and asking for help and so on.

00:58:37

Thanks.

00:58:38 Matt Waters

Well, what? Once a month thing was like guest speakers on so they do a webinar and they'll have a particular topic like Tobias was on there a couple of months ago. I think this month there's a lady on that's talking about editing in Lightroom afterwards and their skills and drills that we might not know about.

00:58:57 Matt Waters

But within the forum itself, everybody is. It's quite a a nice.

00:59:02 Matt Waters

I had the word nice, but it it it it rounds it out and well nicely because it is nice. Yeah, they he does put together little webinars for doing photo critic.

00:59:14 Matt Waters

So people log in and you can OfferUp three or four of your photos and you know your peers will say, oh, well, what about this? What about that? And you know how to tweak the image to make it look stunning and give you a bit of a view that you didn't really look at your own photos in. It's good. Really useful tool.

00:59:29

Yeah.

00:59:31

Yeah.

00:59:32 Adrian Stacey

Good. So, yeah, he's he's going to be, yeah.

00:59:32 Matt Waters

Yeah, I could go on about that for hours. I think it's a good.

00:59:36 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that's. Yeah, I've heard good reports about the club. So yeah, Nicholas will be sharing his wealth of experience. And then Speaking of people with a wealth of experience, we've got Mike Bartik. Next 12:30 to 11:15.

00:59:54 Adrian Stacey

Mm-hmm. So what, Mike?

00:59:56 Matt Waters

What's what's mikes topic?

00:59:59 Adrian Stacey

So mikes based in is is from the US, but he's based in mainly based in the Philippines, where he's got a resort, but he's.

01:00:09 Adrian Stacey

He's very much into Blackwater diving.

01:00:14 Matt Waters

Ah, OK.

01:00:14 Adrian Stacey

And he's he's a fantastic photographer. I mean, or, you know, his wide angle stuff's great. And his glitter stuff is great, but yeah, he's he's a big advocate of of Blackwater diving that I think he's going to be talking about on close focus, wide angle as well, so.

01:00:31 Matt Waters

I've tried a couple of, I tried it a couple of times and it's killing itself. Doing black water dives and photography.

01:00:37 Adrian Stacey

Yes. From what I hear.

01:00:38 Matt Waters

Next level.

01:00:42 Matt Waters

Probably the best way to leave it just hearing about it.

01:00:47 Adrian Stacey

I I think I think the results you can get are are quite stunning. But yeah, I think it takes quite a lot of dedication to the cause to cause you cause you're kind of out there from what I hear, you're out in the middle of the ocean.

01:01:01 Adrian Stacey

And down at about 20 metres and and you have your no orientation. You're on a line or something and you just.

01:01:08 Adrian Stacey

Gotta.

01:01:09 Matt Waters

Yeah.

01:01:09 Adrian Stacey

Swim along and hopefully you bump into something.

01:01:12 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah, we did it with the. We had like a a drop line in from the boat and just floated with the current and every 5 to 8 metres would just have a relatively dim lit fluoro light on the line. That was your only point of reference. But that's what attracted the the critters in as well. But trying to get the camera to focus on a critter.

01:01:30

Yeah.

01:01:33 Matt Waters

In the dark and take a photo of it whilst either holding a torch or getting your strobes to work correctly and at the right distance.

01:01:42 Matt Waters

It's there's a lot of ingredients there that can, you know, make the make the make the cake go flat.

01:01:49 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah. Lead to a disappointing review of your images afterwards.

01:01:53 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think he's going to be experienced or sharing some of his experiences of, of of black water is Mike, who does have some some great images. And then we move on.

01:02:07 Adrian Stacey

From there, 1:30 to 2:30 is Brett.

01:02:11

M.

01:02:13 Adrian Stacey

Brett Leblane is another.

01:02:16 Adrian Stacey

Resident of Sydney, I believe.

01:02:18 Matt Waters

Yep.

01:02:20 Matt Waters

Has it got a particular?

01:02:21 Matt Waters

Topic.

01:02:23 Adrian Stacey

I think I'm not sure what Brett's talking about. I know he's obviously he's.

01:02:30 Adrian Stacey

You know very big on on conservation, great photographer himself.

01:02:37 Matt Waters

Well, I suppose it will be a surprise and we'll find out on the day.

01:02:41 Adrian Stacey

Yes, absolutely. So let's just.

01:02:45 Adrian Stacey

And then that leads us into, as we spoke before the competition.

01:02:49 Adrian Stacey

Then kicking off Sunday 10:30 to 11:15 is Don Silcock.

01:02:56 Matt Waters

I'll have done. I think there's many inspirational people in the world and in our in our industry and our dive in and all that kind of stuff. But Don for me is right up there as number one. I think he's a a real inspiration and what he does is absolutely bloody fantastic.

01:03:11 Matt Waters

And for a man of his age and his size to try and drink, pint for pint for me.

01:03:12 Adrian Stacey

Yes.

01:03:16 Matt Waters

He's crazy as well, yeah.

01:03:22 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Don't say yeah.

01:03:23 Matt Waters

But it's.

01:03:26 Adrian Stacey

He's he's a he's a proper adventurer now, isn't he? He. He's all over very, very rarely at home. Kind of all over the world. He he obviously contributes regularly to the magazine.

01:03:37 Adrian Stacey

And.

01:03:38 Adrian Stacey

And after a phone call with with Don, you left green with envy of the places he's he's he's going to visit or has visited. And so yeah, that, that that will be interesting Don. So obviously passion I think is for big animals is is.

01:03:59 Adrian Stacey

But that's that's his preferred topic. So he's going to talk about big animal encounters. Kind of.

01:04:08 Adrian Stacey

You know how to shoot them and kind of where to find them, where the best places to go to to find them. So kind of emulating the common he has in the magazine. But yeah, you're right, Don. Don is an inspirational figure.

01:04:22 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. So about you know.

01:04:24 Matt Waters

Yeah, he's been on the. He's been on the podcast, what, 3-4 Times Now I think it is, and we always have a good yarn and catch up with all the locations that he's been to, but his his skill with the camera is just phenomenal. You know, he's, as you say, he's he appears on the front page and on the insides of the scuba diver magic.

01:04:43 Matt Waters

Clean.

01:04:44 Matt Waters

Very, very regularly and quite rightly so. You know, he's a fabulous chapter.

01:04:48 Adrian Stacey

And just just become a is it?

01:04:52 Adrian Stacey

At ccam.

01:04:55 Adrian Stacey

Ambassador.

01:04:57 Matt Waters

Yeah, yeah.

01:04:59 Matt Waters

Yeah, lucky ******.

01:05:01 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, so he's good work. He's going.

01:05:03 Adrian Stacey

Noticed that's good.

01:05:04 Matt Waters

And that's a that's a. That's a very good way to kick off the Sunday morning as well.

01:05:08 Adrian Stacey

Yes, absolutely yes.

01:05:10 Matt Waters

Get the stage going.

01:05:12 Adrian Stacey

And then unfortunately, we were due to have Matthew Smith 11:30 to 12:30, but his work commitments come up that he had, he can't get out of that. He's gotta go away for.

01:05:24 Matt Waters

Nice shape and I was. I was hoping to.

01:05:26 Matt Waters

Meet him and grab.

01:05:27 Matt Waters

Him for jumping on the podcast at some time we've we've been to a couple of events now where paths have crossed, but it's like ships in the night. We've never actually met.

01:05:34 Adrian Stacey

Yes, I was looking forward to it to to meeting Matthew as well and his his his images are are are fantastic. Got some stunning images. In fact he was on the he was on the front cover not long ago with one of his split shots in Antarctica.

01:05:50 Adrian Stacey

So yeah, I was.

01:05:52 Adrian Stacey

I was hoping to meet Matty. Never mind. Maybe next year.

01:05:55 Matt Waters

Yeah.

01:05:56 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. So for the 12:30 to 1:30, we've got Mike Scotland, who's going to be coming along and talking what Mike's talking about.

01:06:14 Matt Waters

I would say that he's going to be doing something to do with marine biology, because that's where he's a marine biologist, but he's also the editor and publisher of dialogue. Australasia isn't.

01:06:21

Yes.

01:06:24 Adrian Stacey

He yeah, I believe again he was going to be talking about some of the.

01:06:30 Adrian Stacey

Marine biology, in particular around kind of Australia.

01:06:35 Adrian Stacey

And then 1:45 to 2:30, we've got Craig Parry, who's obviously another.

01:06:42 Adrian Stacey

Award winning photographer.

01:06:44 Matt Waters

Because his photography is is fine, art photography, isn't it? So he's using that to forge a connection between viewers and the natural environment. So just a a different take on photography, isn't it?

01:06:55

That's right.

01:06:58 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

01:06:59 Matt Waters

He's a hold on a SEC. He's another one that was involved with James Cameron.

01:07:03 Matt Waters

Secrets of the octopus.

01:07:05 Matt Waters

Which came out April this year.

01:07:08 Adrian Stacey

Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Then finally we've got Talia.

01:07:13 Matt Waters

Yes.

01:07:15 Matt Waters

Lovely lady.

01:07:16 Adrian Stacey

Entirely agreed.

01:07:18 Adrian Stacey

Yes, and and another great photographer.

01:07:22 Matt Waters

Yeah, she is. This last year she's been knocking out of the park, hasn't she? She was. She was on the podcast with Vanessa. Ohh. I think it must have been last year sometime.

01:07:27 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

01:07:33 Matt Waters

And she was very humble, you know, and all of a.

01:07:37 Matt Waters

Sudden.

01:07:38 Matt Waters

You know, a couple of wins here and there was just gone boom through the roof and she seems to be taking.

01:07:42 Matt Waters

The world by storm right now with the photography.

01:07:46 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, absolutely. And and deservedly so because she she makes some beautiful images and we've talked about maybe her doing some stuff in, in the magazine as well. So hopefully we'll be seeing more of of telly and not just at the show, but also in the in the magazine.

01:07:57 Matt Waters

Fabulous.

01:08:04 Matt Waters

Yeah. No, that'd be good.

01:08:06 Adrian Stacey

Yes. Yeah, I think she's going to submit an article about diving in Sydney for one of the upcoming issues, which which would be great to couple that with her photography.

01:08:18 Adrian Stacey

Will be good.

01:08:20 Matt Waters

Yeah. Now, that's all the speakers of the show. What else have we got going on? Cause I'm just having a quick look now. There's all sorts of interactive little areas for people to effectively have a play around and have a go with, isn't it?

01:08:21 Matt Waters

My girl.

01:08:38 Adrian Stacey

Yes. So yeah, we wanted to make this show something that that's as as we said before, kind of appeal to everybody.

01:08:49 Adrian Stacey

And I think having interactive elements is it makes it a more attractive proposition for people to come. Obviously, the free the show is is free of charge for entry for this first year at least. Anyway, so we should, we're expecting to get you know, a lot of a lot of visitors through the door.

01:09:09 Adrian Stacey

The speaker certainly will will help, but yeah, we also wanted to to make it something that a, you know, a family could turn up to and and there's still be plenty of stuff to do rather than.

01:09:21 Adrian Stacey

You know, if you're not that you know, if you're not.

01:09:25 Adrian Stacey

Fairly new to diving or or. You don't know who a lot of these speakers are or or you're not really fussed about hearing them. I mean I I know I certainly am. But you know what? What? Whatever people wanna do but to to have things like the try diving pool where you know people can can have a go try.

01:09:45 Adrian Stacey

Driving for the first time to have the demo pool where we're gonna have various skill sets circuits been shown and also and a couple of the photography guys wanna do drone.

01:09:58 Adrian Stacey

Shows as well in the in the demo pool, we've got the Shark Bus Museum that's going to be there that people can wander around. The guy who runs. That is very interesting chat, very passionate about sharks. So, you know, does a good talk about, about about sharks and conservation and so on.

01:10:18 Adrian Stacey

We've got the book signing zone as well, so there's going to be people like Steve Bagshaw doing book signing. We've got the VR.

01:10:28 Adrian Stacey

Zone. Also, we're hopefully gonna have two VR zones zones cause we've got the Royal Navy are coming.

01:10:37 Matt Waters

Ask for that. Yeah, that's good.

01:10:40 Adrian Stacey

Yes. So they they're going to be the the Navy clearance divers are going to be there. So they're going to have a few people talking about kind of what it takes to be.

01:10:51 Adrian Stacey

And Navy clearance divers. So they're going to have all the equipment they use. They're talking about bringing some VR rigs as well. So so you can do like a walk through of of one of the Subs and a frigate.

01:11:08 Adrian Stacey

Obviously it's it.

01:11:08

Gone.

01:11:09 Adrian Stacey

It's free to free to get in, but people do need to register.

01:11:15 Matt Waters

How's the numbers looking? Have you got people registered already?

01:11:19 Adrian Stacey

Yes, actually Ross is is pleasantly surprised at how many people we've got. We've got signed up so far normally said for the UK show. He said you you kind of only.

01:11:29 Matt Waters

Oh yeah.

01:11:33 Adrian Stacey

Only a couple of weeks or a week, or even the day of of the show, you kind of get people registering. Yeah, but especially as this is a free event, you said you.

01:11:44 Adrian Stacey

Know.

01:11:44 Adrian Stacey

It's people don't think to register because they, you know, they they think ohh you don't need to to to get tickets so much so.

01:11:51 Adrian Stacey

But yeah, we've.

01:11:53 Adrian Stacey

We're we've already got a couple of 1000 or so registered. So we're expecting, you know, we're aiming for 2 1/2 thousand per day roughly.

01:12:03 Adrian Stacey

Probably a few more on the Saturday than there will be on the Sunday, but yeah, we're we're well on track for for that. As I say we you wouldn't expect people to to be signing up registering until a week or so or even the day of the event. So yeah, it's it's looking really positive.

01:12:24 Matt Waters

Yeah.

01:12:24 Adrian Stacey

Plenty of exhibitors, you know, over 70 exhibitors, which is great for our first show.

01:12:32 Matt Waters

Yeah, that's superb.

01:12:32 Adrian Stacey

So yeah.

01:12:34 Adrian Stacey

Yeah.

01:12:36 Adrian Stacey

Yeah, we're. Yeah, we're confident. It's gonna be a a great event and.

01:12:36 Matt Waters

That'd be nice.

01:12:42 Adrian Stacey

I think we've, we've already booked the showground for the next 4 years, so it's going to be beginning of September from from 25 onwards. So yeah, we're confident that that it can become a mainstay of.

01:12:46 Matt Waters

Hmm.

01:12:56 Adrian Stacey

Of the diving calendar, like we said at the beginning, you know, I think.

01:13:01 Adrian Stacey

Australia has been missing a a purely, you know, standalone recreational dive show.

01:13:08 Adrian Stacey

In in its calendar every year. So hopefully that's that's well, I think that is something we're going to provide and going forward that will just go from strength to strength. So yeah, really, really looking forward to this, this first show now.

01:13:22 Matt Waters

Likewise likewise.

01:13:25 Matt Waters

Well, I think we'll, I think we'll round it out at that one, Adrian. And obviously you mentioned earlier on that it's free to enter, but people need to or should register that they're coming. So where where do they find that information? How do they register?

01:13:29

Yes.

01:13:41 Adrian Stacey

So again, that's that's on the website you click on.

01:13:45 Adrian Stacey

The obviously go to the go diving show website, click on A&Z show and then there's a tab that says tickets.

01:13:55 Matt Waters

Cool, cool. Alright, well, thanks for joining me this afternoon.

01:13:58 Adrian Stacey

Yeah. Thanks very much for having me and look forward to to catching up at the show.

01:14:04 Matt Waters

Tip top that will close us out for now. And then. Hey, listeners, stay safe. Stay having fun. Keep getting wet.

01:14:10 Matt Waters

And chat for now.