Some views of my journal do not allow back-dating of posts. This entry should be dated 2005-10-04.
Queensland Holiday, day 0 — travel
Today is my travelling day on holidays with Jacinta up to Townsville,
Magnetic Island, the great barrier reef. Holidays are always an
interesting affair for me. As I seem to be chronically short of time
(or endlessly able to use it), I'm always concerned that holidays will
take me away from more pressing tasks, the most significant of which
is the completion of our Web
Development course for later this year.
I now more fully appreciate why there is a 'holiday season' in December. If everyone else is taking a break, then businesses can more safely close their doors for a few days, or manage without key staff on-hand. Going on holidays during October always has me thinking about how we will effectively manage any important business events, such as course bookings, while we are away.
Despite all the worry beforehand, I'm certainly looking forward to the next few days. Diving on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef was fantastic, and I have every reason to believe that the northern end will be just as good, or better. What I don't know about is the boat. I've been on some absolutely fantastic boats with great facilities, people, and food (Big Cat Reality immediately springs to mind), but I've also been on other boats that were less good.
The other possible hitch is our wetsuits. I have a 7mm two-piece suit, designed to keep me warm and comfortable in Melbourne, with chilly lovely 10-20'C waters. Our trip will have much warmer surface temperatures, and 20-30'C waters. I'm fortunate in having the two-piece, I can choose to wear only half the suit if it's too warm. Jacinta has a heavy single-piece suit with very serious seals. It won't surprise me if Jacinta decides to go diving in her lycra-suit instead if the water is warm enough.
Currently we're delayed in Brisbane airport, with morning fog delaying our arrival, as well as our connecting flight. Luckily I've borrowed a good book from Ian on the history of the calendar, which besides from providing entertaining reading is also answering me a number of nagging questions I've had for some time, such as how did we end up the days of the week (they're named after celestial bodies), why do they have strange names in English (some were renamed after Norse gods; Thursday is Thor's Day), and how did they end up in the current order (a rather fascinating system of naming hours after celestial bodies, with days taking their names after the first hour). The book also notes that 2012 is the end of the current Maya Great Cycle, when it is said that all things will cease to exist, and the world will be made anew.
