Descend Downunder
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| Descend Divers in Bicheno |
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Descend wins China Contract..
We’re off to China! Descend recently won a contract to join a $340 million rail way tunnel project. Descend will train the workers who will be boring twin tunnels thorough soft ground below Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. We will be showing tunnel workers how to work in hyperberic conditions underground which are similar to the pressure effects we feel as divers. Descend won this job because of the success we had with our last two tunnel projects in Sydney and Hong Kong. Descend’s involvement is due to commence July. Read full story below.
Solomons..
Only 16 weeks till we depart for the Solomons. We have had two cancellations so now’s your chance to join the following lucky traveler's;  | | Beautiful sponge garden |  |
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Phil Butler, Paula Rich, Kylie Clarkson, Fred King, Di & Frank, Stephen & John Jorgensen, Narelle Clark, Glenda Fisher, Mark Padmore & family, Lloyd Mildren, Stan Bugg, Brian Cornell, Ross Hall, Geoff & Rachel Reed plus Des & Kristy. Book Now!
Departing 19th September for 7 wonderful nights $2799/diver
More trip details below.
Beautiful Bicheno..  | | Glenda, Lloyd, Phil, Di & Frank ready to dive | |
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Bicheno was everything I expected and more. We experienced perfect diving conditions calm seas and clear skies for the whole of our trip. What more could you ask for? Well how about great service, fantastic dives and a great group of divers. The dives were beautiful with divers sighting everything from reef sharks, cow fish, huge sponge gardens, sea horses, brightly coloured soft corals and crayfish and abalone galore! We even managed a bit of an island tour. Our only regret – not organising a cray licence in advance, oh well next time. Check out some great pictures below;
http://www.descend.com.au/training/gallery/PhotoGallery.asp?AreaID=17&LibraryID=455&whichcategory=Bicheno%20-%20%2021st%20%20-%2025th%20April%202006
And
http://www.descend.com.au/training/gallery/PhotoGallery.asp?AreaID=17&LibraryID=469&whichcategory=Bicheno%20-%20By%20Geoff%20Reed
Congratulations..
A big congratulaions goes to Adam & Katrina Joss on the safe arrival of their daughter Audrey May on 23rd May. A beautiful little sister for Sebastion.
Movie Night..
Join us at the movies on Saturday evening 3rd July to see the latest blockbuster Poseidon.
When a rogue wave capsizes a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, a small group of survivors find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for their lives. Preferring to test the odds alone, career gambler John Dylan (Josh Lucas) ignores captain's orders to wait below for possible rescue and sets out to find his own way to safety.
What begins as a solo mission soon draws others as Dylan is followed by a desperate father (Kurt Russell) searching for his daughter (Emmy Rossum) and her fiancé (Mike Vogel) - a young couple who hours before couldn’t summon the courage to tell him they were engaged and now face much graver challenges.
Along the way they are joined by a single mother (Jacinda Barrett) and her wise-beyond-his-years son (Jimmy Bennett); an anxious stowaway (Mia Maestro); and a despondent fellow passenger (Richard Dreyfuss) who boarded the ship unsure if he wanted to live but who now knows he doesn't want to die.
Determined to fight their way to the surface, the group sets off through a maze of twisted steel in the upside-down wreckage. As the unstable vessel rapidly fills with water, each must draw on skills and strengths they didn't know they possessed, fighting for survival and for each other.
Rated M. Bookings essential on 60 411 405 prior to 1st June or email us Descend
Cost: $13/ person
Session times not yet released – to be advised
Solomon Islands Dive Trip - Gizo - 2 places available  | | Geoff, Rachel, Kristy, Leigh & Des after a dive | |
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ITINERARY
TUE 19 SEP 6.05 AM Depart Melbourne on QANTAS flight QF 600
8.10 AM Arrive Brisbane. Transfer terminals
10.00 AM Depart Brisbane on Solomon Airlines flight IE 701
2.00 PM Arrive Honiara. Transfer terminals.
3.00 PM Depart Honiara on Solomon Airlines flight IE 142
4.40 PM Arrive Gizo
IN: 19 SEP Gizo Hotel
OUT: 26 SEP P.O. Box 30
Gizo Island TEL: (677) 60199 FAX: (677) 60137
Situated on the waters of Gizo township, the hotel offers an excellent base to dive the Western Province. Accommodation offered include seafront or poolside rooms that feature air-conditioning, IDD telephone and tea/coffee making facilities. Standard rooms are also available. These have the same facilities but with ceiling fans instead of air-conditioning. An open-air restaurant with views of the harbour features seafood and local produce.7 nights in a twin share downstairs poolside room
Return airport transfersDive package through Adventure Sports:
10 dives per person, plus 2 free dives
Plus 2 free residual air dives and free night dive Petaj wreck
tanks/weights/air fills/light lunch
TUE 26 SEP 12.20 PM Depart Gizo on Solomon Airlines flight IE 107
1.50 PM Arrive Honiara. Transfer terminals.
3.00 PM Depart Honiara on Solomon Airlines flight IE 700
5.00 PM Arrive Brisbane. Clear Customs and transfer terminals.
7.50 PM Depart Brisbane on QANTAS AIRWAYS flight QF 639
10.10 PM Arrive Melbourne.
This itinerary is a Proposed Itinerary and is subject to flight availability at the time of booking.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your passport is valid for at least 6 months beyond the date of arrival back into Australia. Check that all names booked are spelt correctly as per your passport.
Please consult a medical professional in regards to preventative medication required for the destination you are travelling to.
Only... $2,799 Per Diver $2,200 Per Non-diver Plus $220.00 taxes/fuel surcharge
If you need more convincing and havent already read Stan's article on Gizo select the link below;
http://www.descend.com.au/newsletter/200512716482.htm
Diving expert in China deal  | | The boss prepares for Hong Kong | |
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BY HOWARD JONES – As printed in The Border Mail Saturday 6th May, 2006
DIVING expert Des Walters and his Descend Underwater Training Centre are off to China to join a $340 million railway tunnel project.
Albury-based Mr Walters and two colleagues will train workers who will be boring twin tunnels through soft ground below Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
They will show them how to work in hyperbaric (under pressure) conditions while driving an 8.1m diameter tunnel.
German company Herrenknect has made the specialised tunnel boring machine but the total project is a joint venture of John Holland, Leighton Asia, Balfour Beatty and Kamagai Gumi.
The boring machine is 80m long, weighs 800 tonnes and is longer and twice as heavy as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
Although the project does not involve underwater work, it does require boring machinery that is pressurised to stop water and soft ground collapsing into the tunnel.
"The men will be working below the water table, and the higher air pressure will keep the ground stable," Mr Walters said.
Mr Walters said the Tsim Sha Tsui project was the third such pressurised tunnel project on which he had worked.
The first was the Sydney airport link railway tunnel in 1998, for which his company won an excellence award.
The second was the Kai Tak storm water tunnel in Hong Kong in 2002.
"We have won this contract because of people who knew us from our previous work," he said.
Mr Walters has 40 years’ experience in diving and has won national and regional business awards.
The Tsim Sha Tsui project will extend a busy commuter rail project at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula.
It should be finished in 2009. As well as twin 1000m-long tunnels, it requires a section of cut-and-cover tunnels to connect existing and new tunnels.
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