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31/12/2004: "Hayman Island 1967 ........."Passport to Smoking Pleasure"."

Only one of us smoked cigarettes but that didn't matter, we were all divers, the job paid well, and gave one of the best working-holidays possible - the old style Hayman Island. (Noted for nymphomaniacs at the time).

Meanwhile a cyclone was belting in on the Gold Coast. While in the Whitsunday's the sea 100 km offshore was a mirror of glass.

We did water ski and sailing shots and especially scuba dives. Plenty of cigarettes were lit but nobody inhaled. I was the one passing them out and lighting them for the other pair (Vic Ley and Valerie Taylor.)

Highlights. Discovering Kahluah liqueur, 'Cosmos' fish eye camera lens, helicopter flight over the maze of Great Barrier Reefs and working with a talented cameraman Ashley Lazarus. (who made the best cinemascope commercials we'd ever seen with a compact Arriflex 35mm camera).

Mainly wide angle, hand-held shots. New in films at the time. Ashley did the work of a whole team by himself, plus three assistants, including Australian Rob MacAuley, recently credited for his work on the ABC series Airships.

He was an amazing director to work with. Vic and I hoped he'd do an underwater feature film in Australia one day, but we never saw him again. The way it goes.

I found on the web Aslhey had tried his skill with feature films in the USA and produced a couple. The titles did not ring any bells.

When cigarette advertising was legal, models were anxious to reach 27 - the then industry accepted age for working in these (now today) disgusting promotions of poor health and addiction.