[Previous entry: "SHARK BITE 'CLUB'.......Henri Bource; Raymond Short"] [Next entry: "THUNDERBALL ....... movie props"]

23/06/2006: "Belgians on The Reef .......Great Expedition of 1967"

Captain Wally Muller bought Careelah his first charter boat. One of his major commissions was guiding the Belgian Expedition of 1967 especially to find their way to and within the Swain Reefs.

The charter boat would also be HQ for the girls on the trip who were not permitted to sleep aboard the naval vessel De Moor, mother-ship for the expedition from Europe.

I was invited to be deckhand aboard Careelah paying my own food but otherwise having an enjoyable time exploring reef territory between Lady Elliott and Lady Musgrave Islands in the south, and Lizard Island in the far north.

These pictures were taken with my new Rolleimarin camera, purchased after 10 days work in a sideshow tent Terrors of the Deep at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, thanks to Ben Cropp who knocked the job back and gave me a referral.

(I faced hoards of angry patrons during 10 days most expecting live sharks inside a tent full of stuffed replicas).