Marine National Park of the Month
Sue Bartlett

Book Review

Cook vs Kirk
Rod Jan - Zero G

Bron, Dave and Anth are all in the studio, and this week we are dedicating the show to Captain Cook (for no apparent reason)

Bron did a fantastic weather forecast (much better than Peter's) and the weather was also pretty good - rain for 3 days and wind on the bay (although Bron took longer).

The collective noun for otters is a bevy or a raft, although Bron's suggestion of alotta otter was the local fav.

On Sat 24 May the Friends Below the Bluff are having an explore Barwon Bluff Marine Sanctuary. It starts with a rock pool ramble, followed by a snorkel (BYO gear) and a BBQ lunch. Meet at the bluff carpark at 10:30 am

Pt Hicks is connected to Captain Cook because it is names after one of his Lieutenants - Mr Hicks, who spotted it. Pt Hicks is in East Gippsland and contains a famous lighthouse built in 1888 and is 50 m high and made of concrete, with the marine national park right in fount of the lighthouse.

This park was a bit controversial, as the abalone industry is large in that region. It covers the intertidal area to water up to 90 m in the 3 nautical miles it extends.

The diving has been compared to the barrier reef, forests of seaweed, granite boulders and sub tidal reefs, and a lot of it can be explored by snorkeling of the beach.

It is possible to stay down there and the best way of getting further information, call the Parks Vic info line on 13 19 63

Into the Blue - Boldly going where Cook has gone before. This book was written to retrace the steps Cook took and retells the story of what Cook did, the impacts he left, and the things the author got up to while he was wandering around the world.

Cook was 6 ft 4in, and the height of the inside of the Endeavor was 4ft - a bit cramped. The author read both Cook's and Bank's diaries of the trip. Cooks diaries were very factual, where as Banks covered who was drunk and when, along with the women he was sleeping with.

The Author canvassed the local views on Cook. Tahiti was interesting, as the crew could buy a night with a local for the cost of a nail. It got so bad that the theft of a nail was worth a flogging on the ship.

The view of the indigenous people by Cook was interesting - mostly that he should have been killed much sooner, and that history has revealed that the Royal Society told him to only claim land that the locals were happy to give up.

Sort of is the Answer - It is a bit weird. Kirk was more based on another fictitious character - Horatio Hornblower. The similarities are very strong - girl in every port, problems with their command, very lucky, especially in battle, a complete life history has been created. So while the links was not to the Cook, but to another nautical legend. Check out the opening bars of the Hornblower movie with Gregory Peck and the Star Trek theme - very, very similar.

To make life more interesting, Piccard was based on the Piccard family of explorers of the deep and balloonist from Belgium and Switzerland.

" Bravura Til Gala"

" Spend the whole night with you"

"Beautiful Girls "

Kristina Olsen

The Periscopes

Its wet and the ocean is probably wetter. With the rain and wind the vis could be a bit crap.

Brett we need you