I purchased a new notebook computer loaded with Windows 8; in short – I hate it. It is apparent this operating system was designed for tablets, I have to ask, why wouldn’t they release Windows 8 exclusively for tablets while maintaining Windows 7 for desktop and laptop computers?

I need to take some lessons on turning certain functions off because I can’t purchase a standard operating version of Windows 7; so I am just going to have to get used to it. Furthermore, I don’t want to fork out any more money to replace this program, time to turn as many functions off as possible.

I am informed Windows 8 is overlaid on the Windows 7 operating system, that is the start and app screen are posted on the main operating system. I try to revert to the standard desktop; although every time I plug in a drive, try to change a program or perform a task – it reverts back to this useless operating system.

Gawd, I hate this – I hope they release their upgrade as soon as possible. In their attempt to take on Android and IOS, the phone market seems to be driving the personal computer market, a computer novice like myself is just left frustrated wanting to smash my new laptop against the wall and revert to my old Vista powered computer.

We are now well into spring, the days are getting longer, we are seeing plenty of sunshine and some rain and overcast conditions as well. Heading up to Kings Park on the weekends, concerts are beginning and the outdoor cinema will be starting again soon.

Weekend outdoor concerts are great family attractions, people are out socialising, a casual and relaxed atmosphere ensures happiness. People can have a few drinks without affecting other people’s fun and still be able to drive home safely.

Sitting around the lake with plenty of room between people, you have the ability to get up and wander around. The volume was high enough to be heard at a distance but not so loud as to prevent casual chatting between family members and friends – roll on summer.

Leaving Perth early on a Saturday morning, a two and a half hour drive south saw us bypass Bunbury heading straight to Busselton. Heading further south from Dunsborough, a series of bays and inlets mark the landscape where the south west forests meets the Indian Ocean.

Bunker Bay, known to many for the resort on the overlooking the bay harbours the restaurant Other side of the Moon winning numerous awards, coming highly recommended. Not wanting to spend such a fabulous day indoors, some hiking around the surrounds was in order.

A clear blue sky and plenty of sunshine, we set out down the hill to the water’s edge, there were no waves crashing against the rocky shore, the ocean was calm and conditions perfect. My only concern was ensuring I had sufficient sun protection, a hat and sun glasses. Some excellent photo opportunities presented itself in this barely visited section of coastline, a small number of fishermen cast the rods out past the break where fortunately there was no swell breaking on the shoreline. I love the isolation of this coastline, avoiding the crowds is a large part of a summer break, unfortunately I only ever get to visit the southern coast when no sailing is scheduled in the summer sailing season. From Perth, a trip down the southern coastline is popular for both locals and tourists alike.

The tragic sinking of another Indonesian people smuggler vessel ferrying illegal immigrants to Australia raises further questions regarding the sea worthiness of people smuggling boats, the tactics employed by the people smugglers and the willingness of people entering contractual arrangements with crime syndicates breaching the sovereignty of Australia.

The vessel, reported 25 nautical miles off the Indonesian coast had a mobile phone programmed to call Australian rescue authorities in event of problems, while some discrepancy exists as to when the call to Australian rescue authorities was made, it is clear Australian authorities contacted Indonesian authorities who coordinated rescue efforts. The Australian rescue authorities responded by sending notice to shipping in the area with a diverted merchant vessel unable to locate the stricken vessel, a border protection aircraft also joined the search.Territorial waters generally extend 12 nautical miles, approximately 22 km from the coastline as defined by the United Nations convention on the law of the sea, the contiguous zone extends a further 12 nautical miles with the exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles. It is clear the vessel was in Indonesian waters and although headed to Australia, was still in Indonesia.

To keep things in perspective, Rottnest Island is 19 km from Fremantle, is viewed by line of sight from the West Australian coast line, once a year a swimming race from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island is held, it is not only possible for people to swim that distance, they do so on a regular basis. Private craft regularly get into difficulty west of Rottnest Island, Indonesian search and rescue is never called to provide assistance to these vessels, why then is Australian authorities called to rescue Indonesian vessels in Indonesian waters?

Australian and Indonesian authorities have been working together with the HMAS Ballarat rendezvousing with an Indonesian Coast Guard vessel transferring rescued people from another stricken vessel who then landed the people back on Indonesian soil. Cooperation between Australian and Indonesian authorities appears to be entering a new phase, the willingness of Indonesia to accept boat-people from the Australian navy in Indonesian waters is the turn around policy in practice.

Making the bus trip from Cebu City to the north of the island is an arduous journey, a slow uncomfortable trip costing just 170 peso, the boat trip across the straight to the island is a further 100 peso. The other option is the dive centre picks you up from the airport in the south driving you to the boat departure point for $125 AUD, at an exchange rate of 39, that is a bus ride of $4.35 with the boat trip costing $2.56. The banca ride from Maya to Malapascua was uneventful, even discounting the odd wave splashing the occupants due to the surface chop. Landing on the beach, I removed my sandals to walk down the gang-plate so they don\’t get wet only to stand on a dog turd, not the start I had envisioned.

A walk around through the back paths guided by a bunch of local kids landed us at the rear entrance of Evolution Diving, great hopes ensured after my first disastrous trip to Malapascua in 2007 where no thresher sharks were spotted due to the arrogance of Thresher Shark Divers, a dive outfit I vowed I would never dive with again.

Left waiting at reception wasn’t the start I needed but after finally getting it sorted, also spotting an electronic banking system sitting on the desk made me less than happy when I was informed to bring cash as no electronic facilities existed on the island despite paying electronically years earlier. I was forced to bring cash, I always feel nervous carrying large amounts of cash in the electronic age, I am after all in a developing nation with security always an issue.

I moved onto the dive centre where I added my name to the whiteboard for the 5.00 am and 9.00 am dives. I checked my mix for the early morning shark dive at Monad Shoal, to gain maximum bottom time, a EAN32 mix was tested and recorded. Great, increased bottom time; either more time searching for the sharks or a longer shark interaction should we be lucky.

After a late walk on the beach and an even later dinner next door at Exotic, the restaurant of the resort next door; I returned to the grounds of Evolution. I checked the whiteboard to find my name had been removed from the dive schedule for the dive trip. After a long discussion with staff, no further action could be taken as the boat was now fully booked. Further discussions ensured at 4:45 am the next morning with Mark the owner resulting in an even shorter answer “No changes, you will have to do some local dives instead.”

Further annoying me, it was made clear checking in that if your name was on the whiteboard and you didn’t attend, you would be charged the full price for the dive anyway. At their restaurant, you are also informed that if you are found having any forms of food at the resort, you will be billed the full value at their menu prices. Apparently, according to Evolution, if you cancel or don’t attend, you pay – but if they bump you for more important clients “suck it up.”

The first dive of the morning saw us slipping below the waves just after the sun had just appeared in the sky. We quickly moved to the first cleaning station and immediately spotted a single thresher shark circling. Only a short swim to the second cleaning station; we were able to view a further four thresher sharks slowly swimming with cleaner wrasse working hard. The sharks were at times just put of arms length and slowly circling with hardly a kick of their long majestic tail. While the sharks appeared to be trance like in their movements; as they swam past you, you could see their eye movement informing you they are alert and ready to respond to any threats. A response to a threat is kicking that huge trailing ribbon like tail accelerating their sleek body through the water and out of harm\’s way.

After we left the two cleaning stations, we kicked forward following the contour line of the shoal; the first of our group ascended on low air. I now buddied up with Reto, a tall muscular Swiss guy in his 40s who to me looked similar to Sacha Baron Cohen\’s alter ego, Bruno, the male model.

Looking down the sloping wall from the top of the shoal, I was able to spot a shark swimming in the deep on route to the cleaning station. Our chance encounter made our experience seem more natural and less of a premeditated show. At the cleaning station, our small group of three also shared space with a large Singaporean contingent of 15+ divers.

Everyone knows Singaporeans are well behaved above and below the water; this group in particular possessed fine diving skills, but unfortunately, sheer numbers made viewing space tight, our chance encounter, although at a distance felt so authentic, Reto commented afterwards back on the banca of our chance encounter.

Slowly working my way forward to the mooring line, a deep stop for 2 minutes at 15 metres allowed me to look back over the edge of the wall for any further sightings. Moving to my shallow stop depth, I was contented in finally viewing the thresher sharks after the disappointment of my earlier trip years back. Now the question remains, do I start making the rounds of competing dive shops to organise my diving?

Upon returning to the resort, I moved to my room for a quick shower to wash off the salt when a staff member knocked on the door to inform me I was indeed on the day trip. I quickly dried and wandered over to the whiteboard to see a couple of names had been removed and my name was now last on the list. Ironically, it was Reto and his partner that had cancelled, he even discussed the day trip on our return trip.

Previously, my name was listed as one of the first taking the trip, it was clear a last minute cancellation took place and I had been reinstated – cold comfort, but at least I was diving again. The long trip was worthwhile after all and by default, I was back diving again. The local Filipino staff at Evolution are excellent from their office staff, dive guides, instructors and boat staff. In my mind, it is the team you remember more so than the facilities, that being said – the facilities were very good.

It now looks like the long bus journey from Cebu City to Malapascua was indeed a success, the rest of the dives around the island are a little bland taking into account the quality of diving around Cebu, Bohol and Negros. If it wasn’t for the thresher sharks, I would never had bothered to make the journey north.

For the Fremantle football club, the first half of the preliminary final at Paterson’s Stadium on Saturday night defined their season. Despite kicking 2.11 in the first quarter, the pressure inflicted on the Sydney football club was immense and unrelenting, unfortunately, this was not immediately reflected on the scoreboard.

The game should have been over in the first quarter, Fremantle dominated Sydney around the ground applying intense pressure on the ball carrier denying clean possession to a team under siege, the tackling was intense, if not for Fremantle\’s poor kicking at goals squandering opportunities, the game should have been closed out at the quarter time break.

The second quarter is where Fremantle displayed total dominance kicking 5.2; allowing Sydney just a solitary point, Fremantle strangled the opposition into submission. Sydney made their move after the long break, however, absorbing the pressure of the fightback, Fremantle countered with late goals. Fremantle won the quarter whilst absorbing the Sydney fightback kicking 4.3 to Sydney 3.3 to win not only on the scoreboard but the psychological battle as well.

Heading into the final term, Fremantle was focusing on the grand final next Saturday. Under no threat of losing; Fremantle played the final quarter out ensuring no injuries or reports preparing for their clash against league leaders Hawthorn for the premiership. Sydney kicked 6.3 to Fremantle’s 3.3 closing out the game, for the first time in their history, Fremantle is off to the grand final. The atmosphere at the game was electric, the crowd of 44,000 was exceptionally vocal with the purple hue of the supporters dressed in team colours covering nearly every seat in the stadium, it was intimidating to Sydney and it showed.

My first trip to Zurich was in the summer where I spent a fantastic 3 months enjoying all the sun this great city had to offer. My second trip turned out to be in the winter for a much shorter duration; gone was the beautiful sunny days, now replaced with delicate snowfalls – all of a sudden I actually love winter.

This was my first time in the snow – it was great watching the snowflakes fall from the sky. Four years before I had flown over the Rocky Mountains from New York to Vancouver viewing snow from the comfort of an American Airlines passenger jet.

My second viewing was once again peering from the window of an airliner this time flying over the Snowy Mountains from Sydney to Perth. My first two sightings of snow; both from 30,000 feet – argh. I was over the age of thirty, yet to see a real snow fall instead instead restricted to long range views of snow laying on the ground. I had spent every afternoon on my first summer trip to Zurich hiking around the wooded paths and had become accustomed to the lush green forests surrounding Neu Affoltern where I was residing.

The centre of Oerelekon was just a short bus trip after turning right heading down the hill, turning left took me to the lakes or heading up the hill and past the technical university offered great views overlooking Zurich. For the first time in my life, I actually enjoy winter, I have found snow to be beautiful and I learned I could comfortably live in a cold climate. What have I been missing all my life?

Winter has now passed and spring is upon us; the days are getting longer, warmer and with the changing of the season, the feeling of thawing begins. Spending a spring day at King’s Park is a pretty decent afternoon, especially on a Sunday when all the families are out and about.

A Sunday at Kings Park is always a good day, one immediately sees wildflowers blooming with the activity of the local bee population gathering and transferring pollen at a frantic pace. The sun was out on this magnificent Sunday afternoon; people were milling around the park lands, concerts in full flight with families partaking in picnics laid out on blankets on the grass. Like the bee population, Kings Park was alive with activity. Myself included and armed with my camera intent with capturing the moment, I focused my lens on some of the amazing wildflowers in the park. All in all, this was a pretty good Sunday.

Having completed a mature age degree in Training and Development at the University of New England; the question is now, how do I gain a competitive edge in an employment market that is increasingly crowded?

Having sought undergraduate study in Training and Development at Edith Cowan University; only to learn the course would be discontinued, I chose the highly recommended University of New England undergraduate degree course instead. I’m glad I did; it was a long process and I was very unhappy along the way but the end result is worth the pain.

Now moving into post graduate studies; my application at Edith Cowan University is for a Graduate Certificate of Business as opposed to a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources, do I seek a more generalised area to study or should I maintain a focused approach to maintain qualification progression or a change in career direction?

In private enterprise, training and development is a function of human resources, however, degree studies incorporate in a number of human resource units in the training and development qualification and one must be careful not to gain too narrow a skill set when employers now seek well developed graduates, even mid 40s workers such as myself.

Since the election, speaking to industry figures I am resoundingly informed they will begin hiring again, it has only been a week and the new Prime Minister hasn’t even been sworn in yet. It was reported major projects were left on hold during the climate of political uncertainty and looks to be resolved now, we could be entering a new growth phase, recent gains in the ASX 200 would indicate renewed confidence.

Driving down the gravel driveway from the bitumen road as I head to Upper Reach Winery, I am always looking forward to tasting and purchasing from their fine selection of fine wines, they are very accommodating and friendly. 

Just down the road are John Kosovich Wines and Mann Wines – more great value wineries. These small producers of Perth’s Swan Valley are all within a short drive of each other nestled on the banks of the meandering Swan River.

The vines maturing in the summer sun, I am still yet to attend a concert here as I sail on Saturday afternoons and just can’t attend. A number of Swan Valley and Margaret River wineries have summer concerts on their grounds and notwithstanding sailing commitments. A summer afternoon sipping a verdelho before moving onto their black bream chardonnay/verdelho blend before getting serious with their wonderful chards.

The reserve chardonnay is has been a spectacular success for Upper Reach; it is by far my favourite offering, the 2012 breaks with previous vintage traditions that had superb French vanillan oak flavours balancing their premium fruit. I prefer the older vintages of 2010, 2009 and 2008 with the creamy flavours; the result of the malolactic fermentation, the 2012 vintage is somewhat softer, lighter and some would say more refined.   

The selection of reds ranges from Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and their Cabernet Merlot. My choice of red is the Cabernet Sauvignon followed by the Shiraz, a popular blend is their Cabernet Merlot but apart from tastings, I am yet to purchase. A number of times, late on a Sunday afternoon, I have sat in their restaurant enjoying a bite to eat washed down by a glass of Petit Verdot or Tempranillo overlooking the vines – Perth just made The Economist top ten livable cities and I am enjoying the lifestyle a mere 30 minutes drive from my house.