Cappy wrote on Mar 28^th, 2013 at 4:04am:

*I remember being in Broome around that time in 83 and there was a massive Army exercise up the west coast and into NT. Where you there for that? I was in the pub and the SAS stormed in with guns out looking for the enemy. Good times.  8-)

Sorry. I have the dates wrong. It was March 1984! I was discharged from the Army on the 3rd of March 1983 - exactly 1 year and 1 week after my near fatal motorbike accident. I was still recovering at that time, so it had to be March the following year. Sorry about that. :(

I did spearfishing every day when I was in Geraldton, Bunbury (I encountered my first shark here) and Albany, with very good results. I did try spearfishing in Perth, but it was fruitless, and I wasn't in Esperance long enough to do any spearfishing (about 1 1/2 to 2 days). Besides, when I was in Esperance, I was desperately wanting to see the remains of Skylab while there, so that took precedence!