Originally Posted by annqldau

Now now! some one will acuse us of picking on the Aussies again.

Originally Posted by Buzzy--Bee

Yes and then the mods will have to sort the argument out.

Right that's it - I'm banning that Buzzy bloke!!!



Buzzy

Originally Posted by cresta57

Last week I took our son Josh [15] up to Bundaberg to do his open water dive course. We had a fantastic time and his tuition was one on one until the four open water dive's when it was two on one plus myself as chief photographer [any excuse to get wet] He passed the course with flying colours and my new dive buddy promptly relived me of my BCD, computer, spare knife and spare wetsuit. It's looking like an expensive few months for me as it's now buy two of everything.
We did the actual open water dives at Barolin Rocks (Coral Cove) about 17k out from Bundy. It's the first time I've dived there and the place is teaming with hard and soft coral, fish life is abundant, we saw so many different species Josh's log didn't have room to name them all. For an easy shallow dive, I clocked a max of 6 m, Barolin Rocks is going to be hard to beat. Vis was good the first day at about 5-6m poorer the second day as the wind was gusting 15 Knots onshore.
If anyone is interested in learning to dive or upgrading their present skills Bundaberg Dive Academy is highly recommended.
Josh is now looking to do his Advanced and is already hounding me for a trip out on the dive boat to Lady Musgrave Island, I'm so weak willed I'm sure I'll give in easily.

The Warning:
Do Not Bring U.K Cylinders They Will Not Be Tested, unless you pay the bureaucrats in the Australian Standards Dept lots of cash and wait up to 18 months for them to approve your individual cylinders. I had a long chat to a bloke in the Quality Assurance Department who said "While it's technically possible to get approval for an individual cylinder it would be cheaper to buy new"
I posted a bit of this on another thread;
Having just spent the afternoon researching the cost of Scuba Cylinders a couple of things become immediately noticeable:
1] There are very few online shops in Australia and if you find one you have to ring for a price. I found just two shops displaying prices in a whole afternoon of surfing.

2] Prices here are not just a bit more expensive they are massively more expensive.

The excuse I hear frequently is "well we have to add 10% GST" BIG DEAL! we had to add 17.5% bloody V.A.T in the U.K and stuff was still way cheaper.

To compare like with like for an example I wanted to buy 4 X 232bar 12 litre Faber steel tanks.

U.K prices varied between £120 [$302.00]and £150 [$377.00]the cheapest price for one cylinder was £109.00 [just $274 Bucks]
Australian prices for the same thing were from $480 to $599 [£191.00-£239.00]

Obviously I didn't ring the U.K companies and ask for discount for buying four I did ring the Aussie ones and ask for a bulk buy discount. One company wouldn't deal the other two knocked off $100 bucks per cylinder but were still way more than I'm prepared to pay.
The cheapest I could find O2 clean cylinders for was for four $402 bucks each $1608 bucks compared to $1100 if I bought them in the U.K
EDIT:
I just received an email from Dive Imports [Perth] they are the best price yet.

We can also supply the following High Quality FABER light weight steel cylinders.
( Including rubber boot and stamped Din / K valve )

C21 LIGHT WEIGHT STEEL - 85 cu/ft cylinder ( 10.5 Litre ) - RRP: 525.00 AU Dollars
( Nominal Tare weight 11.5 KGs )
Our Special Price is $329.00 INCLUDING DELIVERY IN AUSTRALIA ONLY.

C22 LIGHT WEIGHT STEEL - 100 cu/ft cylinder ( 12.2 Litre ) - RRP: 580.00 AU Dollars
( Nominal Tare weight 13.2 KGs )
Our Special Price is $349.00 INCLUDING DELIVERY IN AUSTRALIA ONLY.


__________________
Sean

Originally Posted by andicee

Does this price difference apply to all of their diving equipment? I am keen to start diving and my daughter has had a few lessons. Would you advise buying the majority of our equipment here to save a few $$$

Cheers

Andy

Originally Posted by cresta57

I'd buy everything in the U.K except the cylinders.
A few more examples;
My Mares dive computer cost me £100.00 in the U.K todays cost in dollars would be $247 bucks Anaconda are selling the same computer for $795 bucks.

I have a set of Avanti Quatro fins U.K circa £70.00 conversion $172 bucks Anaconda sell them for $429.00

I have a Buddy Commando auto air U.K price £275 inc comfort pad and cumberband They are unavailable here [ATM] but a similar BCD would cost in the region of $1000.00. BCD's start at around $800 for a basic one.

If you can afford it buy quality gear in the U.K and it will last you a long time out here.
I'm buying a new Buddy Commando TD and hoping to ship it out here as Josh has now decided my old one is his. The cost to buy and ship is still cheaper than to buy an inferior[IMO] BCD here.
Good luck

Originally Posted by cresta57

I drove down there from Gympie today to check out the shop, I had stuff to do in Brisbane so it was only another hour. According to the sales guys Anaconda do not sell scuba cylinders, everything else but not cylinders. I told them they were recommended as the cheapest for aluminium cylinders and they denied point blank ever selling them. Lying bloody sales assistants.

Originally Posted by cresta57

I'd buy everything in the U.K except the cylinders.
A few more examples;
My Mares dive computer cost me £100.00 in the U.K todays cost in dollars would be $247 bucks Anaconda are selling the same computer for $795 bucks.

I have a set of Avanti Quatro fins U.K circa £70.00 conversion $172 bucks Anaconda sell them for $429.00

I have a Buddy Commando auto air U.K price £275 inc comfort pad and cumberband They are unavailable here [ATM] but a similar BCD would cost in the region of $1000.00. BCD's start at around $800 for a basic one.

If you can afford it buy quality gear in the U.K and it will last you a long time out here.
I'm buying a new Buddy Commando TD and hoping to ship it out here as Josh has now decided my old one is his. The cost to buy and ship is still cheaper than to buy an inferior[IMO] BCD here.
Good luck

Originally Posted by cresta57

I'd buy everything in the U.K except the cylinders.
A few more examples;
My Mares dive computer cost me £100.00 in the U.K todays cost in dollars would be $247 bucks Anaconda are selling the same computer for $795 bucks.

I have a set of Avanti Quatro fins U.K circa £70.00 conversion $172 bucks Anaconda sell them for $429.00

I have a Buddy Commando auto air U.K price £275 inc comfort pad and cumberband They are unavailable here [ATM] but a similar BCD would cost in the region of $1000.00. BCD's start at around $800 for a basic one.

If you can afford it buy quality gear in the U.K and it will last you a long time out here.
I'm buying a new Buddy Commando TD and hoping to ship it out here as Josh has now decided my old one is his. The cost to buy and ship is still cheaper than to buy an inferior[IMO] BCD here.
Good luck

Originally Posted by annqldau

You could justify a boat with all those savings to dive off... and your Conscience could justify a chest freezer to put your body in after you bought it.

Originally Posted by cresta57

She has a chest freezer already so I don't need to justify the boat
If I keep showing her pics of 40k Quintrex jobbies, eventually I'll get a compromise and be the owner of a nice 20k half cab. I'd settle for a 10k one but I didn't tell you that