Fish down under

From my friend the artist Bonita Ely in Australia, who apparently spared the local fish:

Hi Aviva, 

Here is my fish story.

My daughter, Marina was living in Perth some years ago & took me to Stradbroke Island for a day excursion where we hired bikes (cars are not allowed) & rode to a fabulous rock shelf to snorkel and look at the wonderful fish. She is a scoober diver so this was the soft option for Mum. First I had to get the wet suit on which was quite a feat. Rollling around the beach trying to get the thing over my arse reduced me to pulverising, blinding, hysterical laughter. After recovering my composure, flippers were applied to feet, and we made our way like two buffoons to the water's edge, where clowning took precedent over any serious negotiations of rough terrain, stepping over the rock pools and slippery outcrops to get to water deep enough to float on. 

And float is the operative word. 

With goggles impeding my vision, flippers impeding my footfalls, plus the wetsuit's crazy buoyancy, the actual snorkelling rapidly finished me off for the day. Very few fish hung around long enough to be looked at, and my behaviour confirmed in my daughter's assessment, for the umpteenth time, her mother's total incompetance when it comes to any sportive activity.

Cheers,

Dr Bonita Ely

Asoociate Professor,
Co-ordinator, School of Art PhD Program
Co-ordinator, Sculpture, Performance and Installation Dept.,
College of Fine Arts,
University of New South Wales,
PO Box 259, Paddington,
NSW 2021, Australia

Cheif Investigator and inaugural member of  the Environmental Initiative for Environmental Art (ERIA) at COFA, the SPI's research organisation