Best Offer Silver Membrane 0 45M 25Mm Diameter 50: August 2012

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Communication - Seven Verbal Communication Skills That Improve Workplace Management Effectiveness

Successful executives, managers and supervisors know that the importance of effective communication in the workplace cannot be underestimated. Poor communication is responsible for mistakes, conflict, and negativity in the workplace. Have you ever thought the following?

"Oops, I know I said that, but what I meant to say was..."

" Why can't I get buy in from the team?"

Communication - Seven Verbal Communication Skills That Improve Workplace Management Effectiveness

"That mistake could have been avoided if I had only said...."

Two common communication barriers are:
Not being aware of effective communication skills Being in a hurry.
Since effective communication in business is essential to success at your company or organization, it makes sense to improve your communication skills. The good news is that you can learn some basic communication skills and use them today to improve the quality of your workplace relationships with both employees and customers.

Seven Communication Skills for the Workplace

1. Personal Contact

Did you ever wonder why companies spend thousands of dollars sending sales people across the country when they could do a phone call for much less? The reason is that people relate to one another better when they can meet in person and read each other's body language. What's more, people can feel the energy the connection creates. You can also smile and shake someone's hand when you greet them, which creates a powerful connection.

2. Develop a network.

No one achieves success alone. Success in any company requires a team effort.
Make an effort to get to know managers and employees in different departments within your company, Meet new people in professional organizations. Become active in your community.
3. Always be courteous.

Courtesy lets people know that you care.

The words "Thank You" show that you appreciate your employees' efforts, and this is important because appreciation is the number one thing that employees want from management.

A little change like saying, "Would you please..." instead of just, "Please..." will make you sound less dogmatic and will improve your relationships with your employees.

4. Be clear

Since people often hear things differently, and they may be hesitant to ask you to explain what you said, you should ask, "Did I explain this clearly?" This will confirm that people understood you.

5. Compromise

You can decrease the tension associated with conflict if you always ask, "What is best for the company?" This gives people a different perspective on your requests, and they will be less likely to take any conflict personally.

6. Be interesting and interested

Even though most of your workplace communications will be about business topics, it is also important to share your personal side. Let your staff know about your interests and your family, and ask them about theirs. Telling a few short personal stories about your interesting experiences will make your employees feel more connected to you as a person. Read your hometown paper daily so you know what is going on in your community and what personal concerns your staff may have about them.

7. Listen

Listening attentively to your employees demonstrates respect. Listening isn't easy because everyone's mind tends to wander. So to help you concentrate on what the other person is saying, keep a good eye contact --without staring, and then make a comment about it or ask a question.

Improving your communication skills is a process that happens gradually over a period of time. The good news is that you have opportunities to practice your communication skills every day at work. Here's a tip to help you improve faster. At the end of each day, take a moment to review your communications during the day. What was effective? What wasn't effective? That way you will continue to learn and improve your communication skills.

Communication is the key to success in business

That is why you should be aware of how you are communicating at all times. As a result... you will become a role model for effective workplace communication skills to your employees. This is important because the ultimate goal of any supervisor, manager or executive is to turn ordinary workers into extraordinary employees. You can take a huge step toward doing this by honing your own communication skills.

Communication - Seven Verbal Communication Skills That Improve Workplace Management Effectiveness Direct Dealer Stores Zone
24 Hrs Best Seller Category
New Tags Get Cheapest Price Shopping
Benefit Buy Direct Directory

Successful Workplace Communication is one of the 13 essential skills that employees use at work. The Employee Success Toolkit is a professional development course for employees that teaches these essential skills in 13 easy-to-follow lessons. See what these 13 skills are at: http://www.EmployeeSuccessToolkit.com

I also invite you to visit http://www.ConfidenceCenter.com for a free Employee Morale Starter eKit and Employee Morale Calendar Planner

watches cell phone Buy Acdelco D1483D Ignition Lock Cylinder For 118 Best Price Golf Cart Ultimate Light Kit Upgrade

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Title Your Short Story Right

No matter how fantastic the short story you have written may be, without a catchy title the chances are good that an editor will not read it. The title is the most important part of the story as this is what first captures the reader's attention.

A good title should grab the reader and make them wonder what the story is about. A bad title will probably cause the reader to skip the story altogether. This holds true when submitting your stories for publication. Editors are busy people and will pass on the story, often without reading the first sentence, if your title doesn't capture their interest.

The title of your story will tell the editor a lot about your creativity. If your title is strong, an editor will be more likely to look at your story with a positive attitude.

Title Your Short Story Right

So how do you come up with a good title? Below is a small list of tips to help you come up with an attention grabbing title.

1. Keep it short, no more than four or five words. Even two or three word titles are generally more than enough. If you can come up with a single word that conveys something about your story, even better.

2. Avoid boring titles. Don't name your story something like 'The Monster' or 'The Sea' as these are dull and boring, and too generalized. Instead, try for something that evokes emotion. 'Under the Bed' would be a good title for a scary story and 'High Tides' works better for a story based on the ocean.

3. Make sure your title fits your genre. Don't name a whodunit with a title that could be confused with a romance story.

4. Make your title easy to remember. This is another reason to keep the title short. Use your creativity to come up with something catchy that relates to the theme, the action, or the characters of the story. A memorable title allows your readers to recommend your story to others.

5. Research the title you come up with. Although titles are not copyrighted, you don't want your story confused with another story of the same name. They can be similar without being exact.

So how do you spark your creativity to come up with the perfect title for your story? The following are a handful of ways to awaken your muse.

a. A short line of dialogue or a memorable sentence from your story can sometimes be the right choice.

b. A common phrase or expression can often be found that sums up the theme of your story. Or use a play on words, where only one element of the phrase is changed.

c. Borrow a line from an established work. Look at Shakespeare, the Bible or other well known book, song or movie.

d. Use one your main characters' names. Think along the lines of 'Tom Sawyer' or Stephen King's 'Christine'.

e. Likewise, your title can be your setting. Think of Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Space, etc...

f. A good title can convey the main idea of your story. 'Misery' or 'Legends of the Fall' are good examples.

g. Use word association to link together elements of the story.

h. Allow the action to determine the name. By adding an 'ing' to the first word, you can come up with a catchy title. Some examples of this could be Chasing Rainbows or Dreaming Life Away.

Often, you can spend hours coming up with a title only to have the editor change it after accepting the story for publication. Sometimes the new title will make little sense to you. While you may think your title is perfect, the editor knows the publication's readers well and may think the alternative is a better choice. And while this may irk your ego, knowing the story will be published is its own reward.

However you come up with the title to your short story, remember it is the first impression the editor will have about your writing abilities. Like the logline to a screenplay or the first paragraph of a novel, the title should represent the story they are about to read. At the end of the day, you want the editor to remember your story and place it in the 'accepted for publication' stack on their desk.

Title Your Short Story Right

Kristy Taylor is a syndicated journalist with articles and short stories strewn across all forms of media. She has written and published numerous books, and is the executive editor of Paramount Publishing. For information on writing short stories visit www.ShortStoryCompetitions.com.

watch cell phone Buy Acdelco D1483D Ignition Lock Cylinder For 118 Cheap Deals Mason 5C025 Pad Anti Vibration Buy 2008 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Without Turbo Radiator

Friday, August 17, 2012

14 Tips On Writing The Short-Short Story

The short-short story has been likened by some as being closer to writing a poem than a story. And that makes sense--every word has to be packed with power; every line has to move the story along.

The Writing For Success short story competition requires you to write a very short story--the word limit is just 900 words. Here are some tips to help you make every word count.

Short Stories

USA Shop Search CA Direct Search Top Views Search Search Info Plus Gift Options E-Shop Options Option Plus Your Shop Station We Love Reviews E-Shops Big Fan Resale Big Fan A Stores Trade 24Hrs Retail Store A Best Display Ausie Shop List Shop For Easy Shop For Luxury Shop ConCept Oversea Concept Boston Shopping Shopping Secrets Smart Shopping Advance How To Free Shop Secrets Pop up Shopping Best Pop up Cart Add To Carts Smart E-Carts Retailer Cart Store Secrets Top Shopping Cart

14 Tips On Writing The Short-Short Story

Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers' tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/

watch cell phone Best Price Dual Motor Deluxe Power Unit For Best Price Art S8 Balanced 8 Channel Microphone

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Writing Essays - The Monster in Faulkner's Story, A Rose for Emily

To help you write essays about literature, here's a little analysis I've worked up on William Faulkner's highly acclaimed short story, "A Rose for Emily" (NOTE: You may want to read and study the story online as you follow my reasoning, here, so create another tab in your browser, then go to Google Search and type in "A Rose for Emily" and be sure to type the quote marks; you can use ALT-TAB to move between the story and this article):

As I've pointed out in other articles, every story - whether a short story or a novel - has to have some major change by the end. This change is the most important factor to keep in mind when you analyze and then write essays about any story, whether short or long.

Short Stories

What is that change? Why, a new view reverse, of course - always!

Writing Essays - The Monster in Faulkner's Story, A Rose for Emily

I'll show you how to use the following three-step new view analysis process on Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," which you can then use on any short story -

#1 - At the beginning of a short story, a strong value statement, an old view, is given by or about the main character, asserting an evaluation or describing some characteristic, goal, or desire.

As we start this masterful short story, the old view pops right out at us - it's the very first sentence:

When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant-a combined gardener and cook-had seen in at least ten years.

Note that I've bolded respectful affection. That sounds like a pretty strong value statement, doesn't it, especially since the "whole town went to her funeral." Question is, how will that strong positive value about Emily change by the end of the story?

#2 - In the middle of a short story, the old view is supported or undercut with descriptions, conflicts, and resolutions to conflicts that set up the new view at the end.

Now, I'm not going to comment on everything in the story. But did you notice that every section of the story has something to do with the townspeople's respect for Emily? Sometimes there was even affection along with the respect.

DESCRIPTION: Several descriptions occur in this short story, but one stands out from the rest. In the first section, after the brief introduction, the board of alderman from the town (city councilmen) have come to her mansion to meet with Miss Emily to convince her to pay her taxes, and - They rose when she entered - a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare, bloated....

Note that Miss Emily is dressed in black, with a contrasting thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt. At the end of that chain, no doubt, is a watch, which makes a figure eight of the chain with the out-of-sight watch at the end, over her abdomen. Her body is covered in black clothing and she is bloated, both face and abdomen, while her arms and legs are small and spare or thin, like the cane she carries.

We cannot grasp the significance of this description until the new view in the final scene of the story, which I'll comment on then, of course. Just keep this description in mind, okay? We'll bring it up again at the end of this discussion.

CONFLICT: In the second section, neighbors complain that bad smells from Emily's house are contaminating the neighborhood. But the town's aldermen respectfully refuse to talk to Emily about it, refuse to accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad.

RESOLUTION: To avoid a conflict with Emily about the smell, the aldermen respectfully took it upon themselves to go out at night and sprinkled lime about the grounds and in the cellar of Emily's house to get rid of the smell. The smell disappears in two weeks.

CONFLICT: Also in the second section, Emily refused for three days to admit that her father had died and wouldn't let anyone in to take his body to get it ready for burial.

RESOLUTION: The townspeople show respectful pity for Emily by not forcefully entering and taking the body to get it ready for funeral and burying. After three days, their respectful pity finally influences Emily, who literally broke down emotionally and let them in.

CONFLICT: The third section ends in a conflict that Emily has with the town druggist. She asks the druggist for some poison. But because he is required by law to record what the poison will be used for, the druggist keeps trying to get Emily to say what she'll do with the poison. But Miss Emily just stared at him. No matter what the druggist said, she wouldn't respond to the question.

RESOLUTION: The druggist gave Emily the poison anyway, in spite of the law. He merely filled in the information himself, For rats, without any input from her. He gave in to Emily out of respect for her social position, no doubt, as we have seen so often.

CONFLICT & RESOLUTION: Toward the end of the fourth section, a minor conflict and resolution occurred and passed quickly on, with Emily winning yet another conflict because of the town's respectful affection for her: When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them.

In every case of conflict in the story, respectful affection for Emily and respect for her social position is what resolves the conflict that the townspeople have with Emily's conduct.

#3. At the end of a short story, a new view reverse of the old view is usually revealed.

In section five of the story, at Emily's funeral, the townspeople wait respectfully until Emily is buried before they break into (which can be viewed as a kind of conflict/resolution, too) the upper room of her mansion, which has been locked for years, probably decades. The room is covered with very fine dust, and they find there a decaying skeleton in the bed, obviously belonging to Homer, Emily's boyfriend of decades ago.

In the pillow right next to the skeleton is the surprise - they find a deep indentation where someone must have laid their head repeatedly and somewhat recently, because they find there a long strand of iron-grey hair in the indentation - Emily's hair, without a doubt, since Faulkner has described Emily's hair as iron grey.

Here's the new view-the respectful affection of the townspeople at the start of the story must turn around, must reverse to a strong revulsion after they learn that Emily killed her lover and slept with his decaying body through many years, even decades. It takes some kind of a repulsive monster to do something like that!

With that thought in mind, recall the description of Emily in the first section: a small, fat woman in black. While not a perfect match, that description is fairly close to that of a black widow spider. Remember the figure eight - the thin gold chain - ending out of sight on the bloated abdomen? And the spare or thin limbs, with the cane adding a fifth sort of limb, which is one more than half of the eight limbs of a spider? Remember the fat, bloated body? So this view of Emily killing her lover is very like a black widow spider killing her male partner.

Why did the townspeople break into that locked room in the first place? They weren't sure what was in there, but they expected to find something important there, obviously. And that something provided a new view reverse of respectful affection for Miss Emily, at the very least for the reader, if not for the townspeople, as well.

Now, these sample thesis statements can help give you a some ideas for writing a strong essay on William Faulkner's superbly crafted short story, "A Rose for Emily:"

Faulkner uses his short story,A Rose for Emily, to illustrate the theme that, 'Human nature can be corrupted when an individual is given too many unearned privileges and too much undeserved respectful affection.' In a surprise ending, William Faulkner's short story, A Rose for Emily, reveals how a society steeped in a tradition of respect for social position can be so tragically, so ironically wrong. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner repeatedly uses conflict and resolution to hammer home the respectful affection the townspeople have for Emily-until the end. Descriptive imagery about the mansion in A Rose for Emily adds to the revelation about Miss Emily's true character at the end, which has been hidden by the house for decades. In A Rose for Emily, the single long strand of iron-grey hair at the end becomes a symbol suggesting Emily killed her boyfriend, which clears up the incidents of the smell, the rat poison, and the disappearance of Homer-not to mention reversing the townspeople's ever-present respectful affection for Emily.

Writing Essays - The Monster in Faulkner's Story, A Rose for Emily

Next, you'll want to read author Bill Drew's e-book, The Secret DNA of Analyzing Short Stories, which analyzes ten famous short stories using the NewView Analysis method that he demonstrated with Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily."

To help you come up with new ideas and effective ways to support them in whatever writing you do, especially in writing essays, Drew has also authored and published these additional e-books, which are available at his website and at Amazon.com: The Secret DNA of Writing Essays - And Everything Else, The Secret DNA of Writing Thesis Statements, The Secret DNA of Topic Sentences That Entice Readers, and The Secret DNA of Analyzing Published Essays.

Drew's unique and effective NewView methods of writing, reading, analyzing, and communicating came out of his work on his Master's degree in English. His NewView principles and methods are currently being successfully taught in elementary, middle school, and high school classes, as well as by businessmen and marketers.

Upcoming books planned by Drew include NewView: THE Key Insight into Writing & Communicating, The Secret DNA of Analyzing Novels with NewView, The Secret DNA of Introductions and Conclusions, The Secret DNA of School Writing w/ Lesson Plans, The Secret DNA of Shakespeare's Plays, The Secret DNA of Communication, and many more to come in the Secret DNA series.

mobile phone watches Best Price Art S8 Balanced 8 Channel Microphone Buy Bern Berkeley Winter Snowboarding Helmet Buy Acdelco D1483D Ignition Lock Cylinder For 118

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Using Short Paragraph Stories to Teach Simple Past in English - Part 1

Whenever I have to teach the Simple Past tense in English, one activity I always use is speaking and writing practice using some short "stories" that I made up. Writing them was a lot more difficult than I'd originally imagined since use of only regular verbs in a narrative is not really authentic language. Native speakers simply don't talk that way. But, to give my EFL English students some practice in writing the forms of regular verbs in past and especially in pronouncing them, I came up with a couple of shorts using only this form. They're harder to read and pronounce than "normal", but the intensive practice seems to be quite helpful. So, I continue to use them even though I know this speech pattern is not going to occur in natural English speech.

Since my learners are all from a Spanish-speaking country in South America, Colombia, they typically exhibit a problem in pronouncing the -ed verb ending in its various forms. I'd noticed the same propensity towards pronunciation problems with -ed regular verb endings in other Spanish-speaking areas, so I prepared exercises to help with this early on. Students in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama and Ecuador have all benefited from these simple "stories" I hope that perhaps your EFL / ESL students will too.

Short Stories

TEFL Learners can read the story paragraphs aloud, focusing on the correct pronunciation of the verb ending forms. They can fill-in the blanked out endings in the paragraph to practice adding -ed or just -d as required. Also they'll practice with when to change "y" to an "i" before adding -ed. For example, Play becomes played, and stay becomes stayed, but try and cry become tried or cried. The stories could be cut into strips and re-ordered, acted out as a "skit", pantomimed, or a variety of written exercises and comprehension activities could be added. As an added feature, I boldface the verbs in the paragraphs.

Using Short Paragraph Stories to Teach Simple Past in English - Part 1

I attempted to create short paragraph stories that would be of some interest as well. One is set in the Old West and is called, "The Sheriff of Calico County". The others take place during a visit to the zoo, and during a bank robbery, respectively. They're entitled, "The Zoo" (169 words) and "The State Bank" (131 words). Kinda catchy titles, ain't they? There was just a bit of "writing license" taken in the creation of these short paragraph stories. Hey, it worked for Shakespeare, didn't it?

Here are two as examples for you to try out.

The Zoo

Last Wednesday we decided to visit the zoo. We arrived the next morning after we breakfasted, cashed in our passes and entered. We walked toward the first exhibits. I looked up at a giraffe as it stared back at me. I stepped nervously to the next area. One of the lions gazed at me as he lazed in the shade while the others napped. One of my friends first knocked then banged on the tempered glass in front of the monkey's cage. They howled and screamed at us as we hurried to another exhibit where we stopped and gawked at plumed birds. After we rested, we headed for the petting zoo where we petted wooly sheep who only glanced at us but the goats butted each other and nipped our clothes when we ventured too near their closed pen. Later, our tired group nudged their way through the crowded paths and exited the turnstiled gate. Our car bumped, jerked and swayed as we dozed during the relaxed ride home.

The State Bank

This morning at 8:33, someone robbed the State Bank downtown. The thief entered the bank and stated that he wanted all their money. The thief smiled but looked very tired. The tellers seemed worried. The thief received the money he requested, asked to be excused, then stormed out quickly as the door revolved. He dashed down the street and screeched away in a damaged car that rattled, squeaked and smoked. It appeared that he really needed the money. The police soon arrived. They barreled and chased down the street. They searched and questioned bystanders, but the thief vanished. The police failed to catch him. Investigators abandoned the case and neglected to do anything else. The money was never recovered and the thief was never identified the report of the incident ended.

In part two of this article series, I demonstrate the use of a similar style, but much longer piece for practicing simple past of regular verbs. If you're successful and want to try another of my "stories" or two, just e-mail me for more. Better yet try your hand at coming up with a couple of your own. Either way, I'm happy to be able to share these with you and I'd be happy to hear how these worked for you and your EFL / ESL English learners. So, feel free to let me know how well these worked (or didn't) for you.

Good Luck

Using Short Paragraph Stories to Teach Simple Past in English - Part 1

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free.

For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost PDF Ebook, "If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know", immediate delivery details and no-obligation information are available online now at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/

Need professional, original content or articles for your blog, newsletter or website? Have a question, request, or want to receive more information or to be added to his articles and teaching materials mailing list? Then contact the author at this website for a prompt response.

mobile phone watches Buy Acdelco D1483D Ignition Lock Cylinder For 118

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Diving With Grey Nurse Sharks at Fish Rock

If you love sharks and you love scuba diving then you need to venture to the mid-north coast of New South Wales and visit South West Rocks for the chance to dive with groups of Grey Nurse sharks.

South West Rocks is a beach side village located half way between Sydney and Brisbane. It sits on the shore of Trial Bay, which was named because the brig Trial was wrecked here in 1816 after some convicts stole it in a bid to escape to south east Asia. The wreck wasn't discovered until 1817 by which time there was no trace of the convicts. It's assumed they either died of starvation or ran into some problems with the local Aborigines. Anyway that's a topic for another post...

Short Stories

Fashion Survey Survey Info Plus Gifts Survey Today Survey Daily Survey Review Survey Survey Station Survey Center Refurbish Survey Top List Survey Trends Survey Newest Survey Produvt Survey New Items Studio Hotlist Center Newest Center Products Center Shop Center Trends Center Reviews Center Gift Center Direct Info Plus Tools Plus Search Station Review Estimate Estimate Search Estimate Ideas Ideas Premium Green Stuido Daily Resale Review Studio Gift Resale Store Direct Station Today Station Daily Studio New York Plus

What I've come here for is the diving and one dive site in particular - Fish Rock. Fish Rock is a small rocky inconspicuous island that juts out of the ocean surface. But the bare rock sitting out of the sea hides some of the most amazing habitat and wildlife I have ever seen in one location. Here temperate waters meet tropical and so you get the best of both; turtles, lion fish, anemone fish, crays, yellow tails, eels, Queensland grouper, bull rays, wobbegongs, sponges, corals... and of course the grey nurse sharks.

Diving With Grey Nurse Sharks at Fish Rock

You get to Fish Rock by boat launched from the estuary just out of South West Rocks. Crossing the sandbar out into Trial Bay can be an adventure in itself depending on the winds and the tides but once clear, it's a twenty minute ride along the coast. Come at the right time of year and you might see whales on the trip out and often there'll be dolphins and seals playing around.

Fish Rock has several dive sites in and around it but the premier dive is through Fish Rock Cave. The cave runs 120 metres right through Fish Rock and is a true ocean cavern.

When you first enter the cave from the deep end, it's roughly 25 metres deep. It's quite a large opening when you first enter that narrows a few metres in. There's already crays and shrimps hanging on the walls or in the crevices and wobbegongs perched on rocks along the bottom. This first tunnel narrows out and next is a short swim up through a chimney. You can touch the walls on either side but it's not overly claustrophobic. There's no light at this point and you have to be careful about divers running into you from below or for that matter running into someone's fins but it's pretty easy to navigate through. But then as you ascend about 10 metres... then there's a faint glow in the distance and as you get closer the glow gets bigger and brighter, until you can make out the large cavernous exit at 12 metres. What makes this sight so breathtaking is the silhouettes of the sharks, surrounded by hundreds of fish. I did four dives through the cave and each time there where at least six sharks hanging around the exit. I was pretty impressed with that... but sometimes you can get up to thirty sharks.

The sharks mill around, slipping into and back out of the cave entrance. When we exit the cave we hug the left wall to give them space and are rewarded with the opportunity to get up close and personal. They will meander towards you and ever so slowly turn to pass. They are big animals, some are over three metres long and battle-scarred. Some have fish hooks hanging out of their mouths. Fish Rock is a protected habitat for Grey Nurses but until January, you were still allowed to fish around it. Since January this year, fishing with a line is now banned so hopefully next time I go there'll be less sharks with large hooks rusting away in their mouths.

The surge through and around the rock can sometimes be a bit disconcerting until you get used to it. It's not always there but when it is, it can pull and push you around a bit. Trick is to either go with it or find yourself a small nook, dump your weight and use the rock to keep you in place. The guides we had were always really good at warning us beforehand if there was any around and after a few dives you get used to it.

Fish Rock Cave is a magical dive site but the cave is not the only site at the rock. The Pinnacle is at the northern end of the island and rises from 30 metres up to 7 metres from the surface. This site was breathtakingly full of grey nurses, groupers and eels. Where ever we swam, there were another five or six sharks swimming past and the groupers were hanging around hopeful of being given a sea urchin snack.

If you're good on air, you can also circumnavigate the entire rock in one dive. This is a dive when you are constantly on the move but it's a great way to get a good perspective of all the dive sites and animals that live there.

You usually do a couple of dives each day, with tea or coffee and snacks offered in between dives. (There's no night diving at Fish Rock - that's when the sharks are out hunting.) We had a couple of days where the weather and conditions closed in but the guys at South West Rocks dive centre offered us an extra day's diving and another night's accommodation without charging us any extra... certainly can't complain about the customer service! Admittedly it was a quiet time of year so you might not always get that deal, but they are pretty accommodating whenever they can be.

If the weather does mean you can't dive, there's plenty to keep you occupied. South West Rocks is surrounded by national park so if bush walking's your thing, there's plenty of it. You should also visit the ruins of Trial Bay Gaol. The prison was built in the late 1800s and housed well-behaved prisoners who were put to work building a breakwater in the bay. It wasn't a success and the prison closed in 1903. It was reopened in 1915 to house German prisoners during World War I but closed again in 1925.

The visitor information centre in town also houses a small maritime museum and here you can read about the Japanese submarines causing havoc all along the east coast of Australia during World War II and the merchant ships they sank. There's plenty of shipwreck stories to keep you interested.

At the end of the day, a beer at the local surf lifesaving club watching the sun set is a great way to end the day - whether you've been diving or not.

When all's said and done though, the diving is the main attraction here and Fish Rock has a reputation as one of the best dive sites in Australia - which I'll definitely add my vote to. I did six dives over three days here and I'll be doing more for sure. It's one of the best diving and shark experiences out there, it's relatively inexpensive as far as diving holidays go and I can't recommend it enough.

Diving With Grey Nurse Sharks at Fish Rock

Jane Mitchell is a scuba diving instructor who works at a public aquarium for her day job. She loves introducing people to the joys that can be found underwater and discovering everything she can about shipwrecks and sharks.

Her website is http://www.shipwrecksandsharks.com

watches mobile phone Best Price Dual Motor Deluxe Power Unit For Cheap Deals Mason 5C025 Pad Anti Vibration

Pages

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Communication - Seven Verbal Communication Skills That Improve Workplace Management Effectiveness

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Title Your Short Story Right

Friday, August 17, 2012

14 Tips On Writing The Short-Short Story

Short Stories

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Writing Essays - The Monster in Faulkner's Story, A Rose for Emily

Short Stories

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Using Short Paragraph Stories to Teach Simple Past in English - Part 1

Short Stories

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Diving With Grey Nurse Sharks at Fish Rock

Short Stories