Hey edr42,
I recently moved to a small town near Mackay and have been getting out in between the weather we have been having. If it is not raining it is blowing a gale and a little difficult to do a run out to the reef.
I visited Keswick and Scawfel Islands the last trip and saw a huge school of Lipstick Tangs. I was going to try to catch one for my tank but decided it was probably too much hassle and kept snorkelling. The coral was pretty good for a nearshore reef (only about 20 nautical miles off shore) and there were some really nice acros and a heap of montis. Not much in the way of soft corals though.
I am heading out again on Tuesday if the winds calm down and will probably look to collect some anthias or other schooling fish for the tank.
I had originally planned to study at James Cook but decided to do Geology at UNSW. I should have gone to JCU
PS went for a quick fish before returning home and managed to bag some of the remaining spanish mackeral.