flew with speed and grace of a lead balloon.

I got it, Max! My friend and I discovered the Great Australian Bight in Grade 11 when staring at the map of the world after class. We figured out what a bight was from the shape, and then surreptitiously labelled a few more places around the world that we thought looked like they could be bights. Who knows, that map may still be hanging in that classroom.

That was also the year that we (same friend and I) read about New Zealand in an encyclopedia and decided that was where we wanted to live when we grow up. I kid you not!