TOGA-COARE was a major international field experiment in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean in 1992–93, aimed at providing data for understanding some presently obscure aspects of the ENSO phenomenon. Twenty nations were involved in COARE. Australian scientists from the Bureau of Meteorology, three Divisions of CSIRO, and from Monash, Flinders and Tasmania Universities participated. This article provides a brief ‘science journalist’s’ view of their results and experiences.