April 7, 2009
G'Day Mate from Oz
Island Life In Samoa
That concludes the Samoa adventure, but it was a great source of relaxing fun. Still have Australia to go.
The Kingdom of Tonga
Malo e lelei from the Kindgdom of Tonga! Before I get to far into this story I should comment on my NZ time for a moment longer. After leaving the South Island I headed to Auckland, rented a car and spent a night at my friend Vince's house. It was fun trying to drive stick on the left side of the road during rush hour traffic. The next day I headed down to Waitomo Caves and did a 5hr caving adventure. We repelled 37meters, did a zip line in the dark, jumped 8' down into a river, tubed down the river with our lights off and only by glow worm light, climbed up waterfalls, and much more. It was great. I then packed up and headed to Tonga.
The first day in Tonga I did an Island tour. The tough part about Tonga is that I arrived on a Saturday night and everything, I mean everything is closed on Sundays. To drive on a Sunday you have to have a special driver's license. The tree above was seen on our tour and is the world's only three headed palm tree. Don't know why it is interesting, but it was one of the few attractions that actually had a sign.
The blow holes were fun but didn't spend too much time there. Sometimes the waves would come in and the water would shoot up out of the holes up to 60' high. I found another spot later in my trip where I could stand over the blowhole and it would give me a refreshing blast of water.
Lots of spiders, but nothing that can really hurt you. In the top of the picture you can see the yellow part of the web. This is tough stuff and is next to impossible to break. Not much for deadly flora or fauna in Tonga.
I spent a few days on Eua, located about 2.5 hours by ferry from the main island. One day I biked down to this beach and spent 2.5 hours walking around, snorkeling, and relaxing and didn't see another person. Talk about having a private beach. The snorkeling was okay, but with the reef there are only a few spots that are deep enough to actually get into the water. Corals aren't great, but the fish are wonderful.
Also on Eua was a beautiful sea arch. After biking a ways down a back road (all roads are back roads) I walked through a herd of wild horses and found the sea arch. Again, nobody around and I had the place to my self.
I had to add this pic for those I worked with in Antarctica. This is a gas station on Eua and if you look close, you can see that the pumps are hurty gurties (manual pumps).
The ferries are interesting in Tonga. This one was so packed that people were sitting on top of the wheel house. It left at 5:30 in the morning by full moon. It was quite peaceful. finally after we were almost back to the main island we saw the sunrise. An interesting fact about the ferry is that it only runs 3 times a week.
One day Alex (Canada), Anna (Brazil) and I headed to the beach. After being dropped off, we walked down to the beach and realized that the waves crashing in were 6'+ tall. Too dangerous to swim. Our ride wasn't going to be back until 5 hours later and the beach was only 100 yards long. So, we met this nice Tongan family that knew of another beach and brought us there. After swimming for an hour or so they ended up giving us a ride back to Nukualofa. It was great meeting these great people.
Since nearly everything is closed on Sunday, a bunch of us decided to take a water taxi out to a small island resort on my last Sunday. The resort was great, but apparently the over night accommodations are closed due to a rat problem. Since it was a Sunday, the only people at the resort were Polongy (white people) lots of peace corps and Australian aide workers.
One day I rented a scooter (after getting my Tongan Diver's License) and did an Island tour with some new friends. With random pigs, chickens, dogs, kids, and cows, running out in the road, I always had to be paying attention. The only dodgy part was when two guard dogs from the princess's palace chased me down the road, and they meant business (sorry, no pictures of that).
On our Island tour we stopped off and did some swimming in a local cave. The water was cold, but it felt great on such a hot day. The inside of the cave was highly decorated (lots of limestone formations).
Kava night. Kava is a plant that is grown for 5-7 years, cut down, the root dug up, ground up, put into tea bags and a horrible drink is made. However if you drink enough of it, your mouth goes numb and you get very calm and sleepy. Culturally it is a big to do and can be found in all pacific cultures. I stopped after 15-20 cups and found it tough sleeping that night because I was always up going to the bathroom. There is no alcohol in Kava and although it is illegal in the states, initial studies have since been proven false and there are no long term side effects of the drink.
These are some of the great people I met who where also traveling in the Kingdom of Tonga.
I ran into a lot of "ice people" in Tonga (12) but Jen was the best. My last day in Tonga I spent hanging out with fellow Fuelie Jen and it turned out to be a great thing. While with Jen I went to an ATM to draw out enough money to pay the last of my accommodations in Tonga. However, the ATM ate my card and said that it had been reported "lost or stolen". The bank gave me my card back without any questions or ID and I quickly called my bank back home. Long story, but my card has been cut off and they could not re-activate it due to in being compromised back a few months ago. This little issue left me up a creek without a paddle. Jen however handed me a paddle when she loaned me $900usd to travel with. Without her it would have been a long vacation without any money. After all this happened, I got off the bus and blew out my flip flop. Yeah, it wasn't turning out to be my day.
Next it was off to Samoa. More pictures and stories to come.
Back To New Zealand
After leaving Picton I had an interesting ride home with a guy that couldn't pay for his own gas (we were stuck at the gas station for an hour). I then went through the PQ process that was all set up and paid for my Raytheon. For the most part it was quick and easy, but did have a little trouble with the blood test (story for later).
Last Couple Months On Ice
Okay, I know it's been a long time since I've updated this but I have a good reason. You see while I was on the ice I wasn't able to upload any pictures (don't know why). I tried a few times and finally gave up. Since then I've been harassed by a few people to update this thing. Well, here we go. I've upload a ton of photos and I'll add a few short stories. There are a bunch to follow so I hope you all enjoy my pictures and tales of life on the ice and around the South Pacific.
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For new years there was the famous party called Icestock. Good music, good food, and good friends all gathered in McMurdo to bring in the new year.
Then there was the annual New Zealand vs United States Rugby game. This year the Americans came the closest they ever have to scoring. However we didn't score but did hold our own against the kiwis. Like Red Sox fans, maybe next year.
The end of the season, things started to get pretty cold. I don't know if I am just getting soft, but I found this great red suit in the Fuels Barn and thought I would wear it for a day of work. Maybe it was a little too warm.
Some of the last days on the ice the Fuels Department had a ton of work to do in the freezing cold. We spent days picking up the fuel pits at Willy Field. This involved pigging (shooting a foam bullet down the fuel line) the 5-6km hose that goes out to Willy. We then had to break all the connections and pick up the variety of hose used. It was cold, but there was a part of it that was fun. The station was starting to wind down and the sun was getting low.
Eventually it was time to pick up my room. I was organized this year and managed to make a list of everything I was leaving on the ice. This made it so that I know what to bring next time. The station at this point was getting really small as everyone left and I really started to feel a bond with my co-workers.
The last night on the ice, we got a report that two Adelie penguins were walking up the road down by the waste water plant. I strolled down to get a look at the awkward little birds.
The sad part about leaving is the good friends that you are leaving behind to keep the station running over the winter. Brian and Clare are two of the best people I've ever met and they will be stuck until Oct. However I'm headed down next season in Aug so I'll get to spend about a month with them.
Last flight! Last flight was on the Australian Airbus, yeah, a regular airplane. It was great. Once we took off, it was the last plane until August 21. The 148ish people left behind, will be there without anyone coming or going until then. But for the 70 people leaving, it was time to say good bye, give some hugs, and hop on the plane. After takeoff, we banked and turned towards the station. It was time to do the traditional last flight buzz of the station and the final good bye. Next we banked and took a trip around Mt Erebus. It was amazing flying in a plane with windows. In the back of a C-17 or C-130 you are sitting in a cargo hold and you don't have windows, well its a different story in the airbus.
I was lucky enough to get a seat in first class. We had flight attendants and all!!!!! I wish words could truly explain how exciting this moment was but nothing can truly convey the experience.
For new years there was the famous party called Icestock. Good music, good food, and good friends all gathered in McMurdo to bring in the new year.
Okay, so now I'm back in NZ and I have many more stories to come and I'll get them out in the next couple days. Sorry for the long break, but again, it wasn't my fault.
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