G'Day Mate from Oz

Getting into Oz was a lot harder than following a yellow brick road. For whatever the reason, my name was flagged and I was pulled aside in immigrations. I asked the first officer if this was normal and he assured me it wasn't (that made me feel much better). However after a 10 minute delay outside some office with a bunch of cameras on me they stamped my passport and I was on my way.

I found the Hostel I booked pretty easily. Sydney is a big city, but I was happy to find it friendly and easy to get around in. I was told by a friend in Samoa that my hostel in King's Cross was in a "dodgy" section of town but I didn't find it that bad. The first night I went for a walk and saw some of the normal sights. The best part was just after then sun set I saw 20,000ish flying foxes (a huge fruit bat) leaving the botanical gardens. The sky was covered with them. I read an article later indicating that they are about to start a new program to relocate the bats since they are killing the trees in the gardens.

They Sydney skyline is beautiful. I also found the city to be clean and safe. The botanical gardens are also huge and you can get lost for hours in them wondering around on the labyrinth of paths.

Like most tourists, I ended up with way too many pictures of the Opera House. Of course every different angle you see it from you need to take a photo. The best was from the water. I took a ferry out to Manly for an afternoon and the way back offered some good photos. Manly was nice reminding me a lot of Burlington VT but with the ocean right there at the end of Church Street.

I bought a ticket to see a show at the Opera House but unfortunately that night there was a city wide blackout and everything was closed. It lasted 3 hours and the city was gridlocked. The fire brigades were out the whole time getting people out of stuck elevators. I still wanted to go to the show, but they evacuated everyone away from the Opera House, I'm assuming for terrorist risk. I just ended up walking around the city marveling at the mass chaos.

I flew to Adelaide and spent a day doing not much of anything. It was hot so I did a relaxing window shopping trip through downtown visiting air conditioned shops whenever I got too hot. I then hooked up with my Goin' South tour that took me to Melbourne over three days.

One of the first day of the tour we stopped off at a vineyard and did a little wine tasting. Next it was off to some adventure caving. It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but it was still a lot of fun. It was also a great way to get to know the other people in the group.

On day two we hiked a "mountain" that was only a few hundred feet high. It wasn't too impressive, but it was fun. We also made a bunch of other stops throughout the day seeing waterfalls, lookouts, and wildlife.

At one of our stops, there was a rare bird that is known for stealing food. There was a sign there warning people of it and not to feed them. The funny part was that the bird was perched directly above the sign on the fence. I guess the bird can't read and maybe they would have more luck if they waited for unsuspecting tourists in the parking lot.

At the Aboriginal center we tried to learn how to play the didgeridoo. It's a lot harder than it looks. After a while, I could get the right sound but it seems like playing it for more than 3-5 seconds is next to impossible.

On the last day we started early. We had a bunch to see along the Great Ocean Road and only a few hours to do it in.

Koalas were on the list. We stopped off at one spot in the road and there were Koalas hanging around everywhere. A few of them were in branches right above the road which I'm glad they don't fall too often. Someone told me that it's the oils in the Eucalyptus leaves that kind of drug them and makes them mellow (don't know if it's true).

I saw a lot of great signs around Australia but this was the best. It's reminding people like me that I need to be on the left side of the road. The even have marks at cross walks reminding pedestrians to look right (the first direction to look before crossing a road).

After getting to Melbourne, a bunch of us from the trip met up and went to an Aussie rule football game. I bought a scalped ticket for only $5 while others paid up to $20 for their tickets. The game was fun, but I spent half the time trying to figure out the rules. I think I have it now.

Last night in Melbourne was spent at the comedy festival. There were hundred of comedians in town and it was tough trying to pick one to go to. A few of us finally picked one and headed out after the football game. They guy was new to stand up, but after a slow start had so really good skits. The next morning it was up early and off to the airport. Pretty exciting time in Australia but not nearly enough time. It's like trying to see all of the US in only 9 days, can't be done.

Island Life In Samoa

Malo from Samoa. This is true island life, sitting in my beach fale, drinking a cold Coke from a glass bottle, watching the waves lap the shore, after all you can eat meals all for less than $30usd a night. Truly the good life.

Apia is the main city on the island of Upolu and is very congested and busy. After arriving and spending one night I knew I needed to get out. So the next morning I found the bus station (with the help of a guy begging money and trying to sell me drugs) and caught a fun ride out to the wharf. For only a few dollars I took a ferry over to the island of Savaii and a local girl helped me get a bus to the north side of the island. Here I found a great resort called Tanu's. Fales were only $60wst (about $20usd) a night and included breakfast and dinner. There was also a store where I could go in, grab what I needed, and then write my name and what I took in a book to be charged latter. Talk about trusting. The first full day at Tanu's I hiked with a German girl to the top of a volcano and met the worlds famous Cr8erman. Mt Matavanu erupted from 1905-1911 and the resulting lava fields can still be seen.

This is a church that was ruined by lava during the eruption of Mt Matavanu. All the rock you see inside the church was at one point hot lava.

My last night at Tanu's there was a Fia Fia or should I say a party with a show. After the show there was music for dancing but nobody wanted to get up in dance. I made a name for Americans as I dragged people onto the dance floor and got the party started. These two people, Patrick and Caroline, are from Germany and I ended up spending a lot of time traveling with them. Can't wait to get copies of their pictures.

I spent the night in this 200 year old banyan tree. Besides mosquitoes, it was a great experience. I'm really lucky and glad that it didn't rain that night but I did see an amazing lightning show. From my tree top I also got to see huge bats, the southern cross, and a spectacular sunrise.

After meeting back up with Patrick and Caroline, we took a bus to see the blowholes. Not as spectacular as those in Tonga, but we heard that if you throw a coconut in as it blows, it will fly into the air and crack open as it lands on the hard rocks. Well, we got brave and tried this stunt but it didn't work. Oh well, I guess we had the wrong tide.

Stayed a couple days in Satuiatua. Cute little village on the south side of Savaii. While I was there I was invited to a families Sunday brunch. This is the weekly meal where the family talks about family and village issues. There is a lot more to it but we sat on the floor of a fale and ate a traditional meal with our hands. It is impolite to point your legs at someone so everyone sits cross legged. This was okay for me for a while, but getting up was hard.

All bus rides in Samoa were interesting. The max capacity of a bus is 33 plus the driver. Usually we had 50+ along with all kinds of supplies. The whole bus system is interesting with people along the routes giving the bus driver money to pick stuff up in town and dropping it off on the way back. If you don't like crowded places with people sitting on your lap, the bus is not for you. However they treat women and Polongy very well.

Buses are also very colorful and usually play very loud music. I was lucky enough on one ride to have the music in English. However when it wasn't in English, I normally could recognize songs, like from the sound of music or other musicals.

I spent a few days at Lalomanu where I ended up seeing 3 other ice people/ Seward people. There was also a pet pig that would lay on the beach and wade in the ocean. It was quite amazing.

Samoa had endless beautiful sunsets. I bet the sunrises were also beautiful but most of the time I wasn't up early enough to see them. After a while I stopped taking pictures because I couldn't tell if they were worth a picture.

At Lalomanu I paid $90 tala for my own fale (in overflow area so ended up having my own security guard as well), all I could eat breakfast, and all I could eat dinner. Dinners had items like lobster, mussels, breadfruit, pasta... Each meal I would eat until I didn't feel well and was stuffed. I was also lucky to see another Fia Fia.

This Fia fia was pretty good and in the middle of it they invited us up and taught us how to do the traditional dances. Once again I had to get people up to participate.

I found a cool cave area on the way home. It cost $2 tala to get into it but nobody was at the gate so I just went in. The fun part is that you have to swim into these caves. There are two major passages that connect with an underwater passage. I was not brave enough to try it but if others were around I was going to give it a shot. Apparently there is a passage that continues deep into the hill and goes under the chapel above. On the way out I asked if these caves were made by lava tubes and was told that they were made by the spirits that live in them. Interesting.

If you ever end up in Samoa, you have to go to the sliding rocks just outside Apia. A series of water falls can be slid down. This one you see me about to smack the water on is about a 5m drop. There are 4 of them that feed you down through the jungle. The rocks are covered with an algae that makes them very slippery. Your butt will hurt at the end, but it's worth it.

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

I told you I would post again real soon. So my trip to NZ was short but fun. I started off by spending a couple days getting my stuff together. I then needed a plan. That plan ended up being hitching to Picton to hike the Queen Charlot Track (QCT). This involved a water taxi to get to the start, 3 days to hike the 71km trail, and a water taxi back.

While in Picton I ran into my friend Buttercup from the ice. His original plan was to hike the trail in 5 days. I planned on two. Long story short after three days Buttercup and I spent the night out on the town in Picton with new friends we met along the way. It was a lot of walking, but worth it.

Both from the water taxi and from the mountain tops we could see dolphins playing in the bay below. The first night I slept in my bivy sack but didn't have a ground pad and froze. The next night I slept in the tent with Buttercup and on top of my pack and it was much better. One great feature of the track that I didn't take advantage of is that the water taxi will stop off at each campground/resort and pick up/ drop off packs each day. So most people hiking didn't carry a real backpack.

The last day it rained really hard and the trail was muddy. However I made it out and back to town to get cleaned up. I had to make sure I was out in time to meet the water taxi or I was going to spend an extra night out.

I met two Irish girls along the way. They were very amusing. The second half of the trail they hired (rented) bikes. However with the rain on the last day, they ended at the dock covered in mud.

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.

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.

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.