Home again

Hello all. I'm home. Two weeks in New Zealand followed by two weeks in Australia. Hiking, hang-gliding (just once, tandem, for ten minutes) kayaking, surfing (twice, a relative disaster, but fun... I love the water), spelunking (slithering on my belly), and, best of all, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef for three days.

I hiked the Hollyford Track in NZ's Fijordland, a spectacular bit of rain forest, and on Frasier Island in Australia, among poisonous snakes and spiders, as well as other more mundane places. I was disappointed when the hang-glider pilot told me the flight would only last about ten minutes, but when we finally landed at the end of that time, I was sufficiently airsick to be very glad it was not longer. But it was worth it, because I have long wanted to do that. When we came to the cave, I announced that I'd go in as long as I could stand up. I told the ranger-guide, "I don't crawl," but when everyone else disappeared into the tiniest imaginable crack in the wall, I followed, and found myself not crawling, but slithering on my belly. I actually managed to half-stand on the surfboard for about 2 seconds before toppling over, on the first day of lessons, but on the second day I went out too far and got bowled over by three big waves in a row, and lost my prescription sport goggles, which put an end to my surfing. But i still had my contact lenses for snorkeling (purchased explicitly for snorkeling and used only for snorkeling) so I was able to experience the spectacular world of the Great Barrier Reef. Our guide told us that we snorkelers actually saw better stuff than the scuba divers, because their bubbles scare away the huge schools of small brightly-colored fishes that were all around us. I even petted one meter-long fish (a ras, I think they said it was) that our guide half-tamed by giving it food. I think I may be the only one on my block ever to have petted a wild fish. I also saw several small sharks. That was kind of scary, even though our guide had assured us that these small ones are harmless. I'd guess these were about two meters long. The scuba divers on the boat were under severe restrictions about when they could dive, and for how long and how deep, but the snorkelers could go out whenever we wanted.

At the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's hang-out, though I didn't see him) I petted kangaroos and wallabys, and had my picture taken with a python. Not slimy at all. Dry and smooth. I suppose I could post a copy if there's interest. I didn't get to walk with the tigers, though. By the time I had made up my mind to pay the price, they were already booked for the one day I'd have been able to. The disappointment was lessened when I found that the zoo is several hours drive from Brisbane, and I'd have had to get up in the wee hours of the morning and take an hours-long taxi ride to get there.

It's a long trip, though, and tiring even in business class. I don't know if I'll ever go back, but it's possible. New Zealand is a green and beautiful country, and the Great Barrier Reef is amazing.

It's bed time. Good night all.

 

Frank: Yeah, I was a bit worried about the arhythmia, but it never happened on the few strenuous hikes, and most of the hikes were on relatively level ground. -- I was a bit scared of the sharks too, but our guide assured us that this species has never attacked a human: apparently relatively few species of sharks do. And the ones i saw stayed close to the bottom. Scarier maybe for the SCUBA divers than for us snorkelers. And anyway, I was usually a good 5 to 10 minutes swim from the boat, because the boat cannot anchor closer than that to the reef. The divers got ferried out in one of the two launches, but we usually just swam out rather than wait our turn, because the divers had priority.

Sufferin': I don't think I picked up an accent, though I learned to say g'day and no worries mite. The nearly 24-hour trip home wiped the smile off my face. But it was a great place.

Priusham: I never asked if the ras was good to eat or not. To my surprise they didn't try to catch any fish for dinner. I don't know if it's prohibited, or the tourist operators don't want to kill their main attraction, or maybe they just get so sick of eating fish that they're not interested. One meter is a guess. It might have been only 2 1/2 feet. But it was BIG. I had been over at the reef when some shouting on the boat made us think maybe they were calling us back. So we swam back to the boat, and as I approached, an enormous fish loomed out of the dark and I was frightened. Then there were more. It was a large school of them, just peacefully swimming around the boat, and folks swimming with them, including our guide, who was petting this one every time it went by. I knew there was no danger once I saw folks swimming with them. So I petted it too. But it was only the one individual who would allow itself to be touched.

Jack: I thought Hawaii was vastly over-rated. Obviously, it would be a paradise for surfers, but I'm not a surfer. The hiking is better in B.C., Canada, and in my opinion the beaches are better in Mexico. And the Mexicans are much friendlier than the Hawaiians. I got the distinct impression that the Hawaiians resent our having turned their paradise into a tourist trap. Even the security guard at the airport made unfriendly jokes at me. -- I no longer open the threads that I think are likely to make me angry. Anger is unhealthy. That's the great thing about Prius Chat. I can read the threads I like and leave the ones I don't. -- For that matter, time constraints alone keep me from reading 99.9% of what's posted here.

 

Okay. Where's the photo gallery? I cannot find it. Is it gone? I don't think it's be right to post a 2 MB pic directly in a thread.

I don't take pictures. But I have a 2 MB scan of the pic of me with the python, and I have a CD with pics of me on the hang glider. Those average around 700 KB each. Folks have promised to send some of the pics they took, so if they ever do I could post a few of those. If those ever come they'd include some great ones of rain forest. But past experience teaches that most folks never come through on promises to communicate after a trip. Everone always says We'll keep in touch, but nobody ever does. Still, I'm hopeful about one of the couples on the Australia trip.

 

Okay. I posted a scan of the pic of me with the python here. Quality is poor, because I had top scan it at 150 ppi in order for it to be small enough to go in the album.

The pics of me hang-gliding are just a little too big to be posted. Later on I'll trim one of them and post it.

Since I don't do photography, I'll have to wait to see if anyone from the trip emails me pics (as promised) and if they do, I'll post a few. Also, some time soon I'll post a couple of pics of me on some mountaintops. Specifically, Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK) and Mt. Fear (a minor peak in the Selkirk Mountains of B.C. -- so minor it had no name until I named it.)

 

There's now 4 pics of me here. On Ben Nevis; on Mt. Fear; hang-gliding in NZ; and with a python in Australia. (In the python picture, the backdrop is fake, but the python is alive and real.)

I'll post a few more if any of my travel companions send me any worth posting.

 

I have no idea. Later in the day I talked to a couple of girls who had pics with a different and far more beautiful python, all covered with a geometric pattern. I was much disappointed with mine after that. Sigh! But still, it was cool to overcome my (slight) reluctance. I am not really scared of snakes as such, but I was a little creeped out by it until I did it.