Hiking in the last weekend in 2008

South Mountain Park
We attempted a family hike/ walk at South Mountain.  It almost didn't happen because we couldn't find the correct entrance where JJ and Huichi were waiting.  However, using our iphone location sensor and Google maps we were able to find the way.  Once we got there we started walking.  Huichi and I set a bit of a faster pace.  After a time we called the others and discovered they had turned off the trail.  We walked back but missed the turn off so we walked all the way back to the parking lot.  Once there we headed up the trail that we figured the others would be coming down.  We found them.  However, the littlest nephew had fallen down twice and had decided that his walk had come to an end.  PJ ended up carrying him the rest of the way  because he wouldn't ride JJ's shoulders.  The older nephew did fine. 



Peralta Trail
Huichi wanted to hike out to see Weaver's Needle.  She figured we could hike out and back before she and JJ were to leave on Sunday.  We had a good time hiking out.  The rocks rise in a striking steep manner around the trail.  The trail steadly goes up until you reach Fremont Saddle.  There was snow on the trail which is pretty funny.  Worse there was ice on the trail and both Huichi and I slipped more than once.  At the top the views were great.  We headed down carefully.  As we reached the bottom of the trail I got a call from Dad.  We were running late.  My brother was less than impressed when we arrived home ten minutes after he and Huichi were supposed to be heading back to Las Vegas.  Photos here

More photos in Facebook

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Getting Home for Christmas

Flight to Bangkok
Well I finally got on the plane to Bangkok and it took off around 2 hours late.  That was the upside.  The downside were two children who cried most of the time.  Also none of the toilets on my side of the plane worked.  It's no wonder I am feeling a bit stopped up now.

Bangkok
By the time I got here my connecting flight was long gone.  However, I have to say there were pretty organized.  They had a little sign with my name on it.  I was offered new flights and a room.  The room was in the Novetel and it was a beautiful hotel.  The bed was really soft.  I got to my room around 2am.  The bad news - more screaming children in the hotel.  I had to get up at 5:30.  Then I got a free breakfast and I had an awesome waffle that they made right in front of me.  When I got to the airport I checked in and they said I would have to get my boarding pass for Tokyo to LAX in Tokyo.  Well I had about an hour layover.  I said that I wanted my boarding pass before and that I was worried about a middle seat.  They said they couldn't do anything.  Finally, they said they would telex Tokyo about my seat and a veggie meal.  I asked for a copy of the telex.  In the mean time I went to an Internet centre to get my boarding pass for my flight from LAX to PHX (Southwest).  I was able to check in but couldn't print it.  I wasn't really sure what would happen from that.  The really good news is that I got a whole row (3 seats) on this flight.  The flight was only half full.

Tokyo
Again they met me at the gate with a sign with my name on it.  They escorted me to my departing gate and guess what?  They gave me a middle seat.  I complained.  They said that was all they could do.  I said that wasn't good enough.  I suggested maybe they should upgrade me.  They said sorry and asked if it was alright.  I said "No' that I had bought the ticket nine months ago and paid quite a bit of money.  That I had addressed this issue at Bangkiok and showed them the telex.  In the end I kept my cool and walked away.  Later they came over to me and gave me an aisle seat in premium economy.   Funny it appeared that a fight almost broke out.  I didn't understand what was going on because it was in Japanese.  The flight attendant looked like she was about to have a heart attack.  It was a pretty nice flight but I couldn't eat the dinner (no veggie meal).  I took one of Wendy's sleeping pills and got some more sleep.

LAX
I got through immigration so fast I couldn't believe it.  That was likely because I was going to wait anyway as my bags didn't arrive and I had to fill out alot of paperwork.  The folks were pretty nice.  They seemed to even have my name already so I feel that those bags should turn up pretty quickly.  I made my way over to Terminal 1, printed out my boarding pass (B11 - not good for me I like to be A1), went through security and called Dad.  That is when I got another piece of bad news.  My flight had a two hour delay.  I am currently trying to get on an earilier flight standby but i am not feeling optimistic as they are all oversold and they are offering people money to take later flights.

The very good news is that it seems pretty likely I will make it home sometime tonight (Dec 24)

Merry Christmas !!

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Last Days in Oz

Sunday Dec 21st
I took the bus from Geraldton to Perth.  In order to take a later bus I went on the inland route bus which takes longer - seven hours to be specific.  I will never understand why on a half full bus they insist on putting people next to each other and leaving entire rows empty.  I was lucky enough to sit next to a guy who smoke a cigarette right before getting on the bus.  He was also on the large side making the situation uncomfortable.  After about a half hour I moved to a row with no one in it and stayed there the rest of the trip.  The bus did get in 15 minutes early which was GREAT!

Monday Dec 22nd
Got up at 6am for a 7am pickup to go to Rottnest.  I almost didn't get to go because I hadn't taken my credit card but they ended up letting me go anyway.  Rottnest is so lovely.  I rode a rental bike around the island.  I stopped and snorkeled at Parker Point.   There I ran into two difficulties - bad rental mask and my camera stopped working.  I think I am camera cursed.  I still had a great day riding around the island but was sad not to get more than a few photos.  In a Yellowstone like fashion I saw a few other riders pulled over and I went over to check it out.  There were several quokkas (small marsupials) including a mother with her young.  She was kind of hugging him.  I finished my ride around the island stopping at Little Parakeet Bay.  I realy think Parker Point and Little Salmon and Big Salmon are the most lovely spots on the island.  I took the boat and bus back and returned at 7pm.  (The transit time on this trip was longer because I left from the Perth Jetty - I recommend the Fremantle one but I didn't want to haul all my stuff down there).  Oh I forgot to say I took Kwells (sea sick medication) and it was well worth it because others did get sick on the way over and the way back.

Tuesday Dec 23
I got up and reorganised my gear.  I am taking much more carryon in case my luggage doesn't make it to LAX when I do.  I am still missing my favorite REI shirt.  I think it is gone for good.  However, it is always good to have an excuse to go to REI.  If I am lucky there will be a sale on or something soon.  I also walked to the post office to mail a couple of postcards and did a walk down the Swan River.  I saw heaps of birds - herons, egrets, pelicans, ibis, and some that I didn't know what they were.  Not much more time here in Perth and then I will begin my epic 23 hour + layover plane journey back to family and friends.

At the Airport
I took the 2pm shuttle to the airport thus arriving very early.  There were still a few people waiting in line in front of me.  We noticed that the counter personnel seemed to be experiencing issues.  The line behind us grew longer and longer all the way down the terminal to the arrivals area.  We waited and waited.  After about an hour and a half they seemed to get the system kind of working (but slowly).  So I got checked in around 2.5 hours after I arrived.  I was probably the 10th person in economy to get checked in.  There is no word when we will board.  Although the departure sign said Go to Gate and then Boarding.  Now they are saying that Boarding will be manual and slow.  What a surprise. 


Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.olson.au/LastDaysInOz#

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Dolphin Video

Dolphin Video from kris on Vimeo.

Note: If the video doesn't come up, try clicking on the link to it.

There are more videos. Check out the links to the right.

Wendy's Last Days in Geraldton

I returned to a busy work week. Wendy amused herself with a day trip to Kalbarri and a return trip to Shark Bay (Denham and Monkey Mia). She had a great time but ran out of petrol (gas) on the way home (25km from Geraldton). She was assisted by two nice guys who I think work for the Dept of Conservation.

Yesterday we took a drive out to the Geraldton Spy Base.  It is nicely sign posted and even has a lookout.  I guess that it isn't a secret spy base.   We were treated to a kangaroo sighting and some great wildflowers.  

Afterwards we took a scenic drive to Ellendale Pool.  I had never been on the road before but thought it looked interesting.  That is was.  It changed from a nice paved road to a gravel road to a very muddy dirt road.  The upside (besides the general pretty scenery) was that we saw several ring- necked parrots and a huge flock of ibis.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get any photos as they were pretty skittish.  

Ellendale Pools was a pretty place but quite noisy with a huge flock of white cockatoos.  It was also extremely muddy.  There were a few people camping there and we couldn't figure out why.  An added bonus to the place was that there were huge signs warning about Ameobic Meningitis.  

We moved on to Greenough River to do a walk along the river.  It was very pretty and we saw another echidna.  They are cute little things.  It walked under a bush before we could get a photo.  

Today we were planning to go back and do another section of the walk but it is pissing down rain.  Too bad for Wendy's last day but we hear that it is sooo hot in Park City so a cool but rainy day is not too bad.  We will probably head out to an olive plantation later.  I don't think the rain will matter to much for that.

Our last pictures (I think) are here.

Shark Bay

I forgot to say in my last post that it started pouring when we arrived in Shark Bay. Not the best welcome we have received. We looked around for a place to stay and found that generally only the most expensive places had availability. Finally we found a "cabin" at a caravan park. They were funny. When we asked if we could see it they said "no" they didn't have time for that. When we decided to stay one nigh to see if we like it, they said "no, two night bookings only". After a big sign they decided to show Wendy the cabin and we decided to stay.

After a leisurely morning waking up at 7:30 am (that was late compared to a wake up of 6am most mornings) we ate breakfast, organized our tours (water and land) and headed down to the Telecenter to use the Internet. I posted a blog post and Wendy Skyped a few people.

After that it was off to Monkey Mia. Right as we got there a few dolphins came right up to the beach. It was pretty great. I don't think either of us got any good photos of that. We ate lunch and then headed out on a three hour catamaran wildlife sighting tour. Wendy and I volunteered to work the "grinder" to put up the sails.

Unfortunately, it was really blowing and it was quite hard to spot wildlife. We did see a few loggerhead turtles and a couple of dolphins. Because it was so windy the boat was really moving. Both Wendy and I got absolutely soaked. Apparently we were in the absolute worst seats. I wish they had told us that before we were soaked.

After we got off the boat we had a bowl of fries and I had a beer and Wendy had a hot chocolate. We visited the boat place and got a pass for a repeat trip on the boat. Then we did a nature walk. Wendy spotted an echidna. No photos unfortunately.  

We returned home for a awesome dinner prepared by me of stir fry carrots, zucchini and chili tofu. I also cooked a butternut squash. 






The next day was another very early morning. We left at 7am and Wendy saw a lively kangaroo hopping across the road. We got to Monkey Mia for the dolphin feeding at 7:30 am. There were lots of people but it was still pretty easy to see the dolphins. We watched two dolphin feedings and I got some great photos and video. There were also some HUGE pelicans. When posing with one I must have gotten a little close because it came at me with its scary big beak. I was lucky I didn't lose an eye. I don't know what it is about these birds. They just don't like me.

After the dolphin feeding we headed into the Francis Peron National Park on a 4WD tour. The great things was that Wendy and I were the only ones on the tour. Our guide was Russell and he was a prankster. The tour started out very slowly with some historical stuff at the Peron homestead but as we got into the national park it became very, very beautiful with white sand beaches against red rock and the blue water of Shark Bay.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing a dugong and its calf. We had binoculars and were able to get a great view of them from the beach. Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos. There was no way they would come out as anything other than a black smudge using my camera. Wendy tried to get some with her film camera but it will be awhile before we see those. At the same spot we also saw a Goulds monitor lizard.

The other highlight of the day for me was on the way out of the park. Russell pulled over and said he had something to show us. He then grabbed and showed us a snake. Wendy wanted to see it and went out to touch/ hold it and begged me to take a picture. When taking a picture, I noticed it looked a little strange. It was a rubber snake. I don't know how he made it look so real or how Wendy thought is was real as she was holding it. It was soooo funny. You have to look at Wendy's expression.

All Shark Bay pictures are here

Note:  This is a slightly different location than all of the other photos

Exmouth to Shark Bay

I bullied Wendy into leaving really early but that was a good thing because we made seven stops on the way to Shark Bay and didn't arrive until after five. We stopped in Carnarvon for fuel and groceries. Then we stopped in two places for wildflower pictures. Then at the Overlander Roadhouse to pee. Then we stopped at Hamlin Pool to see the Stromatolites (spelling). This was pretty over rated. We tried to help a guy push start his BMW motorcycle there. Unfortunately, we weren't much help. I think he was a bit crazy driving down the isolated WA coast on a dead battery. We checked out the quarry used to create bricks out of cockle shells cemented together over time by rainwater. That was kind of cool. The next stop was Shell Beach. As it sounds like it is a beach made up of shells.  

Today we are going on a cruise in search of marine life. Tomorrow we are going to the dolphin feeding and then on to the Francis Peron National Park. We are extending our "tour" one day and heading back to Geraldton on Sunday.

I have added several new photos to the web album.

Hopefully we will have some great ones to post in a few days. 

Whale Shark Mission accomplished

Wendy and I went out on the whale shark tour today.  The first snorkel was pretty amazing and we saw a huge grouper/cod.  Then the boat broke down and we thought the day was finished so we did another snorkel in a pretty amazing area.  The boat was fixed in about an hour and we headed off in search of whale sharks.  First we swam with a 3m male for about 10 minutes.  Then we swam with a 8m female for around an hour.  It was a GREAT day.   I am running out of time so I will write more later.  Check out the additional pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.olson.au/WendySAustralianAdventures

Oyster Stacks and another trip to Turquoise Bay

Today we were set to go on the whale shark tour AGAIN but the boat broke down. That was bad luck but it was an absolutely awesome day. We signed up for the next tour and headed out to Oyster Stacks. Oyster Stacks is a rocky beach with several bombies to snorkel. I was so glad to have booties because last time I turned back due to foot pain. High tide was at 8:15 and we didn't get there until 10 so it was a very shallow snorkel but brilliant. After a bit of time here we headed off to Turquoise Bay. There we took a lot of photos because I think it will be our last day there. We also did a snorkel there. I was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time with a turtle. I also found several clownfish.

With a bit of luck we will see the whale sharks tomorrow and then we will head to Shark Bay the next day. A side note - Wendy had decided to pay for another whale shark tour if our boat wasn't going out tomorrow. For those of you who know her that is quite a decision. However, probably not bigger than my decision to buy a new camera in Exmouth after my other one broke down.

For anyone who doesn't know what a whale shark is you can look at my prior experiences with the whale shark here.

I added 18 new pictures to my picture site here.  

No Whalesharks today

The whaleshark boat broke down so no whale sharks today. We are going to go and try to snorkel at Oyster stacks and return again to Turquoise Bay.

I forgot to mention that we saw lots of emus yesterday. Wendy was super excited. She ran into the grass to get some photos. Unfortunately, the grass was almost like cactus and she got pretty scraped and scratched up.

Plans change

Yesterday morning we did a very early morning snorkel at Turquoise Bay. It would have been earlier if we hadn't had to wait 40 minutes at the Cape Range NP entrance. We had the misfortune of getting there right when it opened and were behind a number of people lined up to get prime camping spots. Both of us were pretty annoyed as we had to be back in Exmouth at 11:45am. We eventually got to Turquoise Bay and although it was quite cold we both went for a snorkel and saw more great stuff. We returned to Exmouth and Wendy went on the Navy Pier Dive. I used that time to call the campground in Karijini National Park. It was completely booked out. We would have been able to get a place in Tom Price but that would mean driving into the Park each day. With our already short time I decided it didn't make sense. When Wendy got off her dive we had a strategy meeting. She was very happy to stay on in Exmouth so that is what we have decided to do. We will be here until Thursday when we leave for Shark Bay. I am going to do the repeat Whale Shark thing on Tuesday. We heard about someone who saw five whale sharks (a mom and some babies). Wow wouldn't that be awesome to see!

This morning I bought a new camera. Today we headed out to Yardie Creek and did a short walk there. Then we went to Sandy Bay for lunch and had a snorkel at Turquoise Bay - our favorite. Today I was really lucky and saw a spotted ray, a clownfish, a turtle and some sharks. I found the sharks under a ledge. When I saw around to have a look I woke one up. It swam away and then the others swam away. It was a white tipped reef shark. It came back awhile later to have a look at me. I was hoping that I didn't piss it off too much.

I have added more photos to the exisiting album here.  Please let me know if you have problems accessing this. 

Whale Shark Trip

We had a good day on the whale shark tour despite the fact that Wendy had a touch of sea sickness. We saw two dugongs (similar to a manatee), a turtle, and many humpback whales. The two humpback whales were very close to the boat. However, we did not see a whale shark. Wendy is booked in for a repeat tour on Monday. I may or may not do it again. One very bad thing did happen. My NEW camera has stopped working. I am not sure what the problem is. It did seem to be wet inside. I did do all the right things like rinsing it after using it so I am not sure what is going on.  

Check out the photos I did get so far at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.olson.au/WendySAustralianAdventures

Turquoise Bay (Exmouth)

We got up early after a night with little sleep due (loud people). The drive was interesting with termite hills and a huge eagle. We got a few good pics of that. We drove straight to Turquoise Bay. It was as spectacular as I remember it. I saw a turtle in my first snorkel. Wendy saw an octopus and a shark.  

In my second snorkel I saw two sharks. One was sleeping and it kind of scared me when I saw it under a coral over hang. Wendy saw a couple more turtles and several sharks. She was a bit worried to see so many at once but that didn't stop her from chasing them for a picture.  

We are thinking of staying on in Exmouth for an extra day. Tomorrow we head off on a whale shark tour. I think Wendy is going to dive at the Navy pier the following day.  

From Perth to Coral Bay

On Monday July 7 I picked up a very tired Wendy Wolfe from the Perth Airport at 1;30. Lucky Wendy's flight had arrived 30 minutes early so she spent the time trying to find a coffee. Unfortunately, she had no Australian currency and they wouldn't process a credit card transaction for less than $10 so she had no coffee until we found each other.

The trip North to Geraldton took about 4.5 hours and was uneventful. The drive was very green due to the rain that we have received. Wendy was very impressed. She was exhausted by the time she reached my house after traveling for around 36 hours and hit the bed as soon as possible.

On Tuesday we walked and drove around Geraldton seeing the Museum, the "city center", my workplace, the Catholic cathedral, the ocean and the lighthouse. After that we bought some food for our adventures up North and Wendy headed to bed.

We left on Wednesday morning around 7:45am and drove north. The drive was much greener than I have ever seen it. We saw several water holes on the way. Unfortunately, the only kangaroos we saw were dead on the side of the road. We did see a big eagle and several other bird species. We arrived in Coral Bay at 3:30PM just in time for the fish feeding. It was as impressive as I remember it.  

We checked in and watched the sunset. Wendy had an early night and I bumped into a few friends from Geraldton. We had a beer together.

Wednesday morning started out quite cool. I was wearing flannel pj bottoms, a fleece and a hat. I was wondering if I would be able to hit the water. Fortunately, it warmed up very quickly and it turned into a calm beautiful day. Wendy and I each bought a rashie to reduce the chance of sunburn and we hit the water for a snorkel and it was incredible as usual. Wendy lucked out and saw a turtle. I saw lots of great coral and fish. I was so cold and shriveled when I got out that I couldn't contemplate another snorkel for a couple of hours. After a hummus sandwich or two I was ready to give it a go again. The second snorkel was not as magnificent due to the wind and tide coming in and reducing the visibility but it was still great. I happened upon a blue spotted ray.  

Later we went for a walk up the beach and saw another ray. Wendy stayed later and took a few sunset photos. I returned to the Ningaloo Club and downloaded my digital photos. For dinner we had a stir fry of chili tofu, zucchini, carrot, spinach (and for Wendy only red pepper) with cous cous. It seemed like the best thing that I have eaten in a long, long time.

Off to bed as we have an early morning tomorrow when we head up to Exmouth and Turquoise Bay.

Operation New Stove Complete

Two more weeks to vacation !! Wendy arrives on 7 July and we are off on our big adventure on 9 July.

The Stove (Continued)

I was in the middle of a meeting when I get a call from the discount electronics store from which  I bought my tenant's new stove.  The gist of the conversation was that they were about to deliver the stove.  This would be good if I had arranged that with the tenant and the electrician.  (Note:  here in Australia stove are not plugged in but rather wired directly into the electrical system of the house).  I said that was not convenient and I would call them back.  A minute later I get another call saying that the stove needs to be delivered because it was scheduled to be delivered.  I said that was crazy as I never spoke to them about delivery.  Needless to say after the meeting I got on the phone and organised with the tenant and the electrician for delivery the next day after work.  When I called the store they were unable to say whether or not they could deliver.  I was glad to see that the stove was there when I got home the next day.  The electrician disconnected the old stove, we moved it and unpacked the new stove.   Unfortunately there was a big dent and scratch on the side of the stove.  I called the store.  There advice was for me to bring back the stove.  That was not really possible on my bike and they didn't have another stove except for the floor model anyway.  We negociated a discount on the stove.  We installed it and then the really bad thing happened.  The oven racks wouldn't fit in the stove.  After a trip to the electronics store we determined this was due to the dent.  The stove would need to be disconnected and returned.  

Long story short - the stove was returned (picked up by the store) and I organised for the stove my friend offered me a few weeks ago to be installed.  It turns out that it is a better stove and my tenant is happier.  It as a lot of hassle and I don't think I will buy anything from that shop again.

Travel back to the USA

Well apparently due to flight changes due to fuel costs my flight back to the US has been cancelled.  I am currently working with the travel agent to reschedule.  It looks as though I will be arriving earlier on Christmas eve.  When I have more definite plans, I will let you all know.

The Wood Duck

I have previously mentioned about the wood duck.  It is the award for doing the dumbest/ funniest thing at work.  Last week Dave from my department played a game of soccer at lunch.  Three of us were all in the office afterwards with all three doors open.  He says "Kris I hope you don't mind if I change my shirt".  Then as we are talking about various work related things and he says "Don't look I am changing my shorts".  Needless to say I was a tad bit surprised.  After he got the wood duck he said "at least I kept my boxers on".  It was a good laugh for us all.

Winter is Here?

June 1 signals the official start of winter here in Australia. However, it is winter at its absolute mildest. This morning I had to wear a long sleeve shirt at 9am - very chilly (ha, ha). Every day I walk or ride down the bike path. Last week they built a cute little gazebo by the bike path near my house. Here are a couple of pictures of the gazebo and bike path.

Events of the Week
New Stove
My tenant brought of the remains of the rounded things that go under the heating elements in an electric stove. Hers had rusted out. I thought "No problem" just order an replacement. It is not quite that easy. I called Westinghouse (the manufacturer) but they said without the model number it is impossible to send replacements and if it is an old stove it is unlikely that they make them anymore anyway. Well the model number was unreadable on the stove. I went to a stove repair place and got the same story. After thinking of having them made and thinking of trying to get out to the tip (the Aussie term for the dump), I decided that buying a new stove was the way to go. I found one on sale but then decided to buy an extended warranty and have it delivered so I ended up paying more than the ticket price anyway. I don't have it yet as they had to order one in unless I wanted to take the floor model.

Then in Australia all the stoves are wired into the electrical system (verses using a plug) so I need to get an electrician to disconnect the old and reconnect the new. I lucked out there as one of the people who are taking my foster dog is an electrician and he has said he will do it for me. Now I have to pay to have the old stove taken away. Is there no end to this I ask myself?

A bit of belated good luck on Sunday - a friend offered to give me a stove.  I guess I will replace both stoves (the one in my rental unit and the one in my unit).


Theft vs Prank
Many of you have heard stories of people I work with and will know immediately who I am talking about in this story. Last week we had a raffle at work to support Beyond Blue. One guy won a six pack of Corona. A couple of pranksters swapped out two of the Corona for Hahn Light (comparable to Bud Light). The guy flew into a rage and went off about the theft of his beer. The next work day (this was after the weekend and holiday monday) he complained to the principal about a thief at work. Needless to say that several people thought this was quite funny. He then got the Wood Duck award (given out weekly to teachers doing a stupid thing) which, of course, set him off again.

Harriers
Sunday was a great morning for a bit of a walk.  I did 7km with Harriers.  I took a few pictures along the way with my phone.  It was a dual purpose activity.  I wanted a few photos for here but I also wanted to be sure that I know how to use the bluetooth functions on the phone and on my macbook.  Here are a few photos of the beach and the iconic Geraldton lighthouse.

Won the Footy Tipping

Footy Tipping

I set up the work online football betting competition (called tipping here).  Since I set it up, I decided that I should enter despite the fact that I have little interest or knowledge of Aussie Rules football.  There are sixteen participants and throughout the comp I have been at the bottom (14, 15, or 16).  Last week I won the weekly picks.  I moved up to 8th position.  I would love to chalk this up to skill but it is more like one guy at work said "only someone with no knowledge of football would have done well this week".  I believe that I have moved up again this week.  I got six out of eight correct.  However, the site is currently closed while they update the comp.

Greenough Walk

I did an 8.5 km walk with the Geraldton Harriers club.  The walk was in Greenough south of Geraldton.  It was very green due to a decent amount of rain this year.  However, this morning it was dry which was good for walking.  The walk started at the Pioneer Museum and went along a road into the sand dunes.  You can check out some photos here.  I took them with my broken camera.  I had to go into school and use a card reader to get the photos off the camera.  It was a good thing I walked in the am because it poured in the late afternoon.

Foundation Day

Monday is Foundation Day and a holiday here.  I would to say that I don't have to go to work but being a bit of a workaholic I am going in.  I went in yesterday to do the computer stock take.  Tomorrow I need to review my staff's reports  (I started this yesterday but found numerous typos, spelling and grammar errors) and clean up the server.  I hope it won't take too long.

Wood Duck

Each week the person who does the stupidest or funniest thing at work gets an award called the Wood Duck.  I was the lucky recipient last week.  I was trying to show this new Hungarian teacher how the school internet filters work.  Figuring that if I typed "porn" into a Google search I would get the filter message, I demonstrated this.  Unfortunately, it didn't work.  Luckily, I only got a list of results and no images.  It still somewhat astounds me that putting in myspace will bring an immediate filter block but porn will not.  One of my coworkers volunteered to check out the porn links.  What a guy! (ha, ha).  It did come up as blocked once you clicked on the porn links.  I am glad to hear that we are protecting our young charges at school.

Reading

I am currently reading The Prisoner of Guantanamo (Fesperman) and listening to London Bridges (Patterson).  

Movies

I haven't seen much of interest lately.  I saw Elizabeth which was okay.  I just saw a quick overview of Blindness and that looks interesting.  However, I doubt it will make it to Australia before I leave.

Bowling

The first week back to school has been very, very hectic.  It started out well with a day of professional development.  I organized the day for the Business and Computing staff.  We did quite of bit of curriculum improvement stuff but also some technical skills.  The last hour of the day was devoted to team building.  We went bowling.  It was a lot of fun and seemed to further develop the department collegiality.   The rest of the week was crazy with the new teacher notebooks arriving and an array of computer / network problems.  

No one has called to see my foster dog that I am keeping for Geraldton Dog Rescue.  He peed on the carpet so I am keeping an extra close eye on him.  I keep him in the laundry room at night but the last two nights he locked himself in the small bathroom (which only holds a toilet) off the laundry room.  Dad theorizes that the dog was chasing something behind the door so I need to prop it open with something heavy.

Tomorrow I am off to Harriers to do a 7km walk at the Greenough River.  I think it will be pretty challenging as I have heard that it is through the sand dunes.

Whale Sharks

Dad let me know that there is a program in Georgia where injured Iraq veterans swim with whale sharks.  While searching for information on that I came across this video about whale sharks. 

Mission Whale Shark Accomplished

UPDATE: Photos Here

After ten long weeks of work I headed up to the Ningaloo Reef with Tanya (a fellow teacher). We stopped for the night in Carnavon to visit with her mom and then went up to Exmouth the next day. As it was a 900 km journey the stop was welcome. Our first day in Exmouth we went to a small beach called Bundegi and did a snorkel. Although the conditions weren't ideal it was just what we needed after driving so far.

The next day I went on the whale shark tour and Tanya went out on a dive boat to the Murion Islands. There were 18 people on my tour. We headed around to the west side of the cape and took a boat to the outside of the reef. We saw some dolphins on the way. There we had a snorkel. It wasn't spectacular but I saw a couple of turtles.

The whale shark spotter plan went up and we headed south to snorkel with the whale sharks. Each boat can only stay with the whale shark for 90 minutes and swimmers can only be in the water for 60 minutes. The company that I went with (Ningaloo Reef Dreaming) uses its own spotter plane so we were not going to have to share any shark sightings with other boats. There are also rules about where you can be in relations to the whale shark. You need to be 3 m from the shark on the sides and 4m from the shark around the tail. You are not allowed to be in front of the shark.

The plane did not immediately find a whale shark so we had a bit of a swim and later another snorkel. Then right as we sat down to lunch the spotter plane found two whale sharks for us. The first group finished eating and geared up. When we were near the area the whale shark had been seen one of the guides jumped in and located the shark. He swam along side and then the other swimmers jumped in. They were supposed to immediately look for the shark and then swim to the side of the shark (as opposed to the front of the shark). In the excitement they forgot.

Our group got their chance in a bit. It was really exciting. I got quite a few photos. The groups swapped back and forth. On my second swim I was getting a bit tired. I then realised that it was only me, the guide and the shark. The rest of the people couldn't keep up. When I got back to the boat the skipper and the deckie were really impressed. In their words "Girl you can swim". It was a great experience. I got another two swims. It was really great.

The only down side of the day was that somehow I lost my sunglasses. The crew said that we swam with the shark all up for 51 minutes. The average swim time of the other tour operators in 2007 was 6 minutes. For the operator that I went with the average swim time in 2007 was 48 minutes so we had a great swim. The whale shark wasn't huge. It was 3.5m. The big ones in the area run around 10-12 m. The largest one seen is 18m.

Tanya had a good day diving. She did three dives and was quite pleased.

The next day we drove into Ningaloo Reef Marine Park and snorkeled at a couple of places. The best was Turquoise Bay. We saw a few dolphins as we walked down the beach. I did two snorkels there. There were heaps of fish. On the first snorkel I also saw a reef shark. On the second snorkel I found a turtle that let me swim with it for about 15-20 minutes. It went up for air twice, swam gracefully around and ate a bit of something from the sea floor. It was really great. Unfortunately, my camera quit working.

Later we went back to Exmouth and I read by the pool for the rest of the day. Later I found that I had really sunburned my back and bottom. It was very, very painful.

The next day we drove down to Coral Bay. Tanya and I did a nice snorkel there. The corals there are so great - a great variety of color, size and shape. My favorite is the lavender coral. Due to my sunburn I spent the rest of the day in the shade. Tanya did a ATV tour and had a super time.

Just before sunset I spread some of my mom's ashes in the bay. She very much enjoyed her visit to Coral Bay several years ago. Amazingly my camera came to life just to take a photo of the area I put the ashes. I am not sure if that was heavenly intervention or fate.

Today we drove back. It took about 8 hours so I am a bit done in.

I tried to get the photos off my camera. I think it is only the display that is broken. However, I couldn't get them. I am going to try to use a card reader to get them directly from the memory card. I will post them if I can.

All in all it was a really great trip.

Do these types of things happen to others?

Plans to return to the US
Last week I went checked into the frequent flier site to try and book a flight back to the US in December. I waited a bit too long and the only one available was after Christmas so I looked around for other options. I found a round the world fare that looked interesting but it didn't work out. I then found a fare with Thai Airways that was okay. The travel agent said that I only needed to put down a deposit but that I needed to pay for the flight within 30 days. I actually had two reservations - one on Dec 19 and one on Dec 23. (My last day of work is Dec 18). The Dec 19 one seemed a bit of a push but I thought that maybe I could swing it. I wanted to check out a bit more as far as shipping my stuff back.

Then on Tuesday (six days later) I get an email saying that I had one day to pay (and decide on which day to travel).  That was a bit of a shock.  I ended up buying the ticket.  I didn't think I could find a better fare.  I am taking the Dec 23rd flight.  I will arrive in the US on Dec 24 at 7pm.  I will book a flight to PHX on Southwest.  Unfortunately, I can't yet get that ticket because Southwest doesn't book that far ahead.

Dog Rescue

I got another dog rescue dog - a small Jack Russell named Molly.  However, I got home on Thursday and she was gone.  I just couldn't figure it out.  Then I realized that part of my back fence was pushed in separating it from another section.  Both dogs must have escaped through there.  I am not sure how the fence was broken - perhaps it was the wind or the neighbors.

Work Clothing disaster

Generally I ride my bike to the gym before school and shower and change at work.  Friday I didn't pack my work skirt by accident and spent a hour trying to round up the school car.  I was walking around in my small and smelly workout clothes.  No one seemed to know where the car was and when it would be back at school.  In the end I borrowed a car and went home and changed.  Not the best start to the day.

More Positive Note

One more week of work and then I have two weeks vacation.  I am heading up to Exmouth for several days in the first week.  I hope to see the whale sharks.  

Sydney Found

Holidays
This week was a short week at school due to Easter. Here in Australia Good Friday is a holiday. There are also two more days off called Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday. Not everyone has Tuesday off but teachers and students do. I think that one of the reasons I am getting out so much later this year (Dec 19) is that we have these days off during the term. Usually they fall during the two weeks I have off at the end of the first term.

Sydney
An Australian warship named the Sydney and 645 crew members were lost in WWII in the ocean north of here. There is a big memorial here. Until this week the final resting place of the Sydney was unknown. This week the Australian ship and the German ship that sank it were found near Shark Bay.

Aussie Rules Football
After being asked to set up an online tipping (betting) competition for the football season, I found that someone else at school had set one up. In the end the other teacher agreed to handle the money side and use the comp that I set up. Somehow I have ended up in this competition. I know even less about AFL than US football if that is possible. My results so far are 2/5 correct. I don't think I will be making much money on this.

St Paddy's Day
Last Sunday a warm up for St Paddy's Day was advertised so a friend and I decided to go to the Freo to see what was happening. We asked at the bar and the had no idea of what was going on despite the advertisement. We had a few drinks but nothing much seemed to be happening. Monday we had Parent Night at school. As I have no students I thought it would be pretty boring but instead I worked with a few teachers on using a virtual body web site. Later a couple of teachers and I went out for a drink. They had the loudest fiddlers ever there. I left after a beer as I had to be up early the next day.

Computer Problems
This week was plagued by ongoing computer issues at school. It is pretty much out of my hands but I still bear a bit of the teachers' unhappiness when they plan lessons on the computers and they just don't work.

Geraldton Dog Rescue(GDR)
A few weeks ago I signed up to be a volunteer for GDR. It entails housing a dog after they have been at the pound the maximum time. You house them until a new home is found. This week I received a call asking if I could take in Nikki - a small chihuahua. You can see a few photos of her here. She is kind of strange to me because she is so small - smaller than a large cat. She has a hurt shoulder so she can't walk or play. She has big expressive eyes. Brody, my nephew, says that he picks dogs he likes based on their eyes. I bet he would have liked this one. Unfortunately, he probably would have blown up like a balloon because of his allergies. Well, Nikki lived with me two days and then escaped. I am not sure how. She must have squeezed through the fence. The GDR people said not to worry. It happens all the time. That is how the dogs end up in the pound in the first place. Sometimes after they escape someone finds them and then keeps them or calls the pound or GDR. A worst case scenario is that she could get hit by a car. I hope she is well.

Local Find

Local mystery as to what happened to two ships in WWII seems about to be solved. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=145&ContentID=63113

A week that could have been better

It is amazing that at work I can have so many positive interactions with staff. One staff member that I worked with this week was just ecstatic about the outcomes we achieved for her students. She even showed the work to the principal. On the other hand I have staff who appear to feel that I have nothing to do all day. I find this ironic as I sit here at work on a Sunday resolving a few issues. All in all I do find this job rewarding. I am trying to be more thick skinned and ignore the negative people. It is easier said than done.

The big thing that happened at work this week was the crippling of our admin server on Friday. The upside of this was that students were hardly impacted. The downside was that staff had issues logging on, logging off and were unable to save anything. It was a frustrating day in that it wasn't a problem generated by school but rather by the central control / support of the school. It wasn't fixed until 4pm.

The weather continutes to be pretty nice - warm but not hot. Working out at the gym is not the sweat soaked nightmare that it was.

Yesterday I watched a couple of water polo finals. One of my staff was playing and coaching. The were generally exciting games and I was a bunch of people that I hadn't seen in ages.

This week is a short week at work because Australia has so many holidays. For Easter we have Good Friday, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday off work. I am planning on sticking around in town but who knows? That means there are two short work weeks and two regular work weeks and then two weeks of holidays. I am thinking of heading up to the Ningaloo Reef if I can get a ride.

Coup and Carnival

Attempted Coup or Timewaster?
After basically begging this poor guy to be president of our staff association after the prior year president said "NO more" another teacher stood up and said that we need to follow the constitution and the democratic process. This took up about 15 minutes of an after school meeting. The outcome was that no one wanted to be president and as far as I was concerned we were lucky to get a president at all.

Swim Carnival
Speaking of time wasters this week we had the swim carnival. The entire school goes to the pool (of course only a third show up) and we have a swimming competition. As I had many things to do - timing swim races was not exactly what I wanted to be doing. The school is divided in the five groups. My group (also called a house) is Chapman. The best bit of the day was the teacher relay. Our house competed again the other houses and won. I didn't swim but cheered madly on the side. The other good bit was drinks with the other teachers after school.

Weather
The weather has not been too bad lately. It has been kind of humid but not as hot and it has been cooling off during the night.

Cycle Instead
Monday starts a one month competition of using a bicycle as alternative transport. I have organised a team from work. There are around eight people on it. We are named the School Spokes.

Reading
I just finished a book called Critical Conditions by Stephen White and am starting Kathy Reichs's Bones to Ashes today.

Nike Plus
I bought the Nike plus attachment for my iPod. I am not sure how much I will use it with the Cycle instead competition starting. I have to ride my bike as much as possible. I have used it a bit and like how it works and records the distances that I walk.

Life back in Australia

This last week was HOT, HOT, HOT. From last Sunday through Thursday the daily high was between 98 and 103 and it wasn't cooling off at night. My house (and the school) heated up like a kiln. There is no a/c in either place. I was spraying down the brick wall inside and outside my bedroom to try and reduce the heat a little because the brick just holds onto that heat. Luckily the temp dropped a little by the end of the week.

My gym is not air conditioned and working out has been like taking a sauna while exercising - very wet.

Despite the heat work has been pretty good. I am working with several teachers in integrating various technology strategies in their classrooms. The downside is that the technical issues are still occurring and our process for dealing with them needs refinement.

I was checking up on some electrical and cabling work to be done in one of the classrooms and one of the teachers showed me a photo of an osprey that was hanging out on his car. He got so close to take the photo that I was worried about the bird. Then I read in Friday's local paper that two osprey that had been rehabilitated were released. I guess it was one of them. It doesn't bode well for them if they are not displaying normal wild animal behaviors.

My bike finally seems to be fixed. It was in the shop for over a week due to a problem with the spokes. Apparently most of the bikes sold in 2006 has bad spokes. It was finally fixed under warranty. I then had to take it back for adjustment because the tire was rubbing on the brakes. All seems well now so I have two forms of transport available - my feet or the bike.

You would think that I would be used to the different traffic patterns here by now but on Thursday I rode my bike over to a friend's house for a birthday drink. I only had two light beers but on the way out I heard her yelling "get on the right side of the road" which was, of course, the left side of the road. I was riding along on the right. It was a small side street and there was no traffic.

Friday night I went to the outdoor cinema (a projection screen set up in an ampitheatre) to see the original Hairspray. Several of my friends went and one brought colored hairspray for us to get in the feel of the movie. It was a good time. I am keen to see the newer version which I understand is a musical.

I just finished Michael Crichton's novel Prey about nanotechnology. I am now reading The Unquiet by John Connolly. I recommend both.

Penguins and sharks visit Geraldton

I have been back a little over a week and have been slowly getting things together. I now have home internet which is great. The weather has been warm but not unduly hot so that is really great. It was supposed to be hot but it never got there.

Interesting animal news here in Gero this week. A King Penguin arrived on a beach north of Geraldton. The penguin was way off course - something like 4000km. It is the farthest north that they have seen this kind of penguin. Unfortunately, the penguin died probably killed by a box.

Then a couple of days ago another penguin ( a little Blue this time) also visited Geraldton. This one was watched over set happily on its way to ensure no fox got it.

Then two tiger sharks - one of the most feared sharks in this area - were spotted at the beach closest to my house. As I was walking by the beach yesterday I saw the patrol boat at the beach looking for them.

Today is Australia Day.

I return to work officially on Tuesday.

NZ to OZ

Well this morning started pretty early - 4:15AM to be exact. It was supposed to start at 4:10 but I set the alarm for pm instead of am. That is why I use more than one alarm. The second alarm was my phone. It woke me up saying something like "It's 4:15 am wake up". That was a bit confusing at that time in the morning.

I packed up and went downstairs for a quick bit of oatmeal before I left. No such luck. The kitchen was closed until 5am. I called the night clerk to check out and she was not too friendly. There was no way she was going to let me in that kitchen early. Oh well - who needs food?

I took the super shuttle to the airport. There I as in for a big shock. I was over the baggage limit. I then realised that the baggage limit was half what it was coming into NZ. I moved a bit of stuff and left behind a bottle wine that I got as a present for my friend Kate. Sorry Kate but they were going to charge me another $80. That would have been a pretty expensive bottle of wine.

The flights were pretty good and I got an aisle seat on each. There was not much layover time at all. I had three flights. On two of them there was an empty seat next to me. Woo Hoo!

Perth is pretty hot today - 95 degrees I think but it is supposed to cool over the next few days. Yeah!

I am now at the Comfort Hostel in Perth and will take the bus to Gero in the am. I should be able to access the Internet at the library if nothing else until I get something set up at home.

Returning to Australia

Today is my last day in NZ. It has been an incredible trip. I have really enjoyed myself. I fly out at 7:30 am tomorrow. I will leave for the airport at 4:45am - a very early morning. I have crazy flight that goes first to Brisbane. There I clear customs and take a flight to Sydney. There I change plans and fly to Perth. A pretty roundabout way to get to Perth if you ask me but the price was better than other alternatives. In Perth I will stay the night at the Comfort Hostel and take the bus to Gero the next morning at 8:30am. I arrive in Gero at 2:30pm.

I feel a little like the Aussie guys who kayaked to NZ but didn't arrange a way back and didn't bring shoes. I have arranged a way back but I realise that I don't have sheets for my bed at home because they are in storage. It will be too hot for my sleeping bag. I will try to borrow some from a friend until I arrange to get my stuff from storage.

A very unlucky event happened to me yesterday. I went to get a snack from my food stored in the common kitchen area. My non-fridge food was not there. I realised that it must have fallen off (or been knocked off) the top of the cupboard and into the free food box. There is was promptly scavanged. I had just gone to the store to buy stuff to eat on the plane. (Cheap flight - no food provided). That was really, really bad luck. However, this morning my cold food had milk spilled on it. As I pulled it out to clean it, I saw most of my food (instant hummus, brunch bars, 2 min noodles and instant soup) in someone else's bag in the fridge. I just took it back. I felt kind of bad. However, I do think that it may have been a little obvious that my food was not being given away. What do you think?

Akaroa to Arthur's Pass

It was sooo hot the day I left Akaroa. I left on the 4:00pm bus and it was a sauna all the way back to Christchurch. It was super hot there too. I was pretty happy to head out to Arthur's Pass the next morning. I think that Haast Pass is certainly prettier than Arthur's Pass from what I saw.

The weather was a bit cloudy and looked like rain so I hit the DOC office in Arthur's Pass. The forecast was fine but it was evident that the weatherman had gotten it wrong. The DOC officer said that I could go up to Avalanche Peak but to take Scott's Track both ways due to the bad weather. Also if it was too windy at the top to skip the last ridgeline as it is very exposed with long drops on each side. The weather was going to deteriorate even more the next day so this was my only opportunity to try and hike one of the best day hikes in NZ.

I headed out and climbed up, up, up. I did eventually make it to the top but there were no real views. I did see quite a few kea. They were the most aggressive that I have seen and I got a few good pictures as well. (Note: I had tried to fix my camera strap with duck tape but at the top realized that the entire strap had gone missing. I did find the strap on the way down. I haven't tried to fix it again yet.)

The rain increased on the way down and I was in constant rain on the way down. The walk down was pretty slippery and definitely unfun. Fortunately, I made it down without any injury.

Since I really had no views, I will have to reserve comment on which day hike is the best in NZ.

Photos are here.

I went back to the backpacker and built a roaring fire. The next day it was pouring rain and my knees were certainly sore so I spent the day reading.

The Banks Peninsula Track

See photos here.

The Track is 35km long in total. The first and fourth days have significant climbs of around 600m each. It explores the Banks Peninsula which is an ancient volcano. Akaroa Harbour is the eroded crater of the volcano. This track is a private track. The nice thing about that was that there was beer and food for sale at most of the "huts". I had a few more equipment difficulties. I have broken both my camera strap (I have not idea how) and my sunglasses (I stepped on them but have duck taped them together)

Night 1
I stayed in a stargazer hut in Onuku. This hut is made of plywood and plexiglass. There is plexiglass over your head so that you can see the stars at night. I loved it. It overlooks the bay and I saw a sweet sunset from it while drinking a beer (which I brought with me for the first night). It was a cloudy night night so no stars unfortunately. I met my fellow walkers. All eleven of the others are traveling together in a group from a university in the US. They are a nice enough bunch.

Day1 Onuku to Flea Bay
The day was a bit overcast to start but that was fine as I had a big climb to start the day. After reaching the summit I walked down to Flea Bay via three waterfalls. At the last one I was really startled by movement in the water. All of a sudden out of the water slithered a big eel. It scared me for a minute. I think it was after the insects flying about in the air. After that I climbed up behind the waterfall which was pretty cool.

I got to the cottage at Flea Bay pretty early. I was walking around checking things out when Shireen (the owner of the property) drove up with a bunch of people for kayaking. I joined the group and we had a good afternoon on the water. A funny thing happened as we were pulling the kayaks out. Shireen found a blue penguin in one of them. When we got out on the water I I saw penguins and seals on the rocks We also went into two caves where we saw seals. One kayak couldn't seem to back paddle or turnaround. It was kind of scary watching them go in the cave. At least they didn't capsize.

When we came back from kayaking, Shireen took us into the garden and showed us a couple of penguin chicks in a nest there. The parents had initially tried to make a nest in Shireen's boots so she kept moving them to a box in the garden. Finally they got the message.

Later that night we went on a penguin tour. Flea Bay has a very big white flippered penguin population. It also also has a few yellow eyed penguins. Shireen and Frances (the property owners) make boxes for the penguins to use as nests. We saw more chicks and some molting adults in boxes on the hill.

Day 2 Flea Bay to Stony Bay
The walk along the coast line was not to taxing but was so beautiful. I saw hector dolphins from the ridge. I also visited two seal colonies on the way to Stony Bay. At the first seal cave there were lots of young seal pups. It was great to see them playing around.

I did an additional walk around the valley at Stony Bay. Part of it was really new and I got into a bit of stinging nettle trying to navigate the track. There was a nice little waterfall on it.

Day 3 Stony Bay to Otanerito Bay
Again a short walk but incredible coastline. I saw blowholes and sea archs. It was a clear but very windy day. The "huts" here were so cute. I stayed in a little one all by myself. The shower house was built around a tree. There was an outdoor bath heated by a wood fire. I would love to visit here again.

Because the day was so short, I went for a hike in the Hinewai Reserve. I attempted to go up to the Stones. Unfortunately, the trail was really overgrown. I was walking in plant life up to my shoulders. The trail was very hard to determine. Just short of the summit I decided to abort. I walked down and then up to a waterfall at Murderer's Gully and then down to Fantail falls. I certainly got some exercise in this little adventure. At Fantail falls I found a jacket and water bottle. As it was a dead end I figured that one of the university kids had left it. It turns out that one of them decided to climb up the side of the falls and was a bit worried when he got back and his stuff wasn't there. He was pretty happy when I turned up with it back at the hut.

Day 4 Otanerito Bay to Akaroa
Last day - from sea level up and over the Purple Peak saddle (509m) and back to Akaroa. I did a side hike up to the top of Stony Bay Peak (806m). There were pretty good views up there. I just couldn't pass it up.

Mt Cook to Akaroa

I spent a couple of days in Christchurch on my way to Akaroa. After spending so much time in smaller places it was kind of a shock to be in a city. I didn't do much just a bit of shopping. I am still looking for the perfect present for my sister for her birthday. I came across a few things that I like and will get one of them when I return to Christchurch.

I took a shuttle out to Akaroa on Sunday. The weather was good so I did a short hike in the surrounding hillsides.

I went to the Cinema Cafe and saw Sweet Land in the evening. It was a very small cinema and you could buy food and drinks there. I had a beer while I watched the movie.

Today I start the Banks Peninsula Track. I get picked up at 5:45PM to be taken to the first night's accomodation. Tomorrow is the first day of walking. I was go for a hike today but it is raining - better today than tomorrow is all I can say. The temperature today is supposed to be a bit warm but a southerly wind is coming in later today which will cool it off for my first day of walking tomorrow.

I have put a few photos here.

I read in the paper today that a dead tramper (hiker) was found in Mt Cook National Park. It makes me glad that I decided to turn back at Sealy Tarns that day and try for Mueller Hut the next day. Despite the fact that my legs, knees and hips were feeling a bit sore after that.

Mueller Hut HIke Take 2 (Jan 4)

After much consideration I decided to try to hike up to Mueller Hut AGAIN if the weather was good despite the fact that it would be a push for me to make my bus out of Mt Cook.

I woke and it was completely clear. I put my bags in storage and headed out to the trailhead. As I neared the trailhead low clouds began to develop in the valley. I began climbing. It was nice to climb in the early morning. It was very peaceful and a bit cooler. The clouds began to increase and I was worried that I would have no views but a guy coming down from the hut said that the views from above were spectacular despite the clouds because the hut is above the clouds.

It was a hard hike up - short and steep (elevation gain over 1000m). On the way up I was treated to a show by a couple of kea. They actually landed right by the trail and then took off and flew above my head.

The trail was very steep (as I discovered yesterday) and past Sealy Tarns it was generally scrambling over boulders walking from pole to pole. I also had to walk up a slope of scree (very nasty) and cross a small snow field (no biggie). After a couple hours of hard hiking I emerged above the clouds with some spectacular views and all the pain faded away [It must be like having a baby - painful but you forget it once you see the beauty at the end of it]. You could hear the glaciers and snow cracking. I saw a few avalanches. It truly was awesome.

I was kind of congratulating myself on completing what I consider a pretty tough hike when I saw that a four year old girl hiked up yesterday and was hiking down today. I guess I am not so tough. (Apparently in the hut talk the evening before they noted that the girl was the youngest to hike up to Mueller Hut. My question would be at what age will she attempt Everest?).

It is a good thing that I am at the end of my trip. My boots have holes in them (they are only about 2 months old). I cut myself on the first hike up to Sealy Tarns on an agave-type plant and bled all over my hiking shorts because I was more concerned about the wind than the pain in my hand. On my way down from Mueller Hut I ripped the same pair of hiking shorts - luckily it was a small rip in the pocket.

Here are a few more photos.

I am now in Christchurch and am off to Akaroa tomorrow at 9am to do the Banks Peninsula Track on Jan 7.

Queenstown to Mt Cook

I was happy to leave Queenstown. It was an overcrowded mess for New Year's Eve. New Year's Day was a beautiful clear day. The bus driver stopped and let us take pictures as we passed the Lake Pukaki Lookout of Mt Cook.

Since I couldn't get into Mt Cook until Jan 2, I spent the night in a town called Tekapo named after the nearby lake - Lake Tekapo. The lake has a beautiful blue cool from the silt of the glacier. I had a big day of laundry and then I walked up to the top of Mt John where there is an observatory. Lake Tekapo apparently has very clear skies.

The backpacker I stayed at was very nice. I ended up sharing a twin room with another girl due to a booking error. That was really nice.

The bus trip to Mt Cook the next day was more like a tour. The driver owns the company (Mt Cook Connections) and he told me all about the area on the way up to Mt Cook. We also stopped for a number of photo opportunities. It was great.

I got to Mt Cook around and headed out to hike to Hooker Lake. It was a clear day and I had some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers.

On the way home I stopped at the Mountaineer Bar that had a sign up that said "Happy Hours Daily". I asked what time Happy Hour started. The answer was that there would be no happy hours because it was a public holiday (Jan 2 - a big holiday around the world - SARCASM). Being a smart ass I said "So the sign is actually a lie". That didn't go over very well.

The next day I planned to hike up to Mueller Hut. However, the weather wasn't very good when I got up. The wind was howling and it was raining. The weather forecast said that it would ease during the day so I go a 24 hour wireless account. This stopped working and the YHA that I was staying at couldn't contact anyone. It looked as though it was going to be a waste of money. In the meantime, the weather started looking as though it might improve. I geared up to go out. As I went out it started raining. I retreated and read my book for awhile.

It looked more promising later (12:30) so I went out. The hike I wanted to do takes approx 8 hours. I decided that I would monitor conditions. If they weren't favorable I would turn back. I hiked up to Sealy Tarn. It was a steep rocky hike up the side of the mountain. A cloud hung over the area that I knew that I was hiking to. The wind was so strong at times I worried about being blown off the mountain. I did have good views of Mueller Glacier and the glacier on Mt Sefton.

At Sealy Tarn I had to decide if I would go on to Mueller Hut. It started raining as I was trying to make my decision. I had plenty of energy to go up but I didn't want to come down climbing over slippery rocks in the rain. Larry, Lori and Dustin and I had a conversation on the Kepler Track about bad decisions leading to bad situations. I decided that Muelller Hut would keep. I could try the next day or next year if I come back here with my family. It is a truly spectacular area.

I know that I made the right decision because on the way down it continued to rain. The cloud stayed over the mountain even though other areas of the area were clear. I was almost blown over when I got to the bottom of the hill.

I did go to happy hours on this non-holiday day. It was lucky because they have the same wireless service so I was able to connect there with the same account that I had set up at the YHA so no need to pursue a refund. Yeah!!!!

On the way back to the YHA I saw a family of paradise ducks. The little baby ducks were so CUTE.

I talked to a couple of people at the YHA and they said that the weather at the Tasman Glacier was great. I may head out there in the AM to hike around Blue Lakes and up to Ball Hut.

Check out the photos here.

I can't believe that I am leaving in less than two weeks. SO SAD !!!

I am off to Christchurch next and then on to Akaroa soon after.