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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Sunday 8 July 2007
G:
Up early so that we would be ready for the glass bottom boat. I had been laying awake listening to Mandi's snoring - very loud.
M:
We had to at least be aware of the time when we woke up because we were due on the glass-bottomed boat at 9am which meant leaving Ebbtide by 8:45. We sauntered through the village expecting to be the first people there anyway, but weren't. The atmosphere was very different, with the shed doors open to the beach - it was clear that today was a "goer."
G:
We did manage to walk down to Environmental Tours in time for the glass bottom boat trip. There were a couple of people going snorkelling, and that would have been good, but what to do about being salty and sticky for the rest of the day. We left our shoes and backpacks in the shed before clambering aboard a boat that looks far too small for the 18 passengers. However, we all fitted fine round the black walled box with the glass bottom.
M:
We had the full complement of eighteen including three kids (relatively well behaved - the oldest a bit precocious and inclined to lecture to the assembled multitudes while Mama smiled indulgently but at least she shut them up when the guide was talking!) and were all assembled on the beach by about 8:50. The glass bottom was smaller than the one we went on in Tasmania but much cleaner. Nevertheless, you still lose colour and clarity through glass and also that feeling of being in the fishes' domain. But a big advantage is that Gray can see better so it all breaks even.
G:
The skipper was great, a really dour and serious looking man with a dry sense of humour, and a deep love for his coral that is in 'such good condition'. It actually was amazing, such a variety of hard and soft corals with a huge number of anemones, clams and urchins. The fish life was also varied with a mix of sea fish like 'stinkers' and reef fish. The first thing that we saw was a ball of fins that turned out to be a school of catfish swimming in a clump, it really was weird!
M:
We were taken to several different sites where we saw different communities - some areas particularly rich in fish, others in coral. We saw larger schools of fish than we had at Ned's, as well as skates and flutes, and many more of the really beautiful parrotfish. Also, just as we were starting out, a ball of catfish - about twenty of them all bunched together so they looked like something big and scary.
At the last stop, two of the party went over to snorkel. One was a young woman who could have been anything between about 18 and 28 who reminded us so of Kathleen Clayton - someone who had spent far too much time in the company of her parents than is good for a youngster. She was snorkelling for the first time and was behaving as if she was about to snow-board off K2 or something, saying, ''one should try everything once!" Anyway she was ecstatic about the experience, just sitting saying, "that was awesome!!" all the way home. It was quite sweet. I was quite sorry we weren't snorkelling until I saw them freezing to death on the way home. And as Gray said, most of what made yesterday's experience so good was being able to come up from the beach and have a hot shower and get into non-salty, dry clothes!
G:
We stopped off at a number of holes, deep spots in the coral. At the second, our two intrepid snorkellers went in, and we were grateful to stay dry. The skipper then attached a sea urchin to the bottom of the boat so that the double header and all the other Wrasse would come and eat - it was quite a frenzy. He also had a sheet of perspex that he used to scrape the glass clear. Headed back to the boathouse once the snorkellers were done which was probably wise as the skinny lady was turning blue. There was warm water and paper towels to clean and dry our feet.
We stopped at the visitors centre for a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of pie before heading out past the airstrip for our walk. We were just passing when the 11:30am Dash was taking off, and we were surprised by how little of the runway it needed.
M:
Afterwards we set off south, stopping for hot chocolate at the Museum, and walked along the airstrip - by good fortune we were there just as a little Dash took off but despite all the planning in the world, and being in the right place at the right time, and having great stormy skies and lovely mountains as backgrounds, we both got fairly ordinary pictures.
G:
Our new map showed that the track to Muttonbird point climbed up to the 60m contour and then, more or less followed the level. Mandi still battled a bit, but the path was interesting with views back to the airfield and of the multi-stemmed Pandanus trees that are so weird.
M:
Then up the hill and along an approximate contour (which is why we chose this walk) to Muttonbird Point. There is a viewing platform from which one can look at the Boobies which are nesting at present. It's not what I'd describe as "thrilling" game-watching - a green hillside covered with white specks about 5m apart. Through binoculars you can see that the white specks are the rather handsome (but so Roman-nosed as to be faintly ridiculous) Boobies. Occasionally one stretches its neck or wings and mostly one or two are flying over the colony - perhaps parents taking a break from brooding or perhaps the other parent coming home for a shift - who knows? There were also some other big seabirds - we think wedgetail shearwaters - just flying around and occasionally diving spectacularly for fish. And lots of little dark birds flying over the colony - too small to identify but probably swallows, I'd think.
So not thrilling but very peaceful to sit for half an hour in the sun, the wind, the rain and then the sun again (this is Lord Howe Island after all!) watching the sea and the light and the waves and the birds.
G:
After about 45 minutes we came to the path down to the lookout over the point. Mandi was brave so we went down to the platform. The point is almost isolated from the island except for a narrow rocky ridge, so the birds obviously feel safe, so are prepared to nest. These Boobies or Muttonbirds are some of the larger gulls with a 1.7m wingspan, but mostly they just hung round on their nests like great white blobs. From time to time one would have had enough and would fly off for a minute before returning. There were a couple of other species, one doing circuits and bumps, and the other, diving for fish.
I tried to take some photos through the binoculars to get a good magnification, but I doubt that they will come out well.
M:
The path continues on the contour but without really getting anywhere so at present I am sitting high up with a view of Muttonbird Point while Gray goes on to see what else he can find.
G:
We went on for a while but soon Mandi had had enough and stopped. I went on fast for 20 minutes until I came to the stream at Rocky Road. I toyed with pressing on to the Boat Harbour, but decided against it, and returned to collect Mandi for the long walk home. I walked about 10km, but because it was in running shoes, seemed a lot further. I was so pissed off, as my new shoes have torn already. I will have to take them back to the shop. On the way back we walked over to the jetty and watched the Island Trader, hoping for some activity, but she with her 500t and 2.5m draft just sat there, so we went home.
M, Later:
He arrived back just as I wrote that, having calculated that we should start back then (about 2:45) if we were to be home by nightfall. It was a nice walk down despite following the same path we had taken earlier because the light was different - lower, so that it illuminated the trees differently and often better from a photographic point-of-view. I have been trying (unsuccessfully, I fear) to photograph inside woodlands and forests. They all turn out looking like a bunch of trees without a real subject or else if you focus in on something it just becomes a photo of a mossy branch or whatever without giving that feeling of being in a forest. I saw a couple of stunning examples in a book on Lord Howe Island and I suspect it would take a ND filter and tripod to even begin to get what I'd like - but certainly low light which illuminates certain trees or puts side-light on trunks or lights up leaves is a big help!!
As we got within sight of the airstrip we realized two things: one, that we'd missed the launch of the weather balloon (which I guess would look like a man letting go of a big white balloon but Gray would have enjoyed watching) by ten minutes and two, that the supply boat was almost certainly in at last because a busy convoy of trucks was ferrying aviation fuel in 44 gallon drums into the airport. So we walked fairly steadily to the jetty (only a couple of hundred metres beyond the "town" so hardly out of our way) and sure enough, there was a very green and yellow ship taking up most of the length of the jetty with a large contingent of interested by-standers on shore and five or six men in fluorescent vests leaning on stanchions (how nautical I sound! A "stanchion" is probably a small clip for holding a swinging door or something) and although the diesel containers looked unchanged they might have been replacement, full ones - certainly it didn't look as if any actual loading or unloading was going to take place. So after ten minutes we went on our way, stopping only to phone Sarah who wasn't home, of course, but swears the animals are fine and that she's doing her work.
At 6:30 we came out to find Emma not there! We stood and chatted for five minutes to a young couple from the mountains of Tasmania who reckon they are able to live there because she teaches swimming (in the fortnight that's warm enough, I suppose) and he writes animations for a New Zealand company - nice work if you can get it! Gray spent the next half hour fretting about how you'd get enough bandwidth etc etc but I just imagine how nice it must be to have an intellectually challenging job that you can do from the wilds of Tasmania!
G:
At 6:30 Emma collected us and another couple to go down to the town. They come from a wild part of Tasmania where he writes software for a New Zealand film company and she teaches swimming. They stopped off at Humpty Mick's and we went on to Pine Trees. There was a jazz band playing very loud, so we took our drinks to an adjacent lounge where the sound level was more reasonable. At 7pm we went into the dining room which is so much like all hotel dining rooms. Started with fennel and pea soup, then waited 45 minutes for our Kingfish, but it was worth the wait! Nice large firm flakes and cooked nearly perfectly, served on a bed of couscous along with a baked tomato, and some crushed olive dressing. The dressing was too strong and would have swamped the delicate flavour of the fish, so I ate it with the tomato.
M:
We ate at Pinetrees which is one of the oldest lodges. They have a jazz band - apparently one of eight (I don't know if they are specifically all jazz - the others could be string quartets for all I know) who each do a week's stint - who play before dinner, then again afterwards. This was the first time we have encountered anything big - up until now, everything has felt like something organized by the family on a wet Thursday, but this is a big old hotel with lots of public rooms and twenty or so tables sitting down to eat at 7pm. We didn't see how it could work but it did... although with a very long gap between soup and main so we suspect at least one crisis in the kitchen. However it was all fun as by now we know most of the visitors (even some of the islanders appear selling raffle tickets at the Bowlo one night and running the bar at the Milky Way the next!) and could gossip and speculate about them. We suspect that only about 200 of the islanders are here because so many seem to be away when you make enquiries about activities, and judging by the reported emptiness of some of the accommodation, possibly only about 100 tourists. Certainly on a tag-and-release basis, that's about all I should think.
Dinner was an excellent pea and fennel soup to start with - a very effective combination, with neither overpowering the other - followed by a choice of roast sirloin (which a fellow guest said was superb but it would have had to be to come close to Friday night's steak) or kingfish. It seemed cruel to eat them after seeing the beautiful things swimming free, and feeding them our stale bread, but one of the band members who we had met outside earlier had highly recommended it and so we chose that - and it was excellent - really almost as good as kingklip and perfectly cooked. Served with lemon-scented couscous and excellent veggies - nothing special but just well cooked. To follow, apple crumble (which is the island speciality - everywhere offers it!) or chocolate pudding - Gray had the apple and I the choc and they were both excellent.
G:
We had a choice of chocolate pudding or apple crumble for pudding. I had the latter which had the perfect crumble, then I had the rest of Mandi's chocolate. Meanwhile the storm had arrived and it was pissing with rain.
M:
There was coffee and cheese in the lounge afterwards but we were tired and I was reacting with my usual hot flush and burning eyes to my single glass of wine so we asked for our lift home and were here by soon after 9pm.
G:
We didn't feel like listening to more loud music, so got the young handlanger to take us home. He was permanent employ at the hotel, but said that he probably wouldn't want to live here long term. I had had two beers and two glasses of poor red wine, so was pretty tired.
M:
During dinner there had been almost continuous lightning and towards the end the rain started. It is raining with serious intent now (10:20pm) so I hope our last day won't be rained out.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183788840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183788840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183788840/tpod.html Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:24:05 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Saturday 7 July 2007
G:
Mandi coughed a lot during the night but apparently slept well. She had not taken a cold muti so woke a lot easier than normal. We had decided to go to snorkel, so borrowed wet suits from Ebb Tide, which we tried on in the privacy of our own room, then trudged down to Ned's beach with all our stuff.
M:
Didn't sleep as soundly because I hadn't taken anti-snot muti but woke feeling more alert than previous mornings. The day was lovely so we tested out the wetsuits, which fitted (thank God for stretchy neoprene!) and trotted down to Ned's Beach. The water was like glass. There was a woman at the hut who we asked to take a memorial photo and off we went to wrestle our flippers on in the shallows. Cold at first but not unbearable (water temperature was 17 deg) and in fact I tolerated the cold a lot better than Gray did. I also tolerated having salt water up my nose and not being able to sniff or blow my nose or cough far better than I expected to - in fact it seemed to be very good for my cold. The wetsuits made us very buoyant - I felt as if I was floating with my bum and flippers right out of the water and had to consciously straighten my legs because I kept trying to make them froggy in order to feel that the flippers were actually in the water and not just splashing about uselessly on the surface!
G:
Having stuffed ourselves into the neoprene, we looked rather like two black blimps as we waddled down to the sea. Mandi had asked a bystander to take our photo, as the kids would never believe us otherwise. Eventually with a great deal of flopping about in the shallows, we managed to get our masks sorted, and our flippers on.
M:
The experience was just breathtaking. I don't think I've snorkelled since I was 9 or 10 at Ramsgate, and then it was in a single big rock pool - amazing but not at all the experience of being in a big bay and being free to move from sandy bits to shallow coral to deep coral. And the fish! We saw hundreds and felt as if every one was a different species. They ranged from a tiny little stripy remora about an inch long to the giant kingfish (which are a lot less scary when you're in their element - and look quite kindly at you instead of stupidly) but with most in the 6" to 12" range I suppose. And so beautiful! Even the "ordinary" little silver ones are like beautiful jewellery in their own space, and the parrotfish and their various glittering relations are indescribable. And they appear quite unafraid. Some come close to check you out and then swim placidly on, others just cock an interested eye and ignore you as you pass over.
Something that's quite nice is that they all fit in with the rhythm of the waves going in and out, and swim when the water is drawing them the way they want to go, and just hold when it's going the other way - and you can learn to do the same thing. It's like breathing - or perhaps being part of some big breathing creature.
As well as the fish, we saw some other amazing things - the coral and the seaweed go without saying, of course - some literally fluorescent - but also HUGE anemones and urchins - the latter the size of soccer balls (although it is hard to judge with the magnification of the mask.) A huge sea-slug about 18" long worming its way across a sandy bottom. A big blue-lipped clam with a wonderful wavy blue edge. A scorpion-fish (although it's not called that here) hanging on a coral-encrusted rock looking just like a fancy piece of stripy seaweed. A big starfish. Two little silver fish courting or building a nest or something that involved a lot of lying on their sides and looking lasciviously at one another. It was a wonderful experience and one I am particularly glad to have had. It almost made me want to go up to the Great Barrier Reef.
G:
Well, the whole experience was amazing, even from my blurred perspective, the coral was amazing, and the diversity of the fish life incredible. Wherever we looked there was something new. We seemed to see all the fish on the board from parrot fish to the firecracker that Mandi thought was a scorpion fish. We drifted up the shore and mingled with all the Kingfish that are hanging about for their next feed. They are so graceful and completely unafraid. It was wonderful! After over an hour we started to get cold so got out and stripped off the blubber. Mandi had cut her elbow on the coral and it was bleeding quite freely and got all over her T-shirt.
M:
I had cut my elbow on coral quite early on (thinking it was just a bump until Gray pointed it out) and dripped blood fairly dramatically on the hut floor afterwards - luckily there were no sharks out!! I reckon it'll be fine as it happened in nice clean salt water and bled freely which should have got rid of anything in the cut but Gray says gloomily that cuts in seawater always go vrot so we'll see.
G:
We then waded back in to feed the Kingfish with our bread. We were less apprehensive, but were still inclined to feed by throwing. With our last two slices, we moved up to the end of the beach, where we soon had a school of the little silver/brown fish wriggling about our feet, with three of the day-glo parrot fish making shy sorties in for food.
While we were snorkelling it had rained, so we were worried that our washing would get even wetter. It was drizzling when we got back to Ebbtide, so we stripped the line and draped the clothes all over our place.
M:
While we were swimming we were surprised to discover that it was raining. It had been such a bright morning. So we went back in a bit of a hurry hoping to get our washing, which had actually been almost dry when we set out at 8am, before it was soaked again. I don't think the rain can have reached the top of the headland because it didn't feel much wetter. But we took it in and draped it all over the place and immediately the sun came out beautifully. But we've left it indoors if only to guarantee sunny weather!!
After showers and breakfast, we set off for a walk, stopping at Thompson's for three very expensive pocket packs of tissues - I could have bought a whole box for the same price (had I been willing to lug it about) and the tissues are really nasty and rough - I'd have done better to have brought a roll of not-very-good quality toilet paper! However.
G:
Fixed Mandi's elbow which had, at last, stopped bleeding and then headed down to the end of the island to do some walking. We were going to walk over the headland to North beach. Unfortunately, Mandi wasn't up to the climb - about 100m to the ridge, and the same back down to the beach. We stopped about half way up and agreed that if there were less than 100 steps left then she would continue. I climbed the 260 steps up, then went back to tell her that she would never make it. She went back and I climbed up again, stopping on the way to feed a curious Currawong with bits of apple.
M:
We were aiming to climb Mt Eliza because I really want to see some birds. It's past Milky Way where we ate last night (itself right at the end of one of the island roads) and starts out between a cow paddock and a pretty beach but soon passes into a very steep and rather slippery forest with endless steps. I got partway up but chickened out when I realized I'd have to keep going up, then go down to sea-level again, then all the way up even steeper - and then the whole thing in reverse!! I do so wish I didn't detest hill-climbing so much - either that or I wish Australians would learn about contour paths!!
So I came (sloooowly - very slippery!) down while Gray went on - in the event he never went up Mt Eliza either as he said the up and down to North Beach with the prospect of the return bout was as much as his knees could take. But I came down and found a nice bench with a good view of the jetty as there was some talk of the supply ship coming in on the 2pm high tide and I had been hoping to watch the activities. There was a bakkie with a family of anglers on the jetty, and a rubber ducky with four young surfers came in, but that was all the excitement.
G:
The path down the other side was even steeper, so I was grateful that she hadn't tried to make it. I came out on a pretty beach in a secluded bay. Walked to the end and back looking at pebbles and flotsam before considering going to the gulch. The path seemed to set out through a swamp, so I decided to give it a miss. Mt Elisa looked like hard work, so I set out to rejoin Mandi. Met last night's people at the picnic place. Chatted briefly, then set out. I pushed it back to the top of the hill in 13 minutes and was back at Settlement Beach in under 25. Found Mandi sitting on a bench next to the jetty hoping that the boat will come in - but it didn't.
M:
At about 2:15, just as I was ready to move on, Gray arrived and we went and bought some supplies and the inevitable ice creams from Thompson's before wending our way home for tea. We did call Jen from a callbox on the way.
G:
We made our way home via Thompson's store where we got some meat and potatoes for supper. Ate our ice creams as we walked up to the call box where we phoned Jennie. She is packing to move into their place, and is rather excited. Apparently Jo bought them a bed.
Mandi and I spent the afternoon and evening reading quietly.
M:
In the end we snacked all afternoon and just had cheese and biks for supper.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202220/tpod.html Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:32:15 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Wednesday 4 July 2007
G:
Spent a couple of hours between 2am and 4am awake. There is no door to the living room so I couldn't even read - just sat up in bed trying not to cough.
When we both woke at 7am, Mandi had a very sore throat and has decided to stay quiet for the day.
M:
Woke up this morning feeling shocking - I had been so sure I was only going to get the outskirts of Gray's cold but maybe not. Or maybe it was Young Wilson on yesterday's plane. Anyway I decided I'd take an Istanbul day if I could persuade Gray to go out and do something and not hang around me. So he first went down to Ned's Beach hoping to feed fish but couldn't find the feeding place and also said the beach was full of SES volunteers picking up jetsam after the storm that he felt bad about chucking more stuff into the sea! Then he went to chat to Julie about dinner and has booked tonight at the very nearby Chinese (little walking for me) and tomorrow, our anniversary, at somewhere recommended - I've forgotten the name. And then he set off to book some tours etc at the Visitors' Centre and for a walk.
Meanwhile I have sat here very peacefully and drank tea and watched little skoffelling quaily birds and had a visit from someone called Joy offering glass-bottomed boat rides.
G:
I put on my new slops and took the windy path from the bottom of Ebb Tide down to Ned's beach. From the path there were glimpses of a jagged headland with those terrible rocks. The path comes out onto the manicured lawn above a pristine and apparently deserted beach of white sand. I then noticed a truck and some people. Kicked off my shoes and walked the other way down the beach, looking at the little lumps of coral that dot the tide line.
When I came back, I found the SES picking up rubbish that had been deposited after the storm. I also found that the honesty system allows you to hire wet suits and snorkel gear. Walked home through the woods again, stopping to take a photo of a pretty red breasted bird that isn't in the book and then of a Rail with two black ball-of-fluff babies.
Got instructions from Mandi, then went to the office to get Emma to book us places to eat, then I got my rucksack together and went out for a walk. Went down to the visitors centre, and at the bottom of the steep bit got chatting to an old Danish lady who has been on the island for 18 months and is going tomorrow. She was going to have her hair cut.
I tried to book things at the visitors centre, but didn't know our cottage number at Ebb Tide so the lady wasn't very forth coming. I then walked down lagoon road toward the airstrip stopping to browse through a small cemetery. They didn't die young here 100 years ago - obviously the climate was as good then as it is now.
Stopped to watch a light plane take off which was fun as there were guys across from each other about half way down the runway, monitoring the takeoff, I wonder why?
Tried to take photos of kingfisher type birds on the fence, but they were just too shy.
I then took the path up to Blinky beach, then up the stiff 121m climb to the top of Transit Hill. It was a stiff 500m and took 10 minutes.
Joined a New Zealand couple on the lookout, and what a spectacular lookout it was, with panoramic views all around the island. After 20 minutes enjoying the view I carried on in the same direction for another 700m back down to Lagoon road. This section appeared to be both steeper and longer than the approach, so I don't know. I stopped to chat briefly to some people on their way up. They were a gregarious Irishman from Seattle and his partner as well as a couple of Sydneysiders.
Went the long way home via the post office, and got in at midday. I think I overdid it as I coughed a lot all afternoon.
Mandi says that she is feeling better with a quiet morning. Though, during the afternoon she started to get feverish and complained of being cold.
Sometime during the afternoon we had a visit from Emma to say that she couldn't get some of our dinner bookings, so we made alternative arrangements. Dozed and read the afternoon away as the wind picked up and the cloud came down. During the early evening I went over to the Top Shop where I bought some steak and veggies for our supper.
M, Later:
and that's pretty much all that happened. Gray came back from his walk and we had lunch then spent the afternoon reading or sleeping - it got a bit cold and windy and I started running a fever which made me feel even colder. We had booked the nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner solely because it was nearby but Emma came by (very noisily, waking us both up) saying actually it was closed on Wednesdays. So first Gray said he'd fetch takeaways but then we thought it would be easier to go to Top Shop in the light and buy something to make dinner at home. He got very good steak and a Diane sauce to which he added mushrooms - it was excellent.
G:
Had to get Mandi some extra blankets and turn the heater on as she is still cold - poor thing.
Made dinner, boiled potatoes, broccoli and excellent scotch fillet with a Dianne and mushroom sauce. It was pretty good. Had one incident where the smoke from the cooking meat triggered the smoke alarm, so I had to climb up on a chair and beat the thing until it stopped making a racket.
After dinner I went next door and phoned Jennie who has made sure that Sarah is looking after the house. She and Ben have probably got a place on President - which is good. Was reluctant to go to bed because I knew that I would start to cough, but I did and took my trusty pack of XXX mints along.
Mandi had warmed up by now, so we could keep the room a little cooler.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1207202520/tpod.html Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:02:22 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Tuesday 3 July 2007
G:
We had organised to have Stephen collect us, so there was no panic. Terminal 2 was quite empty so we got through in no time, and had an hour to kill, so we had a Subway and a Boost juice for breakfast.
M:
We were pretty much packed by the time we woke, and Stephen was booked for 9:45 so we pottered about until then. Easy run through to the airport and then the only worry was that our flight wasn't on the departure board. But we found it, and the teeny tiny check-in counter waaay over in a corner. The very nice girl made us feel very guilty about our 14.4kg and 16kg bags saying that the 14kg limit was because the aircraft can't refuel on Lord Howe Island so if they burn extra fuel on the way out, they'll run out on the way back. But she looked at our carry-ons (which we tried to make look as light as possible - luckily she didn't weigh them as mine was definitely over the 4kg limit and I was wearing (sweatily) my thick Aran jersey and my heavy Gore-Tex jacket and carrying both camera and purse full of change for phones - and let us through.
We stood in a looong (but quite quick) queue for Subways and then a much shorter one for BoostJoos - the latter with a very perky girl who called us "sweetheart" and "beautiful" and asked - and remembered later! - where we were going - and then found some seats overlooking the tarmac to eat our breakfast.
Twenty minutes before our flight we wandered off to buy some magazines - my airport indulgence - and sunnies and then down to gate 49 where the other thirty passengers were assembling. Our seats - row 9 - were in the last row which went right across like the back of a bus although the middle one of the five was marked "crew only" and even so wasn't used by the single hostie (I think she must've taken off and landed in the cockpit as there was no-where else) so Gray had an empty seat beside him. The other two were occupied by a young mum and a very cross toddler called Wilson. Wilson alternated between coughing copiously, howling when strapped in (despite a system that I haven't seen before whereby the child is actually belted onto the Mom's lap) and scrambling all over Gray, which he took with good grace. He even read to the child from his own book and from the Qantas magazine. The mum didn't seem to have anything at all to amuse the child and only a crappy gossip magazine for herself.
G:
We were eventually called to walk out to the Dash. We were in the 9th row, right at the back. It was like a bench seat at the back of a bus. Unfortunately there was a mother and toddler on the other side, so I spent quite a bit of the 700km flight entertaining the child - who also had a bad cough.
We flew into cloud, but it cleared for the approach, and what a beautiful sight it was, all bush-clad with the two peaks towering nearly vertical out of the one side. The middle has some buildings and the airfield that runs diagonally right across the waist. We went once around before aligning to come in from the eastern side.
M:
Of course there's little to see on the trip and because the island's so small you are quite low (and starting to worry about that extra 3kg of luggage) before you even catch a glimpse of it. But spectacular isn't the word! The mountains are higher and steeper than I had thought, everything is covered with forest and the beaches and water are the colours of postcards. We were lucky that the plane needed to land from the far side of the airstrip (which is only as long as the width of the island at its narrowest part, where it's flat) so it did a long lazy clockwise loop (we were on the right side) giving us a magnificent view.
G:
The plane had to break sharpish so as not to fall off the other end.
M:
The airport has to have the best setting in the world, all surrounded by palmy jungle and with the mountains in the background. At the entrance to the waiting area - just a couple of sunny benches - we were greeted by a woman who asked where we were staying and then pointed us in the direction of Emma. She was dropping off her husband onto the return flight (going to the mainland to see the dentist - puts idyllic island life into perspective!) so we wandered around to the side of the airport to wait for the luggage cart - same as in Dunhuang only a lot more picturesque! - until she was ready.
G:
Our hostess, Emma, was at the airport to pick us up and to send her husband off for some dental work. She has tendon problems in her left wrist so was battling to change gear. Not that it is an issue with 25kph streets. The first thing that struck us was how clean everything is. It is either forest or mowed lawn. Emma drove us around a bit on the way to our cottage so that we could get our bearings before taking us up to our cottage which looks light and comfortable.
M:
She drove us to Ebbtide via a roundabout way, pointing out the "big" supermarket, called Joy's, Ned's Beach which is very near Ebbtide and is the place where one can hand-feed the fish (up to 35kg apparently!) and "the town" which consists of the Museum / Visitors' Centre (closes at 3pm), the Post Office which also doubles as the Bank, the "Hall" which was advertising the next event as "Seniors' morning tea to meet new babies" - isn't that charming? - and a café called by the delightful name of Humpty Mick's - I don't think they know what that means in South Africa!! Oh, and Thompson's General Dealer.
Our cottage is very nice with a lovely stoep with a view of the sea (I think it would be hard to site a place here without a sea view!) and a reasonable bed. And you can hear the sound of the sea and the wind in the palms everywhere. The living room / kitchen is a little sparse - no problem at all as long as the weather holds but may be a bit awkward if we have rainy days and are cooped up side by side on the two-seater sofa! Lots of lovely wood - floors and bench tops etc - and good lighting which is always a plus. We were also shown the "Library" which is part of our cottage's building and contains an "honesty" bar and the famous card phone as well as piles of flippers and wetsuits and slops and anything else you might need to borrow - as well as books, of course! There is also a vegetable and herb garden (not a lot in it after a recent storm) from which we can help ourselves - and a big basket of rather overripe bananas and avos from the garden on our dining table.
G:
We unpacked and then went out for a walk. The temperature is just about perfect with a light breeze to stir the palm leaves.
M:
As soon as we had unpacked, we set off for an orientation walk. Emma had offered to stop at Joy's for us to pick up groceries but when we heard it was only 15 minutes walk from Ebbtide we said we'd walk it. Probably not the best decision as groceries are heavy and the 15 minutes is up and over the spine of the island but anyway. First stop was Top Shop which was closed - we knew that, having been told the opening hours were 10 - 12:30 and 4:30 - 5:30 - nice work if you can get it! - but it's our closest food shop (and is famous for home-made sausages) so we thought we'd find where it was. It looks like someone's shed! We then wandered on past Palm Sugar café (which is closed for the winter but had been panned in the very comprehensive blog I had found so we weren't interested anyway) into a very poo-ey cow paddock right on some magnificent cliffs where we discovered the first of many picnic tables right on the cliff under a magnificent lone Norfolk pine - what a place for a picnic! (Despite the poo!)
G:
Did some shopping, I got some sandals to walk on the sharp rocks, and sharp they are. The volcanic ash erodes down to needle sharp and jagged outcrops that come in layers.
Because we didn't yet have a map, we weren't quite sure where to go. Passed a large pair of towers about 30m high supporting a dipole which is a navigation beacon, also a couple of big satellite dishes which must be the telecom links.
M:
Then we set off back in the direction of "town" in order to buy a torch, something we had both thought of bringing and both thought "oh what the hell!" but of course will be essential if we are to get to dinner and back after dark. This we got at Thompson's which is a typical small-town General Dealer, selling slip-slops (which Gray needed, having finally worn out his Trennery's pair, only 18 or so years old!) and torches and fishing tackle and film and ice creams and groceries and antipasto (well maybe that's not so typical!) and paint and shell artefacts and T-shirts and hamburgers and hat-pins... So we had a lovely skoffel and a nice chat to the owner who knew all sorts of tricks to make Gray's recalcitrant credit card read properly, the successful one (which she says the banks hate because of the residue it leaves) being a piece of sticky tape over the magnetic strip. And two very good ice creams.
We went to the end of the shops and admired the lovely beach - everything looks straight off the set of "Castaway" - and turned in the direction we thought would take us back towards the airstrip but in fact it petered out at the start of what we now know is a walking track that we will do at some stage. When we thought about it we realized we'd turned the wrong way at the shops so we retraced our steps and eventually found Joy's. This is much more of a supermarket than Thompson's but stills stocks all sorts of interesting other things such as a teeny tiny little field guide to the birds of Lord Howe Island and a gorgeous photocopied A4 newspaper carrying exciting news such as the exact rainfall during various peak periods of the recent storm (front page, along with the news that QantasLink will keep the contract for Lord Howe Island for the next five years because no-one else tendered) and the holiday plans of the local doctor who has just gone on long-service leave for ten weeks.
The walk back was rather arduous especially for poor Gray as it was very steep and we are both very short of lung capacity thanks to our colds. And we got lost again. But eventually we got back safe and sound.
Next job was to phone home which was a real chore as the card phone didn't take the sort of cards I had bought with such effort. It would seem that there are cards which you put into phones and other cards which give you a PIN to enter - I had bought the former and needed the latter. After listening to various Telstra help lines I realized my problem and went over to find Julie making hamburgers or something that meant her hands were covered in sticky crumbs but by pointing to the relevant drawers she was able to sell me a phone card of the sort I needed. No-one was home but I had a very disjointed conversation with Sarah outside movies, and asked her to let Jennie know we are alright.
G:
Spent an hour on our veranda drinking wine and watching the sun set before setting out to the village to find that most unfortunately named Humpty Mick's for supper. It was very romantic hand in hand down the darkening and empty streets with spectacular stars visible where the canopy opened.
M:
A glass of wine on our nice stoep and before it got too dark we set off to have our dinner at Humpty Mick's. It seemed as if we just walked straight down the road and suddenly we were there although we must have turned without realizing it because we got very lost on the way back and had to interrupt a nice bloke's dinner to ask directions. It was lovely walking in the dark. On the way down there was just enough light in the sky that we could see the opening in the trees over the road and as the road is tarred and safe to walk down the middle of, you don't need to be able to see your feet. Also there are mini streetlights at the electricity junction boxes - about every 200m - so in a really dark environment that's often enough to at least give you a clue as to which way the road is going. The way back was harder to start with as we had been in the brightly-lit café so our eyes took a while to adjust and so that would have contributed to our getting lost, but we could actually see the gap in the trees by means of the brilliant star-light. It was breathtaking (in more ways than one because Ebbtide is very high on the island!)
Dinner (despite the name) was good. They didn't have their full menu on offer but they did have pizzas and warned us that we should probably share one which was good advice as we were too full for dessert after half a pizza! It was a seafoody one with a pesto base - sounds odd but very nice. You could have cut the calamari with a fork. Run by two nice youngsters - I don't think a couple but maybe - Pommy girl front-of-house and Aussie bloke in the kitchen who came out to check we were happy with the pizza.
G:
We had a pleasant pizza that we shared before setting out for home, now in the pitch dark. Emma had dropped off a lantern and we had bought a torch, so it should have been easy. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up having to go into one of the lighted houses and ask for directions.
Mandi was hot and quite flustered when we got in, so she either had too much to drink (which I know she didn't), or she is getting sick.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1184048640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1184048640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1184048640/tpod.html Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:25:51 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Tuesday 10 July 2007
G:
I spent some time awake with a problem with my tummy - as bloody usual. I am not sure whether it had to do with the wine and beer I drank, or the stream water, or even the curry sausages. Anyway, whatever it was, I didn't feel too well and decided to skip breakfast.
M:
The muti I took last night did absolutely nothing and I still coughed and coughed. I was woken early by the distinctive squawk of a Woodhen - apparently standing under our cottage and yelling. Eventually I took pity and went out and threw bread for it. It's funny that we didn't see any for the first six days and now this one won't leave us alone!
G:
After we woke, we walked down to Ned's beach where we fed the fish with our remaining bread and the airline food we had removed from the plane a week ago - they didn't seem to mind. We then walked the length of the beach in quiet farewell.
M:
After some minimal housekeeping such as stripping the bed, we took all our left-overs down to the kingfish and had a last lovely stroll down the beach trying to get photos of waves breaking.
Back up to the cottage to shower and do a few more bits and pieces of packing and cleaning - just as well, really, as it turned out.
By 9:20, as instructed, we were out on the corner awaiting our tour bus. As I suspected, they had told us 9:20 so that we would actually be there when they arrived to collect us at 9:25 but of course I had chivvied Gray into being up at the corner before 9:20 and the six or seven minutes wait was enough to convince me I'd got the arrangement wrong. So I was quite pleased see the bus, which was about a 14-seater and very comfortable. The guide was called Rob or Rod (Gray says Rob) and was a fifth-generation islander and, like all islanders we've met, passionate about the island and about maintaining it in its current pristine state - and very proud of what they have achieved in that direction already. And very knowledgeable too.
I didn't think there was enough road on the island to occupy two and a half hours of driving about, even at 25 kph, but in fact we only got back to Ebbtide at about 12:50 so it was just as well we'd done the bits and pieces we had!
G:
We were ready for Whitfield's tours who collected us from the top of the drive. The guide cum driver, Rob, was both knowledgeable and entertaining, so we had a great couple of hours seeing some of the places that we had already visited and getting the insider gen on some of the other bits. We learned that the generators use 17 000 litres of diesel every two weeks running WWII vintage engines and generators, and were shown the site near the airfield for the wind turbines that are causing some controversy, but should generate about 70% of the islands power. We drove through the tip which has a massive composter that processes all of the Island's organic waste. They are also starting to crush glass to use as aggregate for the roads. The remaining materials are either burned or compacted and shipped off the island at $300 per cubic metre. We drove past Capella Lodge which was acquired by the Dick Smith family for $4m, which by Sydney prices is a bargain. I believe it can cost up to $1000 per day to stay there. I think that is where Mike Hood stayed for his anniversary.
We found out that the captain of the British warship that hit Wolf Rock in broad daylight was cleared of all charges, but in the end his career was ruined anyway and he ended up running a news agency in Germany. Rob tells us that he was also the first mate of the Sheffield that was hit by an Exocet in the Falklands, so his life has not been easy.
M:
He took us all around and showed us all the things that us old island hands now know all about, such as Joy's and the Top Shop, but gave us a lot of history and background with them, which was very interesting. It was nice having access to a knowledgeable islander to be able to ask questions. Mostly we knew the roads and places by now, but he also took us south of the airstrip to his boss' house up behind the golf course - almost at the end of the road - where there was a most beautiful long table made out of a slab of Norfolk Pine (which we now know is a dreadful weed on Lord Howe Island because it changes the pH of the soil and crowds out the native vegetation but they can't declare it a "noxious weed" or the Lord Howe Island Board - ie the local Council would be obliged to exterminate it immediately and of course there are just too many and the Board has too many other calls on its time and resources) at which we could all sit and have a cup of tea and a piece of very nice coconutty cake and a chat. There was a nice Canadian couple on teacher exchange, and a family from Robertson in the Southern Highlands with a slightly weird younger son - I think maybe a little "slow", and two older couples, one with a grand-daughter, not one of whom said a word all tour.
G:
We then had tea on the veranda of one of the lovely old island houses, after which Rob gave us a demonstration of climbing a Kentia palm using a canvas strap between his feet.
I had a go, but really couldn't get the strap to jam. By this time we were running half an hour late, so were concerned with having enough time to pack.
M:
After tea he took us as far south as the road goes - which of course we hadn't seen - and to show us how to climb a Kentia palm using a strap around your feet which is one of those things that looks remarkably easy and great fun until you actually try it yourself (Gray did, I didn't!) and make a complete ass of yourself. The last port of call was the "refuse recycling plant" (ie tip) which was almost one of the most interesting places and should be compulsory viewing for all new arrivals because it really brought home how difficult it is for a small and isolated community to deal with garbage - it costs $300 per cubic metre to ship it off the island so obviously whatever they can deal with themselves, they do. They have a very impressive composter for all food waste - and garden waste etc as well of course - and have recently started keeping their glass which they will buy a proper crusher for and then use to surface their roads and the runway - at present a huge expense. As Rob said, it'll give a whole new meaning to "one for the road!"
As I said, we were back at Ebbtide by 12:50 and were to be picked up at 1:20 so it was a bit rushed. But we were ready in loads of time and had 5 minutes to sit on our stoep with our packed bags and feel sad to be leaving. Julie took us to the airstrip where we and our hand-luggage and our big bags all had to be weighed - luckily the weigher just writes it down discretely and doesn't yell it out to the assembled crowds! Although he very gallantly told me I'd "lost a couple" and Gray that he had put them on!! He was the same bloke who waves the ping-pong bats at the taxiing planes and loads and unloads the baggage - and probably runs a B&B, a fishing charter and a Kentia nursery besides if he's typical of everyone else we've met here.
G:
Of course, it only took five minutes, so we were waiting for Julie when she picked us up to take us to the airport. We were really sorry to leave, and sat watching the sheets of rain sweeping the runway while the poor guy was trying to load our luggage. However, as with all island weather, the sun was shining as we climbed aboard.
M:
Then an hour enjoying the most pleasant airport wait ever - sitting on a bench chatting to Julie (who was waiting for her next visitors) in the sun, and the rain, and the sun again, admiring the rainbow over the mountains, watching the plane land and staring enviously at the new arrivals who were all wearing silly Sydney clothes and didn't know how fortunate they were, and watching the airport official unloading and loading the plane - including the airmail and a plastic bag of Kentias! How civilized! And how sad to be going.
G:
The trip home was quiet with the only highlight being a circuit over Sydney as we lined up for the approach. I suppose it is good to at least come back to a beautiful city.
Stephen was waiting for us, which is a joy even though $50 seems pretty steep compared to about the same price for a boat trip around the island.
Sarah and Mike and the dog and cat were waiting for us as we got home. The house was a pigsty but otherwise everything was fine. Michael got our disease on Sunday, so was still feeling like shit. He and Sarah collected Thai, and then the poor boy was sent out to Coles twice at Sarah's whim!
I was tired and didn't want to start with the long business of going through my emails, so went to bed while Mandi showed Mike and Sarah our pictures.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183962000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183962000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183962000/tpod.html Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:23:58 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Monday 9 July 2007
M:
Had a shocking night - just coughed and coughed and coughed - and not even proper coughing that you feel you're doing because of some ghastliness in your lungs - this was just a tiny tickle and "if I just have one small cough, that'll clear it!" and then just another tiny tickle... What made it worse was that I knew I could fix the tiny tickle if I blew my nose but that involved leaning up on my cut elbow and was just painful enough to wake me thoroughly. Sigh. Eventually I had to sit up for the time it took me to suck a nasty cough lozenge, playing solitaire as the least disturbing for Gray who had been woken by my antics.
G:
Mandi coughed all night, so didn't get too much sleep, and neither did the rest of us, though we had to pretend to be asleep so she wouldn't get cross. It rained on and off most of the night, but when we got up, the weather looked good.
M:
Anyway, we woke to a lovely morning and were just having a cup of coffee to get ourselves going when we heard an odd and very loud birdcall from just under our deck. "Probably a bloody Woodhen at last!" I sighed - we've been searching all over for the damn things - and sure enough, that's what it was!! It was an unusual call, obviously designed to be very carrying, and a dear little unassuming bird but I'm glad I hadn't swum the Sahara or something to see it! It pottered about and stuck its beak into things as laid down in the Field Guide "Rules for Woodhens" but that was that. Anyway, at least that's one Lord Howe Island creature I can cross off my life list.
G:
As we were sitting we heard this strange bird cry that ended with a hiccup like the Capercailey out of Attenborough. This bird too, must be using infrasound. As expected, it was a small russet bird with a big beak - the wood hen. Mandi spent some time trying to get good pictures of it, and I recorded its cry on my palm, for later analysis, though I doubt that the thing has the bandwidth.
M:
Then we went down to Ned's with all the snorkelling pakkerasie - just forgot the poor old kingfishes' bread!! And after eating their brother last night too - talk about adding insult to injury!
I had miscalculated the low tide and was expecting to be too late but as it happened we were there almost spot on low tide in perfect still conditions - although not so still that I could put my flippers on in the shallows with any degree of dignity! I had said something on the way down that maybe we shouldn't do it a second time as perhaps it would be disappointing after the wonderful first experience but if anything it was better. One didn't feel obliged to thrash about and see everything but instead was content to just float where the waves took one and watch all the busy fish going about their business. They are actually much more interesting to watch than birds because they are quite unafraid of people. Some are a little curious and look at you beadily, and today one species was feeling its oats and kept trying to shoo us away, but everyone else just got on with their regular Monday morning chores - which seem to mostly consist of just floating around looking at one another. Nice life.
G:
After coffee we collected the snorkel gear and headed down to Ned's beach. We were there at exactly the right time, again. So, once we had managed to pull on the wetsuits, and flop about in the waves getting our flippers on, we were out in the coral again. Possibly because we were more relaxed, we seemed to see so much more today. Well, Mandi did, anyway, I mostly saw a blur, but there were clown fish frolicking in the anemones, and a pretty blue lipped clam that Mandi pointed out. It was actually rather frustrating because you know this world is out there, and yet it cannot be reached. I swam around for an hour, then got out because I was too cold and also needed to pee. Watched Mandi to make sure she wasn't eaten by the Kraken, until she had had enough. Took some photos of her as proof for the kids as she came out, though I was sorry that I didn't get any of her floundering on her back trying to get her flippers off.
M:
Some highlights: a fancy-schmantzy clam with decorative spots on its blue lips, that I finally managed to show Gray; (I keep seeing them when he's some distance away and by the time I've yelled and choked on the seawater I swallowed while yelling and yelled again and he's swum over, I've drifted off and can't find the bloody thing again!) some little stripy fish, camouflaged as seaweed, hoovering sand in their mouths and shooting it out of their gills (not such a nice life after all!) a teeny tiny vivid white-black-fluoro-green fish that would have been the smartest thing in one of the girls' tanks if it was there and not the smallest creature in a vast sea of fantastic things; and best of all, a rock covered entirely with sea anemones and the very doggy little black and white endemic clown fish looking as if they were actually anting on the anemones - lying there as if they were enjoying being tickled.
Gray came out before I did because he got cold. Not long afterwards, the sun came out and made fantastic patterns on the sandy bottom and made all the corals' colours even richer and more intense but by then I was starting to get cold too, and desperate to pee, so I had to drag myself out, kicking and screaming shamefully. It's an odd thing - we've both noticed that after an hour or so in the salt water, we are desperate to pee, and produce gallons - really! - and then are desperately thirsty afterwards. I suppose it may be something to do with the salt balance.
G:
When we had watched our fill of everyone feeding the Kingfish, and some amazing blue variety that we didn't see before, we wandered back to our cottage where we arrived just before the rain.
M:
We sat in the sun watching the kingfish being fed (and being told they adore lettuce, which seems odd) and then went back for a shower - bliss! By now it was drizzling - so much for the early sunshine! We found a note saying there was a round-the-island tour on at 1pm so we scrapped the walking plans and instead cooked and ate our sausages and onions and then pottered down to the jetty in the rain, speculating whether the change in weather since the note was left would cause the tour to be cancelled again.
On our way through to the Jetty, we stopped at Thompson's (as one must) and bought more tissues and elastoplasts and booked a bus tour for tomorrow which is probably a good way of spending our last morning as we won't want to be walking - at least not far - in case we aren't back in time for the plane.
G:
There was a note on our floor to say that the Greenback was going round the island and to meet at the jetty at 12:50. We had curry sausages and fried onion for lunch before walking down to the village in the gentle rain. The Greenback was just back at the jetty after a fishing trip, and the skipper, Dave needed to go out again, so the trip was postponed until 1:30. This was a pain as we didn't want to eat, so felt bad hanging about at Humpty Mick's, bet there wasn't anywhere else out of the rain except the entrance to the post office. This proved to be quite entertaining as ten pallet sized Australia Post boxes arrived and were opened. A human chain was organized to convey the contents into the store room at the side of the post office.
M:
The big vessel was still at the Jetty, now starting to unload the big diesel containers, and so was the "Greenback" with a very nice bloke called Dave aboard. He said the wind had picked up but he could still do some of the tour including the waterfalls on the mountains, which sounded brilliant, but that we'd be starting at 1:30. So we came back to "town" and are sitting out of the rain on the stoep of the Post Office watching ten huge boxes of parcels being unloaded by a "chain" of all the Post Office and ferry people. It's quite sweet as they're commenting on everyone's parcels: "more wine for Kerryn!" or "that'll be George's mum's fruitcake!" or "more food for that stupid dog of Fred's - I thought it had finally died the other night but then it woke up and started barking again!"
Later: at 1:20 we gave up watching the parcels and went back down to the Jetty where things were almost bustling - certainly there were two forklifts busy and a huge load of timber dropped all over the nice grassy park area and lots of bags and boxes and barrels all standing about waiting to be on- or off-loaded. Huddled in the little shed area were five morose people who were all waiting to get on the "Greenback" for the round-the-island tour. Glynis, Dave's wife (who had left the note for us) came and explained what Dave had already told us, that it was too rough to go right around the island but he'd go as far as he could and charge pro-rata. But he was still cleaning the boat after a fishing trip and would be a few more minutes. If you can believe it, some of the people asked if they could go and get something to eat! Luckily the answer was no, sorry, Dave wants to leave before the conditions deteriorate.
G:
By the time it was time to wander back to the jetty, it had almost stopped raining.
There was a full complement of seven waiting to go out on Greenback, and we were told that because it was pretty choppy, that we would stick to this side, and motor down the lagoon and then round the base of Mt Gower to see the waterfalls before returning. Mandi and I rode in the bows, and how exhilarating that was as we raced across the bay ploughing through the waves. Everyone else stayed in the cabin except for a nerdy man from CSIRO with his SLR - until it got spray on the lens, then he went inside as well.
M:
So off we went. Dave offered us the cabin "to put down anything you want to keep dry" (it was still spitting with rain at that point but didn't rain again) and told us we could go anywhere outside so Gray and I dumped our bags and pushed greedily to the "Jack I'm flying!" position in front but a group of two well-coiffed women and a man lurked inside the whole time, teetering out to snap off a pic or two only when the boat was idling in calm waters and then scampering back. The other two, both men and both serious photographers (although neither would wax lyrical about his dSLR - it's an odd thing that old film SLR users would go on and on and on about "Minolta is the only manufacturer for this or that reason" or "Canon is of course what the professionals use" or whatever, and dSLR people say "yeah, I'm happy with it." These people didn't even talk megapixels to me - not that one wants that, as one can get it from the technical specs - but what I really want is someone who will say "the Aperture mode doesn't work as it should but at least it fires half a second after you get the lens cap off") mostly lurked inside too, or huddled at the back. One would occasionally venture for'ard (such nautical terminology again!) and cling to the railing or sit on the benchy effort where he would have had the railing going through the middle of every shot - and of course would have conniptions every time a bit of spray came near his fancy camera. So in reality, Gray and I had the best part of the boat to ourselves. It was excellent. Parts were quite rough but as long as you kept one hand on some sort of hand-hold and your eyes on the waves so you could predict whether you were going to go up or down next, it was nothing at all to worry about. And at last we've both finally had some decent use out of our expensive Gore-Tex jackets which we bought for the freezing steppes of Central Asia (ie Turkey) and then dragged around for a month while we wore T-shirts. Gray was wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, and his jacket only comes to his waist and is just a single layer of Gore-Tex so I'm sure he must have been cold although he claims not; I had long pants and a light jumper and my lined and thigh-length jacket and still wished I had a beanie and gloves at times! But not seriously. I was impressed by what a good job my jacket did at keeping me warm and dry.
G:
The base of Mt Gower is incredible, with the waterfalls cascading the full 800m down the near-vertical face and masses of frigate birds and other gulls just flying about for the hell of it. The sea is a completely different colour, a dark lilac, almost violet. It was here that I ran out of space on my card, so during a quiet time had to delete all Jennies fashion photos. This isn't a problem as Mandi had downloaded them already.
M:
We went anti-clockwise (that's probably also got some special nautical term like widdershins) and when we got around the mountains to the Eastern side it was so (relatively) calm that Dave said we'd go the whole way around after all although the last bit past Mt Eliza would be very rough. It was just amazing - those mountains are HUGE and because of the rain, covered with a veil of waterfalls - some appearing to fall 300m straight down into the sea. There are huge "bites" out of the sides of the mountains where bits were blown out by the volcano or just got too steep and simply slumped away. You can see all the intricate network of volcanic pipes and dykes now frozen into the rock. And above it all, thousands of seabirds playing in the wind - what it must be like when all the summer residents are here, I can't imagine because at present there are only the permanent residents like the Providence Petrel and the Masked Booby.
The light, especially around the dramatic Eastern side, was just remarkable - magnificent skies and shafts of light on the mountain. Far across the sea, Balls Pyramid was lit up truly like a fairy castle - if someone had put it in "Lord of the Rings'', you'd have thought it was just too over-the-top.
G:
The light was perfect, and we could see Balls Pyramid glowing in the distance as we rounded the end of the island. From this perspective it was also possible to see that Mt Gower is a sliver not a cylinder, almost the same shape as Mt Lydgbird. They were both spectacular from this perspective. We then stopped at Boat Harbour, and went past Mutton Bird Point. Dave asked us to come to the back as it was going to get rough as we motored out to the Admiralty Islets, to see the massive hole, before returning to run along the cliffs below Malabar and Kim's Lookout where lava intrusions through layers of ash were clearly visible. Mandi was having lots of fun trying to get covered with spray, but I stayed comfortable and dry on a large fish-box in the middle. Slowed at the old Gulch and saw someone fishing on the way to the 'pilchard' pools. All too soon we were back around the point and entering the lagoon. It had been a brilliant trip!
M:
We also went around the Admiralty Islets and saw the "key hole" one can just see from Ned's, and came eventually triumphantly back to the Jetty. It was a great afternoon.
Yesterday I could easily say that the highlight of the trip was snorkelling at Ned's but today even though the snorkelling was even better, I'd be hard pressed to say which was better of that or this trip.
Afterwards for hot chocolate and ice cream at Humpty Mick's and then we wended our way up the hill and home. We stopped by Lorhiti next door, thinking to book dinner in their Chinese restaurant. We were greeted by the same large Asian man who runs the Coral Café at the Museum (everyone seems to do at least three or four different things here) who told us they are closed tonight. Such a pity. However we still have some small steaks (although Gray's sniffy about them as they come from Casino) and some large potatoes and some mushrooms and broccoli and it would be much less wasteful to stay home and cook.
I spoke to Emma about her possibly needing the cottage for an early clean - the info pamphlet warns one this may be possible if the next people are arriving on an early flight. Luckily she doesn't and we have a very good arrangement - if she finds us here, frantically packing, at 1:20, she will take us plus luggage down to the Airstrip; if she finds the luggage only, she'll take it and meet us at Humpty Mick's. This way we can do our tour from 9:20 until noon, and if the weather is good snorkel first and pack afterwards; if not, we can pack before and lunch afterwards.
G:
Stopped for hot chocolate at Humpty Mick's before walking home and spent the evening there. I made steak and baked potato for supper before reading our books and then going to bed. Mandi started to cough.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1215237780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1215237780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1215237780/tpod.html Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:14:38 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Thursday 5 July 2007
G:
Woke at the start of a wild storm with thunder and lightning as well as torrential rain - that is what it sounded like on our tin roof. All I could think of was 'shot' noise from all of my recent reading. It abated and we went back to sleep. I lay there for some moments of bliss thinking 'I can lay here not needing to cough'.
M:
Took a fierce codral so slept OK. There was a big storm in the night but the morning was beautiful - such a pity I still feel too lousy to enjoy it.
G:
Woke finally at 7am on our anniversary day - 27 years! The sun was shining, what a glorious day. Mandi didn't look too great, but that could just be a night after one of those cold mutis.
M:
After a cup of coffee and an aspirin, I started to feel fairly human and we set off to walk the short track down to Ned's Beach. It is an attractive path through woodland quite unlike the mainland, with spectacular views of the sea and the Admiralty Islets.
When we got down to the water, still puzzling about exactly where to find the fish, we saw a little hut effort (containing wetsuits and other gear for hire) and a single set of booted footprints going straight down to the sea. So we followed them, and soon noticed some pretty silver fish about 25cm long in the shallows - aha! that must be them! But as soon as we got into the water up to our knees, we saw that the BIG shadows were not rocks but fish!! These were, we later learned, the kingfish. They are a metre or more long with yellow fins and tails and swim right into the shallows - it's quite frightening, having one's little toes in their space! They gobbled up our bread voraciously and would have followed us along the beach if we'd had more.
G:
After a cup of coffee we made our slow way down to Ned's beach. I was a bit sceptical about feeding the fish, but as we stood with the little waves just running over our feet, we could see thrashings of large King Fish, some more that a metre long as well as schools of smaller sand coloured species. The thrashing turned to a frenzy as we started to throw bread into the water. It was more dramatic than the scenes at Abraham's Pool at Sanli Urfa. Mandi was quite concerned about getting her toes bitten, as the fish came right into the shallows, so she stepped back. It was quite amazing to watch.
M:
We walked both ways along the beach, and at one end, where there were rocks and rock pools, we saw in amongst the fairly ubiquitous little silver fish, two absolutely magnificent parrotfish - about 30-35 cm but quite a solid fish, absolutely bejewelled in blue and purple and red and green. Stunning.
G:
When we had run out of bread, we walked to the end of the beach and back. At the near end, we again came across shoals of the smaller fish and a pair of gaudy parrot fish. They are so unlikely.
A man came down with buckets of food - bread and fish pellets that unleashed such a frenzy. He said that they are no longer allowed to use fish guts as it attracts sharks.
M:
We got back to the hut and sat in the sun to dry my wet shorts, and soon noticed a man getting out of a vehicle carrying two buckets. Clearly he was the official fish feeder. Soon a number of old barleys arrived, some to snorkel and some to watch the fish feeding. But suddenly it started dripping from a big grey cloud coming over the headland and before we knew it, we were all sheltering from quite a downpour. Very picturesque!
G:
The rain squalled in, but that wasn't sufficient to stop a couple of the old folk who had joined us, from donning wet suits and heading out into the water.
M:
When it eased, the fish feeders went back to their buckets, the snorkellers went into the water and we set off up the track. Of course it started raining again but we were pretty well sheltered once we were in amongst the trees. We stopped at a bench on the headland to admire the wonderful light on the sea and saw a waterspout! It only lasted a couple of minutes and we were just fiddling about deciding that it was much clearer through my polarised sunglasses when suddenly it just wasn't there anymore. It must have slurped itself up in a matter of seconds.
G:
We walked back up to Ebb Tide but stopped at the bench at the top of the cliffs. The rain had stopped but we could see some other squalls out beyond the Admiralty Islands, and there was a water spout. I called Mandi to look, and we watched as it fizzled out after a few minutes.
M:
Back to our cottage for tea and toast and now Gray's gone on a walk and I'm going to take it quietly until it's time to go down for our glass-bottomed boat trip.
G:
I had a coffee and then set out to climb up to Malabar. The path starts out on the Ned's beach road, so I took the short cut. The path started to climb through saturated meadows, so my new shoes now look properly used. Here you enter reserve and low forest as the path leads up the spine of the ridge. It is pretty hard going, but the views back across the island become more and more spectacular. At the top, one can look down the cliffs that fall 200m sheer into the sea. A few tiny specks of gulls wheeling on the updrafts are visible. The peak is 209m in about 1km, so the climb is about the same as yesterday's.
I didn't stay too long having frightened a pair of middle aged women by coming up behind them unannounced. The next stage along the cliffs to Kim's lookout was another kilometre or so was slightly easier, though some of the rocks are quite slippery and going down is hard on the knees. Kim was a boy who died at age 20 and apparently loved the hills, according to his plaque. The view across into the unpopulated North Bay was spectacular, as was that straight down the lagoon.
It was down hill all the way from here on those wooden log packed-with-rock stairs. Chatted briefly to a man who had just come up from the beach - a serious climb he said, so I decided to do that another day even though I was pretty early. I took the left fork down to Old Settlement beach and walked back home through the village. I was home just after 1pm, having walked for about two hours.
M:
We went down to "town" a bit early so I could buy a cossie! To go snorkelling in. I did so at Larrups, the local "boutique" which sells all sorts of clothes and had an interesting ten minutes trying on while listening to the shop assistant and a customer (or perhaps just dropper-in) gossiping about the experience of the daughter of one of them who was cyber-bullied at boarding school. First the whole concept of cyber-bullying had to be explained to the amazed listener and then they agreed that, while hard for the kid, it was probably good for her to learn to stand up to bullies, she'd learn resilience and resourcefulness and the main advantage was that it would make her appreciate her island friends. Quite a change from the kind of crap we get from the mummies of our precious princesses!!
G:
We had some lunch, tuna and avo mix on left-over boiled potatoes, before walking down to the shops for Mandi to buy a cozzie. I sat in the sun next to the post office while she was shopping. We then walked down to environmental tours to wait for 3pm. Unfortunately the wind was getting stronger and a group arrived with five noisy children. Because they were unable to explore some of the choppier areas, we had an excuse to postpone.
M:
Then a long wait around (with a herd of noisy and unpleasant kids) at the boat-shed for a decision to be made as to whether the wind allowed us to go or not. Eventually the skipper said that he'd go, but the wind wouldn't allow him to go too close to the reef so if we wanted to move to another day, we could. We took the opportunity to bale largely to avoid the kids and went instead to walk in Stevenson's Reserve in the middle of the island. Its trees are labelled and it's a pleasant walk for an old crock like me.
Home via Joy's which wasn't so pleasant - I have huge difficulty even climbing four steps so the steep hill on Middle Beach Rd is killing. The silver lining was that I stopped to puff on a bench halfway up the hill and we discovered a path through the woods that cut off the steepest corner of the road.
G:
Stopped off at Joy's shop for provisions and then battled up the hill. We did find a short cut across the corner that saved Mandi some slog.
M:
We had been booked into the Bowlo for their fish 'n' chips night so were all dressed and ready at 6:30 for Julie's husband (who never told us his name) to drive us down. As a romantic Anniversary Dinner, it left a lot to be desired, but as a good feed and observe-the-locals-in-their-natural-habitat, it was quite fun. We ate upstairs in an overflow dining room with (despite Gray's entreaties to the barman) the TV tuned (quite quietly fortunately) to Wimbledon and all the tragic couples sitting side-by-side on the same side of their tables so they could stuff their faces while gawking. The food was good, though, and at about 7:30 when we'd just had time for a very expensive Cointreau at the bar, the fish lady came and drove a big group of us home in her minibus.
G:
At 6:30 Julie's partner drove us down to the Bowling Club for our anniversary dinner. This involved standing in line to place an order for fish and chips, before buying drinks from the bar and retiring to the dining room upstairs. Here we came across a curious sight, about five couples sitting at individual tables, but not sitting facing each other, but sitting next to each other watching TV.
We sat as far away as possible, facing each other. The beer was good, cascade, and the fish wasn't bad, so we had a good celebration. There was just enough time to have a nightcap before the bus took a group of us home to our various accommodations.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183701960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183701960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/5/1183701960/tpod.html Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:08:44 -0400 A winter week on Lord Howe Island

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Lord Howe Island, Australia

Friday 6 July 2007
M:
Feeling much better this morning - that moment when you suddenly realize you just feel like a person with a cold rather than someone who has the whole world against them while they die a ghastly death. It was too windy to consider the beach so we set off to walk to The Clear Place. This was a good walk for me in my miserable state as it was very level and mostly in forest but even so there was a point when it was raining and I was cold and headachey and sorry for myself that the only reason I went on was that the thought of having to go all the way back to Ebbtide was worse. I plodded through those marvellous forests unable to raise a spark of interest, in a daze - and if I thought anything at all, it was that I wouldn't be able to remember any of it afterwards because I was in such a dumb stupor.
G:
A day of gusting wind, so we stayed in until ready for a long walk. Mandi had slept ok, but her head is full of snot, so wasn't feeling great. It started to rain as we rested on the way to the Clear Place Point and she started to cry quietly - poor girl. I was all for going back, but she bravely went on and we sheltered in a Bunyan Fig forest. These are really amazing trees with their multiple trunks and interlocking branches. By the time we came out the other side into sporadic sunshine, she seemed better. We could see the hazy shape of Balls Pyramid above the next headland. It must be huge to be visible at 23km, and we later read that it is about 500m tall.
M:
Anyway, it wore off and I started feeling better and before long we were at The Clear Place which is literally just a small mowed area - smaller than a suburban lawn - with a badly positioned bench (behind a bush so you can't see anything from it) on a scrubby hillside. With a lovely view (except from the bench!) but we nearly missed the best of it. I don't generally usually use binoculars as I find it difficult to hold them steady and to fuse the image. But I had a quick look through Gray's fancy new ones - seeing as I had lugged the damn things back from South Africa! - and thought I was seeing some sort of reflection when I saw what looked like a fairy palace hanging in the sky behind - or even perhaps in front of (like a rainbow) a distant headland. We worked out it was Balls Pyramid but as we knew that was 23 km from the far end of the island, hence about 28-30 from us, we couldn't believe we could really see it, especially on a cloudy day. So we decided it must be a mirage. But it remained in place through several changes of light, so perhaps it was the real thing - in which case it is HUGE!!
We also watched one of the many seabirds just playing on the wind. Jonathan Livingstone Booby or something.
When we were walking back and I wasn't as cold and miserable, and the light was nice, I could really enjoy the magnificent banyan trees in the forest. They are genuinely incredible, dropping their plaited pillars over huge areas of forest so that you can't see any longer which is trunk and which is branch and which is aerial root. Such lovely shapes.
G:
We stopped off at the visitors centre for an egg and bacon brunch before spending some time in the museum. All rather interesting reading, we found that the island is, as we had surmised, the flank of a 5 million year old caldera. I was pretty interested in the history of commercial air travel to the island, which was by flying boat until the middle 70s.
M:
We came down to Lagoon Rd and went into the Museum where we had good hot chocolate and big fried breakfasts (it was only 11:30!) and then looked around the not very exciting displays - lots of sad stuffed birds and old photos (mostly ones we'd seen in other books anyway) and bits of rusty old agricultural machinery rescued from people's grandpa's places. I also spent $4 trying to use the least accessible Internet point I have ever had the misfortune to encounter - obviously designed to be absolutely maintenance-free so operated by a coin in a slot and a with really bad tracker ball - I spent about ten minutes unable to do anything because it was jammed on some other window and wouldn't return to the one which was actually showing as the active window. Anyway, I did manage to establish that there was nothing requiring my attention, and I sent brief messages to the daughters and the mothers.
Then to Thompson's to buy ice creams despite the by now freezing wind where we had a looong chat with the lady but forgot to buy a hot water bottle which would have made my back and neck a lot easier - not to mention de-freezing the very cold bed.
G:
We went home the long way so we could get an ice cream from Thompson's Store and then spent the afternoon reading about Lord Howe Island and doing our washing so that we could hang it outside in time for the afternoon squalls. One came on so suddenly that it wasn't possible to get to it in time, so we abandoned it there for the night.
M:
Afternoon peacefully at home. We did some washing and pegged it out in a good sunny breeze, saying we only had an hour or two of sunlight left, but that would be enough to have it dry, and of course the moment our backs were turned, the rain poured down so now there's no point in bringing it in at all. Let's hope tomorrow is clear!!
Also (with a lot of trouble) managed to speak to Sarah who had been to an interview at Notre Dame and has been verbally offered an early-offer place for the political/journalism course, which will be a huge relief in terms of not having to worry quite so much about UAIs. I hadn't been worrying about her future but it's a surprisingly big relief to know that at least we won't be spending this summer vac fretting about next year as we did with Jen in 2005!
I couldn't get hold of Jen then, but did manage to later. Her good news is that she and Ben have finally found a flat they are happy with, just up in Sutho, and are moving in on Monday! So Gray and I feel we should go away more often as they seem to accomplish all sorts of things better with us away than with us there!
At 6:30 Emma took us down to Milky Way for dinner. We had superb steak - the best I've ever had in Australia I reckon. We suspect it has to do with 5th generation islanders who raised and slaughter their own beef, and always have done, and know how to do it.
G:
At 6:30, Emma came to collect us for the drive down to Milky Way which is the last accommodation before the Old Settlers beach. The girl who was selling raffle tickets at the Bowling Club was behind the bar, and taking dinner orders. Seating was communal, and we were put at a table where a drunk man was boring a couple. We sat at the other end.
They left with the drunk, which relieved us greatly, and we were able to move away from the door. Our steaks arrived, cooked almost perfectly, and delicious. Mandi reckons it is the best steak she has had in Australia. Another couple joined us. They were school teachers from Ballarat. We think he was a headmaster about to retire, and she was a science teacher. They were quite difficult to talk to. I think they were here to see birds and to climb Mt Gower. She was very short sighted and reminded me of Mandi's friend, the professor, from the US.
M:
We were seated at big communal tables and were very glad to sit at the far end next to a constantly opening door because at the other end was a very drunk local who had reached the maudlin "you are such a beautiful person!" stage with the other couple who were at his end. We were concerned he'd move in on us when they left, but luckily they offered him a lift so he went with them and we were able to move out of the draft to the middle of the table just as our food arrived. Shortly afterwards, another couple joined us - Joy and Terry O'Connor - from Ballarat. Both teachers and good company.
And home via the trusty restaurant bus by 8:30 - this is the life!
G:
I had pudding for something to do while we talked, then we asked for a lift home. Got a very chatty local who doesn't like the tourists much as they don't respect the fact that both electricity and water are in limited supply on the island. She said that there was some talk of wind, but many of the people worried about the aesthetics of a wind farm. Probably the main problem would be bird strikes.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1160321460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1160321460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1160321460/tpod.html Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:29:43 -0500 A Silver Anniversary celebration to beat 'em all!

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Goreme, Turkey

Up earlyish to pack in time for 8:30 breakfast (which G didn't eat as his tum is a little edgy) and hopefully Internet cafe but Mustafa said the internet cafe only opens in the afternoon and suggested that we didn't leave here until about 10 because the visit to Yazilikaya will only take half an hour and the trip to Yozgat about the same. There are some mosques etc in Yozgat but clearly not a lot to do to occupy 3 hours until the 1pm dolmus.

Later: Adam arrived promptly at 10 and we loaded up & set off for Yazilikaya. We were glad we hadn't tried to do the 3 km walk yesterday after Hattusa as it was just a country road up a hill and would have been quite a slog. The rock carvings are remarkable - the time of day wasn't perfect as they were either in full, flat sun or complete shade - for that sort of thing you really need angled sun to give lots of contrast. But it's an atmospheric place - it's an odd feeling bumbling into what must have been a holy of holies only accessible to certain very special people. I've been finding myself thinking a lot of what it would be like for one of those old Hittites to come back today and see all their temples and palaces nothing but the stones, and nothing at all left of the houses and shops and busy streets that must have been here once. Shades of the classic movie image of the Statue of Liberty buried in sand, I suppose.

Adam had shown us around but bustled off back to the entry ahead of us - we joked he had gone to negotiate his cut with the trinket sellers. Turns out one was his older son (Yusuf was apparently in bed still!) so of course we had to buy something. But unfortunately we had already expressed an interest in someone else's stall and in the end spent about Y70 on all sorts of crap that we really don't want from 4 different stalls just because we felt sorry for these nice blokes sitting there all Ramazan with no tourists.

While we were there one of them got a call from Mustafa to say that we had left something behind. We were fairly sure it was the courtesy bags (toothbrush, socks, eye patches etc) from the Sydney-Seoul leg that G had insisted upon keeping & I had just persuaded him to ditch - instead of throwing them out we'd put them in the bedside drawer for the next guests. It was, of course - luckily Yazilikaya is only 3km from Bogazkale!

The drive down to Yozgat is very pretty - quite mountainous. At one point Adam stopped at one of the watering troughs we've noticed & wondered about - are they intended for livestock or people, and if the latter, is the water really safe for those of us with foreign constitutions? The one we passed up at Hattusa yesterday looked so refreshing and even had a frog living in it, and we had run out of drinking water but we still limited ourselves to hand-washing and face-splashing. Anyway, Adam (whose English is as limited as our Turkish) indicated that it was clean and we enjoyed it. Isn't it sweet that someone who's not allowed to wet his lips is prepared to stop (on a half-hour trip so it's not as if we needed it) for us infidels to taste the nice mountain water? They are incredibly nice people.

Yozgat is a busy little town of 70,000. Whether it's usual or was Sunday market day (after all, Sunday is "pazar") but there was a busy paseo happening all up and down the main street and a thriving market all around the mosque walls. I was taking photos ostensibly of the mosque but trying to include local colour when I realized some little boys were asking to be photographed. Just as in Bogazkale it soon turned into a photo shoot - and no addresses this time - they seemed pleased just to be photographed.

We were back at the otogar in plenty of time for the 1:15 bus which was appeared to be Nevsehir bus (ie the bus company) clearly labelled Adana (although the other side of the sign says Nevsehir & Yozgat) - and our ticket is from Tempo bus company. So we have no idea, really, whether we are going to Nevsehir or not. Currently we are stopped at Kirsehir otogar but at least the road signs have been in the general direction of Kayseri so we're headed towards Kapodokia at least. Adana's on the coast I think. Of course our map is in the luggage in the hold.

Later still: It was the right bus and delivered us safely to Nevsehir at about 4:30. We scrambled to get a taxi thinking there was only one, but there were several and we got a nice-seeming young man and his young son who told us what we were seeing and offered his services for our sight-seeing. The crazy thing is we would have used him had he not pressed some button on his meter which miraculously changed the 8.50 that was showing as we came through Goreme to 30.00!! The worst thing is that I had asked him for a price initially and he'd said no, he had a meter! Crook! Sadly the first rip-off in Turkey leaves such a bitter taste despite all the dozens of really nice and kind encounters.

The Cappadoccian landscape is truly indescribable. The hollowed out pinnacles that you have seen pictures of are not just here and there but everywhere. Our hotel is inside one, with the addition of some stone superstructure and occasional internal walls. It was fairly full (only about 20 rooms, I think) and we only had a choice of a "de luxe" (ie standard - 3 single beds) or a suite (with a separate little lounge area and the hugest and comfiest bed we've ever seen, let alone slept in) so we plumped for the latter. The room itself, and the bathroom behind it, are hollowed out of stone but there is a window between room and lounge has three small windows (with magnificent views out over the valley) so it's fairly light.

We had a bit of a wander around the village which must be tourist heaven in season but right now is very quiet. Found an internet cafe to read our mail for the first time in days, but it was really hard to reply partly because it was all so slow and partly because of the impossible Turkish keyboard which is fine for most things except the undotted "i" which they sneakily put where the ordinary one goes on non-Turkish keyboards. Of course it looks fine on a Turkish monitor too, and it's only when your poor puzzled correspondent replies that you see all the funny "y"s

Dinner at the Kelebek overlooking the magnificent view of the town with all the caves, which are lit at night, and with the rising just-past-full moon behind - magic.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1161930540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1161930540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grahamandmandi/anatolia-2006/1161930540/tpod.html Sat, 28 Oct 2006 06:26:40 -0400 A Silver Anniversary celebration to beat 'em all!

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DMZ, Korea Rep.

Mandi:
Sigh. The holiday's almost over. We've had our last late morning. We had to set an alarm for 6:30 in order to be packed and checked out in time to be collected for our DMZ tour at 7:50. I enjoyed my last shower overlooking the city with the sun rising red through pink clouds. It's a spectacular bathroom with glass floor-to-ceiling all alongside the bathtub / shower. There is a window blind but I work on the principle that on the 7th floor and behind bathroom steam one is pretty much invisible except to the really desperate, and in my case they'd have to be REALLY desperate!

We checked out and had an extremely rapid breakfast of orange juice and croissants, and right on time (or even a little early) a man came up saying my name. We were shown into the last seats of a 4x4 but that was just to take us to another hotel where a big bus about a third full awaited us. We had to pick up a few more people at a different hotel and were delayed for about 15 minutes by a shuttle bringing people to this hotel being stuck in traffic. But eventually we were off.

Graham:
Mandi woke just before 5am and we didn't sleep properly again. I had done most of the packing so it was just a case of packing the last dirty washing and the sponge bags. We checked out with some trepidation, because though Mandi had an email to say that she had paid in full, that was for a double and we had been put in a suite. The hotel still got its pound of flesh with expensive food topped off by 10% service charge and then a further 10% VAT.

We left our luggage in the box room and were collected in a shuttle bus and transported to the large touring bus. We spent half an hour driving around in Seoul traffic to various other hotels to collect the rest of our tour, before setting out to drive the 50km to the DMZ.

Our guide, a pretty Korean girl with pretty good English spent that time giving us a potted history of Korea of which I knew absolutely nothing. It seems that until 1910, Korea had been a monarchy but then the Japanese invaded and brutalised the country for the following 35 years. At the end of WW II Korea was divided by the Allies into North and South. The south became a democracy as their King had been forced to take a Japanese wife. It appears that in the following 5 years the communist north built up their military capability, and in 1950 attacked the south in attempt to force unification. The invasion was very successful and they reached Seoul after only 6 hours, and had taken the city after 10 days. The south, having little military capability called on the UN for aid. The UN offensive was so successful that their advance almost reached the Chinese border before the latter, apparently fearful of having a non-communist neighbour, joined the war on the side of the North. After some success a stalemate ensued and by 1953 when everyone was sick of the war, a cease fire was signed and the DMZ was created.

By this time we were travelling along an estuary dividing the two countries. Because it was tidal and could be crossed on foot during low tide, the south Korean side was bordered by a double fence topped with razor wire and guarded at all times.

As we approached the DMZ proper we were warned not to take photos from the bus, never to take photos of any of the South's military installations and never to cross any fences marked with yellow triangles as they indicated the borders of mine fields. I believe South Korea and the US are two of only a handful of countries that have not signed an agreement banning the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel mines.

Mandi:
The DMZ is 52km from Seoul at the point we were visiting; it took about an hour during which time our guide, whose English was good, told us some modern Korean history - something we've been wishing we'd read up on. It seems that the 38th parallel dates back to WWII not the Korean War as we had imagined. But after WWII the UN in the South, and China and Russia in the North, all started worrying about protecting their particular interests and spreading their ideologies and that's what got the Korean War going. According to our guide - and once again, one has to bear in mind that this is all one side of a two-sided story - the N Koreans invaded first and got all the way to Seoul by 10am before the S Koreans realized what was happening and started fighting back. I gather the DMZ has been in existence ever since the cease-fire was signed in 1953. So it's a very weird place. The guide books all use the word "surreal" and that's exactly what it is. It's clear that South Korea desperately wants reunification, and of course the company line is that it's because they are brother nations and families are split etc etc but I suspect that the fact that a united Korea would give South Korean industry rapid rail access to China, Russia and Europe as well as cheap labour and another twenty million consumers doesn't hurt any!! Our guide also said that South Korea doesn't have much in the way of natural resources (according to her, it was all mined out and shipped off to Japan during the Occupation) whereas North Korea does - including oil. She said that a unified Korea would be an economic powerhouse to rival China and I don't doubt it for a second.

We were taken first to a "Park" called Paju which was basically a truck-stop with a few rickety-looking funfair rides and some trinket and food stalls. We looked at a monument and then spotted an interesting bridge across a duckpond, very fiercely fenced off at the far end. We wandered across and found it was actually Freedom Bridge across the river that forms the border at that point, and on the barbed wire barrier were pinned hundreds and hundreds of ribbons, children's drawings, banners, flags, even clothing, all with messages written on them. Of course we couldn't read the messages but the children's drawings clearly expressed longing to reunite families or the nation and I suppose the other messages did too. Our guide later described them as people wishing to return to their home towns before they die. Whatever, it was extremely moving. I was very teary.

Graham:
An interesting side effect of the 50 year isolation of the DMZ has been the proliferation of wild life. Our guide tells us, however, that natural selection has favoured deer with very small feet and wild pigs with extra big nostrils that can smell the landmines. It is a good story even if it may not be true.

We arrived at our first stop, the Park which is a kind of shrine to the families divided by the zone. Here is a most moving memorial, half way across a bridge a large barbed gate hung with thousands of fabric or paper messages and pictures. A school party had recently been and little drawings showing unification ideas were on display. Some of the older messages had been reduced to shreds by the wind and weather. It was here that we began to understand the depth of the wound that this division is causing to the people and why unification is apparently so dear to them.

We did feel that much of what we were shown was orchestrated as part of the spectacle. For example, we drove across a fancy bridge into the DMZ where our passports were examined. On entry, road blocks had been arranged so that the bus had to slalom its way across, whereas on exit later we had a clear run. Why would someone want to ram their way into the DMZ?

The bridge however has a nice story attached to it. It was apparently built by the founder of Hyundai a few years before he died. Apparently in 1945 he had escaped from his impoverished village in the north, taking with him a stolen cow which he sold in the south and used the proceeds to start his company. When he had made his fortune and built the bridge, he drove 1001 cows back across to his old village, the 1 to replace the stolen animal and 1000 in interest. Makes you want to buy one of his cars.

Mandi:
Back in the bus (with some Firm Words from the guide w.r.t. getting back to the bus at the proper time after one person was about five minutes late - and for the rest of the day everyone almost worked on Korean time) and we were driven through a military checkpoint into the DMZ. A soldier came aboard and collected the list of passport numbers and checked all our passports desultorily while others stood around looking bored and truckloads of others zipped backwards and forwards. It all felt a little movie-settish. We wondered whether the trucks were filled with real soldiers or just dummies to make it all feel like a battle-front - which of course it officially is.

The DMZ is really unlike anywhere else in the world. It is apparently heavily mined (except for the villages, which I'll come to shortly) and so of course no-one has been into the zone in fifty years. As a result it has become a little pocket of ecological diversity. The guide (sorry I can't remember her name) claims that the wild boars have evolved larger nostrils for smelling out explosives and the deer have got lighter with smaller hooves. I suppose it's quite possible - certainly it's a good story!

There are villages in the DMZ - I don't know how many altogether but certainly one each South and North in the area we were visiting. The villagers in the South (it's called something like Freedom Village of course) have all sorts of privileges. They are paid $70,000 pa, are excused military service and pay no tax or rent for their homes or farms - almost seems worth it to live in a mine-field! On the other side, in North Korea, is what the South Koreans call "Ghost Village" although I assume it's called something uplifting in North Korea. They believe it is a complete sham because no-one is ever seen there and all the lights go on and off simultaneously. However, after some years of one-upmanship on both sides, North Korea currently has the tallest flagpole in the world, topped by the largest flag, something like 30m x 40m. It wears out and has to be replaced every three months - all this in a country where most of the children are starving to death.

We went first to Tunnel No 3. It would seem that the North Koreans have dug - or are in the process of digging, perhaps - several tunnels under the DMZ. South Korea has discovered four to date. I'm not altogether sure WHY North Korea would want to do this (remember the DMZ is 4km wide and heavily mined so we're not talking trivial stuff here) but G suggests it was a means of keeping the soldiers busy. In North Korea men serve in the military for eleven years from age 19 to 30 and women for seven so that's a lot of sitting around staring at a barbed wire fence if you're not digging a tunnel! To get into this one which, typically, South Korea has turned into a tourist attraction to make money as well as spread propaganda, you first leave all your stuff in a locker (mainly to separate you from your camera - photography is forbidden in most parts of the DMZ but especially out of vehicle windows or near observation points, presumably to avoid Incidents with jumpy North Koreans) and put on a cute yellow hard hat. Then you walk 350m down a very state-of-the-art South Korean tunnel with nice concrete walls and a comfortable athletic-track floor and seats every 50 m or so (and believe me, you need them on the way up - or I did! It's angled at 11 degrees) and helpful signs with an arrow pointing left to "North Korean tunnel No 3" and right to "Exit" and in the middle is "Here" in case you are lost. At the end you can see the end of the North Korean tunnel and you can then walk some 200m down the North Korean tunnel being very grateful you are wearing the jolly yellow hard hat because the North Koreans were very little people and their tunnel was dug in very hard rock. At the end is an impressive 1m thick concrete wall blocking the tunnel - one of three, we were told, put there to ensure the wicked North Koreans never pumped poison gas into the tunnel to "kill all our tourists" - a thought that hadn't occurred to me until it was suggested, so I was concerned to notice that a good third of the area of this life-saving wall was taken up by a steel door with a nice wide gap all around, through which we could see light beyond. The wicked North Korean poison-gassers' lamp? Hmm?

There was clearly some controversy surrounding the discovery of the tunnels because our guide put a lot of effort into convincing us that the tunnels really were dug by the North Koreans - the drill holes point South, the tunnel slopes downwards towards the North, etc etc. As I said, it seems a pretty pointless activity whatever your political ideology but then I'm not a soldier.

Graham:
We stopped off at tunnel 3. It appears from information supplied by a defector that the North have dug or are in the process of digging 20 invasion tunnels of which the south have discovered only four. For some reason, rather than using geophones to detect the blasting, or seismic techniques to image the area, a number of boreholes were sunk in the area suspected of harbouring a tunnel and the water level or pressure was monitored to detect any underground blasting. Our tunnel had been detected in 1978 and the latest in 1990.

After passing quickly through a small museum we donned hard hats and with the tunnel at a depth of 70m. The tunnel its self was very low, having been designed to accommodate North Korean soldiers, who according to our guide are a full 16cm shorter than their southern counterparts. This meant that most of us, excluding Mandi, had to walk stooped over. Most people bumped their heads but I have learned my lesson. From the shape of the tunnel, which passes through hard granite it was dug by hand with pick, shovel and dynamite. The tunnel smelt great, of damp rock. It made me almost want to become a miner.

We walked along for a further 300m or so to the first of three thick concrete barriers fitted with thin steel doors. I think these are also for show because the doors wouldn't even stop a determined boy scout let alone an army. Once we had touched the razer wire at the end of the line and thought about the poor bastards who had been conned into digging the tunnel, there was nothing more to do but to retrace our steps to the end of the tunnel and then climb back up the sloping raise bore to the surface.

There was still a little time to revisit the museum to examine a few pathetic rusted bits and pieces.

Mandi:
Next stop was an observation point called Dora. This was high on a hillside from which we could see the whole width of the DMZ, a matching bunker containing a North Korean soldier sitting smoking on the opposite hill, the two villages with their respective flagpoles that I mentioned earlier, the area in which some joint North-South factories are being built, the railroad containing the rusty hulk of the last locomotive to travel it, and North Korea's third-largest city in the distance. We weren't allowed to take any photos from the edge (although we could put W500 into a telescope and admire the North Korean guard's rifle) so I got the tallest man in our party (who had suffered dreadfully, despite the jolly yellow hard hat, in the tunnel) to stand on the yellow line and take them from as high as he could reach.

Graham:
Another short bus trip took us to a military observation point where we were briefed by a corporal in cammo fatigues about what was out there through the haze. There is a little one upmanship as regards the height of flag poles and the size of flags. I believe the North holds the record at the moment with a pole that holds a 250kg flag. We could see the guard tower on top of a hill a couple of km distant. It even had a guard relaxing in the sun on the balcony. The city xxx, the third largest in the north was hidden by the haze.

What was not hidden were the denuded hills, devoid of the forests that cap all those in the south. All cut down, according to our guide, for firewood and because the people eat the bark for want of anything better. We were not allowed to take photos from the edge of the balcony in case we frightened the guards. This notwithstanding the fact that the rail is lined with rows of coin operated binoculars. We had to stand 5m back, behind the red line. More of the spectacle, I am sure. The whole show was really strange. It was as if we were on a movie set, and all the soldiers were actors.

Mandi:
Last stop within the DMZ was the station which was the most surreal of the lot. It was a perfect South Korean station, clean and efficient, with automatic sliding doors, electronic boards to announce the next train - which is of course never going to come in the foreseeable future, rows and rows of seats for passengers yet unborn to wait for trains yet unmade, and two stern soldiers standing at the turnstile where you can stand to have your photo taken between them. You could take your passport to the ticket office and have it stamped, which was rather jolly - so we now have proof of having visited the DMZ should we ever want it.

It really was very eerie. Like a post-holocaust Sci-Fi movie or something. Very symbolic of the South Koreans' desperate urge to reunite - for whatever reason. We suspect as well as symbolising the wish to reunite, though, it's also just so ready for the moment those pollies get their acts together and sign a peace agreement, the first heavily laden South Korean goods train will trundle through to China within a day!

Graham:
Our last stop before returning to Seoul was to the Dorsan Station. This is a huge modern building with a fancy train timetable display, only there are no trains. This whole structure is waiting for the North Koreans to open their border.

Mandi:
Back to Paju - interested to note that the part of the bridge towards the North was all set about with tank traps forcing the bus to drive a zigzag course at 20kph, whereas driving Southwards it was nice and clear and straight either showing that when the Wicked North Koreans invade, the bridge has been cleared for them to come across nice and quickly and get it over and done with, or perhaps that they are SO tricky that they'll drive on the left and get caught in the South Koreans' clever double-cross.

There was some important ceremony happening at Paju when we got back, with a bunch of big-wigs sitting on a platform on a pavilion, with an American droning on and on about peace and goodwill while an obedient little cluster of Men In Suits - probably Press - gathered at their feet to listen and admire. Meanwhile, just a few metres away the Viking Ship funfair ride was making a gaggle of teenagers scream with every swing. We did wonder how the international reports of Mr Big's important speech were going to play with what would have sounded like rhythmic mass torture happening just off-screen. And a few metres further, a half marathon was just finishing, with a couple of officials holding a banner for the place-winners to run under. And all around were perfect public toilets and vendors of boiled silkworm larvae, kimchi in swollen plastic bags and ice-creams. Surreal isn't the word but I'm buggered if I know what is!!! You couldn't make this stuff up.

Naturally there was a compulsory stop at a "workshop" (read: tourist rip-off opportunity) on the way back to Seoul but we were allowed to choose ginseng (the world's best because grown without pesticides) or amethysts (the world's best because hardest, oldest, best colour.) We chose amethysts and they were a lovely colour but we have enough stuff!!!

The rest of the tourists were dropped of at City Hall or the western part of town, I've forgotten the name, where the US soldiers hang out and create mayhem (trashing municipal buses, beating up bus drivers etc - God they're disgusting bastards!) but for some reason my question about coming back to the hotel had been turned into a formal request and (although, whispered, it's against regulations) we were delivered in solitary splendour to the Tower Hotel. It's very odd, this sort of thing. Why not, when I asked, just say, "the tour WILL finish on time, and you WILL have time to get your luggage and get to the Airport for a 7pm flight, don't worry." Instead all sorts of special plans are made, doubtless involving difficulty for all sorts of people, but none of this is communicated to us so we fret all morning about why she said the tour would end at City Hall and didn't mention getting back to the hotel and so on. It really is like being a child and having arrangements made by busy but concerned adults on one's behalf.

We walked into the hotel and I left G finding out about Airport buses while I went to the loo. I assumed we'd get a cab to the nearest stop and was just grateful to have access to English speakers so we could get the cabby instructed on our behalf - hopefully even to actually show us the bus-stop as they're not easy to identify. But when I came out of the loo he was fretfully organizing teams of bell-hops to move our mountain of luggage outside and was worried I wouldn't make it out of the loo before the Airport Bus arrived at our very doorstep! Sure enough, before I'd even had time to pack the straps of my backpack away into their clever space, there was the bus!

We then sat (in admittedly very comfy seats) for nearly an hour driving around another five or six hotels picking up people before finally setting off to the Airport. The total trip probably only took 90 minutes but it seems like such a waste when you know you're going to be sitting all night anyway. WHY has this hyper-organized nation not built a train-line to its major International Airport yet? Especially as it already has the high-speed trains? Last night up the tower we watched the yellow shuttle buses that do the round of the sights on the mountain setting off from their depot. There were always three. The front one would leave, nos 2 and 3 would shuffle forwards and moments later another would join the back of the queue. We debated how frequently the buses ran (at that stage we were thinking of taking one home so we had an interest) so we started timing and discovered it was every 4 minutes... to the SECOND! And this country makes you take a bus that could take up to two hours in rush hour between the major airport and the capital city??

Now the moment I'd been dreading since I woke at 4am - the weighing of the luggage!! My pack - 14.2kg. Gray's pack - 19kg. The new suitcase - 39.8kg!! Nearly twice our allowance! I tried to look as little as possible and with miniscule hand luggage and, believe it or not, the clerk attached tags, sent them through and gave us our boarding passes! I think perhaps they realise (correctly, in our case) that one enormous, heavy, new extra case leaving Korea implies a lot of foreign currency spent on consumer goods!

Then drop off the phone. It had apparently given up the ghost earlier when we had tried to call Stephen, but the girl at the counter was able to turn it on and we could call Stephen to organise our airport pickup, and Jen although I could hardly hear her. As usual Sarah wasn't answering her phone. I am getting so impatient - I can't wait to see them again. Ever since we started feeling we were headed home - leaving Diyarbakir I guess - I have been missing them and looking forward to getting home.

Finally through all the procedures. We took a couple of long walks through the "mall" of very sameish Duty Frees - G looking for a nice wooden totem and me for dinner. I was determined to find a normal, chilli-free meal. For the last week I have either nibbled at something ferocious until my hunger was just sated (wouldn't Jen be proud?) or eaten things like sandwiches. I am counting the hours until I can tuck into a nice roast dinner with all the family! Anyway we eventually found a nice quiet restaurant up above the shopping area and I had a delicious seafood pasta which actually lived up to the waitress' promise of "no spicy, no hot, no chilli!" Best meal I've had since Ilke's patlican.

Boarding was delayed by 25 minutes but they'll probably make that up over 11 hours. I have taken a sleeping tablet so let's see if it works...

Later: no, it didn't. It was the best stay-awake-all-night tablet I've ever encountered - that and the fretful toddler a few seats from us. But never mind.
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