Twenty Twenty-Five
July - Christchurch and The
Arctic
July 2 - Christchurch. After a really nice couple of days
with Jill and Lesley on beautiful Miami Beach on the Gold Coast I
had a much delayed connection to Christchurch, arriving home at 3am.
I was so, so glad to have my new villa, as it would have been an
uncomfortable arrival to the campervan. Use these links for the Asian Odyssey triplog and slideshow - and to see a fun little video of the journey from Kyoto to home created by the Find Penguins app (which I recommend) use this link.
July 26 - Longyearbyen. I had 2 weeks at home catching up with a few people before heading off to Longyearbyen, Svalbard for my Arctic guiding contract. This entailed 48+ hours door-to-door, of which 29+ hours in a little metal tube including 17+ hours on a single hop (the 9th longest commercial flight - Auckland -> Doha). the only bonus was a long stopover in Oslo with a day room at a nice hotel at the airport.
As ever, the expedition team had some old faces, and some new ones, which quickly gelled and got to work. The first voyage was a charter by a German tramping group. The language issue, combined with a bug acquired on the way, had me somewhat left out and under-energized. My birthday happened to be on the voyage BBQ/dance night - which was fun, but, overall, the voyage was unlucky with wildlife (no bears and not much else), thus quite "pedestrian".
Only a very few images from this period: Voyage 1: Lillihookbreen, trappers cabin, a vigilant guard (photo credit: guest, Marc), walrus ashore
August - The Arctic and the USA
August 2 - Longyearbyen. On another changeover day after a very short Voyage 2 - only 5 full days to circumnavigate Spitsbergen. This was a Chinese charter, as is Voyage 3 which will have the same itinerary. Happily, Voyage 2 was very full of wildlife. The language barrier is always an impediment, but, with the help of our Mandarin speaking guides, we manage to give the PAX a good experience.Some scenes from Voyage 2: Morning in the sea ice at 81 North, Brunnich's Guillemot at Alkefjellet, the always amazing Zodiac cruise at Alkefjellet, Polar Bear (badly backlit) hassling a group of Walrus, on the water with Walrus, sky/cloud/sea ripples, the whitest Arctic Fox I have ever seen, Barnacle Geese, Svalbard Reindeer, Reindeer fur shed on the tundra, Zodiac cruise along the glacier front, Arctic Skua
Use these links for the Voyage 2 slideshow and triplog
August 9 - Lisbon. Where I am kicking myself and spending a second night after having missed my flight to Boston. Bugger. I blame myself - but also Lisbon airport. I arrived at my posted gate 1 hour early and was sitting in the gate lounge watching it fill, and being a bit distracted. 15 minutes before flight time I got up to see why were were delayed, only to find that the gate had changed without any announcements. Not even the usual call to a late passenger to say that the flight was waiting for them. Apparently their policy is no announcements. Who knew. So, an expensive (1200 Euro) lesson, and my perfect record for never missing a flight broken.
Anyway, Voyage 3 was a Chinese charter with the same itinerary - this time with 140 high school students and their 30 minders. Their English was good, as was their enthusiasm, once you got through the shyness, so it was a fun trip.
Some scenes from Voyage 3: My cabin-mate Jacob hard at work; Walrus; Skyscape
August 25 - Las Vegas. I had a wonderful stay in New England visiting with family and friends, including a trip to Millbrook for Ricketts mates and a dinner with a few Men Of Xavier. The visits continued on the West Coast until I was diverted to Las Vegas by Kathy's illness. I was able to get a good deal on Cirque du Soleil Mystere, The Sphere, and accommodation so enjoyed the diversion.
Some scenes from this period: Millbrook lunch; Brothers walk; Men of Xavier; Manhattan Beach; Ricketts lounge and stairs to LD alley; Exterior light show at The Sphere
For a few clips from the film shown inside The Sphere use this link Postcard from Earth.