Diving the Great Barrier Reef

First a disclaimer: While I saw all these creatures, I didn't take any of the photos! I rented an underwater camera but my photos turned out dark blue and full of bubbles and blurry fish. Fortunately, the good people at Pro Dive must have predicted this, so they included 100 of their professional photos in my DVD. =)

Onto the entry!

I signed up for a 5 day Open Water PADI Certification course in Cairns, which is one of the main port cities to the Great Barrier Reef. The course included 2 days in the classroom and swimming pool, and 3 days/2 nights at sea with 9 dives.


Scuba diving is complicated, which is why you need to be certified. Being underwater creates pressure on your ears and lungs and pumps nitrogen bubbles into your bloodstream, and therefore makes divers susceptible to a few illnesses if guidelines aren't followed correctly. For example, you cannot ascend to the surface quickly if you freak out and see a shark. There is an international organization called PADI which offers and follows set guidelines for certification courses and dive operations.

Some of the things we had to do for certification were a 200m swim and 10 minute tread water, removing masks underwater, turning air off and switching to a buddy's air source, practicing the various ways to ascend in case of emergency, and using a compass underwater.


The dive trip was very fun and very exhausting. On day 2 on the boat, we had four dives. Our schedule was: Wake up at 6 a.m., set-up equipment, dive, put away equipment, eat, repeat... four times throughout the day. The first four dives were part of my certification and were with an instructor, and the last 5 were just with a dive buddy.


I saw clownfish (Nemo!), huge turtles, sting rays, reef sharks and whaler sharks, giant clams, a lobster, and beautiful coral and tropical fish. One of the coolest thing was the night dive where we went as a group with flashlights. Everyone was a bit spooked because they fed fish right beforehand, and we all watched the fish come and take the bait, and then a few sharks come and eat the fish. I saw 4 sharks on that dive, 3 of which were hovered around the boat when we stopped for the safety stop.

The dive instructors informed us beforehand that shark attacks were extremely rare and only happen if they are provoked. Great White Sharks like cold water, so they aren't in the GRB, and 85% of shark attacks are in chest-deep water. "In fact," said the head instructor, "The most aggressive thing you'll see in the water is Sue. She's the other instructor. She's German." (There is a funny rivalry between a lot of the European countries that reminds me of Bears fans and Packers fans.)


Nemo (the clownfish) is surprisingly aggressive and will bite your finger if you wiggle it in front of him. And we learned Nemo's "secret that Disney doesn't want you to know" - he can change sexes to female if all the females in the family die; which makes the movie inaccurate. (Not that talking, singing fish are accurate...) We also learned that they are becoming very rare ever since the "bloody movie" came out because people are collecting them. The clownfish and the anemone protect each other, which made them very fun to watch.

This was probably the best part of my trip so far, and I am looking forward to diving back home in California!

Brisbane

I've spent the last few days in Brisbane with my old roommate Lindsay, who moved here last year to do conservation research.

Brisbane has been terrific. It's been great to hang out with Lindsay, her boyfriend Andrew, and all her friends. We did a bunch of things - a went out a few nights with her friends who are all scientists (which made for some fun conversation), had breakfast at the farmers market, went on a bushwalk (hike), and visited a wildlife park and the Australia Zoo where I got to see the crocs, kangaroos, and hold a koala! I also spent a day by myself on Queen Street Mall doing errands and some shopping.

It was nice to get here and "sit" in one location for five whole nights. I stayed at Lindsay's and had a whole room to myself, and got to unpack my backpack and shower without flip-flops for a few days. Lindsay's place is in a neighborhood called West End, which is close to the University, laid-back and slightly hippy-ish. Her place has a great backyard patio which gets visits from possom and wild turkey, and also has a chicken coop in the backyard.

Australia is turning out to be as jam-packed as New Zealand. I booked four mini-tours: Fraser Island safari, Whitsunday Islands sailing, Great Barrier Reef dive certification with 9 dives (including a night dive!), and an Outback safari with Ayers Rock. I finish in Sydney where hopefully I'll get decent weather for a harbor cruise before taking off for China.

Traveling in Australia is like traveling in the U.S. It's so huge that it's impossible to see everything, particularly in the short time I'm here. I've met tons of travelers who are in Australia for 3 months-1 year, financing their trip with a working visa and odd jobs like berry-picking. The way I'm traveling is definitely in the minority for backpackers, but I'm OK with that. =)

Unexpected Surprises

Sometimes it's the most unexpected things that can make a trip.

When planning New Zealand, I had been most excited about Milford Sound, and it definitely was the best part - but mainly thanks to the Real Journeys staff and the four-hour drive through Fiordland National Park.

I decided to "splurge" on an overnight cruise (instead of the usual 2-hour cruise) to avoid the mass crowds and enjoy the sunset and sunrise. My bus driver, Wattsie, began the trip from Queenstown telling us that he had been to 49 countries over 10 years. He proceeded to tell us all about the history of New Zealand including Maori culture and European discovery, the current industries, politics and housing market, all the flora and fauna, the native and non-native (brought over by the "good old Europeans") animals, and eventually a discussion on evolution.

Fascinated by Wattsie's travels, I made it a point to talk with him at the first coffee stop. He said, "So you quit your job and are traveling? NICE!" I lucked out getting him. I noticed this with the guides in Peru too, that there are just some people who are curious and open-minded, and either well-traveled or well-read enough to understand what is unique and special about their country and appealing to tourists - and have enough pride to speak about their heritage with knowledge and passion.

I also have to say, that while traveling in New Zealand and Australia, it has been refreshing to hear Evolution spoken about like as much as a scientific fact as, say, gravity. NZ and Aus were originally part of the supercontinent Gondawanaland, so when learning about their country at a young age, they were taught about the earth's plates and all the different spieces of birds and plants and their evolution. Wattsie also mentioned that religion in New Zealand is "watered down." Each town typically has one church, and members of different religions helped each other build it and they practiced together; there is not as big of a difference in Catholic and Protestant than in other countries, for example. I thought this was kind of nice.

Overall, I absolutely loved Milford Sound, and would highly recommend a Real Journeys trip to anyone who visits New Zealand. We saw a slideshow after dinner of Milford in all the seasons, and it is stunning even in awful weather. When it rains, there are thousands and thousands of waterfalls coming down the mountains.

The rest of the South Island had some nice surprises too. I did a wildlife tour through the Otago Penninsula, and saw an Albatross in-flight and Yellow-eyed penguins. I also did a star-gazing tour at Lake Tekapo, and saw the southern hemisphere stars and consellations including the Southern Cross, full Milky Way, and Saturn through a telescope. It was really neat. I also visited the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch and after a week of science-ish activities, it was cool to see how the international community is all working together on researching and preserving Antarctica and things affecting the whole world like global warming and the O-zone.

Andrenaline Junkies

New Zealand is almost certainly near the top of every outdoors/adrenaline junkie's destination wish list. In addition to the spectacular scenary made famous by Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings triology in 1994, a pair of New Zealanders invented the world's first Bungy Jump in 1986. And today, Queenstown is known as the Adventure Capital of the World.

Kiwis have tried or invented nearly every type of outdoors activity possible. There are all the usual suspects: Mountaineering, whitewater rafting and kayaking, rock climbing, canyoneering, spelunking, sailing, mountain biking, diving, surfing, hunting, fishing, and tramping. And then there are the less common crazies: Sky-diving, canyon swinging, bungy jumping, luges, river boogie-boarding, jet-boating, and underground blackwater rafting. And in addition to that, Kiwis looking to offer tourists something really unique will take a shot at inventing random activities such as "Zorbing," which involves rolling down a hill in a rubber ball, or "Killer Prawn Golf," which involves hitting a golf ball at a field of prawns, in attempts to kill one. (Seriously. And this one had me reminiscent of Wisconsin Dells.)

The main national sport is Rugby, and symbols from the national team - the All Blacks - is seen everywhere in New Zealand. I had the opportunity to watch a few games, and concluded that rugby separates the men from the boys!

Nearly every Kiwi I met had done some sort of extensive international travel or partakes in one (or several) of the country's many outdoor sports. "It's what we Kiwis tend to do," they say with a smile. New Zealand has a national non-litigation policy, which means that if you fall off a cliff and become permanently disabled, you're not allowed to sue. (And you get free health insurance for life, eliminating the need to sue.)

For visitors, this means that we experience a freedom and responsiblity on guided adventure tours that I've never experienced in the U.S. The guided glacier hike I did was fairly technical and there was no hand-holding. I pictured Americans complaining and demanding their money back if they couldn't do it. In New Zealand, you're SOL and would rightfully receive looks of "Well what were you thinking? It's a glacier not a sidewalk." This meant I had to be responsible for myself and know my own limits. The big news while I was there was that an English girl died river-boarding.

I gathered that some of the adventerous New Zealand spirit is surely influenced by the Maori culture. The Maori were the first settlers of New Zealand and arrived from Polynesia. I had the opportunity to visit a marae for a welcoming ritual, song and dance, and dinner, and throughout my trip learned about the history of the Maori and see lots of traditional wood and jade carvings.

I had the opportunity to do a bunch of cool stuff: Hike up Franz Josef glacier, abseil 30m into the glowworm-infested Waitomo Caves and blackwater raft through underground rivers, sea kayak and hike in Abel Tasman National Park and Fiordland National Park, and best of all paraglide over Queenstown!

The Magic Bus

Upon arriving un Auckland, I checked in to Auckland Central Backpackers - a hostel I read about in Lonely Planet as I was en route to New Zealand from Fiji. The hostel was described as having "more than 500 beds with a network of sightseeing and job-seeking contacts at one's fingertips." Perfect.

I decided to devote a day to figuring out the plan for the rest of New Zealand. The country has so much to see - beaches, glaciers, fiords, tropical forests, mountains, volcanos, lakes and rivers, evergreen forests, thermal hot springs, underground caves, farms, cities. To make the most of my 18 days here, I booked a ticket on "The Magic Bus" - a hop on/hop off bus that circulates New Zealand.

The best part of the Magic Bus is that I don't have to do any work. My first driver said that he had circulated NZ over 500 times, been to Milford Sound 192 times, and was better than any guidebook. So he further helped me refine my itinerary and figure out how many days to spend in each place.

The other best part about the Magic Bus is that it makes it really easy to meet other travelers. A lot of people at home asked me if I was nervous about traveling alone. (Or if they didn't ask me - gave me the funny look.) Traveling "alone" is really turning out to be a piece of cake and really fun!

The general age of long-term travelers seems to be 18-35 - though I've met some outside that on both ends. There are a lot of people like me, who saved money for awhile and quit their jobs. Most of the "older" (above 25) backpackers are also traveling alone. Then there are people who are finishing school - either high school, college, or masters programs. They are often traveling in pairs. The nice thing about the pairs is that they are still eager to meet new people, so traveling "alone" has been great so far!

Most of the people I've met so far have been from Europe, and I actually met a few girls my age -Cheryl from Wales and Sinead from Ireland - who I've been traveling with through most of the South Island on the bus. Cheryl is an environmental engineer who was working in Australia, and Sinead was a financial manager on leave of absence from her job. They are both really cool and adventerous so we have had a great time exploring NZ together.

The worst part about the bus are the "flash-packers", who make me feel really old (and wise.) Flashpackers are "18-19 year-old girls with a roller-bag and daddy's credit card." I think they travel primarily so they can put cool photos on their Facebook pages. Here is an actual conversation heard on the bus:

"My cousin went to Palestine."
"What's Palestine?"
"It's in the Middle East."
"Oh I know a place in the Middle East - Abu Delhi."
"Abu Dhabi?"
"Yeah I heard it has awesome shopping."

To each their own, I guess. But I suppose the occasional group of flashpackers are better than a bus full of creepy old men.

Fiji Time

After about a month of running around: getting vaccinated, moving out of my house, visting family, putting my things and car in storage, planning my trip, getting things from my old company wrapped up ....Kicking off my trip with two days of "Fiji Time" was just what I needed!

The trip started off great. Walking into LAX was a little surreal, since I've probably walked into an airport 100 times in the last couple years. It was hard to believe that I was about to take off on a 4 month trip by myself. Any fears I had were gone after a couple hours; I sat next to two other single travelers on my overnight flight, and we did a toast with free Fijian airplane wine and excitedly talked about our plans.

One of the travelers, Grace from Seattle, and I realized very quickly that we had a bunch of friends in common through lindy hop. We ended up becoming friends and sharing a hostel that was right on the beach and full of travelers from all over the world.

Fijians are the nicest people in the world. Every single local we passed on the street gave us a huge genuine smile and said, "Bula!" I probably would be that nice if I lived in Fiji, too! I bought some handicrafts from this woman at the market. All the street vendors smiled and said "Take your time - Fiji Time!"

Hello

Originally I had planned on skipping the whole blog thing and just doing a mix of journaling and email updates to friends. But, I'm caving in.

I think it's a good idea to do a blog for a few reasons:

1. This trip is a pretty big deal, and I should do it proper justice by thoroughly documenting it.
2. I can type much faster than I write, and therefore it's much easier to capture some of the thoughts spinning through my head. There is internet everywhere I stay, which makes blogging very convenient.
3. As a bonus (Ha!) - It's election season and I can include links to my favorite op-eds and my political opinions which are becoming frequently enhanced as I travel. Don't say I didn't warn you!

So, what is it that I'm doing?

I quit my job on March 31st and am spending four and a half months - 132 days - traveling around the Pacific. I am visiting Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Why?

Well first, I just love to travel. As my sister Sheila pointed out, all the books and magazines in my house are travel-related, so I should take a few months to do this trip. I probably have about 100 destinations on my wish-list, but focused on Australia and Asia because they are considered extremely accessible for English-speaking backpackers, and also very safe to do on my own. They have well-established infrastructure - hostels, public transportation, plenty of fellow backpackers - so it will be relatively easy. China is slightly more difficult because it is so huge, so I booked a tour through GAP Adventures. Additionally, most people recommend "at least a month" to see those places, so I might as well do them all now while I have the time.

Second, the timing was right to quit my job. I had been tasked with sales and implementation of a new technology - sort of a start-up within a Fortune 500 company - and spent over two years on that project. After two years, the technology wasn't really "new" anymore, so it was time to either move-on within my company or move-on elsewhere. It has been a good 5 1/2 years so I left.

And there you have it. My goal is to provide regular (or at least semi-regular) entries with photos, udpates and reflections. With that, I hope you enjoy my blog!

Bridget =)