Days 29 & 30 : Heading Home!

Saturday 11^th March, 2017

Thursday 9^th was our last day in Tahiti. We had another wander around the Papeete in the morning, and in the afternoon did an Around the Island Tour which was great. Now it’s night, and the view from our Papeete window is just lights on boats; no clouds, no sunset, no ferries …

We caught a 2 AM plane to Auckland and arrived there at 6 AM on Saturday. Friday was a brief affair! Sydney and Hobart then followed later on Saturday.

The flight home turned out to be totally uneventful, just the way they should be! Once we left Tahiti navigating queues were much quicker as typical NZ and Australian efficiency took over. I was surprised Australian customs were not in the least bit interested in our having been meandering amongst penguin poo! Why did we even bother declaring that?

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Since coming home I have completed various entries, and now changed the publication dates of the posts so that you can read them more or less in chronological order! I’ve also added the various labels (Antarctica, Easter Island, Ecocamp, Patagonia, Tahiti) that you see as tabs below the title of the blog. Select one of these and you’ll see only the so-labelled entries.

In due course I might write a final entry on reflections of the trip, written with the advantage of a month or two of hindsight!

Meanwhile, enjoy …

Days 25 & 26: Tahiti –Travelling to Papeete

March 6 & 7^th, 2017 

We did not cope with the heat and humidity in Easter Island at all well, and Tahiti is 10 degrees further north! We seem to have a chest infection, and a dry hacking cough (that makes me feverish). It was brewing amongst passengers in Antarctica, and certainly started there for us,  and has now become a major issue. As the Hotel Altiplanico did not have air-conditioning – just fans and huge opening sliding doors which might let the insects in at night – we have had little relief from the humidity. So Easter Island has been a real trial, but we did enjoy it, and certainly very happy to have been here!

Day 25 : Easter Island - Exploring Hanga Roa

Monday March 6th, 2017 

I was disappointed that the Altiplanico was so far from the centre of town. On our first afternoon we were free to do our own thing but felt too crook to walk there and back in the heat and humidity, so we felt isolated. Today, our last day, we took a taxi into Hanga Roa to explore on foot.

It was a cloudy morning with a sea breeze, and thankfully nowhere as humid as the prior sunny days when we toured the ahu and moai. But it wasn’t to last, as showers and sunshine came at lunch time, and the afternoon was humid. In the meantime we explored Hanga Roa. It was indeed very rural and “laid back”, but the people wonderfully friendly and helpful.

Explaining hands in Hanga Roa

Day 24 : Easter Island–Tour of Cultural Sites in the Northeast and North

Sunday March 5^th, 2017:

The day dawned clear and very warm. Being a tree-less island there was little respite from the sun while we were touring sites today! We drove in a van with the windows open up the SE facing coast to the NE corner of the island. It was flat and very open, and mostly grazing land. It is fenced, sometimes with long sinuous stone walls, yet we saw very little stock.

There’s plenty of rock for stone fences!

Day 23 : Easter Island - Tours to Cultural Sites in the Southwest

Saturday March 4^th, 2017:

We had travelled to Easter Island to see the stone statues, or moai, that have generated so much mystery, and to learn more about the Rapa Nui culture. Despite our illness, exacerbated by the high humidity, we were not disappointed!

There are 887 known moai, and many have now been restored to their rightful place standing on a ceremonial platform, or ahu. With the exception of 5 moai at Ahua Akivi, they face inland. They are carved mainly from volcanic tuff from a single quarry, and are huge: 4-5 m high and weighing up to 20 tonnes, but the largest is nearly 10 m tall, and weighs 80 tonnes. Some were topped with gigantic pukao, or top-knots, of red scoria, around 2m in diameter and height and weighing 10 tonnes. Just how they were transported to their ahu, raised, and the pukao installed is unknown. The eyes of the moai were embellished with coral or shell, and red scoria pupils.

The moai at Ahu Tongariki – look carefully for the humans!

Day 22 : Easter Island - Living like the Idle Rich in the Hotel Altiplanico

Friday March 3^rd, 2017:

We are now on Easter Island, learning to live like the idle rich, it seems. It is also very green, and very muggy!

We were up at 6 AM in Santiago, Chile, and had a 5-6 hour flight some 3 hours later after spending over 2 hours queuing. The Chilean way seems to be to make queuing as long as possible: even when our documents had been checked by the immigration police, they were immediately checked by security, and then again by the stewardesses before we board, at least twice. This redundancy is itself a form of heightened security! Collecting baggage is another interminable waiting game.

Easter Island - green and showery, looking across the airport to Hanga Roa

As we flew into Easter Island I was surprised at how green it was! Yes, we were still used to the greyness of Antarctica, but when I’d looked at Easter Island on Google Earth some time ago it looked very dry. Perhaps I should have been surprised at that!

Day 22 : Now on Easter Island

Friday March 3^rd, 2017

We are now on Easter Island, learning to live like the idle rich it seems. It is very green, very muggy! We arrived mid afternoon and have rested in and around our cabin and the hotel’s swimming pool.

Our hotel is the Hotel Altiplanico Isla de Pascua.

 We were up at 6 AM, and had a 5 and half hour flight over 3 hours later. We also spent 2+ hours queuing, which is very tiring. The Chilean way seems to be to make queuing as long as possible: even when our documents have been checked by the immigration police, they are then checked by security, and then by the stewardesses before we board. Collecting baggage is another interminable waiting game.

 All of which meant we resisted the non existent temptation to walk three kilometres into town in the heat of the day.

 So far, no pictures of Easter Island … later I’ll get the camera out. But there could be a piece about Antarctica coming up … but internet connection here is very flaky so nothing might happen!

Day 1 … Sardine Tin Travelling

Friday 10^th February, 2017

Today, Day 1, is a long day, so long that we have a night in the middle of it, and arrive in Santiago before we have left Sydney! It’s all because we cross the international date line, and the date is turned back one day. But the actual time difference between Sydney and Santiago is 14 hours.

It’s also a long day of travelling; nearly 30 hours from when we got up in the morning to when we get to Punta Arenas in southern Chile,  our destination – and still on the same date.

Introduction

Thursday 9^th February, 2017

Both Krista and I have long had a fascination with Antarctica.

I was drawn to Antarctica when I was a kid by reading books of early Antarctic exploration. Then there was the 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition lead by Edmund Hilary and Vivian Fuchs. While in high school my interest in science grew and the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year grabbed my attention. This featured a range of Earth Science subjects, many focusing on Antarctica such as ionospheric and aurora physics, and cosmic ray research.

By the time I'd completed my BSc degree at the University of Tasmania I'd also developed a passion for mountaineering and skiing, which Patagonia and Antarctica clearly offered in abundance. But a PhD in Theoretical Physics specialising in optics was not a good CV for a stint in Antarctica! However, I continued to dream of visiting Antarctica, whilst recognizing it was simply that, a dream! I'm not sure how the young Krista, still resident in Finland, thought she could wangle a trip to Antarctica, as a degree in entomology and experience with leaf hoppers seems equally unsuitable as a CV as mine!

So a visit to Antarctica - along with Nepal and Patagonia, and a few other places - was on our bucket list!

Three friends independently made cruises from Ushuaia along the Antarctic peninsula in the summer of 2015-16. This encouraged us to think, "Well, why not us?", and having made that decision, it became "Why not also Patagonia?". It's a long flight across the Pacific Ocean, so we soon decided to break the journey by visiting Easter Island, and finally the vagaries of airline time tables suggested a couple of days on Tahiti. So an 11 day cruise became 4 weeks of travel!

So this blog documents our travels and travails, from Antarctica to the Tropics.