Chile Earthquake

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A - Pucon - My location at time of earthquake

B - Conception - Epicentre of earthquake

C - Santiago - Hard hit by earthquake


http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100302/sc_space/chileearthquakemayhaveshorteneddaysonearth

Near Taupo

Auckland

Cape Reinga

Finally Escaping Queenstown - Stray Rap!

Break-it-down

Diving Ducks Queenstown

Under water observatory in Queenstown

Lovewells Travels

A short video of the route around the globe

Feb 2009 - May 2010

The Catlins

Due South


Pengiun



Catlins Photo Album

Catlins Website

Sound Experience

Milford Sound!

Milford sound is located in the Fiordland of NZ's south island. It takes about 5 hours to reach from Queenstown; stopping off in Te Anau, travelling through Homer tunnel and transversing the alpines of Milford road, which itself has numerous awe-inspiring outlooks.

Straight cut rocky mountain faces that soar from beneath the ocean surround the ship as you cruise along the outskirts of the majestic sound which is formed by great glacier movements hundreds of years ago.

The day I visited Milford I was lucky enough to have blue skies with heavy clouds that surrounded the peaks of the sound. The strong winds were dominant as we navigated the highlights of the naturally formed wonder, which included waterfalls - from the rain the night before, seals and the sheer cliff faces.





Photo Album

FEAR

All My Life....

For thE world is hollow and i hAve touched the wild blue yondeR

15,000 ft skydive at 200ft/sec

Why jump out of a perfectly good Aeroplane?

Why climb a great mountain that does not know you exist? Why run a marathon? Deep in the human consciousness is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. We do these things. It is something deep within us, the need to feed our voracious appetite for danger and glory.

It is the spirit of man

Light Pollution of the Night Sky

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Light_Pollution

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/light-pollution/klinkenborg-text



http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Home.aspx

Grade 5 Whitewater Rafting Queenstown

Scratch My Back I'll Scratch Yours...

This all started with a BBQ at the infamous World Bar for the crew who work at Queenstown Rafting back in December. As they were getting the BBQ for free i managed to get some contact details off the manager Kirsty. As a 'free of charge' i had to hang around a few days and constantly check for openings in the books as it currently busy period. But it wasn't long before Martin got a phone call asking to cover my shift!


Skippers Canyon!

I went on the easy 1 pm afternoon trip which started with a 45 minute drive through skippers canyon towards Shotover river, a rather old and dangerous road made buy miners and dynamite in the 1890's. One of the two roads in NZ thats your not permitted by car hire companies to drive on... a twisty winding steep road with 120 m cliff drops less than a foot from the tyre...


Good Crack eh!?

Once we'd donned our wet suits we split into groups of 7 and had our safety briefing. My team leader and experienced rafter was 'Chief' a local Maori that Ive played pool against a couple of times in the local 'Henry's' Pool club.. awesome! (yes Queenstown is quite a small place when you've been here 8 months.) We started on the calm turquoise Grade 2 waters of 'Deep Creek'. Next we paddled down stream to the lower Creek, just drifting at times and paddling furiously against the currents at others. In between all all that was the Grade 3 and 4 rapids: waves, shallows, jagged rocks, whirl pools. As we approached the penultimate section the clouds came in and it began to rain (Not so much of an issue for this sport...). It also rained last night so the river and rapids were pretty exhilarating! The final part was rafting through the almost 200m long Oxenbridge tunnel in the pitch black! As we emerged back into the world we hit the Grade 5 cascade rapids which accelerated us up the side of the cliff almost flipping us into the 4 oC water.

We spent close to 2 hours in and on the water. A nice hot shower was had before heading back to town and work for a lasagna.





River Grade Guide

Grade 1: Very small rough areas, might require slight maneuvering. (Skill Level: Very Basic)

Grade 2: Some rough water, maybe some rocks, might require some maneuvering.(Skill Level: Basic Paddling Skill)

Grade 3: Whitewater, small waves, maybe a small drop, but no considerable danger. May require significant maneuvering.(Skill Level: Experienced paddling skills)

Grade 4: Whitewater, medium waves, maybe rocks, maybe a considerable drop, sharp maneuvers may be needed. (Skill Level: Whitewater Experience)

Grade 5: Whitewater, large waves, possibility of large rocks and hazards, possibility of a large drop, requires precise maneuvering (Skill Level: Advanced Whitewater Experience)

Grade 6: Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous as to be effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Rafters can expect to encounter substantial whitewater, huge waves, huge rocks and hazards, and/or substantial drops that will impart severe impacts beyond the structural capacities and impact ratings of almost all rafting equipment. Traversing a Class 6 rapid has a dramatically increased likelihood of ending in serious injury or death compared to lesser classes. (Skill Level: Successful completion of a Class 6 rapid without serious injury or death is widely considered to be a matter of great luck or extreme skill)



....AWESOME!

First Sunrise in the world of 2010