Bart Bear's Blog

Highlight of our October time in Hawaii was our day on the Big Island seeing the changes caused by the volcanic activity of last year. Our guide for the day was my honourary uncle Scott. The changes to Halema'uma'u, the active crater of Kilauea volcano, are spectacular. The first photo is from our first visit in 2013. The crater was, relatively speaking, fairly shallow and flat with a small active vent. This year things are different. Firstly, the spot where the 2013 photo was taken is now inside the crater. The visitors centre and parking area that was there have been badly damaged and some has dropped into the crater. All tracks that let you near the crater walls have warnings that you had better take notice of. For example, the track we followed had steam blowing across it from cracks in the ground near the track The access road we used in 2013 is now cracked across in several places and is impassable. The crater itself is around 3 times the size and nearly 600 metres deep. The best place to see the crater now is from Volcano House where these photos were taken from. In the right-hand photo of the middle row, you can see the ochre colour of sulphur , and in the image below it there is a bit of the road we drove in 2013, now on a ledge that has slipped down the crater wall. The big photo shows how the crater walls are still cracking and slipping, the rock-falls inside the crater, and the ponds that are forming at the crater bottom. Things have quietened down now, but could start up again any time, the volcano is still classed as active. If you want a guide to the best the Big Island has to offer, contact Scott at Apau Hawaii Tours; you can't do better.

Labels: Hawaii, volcano

17 years since Mum rescued me from a shelf in the Teddy Bear Shop!! I don't feel that old and certainly am not going to act it. Not many small bears have the sort of birthday party that I had. It was at Government House, the home of Australia's Governor General (actually it was a fund raiser for an important charity that looks after orphan small kids, among other things, but it WAS my  birthday). I had special transport in the vice-regal golf buggy, and the Oldies dressed themselves in appropriate summer gear. I was allowed to explore the grounds and made a couple of interesting discoveries. First off, the sundial is not calibrated right, even after applying the date correction it still reads 20 minutes fast. Second was the royal water steps. When the Queen is in Canberra she stays here and sometimes travels to Parliament by boat. She lands at the wharf, walks up the steps and onto the lawns where the party was. The statue is, of course, one that any 17 year old lad would pause for a look at... Present? Well, the police lady who checked our ID on the way in said that I was now old enough to drive. I have wanted a Mustang for ages, so what a surprise.. A radio controlled Mustang!! Not quite perfect, but Dad says we can get a full-sized one when I grow tall enough for my feet to reach the pedals.

Labels: Canberra, cars and trucks

What a long break. I have been away from the keyboard for 9 weeks!! I was overseas for 5 of those weeks, 16 days in Hawaii and 19 cruising back home; reports and images of happenings during that time to come (Dad has just finished archiving the images and videos of the trip). However, fun things have been happening since we got home. Last weekend we went down to Sydney to see Bro Trent and Unka Nathan off on their first cruise, on the biggest ship operating out of Australia, "Ovation of the Seas". This is twice the size of the ship we cruised back from Hawaii on, "Radiance of the Seas". I was really impressed with the size of their ship, and would like to see it alongside the largest one I have sailed on, "Queen Mary 2"; it would be an interesting comparison between a giant cruise ship and a giant ocean liner. While we were waiting for the ship to leave, we went on a cruise around the harbour. This is something we do every Sydney trip so that we can keep up with the new buildings and parks around the foreshore. Sydney harbour is the prettiest one I have sailed into/out of.
Yesterday was my 17th birthday. I don't think the Saturday night fireworks near our hotel at Darling Harbour was in my honour, but it could have been...

Labels: boats, buildings, Sydney