Bart Bear's Blog

It's less than a month to Christmas so the time had come to make our yearly visit to the Bredbo Christmas Barn. We went there last Friday. This barn is a magical cavern full of Christmas decorations of all sorts, ranging from the sublime to the absolutely quirky. I love it because there are all sorts of places where a small bear can hide from the Oldies and play with the larger things. I tried to get the gold sleigh to fly, but evidently the half-reindeer figurehead's batteries were flat.The bear family were fun and that hoodlum, Goldilocks, didn't show. There is a whole aisle of gingerbread houses of all sizes. This is one of the bigger ones, still not big enough for me to fit through the door. Nutcracker soldiers are there in all sizes. This one was even taller than Mum. Hundreds of people from Canberra take the hour-long drive up to Bredbo every year, it is worth it. Did you spot me in the first photo?

Labels: Canberra, Christmas

Here's some more of the photos that Mum got from the rather dirty window of our aircraft on the day we flew to Maui. The top 3 are a series of Honolulu and Waikiki. First shows from the Kewalo Basin Marina to the Ala Wai Boat Harbour. The lagoon in the centre is the Ala Moana beach park. The twin towers just behind the boat harbour are The Prince, our favourite hotel. The next two show from here to the end of Waikiki beach. In my opinion, these beaches are not anywhere as good as Aussie beaches. The bottom three show some of the extinct volcanoes that made the island of Oahu. First shows the region from Diamond Head to Hanauma Bay and Koko Head. Next is the crater of Diamond Head. Final is Hanauma Bay and Koko Head. It is worth spending some time on Google Earth exploring the fantastic landscape of Oahu and the other Hawaiian Islands. Even better is to have Oldies like mine that take you there.

Labels: beach, Hawaii, volcano

We cruised home from Hawaii on our favourite ship "Radiance of the Seas". The ship stopped at Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Wellington and Picton. The Oldies worked on the cruise. Dad gave talks on astronomy every day at sea and Mum also answered questions from the passengers and was ready to show them the sky at night, but the sky was cloudy most of the time. Their "boss" was the Cruise Program Administrator, Michael. He is the best one they have ever had and he is now one of my Official Uncles; Hi Unka Michael, I hope you are still having fun. We did a working cruise along this route 7 years ago, but most of the passengers (including Mum) got pretty sick and we missed seeing most of the shore stops. This time we saw everything we could. First picture is me saying "A hui hou" (until we meet again) to Honolulu. The next 2 are the ship at Moorea and Bora Bora. And if you ever wonder how the Pacific Ocean got its name, the last picture tells it all. This is how calm the sea was until we got to higher southern latitudes near New Zealand. The Tasman Sea between NZ and Australia was, as usual, the roughest part of the cruise. I watched for whales and other ships all during our 12 days at sea and didn't see any of either. I did see some absolutely beautiful ships in and near the islands we visited. Images of them and the islands coming soon.

Labels: astronomy, cruising, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti

"La haina" is Hawaiian for "cruel Sun". Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1820 to 1845. The town is much older, being the royal capital of Maui for centuries before being conquered by Kamehameha the Great in 1795. The oldest European buildings date back to the 1820s. A few of the early buildings remain and can be seen along Front Street, along with examples of American Colonial architecture. During the 19th century, whaling fleets used the town as a place to restock provisions and give crews shore leave. The whalers often caused riot and mayhem, fighting with the Hawaiians and missionaries. In 1831 a fort was built to protect the town and to act as a gaol for rioters. The fort was built of coral blocks enclosing about an acre. It had 47 cannons of various sizes. The cannons were never fired in anger, being used only as saluting guns on royal occasions. The fort was demolished in 1854, but a small memorial was built on the site in 1964. I always assume signs only apply to people, not small bears. Small bears will climb anything and Lahaina has a couple of fantastic trees. Largest is a huge Banyan in the town square. It was planted in 1873 and is the largest banyan in the USA. Tourists, locals, musicians and small bears find shade here during the heat of the day. The Oldies found 2 places on Front Street that they really liked. If you like pineapple, the Maui Gold shop sells the sweetest pineapple they ever tasted, you can even get pineapple whip (ice cream); you really have to try this if you visit Lahaina. Then they found a bar/cafe called Kimo's. Mum's name is Kim so of course they had to have lunch here. It was the best lunch place they found in the whole 3 Hawaiian islands we visited. Lunching on a waterfront lanai, sipping cocktails, nibbling on fish and chips (striped marlin, would you believe) and watching the ships, boats and boards in the harbour and the turtles feeding in the sea just below the table is a lunchtime we will never forget. We want to go back......

Labels: buildings, Hawaii, trees

Mid-way through our stay on Oahu, we flew across to Maui for a couple of days. Flying out of Honolulu to other islands you sometimes get great views of the Oahu coast. Mum took lots of photos on the way and despite the dirty windows of the aircraft she got some good ones. Here's one of Diamond Head and suburbs between it and the Koolau range. If you click on the image to get a larger zoom, you may see the lighthouse (on the coast, mid-image) and two of the old gun sites (higher up to the right). Maui is actually 2 shield volcanoes (classed as dormant) joined by a low plain. In the second photo you can see Haleakala shield volcano, a wide rounded mountain rising 10,020ft. There were 2 locations the Oldies wanted to see, Lahaina the old capital of Hawaii, and Haleakala Observatory. Being astronomers, their first target was the observatory. You can just see the white domes of the observatory on the closest volcano, above the cloud. The observatory is 10,000ft above sea level and is the forth-highest observatory in the world. The drive to the summit of Haleakala (House of the Sun) is steep in places and has great views over the island. We were above the cloud while we were there so the view below the summit was not visible, but on a clear day there are spectacular views of the crater and cinder cones of the volcano. The domes in the images house telescopes of the University of Hawaii, the USAF Space Surveillance Complex, and overseas observatories. The largest dome will house the 4m Daniel K Inouye solar telescope, due to be completed next year. Daniel Inouye was a Hawaiian war hero; the Honolulu international airport is named after him. The lower slopes of the volcanoes have some spectacular scenery, lava slopes and canyons. We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort, a great spot to relax on the lanai, sipping cocktails and watching spectacular sunsets.

Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, lighthouse, telescopes

Unka Scott lives on Leilani Estate, the place where the lava flows from last year's volcanic activity erupted. Fortunately his property was safe, but most of the lower part of the estate was covered in lava and many homes were lost. Because he is a resident, he was able to take us into the restricted area and show us the results close up. Over lunch he showed us images that he took during the eruptions, then took us into the estate. Many roads ended in a wall of lava, around 20m high in one case. Walking on these lava flows is forbidden.The surface is cool now but in places it is very thin and hot lava is just below. By the way, can anybody suggest why that chicken is crossing the road? The largest vent is Fissure 8 (lower left above) and the cinder cone it built is over 60m high. Where the roads have been cut through the lava flows you can see many colours due to various minerals in the lava. Just a year after the eruptions the lava is being "invaded" by vegetation, mostly ferns and small shrubs. Scott has purchased an acre of one of the lava flows from Fissure 8 and intends to record the way it recovers. I could walk on this and investigate the lava more closely. Some of the broken-off lumps had shiny areas from the hot minerals and others were full of holes from gas bubbles. Mum was surprised by how light the lumps of lava are. Our day with Scott is one I will always remember.

Labels: Hawaii, volcano