NZ and Melanesia 2012

Before boarding the fine ship The World to go on the Melanesian Expedition, I decided to spend a week in New Zealand catching up with family and friends. My flight was taking me via Auckland, NZ, so it seemed like the logical thing to do. And there was also the 'little' matter of our new-ish niece that I hadn't met yet!
I left home on March 25th and flew straight to Wellington where I arrived on the 27th. My dear friend Leah had arrived at WLG airport about half an hour earlier and was waiting for me. We spent a lovely 36 hours together and stayed in the gorgeous retro Ohtel on Oriental Parade.
In the afternoon of the next day Leah flew back to Christchurch and I took up residence with 'HAT': Hamish, Annie and, most importantly, Tabitha, our cute little niece. It was very nice to be able to spend some time with them. They live in a very nice part of Wellington and from their place it was a lovely 30 minute walk to the center of town. In those few days I caught up with Tony & Margaret and Nick & Jude (aunts & uncles-in-law) and another good friend Jude.
Before flying from Wellington to Napier on March 31st, HAT took me to visit Weta Cave, which I appreciated immensely.
I stayed 3 nights with Tim & Jane in Taradale. Whilst there we went for dinner to Mark & Joh (all in-laws), Tim took me on a lovely bike ride, Jane showed me more of Napier, together we went to the pub and watched rugby, and had dinner with friends.
On April 3rd I was all checked in at Napier airport to fly to the Bay of Islands to board The World, when I received a very urgent message (both from The World and Alison) not to fly up, since, due to very adverse weather, it was impossible to board the ship. Ok... so I quickly ran down and had my bags pulled just before they were about to be loaded on the plane. A text to Joh, and a little later she picked me up from the airport and I stayed with them in Havelock North for an extra 2 days. Caught up with Margaret & Alastair.
On to Auckland on the 5th, where the next day I went to see the 'Degas to Dali' exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery in the morning and, in the afternoon, cousin Tom took me for a nice pub lunch to Hallertau Brewpub and Restaurant and beach-hopping afterwards.
That evening I checked into the AKL Airport Novotel, ready to fly to Noumea, New Caledonia, the next morning. I was secretly happy to have spent those last few days in NZ, on solid ground, as opposed to being on a ship in very rough seas for 4 days!

NZ Family and Friends

On April 7th I flew (as opposed to sailing from The Bay of Islands) from Auckland to Noumea, New Caledonia, to join Alison on The World. I arrived in the morning, got settled in, admired the new look of the apartment and then Alison and I went for a walk around town. We also stocked up the kitchen supplies. The next day we joined an impromptu organized tour of Noumea and surrounds, and, later that afternoon Stephen arrived. April 9th was spent at Ile des Pins.

New Caledonia

To be continued. Here are the photos already.

Vanuatu

To be continued. Here are the photos already.

Fiji

Uganda Trip 20 February - 10 March 2012

I had the most amazing trip in beautiful Uganda. I will write more here later but let me start with sharing photos. I took a total of 4181 and I have attempted to make a manageable selection of the best. Since this is still quite a lot of photos i have split them up in different albums that way you can choose which ones to look at - or not.

The indisputable highlight of the trip was my visit to the Nkuringo Gorilla group. Visits are regulated to one group of 8 visitors (plus rangers and porters) per day for one hour only.

Nkuringo Gorilla Group Photos

As I'm sure people will be wondering about the tented camps we stayed in, here are photos of all of them for those interested. This is the way to go I tell you!

Photos of the Tented Camps

Caroline.

Mt. Kilimanjaro - 20-31 January 2012

In 2003 Stephen and I went to Kilimanjaro. Although I did enjoy the hiking I never made it to the summit then. Naturally Stephen did. Ever since then I've had this little niggling in the back of my mind - Stephen likes to call it 'Summit Demons' - about maybe going back some day and attempt to reach the summit again.

When it turned out about a year ago that our friend Luc was also interested in doing this, the decision to do this together was made almost on the spot. We proceeded to book flights and contacted Zara Tours, the same tour company Stephen and I used in 2003.

So let me start with publishing the photos; I will update the travel notes in the next few days.

Mt Kilimanjaro Photos

Mt Kilimanjaro Trip Report

Mt Kosciuszko 2011

On Friday November 18 we boarded a plane to Melbourne where we landed on Sunday November 20th.
We stayed 2 nights with our friends Patty and Jono and their 3 daughters in Aspendale. Very nice to catch up!

Two days later we drove to Thredbo to prepare for the 'big climb'. We checked into the Denman Hotel and met friendly owners Judy and Ed.
Up early the next morning, November 23rd, for our climb to the top. Yes, 'our' climb: Mt Kosciuszko is 2228m high and Thredbo is at about 1400m, so nothing I couldn't handle :-)
We set off on Merrits Nature Track, which took us to the top of the chairlifts. From there it is a 13km roundtrip to the top, all the way on a boardwalk. Very convenient! The weather was cooperative, the worst being intermittent fog rolling over the mountains. When we reached the top we were totally fogged in, so no views, but that has been the story of most of Stephen's 7 Summits. After spending about half an hour including lunch at the top we headed back down and the fog cleared.
At Black Sallee's Bistro at the top of the Snowgums chairlift we enjoyed a well deserved latte before heading back down to the village. I took the chairlift down, Stephen ran down. Naturally.
Back in our room we enjoyed a bottle of Champagne, relaxed, put photos on Facebook and later went out for a nice meal.

Leisurely breakfast the next morning before setting off towards Sydney. There we stayed with Fiona and Phil and their 2 kids in Lilyfield. Took a couple of strolls down Memory Lane in Balmain and had Thanksgiving drinks with friends in our former local The London Bar. Caught up with lots of friends over 3 days, very nice! For our last evening Fiona cooked the most lovely dinner, and we got to invite friends as well.

All in all a very nice trip!!!!

Here are some photos:

Mt Kosciuszko Photos

Photos of Friends in Australia

I don't have any photos of Sasha and Jonty (Phil & Fiona's kids) or Liam and Max (Matt and Karina's kids). They were so well behaved during dinner that we hardly saw them!

Norway

On June 20th, one day later than planned due to our flights from Djibouti to London being cancelled on account of the volcanic eruption, Stephen and I boarded The World in Aalesund, Norway for a cruise through the Norwegian fjords with stops in Geiranger, Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Oslo.
Stephen stayed on till Stavanger, Caroline till Oslo.

Our thoughts are with the people in Oslo and Norway.

Norway Photos

7lows in Djibouti

On June 12, 2011, Stephen and I flew from London to Djibouti City for a 6 day adventure.

Upon arrival on June 13 we stayed the first night in the lovely Kempinski Hotel before going on a 3 day tour of Djibouti. We had contacted Dolphin Excursions and rented a car and driver with them for the trip.
Our first stop was Lac Abbé and its surreal landscape; overnight in a local camp.
The second and main goal of our trip was a visit to Lac Assal: at -155m/ -509ft the lowest surface point on the African Continent. Another overnight in a local camp, this time on the shores of the Bay of Ghoubbet, of the Gulf of Tadjoura.

Our short but fun adventure was shrouded in a very thick haze due to a volcanic eruption in neighboring Eritrea on June 12th. On all our photos the haze is very apparent.

Djibouti 7lows Photos

The end of an amazing adventure.

I arrived back home on February 8 and have been re-adjusting to life in the real world this past week! A quick trip to Yosemite over the weekend helped :-)

It has been the most amazing adventure with lots of highlights. Laguna del Carbón certainly was one of them (or should I say "low" point) for 7lows.com.
South Georgia was simply stunning and probably my (our) favorite: that first sunrise zodiac landing at St. Andrews Bay, the extremely friendly King Penguin chicks at Gold Harbour, The Shackleton Walk,...
Antarctica, what can I say: the 7th continent (and with having been to Argentina as well I could claim all 7!) where everything is on a scale that is hard to fathom.

Hope you all enjoy(ed) the blog and the photos. I will add some more albums about the Chilean Fjords.

Caroline.