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Weeks 21 to 30
I think so far I have been used to everything falling nicely into place for me, and generally everything has been pretty easy. The weather has been fantastic everywhere I have been, and I really have been quite spoilt. So you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when the weather turned very cold and icy in Seattle. Everybody here says that it hardly ever snows in Seattle! I decided to park the RV up for a few days to err on the side of caution, expecting things to get better quickly, but that just hasn't happened. Seattle is now buried under a blanket of snow, and conditions off the main highways are pretty chaotic. But it really is time to be moving onward to Vancouver, and my next goals. It has been difficult in the RV in terms of keeping everything working. There is very poor signal on my phone, which therefore goes flat very quickly. The computer battery does not hold power very long, and to charge either item up requires the engine of the RV to be running. So today, as fuel in the RV dropped down into the red on the guage, I decided it was finally time to move on, regardless of conditions. Having lived in the UK for most of my life I have had a reasonable amount of experience at driving in snow. A couple of quick calls to contacts in Vancouver confirmed that traffic is moving there, and conditions are no worse, and so a decision to move on was finally made. I have now left Seattle in grim conditions, and am currently sat in a Denny's Restaurant (my first visit to a Denny's) for a quick lunch, and they have the travellers golden trio - hot coffee, access to a powerpoint, and free WiFi. But it's only a quick update today, as I am keen to get back on the road, and hopefully finish today's journey before it gets dark again!   
Things went from bad to worse when I was asked if I knew anyone in Canada, and where I would be staying. "Yes," I answered confidently, sure that I was on safe ground now. "I know a couple of people in Vancouver, and am staying with one of them." "And their names are....?" the border guard asked, pen poised to add more notes to his already lengthy jottings. "Well, one is called Christina, I can't remember her surname. And I am staying with Denise, or maybe it's Debbie, I'd have to look on the computer." "And how do you know these people?" Oh dear! "Erm... from the internet." "You haven't met them?" "No, no. They contacted me through my website." The safe ground was crumbling under me quickly now. "And the name of the website is...?", he asked, pen poised again. "www.100goals100weeks.com," I answered proudly, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "Riiiight...! And you have 100 goals, do you?" "Yes, yes I do." "And what are you intending to do in Canada?" "Well, on Christmas Day I am going to work in a soup kitchen, and..." "Do you have a work visa?" Hmmm. Eventually I convinced them that I wasn't Public Enemy #1 and made it through, and pressed on in darkness to Vancouver. I finally made it to Denise and Duncan's house with the assistance of the ever helpful "Maggie" Magellan. Their road hadn't been ploughed, and as I approached their house I spotted an unused parking spot covered in snow, and somehow managed to slide the RV neatly through the snowbank into place. Denise and Duncan live in a lovely quiet street by the river, and have a fantastic little apartment beneath their house, which they have very kindly offered to me for my stay here in Vancouver. The next morning the sun was up, and the view of the mountains across the water was magnificent.    I took the bus into the city and had a look around, and went up to the lookout deck in the Harbour Centre Tower. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and the mountains to the north, just across the river have three ski resorts, only about 15 minutes drive away. As the sun set, the ski runs lit up for night skiing, and looked very inviting.    I had a few jobs to do in the city, and walked into East Vancouver to look for one of the homeless shelters where I was hoping to volunteer for Christmas Day. I was absolutely amazed at how many homeless people there were in the area. Apparently they come to live in Vancouver because of the warm climate! It was freezing out there! It appears to be a pretty big problem here. That evening I met up with Jason and his wife Merryn, who had contacted me to offer to help out with my goal of snowboarding at Whistler, to the north of Vancouver. We wandered around Trinity Road, which is only two blocks from where I am staying, and looked at the Christmas lights on the houses there. The whole street holds a competition each year, and people come from all over the city to vote on the displays.    Afterwards they took me for a drive around the north shore, and up to one of the ski resorts in the mountains. The view of the city at night is beautiful. We drove back down and across Lions Gate Bridge and through Stanley Park. The next day I unpacked most of my gear from the RV, in order to prepare for my trip up to Whitehorse, where I suspect I am going to need every bit of clothing I have, and more. Average temperatures there in January are in the minus twenties Centigrade. I wanted to go and meet Christina, who had offered space for me to store the RV at her workplace while I am away up north, and so I managed to get the RV out of it's parking spot, and headed off to find Christina. Her and workmate Amy were keen to head into town for a drink or two, and before settling in a lovely Irish pub where we met Christina's boyfriend Jamie, we had a quick look at a gingerbread castle competition in the Hyatt Hotel! Very entertaining.    I woke this morning and it has snowed again. It is definitely going to be a white Christmas this year in Vancouver.
   So it is very exciting to be knee deep in snow this year. Merry Christmas from Vancouver!! Oh no, wait a minute, I can't say that, can I? I have been mystified in America as Christmas has approached, and I have seen many signs reading "Happy Holidays", and have been wished the same on many occasions by other people. I have asked a few people about this, and have been told that this began a few years ago. Apparently, not wanting to offend people of other religious beliefs, the powers-that-be decided that "Merry Christmas" was "too christian", and that "Happy Holidays" would be a much more acceptable form of greeting for all. Now, I am not someone who would wish to offend anyone else at all, but come on! - isn't this just political correctness gone mad? I would never be offended if anyone wished me "Happy Hanukkah", or any other form of cheery seasonal wishes, after all, surely the intention is more important, not the implied religious belief. This is a completely new concept to me, as in both the UK and Australia I have never come across this idea. So, without the slightest intention to cause any offence to anyone, from me, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.    There is alot of discussion of this on the internet, you can search for yourself, I will simply link to Wikipedia's impartial comments on the matter:- Wikipedia - Holiday Greetings
Vancouver is cold and snowy, and has a huge homeless population. I have talked with a few people here about the problem, and it seems that homeless people in Canada tend to end up in Vancouver, as it is warmer than most other places. Good grief - it's freezing cold here at the moment. The problem is huge, and tragically was brought to the headlines just a few days ago when a homeless woman burned to death trying to keep warm, by using a candle in her makeshift shelter: National Post Article The problem is only expected to get worse, with numbers of homeless here predicted to triple by the start of the Winter Olymics in 2010: CTV.ca Article So over the last couple of days I managed to track down a shelter that still wanted volunteers for Christmas Day, and was scheduled to help out from 8pm until midnight. As I headed down there I felt a bit guilty about the huge, delicious Christmas dinner I had enjoyed earlier with Denise and Duncan.  It was a cold and frosty night, and I drove carefully into the city and parked the RV, and made my way to "The Dugout". I arrived just before 8pm and entered the front door of the shelter, which looked like a very busy cafe, with a huge long line of people stretching out the back door. I looked for my contact Jackie, and soon found myself serving mashed potatoes, as the long line of people waiting to be fed continued to file past the counter. I chatted with the other volunteers to either side of me (peas and carrots to the left, and gravy to my right) and to the people in the queue. There was a really festive atmosphere, and everybody was having fun, and I enjoyed meeting the people we were there to help, but I could not help being staggered by the amount of people that filed through. They had been serving food since 7pm, and we continued to do so almost until 10pm. Jackie estimated that we had fed between 300 and 400 people! I feel a little ambivalent about the experience, and I think it is something that will stay with me for a long time. It certainly has given me food for thought, no pun intended. On one hand I am pleased to have achieved a goal, and glad to have helped out on Christmas Day, but am troubled by the fact that I can just walk away and get on wth the rest of my life. The people there simply do not have that choice. I talked with Jackie for a while about some of the problems she and her vounteers face, as the try to feed these unfortunate people every day. I am amazed and awed by their dedication, and their selfless generousity. It was an absolute priviledge to work with these people, even if only for a few hours, and to meet many of the people they are helping, who I would normally pass on the street with hardly a second thought! Very thought provoking!     So now it's Boxing Day morning (26th December), and I am getting ready to head to the airport. There is still alot of snow about, and apparently there has been a bit of flight chaos there. So I am now about to try to get the RV to the parking lot near the airport, and try to get up to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. I fear it might be a long day today! I am also slightly concerned about the temperatures up there. Averages in January are around -22 deg C. Just below zero here seems bad enough to me - I have become a bit soft having lived in lovely warm Perth in Australia for the last seven years! Oh dear, what was I thinking when I arranged to go to the Yukon Territory in winter?
Question 3 in section 3 came as a bit of a surprise. However, unlike many of the other questions, I did get this one right! Click on the image below to try the quiz for yourself. 
   I was met by Moe, who has long been encouraging me to come and visit to go dog-sledding, and after a quick drive around town we headed out to her home and kennels. She lives in a cabin way out in the woods that she built over the winter of 2005. Life up here is quite different to anything I have ever experienced before. The cabin does not have running water, and on the way there we had to stop at the local community hall to fill several large containers. There is no electricity supply, and power is supplied by batteries, which have to be regularly recharged by a small generator. Daylight lasts about six hours, from around 9.30am to 3.30pm, so headtorches are worn pretty much most of the rest of the time. And the bathroom, which is merely a pit-toilet is in a small outhouse with the walls covered in frost! Showers are at the local recreation centre about 50km away! And all heating is provided by a log-burning stove! By the time we got to the cabin it was already dark, and we went out to feed the dogs. Later on we played air hockey with Neighbour Kim, and it all got very competitive. The next morning we fed the dogs agin, and Moe picked the ten that would be our team for the day, and they were bundled into the dog box on top of the van, along with a huge amount of gear, and we were off into the wilderness.    Moe had geared me up with a big coat and waterproof trousers, and we a quick stop at a neighbour's kennel, on the edge of an amazingly beautiful, frozen lake, to collect some snowboots for me. We drove on and parked on the side of a snow-covered road that appeared to be in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and got the sled off the roof, and started gearing the dogs up.     Putting the harnesses on was fun, and the dogs seemed very well trained, and quite happy to have a fumbling stranger attempt to prepare them. Moe had eight dogs harnessed by the time I had managed to gear up the other two. We clipped them onto the gang line, which is attached to the sled, and the dogs seemed very excited, howling and barking, and pulling at the rope. I sat inside the sled, and Moe removed the anchor from the snow, and silence decended, as all the noise from the dogs stopped as they pulled as one, and we were off. We gilded along, the only sound being the runners of the sled rails on the snow, and the rattle of snow on the sled cover kicked back from the dogs feet. We travelled quickly at first, but the dogs soon settled, and steadied to a more even pace, and I sat happily watching the snow-covered world glide by. About twelve miles down the track we veered off the road into the trees and then into a clearing to turn the team around, and after a few dramas getting back on the track, which involved us both rolling around in the snow as the sled went over, we were heading back. Once sorted out, Moe pulled the dogs up, and we swapped places, and I stood on the small footpads on the rails, and felt like a real musher. I didn't have much to do really, as the dogs knew where they were going. My main role was to slow the sled a bit on the downhill sections, so the dogs didn't have to go too fast, but couldn't help giving them a shout off "Mush, mush!" on a flat section, which did spur them on a bit.     The whole experience was incredible, the surroundings beautiful, and I was so pleased to be able to try out something so different to anything I have tried before. Huge thanks to Moe for making this a reality.
It truly is a beautiful place, and the weather is not really at its best, as it has remained overcast, so I imagine it can be absolutely stunning in clear conditions. But to me, life here just seems to be an endless battle against the cold. The generator has to be brought inside the cabin when it isn't in use, otherwise it probably won't start. The fire has to be stoked before going out anywhere so that the cabin is still warm when you get back. A pot of water sits permanently on top of the stove - other than the gas stove-top, it is the only supply of hot water. And the car has to be plugged in to warm up - it has a special electric engine warmer - about half an hour before starting it, so that the oil isn't like sludge in the bottom of the engine. But despite the challenges it is still great fun. I try to remember to bring wood in for the heater when I venture to the outhouse. And I remembered that we had to stop to fill the seven water cans at the local community hall on the way back from town. The town itself is small but busy, and has a great choice of coffee shops and nice restaurants, although many are closed for the holiday season. I have had a busy few days here. I have been swimming at night in an outdoor pool, heated by hot spring water. It was about minus 25 outside, so wet hair froze solid within a couple of minutes, and had to be regularly defrosted by dipping it back in the water. Yesterday I went into the local CBC radio station for an interview for a local chat show. I managed to record part of the interview from the "and finally" section on the local news, and left the machine recording afterwards, and managed to catch the local area weather too. I am quite amused by the weather forecasts here, particularly when they predict "a high today of minus 31 (degrees Centigrade)" !! Press the "Play" button below to listen to the short interview clip and the weather report for today. The thermometer outside, near the outhouse shows -29 deg C, but is predicted to fall tonight!! After the radio interview, I was asked if I could do a piece for CBC TV too, and headed back into town for another interview today, which was shown at 6pm this evening on the local Canadian news programme. Once again, what a great adventure this all is!   
I am getting much better at harnessing the dogs, and between us we were set up pretty quickly, and were off into the trees. Moe took the sled on the way out, and I sat in as passenger, and we followed the twisting and turning track through the most beautiful winter scenery.    Eventually we turned onto a road, and swapped places, and I drove back along the road, then turned back into the woods to follow another track back. I experimented a bit with trying to steer the sled, and managed to avoid all the trees on the return journey. It was the most incredible experience, so beautiful and quiet. It was almost exactly as I had imagined dog sledding would be before heading up to Whitehorse, and I felt very proud when we arrived back at the kennels without any sort of trouble. Once again, huge thanks to Moe for making such a wonderful experience possible. This particular ride was certainly one of the highlights of the week.    New Year's Eve was pretty quiet. Moe's kids arrived and we played games and listened to music, and at midnight we all ran around the outside of the house in bare feet. The thermometer outside showed minus 28 deg C !! Very cold on the toes, which took some thawing out in front of the stove. The generator had to come into the cabin overnight so that it would start at 5.30 in the morning, in order to be able to turn the engine block heater in the car engine on, so that the car could be started by 6am. I was dropped at the airport by 7am, and am now back in Vancouver, where the temperature is a balmy and summery-feeling plus 1 deg C. The first thing I did back at Denise and Duncan's house was have the longest, hottest shower. What absolute luxury! Living Moe's wintery Whitehorse lifestyle for almost a week has certainly given me a great appreciation for life's little comforts!  Happy New Year!! I hope you all get to achieve some of your goals in 2009.
That was a brief session of only two hours, and is the only time I have been on a snowboard in the last three years. So before coming up to Whistler, about two hours north of Vancouver, I should have perhaps done a little more exercise in preparation for the slopes than I actually have. I don't think that sitting in the driving seat of the RV for hours on end is the best form of snowboarding preparation! So when I came up to Whistler yesterday with Jason and Jonathon, I guess I was not quite as fit for boarding as I could have been. They are both keen skiers, and even though I got the impression that they were taking things easy for the day, I struggled to keep up with them, and by the end of my first day on the slopes my legs were like jelly! However, I still had a brilliant day! The snow was good, although still a bit thin in places, and we covered both sides of the twin resort, spending time on both Blackcomb and Whistler itself, which is made very easy by the new Peak 2 Peak gondola joining the two summits. Visibility was pretty good, and for a few minutes it looked like the sun might try to come out, but it never quite made it. Later in the afternoon it got a bit windier, and temperatures at the top of a couple of the chairlifts reached -17 deg C. With the wind it felt even colder. And I thought I had escaped this sort of thing when I left Whitehorse!    At the end of the day, after a bite to eat, Jason and Jonathon dropped me off at the hostel I had booked into for a couple of evenings, and then they headed for home. I am planning on staying up here for a couple of extra days. I was up early today and back out onto the slopes first thing. It was very quiet for the first few runs before the resort started to fill again for the day, and I had some great runs while my legs still felt in reasonably good shape. As the day wore on visibility reduced, and the snow started falling, and my last run of the day was down an almost deserted stretch of piste covered in fresh powder - fantastic!    There is alot of fresh snow on the ground this evening, and tomorrow, my last on the slopes here, should be a great day. Many thanks to Jason and Jonathon for getting me here, and joining in on a great day on the slopes.
It snowed for much of Sunday night, so there was fresh powder everywhere as I got to the top of the Whistler gondola. The sky had just cleared, showing blue through some of the ever increasing gaps, and before long the sun was out. There wasn't a breath of wind, and the slopes were almost empty for the first few runs. My legs were feeling pretty good, despite the abuse I had given them over the previous two days.    This is what I had come for. The morning was one of the best I have had in the mountains, and I have enjoyed some excellent days in the past. I imagine I had a huge grin on my face for most of the morning, and I made the most of the conditions, fitting in as many rides as I could. By lunchtime my legs were feeling a bit wobbly, and I took a well earned break, before hitting the slopes again in the afternoon. The first run I did after lunch is a steep black run called "Dave Webster Downhill", and is the run that will be used for the Men's Downhill and Men's Super G Slalom in the Winter Olympics in 2010. It is incredible to think how straight and fast those guys will be coming down it in competition. It really is very steep in places.    I ended up riding right until the last lift stopped ferrying people back up the mountain. As I got to the top for the last time, I decided to take the new Peak 2 Peak gondola across to Blackcomb, and enjoyed the spectacular ride across the valley in much clearer conditions than my first trip across. The Peak 2 Peak boasts the world's longest single-span between two towers, a distance of 3.024km (1.88miles), which is quite amazing to see.    My last run down was fantastic, as most people had already headed down, and there were only a few of us stragglers still up on the hill. There is always the last-ride conflict, where you want to get in the best possible run and milk the most out of the end of your holiday, versus the fact that you are dog-tired, and at the point where you are probably most likely to hurt yourself! I managed to find a happy balance, riding as fast as my poor legs could manage, falling a few times as I was pretty worn out, but eventually arriving at the bottom in one piece, although with a fair bit of snow stuffed up my jacket. What a fantastic day! 
I had earlier considered going to Calgary, where it is possible to ride the bobsleigh run by paying the appropriate fee, but the flight to Calgary from Whitehorse, and the bus back to Vancouver made this a very expensive proposition, and I decided to trust to fate, and hope to be able to get a ride at Whistler. The track at Whistler is now the fastest in the world, and I had contacted the information office to see if I would be able to get a ride there. Not a chance! I also tried the Canadian bobsleigh team, no response from them, and the Jamaican team, who I had heard may be training there at the moment. I did get a reply from Winston, the Captain/Pilot of the Jamaican team - unfortunately they are training elsewhere at the moment. So this morning I was collected from my hostel by Lorna, another website contact, who was very keen to help me to try to achieve Goal #27. We drove up to the Sliding Centre, but the place had a great big "CLOSED" sign at the entrance. Undeterred, we parked up and took a wander through the gate. There was a Visitor Centre, but not a soul around, so we took a walk up towards the track. There we found a guy clearing some snow, and got chatting to him. He turned out to be a bobsleigh pilot, and was very helpful and friendly. "There is only skeleton practice on today unfortunately," he told us, "but you can watch some of that if you like." Skeleton is where the rider goes headfirst down the track on something about the size of a tea-tray, with rails on the bottom.    We stood pretty close to the finish line, and watched the exit of the sixteenth and final corner of the track. We could hear the approach of the skeleton, and as it came out of the final corner, I could not believe my eyes. It was going so fast! The rider shot past us a metre or so away, and I was staggered. The second rider came down the run, and we watched again, open mouthed as he crashed spectacularly coming out of the corner, and slid past us at high speed, separated from his skeleton. I had a chat to the rider as he waited to recover his tea-tray, which had slid back down the track. He was unhurt and seemed pretty casual about the whole unfortunate incident. "I won't be making that mistake again!" he laughed. Take a look at the crash in the short video below:- So the end result was that I am no closer to achieving my goal of having a ride in a bobsleigh, and have merely managed to scare myself a bit more about the whole idea. It all looks well and good when you see it on TV, but up close the speed is incredible! We had a quick wander aound the village of Whistler itself before heading back to Vancouver. Many thanks to Lorna, who drove down from the mountains in pretty terrible snowy conditions, and did very well to get us safely back down without incident. We saw quite a few vehicles on the road that hadn't been so lucky, including one guy who looked like he had slid into the front of a snowplough! It's a shame the goal was not achieved at this time, but then where would the sense of satisfaction come from if everything was easy?
I had tried to contact eBay before my website went live, but without any luck. They have an almost impenetrable system of online help services that make it practically impossible to speak to a real living person. I wasn't too worried though, as I was actually listing physical assets, such as my house and it's contents. Within a week of launching the website I was surprised to find an online interview in which an eBay represantative was questioned about my auction. They were obviously aware then of what I was proposing to do, and as I had hoped, seemed to have no issues with it. I made further efforts to get to speak to someone personally at eBay, as I still had many questions on the practicalities of how I would like to do things, and eventually I was rewarded when I was contacted by Matthew, one of the Australia help reps. Finally I had a direct line to someone who could answer all of my questions, and help get things set up efficiently with plenty of time to spare. Matthew and I spoke many times in the months running up to the auction, and I found out that he is actually based in Vancouver, but works Australian business hours. When I finally decided what I would be doing after the auction ended, and realised that I would be passing through Vancouver at some point, we decided that we should try to meet up when I did. And so this morning Matthew flew back in from his winter break in Hawaii, and came to collect me. We headed down into the city, and went to Granville Island Markets for a look around and to see the city from the south-western side. After lunch Matthew took me to an interesting ice cream shop. Before Christmas, Jason and Merryn had taken me there after our Vancouver tour, but the place had been closed - it is obviusly well known and loved by locals. The International Ice Cream Factory is hidden away on an industrial estate and as a tourist you would never find it without local help. They serve 218 different ice cream flavours, and are well known for some of the very unusual ones they create. I tried Apple Wasabi, which was surprisingly good. The Chili Chocolate was very spicy, and I was tempted. I could not resist trying Garlic, but was not very keen - it would not be my choice today. Finally I settled on a two-scoop combination, one Rice flavour, and one Curry! I was really quite nice, but I couldn't decide whether it was like eating a main course or a dessert!    Matthew is one of the people on my list that I wanted to meet from ALife4Sale, and as such brings me a step closer to completing my "Meet ten new people from ALife4Sale" goal. I am pretty sure that I have now met many more than ten new people, but there are still a couple left to track down and meet.  Thanks for the tour guide services Matthew, good to finally put a face to the name.
The tale of his tequila-inspired bet, and ensuing long-term adventure to win the bet really appealed to my sense of humour, and to my sense of adventure too. It reminded me alot of some of the daft things my good friend Bruce and I had made bets about, and of the lengths either of us would go to in order to win the bet, although nothing ever quite on the scale of Dave's quest for proof. Bruce had his big moment of glory after trawling through several estate agents' old files to find a picture of the house I had been trying to sell. Outside the front of the house, in the estate agent's photo, the shape of the front of my previous car, a bright orange Opel Manta, was clearly visible. How could I possibly have thought it was pointed at the front? Not long afterwards, after a couple of hours in the local reference library (this is long before the internet was available!), a thorough search turned up the origins of the phrase, "At the drop of a hat!" and I won my pound back! The next time I came across Dave Gorman was early on in my 100goals trip. While in Spain, staying with Graham and his family in Valencia in order to go to the Tomatina Festival, Graham's daughter Maria insisted that I should watch Dave's DVD "Googlewhack Adventure". It is a brilliant tale of internet-inspired madness and travel, and is so much more random than the travels I had just set out on that it makes my haphazard adventures look like a well-organised military campaign! His advenures also have the same "Hey, wait a minute, I've got a great idea..." feel about them that my current wanderings have for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed his telling of his adventure. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in life's random connections and co-incidences. So I arrived in Vancouver just before Christmas, and had been invited by Denise to come and stay with her and her husband Duncan in their lovely house. On the evening I met them, I asked Denise a couple of questions that I tend to ask most of the people who offer to help me out. One of my first questions was, "What is it that has prompted to contact some random internet stranger, and offer to help them out?" "Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure!" she answered immediately. "Sorry?" I asked. It is not one of the usual answers that I get to this particular question! Denise explained that she had recently read Dave's Googlewhack book, and as a result had decided to allow more of life's random adventures happen, and be more spontaneous. She had been following my blog for a while, and the downstairs studio that they rented out had just become vacant. And so once again I found myself being very well looked after in a new city because of a fairly random set of connections and co-incidences. Thanks Dave, I probably wouldn't have had such a great place to stay if it wasn't for you! And thanks again to Denise and Duncan, I have had a great time here in Vancouver, but once again it is time to move on. I am heading back south down the west coast towards San Francisco again, where I hope to find somewhere to store the RV for 6 months or so, until my return to the States in the summer. I hope I don't have as much trouble getting back into America as I did getting into Canada! More on Dave Gorman here:- http://www.davegorman.com/
At one point during the interview I was sternly told, "You can't get another I-94 after this one, you know, until you've been back to Australia!" "Righto, no problem," I said. "...so what's an I-94?" Apparently it's the travel visa I need to be allowed back into America. All ended well though, my passport was stamped, and I headed back into the land of the free. I headed south down past Seattle and made a stop off at Tacoma to take a look at the Museum of Glass, which had been closed as I had passed through heading northwards. The live glass-blowing that was being performed in the huge kiln room was pretty interesting. A couple more days of driving, and a couple of overnight stops at the ever-handy Walmart carparks has almost got me back to San Francisco, where I now plan to store the RV for the next six months. Next stop Hawaii. Looking forward to some warmer weather again.
The documentary about the construction of the dam was very interesting. It showed a huge tower that had been used to suspend a cable to transport the huge buckets of concrete. When the dam was finished they cut the tower off at it's base, as low as they could, but occasionally when the water level is low, the base of the structure can still be seen. The water level is very low right now, as there has been very little rain recently, and the remains of the tower is clearly visible high above the water level.    In Fairfield, about 40 miles north of San Francisco, we met up with Cindy and Trevor again. Along with Steven, Cindy's husband, they had walked across the Golden Gate Bridge with me over a month before. Cindy had suggested that I should call in there to visit the Jelly Belly factory on the way through, and this suggestion had been enthusiastically backed up by Susan. So we met at the entrance to the factory, where we queued to go on the tour, and then spent quite some time tasting the incredible range of Jelly Belly flavours. There are some very unusual ones, and a great "menu" which gives suggestions for mixing the different flavours. For example, eating one Mango, one Crushed Pineapple and one Jalapeno Jelly Belly would give you a Mango Pineapple Salsa! Have a look on the Jelly Belly website for further informaton:- www.JellyBelly.com    Before I left Vancouver, where I had a great internet connection at the house, I sent a few emails to San Francisco-based storage companies, and managed to find one who would be happy to store the RV for me, in return for a mention on the website. I had talked to Scotty on the phone, and went to visit Bridge Storage, a family-run storage place in Richmond, just to the north of San Francisco. Their facility looked great, and they have very kindly offered to look after my RV for the next six months until I return in the summer.  And so today I have parked up the RV and have left it now in the safe hands of the team at Bridge Storage, and have a flight booked for first thing tomorrow to The Big Island in Hawaii. I have also booked to go diving with manta rays on Friday night, and am very excited! For more details, see here: Manta Ray Night Dive
But behind the scenes Debbie, the most organised person I have ever met, was arranging things for me. I met Debbie a month ago in Gold Beach in Oregon, where she had arranged several activities for me, including achieving two goals that I had not expected to achieve on this part of my journey. Debbie had contacted Becky at the Big Island Visitors Bureau, and Becky had been very busy trying to arrange things for my visit here. By the time I had arrived in Honolulu, and was waiting for my transfer flight, Becky had arranged a tour for me to go and see the volcano here on the island. She had also managed to arrange possible accomodation at a luxury resort, but the "press rate" of $121 per night was unfortunately well outside my price range! Online I had found a backpackers place offering dorm room beds at $25 per night! As I flew into The Big Island I rang Becky, and she told me that she possibly had some other accomodation arranged, but that I would be needing a car to get there. However, she said, the Big Island Visitors Bureau were willing to offer assistance with car hire costs. All was looking really good. At the tiny airport there are shuttle buses for all the car hire companies, and I spoke to several of the bus drivers. Apparently there is some big conference on the island at the moment, and none of the companies had any vehicles available. I finally found one driver that said they did have vehicles, but only big jeeps or convertibles, at over $100 per day. Again, this was well outside my budget, even with the assistance the bureau were prepared to offer. A taxi to go five miles into town was going to cost about $20 - it all seems very expensive here - so I walked out of the airport with my bags, up to the main road, and stuck my thumb out. I soon got a lift into town with Ed, who dropped me off at his friend Ken's business, Affordable Rentals. Ken soon had me sorted out with a jeep at $55 per day, and I was off. Becky had arranged a place for me to stay at no cost, and gave me details on where to meet Barbara, the owner of Dragonfly Ranch. After a bit of a mix up I finally found Barbara, and made my way to her establishment. There I met a group of German sound healers, led by Christian Bollman, who are here to enjoy an alternative holiday, sampling different healing and relaxation techniques, as well as learning about Hawaiian culture.    The place is pretty full, so my accomodation is up the hill behind the house, where I have a bed on the floor in the middle of a labyrinth painted on the floor of a huge open-air shelter. I took a shower just before bed, which was an absolutely fantastic experience. The shower is completely open, in the middle of a lush area of bushland, but somehow has heated water. It was completely dark, with the only light visible being from the house far down the hill, and I could have stood under the water for hours looking up at the vast array of stars in the incredibly clear night sky above me. I woke early this morning to the sounds of the island birds, and was pretty awed by the beautiful view from the balcony of my labyrinth.    I got up and moved my bed out of the way, and walked the labyrinth path to the centre, and sat there looking out over the bushland and ocean, thinking about this amazing adventure I am on, and the experiences it keeps on offering me. 
So with a free schedule I spent a bit of time looking around Dragonfly Ranch and chatting to Barbara, and then headed off to the beach with Henrik, another visitor to the ranch. At the beach I snorkelled around with the gear that Barbara had lent me, and saw quite a few exotic fish, including colourful angelfish and parrotfish. I was amazed to find turtles right there in the shallows swimming happily around the feet of people wandering in the water.    Upon my return to Dragonfly Ranch, Henrik offered me a holistic healing session, which involved laying on a massage table while he did his hands-on stuff. It was very relaxing, and I think I slipped off to sleep a bit, and felt pretty good afterwards. Next was a tarot reading from Penny Clement. She asked if there was any aspect of my life in which I was looking for some answers. I didn't quite know where to start, as I sort of see this whole trip as a bit of a search for answers, although I am a little vague myself on what my actual questions are! Anyway, I picked a topic that I feel I do need quite a bit of clarification on, and Penny had me pick cards and lay them out. I was very interested in the cards that came up, and very impressed with Penny's interpretation and discussion of them. She is a very intuitive and empathetic person, and she certainly gave me alot of food for thought, and alot of insight into some of the things that have been on my mind recently. Penny has made the designs for all the cards herself, and they can all be seen at her website. For your interest, and as a reminder to me, these are the five cards that came up for me from the first deck.  The evening at Dragonfly Ranch was interesting, with a big meal being put on for the group, and alot of extra visitors turning up for an evening of music and singing. Eventually I headed to bed, as it's an early start this morning for the volcano tour.   
This had been organised by Becky at the Big Island Visitors Bureau, in response to contact from Debbie in Oregon about my visit here. We drove across the island, and Danny told us stories of the history and culture of Hawaii, as well as facts on volcanos, and the formation of the Hawaiian Islands chain. Our first volcano stop was to overlook the huge Kilauea Caldera, a crater which is three miles long and two miles wide. Smoke seeps out of cracks in the floor, and the whole scene is quite other-worldly.    Next we took a walk through a lava tube, which is formed when flowing lava develops a skin over the top, but continues to run underneath the surface, forming a tube of flowing molten rock. When the lava stops flowing, an empty rock tube remains, and these can often be miles long. We also took a look into the smaller Kilauea Ika Crater, and behind that we could see the huge plume of sulphur dioxide which the volcano has been producing for months.    Or final stop of the day was to see the spectacular point where flowing lava reaches the sea. At the water's edge, the lava instantly boils the seawater, which causes a huge steam cloud. We were very fortunate to be able to see this, which has been occuring at this point only for a matter of weeks, as for the previous few days the wind has been blowing in the wrong direction, and the road has been closed due to the danger. However, today the wind shifted, and the road was opened again - perfect timing. Where the lava meets the water there are often explosions, with new rock being thrown high in the air. As the lava meets the water, it is cooled and solidifies, and becomes new rock, and the Big Island continues to get bigger - what an amazing process to see in action.    The whole experience was quite incredible, and the views stunning. Huge thanks to all who have helped make this possible, Debbie for acting so efficiently as my personal organiser, Becky for arranging the trip for me, Danny for his incredibly well-informed guiding services, and all at Hawaii Forest and Trail, and Barbara for her kind offer of accomodation for my stay here.
So I was up early again this morning and headed for the harbour just north of Kona. The sun was just rising as I headed up the coast in the open-topped Jeep, and the radio station that I had found was playing reggae music, and I had a big grin on my face. This place is beautiful, and is growing on me very quickly. Bill and Linda, owners and operators of Captain Zodiac, had very kindly offered me a position on the morning trip, and along with the other guests, I headed down to the Zodiac, which is a rigid-hulled boat, with inflated side tubes. It had twin 150 HP outboards, and looked like it would be pretty fast. We were all introduced to our captain for the day, Colin, and his first mate Kyle, who soon made us at home, got us all settled, and we were off. Once out of the harbour we entered the ocean swell, which was still pretty big, although had died down a bit from previous couple of days. The big seas had kept Captain Zodiac ashore yesterday and had been the reason for the manta ray dive being cancelled the evening before. Within five minutes of leaving the harbour, Colin spotted whales spouting, and we headed over to take a look at what turned out to be a mother and calf pair of humpback whales. We couldn't get too close, and they didn't stay on the surface too long, so we pushed on. Conditions were choppy, and the speed of the boat made for an exhilirating ride. Eventually we pulled into a sheltered bay, called Kealakekua Bay which is where Captain Cook met his untimely demise. There we saw several dolphins, before getting in for a snorkel over the colourful coral reef. Underwater pix by Kyle.       On the return journey we followed the coastline, and stopped to watch the waves pounding against the shore, and shooting high into the air. It was quite fantastic to get in close to such incredible power. A phrase that Moe had used to describe where she lived up Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory came to mind - raw and powerful. Although it now seems like it was a long time ago, it was only a couple of weeks back that I was up there to go dog-sledding, and the temperature was right at the opposite end of the scale! It's nice to be back in shorts and a t-shirt!    Just before we headed back in we saw another couple of humpbacks rolling around on the surface, and stopped to watch for a while. I tried to take a couple of photos, but they were a bit too far away, but to see them was fantastic. Once again, thanks to all who helped make this possible, including all the wonderful staff and crew at Captain Zodiac.
I had a very interesting tarot card reading with Penny yesterday, and when Troy Parkinson offered to do a "medium mystic reading" with me, I was very keen to give it a try, although, as I have often stated previously, I consider myself an open-minded skeptic on such matters. Troy is a documnetary film-maker, and I had got on well with him during my time at Dragonfly Ranch. He is staying there while he is waiting for a mother-to-be to give birth by natural means, an event which he is filming for a documentary. I had wondered if I might be able to achieve my goal of seeing a baby being born, but my time on the island was very tight. Mum would have to be very much on time for things to work out for me. I considered Troy to be very grounded and scientific, and was surprised when he said that he offered spiritual readings, and passed on messages from the other side. So this morning we found somewhere quiet, and sat down together, and Troy explained what would happen, and how he works. It all sounded very interesting, and I tried to be as unskeptical as possible, but Troy suggested that my skepticism was a good thing, and didn't mind it at all. Troy's session was very interesting, and he told me what he heard and saw from two different people, as well as from a spirit guide. I am still not sure about the peole we heard from, as some things he said rang true, some things I will need to check up on. The most amazing part of the session though was when he started talking about spirit guides, and a small gecko, missing it's front left foot ran across the table chasing an insect, and caught it. The gecko sat for ten minutes or more in front of Troy, seemingly watching him, and did not flinch or move at all as Troy gesticulated over and around it to illustrate his points. It just sat there looking at him calmly.    The gecko wandered around the table, right up to my hand, and as Troy wound up, it wandered away towards the edge of the table. I really was quite astounded, as I have often looked at these beautiful creatures, but find that they almost always run away pretty quickly. Troy recorded the session, and has given me a recording of it, and I will take another listen as soon as I can. I am also interested in getting comments and info from a couple of other family members, and may put the recording online if these people are happy for me to do so. I think, like Penny, Troy is very intuitive and empathetic, and of course had learned quite a bit about me and my journey during the few days we both spent at Dragonfly Ranch, but I still have the feeling that there was something more to this particular session, and am very keen to follow up with further investigation. Troy's comments certainly gave me alot to think about. Afterwards it was time for me to leave Dragonfly Ranch, as my hire car is now due back, and I have a very full day of interesting and adventurous activities planned. My thanks once again to Troy, and of course to Barbara for her wonderful hospitality. If you are ever heading to the Big Island, and want to stay somewhere quite unique, you may wish to consider the Dragonfly Ranch.
So this morning I met with her father, Michael, operator of "Atlantis X" in Kona, number ten of a fleet of fifteen such subs worldwide. I was running slightly late, and Michael and I headed quickly down to the pier, where we boarded the boat which would take us out to the sub. Atlantis X is quite impressively large, with large viewing ports, and once seated, we went through dive proceedures, and were soon underwater. We glided along the reef wall, and the knowledgable guide pointed out all sorts of fish, coral, and other interesting features.    We got down to an impressive depth of 114 feet at the deepest part of the dive, which is deeper than most scuba divers ever get to, and could see that the water had filtered all of the colour out of the light, and everything appeared in a bluish monotone. The surface was no longer visible far above us.    The dive was over all too soon, and we resurfaced and were collected by the boat again. Michael told me some pretty interesting facts. They have done over 32,000 dives with that particular submarine, and over 11 million dives worldwide, but as a new member of the sumbariners club, I had just joined a very exclusive one tenth of one percent of the world's population who have been down in a submarine. Thanks to both Karin and Michael, and all at Atlantis Submarines for a fantastic voyage to the bottom of the sea (...well, not quite the bottom, but quite a way down, anyway!) Photo credit:- thanks to Tom, Atlantis Sub's official photographer for the first pic of myself with Michael.
However, two people informed me of the possibility of manta ray diving here in Kona, on the Big Island. Kathy suggested it as a possibility, and Melissa sent me a link to Jack's Diving Locker, where she had done the manta dive a couple of times. Jack's Diving Locker do a night dive with the manta rays, and I contacted them to book for Friday night, but unfortunately the weather prevented any diving that evening, and the trip was re-scheduled for Monday - last night! The whole trip started just after lunch, when I went to the dive shop to get a lift out to the harbour. There we were all geared up, and around 4pm we headed out of the harbour, a little nervous as we had just seen a big swordfish towed in to be weighed with a couple of huge shark bites taken out of it!    The first dive was a daylight dive on the reef, and our guide Joe took our little group of six around and showed us all sorts of fish, and a couple of moray eels too.    After a quick bite to eat as the sun set we geared up again, with torches this time, and dived down to about 40 feet, and joined a circle of other divers on the bottom. We waited a while, and suddenly a manta gracefully swooped into the circle and swam around, feeding on the plankton drawn by the lights.    It wasn't a huge one, perhaps 8 feet from wingtip to wingtip, but it was so graceful and spectacular as it glided around the circle, swooping again and again right over the heads of those with the brightest torches.    I moved around the circle to join Keller, one of our group's instructors, as he had some very bright lights, and the amazing creature passed a couple of times less than a foot above us. Eventually our circle broke up and set off to explore the reef, and towards the end of the dive there was only Joe, myself and Jason, one of the other customers left with air, and the manta rejoined the three of us. It swept by so close, and on one pass rubbed right across the top of my head. On the surface Joe climbed aboard the boat, and the manta joined Jason and I again, right below us. We held together and shone our torches together to gather the plankton, and this amazing huge creature did beautiful back summersaults right below us, coming within inches as it turned over and over, like an incredible underwater ballet. I could have stayed for hours watching it, but we were eventually called in to the boat to head back to shore. What an incredibly moving experience, to be so close to such a gentle giant. Thanks to all from Jack's Diving Locker, including the instructors and crew aboard the boat, Keller, Joe, Mungo and Bob. Also thanks to Harvey, who very kindly let me copy his underwater pictures from his rented camera, and any underwater shots above are his, not mine. Note: Keller has a great video of the mantas in action on the Jack's Diving Locker webpage, although not from my evening with them:- Jack's Diving Locker What an evening... ah, but it wasn't over yet... to be continued...
Magic: [maj·ik]: adj. - Mysteriously enchanting. I had done a longish telephone interview with Carolyn, who writes for the West Hawaii Today newspaper, the previous day, but wasn't sure when the piece might appear. At lunchtime I discovered from three different sources simultaneously that I had made the front page! Before heading to the dive shop for the manta ray dive, I had lunch in Lava Java, and checked my email, finding a link to the article from Carolyn. As I read the article online my phone rang - Matthew from Jack's Diving Locker - he had seen it in the newspaper. And as I chatted to Matthew on the phone, I saw the cafe waitress with the paper in her hand, looking at me and pointing at the picture there, silently mouthing, "Is that you?" I took a look at the newspaper, and was very pleased to see that I shared the front page with Barrack Obama himself!  You can read the article online here. Matthew had been intrigued by the piece, and of course had read that I was diving with them that evening. He told me that he had done much the same as me about four years ago when his marriage had failed, and gone travelling for seven months: "Best thing I ever did!" he told me. He had talked to his boss Andy, and offered to take me on their Pelagic Magic dive, if Andy would allow him to. Andy said yes, and we arranged to meet at around 10pm, after the manta dive. When I had initially gone into the dive shop last week, cameraman Steve had tried to convince me that the Pelagic dive was the dive to do in Hawaii. He was also keen to come along for the evening. So I met up with Matthew and Steve, and after a quick briefing we headed out into darkness about three miles offshore. There they geared me up with a flashlight, clipped me onto a weighted line hanging fifty feet down into the dark waters, and asked if I was happy to head on down alone.  I'm afraid I couldn't back down from the challenge, and in I went, despite feeling quite apprehensive. It was very dark as I descended alone, and as I reached the bottom of the line, I looked up and could barely make out the boat far above. All around was completely black, and shining the light down between my feet showed nothing at all as far as I could see. I was very aware of the fact that there was about a mile deep of black water below me. Occasionally I would see a small fish pass through the light far below, and it was very difficult not to let the imagination run wild. I was glad when Steve joined me with his camera. There were some very unusual creatures to see, some very small, some a bit bigger, none of them like anything I have ever seen before! They were incredibly beautiful, and in the torchlight, lit up in the brightest irridescent colours.    We stayed down for as long as our air lasted, around 45 minutes, and eventually returned to the surface cold but elated at having experienced something so unique. It took me quite a while to get to sleep last night when they dropped me off at the backpackers hostel where I was staying for the night! Thanks to both Matthew, for organising the dive, and to Steve, who takes all credit for the brilliant photographs. And thanks too to Andy of Jack's Diving Locker for allowing these guys to give me the opportunity to experience this unique dive.  More pictures from Matthew, not from this dive, but of some of the beautiful creatures he has seen down there:-       More of Matthew's pictures here:- www.pelagicphotography.com More of Steve's pictures here:- www.naceland.com
I got up and found the TV on quietly in the common room, with only one other person watching the inauguration ceremony for the new president. We sat and watched while the rest of the hostel still slept. My timing was perfect, as I was just in time to watch the last couple of speeches, and then the official swearing-in. After breakfast I walked up to the main highway with my bags, and stuck my thumb out again, heading back to the airport. I had to wait awhile in the hot sun, but eventually got a lift with Kevin, who took me right to my destination - Mauna Loa Helicopters flight training school. While I was aboard with Captain Zodiac a couple of days before, I got chatting with Kyle, who was working as first mate aboard the boat. When I asked what had brought him to Hawaii, he told me that he worked full-time as a helicopter instructor, and helped out at the weekends at Captain Zodiac. "Really?" I said. "A helicopter instructor? Fancy that. One of my goals is to take the controls of a helicopter in flight." "Really?" he replied. "Maybe we can make that happen. I'll have a word with my boss." So this morning, after a quick briefing, Kyle took me up on a flight along the coast in a little red Robinson R22 two-seater helicopter. We took off and hovered a couple of feet off the ground at the airport while we waited for clearance, and Kyle bravely let me try to hover the helicopter. He had to step in quickly on the controls a couple of times, as the machine swayed about all over the place, with very little in the way of positive control from me at all. Once cleared we rose quickly and followed the main highway south, and at 500 feet Kyle handed the controls over to me to try straight-and-level flying, which was a little easier. He still had to step in to make corrections, but as time passed he did so less and less, and I started to get a bit of a feel for it.    I was slightly alarmed when Kyle let go of everything, and picked up my camera and started snapping away, but I concentrated on what I was doing, and seemed to manage okay. We continued south along the coast with me at the controls for quite a bit of the time, with regular verbal input and occasional manual input from Kyle. At the point where we were due to turn around we found the Captain Zodiac boat near the cliffs, and Kyle flew us around it a couple of times as I filmed and waved. On the way back Kyle demonstrated a dead-engine landing, and then helped me on the approach to the airport. I tried hovering again, and did slightly better than my first try, but it is quite alarming how quickly the thing can get out of hand. One over-correction and it is all over the place, with Kyle quickly having to sort out my mess.    What a brilliant experience. Huge thanks to Kyle, who was incredibly cool and patient, and also to Mauna Loa Helicopters, who offered me the opportunity at a very competitive rate. So this brings my time on The Big Island to an end, as I am now sat at the airport itself, just along the road from the helicopter school, waiting for my flight back to Oahu. I have had an extraordinary time here, and have experienced so much here in such a short time. Much of it is thanks to Debbie, her wonderful organisation, and her initial contact with Becky at the Big Island Tourism Bureau. I still continue to be amazed, excited and immensely grateful for the way things just seem to work out so well for me. For example, the set of connections that today led to achieving Goal 28 started with Debbie's interest in my goals way back in June. I then got to meet her in Oregon, and achieve a couple of goals with her help. She happens to have lived in Hawaii, and made some enquiries here on my behalf. This led her to Becky, who I did not even meet. Becky arranged, among other things, a trip on Captain Zodiac's boat, which wasn't one of my goals, but sounded like great fun. On the boat one of the staff just happens to be a helicopter instructor, and in our random chat this came up! And he had some free time just hours before I am due to fly out. Wonderful! And of course, thanks again also to all the people I have met in this beautiful place. I love it here, and I am sure I will be back sometime soon. Aloha!
   At the airport I had a while to wait before I would possibly be picked up by my Honolulu contacts, and I decided to get the bus into the city, as the fare was only $2, and I thought I might find an internet cafe to check emails. The bus arrived, and I had the misfortune to meet the rudest bus driver I have ever encountered. A poor Japanese girl only had a ten dollar note, but received no help from the obnoxious driver. I had enough change to change the ten dollar note, and did so. As we quickly changed our money, the bus driver started telling me I couldn't get on the bus. He did not want me on his bus with my rucksac! "No big bags!" he said. I could not believe it. "We're at an airport!" The driver did not care, and I looked down the bus, which contained no more than ten passengers, with so many empty seats. "Will I be inconveniencing anyone? I don't think so!" It didn't matter, I wasn't getting on. "Where is the Aloha spirit I have heard so much about?" I asked. "Oh yeah, Aloha," he said, full of sarcasm. As I stepped off the bus he shut the doors and drove off, leaving the lady who was waiting behind me, who was as furious as I was. At the moment I am still waiting to hear back from the bus company, as I rang their customer service department immediately, but they were closed. So be warned, if coming to Honolulu, pack light, or plan on getting a taxi! Anyway, a couple of minutes later I got a call from Matt, saying he could pick me up shortly, and he and his wife Jackie soon arrived at the airport, and took me to their apartment in Diamond Head, near the famous Waikiki Beach. Matt and Jackie moved here from Washington DC back in October last year, because they were keen to experience a different lifestyle, and did not want to look back later in life with any regrets. They had come across my story, and were happy to offer a place for me to stay as I pass through this way. They now live directly on the ocean in a fantastic place, and my accomodation for the next few days is on the sofa here, with the most amazing sea view.    So today I have spent most of my time lounging around on the balcony and catching up on emails and blogs, and planning my forthcoming visit to Japan. It has been really nice to just stop for a day and relax a bit. However, I did manage to get out this afternoon and take a stroll into Waikiki, where I found a couple of places that do outrigger canoe rides in the surf at pretty reasonable rates, so it looks like the next goal should be relatively easy to achieve. I am waiting until the weekend, hopefully to gather a couple more of my local internet contacts and get a group together to ride the surf with.
I wrote a bit about it some time ago, and you can read that if you wish here:- Bowel cancer goal details page My stated goal is to raise a sum of $50,000 for bowel cancer research and awareness, and my chosen charity is the Bowel Cancer and Digestive Research Institute, which is based in Sydney, Australia. I have been in touch with them, and they are being very supportive of my goal, and have written a bit about me on their website, which you can see by clicking here, and then clicking on the "Fundraising" tab on that page. They have also set up an online donation facility too, which you can find here. Please use the reference Ian Usher in the "Name of Event" section. Any donation is very gratefully received, and no matter what it is you will be an important part of helping me to achieve one of my goals, as well as helping to raise awareness about a treatable killer. Bowel cancer is treatable if discovered early enough, and can be screened for with a simple test. It is recommended that anybody over 50 should be tested, and people with a family history of bowel cancer should be tested from an earlier age. My dad died when I was 30 years old. After he died our doctor suggested that both myself and my brother should be regularly screened for bowel cancer from the age of 40. I am now 45, and this is one of those things that just seems to get put off again and again. I keep saying I am going to get round it, but as yet never have. So I have now made a booking for my first screening, due in mid February as soon as I fly in to Sydney. I can't say that I am looking forward to it, but I am pleased that I have actually made the committment. My dad's death had a huge impact on me, and pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I still think now about all the plans he had and all the things he was going to do, the places he was going to see, and I feel sad that he missed out on all of this. And I suppose in a way this has shaped my attitude of simply getting on an doing what feels right, right at this moment. I have alot to thank my father for, and hope that anything that I can do to help others be aware that this does not have to be a fatal condition will honour his memory.  Please make any donations here, and use the reference "Ian Usher" in the "Name of Event" section. Thank you. Thanks also to the ever-supportive Yvette, and her lovely blog article here.
The Hawaiian island of Oahu is beautiful, and so far I have managed to stay out of harm's way. I have always wanted to visit, and for me the thing that I really wanted to do when I got here was to ride the surf at Waikiki in an outrigger canoe, just as I remembered from the opening scenes of Hawaii Five-0. So this morning Matt, Jackie and I wandered along the seafront to Waikiki, and chatted to Uncle Gill from Star Beach Boys on the beach there. He soon had us sorted out with a captain, and with a couple of additions to our crew, we were off into the surf.    $15 for about half an hour out there seemed very reasonable, and we caught three waves, with time for a quick swim in the beautiful warm water before the last ride in.    What a beautiful day, and what a beautiful place in which to achieve goal #30. Last two pictures courtesy of beach photographer Zack Fishburn.
   By far the most spectacular so far is the stunning Hanamau Bay, where I went snorkelling on Thursday:-     On Friday I took a bus across to Kailua on the other side of the island, where I met another internet contact, Julie, and her friend Karen. We went on a wonderful trip around the island, stopping off at a huge pineapple plantation, and then heading up to the north shore to see some of the world-famous big surf spots, such as Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline.       There is so much to see around the island, and the day passed so quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to catch the last bus back to Waikiki. Thanks to Julie and Karen for a great day out.  On Saturday, before going on the outrigger canoe, Matt, Jackie and I drove into Diamond Crater and took a walk up to the summit, where the views were nothing short of spectacular!          After the canoe ride we drove out to Pearl Harbour to visit the Arizona Memorial, which was sobering and thought-provoking. There is a very informative film of that terrible day on December 7th 1941, and then you can take a boat out to the memorial itself, which straddles the remains of the ship which still sits on the harbour bed, and still entombs over 1100 who died on that fateful morning. It is very difficult to believe that you are right on the spot where the film you have just seen took place, as it is so quiet and peaceful.       On Sunday morning Shannon called, and asked if I wanted to go out on a paddle board. Stand-up surfing on paddle boards is the big new craze here in Hawaii, and of course I was keen to give it a try. Shannon is originally from New York, and is friends with Stef, who came along with me way back in October to see the Statue of Liberty. So we took the board down to the beach and off I went. There were quite a few people out there, and it was such a lovely morning. I really did start thinking to myself that this is perhaps somewhere I could fancy living one day! I would love to have a go on the paddle board in the surf, but think I maybe need a little more practice first! Thanks again Shannon. There is only one picture of this activity, as Shannon's memory card in her camera malfunctioned, and we were unable to download any of the other pictures from her camera.  And so now my Hawaiian holiday is at an end, and first thing tomorrow I fly to Japan to start a new adventure. Thanks so much to all the wonderful people that I have met here on the island, and particularly to Matt and Jackie for allowing me to stay in such a spectacular location, despite it only being a small apartment. This has been a very memorable stopover. 
So what better day than to announce that Goal #31, getting my Australian buddy Paula Campbell into the top ten in a Google search for her name, has been achieved! Paula is currently living and working in London, and I am sure that she will be celebrating Australia Day today, somewhere in the big city with her fellow countrymen and women. Happy Australia Day Paula!  Huge thanks are due to Anthony Merizzi, who is the web genius who has somehow made this happen. He somehow discovered this goal in my list of things I wanted to do, and made it a pet project of his own. I really thought that this might be one of the harder goals to achieve, and did not know where to start, but Anthony has achieved it relatively easily, despite there being a very well-known singer called Paula Campbell too. Anthony works in Search Engine Optimisation, and if you need help in this area, take a look at some of his work. He seems to be pretty good at it! http://www.whereizzi.com/portfolio.php There is an interesting case study on his website on this particular project. Happy Australia Day everyone!
I set off from Honolulu at 11.45 am on the Monday 26th Jan, and after a nine hour flight arrived in Tokyo at 4.00pm on Tuesday 27th Jan, over a day later. This is the first time I have ever crossed the International Date Line, and have lost a whole day! Hopefully I will get it back sometime in the future, perhaps if I travel the other way around on the next trip! More on the International Date Line: Wikipedia WorldAtlas.com
I arrived at Tokyo airport yesterday afternoon, and found an ATM to get some Japanese Yen. The maths took a while, as I tried to figure how much Y10,000 is worth. I didn't want to get it wrong, and withdraw ten bucks worth, or try for a couple of thousand by mistake either! I am reasonably confident that I have about $400 worth of Yen with me now. I found the bus that I needed to catch, and bought a ticket with a couple of minutes to spare, and travelled for a couple of hours through the centre of Tokyo and out the other side. At the bus station in Shin Yurigaoka I called Connie, who had offered me accomodation with her family, and eventually met her husband Kazuyuki at the station, and took the metro with him to their home in the suburbs. There I met Connie, and their four children, three boys, aged 12, 9 and 6, and a girl aged 3. We went out for dinner, the young daughter happily chatting to me on the way in the back of the car in a confusing mixture of Japanese and English. She had me laughing delightedly, as she seemed quite surprised at my lack of understanding. She tried teaching me the Japanese words for the colours of the traffic lights we passed, but I struggled to remember the words later on. So this morning I was wide awake at 3am, body-clock still on Hawaii-time, and did some planning for the day. After an early breakfast with Kazuyuki, I gathered some stuff for the day, and headed into the city. Tokyo's railway system is mind-boggling, and although the section of system I was on seemed relatively easy to navigate, the ticketing system is a minefield of possibilities, with several different companies seeming to offer several different options and services. The complicated diagram in the picture below is just one route, not the whole system. I think! Eventually I made it to the city, just in time to meet Kazuyuki for lunch. He showed me a nearby capsule hotel and he tried to book me in for the evening. Oh dear, everything had been going so well. Kazuyuki was too honest when asked if I had any tattoos! Unfortunately I found that a goal achieved earlier was now in conflict with this goal at this particular hotel. Kazuyuki's only possible explanation was that maybe they had had trouble with tattoed gang members previously! According to the list of restrictions, it would also be an issue if I turned up "deeply drunked"! So we got directions to another capsule hotel nearby, where the possibility that I may be a tattoed thug didn't seem to be an issue, but my lack of ability to speak Japanese would be. However, Kazuyuki saved the day by translating the many rules, and left his mobile number with the manager in case I proved to be too troublesome! For the rest of the afternoon I wandered around happily soaking up the atmosphere of the city. There are some amazing sites, and some completely unexplainable ones. I imagine that I wandered most of the afternoon with a look of puzzled amusement on my face. The huge array of schoolgirl and nurse outfits was eyebrow-raising!        I took a look in a few electronics stores, where I found myself in gadget heaven. The range of technology was fantastic, but the prices seemed a bit higher than they had been in the US, so my purchase of a new computer will probably have to wait a while yet. Eventually I managed to tear myself away and headed to my accomodation where I tried out the tiny cubicle, and made use of the communal baths and sauna. The capsule hotel is for men only, no women allowed, and the choice of stations on the tiny TV in the cubicle reflected this, with channel 21 offering "adult-oriented content"!       I headed back out for a bite to eat, and a wander around gazing at the bright neon lights. I strayed into a video games arcade which spread out over six floors, filled with an array of amazing games I have never seen before. Somehow I ended up in the extremely busy red light district, and must have stood out like a sore thumb, as I seemed to get alot of invites into little clubs hidden away down narrow staircases.    The whole place really comes alive and is so vibrant at night, and I could have walked around for hours. It is quite fascinating and so different from most places that I have experienced. Eventually though, I headed "home" for an early evening. I am still trying to get over a last lingering bit of jetlag, and this morning's early start, I think. And so now it's time to complete the goal, by sleeping here tonight. I might just check out Channel 21 again though first! Oyasuminasai. (oh-yah-soo-mee-nah-sigh)
I certainly am enjoying my stay. And I couldn't agree more. At first, as I passed quickly through Tokyo on the bus from the airport, I thought it looked like many other big cities. But when I ventured out into the city, I have found it so different from anywhere else I have ever been. It really is almost impossible to forget that I am a stranger in a strange land here. Let me give you a couple of examples. First of all, pretty much all of the signs and written materials are in Japanese writing only, so it is impossible to know what many shops contain from their names, or the advertising outside. The train system is equally confusing, although look around carefully and you can find maps with tiny lettering that you can understand, if you can get close enough to squint at it. I have been entertained by many restaurants, who really make an effort to overcome this dilemma faced by the foreign traveller, not by simply showing pictures of the dishes they offer, but by having full scale plasticized versions of the foods on offer, in show-cases outside the restaurant. Unfortunately, for me it often has the opposite effect to that intended, as it looks pretty unappetising, as it is so shiny and, well, plastic-looking! One of the places I was keen to find is a store called Daiso, which is the Japanese equivalent of a dollar-store, although here is referred to as a hundred-yen store, of course. In San Francisco, Susan had introduced me to her local branch of her favourite Japanese store, gleefully showing me some of the amazing and entertaining items that can be bought there. She was so excited when she heard I was going to Tokyo, and insisted that I should visit the main store there: Daiso - the website is in English too, but check out the intro animation first! Yelp! reviews for Daiso San Francisco - well worth reading for an idea of the type of stuff you can get in this place. So after my night at the capsule hotel, I figured out how to get to Harajuku, a trendy teenage shopping area south of Shinjuku, which is the busy central area where I had spent the night. It's only a couple of stops on the underground, and it probably took me longer to get a ticket and figure out where the platform was than it did to make the journey! Once there I quickly found the Daiso store, with it's four floors filled with eccentric Japanese stuff you never new you needed,    But I was soon drawn back out onto the street by the wonderfully dressed Japanese youth strolling the busy Takeshita Road. The shops are amazing, filled with eye-popping fashions and I wandered up and down the street a couple of times thoroughly enjoying a wonderful session of people-watching. Japanese youth seem very fashion-conscious and image-oriented. I know I have said this before, but unfortunately my pictures can't really capture the amazing vibrancy and atmosphere of the place.    Today it was raining, so I spent some of the morning on the phone and internet trying to piece together the jigsaw pieces of my next week in Japan. I have managed to book a few flights, and if everything comes together as I hope it might, I will have some amazing stuff to report. Fingers crossed. Eventually I braved the weather and headed out to Machida, a big shopping area only two train stops away from where I am currently staying. I wanted to find out bus times from there to the local airport for my flight on Sunday, and also was keen to see the biggest Daiso in Tokyo! At Machida it took me a while to find the bus station, and when I did there was no information booth, and not a word of English on any of the signs. Machida is alot less touristy, and it took me quite a while to find anyone who spoke any English at all. Eventually I found out I was at the wrong bus station altogether. More trudging around in the rain eventually took me to the correct station, and before too long I had the information I needed, with the assistance of a very helpful bus driver. He spoke very little English too, but through sign language we got there in the end. At least I hope we did, or I could end up anywhere on Sunday! More rainy wandering took me to Daiso, which was almost impossible to find. When I did eventually get directions and found the place, there was no clue that I was in the right location, not a word of English on the signs, very different from Harajuku the previous day. I finally found a tiny hand-written star on a small sign confirming that I was indeed in Daiso. There are five floors of wonderful Japanese bargains, and I soon found exactly what I was looking for, a computer microphone headset to replace the one I had just broken, for a bargain Y700 (about US$7)   
So we all piled into their little family bus, apart from the eldest boy, who had sports committments, and drove for about an hour to a town on the coast called Kamakura. There I was taken to see the beautiful Hase-Dera Temple, which is built on a steep hillside, and a walk up to a terrace high up the hill offers a fantastic view over the bay below, which was packed with surfers and windsurfers. Connie and family did not come up to the temple with me, as they have been many times before, and the kids were keen for ice cream, so I went to explore alone. The temple itself is has a history stretching back to the 8th Century, and is an amazing place. Once again it is impossible not to feel like a stranger in a strange land, as everything is so different. There are signs everywhere, but only very small amounts of English information, so you don't even know if it is historical information, or a sign telling you that you have to take your shoes off! I went into the Museum, and hoped there might be more assistance there, but as I paid for my ticket, the ticket guy handed me a pamphlet, and laughed politely, saying, "Sorry, in Japanese only." There would be no translation here either! There actually was a bit of English info in the museum, but only enough to give me the impression that everything in there was very old, approximately 14th Century, but not enough to explain what and who all the unusual carvings represented. The temple gardens were lovely, and very Japanese (of course!), and I wandered around for a while enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. The next stop was just along the road, at Japan's second biggest Buddha statue. It was pretty big!       On the way back in the bus, Florrie, their three year old daughter played in the back seat with me with a ballon, and happily chatted away to me in her funny mixture of Japanese and English. What a great day out. Many thanks to Connie and her family for welcoming me into their home, and helping me to make the most of my time in Tokyo.  This morning I was up early to repack my bags, and after breakfast Connie, Kazuyuki and Florrie took me down to the local station, where I caught the train to the bus station at Machida. From there I travelled to Haneda, Tokyo's domestic airport, and flew three hours south to Naha, on the main island of the Okinawa province. I was meant to be meeting Doug from Reef Encounters Diving at Naha airport, but there was no sign of him. I gave him a call, and found out that he was running late, but had booked me into a hotel near the airport. We met later and went out for dinner, along with his friend Casey, and discussed possibilities for the forthcoming week. The restaurant was a surreal place set high up in the branches of a huge fake tree overlooking the harbour.  I hope to be able to achieve a couple of goals in Okinawa, which I originally did not realise I might be able to attempt here in Japan. If all works out as planned, it is going to be an incredible few days. I am very excited.
I received an email from Philip in mid-December, suggesting that I might be able to achieve this goal while in Japan, and I did some research. There are actually three major places in the world where these gatherings of hammerheads occur, the other two being the Caicos Islands in the West Indies, and at Yonaguni Island, here in Japan. So with a week or so available in Japan after a bit of juggling around with dates and flights, I contacted Doug of Reef Encounters in Naha for further details. I managed to eventually arrange three days down in Yonaguni, which involves flying Tokyo to Naha, about three hours, Naha to Ishigaki, about an hour, and then a final half-hour hop to Yonaguni itself. On the flight from Hawaii to Tokyo I had watched a fairly routine action movie, then as my second choice, I picked a documentary called Sharkwater, which was fascinating. It isn't the usual sensationalist shark-attack frightener, but a well balanced telling of how illegal and uncontrolled long-line fishing in certain parts of the world is devastating shark populations, with potentially catastrophic environmental results. One concern is that removing a top predator from a balanced eco-system means that species further down the food chain that can multiply unchecked, and if these are eaters of plankton, one of the major producers of oxygen on Earth, results could be disastrous. The documentary showed the vast amounts of sharks, including hammerheads, killed each year in Caicos, simply for their fins, to make shark-fin soup. Often the fins and tail are cut off the shark while still alive, and it is simply tossed back in to the water. Perhaps if this continues unchecked, there will soon be no more schools of hammerheads to come and see! Fortunately, in Japan, this is not currently a problem, and the sharks can gather here unmolested. So after an overnight stop in Naha I flew first thing down to Ishigaki, and from there across to Yonaguni, which is the most westerly point of Japan, quite close to Taiwan. It is a small island, and reminds me very much of some of the small islands I have visited in Thailand, but without the rampant backpacker tourism. It is quite tropical, but very run-down, and it really feels like being at the end of the line - there is only one flight in and out each day. I was met by Chia, on of the dive guides from Sawes Diving, and along with Akiko, another girl who had flown in on the same flight for a few days of diving too, was taken for a quick lunch before the afternoons diving began.    Our first dive was a reef dive to check we were both reasonably competant. We went out from the small harbour on the dive boat, and entered off the back, heading for the bottom pretty quickly as there is a strong current. We saw a turtle pretty much as soon as we entered the water, and a couple of eels, and a vast array of tropical reef fish as we drifted along with the current. Our second dive was with a larger group, ten of us in total, looking for hammerheads, and we entered in deeper water, and swam down to about 15 metres, and hovered there drifting along with the current, looking around for shadows in the water. At first the bottom was not visible, and we just hovered in this complete blueness, but as it got slightly shallower I could just make out the seabed far below, perhaps another 30 metres or more down. We were drifting at quite a fast pace, I was surprised to see. We looked around for a while, and Akiko and I spotted a hammerhead in the distance at the same time. It looked pretty big, but was a long way away, and it glided past and out of sight. I spotted it again a minute or so later, and it disappeared again. That was it for that dive, but I was very pleased to have seen one, at least. After dinner I was dropped off at my accomodation, a small, backpacker-style guest house, and settled in for the night. I got chatting to some of the other guests, who turned out to be quite a large college group, and I spent a fun evening drinking beer and sake, and playing cards.    The next morning I was collected at 8am for the first dive, another deep water drift, which was uneventful for about twenty minutes, until I turned around, and right behind Akiko and I we spotted a group of five hammerheads, one pretty close. I had borrowed a camera for the dive, and managed to get one picture, the only one of a shark taken on that dive! I was very pleased.    Before lunch we took a bit of a tour around the island, which didn't take long - it's only a small place.       After lunch we went out again for two more dives, but the first was very uneventful, with no sharks being spotted at all. The last dive of the day was much more exciting, however. A couple of minutes after dropping in I spotted several of the group turn and head off to the right at speed, and when I turned there was a large group of hammerheads just disappearing into the shadows. Later Chie, who had spotted them before me, estimated that there were about thirty of them. A minute or so later Chie spotted one shark returning, and pointed it out to me. We were on the right of the group, and the shark was over to our right, approaching us slowly. I had the camera set for video, and started filming and swam towards it. It passed pretty close in front of me slowly, and as I got closer it turned and casually swam away. They really are pretty shy, and seem to keep their distance, and it is awesome to see them so close. There is no fear involved, despite their size, as they are so wary around divers. What an excellent dive! The next day we did a reef dive in the morning, in an area where the fish had been hand-fed previously, so were pretty fearless, and would come right up to your hand or mask to see if you had anything for them.    After lunch, the first dive was at Kaitei Iseki, an ancient ruin site discovered in 1986 by the owner of the dive shop, Hachiro, who guided us on the dive. It is a huge place, with some very unusual formations which do look like they could be made by people. The place has been the subject of a TV documentary, and is sugeested to perhaps be around 10,000 years old. If this is true, it could possibly cause a re-think of Japan's history. My final dive here was further around the island, where there is a memorial plaque dedicated to free-diver Jacques Mayol, who died in 2001, and was the inspiration for the movie The Big Blue. What a fantastic three days of diving. Many thanks to Yuko and Chie, for their excellent guiding, and to all at Sawes Diving. 
www.ALife4Sale.com  Unfortunately the ALife4Sale eBay auction did not go quite as I had hoped, and ultimately the sale fell through. You can read all about what happened in an earlier blog here: Who bought ALife4Sale? - all the answers.... I had already decided that I wanted to try to achieve my 100 goals in 100 weeks, and for a while wondered if it was going to be possible. After all, I still had a house and all my possessions, I would be paying a mortgage, paying all of my travel costs, and not earning any income at all. The maths really did not add up! But in the end I decided to go, and put the house in the hands of a real estate agent, hoping it would sell quickly. Once again things did not work out quite as planned, and at the time I put my house on the market, the worldwide financial mess was just starting to affect Australia, and property was not moving at all. Over the past few months I have had to drop the asking price a couple of times, as values have tumbled, but eventually I received an offer, and a sale was agreed upon. This is, however, for significantly less than I had originally expected. And today the sale was finally settled, and I believe the balance of funds has been paid into my account, after my mortgage and loan have been settled. This finally frees me considerably, as I now have no mortgage outgoings, and actually have some cash in the bank too, although not as much as I had initially expected. So I guess that this is as close as I will get to achieving my goal of selling my life - I sold my car before I left on my travels, and now the house is gone, and I have relatively few possessions stored away now - so with no ties, and cash in the bank, I am free to go where I want and do as I please, which was my original aim.   
Doug lives pretty close to the ocean in an area to the north of Naha called Sunabe. He is also close to one of the US airforce bases here, and I was amazed by the amount of aircraft flying in to land and taking off from the base. It is pretty much non-stop. Apparently rents are cheaper the nearer you get to the base. No wonder, the noise from the fighters taking off is pretty loud. Down at the seafront I saw quite a few people with cameras with huge lenses on. Doug later explained that the relatively new F-22 fighter plane was flying in and out of the base, and there was a high demand for pictures of it for military enthusiast publications. "Of course, there's also the Korean and Chinese spies down there taking snaps too!" he told me. Doug runs Reef Encounters, and I had contacted him after an email tip from Philip in December about the hammerhead sharks in Yonaguni. Doug arranged the trip down to Yonaguni for me, then said on the way back through Naha, if I wanted to try to swim with whales, he would try to help, as it is currently humpback season in Okinawa. The next morning we were up early, geared out with full diving equipment, and headed down to the harbour. Once aboard Reef Encounter's boat Doug steered us out offshore, and Miho suggested we should gear up in our snorkel equipment, as we were approaching a popular whale spot. On deck, Casey was already prepared, and Mike and I put our gear on as Jim fiddled with his camera. Jim would be trying to get pictures of any or all of us with a whale if at all possible.    Doug soon spotted a whale, and brought us onto what we hoped was it's course, and we dropped into the water, and finned like mad to where we hoped we might see it. I ran into problems immediately, as when I cleared my snorkel and took a breath in I got a huge mouthful of seawater. I tried clearing it again, and the same thing happened again. I was a bit more careful to avoid taking too big a breath the third time I tried, and it was pretty clear the snorkel was broken, taking in water at it's base. Nobody saw the whale, and we all climbed back aboard for another try. The second time the whale surfaced not far in front of the boat, and kitted out with a fresh snorkel I jumped in again, and we all finned like mad, but only Casey reported seeing the tail in the distance. I was starting to think this was going to be a tough, exhausting day. Back aboard the boat we trolled along slowly, and suddenly there was the whale again, about twenty yards away from the back corner of the boat. We all dropped over the side, and I turned around in the water waiting for the bubbles to disappear, and I imagine my eyes opened wide in utter disbelief. The whale was right there! It was right in front of us, no more than ten yards away! It was incredible! And she had a calf with her too! We swam towards them slowly, and I could see Jim just in front of me taking pictures. I swam around him, getting closer to the whales, and watched astonished as the mother rolled onto her side, putting herself between me and the calf, and looked right at me. I could see her huge eye, and could actually see it flicking from me to Mike beside me, then back again. They swam in a lazy circle around us, seeming to be as interested in us as we were in them, and I managed to get within three or four metres of them. Every now and then, as I got a bit too close, the mother would curve her huge tail towards us, in what I took as a fairly obvious warning, and I backed away a bit. She kept the calf shielded from us most of the time, either keeping herself between us and the youngster, or keeping it down below her. At one point I was so close that with a couple of fin kicks I could have probably touched the tip of her pectoral fin, but heeded Jim's earlier warning that mothers with a calf tend to be very defensive, and therefore potentially dangerous, and so I kept at a sensible distance. We watched for a few minutes, as we all went around and around. I reckon the baby would have been about nine feet long, the mother maybe twenty to twenty-five feet long. She had barnacles on the fins and tail, and quite a group of remora sucker fish with her. She was so impressive to see. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life, and I tried to take it all in. Eventually mum had seen enough of us, and took a straight course, and with a bigger sweep of her tail picked up some speed. I finned hard to try to keep up, but they soon disappeared into the blue distance. I climbed aboard the boat absolutely speechless, and Miho said, "Let me get a picture - look at your face!" We were all very excited, and Jim took a look at the pictures on his camera, and looked very satisfied. The awesome pictures below are all credited to Jim. That's me in the right-hand picture, right there with the whales - amazing!!    We tried again, but I think she had had enough of us, and proved to be very elusive, and so completely satisfied that we could not possibly have a better encounter, we headed off to go diving. The dive site we went to was fascinating too. Okinawa saw alot of action during WWII, and we moored just above a reef off one of the main beaches where the US troops had made a first landing. The previous day the military had just detonated a WWII mine that Doug and his team had found not long before on the seabed. Doug and Jim were keen to take a look at the site where the mine had just been detonated and along with us was Take, to document the damage done to marine life for a TV show. We descended to the reef, which sadly was littered with dead fish, unfortunate victims of a left-over from sixty-five years ago. Very early on Take found a piece of the body of the mine, all ripped and twisted out of shape by the blast. Remnants from the war littered the seabed, and Jim had warned me not to touch anything at all, as there could still be live munitions down there. One interesting find was a group of four Coke bottles, date stamped 1944, presumably tossed off the back of some US battleship, last handled by a wartime sailor all those years ago.    That evening we celebrated with a big Japanese meal, and alot of Japanese beer! The next day, with the goal completed, we took things pretty easy in the morning, and after a very late breakfast/early lunch, we headed off to meet Mike again, who had arranged an interesting meeting for us. Mike and Doug are always keen to promote Okinawa as a tourist destination, as it has so much to offer, and one of Mike's contacts feels the same way. Mike mentioned me to this guy, and he knew of my story, and was very interested in meeting me. This turned out to be Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who is incredibly well known in Japan, as he was the Japan national soccer coach for the 2002 World Cup, and now works as coach for the Okinawa team, FC Ryukyu. We met Philippe at the football team store, along with his French/Japanese interpreter Davide, and chatted for a while before filming a short informal interview/chat. Philippe also wanted to help with my goal of learning conversational French, so we had a bit of a chat in French too, and he seemed pretty impressed, along with the others there. I still feel that I struggle quite a bit, but was pretty pleased with my performance. I think progress is being made.    We drove out to the soccer training facility, and Philippe chatted alot about some of the challenges he faced working with Japanese soccer players. They are all far too polite, he complained, and just follow orders, rarely showing individual flair or ability to think outside the box. He tried, he explained, to introduce the team to as much international influence as possible, and was keen to tell my story to them. Later on we went for a few beers at Philippe's hotel, which is a very posh 5-star place, with a piano and double-bass playing quietly in the background. There it became apparent how well known and revered Philippe is in Japan, as our table got many nods and pointed fingers, and whispers behind hands, as practically everybody who saw him recognised him.    But my Okinawa diving trip is now at an end, and it is time to move onwards again. The shorts and flip-flops will be packed away for the next few days, as I fly north to the other end of Japan in the morning, where the temperatures will be below freezing. Thanks to everyone that I met in Okinawa for showing me an amazing time, and huge thanks to Doug for making all of this possible, and helping me to achieve two goals that were always going to be tricky. If you are ever in Japan, and want to do some awesome diving, Doug is your man! www.ReefEncounters.org
I think I had been lucky to find a hotel room, as I had left it a bit late, not really being sure of my Sapporo dates until I worked out the Okinawa trip. But Mark's Inn was reasonably inexpensive, and pretty comfortable, and best of all, only a five minute walk to the Yuki Matsuri, the famous Sapporo Ice Sculptures Festival. I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and went out to find something to eat, and considered walking up to see some of the sculptures, which line Odari Park, just to the north of my hotel, but it was snowing pretty hard when I went outside, and I decided to leave it until morning. I was glad I did, as it dawned a beautiful sunny morning. After a late breakfast I walked up through Susukino, where there are some smaller ice sculptures. Eventually I arrived at Odari Park, and was very impressed by the size of some of the sculptures there. There are so many, and these are just some of my favourites:-           In the afternoon I took a bus out to a third festival site, and returned to the city in time to go up the big tower at the end of the park, and take some pictures in daylight, before waiting for darkness to fall to see the whole place lit up like a winter wonderland.        Sadly, that's now the end of my visit to Japan, which has been so interesting. Time to move onwards again, to Australia next....
The last leg of the journey was down the beautiful east coast of Australia, and I was lucky enough to have a whole row of seats to myself, and managed to see alot of the coast on the right side of the plane on the way down. I took a few pictures of the tropical islands, but unfortunately I missed seeing Hamilton Island, about which I will have more to write shortly, as we had flown inland by then. Before landing I moved back to my seat on the left side of the plane, and was treated to a fantastic view of Sydney as we approached for landing.    My plans for Sydney are nowhere near as exciting as some of the other activities I have enjoyed recently, but perhaps more important. As I have written previously, bowel cancer took my father at a relatively young age, and it is suggested that because of this I should have fairly regular tests. So I had made arrangements with Julien from the Bowel Cancer & Digestive Research Institute to book in for a colonoscopy, and my first job, straight off the plane, was to go to a doctor's appointment to get a referral for the proceedure. The next morning I woke and had a tasty breakfast consisting only of a couple of glasses of water. In order for the doctor to perform a thorough examination, the bowel has to be completely cleaned out, and I was not looking forward to that afternoon and evening! I enjoyed a bit of a wander round Sydney in the morning before heading to the hospital. The fruit bats living in the park were a bit of a surprise!       I met the doctor at 2pm for my initial consultation, and he explained how things would work, and what the implications of it all were. I was sent back to my hotel with three sachet of powder which would cause the neccessary cleansing before the procedure that would take place the following afternoon. I was not allowed to eat anything at all, and was getting a bit hungry, to say the least. At 4pm I took the first sachet, drank copious amounts of water, and waited apprehensively for it to take effect. For quite some time it seemed as though nothing was going to happen, but when it finally did, it was quite spectacular, but not in a particularly pleasant way!! I took the second sachet at 8pm, with similarly distressing results, and set my alarm for 6am, when I was scheduled to take the final sachet, with the now familiar effects. I was very hungry for the rest of the morning, and at lunchtime I headed back to the hospital, where I was admitted and taken upstairs to be fitted with the regulation hospital gown, which, yes, is open at the back! I had to wait nervously for another couple of long hours, but I think the hunger was about as bad as the apprehension. Eventually an orderly came to wheel me into the procedure room, and I was given a mild sedative, and told to roll on my side! The whole experience was not quite as bad as I had imagined it might be, and there was no real embarrasment, as all was done very professionally. It was actually quite interesting to watch the progress of the camera as the study was undertaken. The end result was that I was given the all-clear, and sent home quite relieved. Despite the fact that, out of everything I have done in the last six months, this is something I have been looking forward to the least, I am very glad to have had it done, and can now spend the next five years completely worry-free on this particular matter.    As the tagline on the Bowel Cancer & Digestive Research Institute's paperwork says, "Don't Die Of Embarrassment." Some facts: * Approximately 1 in 21 people will be diagnosed with bowel cancer before the age of 75. * 240 new cases are diagnosed every week * 90 Australians die every week of bowel cancer. * Bowel cancer is the second-most common cause of cancer-related death, after lung cancer. * A simple test can show early indications of potential problems. * Bowel cancer is one of the most curable types of cancers if found early enough. * It is suggested that you get tested routinely from the age of 50. * Speak to your doctor - don't die of embarrassment! For further information see: www.BowelCancerAustralia.org If you would like to help towards my goal of raising $50,000 for Bowel Cancer Awareness, please follow the link below, and use the reference "Ian Usher" in the "Event" section: Donate here The Bowel Cancer & Digestive Research Institute of Australia is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office. Thank you - anything is very gratefully received. One more day left in Sydney, which I plan to take pretty easy, and then it's time to head back to Perth, completing my first ever full circumnavigation of the globe!
On the final approach to Perth I gazed quietly out of the window, and thought about the past six months, and felt a little sad that the first trip was over. I have experienced so much, and met so many wonderful people, and coming into Perth felt a little bit too much like a return to my old life. But then I thought that this is just a continuation of the ongoing adventure of 100goals100weeks, and is a necessary break to top up the funds, do some more planning, and prepare for the next big trip, which I expect to begin around June or July. I am sort of looking forward to a bit of a break from the constant travel, which although very enjoyable, involves so much work too, in terms of planning and organisation. It will be nice to be in one place for a while, without having to worry about transport times, or where I might be sleeping that night! And of course, I am also looking forward very much to catching up with friends here in Perth who I haven't seen for over six months. I imagine there will be a bit of beer drunk over the next couple of weeks.
 If you haven't heard of it, here is an outline of the job, which is being offered by Tourism Queensland: Tourism Queensland is seeking applicants for the best job in the world! The role of Island Caretaker is a six-month contract, based on luxurious Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a live-in position with flexible working hours and key responsibilities include exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to discover what the area has to offer. You’ll be required to report back on your adventures to Tourism Queensland headquarters in Brisbane (and the rest of the world) via weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews. On offer is a unique opportunity to help promote the wondrous Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. ..."weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews"... hmmm, sounds familiar - I think I could manage that! At first I thought it was a shame that it fell within my 100 weeks period, but when I read further, and discovered that the salary on offer is AU$150,000, I thought I might be able to take a six-month break from my self-appointed, and rather expensive task! The job is almost right in the middle of my 100 weeks, starting in the middle of week 48. I think it would be a great interlude! The application process is pretty straight-forward, and involves making a 60 second video and submitting it to their website. I have pondered my application for a few weeks now, and while on Hawaii, discussing it with Julie and Karen, came up with the initial idea for my video. Well, after a couple more weeks of thinking and planning, and a bit of procrastinating too, I finally got a video made, which I have just uploaded to Tourism Queensland. You can take a look at the video I sent in here if you wish, and let me know what you think! Just click the "Play" button below: You are not too late to apply either, if you fancy the position yourself! Applications are being accepted until the 22nd Feb. But if I were you, I wouldn't waste my time, I think the job is already taken. ;-) More details on my application here: http://www.100goals100weeks.com/IslandReefJob.php
I rang the employment agency that is dealing with the applications and got further details, and then called my friend Nigel, who now works at that particular mine. Yes, he said, get an application in straight away, as the jobs would go fast. My application has progressed well, and I had to go for a medical on Wednesday morning, which consisted of a very thorough physical examination, along with a drug and alcohol screen. All was well as far as the doc was concerned. At the moment I am stil waiting to hear a definite decision from the employment agency, but am pretty hopeful that I will be starting soon. In the meantime I have got my motorcycle out of my friend's garage, and have been out and about around Perth. I caught up with my friend Em, who has just sold her bike, and had one more day left before the new owner came to collect it. We took a long ride up the coast and stopped at a seafront pub for a quick beer before heading back. I also managed to fit in an interview on Wednesday morning for a French TV show, sceduled to be shown sometime in March, I think. The show is called "Les Trente Histoires", which translated means Thirty Histories, and tells thirty short stories of people who have done unusual things.    So now that I have got all that organised, it's time to focus on some Australia-based goals!
One evening I was discussing travels with my friend Richard who had been to Australia many times, and had lived and worked in Perth for some time. "If you have liked what you have seen so far, you will love Perth, you should try there first," he advised. We continued to study the map, and he pointed out some nice places to visit to the south of Perth. We spotted a small place on the map, to the east of Esperance, quite remote and alone at the end of a long road along the southern coast. "I never went there," he said. "That's a long way from anywhere." "I might go one day and see what's there," I said. And seven years later, when it came to writing out my list of 100 goals, I decided that I still wanted to go and see what was there. I had no idea. So with a few days to spare this week, I decided it was time to go and find out. My initial plan was to borrow my friend Chris's camper van and spend a couple of days to drive down to Esperance, and then along the coast from there, but on Sunday evening Mel pointed out to me that the map showed the track to Israelite Bay as suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles only! Oh dear, it looked like a bit more planning than I had originally anticipated would be in order. I had to set off on Monday if I was going to go, and I was still a little undecided, as I needed to be back in Perth for Thursday evening, and it might be a bit of a rush. But I rang a couple of vehicle hire places in Esperance to see if I could rent a 4WD for the trip to Israelite Bay. The first couple of responses were discouraging, to say the least. "We wouldn't rent anything to go out there, it's pretty rugged going!" Hmmm. Finally I found a place that would rent me an older Toyota Land Cruiser for the journey, and rang my friend Andrew to see if he would be interested in accompanying me on the journey. Despite the short notice he decided he would like to come along, and we abandoned the camper van idea, choosing to go in his car instead, taking a couple of tents with us. We drove for about four hours on the Monday afternoon, and camped overnight in a bush rest stop, and headed on in the morning towards Esperance, taking a detour on the way to see the very picturesque Hopetoun on the south coast.    In Esperance we got ourselves organised for the 4WD trip the next day, and went fishing from the jetty, with a reasonable amount of success, catching our supper of squid, herring and yellowtail. There are a couple of friendly sealions that live under the jetty, and Andrew bravely hand-fed a fish to one of them. When he did so without getting bitten, I thought I would have a go too. I am not sure who was the most nervous, but the sealion got another fresh snack, and then just stared at me, hoping I might have more.    We spent another night at a bush camp near the town, and in the morning went to pick up our 4WD vehicle. There had been some sort of a mixup, and the Toyota was nowhere to be seen, and instead we were given an immaculate new Nissan Patrol, with dire warnings about how we should treat it. I was a bit disappointed, as I would have much preferred an older vehicle that we did not have to worry about too much. We drove eastwards out of Esperance, and travelled about 100km on a good sealed road, followed by another good gravel track for a further 50km. We were making great time. but then the road ended, and a tiny sandy track lead off into the bush. We were still over 50km from our destination, and the going was about to get a bit rougher. Within the first kilometre we were getting bogged in deep sand, but once we put the Nissan into four wheel drive and locked the front hubs, we had no further issues. At one point we got a bit over-confident, and I got us bogged in a deep muddy hole, but we soon managed to reverse out of trouble.    It took us just over two hours to complete the last 50km, and it was great fun. At Israelite Bay we had a look around the ruins of an old telegraph station there, and drove to the beach where we had lunch. Goal achieved!    We only had the Nissan for the day, as it was hideously expensive to hire, and we soon had to set off back, as it was going to take another three hours for the return journey.    We also had a bit of a detour planned on the way back. "Don't take it on the beach!" the hire company rep told us! Riiiiiight....    After a much needed visit to the car wash, which included picking out some seaweed from under the chassis, we dropped the Nissan off, and put in a couple of hours in the car in the direction of home. The next morning we continued northwards, taking a slightly different route back, stopping off at Hyden to visit the very impressive Wave Rock, another West Australian attraction I have always wanted to see.    We finally arrived back in Perth late Thursday afternoon, and the first order of business when I got back was a shower, much needed after four days in the bush! The whole trip was alot more challenging than I had ever expected it to be, and I learned quite a few lessons from the journey. Firstly, a bit more research is always a valuable thing, as if I had simply set off, assuming that all was going to be easy, then I imagine at best I would have turned back defeated, at worst my friend's camper van would be completely bogged in deep sand miles from anywhere! Secondly though, I thought alot about other peoples attitudes and advice, and decided that it is often wise just to ignore them. Quite a few times, when we told people where we were going, and what we planned to do, we got responses such as, "That's a long way to go in one day!" or "It's pretty rugged out there!" or "Why go all the way out there, there's nothing to see!" Ignoring all this, we set off regardless, and had an incredible day out there, and for me, the goal was a much greater adventure, and much greater achievement than I ever expected it to be. Many thanks to Andrew for his company and assistance on a fantastic few days!
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Prologue Weeks 1 to 10 Weeks 11 to 20 Weeks 21 to 30 Weeks 31 to 40 Weeks 41 to 50 Weeks 51 to 60 Weeks 61 to 70 Weeks 71 to 80 Weeks 81 to 90 Weeks 91 to 100 Epilogue
Prologue
(28)
Weeks 1 to 10
(52)
Weeks 11 to 20
(47)
Weeks 21 to 30
(42)
21 Dec 2008 Twenty Weeks! - Snowed-in In Seattle!
24 Dec 2008 Snowy Vancouver.
25 Dec 2008 Merry Christmas!! (or should that be Happy Holidays?)
26 Dec 2008 Goal 24 completed - Merry Christmas!
27 Dec 2008 BBC end-of-year quiz.
28 Dec 2008 Goal 25 - VERY cold!!
30 Dec 2008 Winter in Whitehorse.
01 Jan 2009 Happy New Year!
04 Jan 2009 Goal 26 achieved - more fun in the snow.
05 Jan 2009 Last day at Whistler!
06 Jan 2009 Bobsleigh run - close, but not quite!
07 Jan 2009 Another person from ALife4Sale.
08 Jan 2009 Many thanks to Dave Gorman!
11 Jan 2009 Travelling south.
14 Jan 2009 Heading to Hawaii.
16 Jan 2009 Ahola!
17 Jan 2009 No manta rays yet...
17 Jan 2009 Goal 27 achieved - Kilauea volcano.
18 Jan 2009 A day out with Captain Zodiac.
19 Jan 2009 Mystic reading with Troy.
19 Jan 2009 Dive! Dive! Dive! Journey aboard Atlantis.
20 Jan 2009 Goal 28 - amazing underwater ballet.
20 Jan 2009 Pelagic Magic.
20 Jan 2009 Goal 29 - take controls of a helicopter.
21 Jan 2009 Welcome to Waikiki.
22 Jan 2009 Fundraising goal - be a small part of it.
24 Jan 2009 Goal 30 - Hawaii Five-0.
25 Jan 2009 Hawaii holiday.
26 Jan 2009 Goal 31 - Paula Campbell is in the top ten!
27 Jan 2009 Travelling forward through time.
28 Jan 2009 Konichiwa - Goal 32 achieved in Tokyo.
30 Jan 2009 Amazing Tokyo!
01 Feb 2009 Lost In Translation.
05 Feb 2009 Goal 33 glides into view - hammerhead sharks!
06 Feb 2009 Goal 34 - A Life Sold!
07 Feb 2009 Goal 35 - Thar she blows!
09 Feb 2009 Goal 36 - Yuki Matsuri.
13 Feb 2009 Sydney. Not quite as pleasant as some recent activities...
16 Feb 2009 Around the world in 196 days - back in Perth.
17 Feb 2009 The Best Job In The World!
22 Feb 2009 Perth progress.
26 Feb 2009 Goal 37 - outback adventure.
24 Dec 2008 Snowy Vancouver.
25 Dec 2008 Merry Christmas!! (or should that be Happy Holidays?)
26 Dec 2008 Goal 24 completed - Merry Christmas!
27 Dec 2008 BBC end-of-year quiz.
28 Dec 2008 Goal 25 - VERY cold!!
30 Dec 2008 Winter in Whitehorse.
01 Jan 2009 Happy New Year!
04 Jan 2009 Goal 26 achieved - more fun in the snow.
05 Jan 2009 Last day at Whistler!
06 Jan 2009 Bobsleigh run - close, but not quite!
07 Jan 2009 Another person from ALife4Sale.
08 Jan 2009 Many thanks to Dave Gorman!
11 Jan 2009 Travelling south.
14 Jan 2009 Heading to Hawaii.
16 Jan 2009 Ahola!
17 Jan 2009 No manta rays yet...
17 Jan 2009 Goal 27 achieved - Kilauea volcano.
18 Jan 2009 A day out with Captain Zodiac.
19 Jan 2009 Mystic reading with Troy.
19 Jan 2009 Dive! Dive! Dive! Journey aboard Atlantis.
20 Jan 2009 Goal 28 - amazing underwater ballet.
20 Jan 2009 Pelagic Magic.
20 Jan 2009 Goal 29 - take controls of a helicopter.
21 Jan 2009 Welcome to Waikiki.
22 Jan 2009 Fundraising goal - be a small part of it.
24 Jan 2009 Goal 30 - Hawaii Five-0.
25 Jan 2009 Hawaii holiday.
26 Jan 2009 Goal 31 - Paula Campbell is in the top ten!
27 Jan 2009 Travelling forward through time.
28 Jan 2009 Konichiwa - Goal 32 achieved in Tokyo.
30 Jan 2009 Amazing Tokyo!
01 Feb 2009 Lost In Translation.
05 Feb 2009 Goal 33 glides into view - hammerhead sharks!
06 Feb 2009 Goal 34 - A Life Sold!
07 Feb 2009 Goal 35 - Thar she blows!
09 Feb 2009 Goal 36 - Yuki Matsuri.
13 Feb 2009 Sydney. Not quite as pleasant as some recent activities...
16 Feb 2009 Around the world in 196 days - back in Perth.
17 Feb 2009 The Best Job In The World!
22 Feb 2009 Perth progress.
26 Feb 2009 Goal 37 - outback adventure.
Weeks 31 to 40
(30)
Weeks 41 to 50
(37)
Weeks 51 to 60
(38)
Weeks 61 to 70
(36)
Weeks 71 to 80
(41)
Weeks 81 to 90
(34)
Weeks 91 to 100
(36)
Epilogue
(6)
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