Yesterday I did a wreck dive which was interesting. Saw lion fish and lots of long fin bat fish and other beautys. Did all the bouyancy control myself and managed not to hit the bottom in a cloud of silt or yo yo up an down.
In the afternoon the boat went close to the active volcano, Tuvurvur, which is very impressive. Its constantly throwing out ash in a huge column and every now and then has a big cough which sends a black mushroom cloud very high into the atmosphere. As we watched it car sized boulders flew out and crashed on its flanks. Some of the boys were well keen to climb the volcano (!!!) so the driver landed but I refused to get out! The 3 of them nearly burnt there feet on the sand and strode off in the moonscape towards a gassing vent..... The boat driver was not happy and me and him we ready to dash if the thing coughed. It didnt the other jumped back on and we were off.
To day we finished the container business. All left to do is pay the helicopter which is a little less we believe that we initially thought, which is great news (I hope). I went to the Kokopo museum and saw lots of WW2 bits of wreckage and random exhibits. No interpretation as were used to which was a shame. They have a croc in a (large) cage out the back as there token wildlife exhibit. Then went to a great thatched beach hut cafe which is reknown for selling masks. I bought a 40cm round one which is nice and not too scary. Went to the supermarket and bought some clean, unripped un stained clothes, whilst their met the museum lady buying chickens for the croc...........
tomorrow I am planning to visit the New Britain experimental agricultural station which is not too far and see there cutting edge durian fruit plots.
Could be smelly!
Friday, 23 March 2007
Monday, 19 March 2007
Back from the Jungle
Myself and Joel are back in Rabaul. We are the advance party to organise the shipping container. We helicoptered out of the jungle yesterday which was quite a relief.
Final caving stats are
10km of new cave explored
9.5km surveyed
we found the 2nd deepest cave in PNG which is just over 500m deep (with a
100m pitch in)
20 sumps dived, longest 300m
The last 10 days has seen a spot of bother with our papuan guides (now all smoothed over) and lots of rain. The camp was a 3 inch mud pit with lots of wobbly tree fern bridges across rivers. Everything is damp and muddy. We planned for yesterday to be the chopper day, but were quite aware that we might have to wait a week to get out, like they did coming in. Luckily we got 6 hours which was enough to move the gear. The helicopter stuff was fantastic, but really scary as we had a cargo net snap which nearly crashed the chopper and we were within 100ft of the tree tops coming back to Rabaul as the cloud was coming in fast. The others are loading a boat some when in the next 3 days and sailing (24hours) to Rabaul so the hour chopper flight direct really was the cushy option. We are staying in a flat next to a rather nice beach front lodge which we are renting off a dive instructor we know, its great! He took us diving this morning. I saw 4 big broze whaler sharks fairly close, a turtle and so many fish is was amazing. We dived on a big sea wall covered in coral with a 40 m drop below us, an amazing intro to diving.
Final caving stats are
10km of new cave explored
9.5km surveyed
we found the 2nd deepest cave in PNG which is just over 500m deep (with a
100m pitch in)
20 sumps dived, longest 300m
The last 10 days has seen a spot of bother with our papuan guides (now all smoothed over) and lots of rain. The camp was a 3 inch mud pit with lots of wobbly tree fern bridges across rivers. Everything is damp and muddy. We planned for yesterday to be the chopper day, but were quite aware that we might have to wait a week to get out, like they did coming in. Luckily we got 6 hours which was enough to move the gear. The helicopter stuff was fantastic, but really scary as we had a cargo net snap which nearly crashed the chopper and we were within 100ft of the tree tops coming back to Rabaul as the cloud was coming in fast. The others are loading a boat some when in the next 3 days and sailing (24hours) to Rabaul so the hour chopper flight direct really was the cushy option. We are staying in a flat next to a rather nice beach front lodge which we are renting off a dive instructor we know, its great! He took us diving this morning. I saw 4 big broze whaler sharks fairly close, a turtle and so many fish is was amazing. We dived on a big sea wall covered in coral with a 40 m drop below us, an amazing intro to diving.
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Camp
Things here are going well, I'm healthy!
Our cave (called Sirius) is now around 300m deep and nearly 2 km long. It has the most amazing streamway. Yesterday I was on the team that found a large streamway with hige pot holes which you swim across, really exciting. Camplife is good, the hammock + tarp work well.
Our cave (called Sirius) is now around 300m deep and nearly 2 km long. It has the most amazing streamway. Yesterday I was on the team that found a large streamway with hige pot holes which you swim across, really exciting. Camplife is good, the hammock + tarp work well.
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