The bucket list

Having logged so many travel adventures over the years, I’m often asked, where to next? I’m quick to reassure people that there’s plenty left to explore. In fact, I have a five-page bucket list I’ve maintained for years, which I’m keen to complete. However, it would be fair to say that Garry and I have already ticked off most of the world's easy-to-reach and cheap-to-explore destinations. As a result, completing our bucket list is becoming an expensive proposition.

This includes a tour through the “Five Stans” in Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. I’m keen to see the flaming Darvaza Crater; Samarkand, Uzbekistan’s fabled turquoise city; and the marble city of Ashgabat. These days, several Middle Eastern airlines fly there, making this elusive region much easier to reach.

I’m also keen to see the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, explore the Okavango Delta and experience the Serengeti. I’d also like to see Zanzibar, visit the famous Masai-Maji tribes and encounter Gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda. I recently met a man originally from Ghana, who convinced me to add his home nation to my list. Equally, I’d love to visit Timbuktu. However, the rebels in Mali first need to stop kidnapping tourists. 

Garry and I are both keen to visit the Galapagos Islands, and while we’re in the region, explore a few Mayan ruins in Central America. Everyone says the birdlife in Costa Rica is unrivalled, so that’s also on the short list. 

A cruise down the Mekong, Vietnam and Angkor Wat top our list of must-see destinations in Asia. I’m still keen to visit North Korea and explore central China. You can only reach the hermit nation via flights from Beijing, so why not see the best of Zhangjiajie on the way? Garry and I have also talked about visiting the Philippines.

On a more conventional note, we’re both keen to explore more of France, including the Atlantic Coast and the Pyrenees, plus a few days in Andorra. Elsewhere in Europe, we’d like to visit Monte Carlo, see Albania and possibly explore the Italian Lake District. Luxembourg is also missing from our list of countries visited in Europe.

Closer to home, Garry and I want to cross the Nullarbor, visit Southwest WA, the Kimberleys and swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo. Garry hasn’t seen Broken Hill, and we’re both keen to tick Birdsville off our bucket list. I’m also keen to visit Cape York, which you can reach from Thursday Island, rather than driving 1000km overland from Cairns.

Finally, there are a few more exotic and remote locations on my shortlist. This includes the dramatic Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, St Helena, a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic and further south, the Falkland Islands. Garry and I have also talked about visiting Palau, Tuvalu and Kiribati to round out our Pacific Island adventures.

So next time you ask, here’s the blog post I’ll refer you to. Let the fun begin.

Where to from here?

Garry and I will be on the road again later this month. I have three trips planned over five weeks. You could say that every time the diary empties, Garry and I find an excuse to fill it.

On 25 July we’re flying to Ballina to spend four nights staying with Liz and Adam Benson on their hobby farm near Alstonville. When last caught up with them in Sydney, we decided it would be fun to celebrate Christmas in July together. This will be our second such event this month as Garry has already scheduled our own Christmas in July event at our place next weekend.

I then fly to Melbourne in early August for an annual industry tradeshow we’ve been attending for more than a decade. I hope to find time to catch up with my niece and her boyfriend, and touch base with a few Melbourne colleagues.

My travel schedule is then rounded out by a long weekend in New Zealand at the end of August. This will be my annual pilgrimage to visit family in the Bay of Plenty. For most of my life, my parents were the primary catalyst for booking a flight to New Zealand. Now they’re gone, I need to make more of an effort to stay connected.

This trans-Tasman trip is one of many subtle and not-so-subtle lifestyle changes unfolding these days. All around me, friends and family are becoming empty-nesters, transitioning into retirement and reinventing the purpose and meaning in their lives. If I’m honest, this change has crept up on me. It’s akin to that classic trope of boiling a frog. Over time, small changes accumulate until one day you wake up and realise the world you once knew has gone.

For more than three decades, my life has been fairly predictable, at least in terms of building a career, saving for retirement and striving for traditional milestones such as debt-free home-ownership. Now, as I approach the final decades of my life, and these milestones are achieved, my priorities are shifting. My life’s purpose is quietly changing, and I’ve yet to work out what it all means for me. It’ll be interesting to see how my blog posts evolve as this journey unfolds.

Last century in Seattle

I made my first visit to Seattle in 1999. I stayed with Michael, a friend originally from Sydney, and his partner, Anthony. Michael had recently relocated to take on a bigger role with Microsoft at its headquarters in Seattle. I flew into San Francisco early on the morning of Friday, 9 April, cleared immigration and transferred onto a shuttle flight heading north.

I spent a week with the boys. They were gracious hosts, arranging regular excursions to experience all Seattle’s popular attractions. Anthony wasn’t working at the time, so he was a chauffeur and tour guide whenever Michael was at work. However, Michael took me onto the Microsoft campus one day to give me a taste of Silicon Valley life, including a well-appointed staff cafeteria filled with snacks.

As a seasoned technology public relations consultant and former industry analyst, I certainly wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to visit the headquarters of one of the world’s most formidable tech giants. Michael took me through the Microsoft museum on campus. This was rather special as the building wasn’t open to the public. You needed a security pass to access it.

I vividly remember seeing a Radio Shack TRS-80 personal computer on display. Launched in 1977, it was one of the earliest mass-produced, mass-marketed retail home computers. It was also the same device on which I’d learned to code in BASIC in 1984. At the time, I was an exchange student studying at Syracuse, in upstate New York. My high school had a computer lab set up with dozens of these pioneering desktop computers.

I signed up for a Computer Studies elective and spent a semester creating some nifty applications. This included programming a multiple-choice quiz about my home nation, New Zealand, and its culture. The program also featured a map of New Zealand built using highlighted pixel blocks. According to Wikipedia, the TRS-80 was the bestselling PC line until 1982, outselling the Apple II by a factor of five. It’s hard to believe this simple machine was once leading-edge technology.

Anthony also helped me get my geek on. We took a day trip up to the Boeing factory in Everett, a satellite city 40km north of Seattle. We booked ourselves onto a factory tour that took us through this massive complex. The factory is the world’s largest building by volume, covering 98 acres. Its ceiling stands 32 metres above the floor, with six hangar doors, each more than 100 metres wide. It contains six separate production lines with commercial aircraft standing nose-to-tail in various stages of assembly. You know a building is huge when it’s housing rows of Jumbo Jets but doesn’t feel claustrophobic.

Anthony and I somehow missed the start of the tour. We’d been exploring the Boeing Museum attached to the visitor’s centre and missed the guide calling everyone onto the tour bus. However, a staff member took pity on us and drove us by golf cart to catch up with the rest of the group. The fastest way there was across the factory floor.  As a result, we got an unscheduled, close-up, ground-floor view of the assembly line in action. 

For someone who decorated their childhood bedroom with pictures of commercial airliners, our impromptu ride was a dream come true. It was Disneyland for geeks. I couldn't believe we were passing under the wings of a real Jumbo Jet, with engine cowlings splayed to reveal their mind-numbing engineering wizardry. We eventually caught up with the tour on a mezzanine level overlooking the factory level. Unlike Anthony and me, the group hadn't been anywhere near the giant aircraft we'd just encountered. It was awesome.

On Monday, 12 April, Michael and Anthony bought tickets to see the Seattle Thunderbirds, a local team in the junior ice hockey league. The game was played at KeyArena, but to my surprise, it wasn't well attended. Most of the stadium was empty. At best, the attendance was barely 4,000.  No doubt a mid-afternoon start inevitably kept some people away.

The game lived up to Ice Hockey's often thuggish reputation. We witnessed some brutal clashes on the ice, including opposing players being slammed against glass panels surrounding the rink. The Thunderbirds ultimately lost 4-0 to the TriCity Americans, another Washington State team. I still have the souvenir hockey puck I bought after the game.

Fun fact time. The stadium sits in the original 1962 World's Fair grounds, home to the city’s iconic Space Needle. The needle made for a memorable sight as we walked from the car park to the stadium. I can’t recall if we ever ventured up the tower during my time in Seattle.

One day, Anthony took it upon himself to anoint me as his personal shopper. We hit the stores and spent the day shopping for a whole new wardrobe for me. I eventually came home with a second suitcase filled to the brim. Michael wasn’t impressed; He later commented that his partner sometimes enjoyed spending other people’s money a little too much to his liking.

One afternoon, Anthony took me for a drive into the mountains east of Seattle. We drove an hour or so to Snoqualmie Pass, where winter snow was still deep on the ground. I vividly recall side roads at the ski resorts slicing through surprisingly deep snowbanks. In places, the icy snow walls were three or four metres high. It was more like driving through a tar-sealed canyon of sheer white cliffs. The photo I took of the main highway, above, while less dramatic than the narrow side roads, tells the story.

I also made an impromptu visit to Tacoma Air Force Base, approximately an hour south of Seattle.  I met an armed serviceman from the Deep South at a nightclub.  He invited me back to visit the base. This was years before 9/11, as the security guards on duty at the base's entrance waved us through after a cursory check of my companion's military ID. I wasn't asked for any ID at all. How times have changed!

Towards the end of the week, Michael took me on a road trip to see some of Seattle’s geographic landmarks, including Lake Washington, Lake Union and the Shipping Canal whose locks link the city’s lakes to Puget Sound. The locks also feature a nifty fish ladder that helps spawning salmon make their way upstream. 

At one point, we stopped for coffee at Pike Place Market, the city’s bustling produce and craft market on a hillside overlooking Puget Sound. Although, if truth be told, our itinerary with plenty of outdoor venues was partially an excuse to take Bondi, Michael’s large Malamute dog, for his daily walk.

After an eventful week in Seattle, I packed my bags and flew back to San Francisco for my first-ever visit to the picturesque Bay Area. I share more about this experience in another retrospective post. Garry and I returned to Seattle for my second and last visit in 2012.

Home again

We’ve returned from our Vanuatu vacation. Our flight to Brisbane and on to Sydney passed without incident. As we approached Sydney, the flight tracking map on the Qantas Entertainment app provided some unexpected entertainment. As you can see below,  if the route traced on screen is to be believed, our pilot was flying under the influence of something. Our actual flight path was somewhat more accurately scribed by Flight Aware, an app I use regularly, as shown below.

Our final sunset in Vanuatu was also one for the record. Here it is in all its glory. It already feels like a dream.

Nanggol

That’s another item ticked off the bucket list. This morning, Garry and I visited Pentecost Island to witness its extraordinary Land Diving ritual firsthand. Known locally as Nanggol, this coming-of-age ceremony is renowned for its death-defying daredevil antics. It’s held for three months every year, from April until June. When I realised we’d be in Vanuatu during land diving season, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

It’s an unbelievable sight. Boys and men leap from a hillside tower built from freshly harvested timber with supple lianas tied to their ankles. The vine breaks the diver's initial momentum before a collapsible diving platform brings them to a halt as they hit the ground. Young boys use a platform closest to the ground, approximately 10 metres high, while older men leap from progressively higher platforms. The highest of these is up 30 metres above ground.

 

The ceremonial jump begins with locals singing and dancing to inspire and embolden each diver. They gather in traditional costumes at the top of the hill and proceed to sing, whistle and dance with considerable gusto as the ceremony progresses. A local guide explained that each diver chooses their own motivational song. The diver also ties and tests his own vine before each jump. They then ritually gesture to the sky in prayer, before launching themselves into the air.

The energy on the hillside is almost palpable as each dive begins. The speed at which they fall initially caught everyone by surprise, and the accompanying sounds are unnerving to say the least. This includes a rather solid thud as the diver hits the freshly tilled earth, and the startling crack of timber as the diving platform collapses. You can see the broken platforms dangling in the image above.

We learned that the ritual begins days in advance. The men seclude themselves from the women and refrain from sex. Furthermore, women are not allowed to go near the tower or touch. If they do so, they desecrate it, and the tower must be rebuilt. The construction of the tower typically takes between two and five weeks, so it’s not a task anyone wants to repeat unnecessarily. 

We learned that the divers are also seeking divine intervention for a bountiful yam harvest, rather than just invoking a coming-of-age ritual. In other words, the older men are literally diving for yams, rather than for their manhood. It adds a whole new meaning to the virtue of eating your vegetables when someone's put their life on the line for them.

The core of the tower is made from a lopped tree, while its outer framework is built from pole scaffolding tied together with vines, stabilising it. The final structure is both dramatic, chaotic and somehow robustly reassuring. Before the men dive, they often bring closure to unsettled business and disputes in case they die. The night before the jump, the divers sleep beneath the tower to ward off evil spirits.

These days, Pentecost locals perform dives as much for tourist entertainment as they do for an age-old ritual. Today, two planeloads, including Garry and me, flew in from Port Vila to watch a weekly diving display. The day began early. Garry and I were collected from Eratap Resort shortly before 6:00am. Our flight then departed around 8:30pm.

It took us about an hour and ten minutes to fly 225 kilometres north to Pentecost Island. Along the way, we flew over Cooks Reef (see the end of this post) and skirted the conical summit of Lopevi, an active volcanic island (shown above). Sadly, the summit was shrouded by clouds and steam, so we never saw the crater. However, for most of our flight, the weather was surprisingly sunny. For days now, the forecast had predicted persistent showers and heavy clouds, so this morning’s fine weather was very welcome.

Take off and landing were a little hair-raising as surface winds buffeted our rather well-worn twin-engine Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander. Coming into land at Pentecost was another highlight. Lonocore Airport has clearly seen better days. It was a simple affair. The airfield consisted of a modest concrete block hut and a sealed runway with a well-worn surface coated by a fine pebble sheen.

We were driven to the land diving site, seated in the open tray of a local Ute. The ceremony itself took about 1:45 hours to complete. We then returned to the airport, drove down the runway and onto the nearby beach for a simple picnic lunch. We then returned to Port Vila, landing shortly after 1:30pm.

As we flew south, I couldn't help but note how much of the Vanuatu archipelago has been shaped by volcanic activity. Old craters, ancient cinder cones and smoking summits can be seen from one island to the next. While many tourists are familiar with the spectacular active volcano on Tanna Island, the nation's volcanic heritage is just as dramatic and surprisingly pervasive elsewhere. You're left in no doubt that the Pacific Ring of Fire passes through this geologically active region.

It’s hard to believe this extraordinary feat of courage has been happening on Pentecost for centuries. Christian missionaries successfully convinced the locals to stop diving regularly in the mid-19th Century. For more than a century, ad hoc diving ceremonies occurred from time to time. However, after Vanuatu gained independence in 1980, the ritual was revived by Christian locals as a proud expression of cultural identity.

Perhaps the most infamous ad hoc diving event occurred when Queen Elizabeth II visited and observed the spectacle in 1974. Our local guide explained that the locals were persuaded to dive out of season, at a time of year when the vines aren’t sufficiently elastic. During the Queen’s ceremony, one diver had both lianas broken, broke his back upon hitting the ground, and later died in a hospital.

UPDATE: 14 June

We woke to pouring rain and gusty winds today. It rained relentlessly in a surprisingly heavy deluge until late evening. The Qantas flight from Brisbane even diverted to Noumea as conditions deteriorated (see below). It would appear we got lucky with yesterday’s sunny skies and near-perfect flying conditions.

Much Ado About Nothing

We continue to enjoy breezy but sunny weather in Vanuatu. It's wonderfully relaxing sitting in the shade, reading a book and listening to the waves onto Eratap's private white-sand beach. We've been for a brief swim most days. The water is refreshing but not overly cold. It would definitely feel a little warmer if we didn't have a gentle but persistent trade wind ebbing and flowing throughout the day.

Garry is loving the downtime.  However, it would be fair to say that I'm edging towards boredom today. There are only so many books and news websites I can read before I start to lose interest. I'm definitely going to have to find myself a decent hobby when I finally retire. Lying on the beach is not one of them!

We've enjoyed cocktails at sunset most evenings (G&T for Garry, and a Ginger-inspired Caprioska for me). The resort gave us a complimentary massage session yesterday (Garry's was good, while mine was mediocre).  Last night, we were treated to a spectacular Fire Dance performance during dinner. The show delivered an enthusiastic local group that lit up the beach with some spectacular moves.

We've also booked and confirmed a day trip to Pentecost Island. We're off to see the famous Land Diving Ceremony, the world's original bungee jumpers.  The land diving festivities take place between May and July each year. In other words, our visit to Vanuatu has been fortuitously timed. Watch this space.