Report: February 14
Fish Encounters, Visa Gymnastics, and Satellite Shenanigans.
James Hughes pulling himself and kayak through the fishwall that trapped the Southern Eagle Ray.
‘It’s a skate, they’re harmless… look, there’s no barb in the tail,’ my friend Anna suggested, standing on the fish trap wall and looking into the shallow pool. The supposed skate glided calmly past, waiting patiently for the tide to rise over the containing wall of rock and free it. I’d just come in from a swim and watched as its wing flaps rose to the surface and cut grooves like two (very small) parallel waterskiers. ‘Are you sure it’s a skate, looks more like a stingray to me.’ I replied with no real idea. I looked more closely, sure enough, there was no barb on the tail. The trapped water was warm and I wanted to get closer, I waded quietly into the middle of the pool and waited.
The skate breezed past three or four times before unexpectedly stopping and settling on the sandy bottom at my feet. Puffs of sand blew out from the side of its rounded head as though it was catching breath, otherwise it was still. Its wing flaps were raised slightly, which I interpreted as a greeting. I bent carefully and reached a hand out. ‘Hello there gorgeous.’ I ventured, reaching below the water. The touch was accepted calmly as I tickled the firm, smooth flesh.
On the other side of the wall, in the open ocean, we glimpsed a second skate waiting for its friend to be released. The tide would not be high enough to unite them for another hour. Anna came into the pool and we walked across to the beach. The skate circled around slowly and seemed completely relaxed by our presence.
Later the next day I received an email from Anna. She’d done some internet research and concluded that our friend in the pool was a Southern Eagle Ray, not a skate. The gentle creature has a poisonous barb is on the underside of its tail. Ignorance can be bliss!
Watch this...
With less than 80 days until departure I have moved from my usual base in Hobart, to the north-west coast of Tasmania at my parent’s small farm. The idea is to get some space and time to concentrate fully on the logistics and physical preparation, hence why I was swimming and lazing around with an eagle ray in the first place. When I left for the 2006 east coast paddle I gave my old car away and haven't had one since. I'm loaning one from my parents so I can be more mobile. The plan is to get around to see as many students and teachers as possible before shipping out. There are also a few urgent issues to work on at the moment, and a couple more that I know will become pressing in the next month unless I get cracking.
Uh-oh, too far...
The main concern at present is getting a visa to cover the full duration of the expedition. I anticipate spending up to six months in Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately a tourist visa (the only category I satisfy) is only for two months, with a potential one month extension. I’m in contact with everyone I can think of to help organise an extended visa but there’s no certainty about it at this stage. With this in mind I’ve been researching ways to work around it. One possibility is paddling from Kiunga to Port Moresby within the two month limit, getting an extension, paddling on to Milne Bay, flying out of the country and back in to get a fresh two month visa. It’s not an elegant or cheap solution, and possibly not even within immigration rules. There will be a solution out there somewhere, but until I find it I’ll be just a fraction frazzled!
Gone...
Another minor drama is getting my satellite communication working effectively. I’m taking an Iridium satellite phone which acts as an exceptionally expensive, large and slow modem for sending data back to my website administrator. Every day the website will be updated with a brief progress report and new position for the map. With one or two photos and a few paragraphs of text, I need to send about 20-60 KB of data per day. I am currently trying to work out the most cost effective and reliable hardware to use with the sat phone. It’s come down to a choice of three; ultra-portable laptop (such as the 12” machine I used on the 2006 expedition), PDA (capable of email, basic word processing, photo resizing etc.), and the new ASUS EEE (fully functioning 7” laptop, solid state hard drive, but operates on Linux- not easily compatible with Iridium system). All three options have their benefits and weaknesses. I’m busily getting more information from people who know what they’re talking about. The technical stuff fascinates me but leaves me feeling like a four year old at an IBM think session.
Won't be the last time.
When I think about the simplicity of paddling, camping, eating, sleeping, paddling, camping…etc, I sometimes wonder where all this work comes from! I keep reminding myself that it’ll be well worth it when we’re underway and exploring the far away land of PNG.
Every few weeks until departure I’ll report on preparation progress. If you’re not on the email list, jump on now so I can let you know when reports go up. Finally, just a quick reminder to Tasmanian teachers- my diary is beginning to fill for school visits statewide from late February to early April. Contact me for details on when I’ll be in your area if you’d like me to talk to your students.
Next report due 28 Feb.
Andrew