Blogs from Kiribati, Oceania
April 16th 2012
We made the most of our last day in New Zealand. Right next to our hotel is the Antarctic Adventure Museum. Cool place. Worth checking out and right next to Christchurch Airport. We watched the penguins swim and get their lunch of live fish. Then had just enough time to be a part of an Antarctic storm in the Snow and Ice Experience exhibit. We put on these big heavy parka's and entered this room filled with snow and an ice slide. The room darkens, the wind starts to blow and the temperature lowers to about 10 degrees F. Pretty cool way to spend some time prior to getting on our flight to Auckland. Our itinerary took us with Air New Zealand from Christchurch to Auckland with a point of entry to the U.S. in San ... read more
January 4th 2012
Rotting on the Beach with Spot the dog. With the constant sound of the trade winds rustling through the palm leaves I didn’t hear the dog walk up behind me. I don't know how long he had been there. I only noticed him when he leaned against my leg. His warm brown fur tickled my leg as he slowly sank to the sand…sound asleep. I knew how he felt. There is seductiveness to the South Pacific Islands that fills the senses with color and softness and fragrance and an overwhelming desire to linger. We had come ashore at Christmas Island (South of Hawaii, part of the Republic of Kiribati) filled with plans for exploring, snorkeling and photography. What we found was a reef fringed atoll surrounded by intense azure water and an ancient island ... read more
December 14th 2011
After a nearly 400 mile sea journey, we arrived at Palmyra Atoll, roughly 1100 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands. Palmyra is a US territory, a US Wildlife Refuge and national monument. Partly owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, its an amazing low lying volcanic Atoll, home to hundreds of thousands of pelagic birds, and covered by dense jungle and Coconut palms. Palmyra is really a group of smaller islands, and was nearly cleared of trees during WW2 to facilitate use as a military base, a project that dramaticaly altered the atolls ecology and landscape. 70 years later, nature is coming back in force, but many old war relics such as gun turrets, bunkers and ammo magazines can be found all over the atoll, mostly covered in thick jungle growth, giving the island a weird ... read more
Honolulu to Christmas Island (Rep. of Kiribati)
Published: March 7th 2012Oceania » Kiribati » Kiritimati
December 12th 2011
(Just about caught up on my blog!) anyway.... So in December 2011, I and my 4 future co-workers arrived on Christmas Island (Kiritimati, but pronounced Kiritsmasts) in the Republic of Kiribati (but pronounced Kiri-bas) Confused? I was --so easier just to say Christmas Island! Even many locals call it that. Its a unique Atoll, very dry and almost savana like interior, except for many miles of lagoon and shallows on the perimeter-and many miles of deserted and often very rugged beaches-this is not the idealic 'south seas' island people would imagine. Not to say it isnt pretty-it has its gems, far off the yachtie and cruise circuit-this is truly a place to escape. The 'capitol' is the tiny dusty town of London, the only other town is Poland, 2 hours down the road. Used for atomic ... read more
December 6th 2011
6.11.2011 Off to Taupo today pronounced 'toe-paw', where I had planned to do a sky dive! We stopped off at some bubbling mud pit and a red wood forewst for a walk on the way. After a long think Sophie decidede to join me at doing a skydive. I think she didn't want me doing it on my own and missing out. The weather was on and off so we had to waot around for a couple of hours till it cleared, which built up the suspense a little. Sophie was nervous and she wasn't hiding it. Half way through watching a film and we got the call to get our jumpsuits on and get ready. We were fitted with our harnesses, goggles and helmets by our instructers, and the people we were jumping tandem with. ... read more
September 14th 2011
The descent into Christmas Island was beautiful. The island was very pristine, with hardly any development. Paradise for naturalists. Very flat islands, not much higher than sea level. The plane was only to be grounded for an hour, with no one getting off except for those who were staying here. I've had hardly any sleep. It was difficult on board the plane, but I tried to basically keep my eyes closed for the longest time possible. It was better than nothing. It was soon after that we crossed the date line on the way to Hawaii, and thus, crossing back into the previous day; from the 14th to the 13th of September.... read more
January 17th 2011
Before leaving, certainly in Australia at least, if I mentioned to someone I was going to Christmas Island, the inevitable responses revolved around asylum seekers. Eventually I had my stock standard repost down pat: "Mate, if we manage to spot any Tamils, Afghans, Iraqis or any other boat people for that matter, on the Christmas Island I'm visiting, then they've boarded a boat that's overshot the mark by about 10,000 klms. Pull out an atlas and you'll find that Christmas Island Part 2 is one dot in the mighty nation of Kiribati, smack bang in the middle of the deep blue Pacific Ocean. Then again, even sprouting the word Kiribati would usually lead to some puzzled looks, maybe because they had never heard of it, had no idea where it was or perhaps more realistically they ... read more
November 8th 2009
Thursday 29th Tarawa, Kiribati (The Gilbert Islands) We had to leave at 2.15am to get to Nadi to get our flight to Tarawa, Kiribati. After a 2 hour 45 minute flight on Air Pacific we arrived at Bonriki Airport on Tarawa. It hadn’t changed in 26 years since Liz was last there. Children were running along side the runway waving at the plane….the odd pig was also trundling alongside the runway too! As we walked across the tarmac to the Arrivals lounge the heat and humidity hit us…..it was 30 C with 100% humidity and only 8.35am! It felt like the oven door had been opened and not been shut! We got our luggage and found our transport in the minibus to the Otintaai Hotel (pronounced O-sin- tie). Again driving past the fish farms and the ... read more
Kiribati - A Disappointing, Potentially Beautiful Place
Published: October 12th 2009Oceania » Kiribati » Tarawa
August 23rd 2009
The only way I've heard of any part of Kiribati is that the Navy has an amphibious assault ship called the Tarawa. My grandfather was on one of the Tarawa ships, I think it was a destroyer at that time though. Kiribati (pronounced Kee-ree-bahs) is an island group in Micronesia straddling the equator and, until 1995, the International Date Line. It is located in the Pacific Ocean along the edges of the Equator and includes the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line island groups. Most are uninhabited and are the protruding tips of undersea volcanoes, extending only a few feet above sea level. Kiribati's 33 atolls are scattered over an area of 3.5 million km². The waters surrounding Kiribati witnessed intense whaling activities in the 19th century and the islands were an important battlefield during World War II. ... read more
June 4th 2007
OK, I was not that surprised that Nauru was not listed as a country in Australasia on this Travelblog but I am pretty surprised that I can't find Kiribati either! Nevermind, I only spent a day there afterall. I'll explain. My plan was to spend a week in Nauru and then fly on to the Marshall Islands. The only airline that runs this route is "Our Airline", Nauru's national airline, a notoriously unreliable affair. I knew this but I wanted to try to combine my trips to the two countries and this was the only way to do it. I got to Nauru alright and after a week turned up at the airport on Monday morning to catch my flight onto the Marshalls. The route goes via Tarawa (capital of Kiribati) and then onto Majuro (capital ... read more
