Day 9: The Fjords

For two days after Hobart, we were at sea, heading to New Zealand. On the third day of this, New Year's Eve, we took a little detour through three of New Zeland's Fjords: Millford Sound, Dusky Sound, and Doubtful Sound. We couldn't get off the ship, but it was not like a normal sea day because there was so much to see from the ship.
Here's my completely non-scientific explanation of what is so special about a fjord. Fjords are basically pieces of coastline that were cut to bits by glaciers a gazillion years ago. The ones in New Zealand also happen to be extremely unique ecosystems. The water in the fjords of New Zealand is crazy deep, despite how narrow they are. By crazy deep I mean that scientist come here to study ocean life that they can't get to anywhere else in the world because the water has to be so deep for it to survive. The water at the bottom of the fjord also has no current because of the depth. There's a layer at the top that moves, and below that it's stagnant. To make things more interesting, it rains 200 days a year in this area of New Zealand, and as a result the top top layer of water is freshwater. The land is basically rainforest, and the fjords are home to all kinds of weird animals that you can't see anywhere else because they have evolved on the New Zealand islands and never had anyplace else to go.
All of this was very interesting to read about the night before we arrived at the sounds, but at 6:00 a.m., when the alarm went off, I had serious doubts about whether it was worth getting out of bed. Then I saw this:



Milford Sound (6:00-8:00) was the most dramatic of the three we passed through, and an extremely stressful experience for Zack, as somone who knows how driving a ship works. The waterway was not that much wider than the ship comparatively speaking. He spent a good bit of the trip saying "We should not be taking this big ship in here. This is a bad idea." Then, just when he had gotten used to the idea, we got to the dead end show here, and actually turned around in that tiny little waterway! The water in Milford Sound was black black black, but not murky. It was the clearest black I have ever seen. And the view was totally fantastic.


Anyway, it was totally worth getting up. Once we were through, there was a mad rush for breakfast and then things slowed down again for awhile. We went back to bed. Then at lunchtime, we were given a tour of Dusky Sound.

Dusky Sound was named by Captain Cook (although he might not have been a captain at that point) for the weather he encountered there. Luckily, we arrived on one of the 100 days that it doesn't rain, and we got some great pictures as a result.

We left Dusky Sound without having to turn around, and by 3:00 we were at Doubtful Sound, named because the good Captain Cook wasn't sure he'd find a place there to pull in and pick up supplies. Personally, I think Cook could have used a lesson in creativity, but I suppose when you've discovered the coast of a whole new continent, you start running out of names...

At any rate, we enjoyed the views, and by 5:00 we were back into the open sea, which gave us plenty of time to get ready for our formal New Year's dinner.

After dinner, we spent our evening in the Grand Foyer listening to live big band music and watching the small group of dancers (most under the age of six) until midnight rolled around. We have now officially celebrated New Years in the first time zone to roll over!

Happy New Year!

Day 6: Hobart

We arrived in Hobart, Tasmania around 7:00 am after another day at sea. Zack and I signed up to go sea kayaking at this stop, and that started at 10:30, so we started our day with a quick walk around town to check things out. In the grand tradition of civilized people everywhere, the shopkeepers of Hobart refuse to open before ten, but we did get a general lay of the land, which was nice. Also, we got the clear impression (based on the number of people out and the tents going up all over) that something exciting was going on in town that day.
The something exciting turned out to be the finish of a very important sailing race that runs between Sydney and Hobart. The race can last anywhere from three to five days, and the winners were due into Hobart that day. We arrived at our sea kayaking starting point just in time to see the winner pull through the bouys that marked the finish, and as we paddled around the harbor hearing about the history of Hobart from our guides, several more boats pulled through the finish (including one of the kayaks which ran away with its passengers!). It was a nice little trip.
It was a little chilly in the morning, but by the time we finished our kayaking, the day had warmed up and the sun was shining through. We went back to the ship for long enough to change into dry clothes and eat lunch, then headed back into town to take in the fair atmosphere of the harbor where the sail boats were coming in. We also stopped in to a little pub in the afternoon to taste some of the local refreshments. Because (again) water and digital cameras don't get along, and because most museums don't allow pictures either, these are our only pictures from Hobart:

After our refreshments, we visited the Hobart Maritime Museum, which turned out to be much more interesting than either of us expected it to be. Hobart exists because the harbor used to be a common place for two different species of whales to come during mating season. Apparently the harbor would be just packed with whales, which made it a perfect spot for whalers to come and live. The whaling industry created a town, but destroyed both the whale population and the trees surrounding the harbor (which were all used to keep the fires going to boil down the whale blubber). The museum had a fascinating display about the industry which led me to be very glad we don't do that anymore. Yuck.
By the time we got through the museum, it was approaching our departure time, so we said good bye to Austrialia, and returned to the ship to move on to New Zealand!

Days 3-4: Melbourne

We spent Christmas Day 2007 at sea between Sydney and Melbourne. This was our "roughest" day on the ship. Zack says it was smooth, but other passengers on the ship were complaining about the rocky ride. Really, it wasn't so bad. Days at sea are a great excuse to do very little, so we spent most of the day reading and relaxing, though we did participate in a Merengue class.
Our ship, the Mercury, was very nice. There were about 2200 passengers and 1000 crew, which seems like a lot when you hear the number, yet by the end of the trip we recognized quite a few faces. The ship had enough pools, jacuzis and restaurants to keep most of the passengers busy in them for most of the day. In addition, they had several night clubs, a coffee shop, a mini-mall, and an internet cafe, as well as a movie theater and a stage theater. Yet, when left with time to explore all these options, we tended to choose to spend most of our time with a book near a pool or sleeping. This only proves that no matter how cool the vacation, it is important to schedule time for doing nothing.
On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), we arrived in Melbourne. Zack and I signed up for a snorkeling trip that lasted the whole day, so we didn't so much go to Melbourne as through it. A bus took us out of the city and up the coast to a little town called Portsea that is home to a small colony of creatures called weedy seadragons. (Yes, the weedy part is actually a part of the name.) Zack and I had seen a few of these guys at the aquarium in Sydney, so we knew essentially what we were looking for. They look like seahorses, only longer and with leaves sticking out of them. If we hadn't seen them at the aquarium, I'm not sure I could have found one snorkeling because they live in kelp beds, so they really blend in.
The snorkeling guides split us into two groups and sent half of us to a nearby town, Sorrento, to check out the shops while the other half snorkeled. When we arrived back, they fed us lunch and got us into our wetsuits (making us wonder just how cold the water really would be) and walked us across the street to the beach. We literally walked straight into the water (which was actually quite a nice temperature), and right there near the shore were several beds of seaweed in which were hidden all kinds of nifty sea animals. We saw a few very colorful fish, a starfish, a school of pufferfish, and even a few of the elusive weedy seadragons in their natural habitat. After an hour of tooling around in the water, we were returned to our bus which took us back to the ship with just enough time to wash up before we set sail again, this time for Tasmania...
Unfortunately, snorkeling and digital cameras don't really mix, so we don't have many pictures from the Melbourne area, but here are a few of the skyline from the ship:

Vacation Days 1-2: Sydney

That's right, folks, we spent our Christmas vacation this year on a 14 day cruise around Austrailia and New Zealand! It was entirely too much fun. On December 22nd, we left Sasebo and took a bus to Fukuoka. From there we flew to Narita airport in Tokyo. We had a long layover, so we took the subway to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Then we flew all night, arriving in Sydney around 8:00 on the 23rd. The ship was still unloading from the last cruise it took, so we spent some of our morning sitting on the docks looking at this:

And this:

Oh! And this:

Once we were allowed on the ship, we dropped off our things and ran straight back out into town again to see what we could before dinner. We walked to the middle of the harbor bridge (but not up to the top because that was high enough for me). We also took a closer look at the Opera House. There was a market going on in the rocks, so we began our shopping too. At dinner, our view was of the Opera House and the various sailboats wandering though. It was lovely.

After dinner, we ran straight back out again to catch a little Sydney night life while we could. We walked as far as the WWI ANZAC memorial, and on our way back wandered in the Fortune of War Pub, which came highly recommended by several of the guys on Zack's ship.

Our second day in Sydney, we decided to hit the aquarium, since we weren't going far enough north to see the Great Barrier Reef. The aquarium has several places where you can actually walk under the creatures, and it was a pretty cool time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any good pictures of the sting ray the size of my car, or any of the colorful fish through the glass, but here's one of the residents of the aquarium:

After the aquarium we went back to the Rocks for further random walking and investigating, and on Christmas Eve, the Mercury set sail for Melbourne....

We're baaack...

Just so everyone knows, Zack and I made it back from our fabulous trip to Austrailia and New Zealand safe and sound. Pictures and stories will be coming soon. :-)

Sumoo!

Zack was gone over Thanksgiving Weekend, so I went to see Sumoo wrestling in Fukuoka. It was one of those things that I figured I should do if I had the chance since we are, after all, in Japan. I learned that there are exactly six Sumoo tournaments held each year, each one lasting 15 days. The trip I took was on day 15 of the only tournament held in Fukuoka each year, so it was a good time to go, apparently.

The trip turned out to be not only entertaining, but also informative, at least to some extent. While I did not learn exactly why everything is done in the tournament the way it is, I did learn a little bit about the many traditions that make Sumoo what it is. For example, the roof you see over the wrestlers here is representative of the roof of a shrine where sumoo would have originally taken place.

The wrestlers you see there are one of the professional teams at this tournament. I learned that there are five classes of sumoo wrestlers, and they wrestle during tournaments starting with the lowest class (the amateurs) and going up to the highest. There are always two teams: east and west. I have no idea how the teams are determined. What I do know is that every wrestler on the east team will wrestle everyone on the west over the course of a fifteen day tournament. Wins and losses are then totalled and the guy with the most wins gets a super big trophy (and a lot of money).

I also learned that there are no weight restrictions in sumoo. Everyone wrestles everyone else regardless of size. We saw a few cases where a (relatively) little guy was pitted against a much bigger guy. The neat thing was, the bigger guy did not always win.

See, every wrestling match starts out with two guys facing off like the ones above. The guy in the kimono is the judge. There are two ways to win, though: either you can push your opponent out of the circle you see on the floor in the picture above, or you can cause your opponent to touch the ground with any part of their body other than their feet. The nifty rule summary we got said that anything from a pinky finger to a top knot touching the ground will cause a wrestler to lose. When the wrestlers try to knock each other out of the ring, and they're fairly well matched, the result looks something like this:

When someone is knocked over, it usually happens too fast for pictures. The above picture is of the best match we saw. The guy on the left is Russian, by the way. The two pushed each other and tried to throw each other off balance for a solid three minutes (if it had gone four, it would have been declared a tie and there would have been a rematch). It was really captivating to watch. (The Russian finally knocked the other guy out of the circle.) I was amazed at how flexible these guys are despite the fact that they are enormous.

So most matches don't last very long, usually just a few seconds, may be a minute, but they are really very exciting. And after the last match, the people in the expensive seats throw the cushions they've been siting on:

Then the trophies are awarded. We didn't stay for the whole trophy ceremony, but the wrestling itself was very exciting. I'm told it's much better in real life than on TV (like most things), and I can understand why people would follow it now. I hope I get a chance to bring Zack along next year...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Okay, so I'm really late about posting these, but November was a busy month. Sorry. Over Halloween this year, I went to three costume parties: two at the junior college and one that OSC hosted for the International Ladies Club. Here are some pictures from each.

Party 1: the English Department Party

The part of this party most worth seeing was the mummy wrapping contest. Here are the results:
Not a lot of kids dressed up, but we did get a few witches...

And the teachers showed the kids how to REALLY dress up...

... As did this student:

Party 2: Childcare English

I decided that, to ensure that I was not the only person in costume, I would bribe my students. I told them there would be trick-or-treating at the party, BUT no costume, no candy. All 18 of my girls dressed up, the boys decided their pride was worth more than candy. As a back up plan, I had them all make paper plate masks. Here's one guy's brand new "costume": And here are a few of the girls...

And there's all of us:

Party 3: International Lady's Club

The adults got to have some fun on this one. The idea was to show the Japanese women what Halloween was all about. The buffet lunch was a haunted house, and EVERYONE dressed up. Here's what it looked like:

Sponge Bob is secretly a Japanese woman...

More Japanese costumes...

A bunch of the American Ladies went with a Wizard of Oz theme. Here are some munchkins:

These ladies made everything they're wearing by hand:

And even Little Bo Peep had fun...

So it turns out if you really want to celebrate an American Holiday right, you just have to leave the country!

For Thanksgiving, the families from Zack's ship got together at the Harbor View, since the ship was still out at that point. I also did a day-after dinner at a friends house, so I got all the traditional food. Zack said there was turkey and pumpkin pie on the ship, too.

Posts to look forward to: Sumo wrestling!!! I actually saw it, and it's really fun to watch. Now that November is over and I'm taking a break from grad school, those should be up fairly soon. Also, Zack is putting together some pictures from this last deployment.