Friday June 24, 2011 End of the first work week

Friday June 24, 2011

Today Theresa had her day off and thus I took the bus into town. The bus station is only a block away from the house and buses run in the early morning very frequently – overall 6 buses between 7 and 8 am. The ride takes about 30 – 40 minutes passing Howrah (pronounce Harah), Rosny and heading over the River bridge into Hobart. In the city center one connects to the University bus which is another 10 15 minute ride. With connecting directly from one bus to the other I caught today the 8 am bus filled with school kiddies and myself the only adult passenger. I was sitting in the front of the bus and three girls were sitting opposite to me. It was the birthday of the one sitting in the middle. It was exhilarating watching them as the birthday girl was unpacking one small present after the other. Lots of insider jokes I guess. One of them, even I got the joke. It was a pair of extraneously large fake golden plastic earrings and she not even had her ears pierced. With this nice entertainment on the bus the day had started very well and I was ready to rock and roll.

The day was packed with more organizing, some great discussions and catching up with my colleagues, a good bye party for Sue, a luncheon seminar from a Thomas a visiting scientist from the AWI passing through on the way to the IUGG meeting next week. The last hour of the afternoon I spent running errands, getting information on medical insurance from Medibank, depositing some money on my bank account and I almost would have gotten my drivers license though I was missing a bit of paper with my current local residential address on it.

Well a couple of things I will now have to deal with first things on Monday – signing up for Medicare, signing up with Medibank for the medical insurance and than getting my driver license.

After running the errands I headed back to the Uni and the IMAS bldg. Every second Friday one of the student clubs holds a beer hour and today was the second Friday. A great opportunity to meet more of my colleagues and others working in and around IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) and ACE (Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre). A beer later and several pieces of cheese, chips and crackers later, I hitched a ride back to Tranmere with Sue.

Another successful day and my first workweek have passed.

2011-06-23 Third Day

Thursday June 23, 2011

Most of the morning I spent on most important things - getting hocked up to the internet and a printer, and pulling everything together to get reimbursed for my Visa, moving and travel expenses. After lunch I took one of the department cars and headed down to Kingston to drop them off.

Ok – I have to admit that I got a little bit confused these days. The sun passes in the North and cars are driving on the left side of the road. With cars driving on the left side of the road, everything on a car is reversed – the passenger side is the driver side and the driver side is the passenger side. So which side was again the driver side? While the past couple of days I quiet often caught myself heading towards the drivers side of a car before getting I actually got this time into the passenger side and was surprised to find the steering wheel on the other side. Daaahhhhh. – out of the car and getting in on the right hand side…. With the steering wheel being on the right, driving on the left however is much easier than one may be afraid of. The trick here is to take the median of the road always next to the steering wheel, except if you drive in the middle of the road one will always drive on the correct (not the right :-) side of the road.

Off I was to Kingston and ruckizucki back to my office. The afternoon I than spent with more conversations and printing out and reading some science papers, overall catching up with the work of my colleagues.  

A part of my time I also spent on checking on my shipments. Yesterday I had received the bill for the shipment and a couple of pictures of my palletized belongings. Looking at the pictures I thought there was something funny about the pallet. Comparing the picture against the pictures I had taken in Illinois, I discovered that someone had reorganized the majority of my palletized belongings.

From the pictures it looked as if all the boxes are still undamaged though the fact that someone – not custom – went through my boxes and reorganized them isn’t much comforting. Most annoying is that who ever did this increased in this way the overall height of the stacked items and thus the volume costing me money as the my shipper is billing it by the dimensions they received. We will see, how that goes.

Also somewhat annoying is that my bicycle hasn’t yet arrived. Most likely this is due to the ash cloud lingering over the Tasmania and impacting air traffic. Seems I was really really lucky getting into Hobart on the only day this week air traffic hadn’t canceled flights. 

And with this another great day is over.

2011-06-22 Second day - slowly settling and catching up with things

Wednesday June 22, 2011 – another busy day passed quickly. In the early morning I settled a bit more into my new office. The ACE CRC is located on the third and forth floor of the Centenary Bldg. a relatively new and modern building. Some of the offices are in the Earth Science building, an older building adjacent to the Centenary Bldg., which can be reached via a small bridge. My office is on the other side of the bridge the second door to the right. The office is part of an office suite with 4 individual offices and a central room from which one accesses my office, in which a number of students have their desks. One advantage of having my office here is that there is a printer right outside of my door, others are that one has company or one can close the door and focus on one’s work.  

Aside from unpacking my things and putting my few things onto the desk and sorting them onto the shelves, settling into my office also included unraveling nice presents from former occupants. These included some field work pictures – or better pictures from some fieldwork parties and a bunch of other useful things. Most useful was to find the key which opens both the front door to the office suite and my office door.

Aside from settling into my office we had a planning meeting in the morning, discussing current and future work, a teatime of the ACE-CRC in which I was called up and welcomed to the department followed by the second half of our meeting and another trip to Kingston to drop off some paperwork and pick up my staff-ID.

With this, a little bit more organizing in my office, some sorting through my travel and moving receipts, figuring out how the phone system works and a few more short discussions with my colleagues the day was already over and it was time to head home.

2011-06-21 First work day

After a good nights rest I headed early in the morning to Hobart. Its about 15 kilometers from Tranmere to Hobart and so I hitched a ride with Theresa my couch surf host.

My first stop in Hobart was my new bank NAB – National Australian Bank located conveniently in the center of town. While waiting for the branch to open I stopped at the Metro office in the downtown post-office and acquired the Greencard – it the electronic ticket for riding the bus around the city. In order to finish the set-up of my bank account I had to provide my immigration documents and passport. Taking the opportunity I also asked my relationship banker Stuart a bunch of questions about mortgages, insurance and what other important things I could think off. After setting up my account I was off to my new workplace at the University of Tasmania.

Walking through the hallway at the ACE-CRC I received a nice welcome – Great seeing, Welcome to Hobart, You made it finally. Checking in with Tony we went through the check-in list and I got the keys to my office, A nice window on the backside of the building with large windows though only a gorgeous view onto another brickwall. Just before Lunch we than headed down to Kingston, to the headquarters of the AAD to fill out some more paperwork and provide all the information needed to set me up in the system and for me to receive my first paycheck in early July.

After this was done Tony and I headed off for lunch with people from the atmospheric group. The rest of the afternoon I started settling into my new office, talking with colleagues and headed out early to catch my ride back home with Theresa.

2011-06-18/20 Immigrating to Australia and Arrival at Hobart

Good Evening

Time is flying. Saturday evening I left the US from San Francisco bound for Sydney, Australia arriving Monday early morning. My third time to Australia and yet different from any other travel I have taken before. I have been arriving to start my new job and to take up permanent residency in a lovely country - my new home.

Arriving at Sydney airport I was nicely greeted by Australia. I passed through custom like any other time. I handed my entry form with the cross on A - Migrating permanently to Australia. The custom officer - Gabrielle - a beautiful blond Aussie woman - asked me a few questions, stamped my passport and welcomed me to Australia with a big warm hearted smile. Just a little gesture and I had become a permanent resident of Australia.

What a feeling - taking up residency in a new country - When I moved to the US almost 12 years ago I had no intention to live there for ever. The original plan of mine was to do my Ph.D. in the US quickly, take up a temporary position and apply for university positions back in Germany returning as professor.
As planned I relatively quickly went through my Ph.D.. However instead of returning to Germany I remained in the US first as postdoctoral fellow at the Byrd Polar Research Center (Ohio State University) than on a research position at Northern Illinois University.

Now twelve years later I was waiting for my 4 bags to appear on the baggage claim and to clear custom. The secret to clearing custom efficiently is to follow the instruction - declare everything, and if you uncertain declare it and talk with the custom officer, as much as they are working to protect their country they also working with you as long as you honest and truthful. I declared my 10 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of rum, my chocolatte and Haribo Gummibears, showed them my hiking boots, which were all clean and showed my few rock samples I had with me, which were also clean. Another Big Welcome to Australia I cleared custom heading out into the Lobby with my big cart of luggage.

On my way to the Quantas luggage drop off I stopped at the Optus telephone shop got a new Sim card and reloaded my pre payed phone with $30. Still the same number I received last year - ready to rock and roll.
Checking in with Quantas I had to reorganize my luggage. Quantas has a much stricter luggage policy than United. 32 kg - not more. Also your cabin luggage will have to be less than 7 kg. Well on the first a bit annoying - on the second it forces you to be smarter. After reorganizing my checked luggage I checked one of my two carry-ons. The good news - a supplemental piece of luggage was only AU $30. Much less than the $100 United charges for the same. I guess one can get used to the stricter rules.
Before paying for the bill I dropped off the large bag at the odd size baggage drop off and returned the cart to the others. As usual I pushed a couple of them standing all across the area together and into line with the others. This got me a big big smile and Thank You from the counter agent. Yeah we both have no idea why people can't return their carts properly and leave the work for others.

Next stop - changing terminal. On the bus a nice lady mistook me for one of her travel partners and all four of us chatted first about autism and later about energy and the future of clean energy. They had just arrived from Calgary working in the energy business and heading onward to Perth for some business meeting.
5 hours, a good unhealthy breakfast and 2 hour nap later I headed onward to Hobart.

At Hobart I only had to wait a few minutes for my luggage to arrive and a few more for my host Theresa to arrive. Off we went to a lovely place on the eastern shore of the river in Tranmere, I will call home until I decided where around Hobart I will set down my roots.

Greetings from Down Under with a lovely sun set enhanced in color through the ash lingering in the air.

One small Step after the other gets you there - Step packing Illinois

Good evening

Another busy week has passed. Monday I shipped my belongings from Illinois and today my California shipment was picked up.
What's the magic word in the automotive industry - On Time Delivery. On my end it was an On-Time ready for pick-up. I literally printed the last shipping document out when the door bell rang. All I had to do was switch off the printer - pack it into some plastic, drop it into the space on the pallet tie the knots on the rope I had designated to hold it in place and plastic wrap the entire pallet.
The longest was to find the keys for my rental car so that we could recover the pallet from the driveway. They were hiding dearly. At the end I found them and the pallet got loaded onto the truck. What a good feeling after three days of hard work.

After cleaning up and starting packing my luggage for the plane ride tomorrow I spent the evening with friends having a picnic in the park and some very good chat. Now I am off to bed so that I can fully enjoy my last day in the Bay. We'll see - what ever it bring I have a confirmed upgrade and will sleep soundly on my way Down Under.

Thanks to everybody who helped me on this awesome journey. Special thanks to Karl & Lisa, to Harry, David and Marc.

2011-06-07 Vancouver - getting organized

Hallo Everybody

I am out of the Wilderness and have safely arrived in the urban jungle of Vancouver.

My next tasks will be getting organized to move to Hobart Tasmania in a week or two.
This means currently making phone calls to moving companies and finding some alternative to the quoted full size containers, which previous moving companies have quoted.

As I will find the time I will fill in the missing blogs from my travel and will add some additional information on this travel. For now I created a new page - 2011 Bike Adventure on which I listed my travel itinerary and will update which blog sections I have published. The blogs I will backdate to the actual date of travel. So check back from time to time and check out the blog archive as I will transfer my journal into this blog and add pictures.

stay tuned and all the best wishes

2011-05-30 Dease Lake

Hallo Everybody

The past couple of days were just awesome heading North on Route 37.
After staying at the Upper Grant Lake about 25 km south of Dease Lake I made it for lunch into town, rolling down the hill and stopping from time to time to take in and take some pictures of this breathtaking landscape and admire Mother Nature and the formation of a huge thunderstorm cloud.

I should make it to Whitehorse by the end of the week and will update my blog there with hopefully more reliable internet.

All the Best Wishes to all the Birthday Kids

Stefan

2011-05-24 Smithers to Hazelton

After my bike stand broke yesterday I did a morning of bike maintenance and running some errands, utilizing the fact that Smithers will be the last great outpost with full service and a bike store. Actually Smithers has two bike stores, (Mike Bike and Sportand COB Bike Shop) both of which had been very very helpful. Though none of them had the kick stand I desired. As I felt that a kick stand was essential I decided on an alternate model and got in addition to the kickstand the 17 mm wrench necessary to mount and maintain the kickstand during the ride.

Aside from dealing with my bike I also had breakfast and met my fellow tree planters from dinner again. Not surprising - small town – but very pleasant. After I got all my things done, packed and late check out I met Lindsay for Lunch. I contacted Lindsay through couchsurfing.org. Lindsay works for the some department responsible for fighting the many forest fires. Prepared as she was, she had checked out the weather forecast for me. Not too bad. As it looked, may be a few showers but overall it shall be getting better the further north I am heading. After a big Burrito I ready for the road again. Onward west it was.

At this stage I actually hadn’t had decided whether I would actually cycle to Whitehorse via Route 37 the Steward-Cassiar HWY or whether I would be heading to Prince Ruppert, taking the ferry up to Whitehorse to gain some time and race for Prudhoe Bay. Due to the ten day delay end of April it had become clear that I won’t be able to cycle the entire way to Prudhoe Bay. Even if I would race I won’t be able to do 4200 km in a months time without competing at the Tour de France.

Well well- heading to Skagway or Haines and onward to Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay or taking a more leisurely stroll along Route 37? This question went back and forth in my head. Still the foremost important for me was to enjoy the trip, enjoy the cycling and enjoy me being on the road.

While cycling by yourself gives you lots of time to think and contemplate, the scenery often distracts your thoughts and you just admire, 

here some mountains and trees mirroring in the calm waters of a lake, a flock of birds passing overhead, some cows on the meadow starring at you and following your trail, horses galloping along side on their meadow, some dandelions covering the embankment of the road, highlighting the spring season.

Isn’t it amazing? Life is beautiful and mother nature so pure.

Where was I again? – Steward-Cassiar HWY or boat from Prince Ruppert and onward to Prudhoe Bay?

Does it really matter – No - Not really and I will see – probably making the decision spontaneously at the Route 37 Junction.

2 – 4 – 8 – 9 – 15 – 23 – 31 – 33 – 34 – 35 km have passed, some slow some fast. A quick stop for a picture here and another quick stop for a picture there. Time and distance – two dependent variables on this trip. Sometimes time is flying and the kilometers are passing, sometimes time is crawling and you just wonder how endless this journey along the Bulkley River may be.

Onward I heading and along the way I see a moose talk with a native and finally get to New Hazelton. On the way to New Hazelton there were some great advertisement for a campground called Ksan – Well the signs look great – natural colors – a native campground of the Gitxsan Lax-YIP with a museum and Wifi. I decide this to be me final destination today – just a 1 km behind town.

Racing with about 50 k’s downhill towards New Hazelton I pass the town pretty quickly – turn right as described just to discover that the campground is another 7 klicks away – off the road. Checking briefly out the tourism board at the roadway I finally decide that it should be worth while heading to Kshan. At the end I think it was. The road leads high above the river – crossing a bridge on its narrowest path and leading another 100 or so meters in elevation down passing the actual town of Hazelton until the confluence of the Skeena and the Bulkley River.

I arrive just in time to pay my dues and check in. As the grounds were almost empty I decide to take over the shelter and not pitching up my tent in the showery weather.

As I unpack my food bags and prepare for cooking my dinner I briefly leave the shelter to get some water, a quick chat with one of the other RV’ campers on the ground I return with water and discover that a Raven had discovered my food, and nicely picked into all 4 of my cooked pork loins. You can imagine my initial reaction – as the raven flies off upon my return. I look at the mess and think about how to save the remainder of the meat not picked at – I discover some bits and pieces of some earthworms and some beetles – Thank you very much for the presents – I answer the Ravens call.

And than I think about this sarcastic answer – What if the Raven had interpreted my display of food as a gesture of greatness and kindness – as a kind of offering?

What would you do if someone hands you a great offering?

Would you try to give something back?

May be this was actually what happened!?!

The Raven may have taken my display of food, as an offering and regurgitated as a Thank You for my offerings.

This thought suddenly provides the miss happening a complete different meaning.

How bad of me thinking bad of others!!!

And so the night set-in and I pulled out my sleeping bag after safely hanging my food into the rafters, safe from the bears and safe from the mice and other critters which may want to indulge.

Bon Nuit

2011-05-23 Burns Lake to Smithers

After rain follows sunshine, or in my case today just cloudy weather with only a few drops of rain.

From Burns Lake the road was heading north across the Six Mile Summit - 840 m above sea-level. Not the highest but it was a fun ride up the hill - racing for new speed records on the way down - Is the Check your brake sign also valid for cycles? 

As always the ride down was fun fun and fun, Next destination was Houston at the Blukley River. Houston even holds a World Record. It has the worlds tallest Fly-fishing rod. Don't ask me how tall or long the rod is, but it certainly is impressive. I however doubt that it may ever have caught a fish.

In Houston I also finally saw the cute little passenger train heading to Prince Rupert. Wouldn't it be fun? luxury travel and food!

Due to the heavy rain and snow melt over the past days all rivers are high. The Bulkley River in parts has been flooding the road - lucky me it was before and I had passed those areas. Above a picture of the river waters reaching the underside of the railway bridge in Houston.
 

Another respectable and fun climb lead out of Houston and onward to Smithers my final destination for the day. Along the way I startled and passed a deer just a few feet away and took a nice break on one of the many lakes along the roadside.

Nearing Smithers the mountains have become higher and snow covered again. Smithers itself seems to be a fun small town with lots to offer for the young and older. Though on Victoria Day - a Canadian Holiday - non of the stores are open and the only place for food is either Burger King or Boston Pizza. On my search for food I had joined a group of Tree Planters and we decided on the Boston Pizza Place. Good food and a corona. They are on their off day and tomorrow they will be moving from one deployment side to the other - so overall two days off - yeah. Greetings folks Hope you hadn't too much rain and neither too much sun.

After a good meal I went off to bed in the Hotel - Yes another day in a comfortable bed - roughing it ;-)

2011-05-22 Fort Frazer to Burns Lake

I woke up to some pretty fine rain. A quick breakfast, packing my things and getting on the road again wasn't so appealing like the other days when it was sunny. Though I was happy to be on the road with a very uneventful day ahead of me. Aside from rain and being cold there was not much to report.

 Though I have to say that I am in part pretty happy with the road improvements payed by the Canadian stimulus money and likely also ahead of the Olympic games earlier this year. The roads so far had been nice and pleasant with mostly lots of space for me as a biker on the side of the road.

Arriving in Burns Lake I took a long long break in the restaurant chatted with one of the locals who's wife was just preparing my fried liver with onions which were just to the point and very delicious with a fresh side salad, and two nice fellows who were heading up to Alaska with their small little van. One of them will be guiding fishing trips in Alaska this summer. (check out his blog http://prescriptiontrout.blogspot.com/).
At the end I ended up taking a motel in town. A nice cozy dry place and ready for an early start tomorrow morning

Quesnel may 18

Arrived in Vanderhoof BC - great weather two black bears and coyotes last Thursday

2011-05-21 Prince George to Fort Frazer - Beaumont Provincial Park

After a nice rest day, some great cooking and company I am on the road again.

First stop in the morning for breakfast was at Joseph Shea's place. Joseph is a post doctoral researcher at UBC/ UNBC studying glacier hydrology (http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~jshea/). We met last week in Pembelton at the Pub. He had just come down from the Mountain doing GPR fieldwork while I rested from my ride down from Whistler. The world is small.

After some great blue berry pancakes. I hit the road and Joe went off hiking with his wife and two sons.
After a quick shopping stop in Prince George I headed up the hill hitting the highway west towards Vanderhoof and onward to Fort Frazer and the Beaumont Provincial Park my destination for the night.

On the way out of town I passed the Sikh Vasakhi Parade with colourful floats and lots of happy chanting.

The ride out to Vanderhoof was mostly rolling hills, nice fast riding, chasing the shadows of clouds. I can call myself lucky. I had a couple of clouds providing me with some good shade riding in the sunny part of the day but missed the big showers. Overall I am pretty surprised how many houses and small settlements are all along the road. It has quiet a European feeling where you drive along the countryside, passing a farm here some houses there and a small village a little further down the road. At a small rest stop on the way to Vanderhoof I had my late afternoon Lunch stop and chatting with two brothers who were building a house, adding to the urbanization of the countryside.

Arriving in Vanderhoof I hadn't yet made my 100 km mark and so I decided after a short stop to head on and see where I may end up.
Heading further west the weather turned a bit against me with some showers. Still some amazing views.

I finally arrived at the Beaumont Provincial Park pitching up my tent next to a couple of RV's enjoying there late afternoon of the Victoria holiday weekend. Happy with a good meal and a good nights rest.

2011-05-20 Prince George Rest Day - Ancient Forest

A day off the road. I decided that it was time for a rest day. My legs were hurting and Dennise had a day off. She packed me into her car and we headed east towards Jasper. The destination was the Ancient Forest a more than 1000 year old Cedar forest with some of the oldest trees reaching back to the Roman times. On the way up we saw a couple of black bears, young adults, and one beautiful Grizzly Mum with her two cups. Like the day before the bears were within a few miles, on the side of the road. The Grizzly Mum was pretty impressive, but also pretty shy. As we pulled over onto the shoulder she soon disappeared into the forest soon followed by their two adorable cups. 

There was still a lot of snow in the Ancient Forest. From the parking lot the hike went up the hill into the impressive forest. This old growth forest provided an interesting glimpse into the natural ecosystem. Several meters in diameter the trunks of these old trees provide lots of shelter, numerous smaller caves and larger caves, which can be used as dens to winter over or raise kids safely. Now in spring life was restarting and the floor was covered with sprouting grasses, ferns, and other greens. You can imagine what paradise this must have been. Plenty of nutrient rich food for everyone accustomed to the life in the wild. Passing by the water fall the trail was circling back to the parking lot and with this we were heading back to town.

A quick stop in the food store and off we were for a leisurely afternoon at home. Some of Dennise’s friends came over for a chat and invited for dinner. We had some lamb chops and I was making my Swabian Spaetzles and Mouse of Chocolate. It was a lovely afternoon and evening among friends. 

2011-05-19 Quesnel to Prince George

After a good night sleep a light yummy cereal breakfast the day had started well and with a little adventure. Due to the heavy rain the past few days part of the driveway had washed out and we got stuck by trying to drive around a big pot hole. With a few rugs and a piece of plywood at hand and a little bit of digging we made it out and Willow to work. A couple of nice pictures, a quick good bye and a stop at Safeway I was back on the road again. 

On my way across the Frazer River I met Tim a native North American with his dog. A sad part of our society, having taken away the land of these people we have given them alcohol and so Tim’s answer to my question what he will be doing today was - drinking.

Too Bad that I wasn’t wit enough on the spot. While riding my bike and passing along the land of these peoples I had a thought. I should have asked Tim to head over to the local policing department, ask for Willow with greetings from me and ask for a large garbage bag, than head out with his buddies and take good care of his land picking up the trash our society is daily leaving behind. Not that I would like to suggest to that others should pick up after us, No I more think that one can make an impact and leading by good example.   

There is a lot of garbage along the roads - cans, plastic bottles, entire trash bags which people have disposed – a real shame.

With another beautiful day riding was fun, and I made some good progress towards Prince George and my second couchsurfing night. I took my lunch at a small lake and than headed onwards. 

In the early afternoon I finally encountered my first black bear. Good 100 to 150 meter of the road the Mum with her two cups were sitting in the grass grassing the fresh greens. After leaving a bit more distance I stopped and took a couple of pictures. Continuing my ride I encountered the next bear a mile or so down the road on the other side of the road. Likely a male, as it was large and alone. I watched him for a little while with my binoculars before heading on again. Another mile down the road I encountered my next wildlife experience. A group of coyotes. Again I took my bino’s out and watched them for a while until they left the scene retreating into the forest. 

Wow what an experience, lots of wildlife in such a short distance. Needless to say aside from the common deer I did not encounter any further wild animal until Prince George, where I spent a lovely evening at my couchsurfers Dennise house before falling sound asleep.