Top Ten Adventures

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When I started this trip I was hesitant to post goals - I knew I had only one - Adventure. To have adventures wherever I went and whatever I did.  Now towards the end of my trip I have compiled a Letterman-esque Top Ten list of adventures that I have encountered.

Now allow me to digress for a moment about adventures.  When talking to my fellow travelers about adventures they always come out with their biggest and best. Adrenalin-pumping, eye-popping, heart racing events like bungee jumping or skydiving.  I am no adrenalin junkie (although I think I could learn to be).  To me the adventure includes everything from the weather, to the company you're with, to the laughs you share and the lessons you learn.  Now don't get me wrong, I love those adrenalin pumping activities as much as the next twenty-something backpacker but those don't seem to make my Top Ten Adventure List.  Maybe this should be a top ten list of life changing experiences.  Well, here goes (in no particular order - well, maybe chronological). 

1. Grouse Grind (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

The Grind takes its place on this list, firstly, for the challenge.  This 3km stair climb is nothing but (as the name would suggest) a Grind.  Secondly, for the incredible view of the spectacular city of Vancouver below, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east.  Timing also played a part in the Grind making this list.  This was the first real activity that I just threw myself into on this trip, which makes it extra special.  If ever you are in Vancouver you need to do the Grind for two simple reasons, one the scenery, and two, the challenge.

2. Diving the Northern Coast of Fiji (Nananu-i-Ra, Fiji)

This site does not only make my top ten list, it makes the top ten list of the diving community worldwide.  Specifically for soft coral.  This is the site that National Geographic uses for their soft coral photography.  Sites like Golden Dreams, Shark Junction and Dream Maker are mind blowing dives.  Diving in 3mm shorty wet suits without a care for the concerns of diving on the Great Barrier Reef, such as stingers.  With no worries to cloud the mind, it was like my entire being was there just to soak in the beauty, even flip and hang out upsidedown to look for things lurking underneath dark ledges - Batman style.

3. Milford Track, Te Anau Downs (Milford Sound, South Island New Zealand) & Tongariro Crossing (Managepopo - Ketatahi, via Outerere Huts, North Island, New Zealand)

Two completely different tramps yet so similar in adventure.  Similarly because I had to push through some serious elements to complete each one.  Similar in that both were staggeringly beautiful with their distinct lush vegetation.  Scaling Mt. Mackinnon of the Milford Track through a snow storm and down the emergency avalanche trail.  And hiking up the Devil's Staircase and over the western ridge in a monsoon.  Both had moments of adventure (read: terror) and a euphoric realization of where I was and what I was doing.  If the weather had been perfect, I'm not sure I would have found the experience nearly as rewarding and I doubt they would have been such and adventure.

4. Franz Josef Glacier (Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand)

There are very few places in the world where you can climb an advancing glacier.  That alone should be enough to make this adventure list, but when you add into the picture that this is one of the wettest places in the world, you get a challenge that you are required to push through to find the true beauty of what you are doing.  But the feeling of your crampons digging into the ice or the bite of your ice axe chewing into the side of a fissure forces this to standout in my mind as one of my greatest adventures ever.  Increasingly wet, dripping more and more with each step and loving every minute of it.

5. Sledging the Kaituna River (Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand)

I think that you would be hard pressed to find another place on the planet that will let you fly down a grade 4 whitewater rapids head first on your stomach.  However, in the adrenalin capital of the world you can.  The rush is indescribable as you ferry down to the rapid named The Abyss and duck your head through it, grab a quick breath on the other side and try not to get swept away by the river.  And then if that wasn't enough for you, you can get in behind the rapid and surf what just spat you out like a rag doll (I'm getting excited even as I write this).  Not to be missed!

6. Abseiling in Hagis' Honking Holes (Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand)

Wetsuit, check. Rubber Welly's, check.  Helmet and light combo, check. Harness, check.  We're set to abseil down into the caves.  First down about 15m to a cave with no exit, where to go? Answer is obvious, follow the underground flowing river.  Next, about 12m down a waterfall and again down a third waterfall.  This was unlike anything I have ever done before.  Abseil, swim through and rock climb through caves called the Torpedo Tubes.  This is not for the faint of heart of those that suffer from claustrophobia.

7. Diving the Poor Knight Islands (East coast, North Island, New Zealand)

One of the top 10 dive spots in the world according to Jacques Cousteau.  This spot is so special because you get warm water species and tropical reef species where there is no reef of warm water.  This is because the warm water of the East Australia Current flow downs from the Coral Sea that 'resides' along Australia's tropical north eastern coast, over the tip of the north island of New Zealand and down the east coast.  Making sting rays and eels very common, combined with the Scorpion and Dog fish.  Truly surreal to see these species along volcanic ridges or when swimming through kelp forests instead of nestled in coral or camoflaging into the sea bed.

8. Fraser Island (Queensland, Australia)

The largest sand island in the world.  With beaches like Lake Mackenzie where the sand is 99% pure silica and the water is too pure for anything to live in; how could camping beachside on New Year's Eve not make my list of adventures? Driving a 4x4 down a sand highway or cooking from the back of it are just 'a grain of sand' of the adventures that this island promises.  Fraser island is a unique experience not to be missed.

9. Waltzing Matilda, Sailing the Whitsunday's (Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia)

This has been the biggest challenge for me on this trip.  I worked as a deckhand and a cook/host of Waltzing Matilda (55' Roberts Yacht).  You see there is nothing particularly difficult about my job except that I'm learning to sail as I go - sailing by the seat of my pants - as I tell my passengers.  after working on the boat for six month  I have long since learned the mechanics of hauling the sails up and down, my goals now are to learn how to sail properly, the theory.  Learning these fantastic new skills while living amongst some of the most beautiful and unique island scenery in the world, including Whitehaven Beach (another world top ten).  I doubt there are many places to have a better adventure while learning something new.  This job did not come with its heart-stopping moments, for example when the fore stay snapped (see Mike's Adventures in Sailing).

10. Diving the S.S. Yongala (11 Nautical miles off Alva Beach, Queensland, Australia)

An amazing dive, not to be missed by the certified diver for several reasons.  One, it's an oasis of life.  There is no reef around for miles, coupled with the fact that the wreck has been down there for almost a hundred years means that the wreck itself is absolutely teeming with fish and coral.  Two, everything is massive and I mean heart-in-throat big.  3+m Bull sharks, huge Maori Wrasse, Queensland Groupers, Grey Nurse Sharks, turtles, sea snakes, eels and a massive Potato Cod named VW because he literally is the size of a VW Beetle.  There was even a ~200kg Giant Trevally with a massive bite out of its back.  I never want to meet the fish that took that bite.  Thirdly, as a new sailor, it was nice to pay respect to the sailors that lost their lives in a cyclone in 1911, who are entombed in the boat.

After reading through this top ten list I have to say that I think I was successful in accomplishing my goal of adventure.  I have learned a wealth of knowledge about myself based on the challenges and adventures I have faced - which all strangely seems to require water in vast amounts, either soaking wet from the rain, or wading through a flooded rivers or just plainly swimming in it.

Kev recently sent me a picture that his parents took of us the day we left.  My response to the picture was that I feel totally different from who I was in the picture - I just hope different is good!