Whale watching, North America travels, & the return to the motherland - December 2008

Hey everyone,

Well again I know it has been a long while since I have written but I’ve been as busy as a beaver (how Canadian of me I know). The last time I wrote was July and since then quite a bit has happened. July/August was just flat out in the whale watching industry. I ended up doing 31 days straight but the experience gained and the things I saw were just incredible. At one point I was working a lot as a zodiac driver during these months and it was great to clock more hours out on the water and gain that experience. I’ve learnt soo much about navigation, water conditions, weather, and of course, the whales! September slowed down a bit but it was my favourite month for whale watching. If anyone asks me when the best time to go whale watching in the Pacific Northwest is then I’ll say late August/September. The weather was great, waters were flat calm almost every day of the week but most importantly, the whale sightings and diversity was second to none. In one single 3 hour trip I saw orcas, humpbacks, Stellar Sea Lions, California Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Harbour porpoises, Bald Eagles and an abundance of other marine bird life. To see all that in one trip truly is phenomenal. During my last couple of weeks at work I couldn’t help but think how awesome it was to be out on the water seeing soo much diversity and how I’m going to seriously miss it. I saw some incredible things in my last couple of months out on the water: I witnessed three transients (mammal-eating orcas) attack and kill a California Sea Lion; I saw a huge male orca pursue a harbour porpoise then breach out of the water with the porpoise in its mouth (I have a photo of this, that a passenger took by fluke, but it’s incredible); I had an orca veer of its path, surface right next to my boat and I literally looked it in the eye, just amazing. A lot of the really good photos I have were from passengers and the captains that have decent cameras. I really want to invest in a decent camera as it’s really hard to get good photos from a little pocket one. I plan on making a photo/video presentation when I return to Oz, showing the highlights of my time in the Pacific Northwest, as it really was just an unbelievable experience. I know I keep saying how awesome it was being up there, but really I’m running out of words to describe what an amazing experience it all was. Take a thesaurus, and any word that describes feelings of excitement and amazingness, they all represent my time in the Pacific Northwest. So I finished work at the end of September, and my very last trip was a zodiac trip that had superpod, transients and Race Rocks. I literally couldn’t have asked for a better last trip. After Victoria I headed up Vancouver Island to Tofino for a few days. Now Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island and is the surfing capital of BC. I have much respect for surfers that surf here. Firstly, the water temp is about 10-11˚C, so these guys (and gals) wear full bodied wetsuits, booties, gloves and hoods. Now that’s dedication! I don’t know about you all, but when I go surfing (well, bodyboarding ‘cos I suck at surfing) I just wanna be wearing boardies and a short-sleeved rashie, not a SCUBA outfit, minus the breathing gear! Tofino is also renowned for it’s beautiful scenery, where mountain islands drop down straight to the waters edge, and narrow bodies of water wind around the islands throughout Claquot Sound. It was just breathtaking. While in Tofino I travelled by boat north to Hot Springs Cove and had my first hot springs experience, that really were surprisingly hot. It was surreal to be soaking in these springs while the cold waters of the Pacific flushed in and cooled you down. I also travelled to a place called Meares Island that is an old growth forest with trees over 1000 years old! These old growth forests are found throughout Vancouver Island (although majority have been logged) and the denseness of the forests is just incredible. Good luck trying to get through them off the beaten path, because it just won’t happen. The amount of life in these forests, and the fact that they go right to the waters edge, means everything is interconnected. The natives in these areas had a relationship with the land and sea and were completely self sufficient. Of course it didn’t take long for white man to come along and destroy a lot of it. This seems to be the case everywhere doesn’t it? Since being away I feel as though I have gained much more of an appreciation for nature and how every single little thing is connected in some way. My passion for the ocean has only grown stronger and how I want to conserve the incredible creatures within it. Don’t be inviting me out for seafood unless you know that it’s coming from sustainable stocks, because I’ll be honest, I won’t eat it. It’s a personal choice I’ve now made as we’ve overfished around 70% of the worlds oceans, so I want to know what I eat is not damaging already threatened stocks. Don’t get me wrong, I love seafood but don’t love it enough to take it from those animals that live in the ocean (particularly marine mammals) and rely on it for survival. We humans DON’T NEED it to survive, whereas marine mammals do. I recently found out that the orcas I was studying and working with (the Southern Residents) lost 7 members this year, bringing the total now to a mere 83 individuals. It’s the biggest lost in 10 years and the future of these animals is not looking good. The truth of it all, they’re starving. There’s just not as much salmon around as there used to be, and combining this with toxins in their bodies that have resulted from our actions, the population is struggling. A lot of research is being done on these amazing animals, so we can only hope that the population can bounce back. It’s weird, and saddening of course, to think I was in this part of the world when such a major loss occurred and to think I may have seen this population at it’s highest before a constant decline began. Let’s hope that I am wrong and this is not the case. Well, I’ve gone on about all that for a while now so I’ll continue on with my travels of late. Still, cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) conservation is an issue that I want to pursue as a career and so all that is happening in this part of the world is something that is close to me. Yeah, I’m a self confessed whale nerd, and proud of it!

So after Tofino, I headed back down to Victoria for one final night with the crew (miss you guys) and then it was off to San Juan Island (again) to say goodbye to friends over there that I worked/studied with. After San Juan I headed back to Vancouver and then it was farewell to beautiful British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, and off to Ontario, Canada. While in Ontario I stayed with a good friend I worked with in Victoria who is originally from there (thanks Sheenah!). She lives just outside of Toronto in a little town called Beaverton. Yep, the beaver is Canada’s symbol and they have a town called Beaverton. Awesome eh?! That’s like having a town in Australia called Kangarooton or Emuton. Hilarious! While in Beaverton we went to Niagara Falls, which truly is spectacular. That’s another wonder of the world I can tick off the list! I also checked out Toronto City and went up the CN Tower which is the world’s tallest free standing structure with a public viewing deck. It was awesome being so far up overlooking Toronto and Lake Ontario. While in Toronto I also checked out the Hockey Hall of Fame. Now although I’m not a huge ice hockey fan a mate of mine in Victoria told me to go check out it, so I did and it was actually really cool (excuse the pun). I was fortunate enough to experience a North American Thanksgiving in Beaverton, which was my first Thanksgiving and of course I like an event with lots of grog, food and conversation, so it was a top night. One thing I found hilarious was when members of Sheenah’s family would ask Sheenah (with me sitting next to her) “Sheenah, ask your friend if he would like to get some more food, there’s plenty left”. To which Sheenah replied “Ahh, why don’t you ask him yourself. He’s right here next to me and he does speak English you know.” Good times. I was actually really lucky to be in Ontario at that particular time of year (early/mid October) as it’s Autumn and the colours from the leaves falling off the trees is just spectacular. Hard to think in a month’s time they will have snow, and by Xmas there will be 2-3 ft of the white stuff everywhere. I experienced the smell of dead skunk while travelling on the road, and I gotta say, it’s not something I want to smell again. Thank god we don’t have those pungent little animals in Oz, because if you hit one the smell stays on your car for weeks! I also travelled to Cambridge just outside of Toronto and visited a mate I lived with in Miami. Great to see you JD!

After Toronto and surrounding area it was off to Tampa in west Florida for a friend’s wedding (great to see you Val and congrats again!). It was awesome to be back in sunny Florida and catch up with quite a few folk. The wedding was amazing, a Jewish wedding in fact. Now the only things I know about a Jewish wedding are things I’ve seen on the movies, and they did it all- breaking of the glass, holding the bride and groom up on a chair on the dance floor, and of course the traditional Jewish dances. It was a great night and a great few days in an area I’ve never been before. When ‘Land Down Under’ by Men at Work came on I found myself in the middle of the dance floor dancing around, and everyone copying every single move I was making. I think they thought it was a proper dance, but little did they know I was just making stuff up as the song went on. Crack up! A bloody great night though, We went to the original Hooters Bar in Clearwater, yep the actual original Hooters, the first in America. Now how many people can say that eh?! And this year they are celebrating 25 years, just like me! Being the whale nerd I am I went on a dolphin tour around Clearwater, and were fortunate enough to have bottlenose dolphins riding in our wake, and we even witnessed some “playful” activity, if you know what I mean ;-) I was in Tampa during the World Series (American baseball) and the Tampa Bay Rays had qualified so there was a big hype in the area. Unfortunately they ended up losing but it was a cool experience nonetheless. One thing that does bother me is the fact that they call it the World Series when it’s only North American teams competing. Mmm…

From Tampa I took the bus down to Miami where I spent two weeks catching up with the crew (well, those that are left). One of my main reasons for going down to Miami earlier than last year was so I could get down to Key West for what’s called Fantasy Fest. Now this is festival that happens just before Halloween, and I’m not lying when I say it’s kind of like the name implies. Literally, people, mainly women, walking around in next to nothing. Lots of body paint, skimpy clothing (some guys do it well which is somewhat disturbing), beads, photos, and drinking in the streets. It’s just one huge party where everyone is having a great time and forgetting about the stresses of life for a weekend. I was walking around just in shock as I couldn’t believe I was seeing. I’d seen photos from mate’s that had gone previous years, and so I knew somewhat to expect, but until you’re there to see it with your own eyes, you don’t really believe it. Truly a crazy weekend. While in Miami it was Homecoming again and they had N*E*R*D playing a free concert on campus. I don’t expect all of you to know who that is, but they certainly put on a good show. Of course there was the Halloween celebrations the following week, and again we went to the Grove and it was just crazy. The funny thing about Halloween is, and everyone knows it, is that it’s an excuse for a lot of women to dress up (or dress down as the case typically is) in not much at all, and get away with it. Hey, no complaints from this Aussie! I dressed up as a ‘Dingo that ate your baby’, so I got a make-up kit and attempted to make my face look like a dingo. I put a couple of signs on me to clarify. It came out alright I guess, considering I did my own make-up. The effort was put in which is what counts. There were of course some Thursday nights in the Grove which are always a good time, and just general hanging out with the gang and catching up. It was a great couple of weeks in sunny south Florida, with the last couple of days spent north of Miami in Boynton Beach (great to see you Don!), and also in Ft Lauderdale (thanks for showing me around Chels!). A really big thanks though to all of you in Miami that let me float between couches and floors. You guys know who you are!

After Miami it was up to Providence, Rhode Island to see a friend that I worked with in Victoria (great to see you Steph!). I arrived the night of the Presidential Election so spent the evening glued to the TV. It really was an experience being in the US in the lead up to the election, seeing the ads on tv, the banners everywhere, and just the general hype around it all, given the importance of it and situation the world is in today. My friend was driving me to the airport in Ft Lauderdale (I was flying up to Providence), and she had an Obama 08 sticker on her bumper. It was amazing the amount of people honking the horn and throwing their hands up in the air in support. I felt this huge vibe during the day and of course, being there when Obama was announced President Elect there was huge excitement as it was/is such a pivotal moment in American history. There were people cheering everywhere, letting of fireworks in the parks and honking their horns in the streets. I’m really glad I was able to be around to witness and experience it all. It’s certainly time for a change… YES WE CAN.

We’re up to November 7th in case you’re wondering. So after Providence it was down to the Big Apple where I spread the news, stayed a few days and became a part of it. I’ve been to New York before (back in 2006) and had done all the touristy things, so the visit this time was to catch up with friends (as were all my post BC travels). I was in Manhattan one night and then on Staten Island staying with friends the other couple of nights. I met some more friends on the Sat night and we went to a comedy show in Times Square, which was pretty funny I guess, although I don’t understand why comedians feel the need to cuss every second word. If you have to rely on obscenity to get a laugh then in my book you’re not a good comedian. I do like New York, and could see myself living there for a little bit, but it’s just soo expensive, and I guess those professionals living in Manhattan can afford to live that lifestyle where money really isn’t an object. It’s certainly an object when you’re a poor traveller!

After the city that never sleeps it was on a bus and up to Boston to see me good mate Shpin. I’d been to Boston the same time last year but only for a day or so, and from what I saw of it I really liked. The city seems really clean and just has a really nice feel to it. I spent a week in Boston catching up with my mate Shpin who I’ve know since UMiami dorm days. Many a good time were had while I was there. I went to the Samuel Adams Brewery and did a tour (and tasting!) which I have to say is probably America’s best beer. We went to the Imax there and saw a couple of documentaries, one called Whales and Dolphins, and the other called Wild Oceans. If you get the chance you should certainly go and check them out. The footage is phenomenal, and of course being the whale nerd I am I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a great time in Boston (bloody awesome to see you Shpin and thanks mate for the hospitality!).

After Boston I flew across to Seattle and then bussed it up to Vancouver. Total time leaving from Boston and arriving into Vancouver was just over 20 hours, so yeah, that was fun! I spent a couple of days in Van sorting the rest of my stuff out, catching up with friends and of course saying bye to Deano who has just been an amazing bloke to me while I’ve been in BC. You know how I feel Deano, but thanks again mate. See you in Oz soon! ;-)

So after 16 months away in North America I hopped on a plane on Wednesday 19th November bound for the motherland. I went with Japan Airlines via Tokyo to Sydney as it was much cheaper that Qantas or Air Canada even though they are direct. Yeah, go figure that one! ;-S I arrived into Sydney on the morning of Friday 21st Nov, with all my luggage present and accounted for, and as I stepped through those customs gates it really was a weird feeling, but a happy one as I was home at last!

So as I finish writing this ridunculously long blog (apologies, but many congrats if you are still reading) I’ve been back in the country about 3 weeks. I’ll be honest in saying that it does feel weird to be back. I have to re-familiarise myself with a lot of things, like driving on the left side of the road (we won’t talk about that incident the second day being back in the country), dealing with the fact that everyone has an Aussie accent, and remembering I don’t have to tip when I go out! I can get used to that one again very easily though! So I was in Orange for almost 2 weeks, of which 5 days were spent up in Pt Macquarie at a friend’s wedding (bloody great to see you all!). For those of you that I caught up with in Orange, I know it was only short but it was great to see you nonetheless. For those of you that I didn’t catch up with in Orange I’m very very sorry. It was only a short trip and I had a lot of organising to do for the move back to Adelaide. At least I’m on the same continent now so there is much more of a chance of catching up. RADelaide is where I’m at right now, and will be here for the next 12 months at least. I’m working over the summer and will start my Honours degree at Flinders Uni in February. I’m actually going to be spending 3-4 months of next year on a remote island in Fiji, as that is where my Honours research will be, so that will be a great experience. I have a very tough 12 months ahead of me, but I’m up for it and am really looking forward to the challenges ahead. After that, who knows, I’ll re-assess this time next year. Perhaps a PhD is on the horizon.

To all of you that are still reading, congratulations, and thank you. I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve written, but at least now you’re updated on the actions of Tim Timmy Timbo. The last 16 months have certainly been an adventure!

I hope you all have a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Keep in touch, and drop me an update every now and then as I’d love to hear from you.

This is Tim Timmy Timbo signing off for 2008. Bring on 2009!