Rok Nok and Rok Nai Islands (outside and inside) are located about 25 kilometres South of Ha Island and belong to the Koh Lanta National Park. The two sister-islands are separated by a narrow channel about 15 metres deep, have some of the prettiest beaches in Thailand and are completely uninhabited. Diving here is relatively shallow, with the best corals and fish life living above 18 metres. The bottom is composed mostly of hard corals, with small areas of soft corals at deeper depths. Black tip sharks patrol the reef shallows and Hawksbill turtles are also sighted regularly.
There is a little campground on Ko Rok Nok. About a year ago one of the park rangers had four of his fingers biten off by one of these lazy iguana-like creatures. He was cutting fish on a table and dropped something. He reached under the table with some pieces of fish in his hand without looking first.
The only medical problem I suffered on the island was a sweaty hangover in my hammock after consuming just a drink or two too many of Sam Songs with an Austrian blacksmith and his friends.
Posted by api at 19:29 - 2 Comments »
After leaving Wellington, I’ve gradually upgraded my backpacking style to the trendy flashpacking up-market level. I spent half a day in Hilton Airport at Melbourne and managed to lose a bit of my tooth while mucnhing on the continental breakfast lamb sausages. I knew that my calcium intake had diminished significantly while living here on the Southern Pacific region, but maybe it had nothing to do with the incident. To remedy the situation, I’ve bought some dolomite tablets though.
After consulting my insurance company, I decided to visit the Bangkok Nursing Home hospital to have a quick emergency filling made. However, after arriving at the hospital and seeing the reception lobby and the friendly dentist, I chose to have the highest quality ceramic filling available. The old filling removal and mold taking were of extremely professional quality and after the operation I was escorted away to the taxi by the gentleman in the picture above. I celebrated the success of my dental operations with a platterful of stir fried coconut worms.
I remember seeing a little news tidbit about Thai hospitals advertising their heart surgery services for Europeans. Just next to our hotel is a dialysis clinic and it seems to be increasingly popular to come over here to have combined vacation/medical treatment trip. Although it might usually not be a good idea to have complicated surgeries made while in a relatively poor country, I am happy to report that (based on my experience) Thailand seems to be the exception to the rule.
Posted by api at 05:42 - No Comments »
In addition to spending some time in the wilderness on the South Island, I also attended one of the numerous bus tours that are available for tourists. I chose Flying Kiwi and to be fair, they did pretty much deliver what they promised on their website.
Here are some of the things I learned on the trip:
- New Zealanders drink all kinds of alchol; both beer AND wine!
- Sports team names usually feature the word “Black”.
- They drive on the wrong side of the street.
- They use dead possums to mark the center of the road.
- “Sweet as” is spelled with one S.
- Everybody is your mate.
- EFTPOS is your friend.
- Here is where the leftover hills of the world are stored.
- You pay BEFORE you jump!
- Hot water will eventually come from one of the taps.
- The coach will eventually come.
To get a better idea what the tour was like, have a look at this video (Quicktime slideshow, 44 Mb).
It’s a rather big download, so don’t bother to click on it unless you have broadband access.
I’ll be spending February in Thailand, so the updates to this blog will be quite infrequent. Take it easy, brothers and sisters.
Posted by api at 06:23 - 1 Comment »
Route Guide: Lake Angelus - Articles - New Zealand Tramper
Only another 400 metres higher is the fine peak of Mt. Angelus (2075m). The most spectacular hiking access to the lake, hut and mountain is along the Robert Ridge - a consistently high, sometimes narrow and usually beautiful route. There are great views into the basins above the Travers Valley and alpine herbfields for budding botanists.
The high altitude (up to 1600 metres) means that this area is subject to bad weather (including snow) at any time of the year. The steep slopes to either side are prone to avalanches in winter. This is a popular area even in winter with ski-tourers on the ridge and frozen lake and climbers tackling snow and ice on Mt. Angelus.
When starting this walk you have a few choices:
- Stay in St. Arnaud overnight to allow a full days walking along the ridge.
- Head straight up the ridge after travelling to the park (unless you are a local this means starting around noon and a late finish at the hut). Good for the fit or those in a hurry.
- Go up to Bushline Hut on the first day - a leisurely way to fill in an afternoon.
The trip can be compressed into 2 days but I suggest that you break the first long day (up to 9 hours) with a stay at Bushline Hut.
Be aware that Angelus Hut can get full very easily, especially during holiday periods. Don’t expect to be alone at the hut and large groups should carry tents.
The sun burned my neck in the high altitude and I almost hit my head on a rock a couple of times while slipping and sliding my way down via the Cascade Track to Lakehead hut, but other than that it was a truly excellent tramp. Lake Angelus itself had a really nice atmosphere.
About 60% of the trampers in New Zealand Department of Conservation huts are from overseas. There are about 900 huts around the country and some of them are serviced and have wardens. They are outdoorsy people with a lot of good advice things like route choice and make the whole tramping business a much more safe and pleasurable experience. The warden on duty at Angelus was a nice lady called Robyn.
The picture above shows the shovel that can be used to dig a hole to the entrance of the hut if it is buried under snow. More pictures of this tramp can be found at the gallery.
Posted by api at 02:55 - No Comments »
