Multiwhat? Seismic on the other Side!

Don's 50th

2009-03-16T15:09:00.002+11:00

No seismic crew is complete without it's fair quota of Newfies. Therefore when we saw that Don's 50th birthday was rounding the corner we would make an effort to do something special since he was stuck on a boat, offshore New Zealand, in a uncomfortable swell 3000 miles away from his family.

So a grand plan was hatched to produce a lunch worthy enough to make his day. All we had to do was find out his favorite food.

Attempts to gain family email address were in vain as no one could quite pluck up the courage to stare over his shoulder long enough to memorise the details. Time was running short and we were desperate.

Smooth talking Rooker the Cooker offered to casually strike up a conversation with Don in order to extract the precious information. What followed was a serious breach in communication between the organizing team. Not only did Rooker the Cooker ask about Don's favourite food, Ingy, Haydn, Troy and Ewalina did as well. Our Don is a cluey kind of guy and had us worked out fairly quickly. No doubt he started working this to his advantage by the time the last people had asked.

So the Titan catering crew had it all organised by game day with a equally impressive birthday cake. We managed to get a few smiles out of him.

So what did Don choose as his favourite meal?
a) Boiled Seal
b) Beef Jerky
c) Licorice
d) Spaghetti Bolognaise

Merry Christmas

2008-12-27T11:22:00.001+11:00

A very merry Christmas and happy new year from the crew on the Pacific Titan.

Doodlebugging

2008-09-02T11:48:00.006+10:00

We've managed a few trips out in the Workboat this trip for various reasons. The weather off East Timor has been very kind. Ingvild got her first chance to launch the boat on the 1st of September and made a great job of it.

Thanks to Chris Burton from Western Whale Reasearch Pty Ltd for the shots.

Grimstad and the house of Thor

2008-04-17T17:35:00.008+10:00

"What are you doing here in Norway Mr Ryan?" The pasty faced Norwegian immigration officer asked.
"I'm here to learn how to drive small boats." I replied jetlagged and really not enjoying the chit chat.
"You don't have small boats in Australia?"

That pretty much summed up most of my conversations with the locals on my latest trip over to Norway. My company had enrolled me on a small boat driving course in a little coastal village named Grimstad on the southern coast of Norway. Over the next few days we would familiarise ourselves with our 'Workboats' and procedures that would enable us to work on our deployed gear while out at sea saving the company tones of $$$.

Grimstad we were told by our excellent instructors at SafeMar was the home of champion bike rider Thor Hushovd. Being a fan of The Tour de France I was over the moon and was seriously considering going around to his place, a well maintained, typically Norwegian fashioned house facing the fjord. I was told later that he was skipping the Norwegian winter to train in a warmer climate elsewhere. Being Australian it would have been criminal for me not to go over and at least sabotage his bike in some way giving our man Robbie McEwan another minor but helpfull head start for the Tour. Tommy the instructor went on to explain that Grimstad was a mecca for sun depraved Scandwegians in the summer. The story goes that thousands flock to their summer houses, deploy their boats into the fjord and go zipping around the islands occasionally crashing into each other. It was hard to imagine this sleepy village ever being the center of activity at any time of the year.

We spent 4 days out on the Grimstad fjord dressed in our protective orange survival suits. A colleague of mine had been so lucky as to join me for the course all the way from New Zealand. An Australian and a Kiwi in Grimstad proved to be all too much for the local news station who immediately dispatched a news crew down to the training centre to see what our deal was?

The weather turned it on for it's foreign visitors whilst there. We experienced 3 out of 4 really fine days out on the fjord witnessing Grimstad at its best. When I wasn't eating kababs or Dolly Dimples pizza I was admiring Grimstads rustic, small town character. If only beer were cheaper in this country it would be so much more of a pleasure to visit.

Saturday came and my visit to Grimstad was over for now. I had organised a HUET course (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training) the next week on Wednesday. This gave me ample time to hit the slopes of southern Norway. After harassing every local Scandwegian on all the immediate skiing resorts I had built a consensus, that all roads led to Hovden.

Czech?

2008-02-19T13:03:00.006+11:00

Apart from being a enourmously tricky country name to spell and famous for it's great beers I really didn't know much more about this Eastern European country. Ever since XXX (corny I know) I had really wanted to visit Prague.

Getting from the Airport into the old city was a little painful but having said that I don't believe I had chosen the easiest of routes. A bus followed by a transfer to a train eventually had me in old town square. Don't expect any help buying train tickets just press buttons and hope for the best.
My choice of accomodation was Old Prague Hostel. The central location and free internet came in real handy.

Prague has a reputation for being super scenic so I came prepared with my new Cannon EOS 350D and no idea how to use it. So what does one do in Prague apart from trying to get in the frame of as many tourists holiday snaps as possible? I had great fun on the Prague pub crawl. If you are ever there grab a handfull of people and give it a crack as it's a massive night out.

I was in a bit of a classical mood and czecked out my fair share of musical concerts including Vivaldi Four Seasons, Mozart, Bach and a whole host of other stuff i have absolutely no idea about. The quality of the shows was fantastic although im in no way a classical music connoissuer.

It was really interesting to learn about Czechs painfull past including communisms cruel grip of the country and it's peoples. A visit to the Museum of Communism was well worth the trouble and really placed a few of the towns landmarks like Wenceslas Square in a differant light. Haunting as well to learn of the legacy of Jan Palach who set himself on fire to protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.

After a trip to idos.com your number 1 travel information website in Czech Republic I was off to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky didn't dissapoint. I stayed at Krumlov House Hostel. This place deserves a special mention cause the girls at Krumlov Hostel were second to none and really made everyone feel at home during their stay in Cesky Krumlov. In my opinion you cannot stay anywhere else.

Cesky Krumlov was even more photo worthy than Prague and a real eye opener. I spent most of my time walking around trying to take as many photos as possible. Cesky was short of many other activities apart from drinking and resauranting.

Being the winter there was not that much else going on. I imagine the summer would be much more eventful with Kyaking down the river that snakes itself in and around the small town.

But my time in Czech was coming to a close as I prepared for the ride over the border into Austria. Leaving the country it suddenly dawned on me that I had only learnt one word from the Czech language; Pivo = Beer. How appropriate.

El Nido

2007-12-01T00:47:00.000+11:00

Crew change in October took place in El Nido on the island of Palawan, Philippines. I had heard for some years working offshore the legend of El Nido so when I found out we would be crew changing there I quickly thanked the seismic gods. Crew changes don't come much better than this in such a scenic untouched back drop.

The crew of Pacific Titan landed on the beach of El Nido almost like a invading force. The local populace was spared however as the 5 week thirst took hold of the troops. As if by some strange power everyone started to head for the bar. Bags were literally thrown in rooms at the Lally and Abet hotel as the mad rush for the bar ensued. The drinking went on in earnest, everyone being oblivious to the 4am wakeup call for their flight back to Manilla.

A lucky few managed to wrangle a bit more time in Paradise me being one of them. We moved our accommodation up the beach to a place called Rosanna's which I found to be a lot better. At 700 pesos a night El Nido vacations are friendly on the pocket too. Make sure you bring plenty of money with you though as there is no ATM in town. I managed to get by scrapping up bits of foreign currency I had lying around. Everyone is happy enough to exchange you pesos.

The main town/beach of El Nido was the launching point for our ventures. Development of beach front took me by surprise, I was suspecting something more grandiose. New developments are kept to 2 stories with existing infrastructure already pushed to service this arrangement.

I found the beach free from hagglers maybe because of the lack of tourists? I don't know? If you are upmarket then El Nido boasts some fine resorts within 40 minutes by boat around the islands.

There is plenty to do in Paradise, you can rent canoes, snorkeling equipment or take one of many boat tours around the islands. The snorkelling is fantastic almost everywhere and i'm betting the diving is even better. Unfortunately I still haven't sorted that one out yet.

To get here you need to fly to Manilla and catch a local connection which flies direct to El Nido. ITI will get you there. Other places worth visiting on Palawan are Puerta Princessa and Basuanga.

Cambodia Reflections

2007-09-13T21:58:00.000+10:00

I flew into Phenom Penh on the 8th of August with absolutely no expectations. As with most of my travels this one wasn't planned with much precision. My hotel happened to be one of the seediest shady places in the city. Change you say? It's holidays and I couldn't be arsed. I thought that if I drank enough I probably wouldn't notice my room anyway. Putting my hotel woes behind me I busied myself with a walking schedule for the full day ahead including the National Museum, The Royal Palace and the Markets.
I was approached by very amiable tuk tuk drivers during my walks who after the standard introduction started hassling you about rides to the Killing Fields. It was something in the way they approached you that put me off, therefore I did not venture out to the killing fields or the Tuol Sleng museums. Previous travel advice and experience had steered me away from using tuk tuks.

It wasn't done deliberately, it's just the way it turned out that my tour of Cambodia was relatively Khmer Rouge free. Ironic perhaps that it was one of the only things I knew about this country.

Morning came and surprisingly I managed to make the morning bus to Sinoukville. Piece of Advice no #1: When travelling by bus in Cambodia choose Mekong Express wherever possible. I know this because my Sinoukville bus WASN'T Mekong Express. Thankfully some future travel companions would send me in the right direction.

Sinoukville was great fun, a town built by the sea specifically for good times. Being the off season in August there was plenty of places to choose from, some places even offering free accommodation, I ended up at Monkey Republic near Serendipity Beach. It was blowing a force 10 gale when I arrived and raining buckets, most of the bars along the beach had copped a hammering. Over the next few days the sun came out, the beach cleared up and the real Sinoukville came out to play. I teamed up with a couple of girls from the USA who provided some memorable company. If we weren't drinking from Vodka buckets we were lying in the sun somewhere getting toasted because of Malaria medication.

Since our schedules matched perfectly Team USA and myself continued our trek together up to Siem Reap after a overnight in Phenom Penh. I was impressed with the markets in Siem Reap as well as Pub Street where you could go for dinner and watch the local Apsara dancing. A early rise the next morning saw us rushing off to Angkor Wat to witness the sun rise. We befriended a local Tuk Tuk driver who's character went straight to our hearts. He was to be our transportation for the rest of the stay. Angkor Wat I believe lived up to it's reputation my only regret being that I wish I had a better camera. The truly staggering question was how many hours had been put in to making this place. I imagine the ancient Khmer civilization was a grand one.

Hoping that Angelina Jolie was around the next corner we continued on to a series of Temples built around the ancient city. Walking around here it sinks in, the fact that at one time the Cambodian people might have been the center of the civilized world, their country in the near past plagued by decades of civil war and bought to it's knees by the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. Does that have anything to do with mesmerizing smile of the Cambodian people? More questions to be asked and I really hope to be able to get back there to have them answered one day.

BBQ: The Art Of

2007-08-03T22:23:00.000+10:00

The sense of relief was almost tangible with the troubled waters of the Bass Strait far behind us. Friday saw us in what seemed like a parallel world, West of Timor with fair seas and sun shinning. Ships crew took the opportunity to redecorate the Galley which meant that it would be out of action for the day. But feast on cold sandwiches we did not! Out came the trusty, rusty BBQ. Members from countries all around the globe looked on as our Aussie catering staff whipped the BBQ up in a flash. Within no time we had what looked like a hobby farmers herd of cattle sizzling away before our eyes.

Wine with no alcohol appeared on the tables in front of us like a neat magicians trick but the novelty was short lived. The tast of this stuff, I imagine something like horrendously outdated ribena juice.

With the Indonesian island of Alor as our back drop the serious business of BBQing continued until everyone could eat no more. I took time to marvel at Regis's steak and how he preffered it practically straight off the cows back, something I hear the French are famous for? Give me my BBQ'd steak anyday with charcoal and tomato sauce in between 2 slices of bread. Who's right you ask? Well who is going to take seriously a country that decides to exchange Rib eye steak for frogs legs in their outdoor cooking adventures? We don't call it 'The Lucky Country' for nothing!

Golf in the Garden of Eden

2007-07-02T16:11:00.000+10:00

In Norway you have to sit a course in order to play golf on a course, but in this fine country any old hack can wield a club. So thats pretty much how I rate myself in this game that must be the most frustrating on earth. My swing is enough to make any half decent golfer cringe on sight.

Another lengthy port call at Eden in NSW meant that we could organise a afternoon down on the local country club course. After seeing a decent dumping of rain in the previous week it was wet work for all. It didn't mind the local Kangaroos who provided a great novelty. What a life they have eating grass and laying about in the sun even if you do have to get hit by a golf ball every know and then. The interesting part though was putting around clumps of kangaroo poo on the greens.

Shot of the day was definitely me on the 8th hole when trying to chip 80m onto the green, the ball hit the tree in front of me and shot back at me landing behind where i had just hit it. Amusing for my golfing buddies but I nearly broke my first club around that f*%king tree.

I would loved to have blamed my even worse than average golfing on the strange set of clubs in my hands or on the difficult conditions, but I would just be kidding myself. It was a great day out though, a nice course and definitely worth another visit sometime in the future.

Tasting Bergerac

2007-03-20T03:26:00.000+11:00

I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king-a?!
Monty Python, The Holy Grail.

Next stop was dropping in on my family in Bergerac, France. I'm sure my French sounded absolutely hysterical to my hosts but they welcomed me with warm arms as they always do. Bergerac is located along the Dordogne river east of Bordeaux in the Périgord region. You can get here by train from Paris via Bordeaux or you can fly direct from London Stansted with RyanAir. The wine industry is a massive part of the region, with probably the most well known wine being the sweet white botrytis wine from Chateau Monbazillac. You have a fantastic view of the Dordogne valley from this Chateau so if you ever get there it's a must see.

In Bergerac itself you can stroll through the old city and visit this guy! Cyrano De Bergerac a famous 17th Century Philosopher. For me it was off to my cousins farms where I would spend the most of my brief stay. It was interesting for me to learn about farming in France as compared to the farming back home, that my Australian relatives are involved in. French farming can be briefly summarised as working smaller plots of lands, diversifying activities whether it be dairy, cropping cereals and or viticulture. They are also heavily subsidised by the European Union where the farmers back home fight it out by themselves with very little or no support. Its a long and complicated matter but many farmers worry about a life Post European Subsidies and when in a open market they would be forced to compete with a larger 'more efficient' international farming community.

I was really impressed with the quality of the produce from France and I believe it lives up to its reputation. The bread and cheeses were fantastic for the palette as well as all the pates and small goods which are often made in their own homes. Make sure the cheese is 'Au Lait Crue' which means 'Not Cooked' or Not Pasteurised as these cheeses offer rich flavours a far cry from those back home.

So I eventually tried my hand at farming after gorging myself with salami and cheese er... sorry... fromage! Belle or 'Beautiful' the farm dog was with me every step of the way, a kind of guiding hand that kept me on track and out of harms way.

This little fellow was preparing for life on the farm and because she didn't bear a name yet Frédéric my cousin allowed me to name her. I decided to call her 'Simpson' after the World War 1 stretcher bearer who along with his donkey personified the ANZAC legend. Not very ladylike I know but its nice to know that a piece of Australia now lives here.

It seemed like a blink of an eye and no sooner I was saying my farewells to Belle and the rest of the family and heading east back to work. It is different for me to first experience a country from the countryside, so for me it is a special place. Paris for now still eludes me and the sweet taste of Bergerac lingers.

Merci Beaucoup Vivian, Michel, Christian, Frédéric, Anna Marie et à toute la famille

Rowing in Cardiff

2007-03-03T23:10:00.000+11:00

Next on the agenda was a short stop in London to catch up with a good friend. If the truth should be known I was there to meet up with my mates little sister who had been working overseas for 7 months, spy on her, gather any intelligence I could to take back to Australia for dissemination. I hired a car and decided to drive my way around since Amelia and I had previously planned to take a drive up to Cardiff. We met in London and departed for Cardiff the next day.

I was surprised that getting around by car in the UK wasn't that hard except for the normal hardships of heavy traffic. The land of roundabouts had all it's major freeways marked really well so getting to your destination was relatively painless. After a short detour off the M4 due to the fact I had lost all my UK contacts information and had to find a internet cafe. I was strangely amused to have visited the above location. See if you can work it out?

Arriving in Cardiff on a Monday night I really couldn't imagine there being to much happening. But luckily Amelia has a nose for such activities and we stumbled upon student night. The night club that every student in Cardiff was trying to get into had a lineup equivelant to that of a David Hasselhof concert in Berlin. Our night looked grim. But in true Amelia style she assured me that she would improvise as we joined the 5 minute queue in the VIP line. We got to the front and Amelia in her best English accent (South African with a mix of Polish) explained that we were with the Cardiff rowing team. It worked, we were allowed straight through and had a great night.

The next day a old colleague of mine generously offered to take us around and show us a bit of South Wales. We visited some old castles and contemplated sunning ourselves on the pristine Welsh beaches (see above). Then decided not to. We took part in a tour of one of the old coal mines which is free and really interesting. I was totally oblivious to the fact that the minning industry was such a huge thing for this country for so many years. It solved my questioning on where all the trees had gone? Answer: Holding up all the mine shafts.

All up a nice little detour but I still feel sorry for the young Welsh kids who in school have to get their heads around what must be one of the stranger languages ive seen. When making words it looks as though they took the whole alphabet extracted all the vowels, put the rest in a sack, shook them about and threw them on the table.

Much thanks to John, Paul and their families.

Heaven and Hell

2007-02-27T04:09:00.000+11:00

Im not much of a religious man but when Heaven comes to mind I think of Whiteness, peace, serenity and a bit of Jesus all rolled into one. Well I came close to it minus the Jesus bit at Oppdal south of Trondheim. Oppdal is the equivalent of the Off Piste Mecca in my world. The lifts get you up the hill, somewhat painfully after a while may I add since the majority of lifts on this mountain are Tbars. Once you are up there its all up to you, take the groomed run or carve through acres of virgin powder.

On the way back from Oppdal we managed to drop in on Hell which is also located in Trondheim much to my amazement. But Hell really wasnt what I imagined. All that fire and brimstone folly was just pure tosh. It was freezing. But nonetheless I couldn't resist pulling the sign. This ones for you Satan!

25 Bellow

2007-02-24T23:00:00.000+11:00

On the next leg of my journey I was off to Trondheim with high expectations of even better boarding. A colleague of mine so generous enough to be my guide for the stay. We journeyed out to east of Trondheim towards the Swedish border stopping at Unesco World Heritage Listed Røros. Due to the towns location and other climatic factors, it is one of the coldest places in Norway. The next day after I visited it was -36 deg C.

We continued on towards the Swedish border and arrived just short of it, at our destination, a log cabin in the middle of the Norwegian wilderness. Snowing the whole 24 hours before we arrived we had to dig our way in. I could have been mistaken for a 6 year old being that close to so much snow, it was a huge novelty for me.

Over the next few days we struck perfect weather snowboarding in Sweden just over the border from Brekken at a place called Tanndalen. Unluckily I was caught trying to swipe this Swedish flag as fire kinderling back to the cabin. Just kidding, the Swedish aren't so bad as they sell really cheap alcohol (compared to Norway that is!).

It struck -24 degrees C during one of the nights in the cabin but the daytime was fantastic with perfect conditions for cross country skiing. I strapped on my skis for only the second time in my brief but illustrious career.

I found the flat bits okay but it was the downhill bit that really stuffed me up. We climbed a mountain one day and I practically fell my way down. Imagine throwing a bag of potatoes from the top of a really steep slope and that was me. Great entertainment for my Norwegian counterparts who were born on skis.

Voss

2007-02-22T23:05:00.000+11:00

On a recent visit to Norway for work I decided to pack my snowboard, extend my stay and head for the mountains. After my three day course in Bergen I had a day free before moving on to my next destination. Whilst gathering all the local information I could find on where to go snowboarding in the local area I was assured that Voss would not dissapoint.
The deal is pretty simple you turn up to Bergen central railway station pay 400 NOK 80 AUD and that includes train to and from Voss pluss your lift ticket. Train departs somewhere around 0830 in the morning and takes something over 1 hour from memory.
It was looking like a miserable day with no shortage of rain but i shouldn't have been surprised. Just before my arrival there had been 80 consecutive days with rainfall. Every local had a opinion on the figure somewhere between 80 and 89 so im still not sure. It's still very impressive and probably leaves us Australians a little emotional.
On arriving in Voss it was still raining and looking grim. However on reaching the bottom of the slope after a cable car ride up, it turned out to be snowing fat chunks of powder snow. Being a Friday it was extremely quiet with just a few groups of students on excursion getting about. Lift waits were non existent, a rare delight from my days on the mountains back home.

Voss has a really good variety of terrains ranging from beginners to advanced. Couldn't find much on the terrain park situation although I wasn't really keen on killing myself being the first day back on the board in a while. It's a fair sized mountain and I can't say I got to see the majority of it. The other advantage with Voss is that there are plenty of chairlifts unlike some other places in Norway where Tbars aplenty can make a snowboarders day much more painfull.

Apart from a little rain on lower parts of the slopes it was great conditions, snowboarding most of the day on groomed runs and small sections of off piste. I would definitely like to go back again.

Norfolk Island

2006-12-18T12:16:00.000+11:00

Crew change this time took us unusually to Norfolk Island. Having done absolutely zero prior research on my destination I really didn't know what to expect. Discovered in 1774 by Captain Cook on his second voyage Norfolk Island was used as a penal colony in its early days. Nowadays Norfolk Islands main industry is tourism and only the ruins remain of it's painful past.

It's easy to see why the Islands 1700 odd residents love their home so much. To my surprise there is only a 1% income tax here making it a international tax haven. Cows have right of way on the Islands roads which maximum speed limit is 50 kph and there is no law against drink driving. There is no such thing as unemployment and people who do not wish to push their own weight are deported (so it is said!). There are no mobile phones on the island and all local calls made on land lines are free.

On landing we realised that we had a pretty unique opportunity to explore the place. We elected to hire bikes and set off immediately for Mt Bates the highest point on the island. Norfolk is only 8km by 5km in size so Mt Bates offered a special look at the whole island including Phillip Island to the south. Getting up the hill by bike was a challenge in itself but going down was a blast through the rugged tracks of the national park.

Lucky enough to survive the experience we rode on down to Kingston the capital of Norfolk. Nowadays Kingston is not much other than a couple of official government buildings and the ruins left of the Prison Settlement.

The 2nd settlement of Norfolk was used as a penal collony for repeat offenders who withstood some of the most heinous conditions of the time. Normally the cells here not bigger than 5ft by 6ft fit 3 prinoners. If i wasn't scurvy or dissentry that killed them, they killed each other just so they could then recieve the death penalty and end their suffering. Bit similar to being trapped on a seismic boat I suppose?

Like life on the island, number plates don't really get that complicated!

With the ride almost over we relaxed down at the Kingston golf course with a few well timed jars. Noble notions of a quick round of golf early the next morning were quashed with the festivities later in the night. If you ever get to spend some more time here then it's recommended you get some fishing done as it is meant to be fantastic. There are also reefs to dive or snorkel if the weather is permitting. Another favourite pastime of the locals is surfing and you can pick your side of the island depending on prevailing winds. Don't forget the mountain bike riding!
Thanks Norfolk Island.

Dolphin Spotting

2006-12-16T18:00:00.000+11:00

These guys joined us for the ride in the first week of November whilst transiting from Singapore to Australia. If I remember correctly we were somewhere north of Australia a few days from the cape.

Crossing The Line

2006-11-02T23:44:00.000+11:00

On October 30th 2006 a event happened which will probably haunt me for some time to come. At the very least it's going to cost me hundreds in Therapy. I, the innocent Pollywog was bought before King Neptune whilst crossing the equator to answer charges laid against me. For the rest of the initiated it was basically a chance to humiliate other people. Whilst a lot of us have heard and read of the blighted history of crossing the line ceremonies all Pollywogs anticipated the worst.

It started off pretty innocently with eggs, flower and a bit of dye colouring before the Shellbacks moved on to more hard waste torture. Keep in mind that this stuff had been sitting around on the helideck for over a week festering in the equatorial heat.

All pollywogs were served their 'Justice' and were one by one released from their shackles. I can't even remember my charges I believe I was spitting out butter at the time. True pain and suffering was promised for the last pollywog and would you believe it was me? Some remarks before the event to which I now regret, penciled me in for this honour. Honestly I should just shut my mouth sometimes.

So now I am a Shellback therefore i have published a copy of my certificate therefore ensuring that I never have to go through this ever again.

Hello Singapore

2006-09-06T15:30:00.000+10:00

With Vietnam behind us the Drydock in Singapore was imminent. Arriving in on Saturday afternoon was a ill stroke for the recovering Alcoholics onboard. Everyone assembled along side and we made for where else? Boat Quay. In even better timing South Africa was to take on the All blacks that night and we happened to be working with both nationalities. Walking into Molly Malone’s I swear I could feel my head throb like it was the subliminal mutterings of tomorrow's hangover.
The Springbok pulled off a amazing 1 point victory and there were smiles all round from the underdogs.

From the moment I got into seismic I had heard the legend of the Orchid Towers. No visit to Singapore (or port call for that matter) is complete without a stop here. Needless to say after many beers there was quite a few confused punters getting about. The Lady Boys are without a doubt a real eye opener. I know I open myself up for trouble with this shot but I maintain my innocence.

It's time for me to catch my plane home and i never want to see another beer again!

My A*! it burns! Vung Tau

2006-08-17T06:08:00.000+10:00

Crew change this time took place in Vung Tau just south east of Ho Chi Minh City. The French were numerous here in the early 1900's and apparently named the place Cap St Jacques. It used to be a world renowned holiday location but oil industry activities offshore here have deflowered this quaint little seaside town.
About the best fun you can have here apart from drinking and debauchery is to head to the local markets and let your eyes feast upon the local delights. It's easy to see the French influences from the past. The following sights had our CGG colleagues licking their chops!

This little guy was still alive and jumping around although im betting he wasn't feeling 100%. Cruel? Undoubtedly, but at least they aren't seasoning them in salt.
Dinner was fantastic at a local Indian restaurant but the servings were too small. We ate for 10 US each which I thought was expensive for such a country (including beer.) I happened to eat some of the hottest chilli in the world I think. Needless to say i am payed for it later.
The beer and bars took it's toll well into the night and when getting back to my hotel room I struggled for at least 10 minutes trying to turn all the 67 lights off in my seemingly vast and barren (of light switches) room before passing out with most of them still on.

In the morning we joined Titan after a transfer between boats worthy of making the most uncompetent of QHSE managers cringe. We were back to work and Vung Tau was behind us like a distant memory, or is it still with me? Shit! When you gotta go, you gotta go....

Aussie Win Sobotaged!

2006-06-20T10:46:00.000+10:00

A increase in disturbing evidence comes to light on Brazils blatant fixing of the game versus Australia in which the records will show, came out victors on Sunday night 2-nil. Several high profile world cup observers have claimed that both Brazil's goals were offside, namely the Australian coach Gus Hiddink.
In what was a disgraceful display of umpiremanship Brazil were awarded two obvious offside goals to cruise through to the end of the match. To make matters worse Aussie star midfielder and perhaps most debonair competitor at this years World Cup Harry Kewel was booked for 'professional misconduct' after the game when questioning the referees. Just goes to prove even the Aussies can't beat a 13 man team. The Aussie army of supporters eagerly await this evenings decision that could see Kewel ruled out for the crucial do-or-die clash against Croatia this Thursday.
The incident has sparked hostile Eropean-Australian relations with Aussie beverage company Fosters placing a immediate halt on all exports to Europe pending Fifa's decision on Kewel.
They are all a bunch of wine drinking pixies anyway.

HOW GOOD IS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-14T03:04:00.000+10:00

Getting away from the usual posts to more important news. Australia beats Japan 3-1. Australia now confirms themselves as a 'World Power' by beating possible challengers to the World Cup trophy Japan. In what was not so unbelievable circumstances. Australia scored 3 goals in the last 6 minutes to serve a pasting to the Japs.
Australia now sets their sites on their next game against Brazil which could prove challenging for the in form Aussies. After the victory captain Mark Viduka was asked what it would be like to take home the World Cup tropy he replied:

"We'll take it one step at a time at this stage, we've really got to concentrate on winning our next game first... But I decided to get the missus to clean out the trophy cabnet."

You've got to love the guy!

In what was contreversial circumstances Japan took the early lead in the match with the first goal resulting from a Nakamura free kick. The Celtic midfielder with typical Irish luck hit the back of the net after a blatent shove by another Japanese player kept Australian goalkeeper out of any chance of making the save. The goal was still awarded however. The referee later apologized to Australian players. I think history will show that Australia beat Japan 3-0.

Brazil here we come!