Ant Atoll

Ben and I went to Ant atoll a couple of weeks ago with our friends Alison, Jeff and Elizabeth and their respective children: Sarah, Anya, Devon and Tess. Ant is located OUTSIDE the lagoon (near Black Coral) and went went by boat from our place, so it was a mighty 1 hr+ boat ride each way. Venturing outside the lagoon is a bit scary, lots of people are lost at sea here. And once you're out of the protective lagoon, there is an awful lot of Pacific Ocean out there. I briefly considered packing a 'lost at sea' survival kit, but when I could really only come up with soy sauce (to make warm sashimi more palatable) I realised I was not meant for survival at sea and might as well cast myself out of the boat as a sacrifice to Poseiden and hope he spares my companions. Turned out such altruism was not necessary this trip, I'll work on an emergency pack for next time.

The sea was really calm, Ant is stunningly beautiful, and we had lovely weather. We saw sharks, a turtle, more giant clams than you could poke a stick at, and ... yep. Lots of fish. No underwater photos though. I will continue to whinge about an underwater camera until I get one. Given the 24 year high the AUD hit last week, it's likely to be a while.





We had a pretzel tragedy, which we dutifully cleaned up and put the poor sandy pretzels in the rubbish bag. Then I noticed the hermit crabs going CRAZY and trying to tear the bag open... so I thought, what the hell. As if a bit more salt is going to hurt them..... They were so funny - turns out they can't eat the preztels, they just drag them around.

GSI: Gecko Scene Investigation

Upon entering my bathroom, I was shocked and a little frightened by the bloody scence that confronted me. Was it a murder? Gang warfare turned nastier that usual?

Then it hit me - it was pay back. Ben and I had spent half the day clearing out the spare room to make it more habitable - for humans. And we created many gecko refugees in the process. This was their revenge.

My favourite nail polish, gone forever. Callously pushed off a high shelf. They certainly knew how to get me back. It was the only expensive nailpoilsh I have ever owned. Sob. Back to the $1.99 K-Mart specials (when I manage to fly to Guam to get to K-Mart, that is).

But just when I was considering revenge, they sent out the child soldiers. So cute. How can I not forgive these little guys?!

Mmm mmm, mwar mwars

We've been here since January, but we're still not sick of taking pictures of ourselves wearing mwar mwars. I just love them.

This was at a reception for a visiting Chinese Parliamentarian delegation.

Captain Ben

Our friends have bought a boat - which is great news for us, too!!

Ben makes a good captain....



But fortunately he is not captain of this tuna boat.... although the tuna would probably be grateful. Can you believe they use helicopters on most boats now? Poor fishies, don't stand a chance.

Muu Muu Party

Muu Muu party
On Saturday I had a muu muu party for my birthday. It was lots and lots of fun, everybody dressed up, and I must say the men certainly knew how to pick the muu muu that most suited them. So stylish!

We don't put photos of others on our blog as it's open to the whole world, so I'll just post a couple of photos of Ben and I!







And cupcakes. I love cupcakes.


I also managed the ultimate birthday feat - a costume change.

Palau

I went to Palau for a conference - the Asia Pacific Parliamentarians Union meeting, to be specific.



Palau is a small tropical island, home to only 19,000 people. It is one of the youngest and smallest nations in the world, having come out of a trust territory arrangement with the US in 1994. It is doing quite well, despite the fact I think can lay claim to being the most goverened place in the world... it has 16 States! With the exception of Koror and Airai, there were more people in my high school that a state in Palau.... in some cases more people in just my year of high school!

This is their new capitol building. It rises up starkly from the landscape, and is situated at the other end of the island to where most people live (Palau is actually a series of islands linked by bridges). It is huge, very chilly inside and I think the power bills must be astronomical.

I didn't get a shot of the front of the building, but it does look very much like the US capitol building. It was pointed out that the huge white dome is not copied from the US, but from ancient greece and the symbol of democracy. I think it might be a bit of a sensitive issue.



The conference was very well organised, we didn't have a moment to spare and all the Palauans I met were simply delightful. Palau gets a lot of tourists, mainly from Japan and Taiwan, and it is much more developed than anywhere in the FSM. They really seem to look after the environment there, however, and it's a very beautiful place.

Some shells for sale


Easter island style stones at Balbeldaob.


The water in Palau is that gorgeous shade of aquamarine you can't believe you are really seeing. The dark spots under the water here are where they filmed a challenge for "Survivor: Palau". The contestants had to stand on them until they were the last remaining. I am such a nanna, but how could anyone stand there without SUNSCREEN? The sun is fierce here. I would have jumped in the water right away and spent the day sleeping in the shade. I guess that's why I'll never be on survivor.



The rock islands area is very pretty. I got to go on the President's boat for the day (I don't get much of a chance to be a shameless name dropper, don't judge me too harshly).







I have promised Ben we will return, and I hope it's sooner rather than later.

Jo

Yap

A while ago I travelled to the 3 other FSM States (Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap) for work - getting State input on all kinds of wildly exciting proposed legislation.

This is Chip (or, as the Micronesians and now I call him, Chips). He was my legal traveling companion, we staffed 4 National Senators for their committees.


Yap, unlike Pohnpei, has beaches on the main island. It's a tiny place, home to only 7,000 people, and is the most traditional of the FSM states. Some men here still wear the thu - a loin cloth. Looks fine in a village, not so sure about the supermarket.






I like this easy store volleyball net.



There are lots of traditional huts all over Yap.



Yap is the home of stone money. The value of the money derived from the difficulty in getting it from Palau and bringing it back to Yap in canoes. The more lives lost on the journey, the greater the value. It's really cool stuff, kept in people's gardens, or in 'banks' lining the sides of the street. The money is never moved, but the new 'owners' transcribe their names on it, or just remember which is theirs. US dollars work best for most transations though.





Yap was the last state visited, so I took some time off and went diving. Chips and I got to see giant manta rays, and lucky for you, we hired an underwater camera to record the spectacle. They are truly the most amazing creatures, so big and quiet and majestic. And playful- mantas have killed quite the number of skin divers, by floating over the top of them. When the diver swims sideways to get out from under them to surface, they follow on top of them, 'playing'. I guess the thought that some creatures don't 'breathe' water never occurs to them. So, the divers drown. One of the senators has had this happen to him - but he just punched the Manta and it got out of the way. Such a tough dude. Anyway, we had SCUBA, so we wanted the mantas to float over us!