Hayman Island 1967 ........."Passport to Smoking Pleasure".

Only one of us smoked cigarettes but that didn't matter, we were all divers, the job paid well, and gave one of the best working-holidays possible - the old style Hayman Island. (Noted for nymphomaniacs at the time).

Meanwhile a cyclone was belting in on the Gold Coast. While in the Whitsunday's the sea 100 km offshore was a mirror of glass.

We did water ski and sailing shots and especially scuba dives. Plenty of cigarettes were lit but nobody inhaled. I was the one passing them out and lighting them for the other pair (Vic Ley and Valerie Taylor.)

Highlights. Discovering Kahluah liqueur, 'Cosmos' fish eye camera lens, helicopter flight over the maze of Great Barrier Reefs and working with a talented cameraman Ashley Lazarus. (who made the best cinemascope commercials we'd ever seen with a compact Arriflex 35mm camera).

Mainly wide angle, hand-held shots. New in films at the time. Ashley did the work of a whole team by himself, plus three assistants, including Australian Rob MacAuley, recently credited for his work on the ABC series Airships.

He was an amazing director to work with. Vic and I hoped he'd do an underwater feature film in Australia one day, but we never saw him again. The way it goes.

I found on the web Aslhey had tried his skill with feature films in the USA and produced a couple. The titles did not ring any bells.

When cigarette advertising was legal, models were anxious to reach 27 - the then industry accepted age for working in these (now today) disgusting promotions of poor health and addiction.

JH on 31.12.04 @ 05:34 PM AEST [link]

Legends of the Surf .............presenting: Scott Dillon

Famed and framed - Scott Dillon of his Legends Surf Museum with ace board-shaper Dennis Anderson (in face mask) are now both located at the Coffs Harbour NSW museum, expanding to include SHARK ATTACK memorabilia. Due to a popular interest in the present exhibits by bus-loads of internationals (on five day learn-to-surf tours).

Scott Dillon recently spoke with diving legend Wally Gibbins and it transpired Scott had been an active spearfisher FIVE YEARS before Wally, making Scott one of the new true legends of the sea, in an active career that included: olympic standard boxing, speedway car racing, surfboard manufacturing, and commercial diving in Alaska.

Location of Legends Surf Museum is: 200 meters off Pacific Highway, 7 km North of Coffs Harbour's new overhead railway bridge - at Park Beach Plaza.

$5 admission includes a personalised tour by Scott. Open every day except when the surf is good. A sign on the gate will read "Closed - Gone Surfing".


JH on 30.12.04 @ 10:46 AM AEST [link]

Tanya Binning ............. 1960's surfgirl pin-up.

Known for stunning tiny bikini and beautiful smile, Tanya Carol Binning quickened the heart-beat of thousands of male surfers in the 1960's while appearing in magazines and surf movies. Her home beach was Harbord, just north of Manly in Sydney's northern beach zone.
Tanya had fame at an early age when the Italian documentary film crew shooting Mondo Cane (World Cainine or "Dog's World" an international blockbuster) spotted the 14 year-old at Manly Beach and asked her to domonstrate first aid, i.e. "the kiss of life"as used by surf lifesavers.
The resulting publicity focused on the blonde good looks of this Australian teenager. Giant New York City billboards featured her in a tiny bikini. Promotional tours followed in Australian and New Zealand.
By age 19 she was in London auditioning for feature movies but only bit-parts eventuated, most noteable being with director Roman Polanski in Repulsion, (also featuring a similar-aged Catherine Denuerve the icon of France. There is a striking similarity of looks with both women today. Tanya lives at Ballina close to the surfing community of Byron Bay. NSW.
Photo: Jack Pollard Collection


JH on 30.12.04 @ 10:26 AM AEST [link]

HOTEL POP ART .........vintage Kodakchrome transparency.

Mays Family Hotel was one of the smallest hotels in Sydney. A cute 3 floor building that still stands today, at 5 Mt.Vernon Street, Glebe, but not as a hotel. It was popular with Sydney University students, although not the only 'watering hole' they frequented, nor one of the closest.

The monkey skull and bat were inspirations from the university collection. The guitar was mine. It was my first colour photograph, made with a Kodak Reninette 1a 35mm camera using (very slow speed) 10 ASA Kodachrome film. I was aged 17, probably considered young to be playing with a good camera.

(I also had a typewriter and a tape recorder - both very rare 'toys' for any boys in that suburb, and extremely beneficial for me later in time).

Kodachrome film is noteworthy for it's non-fading, non-colour shift qualities. The 16mm film is just as good. The early Australian documentaries were mostly made with this magnificent film, sadly no longer processed in Australia. The 16mm version may have recently ceased production too. (The digital age).

JH on 29.12.04 @ 04:03 PM AEST [link]

World Spearfishing Champ 1965

Ron Taylor won the main title in Tahiti in September 1965 against team mates Peter Kemp and Wally Gibbins. It was a team of three plus two managers and the first time Australia had been able to send a full team to these World Championships conducted by CMAS of France, the world federation of underwater sporting activities.

Ron Taylor had previously won four sucessive Australian spearfishing championships (and numerous state and club events) and after the world win lost what would have been his fifth Australian title to ........Peter Kempwho felt he could have done better in Tahiti.

Wally Gibbins was put out of the competition after his disasterous "black-out" in the final moments of a 130 foot deep practice free dive and the subsequent hospitalisation for observation.

Pictured is Ron Taylor at Montagu Island (1966) with a kingfish and the speargun (built by an unknown Queenslander) which won him the world spearfishing champion title. Note the face mask. The best mask we have ever used. Wide vision without distortion and professional black rubber (no interior reflections from the surface). Originally titled 'Scuba Vision' they were popular with commercial abalone divers.

Does anyone know where we might obtain some of these masks today? Please 'email the editor'.
JH on 28.12.04 @ 04:24 PM AEST [link]

QLD Groper ............(overseas name: grouper)

The giant Queensland Groper. Once found as far south as Jervis Bay NSW. Heavily spearfished into near extinction in semi-tropical northern NSW. Now protected. Anti-shark powerheads fitted to spearguns (not handspears) sped-up the decline in the 1960's.

JH on 27.12.04 @ 06:47 AM AEST [grouper)">link]

Spearfishing & Scuba Diving ...... Adam and Eve analogy.

There was a time when the majority of spearfishermen also used scuba to fish deeper. It was never considered 'sport' but a method to guarantee extra fish would be found.

Deeper water, beyond 20 meters was the last sanctuary of many fish and the scuba divers were rapidly thinning them out. In time our coastal waters would become barren if scuba spearfishing were not stopped. A spearing association member once advocated seperate 'largest sizes speared' records being kept to seperate those taken by scuba divers - because it was far easier than deep breath-hold diving.

A ban of scuba spearfishing was a wise decision made by the association of spearfishing clubs.

Rick Poole and Tanya Binning are pictured here as the ocean's 'Adam and Eve'. The theme:
Eve tempting spearman Adam to spearfish with a scuba tank. (He wasn't interested).

JH on 27.12.04 @ 06:31 AM AEST [Adam and Eve analogy.">link]

Baby Sperm Whale ............stranded on beach

This was about 1967. We drove our boat to North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney to join others trying to save this whale. It was an early era of helping stranded whales and was not sucessful.

In the red wet suit is Kay Overell a friend of Sylvia Adam, a noted whale researcher. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Kay Overell (a great grand-daughter of the nurse Florence Nightingale)?

JH on 27.12.04 @ 03:01 PM AEST [link]

JH on 27.12.04 @ 08:41 AM AEST [link]

Inside a lighthouse (1968) ......... kerosene lamp power.

This is the old era of lighthouses, when three men lived a lonely and strange existence on a tiny sand cay on the Great Barrier Reef and maintained a keroscene lamp throughout the night.

Not much difference to a jail. Except the food would have been better - delivered by boat every two weeks. Why three men and not two or four? Something to do with minimising arguments. Or not going mad?

These lighthouses have since been converted to automatic all along the coast. This one is at North Reef not that far from Heron Island and offshore from Gladstone and Yeppoon. It was visited during the Belgian Expedition (see following pictures).

JH on 27.12.04 @ 08:38 AM AEST [link]

Crown of Thorns starfish .......curls into a ball for protection.

Valerie Taylor was stung by this starfish during this brief encounter. Elsewhere more serious injuries were occuring - sometimes with disasterous consequences - a concert pianist losing a finger was a bad example. Early attempts to kill starfish by cutting them in halves resulted in each half starfish growing a new other half.

This (now damaged) picture first appeared in a popular weekly Australian magazine as The Creature That's Eating the Reef. It sparked a storm of protest of neglect in Queensland.

The Joh Bjelke-Petersen dominated Queensland State government spun a line there was no threat to the Great Barrier Reef refusing to spend anything to correct the problem. Many within media, and the institution staff where he was employed labled the true defender of the reef, (the late) Dr Robert Endean a sensationist. This opinion filtered elsewhere as divisions of pro and anti starfish groups became established.

Many film documentaries especially by Robert Raymond and Four Corners explored the topic for decades. Recently seemingly more serious coral bleaching and global warming themes have made CoT starfish plagues insignificant, some believing them beneficial.

I visited the Mission Beach offshore reefs twice in recent years and saw BEFORE and AFTER proof. The latest destruction by starfish at once spectacular reefs now rubble. Locals are reluctant to promote their loss for commercial tourism reasons. The media regard the problem as stale news unless a new spin is presented, and there doesn't seem to be any, as yet.

Hard coral may eventually return, but it hasn't at Low Isles off Port Douglas, for example.

Usually soft corals occupy the space where hard corals once were. Like colourful plants to an un-trained eye they seems beautiful. (Fiji coral reefs are now famous for soft corals and attract u-w photographers).

With adult CoT living two hundred or more years they might be natural lawn mowers when present in small numbers. When present in 'plagues' of tens of thousand they seem very detrimental to the future of hard coral reef as we know them today.



JH on 26.12.04 @ 10:35 AM AEST [link]

Valerie Taylor ............social times after dinner on De Moor

JH on 26.12.04 @ 09:55 AM AEST [De Moor">link]

The Belgian Expedition ........to the Great Barrier Reef 1967.

Occuring at a time when media interest in marine matters was still in the dark ages, and therefore it went largely un-reported, yet it was and still is the most extensive scientific survey of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Belgian Navy hired to the expedition this former British warship re-named De Moor. With a crew of 75 including Ron Taylor filming in large format motion picture film for seven months. Locations between Lady Musgrave and Lizard Islands, at a time when few people knew these waters very well.

Captain Wally Muller (formerly of Riversong and now Careelahcharter boats) was contracted to guide the De Moor through the largely uncharted waters of The Swain Reefs, and remained with the expedition as a support ship for the entire duration.

The pattern was ten days at sea, four days ashore. Noted coral reef scientists were invited to join along the way. At least three were participants with Project Stellaroid who I worked with two years later.

(My involvement with the Belgian Expedition was very low-key an un-official, therefore a great time was enjoyed with friendship and positive memories. A major lesson learned would be: How too many people underwater handicap projects as various mishaps occur and require attention).

Coral reef scientist, David Barnes of Townsville should be encouraged to write his memoirs of life aboard the De Moor as he travelled back to the UK aboard this ship and was aboard for eight months or more.

JH on 26.12.04 @ 09:40 AM AEST [link]

RON AND VALERIE TAYLOR BIOGRAPHY

music:

Ron Taylor was born in March 1934, Valerie in November 1935. (A pisces/scorpio combo).
They married in December 1963.

Ron began his diving in 1952, Valerie a few years later in 1956.

Like most others at the time, Ron was interested in spear fishing, conservation did not begin to be an active movement in Australia until the late 1960’s.

Ron Taylor had another interest, underwater photography. He spent almost as much time with his cameras as he did with a spear gun.

In 1960 Valerie began spear fishing, eventually winning several Australian championships for ladies in both spear fishing and scuba.

Ron's first award for photography came in 1962, from Encyclopedia Britannica, for a news film titled, Playing With Sharks.

Ron Taylor's introductory underwater 16mm film, TheShark Hunters, was filmed with diving partner Ben Cropp and showed the first underwater scenes of grey nurse sharks and a seach for a shark repellant. It was an enormeous hit.

Ron received the Underwater Society of America award, the NOGI statuette for Education and Sports, in 1966

In 1965 Ron won the World Spear fishing Championship held in Tahiti, the first and only Australian to do so, it came after winning the Australian championship for four years in succession at a time when competition was keenest.

In 1967 (on the Belgian Expedition) Ron devised an idea of a diver wearing a full length chain-mail suit over a wet suit as possible protection against shark bite. It was more than a decade before the suit was actually made and tested.

The result appeared as a National Georgraphic Magazine cover picture.

Although the idea worked well, it was not financially practical for the average diver.

In 1967 the Taylor's accompanied the Belgian Scientific Expedition to the Great Barrier Reef as advisors and underwater cinematographers, for a period of six months.

They worked between Lady Musgrave Island and Lizard Island it was the first major scientific expedition filming underwater in Australia, and in 35mm.

Ron had began filming on this expedition with his own Eclair 16/35 mm movie camera, in a housing he had recently constructed.

In 1969 the Taylors formed their company, Ron Taylor Film Productions Pty Limited. In the same year they co filmed the feature film, Blue Water, White Death - which was 'an extremely exciting adventure' swimming with hundreds of sharks in bottomless water in the Indian Ocean.

Ron and Valerie appeared as themselves being two of the four main characters in this feature length documentary filmed in Techniscope which is half-frame 35mm later 'blown-up' to Cinemascope for the release prints.

They were responsible for bringing this film crew to South Australia to search and film the great white shark when efforts to find an extinct monster white shark failed in South African waters and the film was without an ending. They got such an ending in Australia - the film was a hit pre Jaws.

In 1969 Valerie began underwater stills photography. Ron built the underwater housings for her cameras which were, at the time, far in advance of anything available in stores.

With her art experience Valerie quickly become one of the worlds top female underwater photographers, a position she holds onto to this day.

During 1970-71, they did the 2nd unit underwater filming and directing for the 39 episode Australian TV series Barrier Reef for the same company with Lee Robinson that had success with “Skippy - The Bush Kangaroo”.

In 1972-73 they produced Taylor's Inner Space, a series of 13 TV films, showing their encounters with the marine life of Australia and The Coral Sea. These films were sold throughout the world with considerable success.

Meanwhile Valerie's stills had featured in other leading international book publications, Readers Digest, Stern, Life and in Australia, The Bulletin.

Valerie was contracted to shoot stills in the Virgin Islands for Time-Life's American Wilderness series of books, and had a major cover and feature in National Geographic with a Great Barrier Reef story obtained after a year of constant work.

During 1974 with Rodney Fox they successfully did the live shark action sequences for the first Jaws movie.

In 1979 Ron finally had his idea of a suit of chain mail made in the USA. Valerie had to wear it when it was found the suit was too small for Ron.

Another television special features Valerie testing the effectiveness of the suit against shark bite, was titled Operation Shark Bite.

In 1981 while on a dive trip the Taylor's discovered mining claims on several Coral Sea Islands. They brought this to the attention of the Federal Government and saved these remote bird breeding islands from what would have been disasterous for hundreds of thousands of birds and turtles.

Valerie was honored in 1981 by the Underwater Society of America where she received the NOGI award for Arts, and joined Ron as the only husband and wife team to be awarded a NOGI.

1982 saw the release of 'Wreck of the Yongala', a 47 minute TV film, showcasing what was then the most spectacular of all shipwrecks in shallow water (less than 33 meters deep). The film was instrumental in having the Yongala (and its marine life) made a protected area from fishing.

Also in 1982 the Taylor's lobbied directly and by the media both the Queensland Government and National Parks to make the Potato Cod of Cormorant Pass near Lizard Island known today as The Cod Hole protected.

Valerie has been bitten twice and nipped once by sharks, without permanent injury, she consider such encounters as part of the lifestyle.

Three times in 30 years is 'not too bad under the circumstances'.

Four months of 1982 was spent in the Persian-Arabian Gulf, where the Taylors filmed the underwater scenes for six educational films featuring marine life that existed before it was later largely destroyed in the war.

On the 4th October 1986, Valerie was in Holland where she was appointed Rider of the Order of the Golden Ark, by his Royal Highness, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. This award was for work in marine conservation.

Later in Sweden she finalized the picture selection for a coffee table book, The Realm of the Shark, a biographical account of their professional lives between the 1950's, until the 1990's.

In January 1991, they went to Antarctica. Ron later produced a one hour film In the Footsteps of Mawson.

In April that year, they joined Jaws author Peter Benchley, and Stan Waterman, filming once again white Sharks, but in Western Australia. This TV special documented the decline of the species world wide.

Twice during 1991, Valerie Taylor was a guest of Jean Michelle Cousteau, first on board their boat Alcyone during the filming of their special on white sharks and later when Valerie swam with spotted dolphins in the wild.

The Taylors supplied some of their pictures to illustrate the Cousteau book coffee table book Great White Shark.

In January 1992, they returned to South Africa for filming on the National Geographic Blue Wilderness series. This time they tested an electronic shark repelling barrier, and also inadvertantly became the first people to film white pointer sharks underwater without a cage, a necessity when the arranged cage was lost in a storm.

Shadow over the Reef, an adventure diving with giant whale wharks was filmed at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia in 1993.

This film was instrumental in preventing the test drilling for oil inside the Ningaloo marine park.

Valerie, is also an accomplished artist, a talent that set her off on her first career as a comic strip artist with The Silver Jacket.

Their documentary film Shark Pod was completed in 1997, featuring thier successfully trials with the electronic device (invented in South Africa by the Natal Sharks Board) against white pointer, tiger, great hammerhead and other shark species.

The Shark Pod film received The Jury Award at the Antibes Underwater Festival, France, a high honor and judged by their peers while their book Blue Wildness won the 1998 Gold Palm award at the same festival.

In April 1997 Valerie won the prestigious American Nature Photographer of the year award for her stunning photograph of a whale shark swimming with mouth open alongside her nephew Jono Heighes at Ningaloo Marine Park. The award sponsored by The American Press Club.


On the 15th of March 2000 Valerie was honoree in the American Women Divers Hall of Fame.

The Taylor's latest series of three TV films In the Shadow of the Shark is the story of their diving lives. It has been sold to Channel Seven in Australia and to more than 100 countries.

In October 2000, Ron and Valerie were one of the inaugural enshrines into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, on the Cayman Islands.

On Australia day 2002, Valerie was awarded the honor of Australian Senior Achiever of the year.

Also in early 2002 Ron and Valerie received the Serventy Conservation Medal from the Australian Wildlife Preservation Society.

In 2003 Ron became a Member in the Order of Australia.

Valerie received the Australian Centenary Medal for her work in the field of conservation and was named the Australian Conservationist of the Year by Australian Geographic.

Valerie Taylor is the Patron of the National Parks Association of NSW.

JH on 26.12.04 @ 09:14 AM AEST [link]

Crown of Thorns starfish ..........Acanthaster planci

JH on 26.12.04 @ 08:47 AM AEST [Acanthaster planci">link]

West of Alice Springs ........nowhere near Pine Gap.

JH on 25.12.04 @ 08:11 AM AEST [link]

Road-train thundering along ..........your holiday hazard.

Pull over to the side of the road and STOP. Let this 'beast' have the centre of the road otherwise you'll get showered in stones, break your windscreen or worse. It took me a few times to learn this. These tripple-trailers (two obscured by dust in this picture) 'own the outback roads'. Avoid over-taking them also. This one was carting cattle, but they truck everything around out west.

JH on 25.12.04 @ 08:00 AM AEST [link]

Ayres Rock Central Australia .........a real seachange.

The long trip to Uluru is worth the effort. Nearby The Olga's is even more spiritual and spectacular.

A true change from the coast, different tree's, dry air. Clear nights with a star-filled sky. Try sleeping in a small tent to enjoy the differences.

I was amazed to see tiny fish in fresh water rain pools near the top of 'the rock', how they get there would be an interesting story I've yet to see in print.

In 1984 with a 35mm Nikonos camera I exposed a single frame in one of these (then but not always) muddy pools near the summit. The first underwater photo taken at Ayres Rock?
JH on 24.12.04 @ 07:03 AM AEST [link]

Hot Day on Uluru

When the forecasted temperature exceeds 36 degrees, the park ranger's close the gate for treks to the summit of Uluru
JH on 24.12.04 @ 06:53 AM AEST [link]

PREPARING FOR A WATER LANDING - Kapingamarangi Atoll July 1969

The lagoon-side shows sand spilling in from the weather side. A narrow bridge connects two islands. About 600 'people of the sea' live what seems an ideal lifestyle of farming the land and catching fish.

Visitors are no longer allowed so as to preserve what is left of the ancient culture. The island's may now be a leper colony - or is that just a deliberate error-rumour in guide books to keep visitors away?

In any case it is a difficult place to reach with a supply ship calling for just a few hours every two months. We were on official business and flown courtesy of the US Navy from Agana, Guam in Grumman HU-16 aircraft which left us on the island for a week before transporting us to neighbouring Nukuoro Atoll for a similar period.


JH on 23.12.04 @ 10:28 AM AEST [link]

KAPINGAMARANGI ATOLL

The coral reef slopes away at a 45 degree angle and is visible through the clear ocean water on the weather side (right hand side). The bottom contines on that incline until it reaches the ocean floor a thousand meters (approx.) below.
JH on 23.12.04 @ 10:18 AM AEST [link]

PEOPLE OF KAPINGAMARANGI ATOLL

The arrival of a HU-16 seaplane was the first aircraft seen since WWII and created great interest.

The first engagement was reported on December 16, (1941) when our aircraft located and bombed a Japanese supply vessel near Greenwich Island. Greenwich Island is Kapingamarangi in the Eastern Caroline Islands group. It is a Japanese mandate, and the nearest Japanese-controlled territory to Australia. Then, on December 19, R.A.A.F. aircraft successfully bombed Japanese installations on Greenwich Island and damaged one vessel in a low-level attack, beating off attempted interception by the enemy. Targets at Greenwich were constantly under surveillance by the R.A.A.F. and other raids were made on them.

Our attacks at Kapingamarangi were marked by daring and skill, and our losses in those early days were slight. Buildings, installations, and some grounded aircraft of the Japanese were destroyed or damaged by our bombing attacks.


The first bombing attack on Rabaul, where Australia had an advanced base of land and air forces, occurred on January 4, 1942, the enemy using long-range bombers to attack the aerodrome. Only a few bombs were dropped, and some damage was caused to service installations. No Europeans were killed, although there were some native casualties. Our aircraft did not make contact with the enemy, who returned to a base, probably in the mandated islands under Japan's control. Later that day a second attack was launched by the Japanese. More bombs were dropped than in the daylight raid, but no casualties were caused. Three days later the third raid occurred, the enemy bombers making a single run over the target and causing slight damage and flying north before interception could succeed. Next morning the bombers returned to bomb the aerodrome and some of our aircraft were hit.

On January 8, the R.A.A.F. carried out a reprisal raid on Kapingamarangi, damaging installations and destroying a seaplane on the water. These attacks by the R.A.A.F. on the one hand and by the Japanese on the other, continued for some time, no great damage being caused by either side. The Japanese were apparently feeling out the defences and kept at great heights over places where little or no defence existed, in preference to coming low with the consequent risk (negligible at that time) of meeting ground and fighter defences.

SOURCE: http://www.diggerhistory2.info/raaf/1942/chapter10.htm





JH on 23.12.04 @ 10:07 AM AEST [link]

HU-16 SEAPLANE SUNSET. (Kapingamarangi Atoll July 1969).

The original crown-of-thorns starfish plagues triggered Project Stellaroid in Micronesia (organised by the Westinghouse Ocean Research Laboratory of San Diego, California).

Sixty six scientists and underwater photographers were assembled at Guam (USA) into teams of four. Each team had one tonne of brand new equipment including an inflateable boat, 20 horsepower outboard, fuel, air compressor, scuba tanks, tents, food, film.

Plus international travel and accomodation to and from Guam, plus a fee for services! Not a bad deal.
National Geographic sent a photographer, the New York Times had a reporter there.

More than ten teams were assembled for an average three-week expedition scattered through the North Pacific.

An unexpected sudden budget cut-back axed the documentary film I was there to make, so I went along anyway and recorded these pictures, just low resolution copies from orginals being shown here.

We 'discovered' two of the most remote islands left in the North Pacific. Close to the equator these were both traditional polynesian cultures similar to sister establishments in more southern locations - all being the western extremities of ancient polynesian open-canoe migration which began thousands of years ago.

A wonderful experience with more than a touch of danger associated with the military aircraft 'training flights' and water landing's. A take-off with JATO was most memorable.

The adventure and associated pictures would justify the pages of a small 'coffee table' book one day. It remains my favourite adventure of all time.

JULY 4 2005. Team member Ken DaVico found this web log and made contact:

I will never forget our adventure to Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro. Those were certainly some memories to be cherished. I watched a TV show, a game show called "Wheel of Fortune" and was surprised when the co-pilot of our airplane was a contestant. He mentioned our crash on the reef at Kapinga Atoll and said it was the most exciting thing in his life. Funny how we get re-connected. We were young back then. Hard to believe that I am 68 now but then, I can do things today I would not have thought of doing then.

I did go back to Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro the following year. Went down by sailboat from Ponape for a follow up expedition sponsored by the Trust Territory. All our local friends were still there and many asked about you. I was told by the chief that you and I were welcome back anytime.

Note: The crash we experienced will be described in detail at a later time, as will other experiences aboard the Grumman Albatross HU-16 seaplanes. Water landings and a JATO take-off.




JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:38 AM AEST [link]

Damaged HU-16 Seaplane. .........co-pilot makes inspection.

JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:29 AM AEST [link]

HU-16 Grumman Albatross seaplane ........C-130 to the rescue.

After hitting a submerged bommie, pre take-off, our US Navy seaplane #274 had to be beached, and fast!

A USAF C-130 flew repair equipment in from Guam later that day. It would take days for proper repairs to both sides of the hull. A new seaplane #250 from Agana, Guam arrived to collect our team, including much heavy equipment.

JATO (Jet Assist Take Off) rockets were needed to get our seaplane airborne. A memorable experience when you are standing near the tail, alongside the rockets as they ignite. Twin rockets burn for 12-15 seconds generating 1000 pounds of thrust each. That's 4000 horsepower!

At the co-pilot's command we-three moved our body weight toward the nose of the aircraft (to adjust trim) as the plane struggled to reach required take-off speed of 60 knots. Once ignited the rockets can't be turned off. Later they were jetisoned over the sea.

Ahead were numerous submerged coral heads or 'bommies' and eventually, a rim of exposed solid reef - which we fortunately and narrowly missed. - Team mate Ken DaVico returned from the co-pilot's seat (where he'd been stationed to spot markers we'd placed on bommies) 'white as a ghost'. Ken said "the pilot was shaking much more than himself".

Another reef contact would be far more serious now with twin rocket propulsion devices fixed to the rear doors. When ignited JATO's can't be extinguished. It would have been a spectacular finale.



JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:27 AM AEST [link]

NUKUORO ATOLL . TEENAGE BEAUTY

Speaking very little English - the girls of Nukuoro Atoll were however, familiar with Playboy magazine and western male fasination of bare breasts. Therefore they were not dressing topless as per traditional Polynesian custom. This teenage girl I considered most photogenic.

Off the Beaten Track: Nukuoro Atoll
Nukuoro is a real haven. One of Pohnpei's outer atolls, it comprises 42 tiny islets formed in a near-perfect circle around a lagoon 4 miles (6km) in diameter. The Polynesian inhabitants are very welcoming, making this a fine place to spend some time just lazing around on beaches, picking up seashells and playing with island children. There is a guesthouse on the pier. There's no airport on Nukuoro; an irregular passenger boat passes about once a month. (Lonely Planet)

July 2, 2005. From: www.mahamahaarts.com
The people of Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro speak dialects of the Polynesian language. Some estimated they settled on these islands between 800 and 900 years ago. Although they have become part of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), they continued to maintain their Polynesian cultural values.

Like many other Polynesian and Micronesian groups, they are very quite and live simple lives on their islands. Few have gained employment with the FSM and the Pohnpei State governments but most people make their living off fishing, carving and weaving.

Developments on their islands are much different compare to the 1800s or earlier when the whalers and explorers roamed the region. In their early settlement, their houses were built on the lagoon side, facing west. Perhaps they have chosen the west side of the island for two main reasons: It is more calm and accessible to the lagoon. Since much of their living is substantiated by fishing, having canoe houses built on the beaches is much more suitable.

Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi are both atolls which mean they have lagoons. Nukuoro has forty-six (46) tiny islands that sit on a ring of reef with a lagoon of four miles in diameter. It is known to be one of the deepest lagoon in the Pacific. When Nukuoro is sighted from a ship on a calm day, the islands appeared like a set of mores code on the horizon.

Kapinga has 30 islets that sit around an egg-shaped lagoon. Most people live on this island called, Souhou. I had a very impressive memory of this little island and how the huts were build systematically around this little tiny island.




JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:21 AM AEST [link]

CANOE. NUKUORO or possibly at KAPINGAMARANGI ATOLL

www.darkwing.uoregon.edu
This report documents the research, carving and launching of a Kapingamarangi Canoe. When I became involved with the project, I was told that the Kapingamarangis would be carving the waka siu, their most sacred canoe and that there was one man who still knew the art of carving the canoe, though he was old and physically unable to do the work. By having this "master carver" guide some of the younger men of the village and by documenting this process, it was hoped that the ancient canoe carving skill would be preserved. My task was to manage the project and document the carving.

Initially, this seemed to be an interesting and straightforward project. While waiting for the project to begin, I did some research concerning the canoes of the Kapingamarangi with specific attention to the waka siu. This information was to serve as the foundation and historical background of the final report. While the project maintained its status as interesting, the building of a waka siu was anything but straightforward. The difficulty encountered, and I say this with the greatest respect for the carving skills and craft of the Kapingamarangi, was that the last waka siu was built previous to the birth of anyone in the community.

Throughout my research both in Porakiet and on Kapingamarangi I was unable to find one person that remembered, let alone helped with, the carving of a waka siu. Were we building a boat that no one had ever seen? I was able to find some information, though incomplete, regarding this canoe from various reports done over the years; during the early and mid-twentieth century a number of anthropologists had taken an interest in the Kapingamarangi culture.

It turns out that the waka siu was a relic of the ancient cult religion that went by the wayside with the Kapingamarangis' adoption of Christianity in 1918. At about the same time the carving of the Kapingamarangi style canoe was replaced with the simpler Nukuoro style of canoe. Given other factors, the last time a waka siu was built was probably around 1915. This however is speculation on my part. Kosen Mack, the master carver, was born in 1919, "the year we started counting years" (a reference to Christianity).

JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:19 AM AEST [link]

WOOD CARVING OF KAPINGAMARANGI ATOLL

In 1916, a severe drought afflicted the outlying atoll of Kapingamarangi, 400 miles south of Pohnpei Island. The Japanese, who operated a colonial government throughout the islands at that time, ordered the relocation of ninety Kapinga residents to a small district of Kolonia. Though their lives were perhaps saved, they were given land in an area so resource-poor and undesirable by Pohnpeians that it was called Pohn rakied (Porakied is a shorter version), meaning 'on the gravel'. Thus began the growth of Pohnpei's Kapingamarangi Village, where the migrants and their descendents remain to this day. The Kapinga people of Porakied now outnumber those on their home island. Caught between a modern money economy they cannot afford and a life of subsistence that their land does not support, many have turned to the handicraft trade for survival. The men are renowned for producing beautifully intricate wood carvings, while the women weave baskets, fans and other ornaments for tourists and collectors. The village is an interesting place to visit; a mix of Polynesian and Micronesian culture blended with influences from two colonizing powers; ramshackle pool halls, bingo games, and gnarled carvers set among mounds of wood shavings.

Some of the best carvings in the region are to be found on the crowded streets of Porakied. Sharks, dolphins, manta rays and a myriad of other sea and land creatures are easy to find, as well as beautiful model outrigger canoes, hanging mobiles and many other things. Carvers will now take custom orders. Some carvers will also trade their creations for desired material commodities, such as snorkeling equipment, pots and pans, and tools. The most famous of the Kapinga carving operations is run by Heyger Paul.

The Carving Spot
Heyger Paul
P.O. Box 1582
tel: 691.320.3648

JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:18 AM AEST [link]

KAPINGAMARANGI ATOLL ...........the 'weather-side'.

Below the bottom shelved away into thousands of meters depth at a 45 degree angle. Water visibility about 70 meters horizontal, and maybe 100 meters or more vertical visibility. The max.

Atolls are thought to be slowly sinking extinct volcanoes with tiny islands formed around the mantle on the surface.

As the atoll sinks slowly, live coral keeps growing nearer the surface. Without the coral growth, the islands would be subjected to erosion and may wash away. That's the theroy. The last thing these places need are hoards of hungry crown-of-thorns starfish destroying live coral, or thousands of tourists also causing problems.


More Than a Living:
Fishing and the Social Order on a Polynesian Atoll
Michael D. Lieber
Westview Press 1994
A book review by Danny Yee - © 1994 http://dannyreviews.com/
Kapingamarangi atoll is among the most extreme environments on Earth. It sits at the top of a kilometre high sea mountain in the middle of the Pacific, is almost five hundred kilometres from the next island, and has a total surface area of just .42 square miles; you can't get much closer to the ocean than that! Not surprisingly, given the environment, fishing is central to life on Kapingamarangi, and the core of More Than a Living is an account of the traditional fishing methods of the Kapinga people of the atoll. Over 80 different kinds of fishing methods are classified and described - when and how they were carried out, who took part, what fish were looked for and which caught, and so on. Despite the detail of this part of the book (and it seems likely to be definitive), I actually found this very interesting, despite (or perhaps because of) my complete ignorance of fishing.


JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:16 AM AEST [link]

POLYNESIAN 'PRINCESS'......Balabala at Nukuoro

The crown of flowers worn on this young person's head was traditional. Her name was Balabala a favourite friend of the Peace Corps Volunteers on the island. (July 4 2005) Moves are underway to try and located this little girl who would be now aged about 43 - enquiries are happening through a church network of friends. Ken DaVico comments on seeing the above picture. At the time I'd wished for a flash-fill, but the result proved me wrong:

This is a great photo. You are absolutely right that fill flash would have totally changed this very natural and beautiful shot. It is perfect.

December 18, 2004
"Warm Keselehlie or Humalia from the people of Kapingamarangi Village in Pohnpei! This is a letter to request your kind support in our effort to raise funds needed to build our church. The current church is a semicircular roofing type of structure built from the left over remnants of World War II.

Historically, the people of Kapingamarangi who are residing in this village moved to Pohnpei from their home island situated in the south of Pohnpei State.

Two successive disasters hit the island so severely which resulted in the lost of many lives and the establishment of their Porakiet Village in 1919. Under the Japanese rule, many of these people were relocated from the comfort of their home to Pohnpei where they settled in the Porakiet Village.

This has eased up the population pressures during their recovery process on Kapingamarangi.

Approximately eighty new immigrants were among the first wave of people that left for Pohnpei. Today the Porakiet Village population has increased to nearly five-hundred people, and many of these families have made Porakiet Village their permanent home.

The Village has also become the home of those who are visiting for a shorter period from their home island (Kapingamarangi). The 18-acre tract given by the government was not enough to provide for farming so fishing was a main source to substantiate their daily living.

Few people have found employment with the Government or the private sector, while most depended on handicrafts they make. Only the employed people earn steady cash. The fates of the many that carve and weave depended exclusively on tourism, an industry that has yet to see its better days. Nearly every family, if not, all are economically disadvantaged like most Micronesian families (by US standard).

Because of the Polynesian ethnicity of this community and the unique handicrafts they produce, Porakiet Village has become a tourist landmark for the State of Pohnpei.

The new Church when finished will reflect an added touch of the craftsmanship and skills of local carvers on the interior design. We hope the new facility will also become a frequent visit for new visitors. The facility will be used to develop and implement youth related programs that aim to address and minimize problems of young people. Many of the tin-roof structures in this Village are substandard".


JH on 23.12.04 @ 04:14 AM AEST [Balabala at Nukuoro">link]

RIVERSONG .............The first dive and spearfishing boat.

Built of Tasmanian timbers along the lines of a pearling lugger the 42 foot long commercial fishing boat Riversong worked the Swain Reefs at a time when maybe just one or two, vessels went there. With a beam of 12foot 6 inches she had a 48 HP Gardiner engine which delivered 8 knots. Planks were 6" thick, deck planks were 1.5" thick.

The problem with navigation into the Swains was 'knowing where you were when you arrived'. From a known starting point (in 1965) the rough hand-sketched maps (or charts) that were passed from friend to friend, would get them part of the way. The Swain Reefs was a 'no man's land - at sea.'

It still is a maze of submerged coral bommies, and in the far north, rip-tide country where there are currents of six knots or more - sometimes more powerful than what a small boat could steam against. Full speed ahead and the boat is still moving backwards! Very tretcherous and in a lonely part of the world. No one went there.

Except one man. Captain Walter G. Muller or Wally Muller who pioneered most of the southern Great Barrier Reef aboard his now legendary Riversong. At one stage the leading authority on this part of the world. (He was hired by Gulf Oil to help them make the first aerial charts of the southern Great Barrier Reef (or The Swains).

A single coral reef called Riversong Cay is the sole maritime recognition of his pioneering days on the GBR.

In the early 1960's Riversong made several noteworthy diving expeditions, the most extraordinary being through the Swain Reefs to Gannet Cay and later Saumarez Reef beyond Australia's continental shelf and into the southern Coral Sea.

(Saumarez is an adventure destination but more so 40 years ago. 1. No GPS or weather forecasting then. 2. Greater than usual shark activity. 3.Underwater visibility of 65 meters. 4. USS Liberty Ship aground on the reef with live ammunition. 5 A dangerous voyage in a small slow vessel. (Any serious bleeding injury could be fatal).

Riversong was sold several times and her whereabouts today is unknown.

Construction details:
Built in 1947 at Mackay, Queensland from spotted gum timber (maybe with an oregon pole), by W.Beattie a ship builder formerly from Tasmania. Twin freezer could hold 4500 pounds of fish fillets.
A gysy anchor winch used a WW2 aircraft starter engine.


(Information subject to an update. Pictured is only known photo of Riversong under power, with WG Muller outside the wheelhouse).

Footnote: Wally Muller's next vessel was Careelah (native word meaning south wind). Former name was the Norman R. Wright. 66 feet in length, 15 foot beam, hardwood construction with Hueon Pine from waterline to deck. Deck was of beech. Built in 1949 b y Norman R Wright.

His last vessel was the famed Coralita which was the premier dive boat during the 1970's which hosted scuba diving Prime Minister's. 79 feet in length with 19.5 foot beam she was built of beech timbers. Twin 190 HP Catapillar diesels 160 KVA and 125 KVA generator sets.

Planks are of 8" and 2" spotted gum each plank with a length of 40 feet or more and requiring five men to handle each one. Launched in 1969. Built by Norman R. Wright of Brisbane.

Updated info 10 March 2005.




JH on 22.12.04 @ 01:34 PM AEST [link]

Free Lone Ranger ..........what food that food was fed?

Henry and Trish Jones decided to roast one of their free range chooks from their property near Pambula NSW.

"Compared with the BBQ chooks from the store, our's was almost tasteless", said Henry.

So what is going into the farmed chook feed these days? Lots of things. Something goes into the water supply too. (Water can be changed faster when an inspection tip-off is received).

People who work on chicken farms don't talk too much to the media. Privately, these workers are appalled I was told by a couple I met travelling in the far north west of Western Australia at Broome.

"Our son works on a chicken farm. He can't understand why the governments don't do something about what is happening".

In Cairns, diver and renowned fisherman Albie Ziebell believed the local farmed chickens were being fed reef fish that was not allowable for human consumption, fish Albie thought loaded with ciguaterra toxins - which is both colourless, and odorless.

He believed this because he was sensitive to ciguaterra poisoning, and eating local chicken brought on the same symptoms he was avoiding in reef fish! A good example of how the food chain works.

So we need to not only question what we eat, but what food that food was fed. Understand?

But everyone is too busy to bother, and it all gets worse.

Happy Christmas Dinners
JH on 21.12.04 @ 07:31 AM AEST [link]

200 miles from shore.......

"This doesn't look like a dangerous species but 200 miles from shore - who can afford to take chances....."

(From the commentary written and spoken by a television newsreader - describing an underwater shark hunting sequence 1965 style).


JH on 20.12.04 @ 05:26 PM AEST [link]

Sharks in Advertising .......mobile camera-phone

Don't miss any exciting moment - a mobile phone-camera is a handy device.

(Billboard in Taipei - unfortunately damaged, but the message is clear, as is the ultra blue water).
JH on 20.12.04 @ 05:14 PM AEST [link]

SAVAGE SHADOWS .......A shark film by the late HENRI BOURCE

A shark victim turns film maker with a 16mm Bolex camera and makes a feature film released in cinemas.

"The only money I ever made out of Savage Shadows came from stock footage sales of the attack sequence" Henri Bource told me at his Melbourne home, as he hopped about on his one good leg.

Using self-hypnosis Henri was able to convince himself he still had two legs. It also got rid of the phantom pains (i.e. an itchy toe that wasn't there anymore). The big white pointer shark had bitten Henri's leg off, just below the knee. (Above the knee would have presented greater hardship - at least he had a knee-cap left that served as a hard base for the artificial leg he wore.

Henri didn't look for sympathy - he was far more positive than that rubbish being required. He even had us convinced (in a strange way) he still had two legs. I once questioned his right to park in a disabled parking place - and this was a man with half a leg missing!

This was the attitude and influence Henri Bource projected to all who knew him.

I assisted in the film production in a slight way, with friends Mike Perry and John Fairfax.

We appear in the film searching for sharks off Queensland's North Stradbroke Island, (at the time a hot location, far-less-so today).

The resulting film was excellent BUT didn't get adequate exposure. At the time it was difficult negotiating any deal with cinema companies. The film premiered in the sleaziest of city venues in Sydney, the former State Newsreel Theatrette. It was once possible to almost stick to the seats in this tiny theatre which ran continuous short films for anyone with 60 minutes of spare time.

Henri is gone now, missed by a heap of divers who were his good mates. But he lived genuine dual lives, there was also the music he loved and the friends and girls there. (His original band The Thunderbirds recorded the first rock 'n roll album in Australia).

Before his shark accident (aka attack) he toured with the leading international acts working Australia's southern states. This duality tricked all of us. If the whole picture ever emerged the Henri Bource story will amaze and entertain.




JH on 19.12.04 @ 10:24 AM AEST [SAVAGE SHADOWS .......A shark film by the late HENRI BOURCE">link]

PostCards from Taiwan.

Taipei's Grand Hotel (not ideal for backpackers wearing thongs.)

Photo: Vivi Tsou
JH on 17.12.04 @ 09:51 AM AEST [link]

Christmas in Taiwan .........a novel pillow for single men.

Made by Trane Company Ltd of Japan and available with either red or black mini skirt is this pillow. Price about US$50

taipeitimes.com
JH on 17.12.04 @ 09:42 AM AEST [link]

Taipei motor scooters.

"Far-away, resembling ants, in a scooter carpark".
photo: Vivi Tsou

JH on 17.12.04 @ 09:33 AM AEST [link]

Kruger and Cage in Taipei this week.

Promoting the dud flick National Treasure in a 48 hour visit were the above pair and the retinue of 25 including producer Jerry Bruckheimer, booked into a Taipei hotel (at AUD$20,000 per night).

NY Times movie reviewer STEPHEN HOLDEN wrote:

National Treasure is for Nicholas Cage a low point in a cunningly managed career that seesaws between serious screen acting (Leaving Las Vegas, Adaption) and schlock.

Looking like a mangy hound dog with patches of hair missing, (he) can't even muster a half-smile or a raised eyebrow, wears the numbed expression of a lazy star who can't be bothered to find the character inside his role.

If National Treasure mattered at all, you must call it a national disgrace, but this piece of flotsam is so inconsequential that it amounts to little more than a piece of Hollywood accounting.

taipeitimes.com

JH on 17.12.04 @ 09:30 AM AEST [link]

PRAWNS ..........Cockroach of the Sea

Uncooked/raw/green prawns/shrimp should look like these, just minutes after coming aboard a trawler. The striped ones are tiger prawns, firmer/tougher than other varieties, the favourite of Asian gourmets.

At this time of year in Australia, a lot of prawns are purchased for summer foods. Those from the ocean, caught by fishing boats dragging nets across the bottom are called wild prawns.

These are healthier than imported farmed prawns which contain antibiotics, one being nitrofuran (used to treat urinary tract infections). No antibiotics in Australian farmed prawns due to cleaner ocean water here.

Imported prawns into Australia are tested for only one of several possible antibiotics. A loop-hole is imported prawns are not labelled as such. Lax laws which benefit retailers.

Cooked prawns have a chemical added to the water to prevent heads turning black.

Vannamei prawns are now flooding the world. An estimate eight million kg. arriving in Australia in November and December. This new food is an ugly "chicken of the sea".

Our wild prawns are exported to the countries that sell us the farmed rubbish, but now at lower prices than before.

Why are prawns cochroaches of the sea?

1.They feed upon dead things. 2. Being ocean-floor feeders their food is more likely to be polluted. 3. The meat is 'highly acidic' food building-up unwanted nasty acids. (Tip: Learn how this will effect your body).
Eat more carrots.

JH on 16.12.04 @ 04:16 AM AEST [link]

Surreal Shipwreck ............like a bad dream for the Captain.

What happened was this. Motor problems, a tug attempts to assist, tow-line snaps, ship aground, heavy weather, ship breaks in half. Pristine Alaska this week. Cargo a bit messy. Fuel oil and soya beans.

Looking almost like an oil or watercolour painting in the dim winter northern light.

TaipeiTimes
JH on 15.12.04 @ 11:15 AM AEST [link]

Mystery Photo ...............what is it?

JH on 15.12.04 @ 06:57 AM AEST [link]

Answer......

........inside view of rear window of my 4 X 4 after driving through rain and mud.
JH on 15.12.04 @ 06:55 AM AEST [link]

Stingray Spine Memoirs ........Ron Isbell recalls his childhood.

"I was only eight years old when I stepped on a sleeping stingray in shallow water...."

"The pain was incredible. Dad scubbed the wound with a brush, which I wasn't too happy about either. He was removing the 'slime' which the spine leaves behind. It all healed without any problem. We were living at Cannonvale near Airlie Beach in those times. I later moved to Gladstone and operated two luxury charter boats, Sea Hunt and later Tropic Rover. We took thousands to the reef, I always took care to avoid anyone else stepping on a ray. The pain alone is a memorable event, infection is the bad-bonus".

(Ron was Queensland's first state spearfishing champion fifty years ago. A real man of the sea).

The fresh stingray spine (above, alongside a younger Ron Isbell) shows the flakes of slime which remain in the wound. It's painful stuff which probably has not been widely studied by toxicologists. What it is all about is for the future scientists willing enough to come into close contact with a potent potential. How the ray's manage to manufacture this toxin is another interesting question. Something in the food they prefer? Venomeous sea shells would be a major part of their diet, but not so in cooler southern waters where different stingray are found. Do the toxins vary much? Questions questions.

A noted (world authority) scientist who studies stingrays complained by letter to National Geographic that their picture story of the Bahamas tame 'Stingray City' (showing divers in close contact underwater feeding stingrays) was promoting a future personal disaster.

"The magazine's response was unsatisfactory," he told me.

You have been warned!


JH on 14.12.04 @ 07:58 AM AEST [link]

Dangerous to play with ..............a warning (continued).

Big stingray can be lethal. Even small ones have the ability to inflict super-severe pain.

So when underwater adventurers play with and feed these seemingly docile bottom dwellers, is it a wise move? Definately not. My message is avoid stingray like you would avoid 'the plague'.

Remember Anthony Newly who founded the Australian magazine Scuba Diver years ago? He encountered a large stingray in Fijian waters whose venomeous spine severed a major artery in his leg. I imagine there was incredible agony while bleeding, eventually into death.

I sincerely hope it all ended sooner rather than later for this once brave man of business and the sea.

Pictured above: Dianne Widdowson of Coralita charter boat fame. This grouping of giant stingray occured at the Yongala shipwreck site, out from Townsville, QLD. Sleeping with wing-tips touching, the rays were able to alert each other as they were quietly disturbed by our bubbles.

Depth: about 30 meters to the sand. It's a blue world down there. The big ray in the foreground has the tail raised - a warning and a defense posture. The venomeous spine is located near the centre of the tail - not the very tip as many folk imagine.

JH on 14.12.04 @ 07:18 AM AEST [link]

MOVIES ...............currently on release worldwide.

JH on 13.12.04 @ 06:28 AM AEST [link]

"WICKER PARK"- and other movies worth a look.

1. This is the Hollywood version of a French film hit "L'Appartement" (1996).....always a good sign.
2. The cast is very photogenic, especially blonde DIANE KRUGER (above) a German lady who recently quit professional modelling and dancing for film acting, a brilliant move, inspired by director Luc Besson (The Big Blue)
3. The story begins near the ending. The flashbacks are not explained easily. It's a mind tease.
4. .......Diane Kruger looks good in every shot and is well matched with Josh Hartnett. Australian actor Rose Byrne plays the scheming friend of both - her plan was to have the man for herself, and it almost works.
5. How true love wins through is the message that makes this film a sentimental masterpiece. (In real life it rarely happens this way - but nice when it does).
6. The synopsis of the film, on the DVD box, if right off track and quite misleading, so do not read.

7. (Dec 23 2005 note) In the film Josh Hartnett said "he wants to be a photographer who photographs tropical fish" - maybe that was the key that helped me enjoy this film so much. Plus the attitude and personality of the character Lisa (played by Dianne Kruger) is every boys dream.

UPDATE: David Stratton reviewed Wicker Park as: "An unnecessary remake of the French film The Apartment (1996) with the action transferred from Paris to Chicago. ......sticks closely to the original then cops out with a Hollywood-ised ending. The main point of interest is the talented young cast..." two and one half stars. (Five points out of ten).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other new films, "BAD SANTA" gives some good laughs, surprisingly. "National Treasure" (also featuring Diane Kruger, with Nicholas Cage) is more than 'a bit weak' but is, never-the-less, very good exposure for Ms. Kruger.

As for DEEP BLUE - the cinema version of the BBC TV's Blue Planet hit - there were only two people at the 10am opening session in Sydney (A Quentin Tarantino film would have about 30 people) so that indicates the box ofice future of this documentary. The opening ten minutes was excellent. By the centre of the lengthy polar chapter I managed to go to sleep, helped by the terribly British narrator's voice and a classical orchestral soundrack.

Some white pointer sharks might have kept me awake, but these were not to be seen. An incredible mistake for a big budget film.

The killer whales eating sea lions on a beach was impressive material. A reminder that everything gets eaten eventually, in the sea.

The near all-black camoflague of the killers has a deceiving trick - a white panel on either side of the face. In dark water this white panel might be seen (by the intended victim) as a much smaller threat approaching. A small white shark for example. You'll get the message when viewing this sequence, overall the film is, at best 5.5 points out of ten, spoiled by the music and narration neither being of broad commercial appeal and better suited to a museum or cable TV. Sorry.

UPDATE: Writing in The Australian movie reviewer Evan Williams says of Deep Blue:
"......glimpses of a barely imaginable world of teeming life-forms, more astonishing even than the life-and-death struggles of the whales, sharks and dolphins. First rate. 4 stars (or 8 points out of 10).

JH on 13.12.04 @ 04:34 AM AEST [link]

Shark Attack ............Opal Reef, Nth. Qld.

Scene of yesterday's shark encounter which proved fatal for 38 year-old Mark Thompson. A shallow, sandy area with coral bommies. Favourite territory for stingrays AND the tiger sharks that eat them.

The identity of the species responsible is not yet clear. Bull (whaler), tiger and even hammerhead's are being touted by local marine spokesmen.

It seems sharks are becoming increasingly more familiar with divers and are therefore inclined to come closer and investigate - with the only way they can, their teeth. A trigger for their curiosity is required and a speared fish in shallow water becomes a dangerous combination.
NewsTV
JH on 12.12.04 @ 12:01 PM AEST [link]

FREE STUDY COURSE: SHARKS

Re yesterday shark fatality: shark fisherman Vic Hislop said "Opal Reef was home to large tiger sharks."

He said that 12 years ago a friend of his disappeared while skindiving in the area.

"I went straight up there and in the next three days I caught 11 tiger sharks all over three meters long that could have carried a horse away," he said.

UPDATE Dec17 2004 (ABC Radio National news): Identity of the species thought responsible: "whaler shark".

UPDATE. Nov 15, 2005. Learn about sharks - FREE semi-scientific. http://www.fathom.com/course/21701777/index.html

fathom(tm) archival illustrations: 1966 (top) and 1977 (bottom text)

JH on 12.12.04 @ 09:04 AM AEST [link]

'THE BRIDGE' ...........viewed from North Sydney

JH on 11.12.04 @ 07:08 AM AEST [link]

The Harbour Bridge. .......and some serious rust spots.

As teenagers we played on the harbour bridge doing things that would land you in jail today. I love to walk across the bridge, explore the new shops at The Rocks area below, (on the city side), and have made countless visits to Luna Park where it was a teenage delight.

Lately I've noticed some blemishes on the 72 year old awe-inspiring beauty. Maybe this has something connected with the increased level of security, also noticeable. The following pictures were made this week. They show rust appearing from beneath painted surfaces (indicates a poor rust-proofing job previously).

With so much traffic rumbling over the approach to the bridge, the structure vibrates noticeably. It should be preserved better than what is happening at present. It was always a joke that painting the bridge was never completed.

I have never seen rust on 'the bridge' like that which is visible this week. It is a sad day for the old girl who should be only one third through her expected lifespan.

JH on 10.12.04 @ 05:40 PM AEST [link]

A Poor Rusting-Proofing Job.

JH on 10.12.04 @ 04:31 PM AEST [link]

Rust Never Sleeps

JH on 10.12.04 @ 04:01 PM AEST [link]

KAMERUKA ESTATE .........beautiful old tree

An early morning scene of a 100 year old tree at a long established dairy property. Nearby are the towns of Bega, Tathra, and Merimbula on the very scenic NSW South Coast

An old tree like this has weathered plenty of storms and survived. But if it were growing in a park like the Sydney Domain, it would be destroyed by council for being a safety hazard, (as were some similar-aged and equally grand fig trees this year)! Nonsense gone mad.

Kameruka Estate:
An attractive and unusual village famous for its long association with cheese production.
Kameruka is a village and historic estate 449 km south of Sydney via the Princes Highway and 21 km southwest of Bega.

Europeans moved into the Kameruka area in 1834 when the Imlay Brothers (see Eden) took up a 200 000-acre cattle run. The depression in the early 1840s saw the Imlays forced to hand their land over to the Walker Brothers, Sydney merchants in 1844. It was the Walkers who established the homestead at Kameruka.

Born in Scotland the Walker Brothers attempted to replicate the lifestyle of the eighteenth-century British gentry. They built a four-roomed Georgian house and indulged in dingo hunting - a kind of local equivalent of an English fox hunt. An Aborigine named Tom Doolin was their master of the hounds, and a stone cairn, which still stands, was erected to his memory.

William Walker (1787-1854) was the son of a Scottish laird who joined a firm of merchants operating out of Calcutta. In 1813 he was sent to Sydney to collect debts owed by Robert Campbell, a merchant and the co-founder of the colony's first savings bank.

The Walkers sold their properties to the Twofold Bay Pastoral Association in 1852, a joint venture of the Manning brothers, the Tooth brothers (members of the renowned Kent Brewery family of Sydney) and T.S. Mort. Kameruka was made the head station of a 400 000-acre empire. James Manning acted as resident manager until the partnership was dissolved in 1860. Manning encouraged German immigrants to settle in the district hence the number of German names in the district.

Manning bought Kameruka in 1861 but floods, disease and the Land Act broke up the family holdings and, after losing 7000 cattle through pneumonia, Manning sold Kameruka in 1862 to Frederick Tooth who, in turn, sold it to his nephew Robert Tooth (1844-1915) in 1864. It was Robert who began to develop the largely self-contained community, based on the English agricultural estate system.

Today the estate covers 5000 acres of undulating countryside. Owned by Tooth's granddaughter and great grandson it is run, in part, by share farmers.

Kameruka contains the oldest dairy stud in Australia, established by Tooth in 1880 at Bowral, where he built a house, and transplanted to Kameruka in 1888. Visiting times are from 10-4 and milking is carried out each day from 2-3.30 pm. An admission fee is payable at the Homestead Information Office where you can collect a map and a history of the property. There is also a restaurant and gift shop and a nine-hole golf course.

Holy Trinity Church
The Tooth family have been described as Edmund Blacket's 'great Sydney patrons' so it is probably unsurprising that they turned to him when they needed an architect to design a church for the estate. Holy Trinity Church's (1869) most lavish feature is its high-pitched roof which lends it a picturesque aspect from a distance. The church also contains memorials to the Tooth family. The cemetery can be found across across the paddock behind the church. The high clock tower and gatehouse were erected in 1911. There is a war memorial to the local people who died in the World Wars.



JH on 05.12.04 @ 11:01 AM AEST [link]

BUTCHER SNAGS ARM ...........a warning to meat-eaters

Slipping into the sausage-making machine turned his arm into sausages. Amazing survival story.
Compensation for the accident allowed him to buy the butcher shop from his boss!

A warning to flesh eaters follows:
Antibiotics being overused: DOH

By Wang Hsiao-wen
STAFF REPORTER TAIPEI TIMES
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2005,Page 4
More measures must be taken to stop drug-resistant bacteria passing from farm animals to people, doctors and scientists urged yesterday.

"There is a danger of drug-resistant diseases passing to humans from animals," said Su Ih-ren (‘h‰v�m), the chief of the clinical study division at the National Health Research Institute.

According to Su, people become more and more vulnerable to certain bacterial infections not only because of overuse of antibiotics themselves. Farmers who abuse antibiotics in order to fatten up animals also threaten people's ability to fight infectious diseases.

"Pigs, poultry and even cattle are getting antibiotics on a daily basis, as husbandry workers want to make them grow faster and control the diseases caused by intensive livestock production," Su said.

A report by the National Health Research Institute showed that some bacteria, such as E. Coli, had developed a high level of resistance against antibiotics in poultry and pigs, because farmers had overfed the drugs to their livestock.

Despite the fact that no valid evidence shows that antibiotics have crossed into the food chain, doctors see the abuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry as "heralding the end of an age of antibiotics."

"Since 2002, we have started to see child patients infected with a kind of enterobacteria -- the typhoid-causing Salmonella. In at least five cases, Salmonella developed a high resistance even against stronger antibiotics," said Chiu Cheng-hsun (ç·�­Ÿ«), a podiatrist at Chang Kung Memorial Hospital.

Chiu said he was worried if the situation worsens with time, antibiotics will soon lose their efficacy.

"People will be especially at risk of an antibiotic-resistant superbug. Once a superbug emerges, a mild bacterial infection may turn out to be fatal," he said.

"The Council of Agriculture must regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock. Animals should not be given antibiotics similar to those used in human medicine," Su said.

The Council of Agriculture yesterday stated that they will ban 10 kinds of antibiotics in the next three years. The authority also said they have developed several reagents to replace popular antibiotics, encouraging farmers and husbandry workers to drop the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry.

Health officials also recommend restraint in antibiotic usage. "Patients often ask their doctors to prescribe antibiotics. But they should be aware that sometimes their illness, say, a flu, is caused by a virus, for which antibiotics do not work," said Wang Hua-kong (‰¤‰Ø‹±), the chief of the Center for Disease Control's infection control division.

JH on 05.12.04 @ 08:12 AM AEST [link]

ON TV TONIGHT (Victoria) ......."The World Around Us" 6:30pm

Shark Vs. Croc Topped the ratings in Brisbane recently, but failed to do as well in Sydney (possibly due to high school exams), Victorian's get a look tonight.

The above picture is from the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper. Similar pictures appeared in sister publications last September. Interviews and the above picture and others will be shown tonight.

Another documentary series will present the story in depth with additional interviews.

Meanwhile dive tour boats at Port Douglas, where locals are still talking about the incident, were sharp to point out the differences between our encounter and their methods of operation:

"1. We dont follow sharks, 2. in red dinghies, 3. with a dog aboard"


JH on 04.12.04 @ 06:57 AM AEST [link]

Something in the Air

As seen and photographed above the Royal National Park, south of the city an aircraft dumping fuel pre a landing at nearby Sydney airport, a regular safety procedure usually occuring out to sea - where the sea breeze brings it back over the people. Isn't progress wonderful?


JH on 03.12.04 @ 07:20 AM AEST [link]

Stone Fish ..........Beware the venom kills

Juanita Fenn found this huge stone fish just off the rocks at Amity Point, Queensland.

Stone fish have twin grooves running along both sides of the dorsal spines with a poison sack below.

Pressure on the spines (such as a foot stepping on the fish) injects venom. Spines are not hollow as is commonly taught, but much stronger versions.

A grave on the beach at Nor' West Island (southern GBR) is said to be a stone fish victim.

It's possibly for a strong and healthy person to survive a serious 'sting' (injection) from the stone fish. Very hot water will neutralise the poison. Care to not hot-water-burn the victim is required.

Extreme pain is associated with the poison. Morphine said to be largely ineffective.



JH on 02.12.04 @ 09:33 AM AEST [link]

Creature Movie Review ........The Black Lagoon (1956).

Truth in advertising? The poster is colour but the 90 minute movie was black and white. Acceptable today?

In 1956 this "B" grade drama insinuated: 'within the upper reaches of the Amazon such unknown creatures could exist'.

A little like a fictional film claiming: Such things may exist two kilometers deep in the ocean today. No one knows what is deep down there but you can bet it's not a gill-man?

Imagine such a distortion today? Couldn't happen? It could and it does with other themes.

Fargo the award winning Cohen Brothers film, opens with "this is a true film". IT WASN'T.

(In a radio national Arts Today interview it was revealed, "we put the true film title in because people enjoy a film more if they think it is a true story).

The underwater stuntman in 'Black Lagoon' who had exceptional breath-holding ability as the 'creature' was not initially listed/credited. The producers wishing the public would think the creature was real. (This is revealed in the DVD version). A similarity to Fargoback then.

Underwater shots in crystal clear fresh water are reminisent of TV's Sea Hunt and The Aquanauts both in Australia from about 1959. Two additional creature sequels followed but neither had the quality or original actors.

Then the Hollywood underwater bubble burst. It reformed years later with shark films "Jaws" and ""Blue Water White Death".



JH on 01.12.04 @ 03:01 AM AEST [link]