It's been an interesting first few days settling in. The other new volunteer Roi and I have been visiting the other volunteers at their jobs, getting my visa done, opening bank accounts, getting safety briefings from the police and the NZ High Commission as well as finding out where to buy different every day items from- no one place has everything so it looks like it will be a bit of  round trip doing grocery shops as well as  meeting with our new employers. I am settling in and really enjoying it so far, it has exceeded my expectations and I'm already starting to enjoy the pace of life. The heat too has not been as bad as I'd expected, sure it is hot and humid but not unbearably so. I have a fan on in my room when I first go to bed but end up turning it off in the middle of the night. I have met the other volunteers, there are 4 of us Kiwis, as well as three of four Aussies all doing different roles, spread the length and breadth of South Tarawa. On Tuesday evening Aa...

Well, it is 9pm on my first night in Kiribati. I've made it at last. The long journey to get to this point has ended and a new chapter in my life is just beginning.  Yesterday morning, Julie and I were up at 5am and I drove to CHCH. From there it was a flight to Auckland and a couple of hours layover before the flight to Kiribati.In Fiji I met with a consultant on her way to Kiribati and she shouted me dinner. She had done some work for the Marine Training Centre so it was good to get some information about the place and what to expect. Another early start today. At the airport or 6am start and a three hour flight north to Tarawa. I me the other volunteer at Fiji airport. The three hour flight north was uneventful and we were met at the airport by Linda from Mary's motel who took us to the motel in Bairiki. The only issue was getting my surfboard on board as there was no roof rack but we managed to tie it onto the roof using my leg rope.  Kiribati was hot and s...

Te final countdown continues, everything packed and I'm all ready to go. Here is an interesting article on Stuff from someone who recently holidayed in Kiribati, and a lot more positive than some of the comments about it below! I guess like anywhere it is what you make it and the key is not going in with too high expectations. Am a little perplexed by some of the comments, it is after all a developing country, but each to their own. The advice I take from this one is to get out and explore the outer islands, something I'm hoping to do once settled in. Here is another older article from Val Guthrie, who was working for the Marine Training Centre which I will be working for. Here is an amusing and informative YouTube video from Geography Now! on Kiribati. And Nauru airlines has a nice promo video about Tarawa Craig

This time next week I'll be on my way to Fiji, the first leg of my journey. I'm about ready, my gear is packed and ready, which for a last minute, throw it in a bag and go sort of guy like me that is a big deal. I shipped my bike over to Kiribati last week along with a box full of grocery supplies to hopefully make the food a bit more interesting- I am assuming the worst here.  Today I'm down at my bach for the last time, getting it ready to rent out. I've decided to rent it out for 12-18 months while I am away and have a tenant moving in on Wednesday so need to clear out our stuff.  Yesterday I had what is probably going to be my last game of cricket for my Celtic team. We beat Pleasant Point comfortably to stay top of the table. Next week's clash vs Geraldine is the biggie as we are first equal on points so I may end up playing, we will see. It is my last day in New Zealand so not sure If I'll be able to swing a game of cricket into the mix or not. Yesterd...

Why am I doing this? Only a few weeks to go before I head odd to Kiribati and I’ve been giving it a bit of thought lately about why I am doing this. Why am I leaving my life, my wife, kids, friends and comfortable existence to travel to the centre of the Pacific and live by myself for a year, in a very remote part of the world. Am I nuts? Am I having a midlife crisis? Will this work out, what the hell am I doing and why??? One of the suggestions during the VSA briefing was to write own why you are doing this, and when the going gets tough remind yourself of it, so here we go, my rather disorganized attempt to make sense of what I am about to do and why. This is going to be bloody hard! I know the year ahead is going to be the hardest, most difficult things that I have ever done but also I hope it will be one of the most rewarding. I’m not doing this for material rewards, or even or personal ones. I am, I know, being exceedingly selfish in going, in leaving my wife and kids b...

Earlier this year Julie and her Dad, "Bigsy", biked the Alps to Ocean bike trail from Tekapo to Oamaru, a distance of 310 kilometres. Bigsy had just turned 80 so it was a pretty impressive achievement. Afterwards I'd promised Julie that we would bike the West Coast Wilderness trail next March or April but s I'm now going to Kiribati that wasn't now going to happen. So we decided to do the Clutha Gold Trail in Central Otago instead. So last week we set off on our bike ride, spending a couple of nights at our bach and then heading south to Lawrence in Central Otago. We left my car at Lawrence and took  shuttle to Clyde at the far end of the trail. The driver was really accommodating showing us various sites along the way and going ou of his way to show us the motels we'd be staying at. He was a former cricketer and had lived in Temuka in the mid 80s before moving to Alexandra so we had a good chat about cricket, the various clubs in South Canterbury, and the s...

So you are heading to a very small country in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometres from anywhere. What the hell  are you going to do in your free time? The answer? Simple (I hope): surf. The atolls of South and North Tarawa are surrounded by coral reefs and as it is literally in the centre of the Pacific there should be swells rolling in from the four corners of the Pacific, at least occasionally! I intend to take a board or two with me and my mountain bike to explore the atolls. I've purchased a surfboard rack that clips on to my bike so I can bike to the local breaks and also intend to explore the atolls by bike. As the atolls are only a few hundred metres across at most I won't be very far from the ocean. I have found a local surf association, the Kiribati Surf Association . They are a bunch of kiwis, sies and locals that enjoy the local waves but as there are no surf shops within, oh 2000kms or so. They are a tad short of gear for the kids to learn o...