On the Airwaves

Gentry, blog mistress extraordinaire, forwarded us an email from our Just a Little Further blogsite. Damian from ABC Radio in Hobart (that's the Australian Broadcasting Company not the American version) had just read our blog about walking in the Queen's Domain. ABC was interested in chatting with us about our sailing adventures and our time here in Tasmania. Wow!

ABC Radio Studio

We rang them up. “Could we come to the studio for an 0720 broadcast tomorrow morning?”, Jo, the producer asked. “Absolutely!” The studio is about a 10 minute walk from the wharf and we reckoned we could pull ourselves together and get there by 0715 without too much trouble. At that time of the day, we were pleased it was radio considering we looked a bit windblown by the time we appeared at the studio's front entrance. We arrived early and paced around for ten minutes before ringing the entry buzzer. Jo met us at the door as planned and showed us into a waiting area. We hadn't been in a radio studio before … ever. This is ABC's radio and television broadcasting center in Tasmania and it's pretty plush.

ABC Radio in Hobart

ABC Radio broadcasting

Talking live on a radio program would be a new adventure for us. They hadn't provided any questions in advance, so there was no prepping or preparing. I concentrated on not saying “ah” and “uh” too much and hoped the words I was thinking would actually come out of my mouth. I cleared my throat a lot while we waited. I asked for some water.

ABC

Jo ushered us into the studio at around 0715 and we sat opposite Ryk Goddard, the young, good-looking, affable morning talk show host. Jo got us settled. We put on the headphones and sat in front of the microphones. Hopefully, there would be no trick questions. And then we were talking with Ryk. He introduced us while he adjusted knobs and dials, looked at his computer to see who had just “tweeted”, consulted several monitors and generally multi-tasked to the Nth degree...all the while chatting into the microphone. Things happen quickly.

ABC photo opp

There was no need for nervousness. Ryk seemed genuinely interested and asked some good questions.

“How did you start your journey?”, “How do you stay financially afloat?”, “David, where do you go when you're in the doghouse?”, “Where haven't you been?”. In between several other tasks, Jo appeared once again and snapped photos for us while we answered Ryk's questions. All in all, a delightful 8-minute experience that left us high for several hours after. As we said goodbye and left the studio, Jo had already e-mailed us a digital copy of the interview. Talk about efficiency. Now we can listen to ourselves talk.

Click here for the audio of David and Marcie's interview.

Sam Simon

Isolde rang us up from New Zealand the other morning.  Her husband, Gabor, would be arriving in Hobart soon as a crew member aboard the Sam Simon and she was flying here to meet him for Christmas.  We'd known the crew of "Kestrel" for several years now in the way that cruisers get to know each other...well and quickly.  We met them first in French Polynesia, saw them on and off across the South Pacific, spent Christmas with them in New Zealand, had Thanksgiving with them last year in Australia, and now here they were in Hobart on a Sea Shepherd vessel.

The acquisition of the Sam Simon, named after one of the original producers of The Simpsons who donated the $2M for the ship's purchase, was quite the coup for the Sea Shepherd orginization.  They purchased the ship from the Japanese government rather covertly under a pseudonym and under the guise that the ship would be refitted and converted into a private yacht.  The real goal, however, was to use this Japanese ship against their own in a "direct action" against whaling still practiced by the Japanese fleet in the Southern Ocean.  Sea Shepherd is a get-in-their-face kind of group.

The Washington-state based Sea Shepherd organization's mission is "to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to protect ecosystems and species."  Founder, Paul Watson, was also a co-founder of Greenpeace, but parted ways over philosophical differences - he wanted more direct action in the protection of marine life...less words, more deeds.  According to Sea Shepherd's website, "since those early days (1970's), Sea Shepherd has embarked on over 200 voyages covering many of the world's oceans and defending and saving defenseless marine life all along the way."  Marine life includes seals, sharks, whales, tuna and the fragile, unique marine ecosystem of the Galapagos.

Gabor had joined the Sam Simon in November in Cairns, Australia.  A Canadia/German, he'd been a merchant marine as a young man.  He was putting his old skills to the test as a second engineer aboard the Sam Simon.  Sea Shepherd is an all-volunteer effort.  Gabor paid his own airfare to Cairns to join the ship and has spent hundreds of hours getting the ship ready for the upcoming Antarctic whaling season.  One huge challenge he noted was that every sign, operator's manual and decal in the engine room, was in Japanese.  Sorting out the systems and machinery operation had taken a month.

The 24-person crew is a United Nations of nationalities and personalities.  Everybody pitches in...everyone does their part whether it be selling t-shirts and giving tours while in port or painting the decks and cleaning out the insides of tanks.  They get things done.  Everyone works towards the common goal of heading to Antarctica this season and preventing the slaughter of whales.

It's a vegan ship and it's dry.  No honey, no eggs, no meat, no milk, no butter...NO alcohol aboard.  Some of the non-vegans among the crew readily admit they head to the nearest pub for a pint and a steak when they reach port.

We got an email from Karen, an old friend from our Burdick days in Janesville, Wisconsin.  She'd just read that the Sam Simon was in Hobart and was wondering if we'd see it.  Could we send a photo or two?  She supports the Sea Shepherd organization with her donations and the "Sam Simon was HER ship" she said, "HER crew...HER heroes."  Click to learn more about volunteering or donating.

Isolde, by the way, isn't going back to New Zealand after Christmas.  She's decided to stay aboard and join Gabor as part of the crew of the Sam Simon.  What an adventure!

Money Matters

Taking money out of an ATM in a foreign country is like getting Monopoly money out of the bank. The bills are colorful compared to our singular, drab green and they sport portraits of people and events we don't recognize. Foreigners complain it's hard to tell one bill from another in the US since all of our bills are the same color and size. I tell them we look at the numbers … there's no color-coding in America. That said, here we are in Australia and it's hard to know what our American dollar is worth any more. A few years ago, the American dollar was worth about $1.50 in Australia. We arrive and it dips to 95¢. I remember being in Canada when the exchange rate was at 50%. Those were the days. I check currency exchange rates frequently now because it can make a big difference. When we charge something on Master Card, for instance, they first convert from the Australian dollar which at the moment is $1.05, so right off the bat, everything we charge costs us 5% more. Then add to that the fee they charge for doing the currency conversion and it really adds up.

When we first arrive in any new country, it takes time to figure out the currency and the coins. This confusion is enhanced when a foreign language is involved. We've held up many a checkout line trying to pay for our purchase. At some point, you just hold out your hand and let the cashier take what she needs. Luckily, the Aussies speak a form of English, so it's been easier here.

The Australians like some jingle in their pockets, I think. They have lots of coins to deal with. There are the 5, 10, 20 (not 25) and 50 cent pieces. There are also $1 and $2 pieces. When they ask for a gold coin donation here, it means they're after a $1 or $2 coin. The $2 piece is smaller than the $1 piece which doesn't make sense to me. So when you get $4.95 in change, you end up with a heavy pocket. By the end of the day, your pants are falling down from the weight.

Another thing I find interesting is that though Aussies have short, cute names for everything, e.g. Tasmania is Tassie and breakfast is brekkie and afternoon is arvo, they don't use terms like penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half. They're just 5, 10, 20 cent pieces...you get the picture.

I can understand why they don't use the word penny. They don't have any. All prices here are rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. They might advertise $9.99, but it's really $10. That said, they always include the GST (general sales tax) in the price. So $10 really is $10 when you check out at the register. I find it odd, however, that the GST applies to everything. If you go to the doctor, your office visit includes GST. If you pay a traffic violation, your ticket includes GST. If you buy a new yacht...well, you should be paying GST.