Erik von Daniken’s ‘Chariots of the Gods’ came to my town when I was a kid. Alexandra, New Zealand was perhaps a bit information-starved. There was one-channel TV, radio of course, and a couple of newspapers. And then there were the ‘Pictures’ (one a week movie screenings at the cinema). So a well-marketed movie about space-travellers once… Continue reading Mongolia – Nights under the nine stars of the Pleiades
Category: Travel
Lebanon – Last Gasp of the Cedar Forests
Europe to Australasia is long-haul, and if you are not into heroics, it’s nice to break the journey somewhere. I wonder how many travellers consider Lebanon? The big draw-card for me were the famous ‘Cedars of Lebanon’. This is a highly relictual patch of trees that is all that remains of a once much more… Continue reading Lebanon – Last Gasp of the Cedar Forests
Estonia – the Swamp and the language tree
Estonia was my first-ever experience of driving, by myself, on the right hand side of the road. I tried to keep it simple. All I needed to do was pull-out from the car hire place (small town, Viljandi linn), negotiate a round-about at the edge of town, then I would be onto a rural road where I could take… Continue reading Estonia – the Swamp and the language tree
Mongolia – “Armour-piercing, mate”
“I’ll have to show these to my colleague”. The security guard at Brisbane’s International Airport took the two objects from my bum-bag and walked off. Oh shit… A few weeks before I had been travelling south through Mongolia’s South Gobi region. It’s basically a gravelly, rolling desert. In the middle of all this wide-open country,… Continue reading Mongolia – “Armour-piercing, mate”
Turkistan, Kazakhstan, not Tukmenistan
I’m not at all sure I remembered when all those ‘stans’ appeared on my radar. Did I know about them before the Soviet Union fell apart, or did they just appear in the news so gradually it seemed like they were always there? There’s Uzbekistan, Kirghistan, Afghanistan (yes, I did know about that one) –… Continue reading Turkistan, Kazakhstan, not Tukmenistan
Mongolia – The Ghost of Moron
It was on the flight back to UIaan Baatar that I remembered the ghost. My field partner, Nyambayar, and I had been working in an area near the Mongolian town of Moron (pronounced ‘muh-roon’). Moron lies in the far north of Mongolia and is the gateway to Lake Khovsgul. This is the largest body of water in… Continue reading Mongolia – The Ghost of Moron
Kalimantan, Indonesia – Twenty minutes from death
The ‘high-wall’ of a mine has been the undoing of many a geologist (if an opencast mine is targeting something flat and dipping, like a coal-seam, the high-wall is the side of the pit above the deepest bed you are uncovering). Sometimes the undoing is accidental – the geo slips or the high-wall edge breaks away. Sometimes it’s… Continue reading Kalimantan, Indonesia – Twenty minutes from death
Mongolia – From Death-threats to a camel-ride
It’s March 2009 in Mongolia and there is an ill-feeling along the Gobi Altai. The year before, and some months after the last time I was in the area, a massive flash-flood had barreled out of the mountains. It funneled down what is normally a broad, dry valley. Many nomads, camping in the valley, died.… Continue reading Mongolia – From Death-threats to a camel-ride
West Timor – Mine of Women and the Palm Wine Bomb
West Timor – Mine of Women, and the Palm-Wine Bomb I never thought to see a mine run by women. By why not? And why? Timor is an island north of Australia, and owes its existence to the geological collision between Australia and Indonesian archipelago to the north. The east side of Timor is now… Continue reading West Timor – Mine of Women and the Palm Wine Bomb
Would you like a beer? – Guests of the Kalimantan Police
Roni is a Batak. This is a christian tribe that lives in the Lake Toba area of the otherwise Muslim Sumatra. The Bataks are famous for their relaxed, easy-going, easy to get along with anyone nature. Roni is just the kind of guy a geologist wants as a partner, minder, and Mr Fix-it. There was a… Continue reading Would you like a beer? – Guests of the Kalimantan Police