TVB op vakansie na Gough Eiland

[Skim]

Can we make it a party?

Maybe when he do come back we should have a reception party for him.....

[zetman]

Koning Van die Eiland

[frankmac]

The Swamp Monster returns

[Ri]

Update from Tom:

Dear Wild dog friends!
 
All good on Gough but unfortunately I still do not have access to the site. I did manage to open the thread the other night and could read the posts but could not reply and lost the connection again. What I have heard is that they will bring a spectrometer coming takeover to align the dish on our side and also do some adjustments which then should improve the internet but for the remainder of the expedition I think it may stay the way it is and that means Ri will update whenever I manage to get a mail and pics through to her.

This mark the ‘week of celebrations’ on G63 calender since we are having 3 x birthdays. Santjie had her birthday yesterday and I was on cooking skivvi so I made a good supper and baked a cake. Vukile is having his birthday tomorrow and Jaimie on Sunday!

So we have decided to have one big party Saturday night but still I thought it would be special to give the day a bit of colour as well. So Zach and I decided to take Santjie on a short 3 hour hike the morning and we hiked up one of the rivers. Turned out to be really good, it was absolutely beautiful and the impulsive decided we got to get wet before we exit and hiked back....It did not take much to convince them to join me in doing so!

Back at base I had to continue work and Santjie who is currently on nightshift could sleep. I did not sleep well the last couple of days and last night after watching an old movie with the team from 1984 called ‘Gremlins’ (really funny little creatures ) and 2 glasses of wine I passed out slept like some deeply sedated rock

Today doing a bit of work in the ‘brown store’ and that is the name for the workshop in Island language even on Marion. I hope to go out next week and take nice pictures of the birds and island to share but for now here are some of yesterday! 

 

[Ri]

More photo's 

[Ri]

Can we make it a party?

Maybe when he do come back we should have a reception party for him.....

I've been thinking about something like this, and even mentioned it to Tom. I've also considered some kind of "welcome home" motorbike trip to the Tankwa Karoo for a weekend, as he's never been there. It will be quite a shock to the system after the lushness of Gough, but can you imagine the photo's he can take there    I have an extra bike (or two) so that won't be a problem. Time might be a problem though.

Their return is very weather dependent. They could leave Gough and wait at Tristan da Cunha for weeks for good sailing weather.

I'll keep you updated, and maybe we can make a plan closer to the time - a party, or a day trip, or a weekend to the Karoo (Cederberg Oasis or Tankwa Tented Camp).

I'd enjoy being there to watch the ship come in. I watched it leave, and it was beautiful  Maybe a party at the end of the pier?

[Skim]

Ri

Keep up that thought process and keep us in the loop - this sound good.

[Mr Zog]

A welcoming party at the docks for Tom would be awesome.

But guys & girls, remember that after TWO YEARS away from home he will need to first reconnect with his family and close friends.

Maybe look at organising a trip to the Tankwa etc for a couple of weeks AFTER he arrives back?

Just a thought from someone who has experience in working away from home for extended periods at times.. 

[Rodlau]

A welcoming party at the docks for Tom would be awesome.

But guys & girls, remember that after TWO YEARS away from home he will need to first reconnect with his family and close friends.

Maybe look at organising a trip to the Tankwa etc for a couple of weeks AFTER he arrives back?

Just a thought from someone who has experience in working away from home for extended periods at times.. 

Very valid point

[Ri]

Update from Tom:

Dear Wild dog friends!

What is the chance of having 3 x birthdays in one week in a 10 person team on a remote site....uhm well apparently not that small since it did happen!
Santjie’s birthday was Tuesday, Vukile Thursday and Jaimie Sunday (today)

So we decided to have one party for the three of them but in the end we also made every individual day special so all in all a crazy sugary week....pok I need to get up that mountain and at a brisk pace to burn it all away and rest assured the camera will be in the backpack. The nice thing about this week was all the baking of various stuff, from bread and rolls to cake. Sometimes I did feel the pressure a bit because people kept asking me to help with especially making bread dough and rolls, and cooking and barbeque of meat.

I did make very nice kebabs and everyone looked weird at me when I kept saying I’ll make ‘sosaties’ for the party till I realised the English word is Kebab  That turned out to be a winner and there were just so many other good things on the table that I almost felt guilty to live such a good life here.
 
Late afternoon I thought to quickly go to the water and try my luck at fishing since it has been a while but the water was a bit choppy and foamy and I soon changed my artificial lure for snoek to catch with bait. I use octopus for bait, and got a lot from captain Clarence. So I did catch a few small to medium reef fish but nothing worth mentioning and threw it all back. The Giant Petrels did like that and the fish that did not survive the drop back into the water was distributed in the food chain. I do not feel guilty as it is not really ‘feeding’ of birds (which is obviously against the rules) but in this case it is ok and can’t do any harm.
 
The Great Shearwaters are still present in huge numbers and it is just amazing to see them forming huge rafts on the ocean and returning to land in the last bit of daylight. They are just such lovely birds, so beautiful and the great number of Great Shearwaters here indicates how healthy and rich these waters are around Gough Island. Just amazingly beautiful and great to be here!
 
Ok so here are just a couple of pictures of us in the various birthday party outfits...I have chosen an easy one and was a ‘Pirate’, even got the grey beard blacked out a bit to look like an able seaman of sort 

BB Kings had a song; ‘let the good times roll’ and yes that is what we do.

Now back to the real world and a busy week with month end reports etc ahead of us so that ‘sugar load’ will come in handy.
Goodnight

[Ri]

Hahaha I love the home made outfits! There is some fantastic imagination in the team 

[woody1]

Did lyk soos ons verjaarsdag partye op Marion.
Daar is gewoonlik ou costuums wat ons gekry het van die staats teater in Pretoria.  Ek het nog as spanleier gereel vir nog 'n VARS besending vir ons tyd.

Lekker Tom en Santjie...SO moet mens Eiland lewe belewe. 

[Sam]

Looks like a lekker party!!

[Ri]

Hi there WDs,

First of all, thank you to all the generous Dogs who contributed above expectation to the bday prezzie! Tom is getting a keg of beer, a few extra wines, a nice headlamp (he drowned his...) and a decent discount on the laptop I helped him buy

A Dog made the suggestion that since it is Tom's son's 21st birthday today, why don't we all head over to Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004163238223 and wish him well?

And last but best of all, an update from Tom:

Hello Wild Dogs
 
Before I forget let me start off by saying that if anyone feels like sending me a PM, rather PM Ri and ask her my e-mail and sent me an e-mail. Normally I will receive the message index of the PM on e-mail but then I cannot reply because there is no return e-mail address and I cannot get into my WD Messages, if that makes sense, to reply.
 
Then I did get the news that the Geo-Searcher is on her way to us but only left port on Tuesday the 30th of January. She normally takes 10 days to reach Tristan da Cunha Island and then needs to do cargo and some fishing so I do not expect to see her here at Gough which is roughly 400nm miles South of Tristan until mid February.

Talk about remote work sites...pok this is probably as remote as it gets! I do recall years back when I was working in the Danakil depression and was urgently needed on a site in Kenya Turkana. Frank Mac here on the forum may recall this. The housekeeping provider, ARDAN-Africa, needed me to take the camp as housekeeping manager and they could not waste any time. These guys from Tullow oil and Weatherfort Int was not in my experience the easiest clients to deal with although they did like me because they thought I was a ‘real Irishman’ 

So it took them one day to drive me up to a town from the location I was within the Danakil depression and then the next day I got a flight out to Addis Ababa and the same night a flight to Kenya (Jomo Kenyatta – Int) and then the early hours of the same morning I was taken to Wilson airport and flown to site.

Sjit this was a bad one because upon exit the lady at Ethiopia asked for my passport and my yellow card was in the passport. She removed it, stamped my passport and did not return my yellow card.....pok only too late did I realize it and guess what? I was never asked for my yellow card, no-where in Africa, and here this mean lady (kak attitude) asked for it in the queue at Jomo Kenyatta!! So it was lost and she took me to a room....it felt like a real ‘series style’ interrogation and yes I was shit scared but in the end I managed to get out of it when I showed her a scanned version on my laptop. However, it was not good enough but a bit more negotiation on the price of I would say 4 hamburgers I was free to go  My boss was not impressed because of the delay but they were actually only stressed that I would not make it to RIG 804 in time!! Come to think of it; I never had a lot of money but I sure did live a bit!

The above story was just to say how relative remote site work really is – the point I wanted to make is that this felt to us like real big time remote and took ‘forever’ to get me from one remote site to another ‘remote site’. All in all it happened within 48 hours.....and here we are waiting for a ship with a lot of excitement because it is on the way and it should be here within 2 weeks!!
 
Back to the island: All good here, but I do feel a bit tired currently and not in a bad way. I just need some time on my own, since it has been a while that I did go on a nice hike with the camera and brief. Every day I was busy including weekends. I do not mind because I have the luxury of sometimes just book out and walk off into the mountains.....but every day has been hectic for far too long and I asked/told Santjie today that I need a break.  She is happy to give me that break but now the weather turned and it seems that Saturday which was supposedly good is now also raining and Sunday. So she suggested if Monday still looks good I need to do my ‘Monday morning skivvi’ on Sunday and leave base at 5am Monday.

The plan is a solo hike outside the boundaries of what is set by the adventure policy. However; the adventure policy is something that I had to participate in back in 2008/9 when I was the expedition leader of Gough 54. That was after our dear friend and colleague Johan Jamnek passed away at Antarctica in a tragic accident while abseiling with team mates in a crevasse. However; where or how will you find the middle ground (fair middle ground?) between a non-adventurer old man in a suit looking after the department's interests, and an adventurer on the ground on a remote site? So the rules are so strict and the only thing that saves me is trust in a team. Trust that I am well equipped with regards to survival equipment, and trust that I will albeit adventurous take calculated decisions to stay out of trouble but enjoy the excursion....wow that phrase got a ‘sound to it! 
 
Anyway, I do not want to bore you all with long stories and hope to update this thread through Ri soon again with some nice pics and news!
 
Herewith the Moorhen on the catwalk with its chick which is now growing real fast!  Also a pic of my birthday presents that I make for the team mates here on the island. The one with the ship is for me though! I thought I like it so much that I might as well make one to take home.
 
Have a great weekend!
Tom
[\quote]

[Ri]

..... Internet has been spotty on Gough for almost 2 months now but right after I mention the prezzies with no fear of repercussion, and what they are so you know I'm not misspending, the clouds clear up for a second and Tom finds out that he is getting something, and what it is.

Ah well. Tom's update:

Dear Wild Dogs
 
I have managed last night to open the thread and read again, and was stunned by the initiative that Ri has taken to organize me a real ‘Wild Dog Birthday present’ here on Gough!

Now I understand why she still did not come back to me with an exact figure of how much I need to pay over to settle my dept with her which is rather a lot of money which she has covered in the interim. Feel good to know that someone that has never met me in person have so much trust – trust in me – rather special and thank you Ri but you can sent me the bill now! I just want to say thank you in advance already for everyone that contributed, and once again great to have you all as friends!! Now that ship better don’t waste any time and then we need good weather for the ‘hauling up’ of all the goodies! I am rather excited and did not celebrate my birthday actually for a long time but this year I’ll definitely do. Once everything is here (around mid Feb) I will take pictures and share the post and experience.
 
My laptop did crash again recently but all my data is backed up on another external hard drive as well. I was actually hoping to use the money on a lens just to get a tad closer to the action....still hoping that the dusky dolphins will come closer at some stage as I have not yet got an opportunity to get some decent shots and the same with some birds like the Spectacled Petrel.

However in the end I had to ask advice on laptops especially with regards to editing performance on pictures since this may become more than a hobby in future. I had sort of an invitation to work with a lady doing sport photography and have a good client basis but unfortunately that is lost now due to my extension of contract. I do however not see the extension as unfortunate, in fact I choose that 10 times over a possible ‘kick start’ new photographic opportunity since it is good to be here and I have the security of a fixed income for a couple more months.
 
Any advice I can give to any future Gough expeditionists is to try and spend a tad more time to source things that are waterproof like for instance head-lamps. I have never been brand conscious in almost anything I have bought but it pays when it gets to the extreme kind of life/hikes and other adventures to buy proper weather sealed stuff. I am very cautious with everything I own and sometimes even try to avoid using it (yes wtf I know...) but I have now in a matter of months lost 2 nice ‘Engergizer’ type of headlamps due to rain/moist. Camera gear I keep dry in a double plastic bag and put those moist absorbant sachets in there for extra insurance. I did manage to break my first little ‘back up’ camera which was a Nikon 3100 on a fall in the river while fixing the waterpipes feeding our base. Point I want to make is that it sometimes pays to safe up and buy the brand names like LED Lensor or Petzel.
 
On the water supply: Yesterday was maintenance day of the pipes (inspection) and cleaning of the submerged collector/strainer. It was working very well since our last effort a few months ago to the extent where we forgot about it. So I went up with Santjie and Zach and it is not really a hard hike but some distance. I would say a fair ‘medium hike’ with a few obstacles and couple of hills to climb. We got there and was actually shocked by all the gunk that had collected and started scrubbing away. Then a bit of craziness and lunch and hiked back only to find that there is no water flowing in the system ... ! Pok I knew what I had done wrong and volunteered to go back alone with some tools to fix it – I had to loosen a clamp about 50 meters down from the strainer and suck a vacuum and wait for the water to flow and re-connect. It worked a charm and when I reached Blechnum breach I check the valve and yes it was all good! Happiness and a stupid mistake I will not make twice 
 
Anyway, herewith a couple of pictures which I hope will eventually mail through the system since we are having heavy rain. My trip is yet postponed but I will get my change to go.
 
Hope you all have a great week
Cheers
[\quote]

[Ri]

More! 

[woody1]

More! 

Ek hou van daai Zak mannetjie.

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[Ri]

Die mannetjie het spangees. Baie gewillig om mee te doen en lief vir stap. Moet 'n metkassie ding wees

[Tom van Brits]

Lets see if I can get n tappa talk post loaded.: then thank you again Ri for the uploads and I know it come at cost/ data but you do everything with so much love, our angel dog!

I need to do dental procedures on a patient, numb, bore and clean, etch, bond and composite and shape. I have studied and need to go get n few teeth of seals to practice the procedure before I can  make the appointment.

Have a great nigh.
Tom

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[Tom van Brits]

Ps...Zach is a great worker and friend, probably my best friend here in the team!!

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