Tortuguero

On the Caribbean Ocean there lies a town surrounded by both salt and fresh water.   The town is called Tortuguero and it makes it way in the world by selling Eco-Tourism.  They sell the experience of learning about both the salt water and the fresh water eco systems that surround them.  The town can be found just a few hundred km from the Nicaraguan boarder on a small strip of land no wider than some international airport runways. The land is situated between the salt water of the Caribbean Ocean and the fresh water of the estuaries and mangrove swamps of the Rio de Tortuguero.  We spent three days in Tortuguero learning and adventuring with the people of this very secluded town.

Traveling to Costa Rica

Some times it’s hard to get yourself to write, even when you really want to.  Even when you set aside time to write. 

Building Barns

For the last two weeks Mitch and I have been working on restoring the roof to a barn near Genesee Idaho.  For both of us it has been a learning project, especially since neither of us have much experience with construction.  The barn was originally built in the early 1900's as a Timber Frame Barn, and over the years has had various improvements to keep it up and running.  Last November, however, during a large wind storm the front doors and one whole side of the roof were blown away,  some of it traveling over 500 yards before crashing down in the fields.  I imagine it must have looked and felt a lot like the movie the Wizard of Oz when those doors crashed in and caused the roof to lift off.

U of I Arboretum

I went to the U of I arboretum on Wednesday in the hopes of taking some nice pictures of spring.  Unfortunately due to the lack of good weather here in Moscow there were very few trees with leaves on them and even fewer flowers in bloom.  I was able to find a spot with some nice budding pine trees which I snapped some shots of.  Hopefully I can go back in a week or so and find a little more blossoming atmosphere.

Route Setting at the U of I

I've been back in Moscow for about a month  now and unfortunately haven't found a job to occupy my time.  I have been working at the U of I climbing wall setting routs in the mourning and this at least has kept me from going crazy.

Kirkwood Backpacking

I just got back from my backpacking trip to Kirkwood ranch on the Snake river.  It was nice to get out of town and hike back into the Hells Canyon river gorge where there were no cell phones, computers or day planners, only free time and good weather.

Red Rocks Climbing

36 hours of driving, 5 days of continuous climbing, one night in Las Vegas and a huge setting full moon (apparently it was the closest its been to the earth in a long time right when we were driving home) and I'm finally ready to take a little break from adventuring.

Back in the USA

Well the adventures of Australia are over and I've finally made it back to home sweet home.  Its quite a trek getting back to Moscow what with the three flights, customs, immigration and airport security up the wazu.

Photoshop

Nice 3D box that I was playing around with in Photoshop

Back to Sydney

My time down in Victoria has come to an end.  I've just returned to Sydney to spend my last nine days enjoying the sand and the surf with Leighton.  I sure did leave Victoria on a high note though, after sampling some of Melbourne's amazing food and enjoying the recreated mining town of Sovereign Hill.

Black and White update

A drop in the wood

I've added pictures to my black and white album on picasa.  Take a look to see them all Here.

Epic Climbing

The Wheel of Life V16

Grampions hiking

This last week was spent concurring the Grampions with Tim and Eric who are from France.  We started out our conquest on Monday with an assault on Mt. Stapylton which is a small mountain north of the olive grove.

The French Conection

I have been living and working with two really awesome French guys this past week.  Tim and Eric Gosset are from Lille France which is just North of Paris.  They WWOOFed on the Laharum Grove this last week and together we conquered much of the northern Grampions on our time off.

Laharum Grove

I've now been WWOOFing for Deirdre and Richard Baum on the Laharum grove for a week now and I have really come to love this place.  It has breathtaking views of the Grampions, Arapalies and the open planes to the west.  I like the view the best in the evenings when the sun slants in to light up the Grampions and bring out the beautiful red of the sand stone cliffs.

Gone Walk-about

Our week of fun and travel is over now.  Leighton has just caught a plane back to Sydney to start school and I am staying out in Victoria to WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms).  I am just settling into a nice place near the Grampions where they make olive oil.

Dairy on the Ocean

The Gilmore’s are the kind of people you meet once every blue moon if you’re lucky.  They are the most generous and caring couple I have meet since Leighton and I rented our van in Melbourne, and their generosity is only surpassed by their story telling abilities.  We happened upon them by pure chance early in the morning of February 3, 2011 as we crawled out of our van from a night spent on the edge of their pasture.

Eco the Grey Nomad

We met Eco on the second of February 2010 as Leighton and I made our way to the Cape Nelson lighthouse.

Keep Hope

Yesterday was not a very good day.  To start with I woke up with a slight cold, thanks to all the sick people staying in our hostel, which grew into flu like symptoms.  That in itself is going to make this week hard, since I will be dealing with congestion, body aches and a fever while sleeping in a van and traveling.  That is only the beginning though.

Concert Week

The week is finally over.  Not that it was a bad week.  There was just a lot of music in it and I didn't get a lot of sleep because of late concerts.

Lendfield Bouldering

Leighton and I made a new friend last week in the Boarders book store in Chatswood.  He noticed that we had our climbing gear and commented on his interest in climbing which of course made us hit it off right away.

Reservoir Dogs

80 meters off the ground pulling through a difficult overhanging roof and all I can hope is that the howling wind won't blow me off the cliff face.  Sounds like fun climbing doesn't it :).

Sydney Botanical Garden

I took a trip into Sydney today to the Botanical Garden.  Its located just next to the opera house and Sydney bridge and its a wonderful place.  I only was able to spend a few hours there and so I couldn't see very much of it but what I did see made me really want to go back. 

The Block

Finally I have been able to climb.  The weather was good and both Leighton and I had the day off so we got our gear together, called our friend Tyler, and caught the train up to the Blue Mountains.  We had climbed a bit at "The Wave Wall" outside of Blackheath the week before, but decided to try a new area we had read about in the guide book that was near to the town of Medlow Bath. 

Black and White

I am working on a new photo album on Picasa that is full of only black and white shots.  I have not worked around with black and white much, but I have always really liked other peoples photos and the way that black and white can really bring out contrast and shadows.

The Blue Mountains

We were able to go explore the Blue Mountains climbing scene today.  The weather was not the best, but we made due and ended up finding quite the exciting climbing area.

Blue Bottle Jellies

Known to many people as the Portuguese Man of War, the Blue Bottle Jellyfish is not a creature to be messed around with.  We found this out the hard way yesterday afternoon on Narrabeen beach located just north of Sydney.

Curl Curl Adventures

With a name like Curl Curl Beach you know there is going to be adventure and today was an especially good day for it.  The weather was warm and overcast but turned mostly clear by noon.  The tide was quite high when we got to the beach which caused us to spend most of our walk running from the large waves that would sporadically crash above our knees and threaten to get our pants wet.

The Ashes Fifth Test

The Ashes is a cricket game, or series as they say, that is played twice a year between England and Australia.

New Years Eve 2011 Sydney

New Years Eve 2011 Sydney Fireworks from Hunter Bloch on Vimeo.

New Years Eve on the Sydney Harbor

Last night I had the most amazing firework experience of my life.  Leighton, Alina and I found a primo position right on the Blues Point in Sydney harbor.  We had scoped it out the day before and although it was on the backside of the bridge it still afforded us an amazing view of the fireworks on the bridge and those on a barge not more than 20 yards to our right.