Why am I in Kiribati?

Why am I here ?

A common question I am asked about my journey to Kiribati is 'why?'

So, if that is a question you’ve been asking, you’re not alone.

To be honest, it's a question I ask myself too on some days. Or on rather a lot of days in truth.

So why?

Let me start with the straightforward explanation of what am I doing here in Kiribati, which Aristotle would call the 'efficient' explanation.

I’m here as a volunteer working as an 'office manager mentor' for Te Toa Matoa, a local NGO (non-goverment organisation) that is run by and for people with disabilities in Kiribati.

Now you're asking by what basis do I claim to know anything about office management?

Pirates of the Pacific

The In-Country Manager for the volunteer program has proposed that I go to North Tarawa for a day as a part of my ICOP (In-Country Orientation Program).

Sounds great, an adventure.

Be ready for a pickup and departure at 4h30 the following morning he tells me.

Why so early?

We are going in a boat from South Tarawa (running east-west) across the lagoon to the middle of North Tarawa (running north-south). Arrivals and departures at low tides mean long walks from and to the shore.

Fair enough. So next morning, I’m awake at 4h00, pack a wide-bream hat, sunscreen and some water and toilet paper in a bag. Another volunteer let me know that it is wise to always travel with toilet paper in Kiribati. There may not be any in a toilet when you need it.

By 4h30, I’m standing in the darkness of the dirt-parking lot of my hotel awaiting the arrival of the In Country Manager.

I wait.

Kiribati - a drop in the Pacific

Going west on South Tarawa - ocean side to the left, lagoon side to the right

In November 2022, I dropped into South Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands group within the nation of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) for a six to 12 months stay.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1350215

So where in the world is that? 

The Stephening Standard 2021

 

Yeah, yeah, it's been two years since I have posted an update

 

And lots has happened.

So, for the takeaway version, just read/look at the following. 

If you're interested in more detail, just click on the links in the following.

 

Zach graduates high school - sort of (Nov 2020)

Zach finished high school in late 2019, but the Headmaster stopped him from "walking" at graduation because he was skateboarding.

Zach however, was not too phased.

A couple of days after his non-graduation, he delighted those who were watching the limousines delivering everyone to the School Formal.

Zach showed up on his skateboard.

 

Homeless by Design (Dec 2020)

When Zach was eight, I told him that in 10 years time, we would leave our happy yellow home in Coolangatta. 

Eleven days after Zach's 18th birthday, he and I moved out of our home of the last 17.5 years.

I am now a homeless wanderer.

Zach is off setting up his own life with lots of adventures: he was working in a fast-food restaurant, then as a driver for a pizza restaurant, then an attendant on a ski-train down in the snow. Then a lock-down shut down the ski-fields and left him unemployed although he enjoyed receiving a welfare payment for some months. He's now working as a baggage-handler at the Gold Coast airport.

Hiking the Bibbulmun Track (April-June 2021)

With all my plans to sail to islands in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean crushed by The Pandemic, I decided to hike the 1000kms (600 miles) of the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia. 

Click on the following link to see my summary of the Bibbulmun Track in 50 images.

 

 

 

 

Adventures along the coast of Queensland (July-September 2021) 

I spent the winter months (July to September) back on the coast of Queensland. 

I hiked the Cooloola Great Walk from Noosa to Rainbow Beach and back.

I sailed as a volunteer on the South Passage, a sail-training ship based in Manly, Brisbane.

And I helped on a delivery of 49' racing yacht from Townsville to Brisbane.

No link yet as I'm still processing the photos. Check back at the end of January 2021!

Coast to coast road trip (October-November 2021)

In October, I set off to weave my way across Australia from the Gold Coast, Queensland to Albany, Western Australia.  

This trip would normally be about 4000kms, but due to various state and territory restrictions on travel due to COVID, I had to go through the west of Queensland into the Northern Territory, then south to Port Augusta in South Australia, and then west into Western Australia.

The journey was 8000kms long!

No link yet as I'm still processing the photos. Check back end of January 2021!

 

 

The Bibbulmun Track - in 50 images

In the early part of 2021, I was living at my Dad's place in Albany, WA. I told him that I thought I'd like to go and see Mum who lives in Perth. He said he thought that was a great idea. However, when I asked if I could borrow the car, he said "No, you can walk." And so I did.

I walked the Bibbulmun Track, a 1000km (600 mile) bushwalk that winds its way from Albany to Perth. (The route is about 400km as the crow flies, but no crows were willing to give me a ride - they were about as helpful as my dad.)

The journey took me just over 50 days to complete. 

Here are 50 images (or videos or sound files) to give you a sense of the trek: that is, one per 20kms or one per day. 

Enjoy the spectacular beauty of the south-west of Western Australia - without the heat, the flies, the camping, or the walking!

Non-graduation day

November 12 2020 was a big day for Zach and for me. This was the day that Zach was due to graduate from High School.

Thirteen years of school completed and I was very proud of the impressive young man all that education had produced.

I was excited!

However, when I arrived at the school to mingle with the parents as they waited to see their children graduate, Zach called me on my phone to tell me that the Headmaster had dismissed him at the school gate.

The Stephening Standard - 2019

Happy new decade / year / day

Here's my under 400-word, no-obligation (to read), standard, irregular biennale ("buyer gnarly") providing highlights and happenings for Zach and me over the last two years.

There are links to more detailed posts provided (if you are interested):

December 2019 - Zach obtained his car driver's licence and both he and my car have disappeared from my life.

October 2019 - I sailed across the Tasman on a 45' sailboat with two other guys in preparation for my heading out with a backpack to sail as a crew for whoever at the end of 2020.

May 2019 - Zach soloed in a glider.

Listen 'ear mate !

May 2019 - I delivered a philosophy course in Hong Kong to a bunch of Macquarie University Masters students resident in Hong Kong.

February 2019 - I headed out to Western Australia for a month to see Mum (Perth), Dad (Albany), and to do lots of paragliding with my uni friend Peter.

January 2019 - Zach went to France by himself, transferred through Charles De Gaulle airport to join a flight to Toulouse, and stayed for a month with our beloved French family near to Toulouse. I figure he had a great time because I barely heard from him.

July 2018 - Zach passed me in height and so, was able to see my tonsure more clearly. He has ensured my humility henceforth by patting me on my bald patch whenever I get a little uppity.

June 2018 - Zach and I hiked the Jatbula trail (65km, five days and nights) in Northern Territory of Australia.

February 2018 - I hiked the Routeburn track in NZ (65km, five days and nights) with my mates Tom and Connie in February 2018 (sorry, but I have not posted any images or report yet - check back later).

And some random observations on stuff:

• telephones (short & sharp)
• philosophy (a.k.a mind massage - wordy!!!!)
• paragliding (mostly pics)

 

 

Paragliding

I could talk a lot about paragliding, so I won't. I'll just show some pictures.

(Go to this link if you want to hear about my early ventures into paragliding).

South Beach, Kingscliff (Jan 2019)

Mind Massage

"Mind massage" is the term that Zach used to describe a philosophical discussion we had one day.

Zach had attended a weekly "cafe philo" that I conduct (discussed in another section below).

The topic for this one was "do you know what you think you know?"

After the session, Zach remarked to me he had really enjoyed the discussion and that it had felt like a mind massage.

So what is this thinking thing that I like to do ?

I don't know.

But I know that "mind massage" is a good description for it.

Going solo

Zach continues to show increasing independence, and this year, established that independence by proving some mastery in the command of two very different types of vehicles.

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On May 26 of this year, Zach completed his first solo flight in a fixed-wing glider.

After a couple of practice runs along with a few simulated emergencies, Zach was ready to do his first solo flight.

Sailing the Tasman

My plan to sail off into the sunset from somewhere near the end of 2020 after Zach has finished high school is still in place.

So when I received an invitation to help deliver a 45' Bakewell-White from Sydney to New Zealand (~1000nm or 2000km) in October 2019, I jumped at the opportunity.

On October 22, I walked down to d'Albora Marinas in Rushcutter's Bay to meet the owner-skipper, Blair and his boat.

At the coffee shop taking our last cappuccino for a week or more, I met Andrew, the third member of the crew, recruited like me through www.findacrew.net.

Telephone recall

As Zach and I walked home today from the shops, Zach raced ahead of me on his skateboard and disappeared around the corner.

When I turned the corner, he was hanging by the phone booth that was there, and remarked, "I tried to call you from the phone, but it doesn't work anymore."

He was recalling the many years ago when there were a number of phone booths at this corner near the post office. Back in a time - in his lifetime - when a large part of telecommunications was mediated by telephones and snail-mail, not just mobiles and email.

Aussie animal in France

Zach in Andorra, 2014

For a number of years, Zach has expressed a wish to go to France during the winter.

This became particularly pressing once he had seen snow in Andorra during a trip in April 2014. In the years thereafter, Zach learned to snowboard in the Australian alps.

And so, a winter in Europe was firmly on the agenda.

While I had indicated that I would make this trip happen, I felt my feet cool on the idea of heading to Europe in the winter as the year moved along.

After having a discussion with Coline, a young French woman who Zach and I had known for years, I spoke with Zach about the matter.

"Zach, you know how we talked about going to Europe this Christmas?"

"Yeah, it's okay Papa, I know that you're not keen. It's not that important."

"Okay, well, I've had another idea."

He gave a non-committal shrug.

"How would you like to go to France around Christmas this year ... on your own?"

Flying - up, up, up and away

The new skill that Zach & I have been learning this last year is how to fly - in three different ways!

Gliding

We took up gliding about a year ago, and flying has become a pretty big part of our lives where we travel out to an airfield about two hours from home and generally stay for the weekend.

We have about 40 flights each and a total of about 20-30 flying hours each.

Zach is keen to solo and even has a $20 bet running with me that he will solo before me. Zach has therefore been greatly encouraged by the instructors who say that Zach is ready to solo and is probably a flight or two ahead of me.

Mother & son - losing & refinding one another

After Zach's Mum kind of broke up with him in late 2017, Zach lived with me full time for a period of about three months.

The good ending to this story is that he and his mother reconciled in about March of 2018, and Zach has therefore re-established his relationship with his Mum and is happily a child who can once again, proudly boast that he has two homes.

The separation between mother and son happened after a decade of Zach living week about with his mother, and with me.

His mother was concerned about Zach's screen time and wanted her rules on screens to implemented in both homes. While I shared her concerns, I was happy dealing with the issue in my own way, and happy for her to deal with the issue in her home in her way. We agreed to disagree.

Star Wars does Macbeth

Zach likes Star Wars a lot.

He does not like English very much.

However, when asked to recast the story of Macbeth into another setting, Zach was inspired.

He cast Anakin into the role of Macbeth. Anakin eager to pursue a prophecy that he will become a Jedi knight, is talked into a treacherous trail of murder by Emperor Palpatine (the role of Lady Macbeth).

The outcome was a ripping yarn presented as a stop-motion film using Star Wars figures and spaceships built out of Lego.

And Zach got top marks for his English assignment!

Here's a hyperlink to the 2'55" film.

(Or this link if the above does not work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h6MJesR5BWzsbJB_6bS-dYN26i_I3CCK/view).

Five days out bush - Jatbula Trail

On the morning of 20 July 2018, seven fellows headed to hike for 65kms through the wilderness.

The Jatbula Trail is located on the edge of the Arnhem Land plateau. 

It is about 300kms south-east of Darwin and lies just to the north-east of the town called Katherine.

The hike was long (65kms). And arduous (65kms carrying 15+kg on the back). 

Here's a few highlights:

Tasmania - right on point

Tasmania is to Australia like the point of an exclamation mark.

Tiny and inconsequential in some ways, but if you miss it, you miss a significant part of the whole.

Bruny Island

We started our tour by exploring Adventure Bay which is curiously one of the first areas in Australia explored by early European explorers!

About one and a half hours from Hobart airport by car (including a ferry ride), Adventure Bay is in the south-east of an island called Bruny which is to the south-east of an island called Tasmania which is to the south-east of an island called Australia.

The Stephening Standard - 2017

The major event of the 2017 year was that Zach, my little boy, simply disappeared. And in his place, a tall, fit, funny (some times) and charming (most times), young man arrived.

(You can still hear the little boy's voice on his telephone voicemail!)

The transition started with him doing a long solo paddle up Jerusalem Creek in late 2016 just before his 14th birthday.

In April of 2017, he and I participated in a week-long camp for sons and fathers (or mentors) called The Making of Men. The highlight of this camp for me was the "return to community". The men - older and younger - walked back to Durrumbul hall at the back of Mullumbimby. There they were greeted by waiting friends and family. I was delighted to see Zach's Mum and sister there for him. And Zach's mum was blown away when the mothers were gathered together in the centre, and then addressed and acknowledged by Zach and the other young men. And her smile was incandescent when all the men sang to the mothers as a choir.

Zach grew taller than me in about June.

In July, he accompanied me to a conference in the south of France, impressed and befriended some of my academic colleagues, and then stayed on by himself with our dear French friends near to Toulouse while I attended another conference in the US for a week. He managed magnificently.

In August, his braces were removed.

In September of 2017, Zach's mum gave him an ultimatum in which he had to choose between living with her most of the time and spending every second weekend with me, OR to spend all of his time with me and no time with his mother. It was probably around this time that Zach grew taller than his mother as well. I wonder if that was connected in some way?

In September, Zach and I travelled to WA. There his grandfather gave him a chainsaw to use. Trees were cut, wood was hauled, fires were started, masculine poses were pulled ... and there was much laughter.

In October 2017, Zach began flying - literally.

That's one whole bunch of growing up.

And me, I'm still growing - admittedly, mostly outward at this point. And still learning too - there's such a lot to learn!

I'm trying to work less, or at least, to focus on work that I really enjoy doing whether paid or not, and to reject the allure of mighty materialism. A work in progress!

Perhaps the best fun work I did in this last year was my tour of south Pacific islands in order to evaluate whether Australian-funded sports programs are successful in promoting social inclusion among those with disabilities.

And the best party was my sister-in-law's 50th birthday party. Glitz and glam was the theme - and me and my bros went all out... (see picture to the right)

Have a great 2018, and maybe see you there.

South Pacific tour

One of my jobs this year was to evaluate the impact of sports programs (and especially table tennis) being delivered in the south Pacific. The sports program is specifically designed to engage people with disabilities. Table tennis is ideal as it tends to encourage and support play between persons with disabilities and able-bodied people.

The research took me to Fiji, Tonga and Kiribati.