Kamchatka: Where Giant Gomuls Roast Whole Whales Over the Fires of Volcanoes

Long hidden behind the impenetrable veil of Soviet secrecy, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russian Far East is now becoming an irresistible wilderness location for expeditioners in search of unexplored locations.

Miss Universe Compere Declares Galapagos “The Wildlife Adventure of a Lifetime”

The recent Miss Universe competition has the put the spotlight on the tiny South American nation of Ecuador, and with our own Jennifer Hawkins triumphing in the coveted title, Australians are now in no doubt about the little nation’s cultural and natural allure.

Sydney’s Adventure Associates, coincidently located in the same part of Sydney as our new Miss Universe (Bondi Junction), has offered travel packages to Ecuador and the Galapagos for over thirty years.

Over 600 million television viewers witnessed the event that included a comprehensive coverage of Ecuador’s many tourism, cultural and natural attractions and included a declaration by the event’s compere and entertainment journalist, Billy Bush, that the Galapagos Islands were “a wildlife adventure of a lifetime.”

A part of Ecuador since 1832, and world-renowned as one of our planet’s foremost natural treasures, the Galapagos Islands were declared a national park in 1959. A “mecca” for naturalists since Charles Darwin spent five weeks there in 1835, the Galapagos Islands and Quito were amongst the very first sites chosen by UNESCO for World Heritage listing in 1978.

Russell Crowe Stars in The Galapagos’ First Ever Feature Film

In the highest traditions of swashbuckling adventure, Australian Russell Crowe portrays Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey in the current blockbuster “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”.

Acclaimed filmmaker and another Australian, Peter Weir, excels even himself with the authenticity and sheer high drama of this landmark period adventure.



Weir, well known for his meticulous attention to detail, created filmmaking history by being the first and only director to ever take a feature film crew to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Galapagos Islands and uses the location to full effect in capturing the wonder of exploration and discovery in the early 19th century.

“It’s the only point in the movie you actually see land,” points out Production Artist, Robert Stromberg, “making it a centerpiece of the movie. Peter wanted to make The Galapagos look almost like another planet to the men aboard the Surprise.”

Ship’s Surgeon, Dr Stephen Maturin, played by Paul Bettany, is completely engrossed by the unique biological treasures he discovers during their short stay on the Galapagos that predates Charles Darwin’s arrival by some thirty years.

Adventure Associates have been sending passengers to The Galapagos since 1973 and these remote Ecuadorian islands remain one of the most popular destinations for all travellers to South America.

For more information on Adventure Associates’ “Galapagos and Amazon Adventure” please call 02 9389 7466 or Toll Free 1800 222 141 or visit www.adventureassociates.com

Great Leaping Lemurs

Madagascar is counting on a lemur-led economic recovery.

Korea: A Treasure Trove of Natural and Cultural Beauty

South Korea: A Treasure Trove of Natural and Cultural Beauty



When stacked up against regional tourism powerhouses like Japan and China, Korea is often not considered a contender. Yet on closer inspection, any visitor will discover a rich, historic culture quite distinct from its neighbours.

Read More

Cape Town: Re-inventing the Mother City

Try and describe the unique southern African metropolis of Cape Town without mentioning its imposing Table Mountain backdrop and it would be like describing an elephant without its trunk.

Antarctic Peninsula: "Of Ice and Men"

As an irrepressibly inquisitive child, I would pore over maps of the great Southern land imagining infinitely white vistas, ice-encrusted shorelines and flocks of bizarre creatures engaged in all manner of noisy rituals.

Deception Island: Steamed Ice and Frosted Lava

By its very name, Deception Island conjures up vivid images of bleak and foreboding shores swathed in slowly swirling mist and gloomy grey cliffs. Pretty close actually.

The approach to Deception Island is almost certainly the key to its name. As we neared its insanely steep and craggy cliffs populated by thousands of screeching, wheeling seabirds, Kapitan Kalashnikov, at the helm of the Akademik Sergey Vavilov, ordered dead slow and the 6,000 tonne vessel gradually and imperceptibly came to a crawl.

As the Vavilov bobbed gently on the brooding sea, I ducked in and out of the wheelhouse, alternately examining the maps on the plotting table and the entrance to Port Foster, slowly revealing itself in the 40cm window of the radar. Amid a stiff, whistling breeze, our ship slowly and precisely came about, lining itself up with a navigation marker now visible just inside the bay.

A picture of concentration, KK, flanked by his officers at the radar and depth-sounder, threaded the Vavilov through the eye of the needle that is Neptune's Bellows, a narrow chink in the encircling cliffs that form a natural bowl for the port. Deception Island is a dormant volcano with its peak imploded, forming a caldera that is now flooded by seawater that enters via Neptune's Bellows.

Once inside, the wind came to an abrupt stop and the sea flattened markedly. Like a stole of continuous, frosty ermine, a delicate yet opaque mist tantalisingly obscured the peaks of the protective ridge. But we are not alone. A yacht slips past the bow on its way to the open sea and an RN helicopter buzzes back and forth ferrying crew to a shore camp adjacent the abandoned whaling station and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base.

In mock invasion, we put ashore in front of the ghostly buildings weathered, not just by time, but by the ravages of several fierce eruptions in the late 1960s that ultimately led to the evacuation of the old facility. Originally set up at the turn of the century to shelter whalers and sealers, it quickly grew into a full-scale, if grossly inefficient, processing factory. Early whaling was messy and wasteful, and at one time it was reckoned that about 6,000 partly butchered, putrid beasts floated in the bay.

A small party set out to explore what was once an Operation Tabarin base. A precursor to BAS, Operation Tabarin was a secret British wartime activity that secured allied control of the southernmost regions and kept a lookout for Nazi Killer Whales and fascist penguins. The boredom amongst these poor, god-forsaken men must have been maddening.

Despite the savage incursion of molten lava and scorching volcanic ash, some portions of the old base are still in relatively good shape. Rations of scotch oats and canned pilchards remain intact, deep-frozen, in the old storehouse, while over in the hangar, a carefully dismembered floatplane appears to await restoration.

The old Norwegian whaling relics, on the other hand, are certainly on their last legs. Against the backdrop of stark, yet delicately frosted
peaks, bleached and busted barrels, orphaned metalwork and sundry detritus, mixed with randomly scattered whalebones, form an almost supernatural landscape. It's hard to imagine even the most Dadaistic artist producing a more effective "installation".

In a final act of indulgence, we made a quick flit around the headland to Pendulum Cove where the volcano's still-smouldering plug forces piping hot water up through narrow fissures along the shore. Our heavy kit was tossed off with gay abandon before we went tiptoeing to the steaming water's edge. The sensation is difficult to describe, but imagine your bum on a hot plate with your feet in ice water!

Deception Island is still popular with Governments who seek to maintain a presence in the Antarctic with several modest bases still sporadically occupied on the relatively safer western shore of Port Foster.

Completely absorbed by this dramatic and aggressive landscape, I stood on the rear deck of the Vavilov observing our cautious exit through Neptunes Bellows and snatched a few departing snaps of the overwhelming cliffs. I couldn't help wondering what it must have been like for the expeditioners who were forced to beat a hasty retreat amid the fury of the last great eruption thirty years ago.

Words and Pictures by Roderick Eime

---

Where is Deception Island? - See The Map
How to Get There - Adventure Associates