One should not brush a coat against the grain – and you obviously should not make a trip against the sun. That’s what I have done: see http://www.a-bis-zet.ch/reiseblog2010/ and I felt the consequences. Not that I could put it right. Done is done and it was a good experience. Probably more important is the fascination of the ships and the real loneliness at sea. To repeat it, or even to drive to the top is an essential part of the motivation for this trip. But another reason is:

 

Again, I want to participate in a IUFRO [1] Conference, in New Zealand, just in Christchurch on the South Island. How to get there? Normal people would probably fly easily. Although I also am one of this genre – there is nothing to laugh! – I find that such long flight are no fun anyway. A boat trip but already!

 

Well, we’ll see. I booked from Europe to New Zealand and from Singapore back to Old Europe. In between are a total of nearly two months at sea, which should to be productive, or need to bee. But in between is also a trip to Tasmania, a railway journey – how could it be otherwise – in Australia and here and there, maybe a visit with friends, acquaintances, even though I cannot visit my transatlantic partner Leon Horn (see travel blog 2010) anymore, there where he is now.

 

I will tell you in this blog again, as how it is on the traces of Captain Cook  – maybe also a little bit to those of Fletcher Christian And I hope you will have a bit of fun with it.

 

Prophylactically, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – from Down Under, where I will be probably.

 

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[1] International Union of Forest Research Organisations