27 April 2009
Lynnes first day at Waimata School

After 12 years at Waihi Beach

and a farewell assembly in early April

To a new job

2 other teachers and just 33 kids

& bigger salary

go for it !

The Cook Islands
17 - 23 April 2009

Long time no action



but we are going to fill in the open spaces - working backwards
from November when I got back home from the Yukon
until now



we are just home from our real holiday















carefully avoiding the dengue fever reported from Rarotonga


we skipped to Aitutaki
19 degrees south latitude

pristine and
perfect

where we
snorkelled

and snorked

on seafood
for a week
in a totally out of this world escape

highly recommended

From October 16, 2008


Keno, Yukon



Well things have changed in the world - like 20cm of snow overnight
transforming the landscape into a fairy white winterland.



What you dont feel


is the minus 10 degrees centigrade
icy blast that came with it !

17 October

From Gananoque

Bebe and me

Gananoque, Ontario
September 2008

After a three month separation, I met up with Lynne in Vancouver at the start of her two week school holiday break. We retired to a cosy hotel apartment for a couple nights, venturing out into some brilliant sunshine for meals and walks about the shore front and downtown shopping district.

Then a four and a half flight took us over the Rockies, the prairies and lakes to Ottawa with a two hour drive south to the town of Gananoque (population 5,200) on the shores of the 1000 Islands section of the St Lawrence River.

Where we found a little girl riding a tricyle on the sidewalk with her father walking alongside, and as we pulled alongside she said ….. "Big Al, you are a ratbag".

Well we know who the real ratbag was who put her up to it.

We had a busy time with Aaron, Kerry and Noa and the 10 days there went quickly. Aaron was between jobs and so was able to spend a more time with us, and although Kerry was busy with her new job we all managed to all squeeze into our little rental car and take two nights to visit Montreal and Quebec City, places that Lynne and I had not visited for over 20 years. Other shorter trips with them were to Kingston and Ottawa.

And one night we enjoyed a visit to our aussie mate Curtis (living in a borrowed land) and his wife Terri in Toronto.

We met the whole "in law" family most of whom live just across Main Street, and found them a warm and welcoming bunch. Courtesy of Joe, we had a couple of river cruises about the 1000 Islands and saw a whole different perspective of this flat landscape from the water.


The maple and oak trees were full in their fall colours and so it was a rather special time to visit. however I think I would rather be on greener shores around Xmas time.

It as a very full visit and we left a couple of sleepyheads sitting on the stairway of their historic home at 5am on the morning as we turned 180 degrees to retrace our steps back to Katikati and Keno respectively.

It was a lovely visit,
Thank You.

17 September 2008

Keno, Yukon

Mid september and I have one week before meeting Lynne in Vancouver for an excursion to Gananaque, Ontario to visit the team there.

The wet weather has continued recently but the occassional ice coated pool reminds me that on this day last year we had the first snow fall that stuck to the ground. I have essentially completed field work as it will be touch and go from here on in.

I have a few more photos from the Dawson City trip.

I visited the "gold discovery" claim on the small tributary to the Klondike River that was originally called Little Rabbit Creek, but subsequently remaned Bonanza Creek.

The fall colours were brilliant and I was lucky with some fine weather. It seems that the difference in having only yellows on the turning leaves here as compared with what we hope to see in eastern Canada is that there are maples or oaks at this latitude, mainly poplars, aspen, alders and willows. The hillsides blazed.

The 150km drive north on the start of the dirt road called the Dempster Highway that links Inuvik on the Arctic Sea to the rest of Canada provided some spectacular views ionto the Tombstone Mountains rising from ground that soon becomes open tundra for the remaining 650km of the drive with just one services stop on the way. I will reserve that drive for some time when the price of gas is a little less (or work out a way to tap into the North Slope oilfields when I get there) and the have a week to spare.







Will write again after the visit back east, as I will have a final work stint of 2-3 weeks and get home in the first week of November.

6 September 2008

Dawson City Yukon

I took a couple of days off and went exploring

to Dawson City - the home of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896.

Now largely a tourist town, although some mining is still taking place,

and I have a nugget to prove it,

it is a shell of facades in front of falling down buildings

and dusty streets and bars

on the banks of the Yukon River

I photographed it all

and as you will see another day, explored some of the neighbourhood

I had a beer and a glass of wine and good food that was distinctly non-camp

And came back to camp refreshed to finish the task at hand

Al

2 September 2008
Keno Hill, Yukon

The landscape has changed dramatically in the past week - brilliant fall colours splatter the hillsides as the temperature falls and the days grow shorter. There is generally a frost in the mornings, -4o today, but for a few days now we have had the clearest days of the whole summer and warming to 12o by afternoon - making it very nice to start wrapping up my field work. But the ground at higher elevations has frozen up and the streams are starting to grow their winter coat of ice and this does start to make it more difficult to get about the steep ground.


Only three weeks until I get the holiday with Lynne to visit the other side in Ontario.

But meanwhile I need to escape for a few days and so am planning to visit Dawson City in the next week or so - will keep you up to date - but will not be telling if I find a gold nugget that was missed on the Klondike.

25 August


Birthday

Boo !

24 August 2008
Keno Yukon

The urgency to write more blog material has faded with the extended time spent here at Keno Hill.

It is already late august and the days have become shorter now dark by 9.30pm and the need of lights at 6am in the morning.

[photo = home camp from across the valley]

In the past week the colours of the leaves have changed from the summer greens to vibrant yellow on the poplars and the reds on the berry bushes at higher elevations and are starting to cast the landscape in a different light. The summer has been unusually wet for the Yukon but rain has slowed a little, the air has grown noticeably colder and there is that sense of impending winter with the snow not far behind.

[photo = I have been in the hills]

My time here has been broken by another company sponsored "fishing trip" to Pelican Alaska, a 40 minute seaplane flight west of Juneau with three long days a lot of mist and rain on the jiords. Halibut and salmon into the freezer. I was ready for a break but I now have only a few weeks left in which to complete my field work before getting back to the computer to wrap it all up.

[photo = Pelican harbour]

This is an extended trip for me as Lynne will travel to Canada at the end of September for two weeks instead of me returning home then. We will visit Aaron, Kerry, Noa and the new extensions to the family in Gananoque, as well as visiting friends in Toronto and some places of interest when the eastern Canadian forests will be wearing a pattern of brilliant fall colours.

If my work goes well before then I will try to take a few days off to visit Dawson City and the Klondike goldfield made famous in the 1890's, as these are only about two hours drive from Keno.

[photo = 1 days catch 2 halibut over 100lb, 2 small halibut, 27 coho salmon, & red stuff]

By October it will be cold and there will be snow on the ground and with the completion of some meetings I plan to be back at Tuapiro Landing about the end of the month.

Til next time
Cheers
Al

Keno City

22 June 2008

SOLSTICE

Hey it was the longest day of the year yesterday

and guess what

despite being a ways south of the Arctic Circle

this was the view from my place at midnight

the sun did dip behind the hills briefly after that -

now I have to wait for some dark so that we can see the Northern Lights

again

Yukon Bill

Keno Hill District
Elsa Minesite
The Yukon
18 June 2008

I have heard of complaints that I have not been spending enough time on the blob.
Well you know it is tough when you work all day and most of the night and the sun doesn’t really go away either. And quite apart from all that the only really good parts of a second whole summer at Keno are the parts when I came home for a break.

The best break was between November and April, and you know about that. After a big family xmas, Lynne & I improved our diaper changing skills, escaped to Wellington and Ohiwa, and with Aaron and Kerrys help gardened, mowed and cut wood.

The Canucks left enroute to Ontario about a week before I headed north, and I was lucky enough to see them enchaos in Vancouver.

It was supposedly spring for my arrival - it snowed about 5cm the first night I got to Whitehorse - then driving north the next day on roads barely visible between still frozen lakes with their crazy skidoo quilting - I made it to Keno and overnight it was minus 20oC with deep snow cover still on the ground. Since then it has slowly improved, the spring melt is over and the days are in the mid-teens and overnight it hovers about 5.

Of course I have already had one 2 week spell back home with a lot garden work, beach walking and an occasional glass of the favoured Mortons. Next time it will be school holidays and Lynne & I will try for a few nights at a beach bach.

The project work continues at much the same pace as last year although the geological numbers are down, two drills have been producing steady progress and at the current rate they may be finished this seasons work by the beginning of August. Meanwhile the new underground work has commenced at the old Bellekeno Mine - a road and adit portal have been established and the driving will start in a couple more weeks. A whole new camp bunkhouse has been put together at our camp and with a stunning view over the flats of the South McQuesten River it is starting to look like one of those glossy page resorts, perhaps just lacking a few palm trees, bures and bikinis.

Shall I book you in ? Saturday night is steak night - and otherwise you take your chances with the menu, but it doesn't stray too far from pork chops, dry salmon, chicken niblets, turkey with the ones to avoid being more like meatloaf and macaroni and cheese.

I have devised a way to have a healthy granola breakfast at my house so the temptation of bacon, eggs, pancakes and French toast every morning is reduced.

My field work is just starting so hope to be away from the blue screen some.
Hey guys take it easy out there - I will try to get back to you soon

Al

Whitehorse

14 October 2007

Last Thursday I left Keno driving to Whitehorse

It had been snowing at camp fairly consistently for about a week

and the road conditions were not well known.

There was packed snow cover for over half the distance and the road cleared south of Carmacks

and 5 hours later was back in the outside world

where there are people and cars and buildings along the streets.

I have a few days office work here

but yesterday made a day trip to Atlin, BC

about 180 km south of here, to see the town that Lynne and I tried to grubstake a piece of land in in the 1970's.

History might have been very different if that had been succesful !

It was overcast and there had been some rain with temperatures about 4C -

a cold wind was coming of the lake

and being past the tourist season

there was not much happening

and half of the town seemed to be for sale

but despite the beautiful location, I am not tempted now.

Today has dawned clear and fine and frosty and I have some work to do in my hotel room

- but have been invited out for breakfast out at a cabin on a nearby lake

so wil go now to check that out

catch you later

I will be in Vancouver for a few days
then back in NZ October 21

8 September

Keno

and starting to pack up my office space

four more days left in camp

it has continued snowing lightly for the past few days and this was the view out my office window

the temperatures are staying below zero during the day and the only exercise is the walk to the cookshack

the roads have become a little slippery

and the drillers are starting to battle with frozen water lines

unfortunately it has been cloudy for the past week with no chance of more northern light displays

i have a couple of days in Whitehorse

and with luck the weekend to explore into northern British Columbia if the weather permits

then a couple more in Vancouver to wrap up

before heading for the beach

30 September 2007

Keno

again

The promised northern lights display last night was short but dramatic

shimmering curtains of green and pink light

jumping and arcing across the sky

but alas the moon was bright and dulled the effect

and

I had some camera frustrations

that came about because of the complicated digital settings

that are hard to arrange below freezing, in the dark,

with gloves on, not to mention the problem to focus my eyeballs on all this stuff

so photos another day

but not today as it is cloudy and grey

so as a filler

here are a few shots from the past days in the field

as the streams freeze up and the snow comes to cover the lichens

29 September 2007

Keno

A crisp clear night

and a moonrise over the Davidson Range

I drove up the hill and stole a moment of it

There is expectation of a magnetic storm tonight

and so perhaps we shall see another display

of the lights

up north

23 September
Keno



Another clear night and heavy frost this morning

I wanted to show you the view from my window at 3am this morning .....

22 September

Keno

In the sun at about 2 degrees

Overnight the world froze up with the on set of another of the annual ice ages

(BE WARNED: all you global warming converts

it's just a buzz in advance of a the next real ice age or meteorite strike - which ever gets here first)

So we were without water this morning - the maintenance job obviously wasn't done right

I saw the first of the Northern Lights in the frozen sky at 3am - so will try to photograph it next time.

And for those of you who can't visualise the old mining camp setting that we are living in

- here's a view of it today from the chopper with some of the 1980's mine shafts out there on the right of the road. We occupy some of the old buildings in the foreground for office, core logging and workshops; my house is up the road in the middle distance on the left, just under the little hill of quartzite, and the trailer bunkhouse and cookshack are in the centre middle distance where the two other roads come together. The mining town was called Elsa, I prefer to call it Keno.

21 September

Keno

Today it was fine, sunny and clear but quite nippy

I got on my gear, gloves and hat

and found the snow line on Sourdough Hill

Enjoyed being out by myself after being locked up in the office for the last little while with the bad weather. The snow got washed away from around camp, but it is sticking pretty well on the tops, and starting in on the drill rigs.

Tomorrow there is going to be a chopper in camp and

I plan to steal it away for a couple of hours

That will be to the middle hills across the lakes in the top photo -

to see some granite stuff that would be otherwise inaccessible.

Hope the weather holds good

I will take a shot looking the other way.