Abrams Family World Travel

Auckland: Meeting Brigitte Bardot!

THE French seductress has changed a lot from when I last saw her, as a child watching French movies.

We saw her in downtown Auckland, at the beautiful marina. She was in town only for a short period. 

I'm talking about the Sea Shepherd, however, and not the outspoken actress the boat is named after because of her support for anti-whaling and cruelty to seals. She took a trip in 1977 with the founder of the Sea Shepherd and, presumably impressed, he had her image painted on the side of the boat named after her. Interestingly, the original painting had her wearing leggings, but she insisted they be removed so she looked more skimpy! 

We all took a tour of the vessel, to find out more about what they do and bought a T-shirt and a few other items as a way of lending support. There's not a lot of space on board, so you got an idea of the conditions the crew deal with, especially as they can be at sea for months at a time.

But when you think about the amount of whales still being harpooned and the reluctance of governments (with the exception of Chile) to become properly involved, thank goodness there are individuals like those who operate for Sea Shepherd and care for these wonderful, enormous creatures.

Sea Shepherd is a non-profit marine wildlife conservation organization. They are protecting not only whales, but also dolphins and other sea creatures being hunted close to extinction. 

Chiang Mai: Falling Head Over Heels...Nearly

LIVING in a small apartment with two young children, we need to get out - and often. 

Kids, especially ours, have energy to burn. They need fresh air, active play and some stimulation.

So we try to plan day trips here and there. And one particularly successful excursion was to the Buatong Waterfalls in a national park in Nam Dtok, about a one-hour drive north of the city on highway 1001. It's in the Mae Taeng district.

We looked it up online before going and though the directions seemed somewhat vague, it was easy to find. As directed, it took us one hour. Signs are in English. We turned off the road, parked up and a short walk away were the splendid waterfalls also known as the "Sticky Waterfalls", because of how it feels underfoot, and "Spring of Seven Colours", referring to the colours from the reflection of the sun.

It's a glorious place with plenty to explore and little creatures, like spiders and crabs, all over the place if you look closely enough. 

However, it was pouring with rain when we arrived - it is the rainy season after all - but, luckily for us, the shower was coming to an end. The timing was near-perfect.

Before long the sun came out and we enjoyed the water. Zenchai couldn't wait to get in and took particular delight in scaling the muscular torso of the falls to the top and back down again.

A word of caution, though: some of the rocks, especially where it appears darker, are ultra slippery, almost like ice (most of the falls are safe). I twice went down - and that was treading carefully! Zenchai took a tumble, too. 

Thankfully, with Jamie carrying Kobra, that was the full extent of our mishaps. Otherwise we spent a delightful two hours playing in the gushing falls, which were the perfect temperature. There is more to see, though, like caves and springs. Make a day of it.

Zenchai made friends, too - with a little butterfly that landed on his head and wouldn't budge. Zenchai became quite attached to the insect. The butterfly remained perched there until we reached our car after having walked up the many wooden stairs that run alongside the falls. Then it flew off. You can imagine how a six-year-old with a vivid imagination interpreted the whole episode. Needless to say, though, he's now in love with butterflies.

Entry to the national park is free and it doesn't get too busy. There are toilet facilities and shops selling refreshments. We took our own, as did many other visitors, and preferred to stop on the way home at a roadside market in one of the many villages we passed through to top up our food supplies.

This was a real find for us. It's not especially well known to tourists, but the locals - and monks - go there often. If you get the chance, make the trip. It's worth it. 

 

Boipeba: Conch Shell Fun And Fascination

For Zenchai the highlight of our stay in Boipeba was him finding conch shells. He was so proud of himself and, after a visit to a bone museum in Boipeba town, Zenchai became fascinated by how you could hear the ocean when holding the shell to your ear.

He even invented a Conch shell-catcher (picture below with what looks like a long branch). He used it to scoop conch shells out of the water and reckoned it could even detect conch shells.

When Zenchai scooped out of the water his first conch shell, a large white one, the look on his face was like he had been handed the keys to a bright red Ferrari and been told it's his to keep. Although Zenchai reached down into the shallow water to retrieve it, in his mind he had dived deeply. He felt so proud.

Zenchai didn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.

Zenchai said, "When I next get invited to a birthday party I'm going to strap all my conch shells to my shorts with cello tape so everyone can hear the sound of the ocean and wonder where it's coming from." That did make me laugh, even if Z was being serious.

Always coming up with ideas, Zenchai said he would open a sand-dollar museum and put all his conch shells in there.

¨Conch shells are more valuable to me than gold,¨he said.

Later that evening and holding a conch shell to each ear, Zenchai said he was ¨listening to his ipod.¨

Zenchai told me that when you listen to the conch shell it tells you the conversation you had on the beach.

The truth is that the shell doesn't actually hold the sound of the ocean, but telling Zenchai that would be like blowing the lid on the Santa Claus myth.

What it does is resonate the sounds you hear around you. Because of its shape, each shell produces different sounds. Also, these shells are made from a build-up of calcium carbonate (which also makes hard water), usually reaching its maximum size after about three years.

When we got to Itacare (on the way home), I noticed Zenchai's bag of shells moving on top of our wardrobe. We took them out of the room, placed all the shells on the table and waited until something happened. Sure enough, some legs poked out of one of the shells. Zenchai stepped back, feeling afraid.

We did the right thing, though, by returning it to the ocean, though a long way from its original home.

 

Fort Lauderdale: Last Boy Standing

When we showed up at the Museum of Science and Discovery and set eyes on the kids activity area, there were dozens of youngsters (aged seven and under) excitedly rushing around.

Zenchai didn’t quite know where to start. He looked left and right, eyed up all the equipment and then, having processed what he wanted to do, darted straight for the model jeep.

Two hours later, after ALL the kids had come and gone – some having persuaded their parents and carers to bring them back – Zenchai was still going strong.

And when the cleaners started sweeping up and it was nearing closing time, I had to inform Zenchai it was time to leave.

Needless to say, he had a ball. I can’t speak for the entire museum, but the Discovery Center alone is great for children to let off some steam, work together or alone and play safely (although some of the elder kids were a little heavy-handed).

Zenchai did a bit of climbing, collecting, building, jumping, organizing, running, reading, observing and co-operating. And I had a great time just watching him at work (because playing is his job).

He seemed to do everything differently – which is neither good nor bad. For instance, there was a fake orange tree where the children picked the fruit, loaded them into containers and then placed them on a conveyor belt to complete the process.

Not Zenchai. First he grabbed a chair, carried it across the play area and used it as a ladder to reach the oranges from high up. Then he put them in the container and ran with them to his jeep, where he pretended he was driving them somewhere.

Similarly, instead of using the foam bricks in the building section to construct a ‘house’, he decided to load them into ‘his’ car or ‘his’ pirate ship (a boat with a mast). It was interesting to see how his brain worked.

As you can tell, it’s a terrific place to take your youngsters, and there's much more besides what I got to see. However, this museum, unlike its modest (by comparison) counterpart in West Palm Beach, isn’t cheap. It set us back $24, although this included entry to the IMAX theatre to watch a superb 3D dinosaur movie/documentary, Giants of Patagonia.

For Zenchai it was quite scary. He was jumping out of his seat every 15 seconds. I had to keep reassuring him the T-Rex wasn’t going to bite him. But the making of the film and photography was, Avatar-style, quite brilliant.

Aside from the movie and play area, we saw some aquariums with sharks, eels and various impressive fish. For insect-lovers, there are scorpions and tarantulas, too.

Address: 401 SW Second Street, Fort Lauderdale 33312 http://www.mods.org/home.htm

Abramsfamilyworldtravel tip: you can get roped into paying a lot for parking. Either check out websites for coupons to get reductions or head for the car park behind the museum, where they charge $5.

Kukljica: Night Riding and Skinny Dipping

I HAVE no idea how the couple sitting quietly on a bench, enjoying an ice cream after dinner, must have felt. But out of the shadows in the calm waters I emerged, swimming towards the pier.

It was dark. You could see the city lights across the water in Zadar and the stars up above. I decided to take a late-night swim, my first.

Why it had taken me this long in life to experience such a pleasure I cannot explain. But better late than never.

It was admittedly unnerving at first. Jamie said the same when she followed me later. You can see NOTHING beneath you in the deep, dark water and it's eerily quiet and lonely.

Thoughts - not good ones - enter your mind. But I kept reminding myself these waters were safe. And they are.

My only genuine concern was finding the pier from which I started my swim. Lighting wasn't exactly great and I preferred not to step on to a sea urchin when getting out.

However, as far as swimming experiences go, that was only the beginning. The following day it got even better.

The water in the Adriatic had been so calm and warm, the air muggy and sun hot that taking a plunge had reached new levels of irresistibility during the day.

Best of all was stripping naked - skinny dipping. That was real freestyle swimming. It was done discreetly, of course.

But now I know how it feels all the time for Zenchai and why the little guy always grinning when in the ocean.

Kukljica: Thorny Start to the Day

Maybe you don't know how easily grossed out I get over silly things. It isn't one of my endearing qualities. Therefore I don't crow too loudly about it. 

Due to my queasiness over having my feet touch seaweed (weirdly, I have no problem eating the stuff), I squirmed a little too much one morning when climbing up the pier from the sea, trying to avoid caressing anything remotely slimey or furry and ended up kicking my toes into a sea urchin. 

As one could imagine I was not a happy duck. As a matter of fact once I was safely out of harms way from all the sea creatures on dry land, I believe I stomped off, one-footed in a mood to the house to begin 'operation urchin removal' with my tweezers. 

By lunchtime I could laugh about it. Although not all the barbs were out of my toes, I wasn't in any major pain and we decided to get on with the day - quills in my toes and all. We got in the car for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks to head to a beach we were unacquainted with. 

Claude was driving when I felt a horrible pricking on my hand. I looked down and there was a big, fat wasp stinging me. In my urgent-wifey-not-so-cool voice, I urged Claude to pull the car over so we could get this mighty guy out of the car and off of me. 

So when the car was off the road I got out in a mild huff and ushered the wasp out. 

Once back in the car, I was feeling irritated at Claude for not pulling the car off more quickly and Zenchai said "Look! An apple tree." In my irksome state, I nearly dismissed him, but then looked up and there was a beautiful fig tree with fully ripened fruit hanging off the branches, practically calling to be picked. 

Quickly out of the car we got, immeasurably excited about Zenchai's discovery. Most of the other fig trees on the island will not be ready until August, so we couldn't believe our stroke of luck. Greedily but gently, we tugged the figs from the tree, filling a shopping bag. 

All thoughts of sea urchins and wasps had magically been wiped away in that moment. 

Finally, back in the car, stocked-up to the hilt with figs, we made our way to the unfamiliar beach. There we found total refuge and were rewarded with a lovely, warm, sandy, shallow sea water that we could all relish together. 

A thorny start to the day with possibly a fairytale ending? You decide. 

Abrams Family Travel Tips: If you have the pleasure of being spiked by a sea urchin, once the initial shock has passed there is no need to fret too much. Use clean tweezers to remove as many of the spines as you can - this can be tricky as they have reverse barbs making your job more tedious - sanitise the area with hydrogen peroxide (I used colloidal silver gel) and just let nature take its course. Sea urchin needles are of similar composition to our bones and they will over time dissolve or our bodies will eliminate them. To aid the process you can try applying vinegar compresses, soak your feet frequently in the sea (or use Epsom salts) and I read you can wrap the area in duct tape. Most important is to keep the area clean. If you are in a lot of pain or there is sign of infection then use common sense and go see a doctor. 

My injury is fairly nominal. I tweezed out as much as I could, have been soaking my feet in the very salty Adriatic and applying colloidal silver gel. I still have some semblance of spines in the tips of two of my pedal digits, but it can take weeks, even months, for the spikes to dissolve or expel completely. 

Hopefully there is no need for me to write this, but obviously I am not a doctor and the above information provided is based solely on my experience and what I found on the internet regarding sea urchin injuries.