Trip to Guadalcanal

[Raverdave]

ORIGINAL: Brady


Canberra- Yu went to the Austrailian War Memorial I take it? Was it as good as I have heard?

Brady, seeing as Mark VII is offline atm I'll reply with a few things. Gas over here is about $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon depending on where you fill up and on the day to day price fluctuations.

MarkVII rated the Aust War Memorial as good as if not better than the Imperial war museum in the UK.

[Mark VII]

G'Day Dave, good to hear from you again, have you captured Wake Island yet?

Brady, Dave is correct, Kim and I spent a good six hours at the Australian War Memorial. I think at least two 8 hour shifts would be the minimum required. The place is huge and the detail they provide is just amazing. A world class collection![&o]

Eventhough it covers only from WWI and on, I would rate it over the Imperial War Museum in London. When I get around to it I was going to start a new thread for the photos I took while there.

Here is one from their collection, I believe it is an original.....terry

ORIGINAL: Raverdave

ORIGINAL: Brady


Canberra- Yu went to the Austrailian War Memorial I take it? Was it as good as I have heard?

Brady, seeing as Mark VII is offline atm I'll reply with a few things. Gas over here is about $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon depending on where you fill up and on the day to day price fluctuations.

MarkVII rated the Aust War Memorial as good as if not better than the Imperial war museum in the UK.

[Speedysteve]

Excellent stuff Terry. Thanks once more for sharing [:)]

[Brady]

Raverdave- WoW 3:50 a gallon!, it has just up to around 2:70 a gallon here, thats like the highests its ever been.

Mark VII-I look ofrward to seeing the picks from their and the rerst of the present trip as well[:)]


Isnt their anohter Museum at Point Cook?

[Mark VII]

RaverDave took me to Point Cook when I was in Melbourne.

ORIGINAL: Brady


Raverdave- WoW 3:50 a gallon!, it has just up to around 2:70 a gallon here, thats like the highests its ever been.

Mark VII-I look ofrward to seeing the picks from their and the rerst of the present trip as well[:)]


Isnt their anohter Museum at Point Cook?

[Brady]

Sounds Like a Great trip[:)]

[brisd]

Thanks Mark VII for sharing your photos and fasinating comments about your trip. The closest I ever was to there was sailing to the south after visiting Sydney with the US Navy in '98. I was stationed in Guam for a year and these photos remind me of there and the memorials/war wrecks there.

[Raverdave]

@ Mark VII, G'day mate, no I have not yet retaken Wake Is, I still have at least 4 game months before I am required to bare my arse[;)] Aussie wife unit sends her regards to US wife unit.


@ Brady, $3.50 was the max and it has eased off somewhat since over the last few days, we are now paying Aussie $ 1.25 per liter.........not as bad as those poor buggers in the EU[;)]
We have a number of very good museums down here, two aircraft, one tank a couple of Naval ships museums as well as some old forts that you can take tours through. And thats just in Melbourne ! C'mon over and I'll show you around.

[GaryChildress]

Wow Mark, great series of pictures. Really makes you think about things, especially the unknown soldier found during the construction of the memoral.[:(]

Gary

[11Bravo]

Mark VII, that was a great thread. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us.

[Brady]

"We have a number of very good museums down here, two aircraft, one tank a couple of Naval ships museums as well as some old forts that you can take tours through. And thats just in Melbourne ! C'mon over and I'll show you around"


I might just do that some day, I have been thinking of doing it for some time now, my pasport is still good to, just nead to set the time aside(and some $$$) and make it happen[:)]

[Big B]

I don't know how I missed this thread - but I discovered it for the first time tonight. I have gone over every photo, and read every posting.

It was very moving - to the point of being disturbing.

It just really hit me deeply, seeing all those photos of all those well known places. Seeing it as it is today put a real current dimension to it all...how can I say it - it's as if it has brought it all to life to me....and it's not cool history anymore - it's realizing in a new way that all that stuff we've read was all too horribly real.

The kind of thing you need to take a real life time out for.

Amazing Terry, and very very haunting.

[Big B]

I think it was seeing the memorials. I never even knew they existed.

I have been to several battlefields here in the United States, and there is something about seeing a serene peaceful battlefield...and then seeing and reading those memorials erected on the sites, that gets to me...

Terry, I can only imagine what you walked away with...

[Raverdave]

ORIGINAL: Brady



"We have a number of very good museums down here, two aircraft, one tank a couple of Naval ships museums as well as some old forts that you can take tours through. And thats just in Melbourne ! C'mon over and I'll show you around"


I might just do that some day, I have been thinking of doing it for some time now, my pasport is still good to, just nead to set the time aside(and some $$$) and make it happen[:)]

Well $1600 to $2000 should get you a round trip from the US to Oz, and the US $ is buying $1.30 aussie dollars. I'm trying to plan a trip back to Pearl Harbour for 2007, and maybe even get back to the US mainland......I'd love to tour the ACW battlefields.

[Mark VII]

Or you can save up your frequent flyer miles. Kim and I flew from Nashville to LAX to Sydney to Melbourne for free. Return flight was Brisbane to Sydney to LAX to Nashville also for free. That saved alot of cash for use elswhere in our trip.

We had to pay for our three Oz interior flights and the flight to and from Henderson via Brisbane but they were not as expensive as you would think. Of hand I remember the flight from Melbourne to Canberra being only $70 USD's each. Can't beat that as it would of taken 8 hours to drive and we would of lost a day just looking at Aussie interstate. We witnessed their interstate when driving from Canberra to the Blue Mountains and then on to Sydney. It looks alot like the US system with the only difference is that you are driving on the wrong side of it, but nothing to miss there.

Solomon Air offers someting called Pacific Pass which allows people who don't live in the area to fly at a discount.

Even if you have to pay your way over to OZ, flights overthere are less expensive than would think. When Kim and I go again (to Oz)in several years, it to will be on frequent flyer miles but we will pay some extra to get into business class as the sardine pack of coach is just brutal for someone like myself at 6 feet 2 inches.[:(]

ORIGINAL: Raverdave


Well $1600 to $2000 should get you a round trip from the US to Oz, and the US $ is buying $1.30 aussie dollars. I'm trying to plan a trip back to Pearl Harbour for 2007, and maybe even get back to the US mainland......I'd love to tour the ACW battlefields.

[Mattremote]

What an idea! Been to OZ a few times, and my fiance and I are going to Thailand and Cambodia (Thailand for diving and Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat (Siam Reap) in December. The South Pacific is on our list, and we could combine diving with visiting places on the WITP map.

The original post gave me just the right idea for what to do next year when we go back to the US for a month during my change of station. We've got a month to kill and my fiance has never been to the US. After visiting my family, I'll show her some of the battlefield national parks in the US. Excellent!

[rhohltjr]

ORIGINAL: Mark VII

Each night would be a stop at the Point Cruz Yacht Club. Sorta the HQ for non-locals living on the island. Me to the left, John Innes(who knows every thing about the battle)center and John Warden who showed me around the first three days. Innes is going to escort me Friday morning.

I think you've made all of us envious of your experience[8D]. Now, as if I will ever get
to do what you did, what sort of dive operators did you find on Guadalcanal?
Was their equipment new(ish)[8|]?

[Mark VII]

Hello, we used Neil Yates out of Tulagi. http://www.tulagidive.com.sb/ We had contacted him via email and made the plans. He had no charters the day we wanted him so he picked us up at the Yacht Club in the morning and dropped us off back where we started. His equipment was NOT old and seemed in very good condition. However the pressure gauges and stuff were in metric but he told us what to look for. We brought our own fins and mask but I'm sure he would be able to provide that as well.

Neil took us to the two easiest wrecks to dive as they were only a few meters down and we are beginners. There is all sorts of wrecks available much deeper depending on your experience. He has dived them all. This is someone elses web site; http://www.diveshow.com.au/ASNS%20Trips/solomons.htm but check it out as it will talk about the other wrecks in the Guadalcanal area. The USN DD Aaron Ward is a popular "pristine" wreck but is is at 230 feet but very divable for those who can go that deep.

Because of the ethinic tensions, most of the dive operators departed since they had no business. I believe there is still one other operator based in Guadalcanal but I can't remember his name right now. There is also a fair amount of live-aboard dive cruises that operate in the Solomons, just do some web searches and they should pop up.

ORIGINAL: rhohltjr


I think you've made all of us envious of your experience[8D]. Now, as if I will ever get
to do what you did, what sort of dive operators did you find on Guadalcanal?
Was their equipment new(ish)[8|]?

[Mark VII]

rhohltjr: Hello again.

Dive operator Gareth Coleman was the first operator we were in contact with. I am pretty sure he is based on Guadalcanal in Honiara but can't say for sure. He was out of country back in OZ during our visit and sent us Neil's name. Can't say any thing about him except he is one of the few dive operators left on Guadalcanal. Gareth's email is coastwatchers@fastmail.fm.

Goodluck, PM me or use this thread if you have any other questions, regards...terry

[Mark VII]

A week ago found the misplaced instimatic dive camera from Guadalcanal and the film is now finally developed(only 5+ months after our return!). The few pics taken came out better than I thought though still not the quality of my 'land' camera.

The following pics are from the Kinagawa Maru Dive. The water quality was better than the murky pics that stupid camera provided!

ORIGINAL: Mark VII

Near the Bonegi River is the Hirokawa Maru and the Kinagawa Maru, better known to the locals as Bonegi 1 & 2. On the night of Nov 14-15, Adm Tanaka ordered them beached since half his convoy had already been sunk by the Cactus Airforce and he believed they would not last if they tried to unload them in the normal routine. This was the same night when Washington destroyed Kirishima. Both Maru's were relentlessly attacked on the 15th and destroyed with little supplies being saved.

Hirokawa is totally under water, Kinagawa still has portions above the surface.