I AM IN A LAND DOWN UNDER...or I'M IN FRICKIN' AUSTALIA!!!!!

Hey Team!

That's right. We have arrived safe and sound in the land of Oz. (or is it Aus?). It's going to be a great trip.

We are heading out on a 3 day / 2 night dive boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef today, so this is going to be brief. (yes, I'll Tell NEMO hi for everyone!).

Other than 17 hours of flying, we had a little encounter with the Sniffer Dogs at the Brisbaine airport. They were serious about quarantine for food and nuts and carrots and wait, Craig, don't you bring lots of food everytime you go places? Yes I do! But fortunately they left me the balance bars, so I'm going to be okay. (don't worry, Tom and Olga won't get the brunt of Hungry Craig if I can help it.) The dogs also thought that we had some narcotics on us as well, which is sorta silly for all of you who know me since I've never even smoked pot once. Still, a little intimidating to be asked by customs in Australia and make you wonder if someone stuck something in your bag and you're going to end up in an Aussie prison digging ditches for your vacation.

Anyway, gotta hit the reef, just wanted to let you all know I'm safe, sound and I'll keep you updated...

OH, the thing we keep coming back to is how similar Australia is to the USA. It's really uncanny. (don't be offended my Aussie friends :), Obama! Obama!)

Rock on!

Craigo

Helsinki in 6 hours...

So after Estonia, my flight back to the US and A was from Helsinki.

Sounds far away, but is only a 2-3 hour ferry (heeey-ayyy!) ride from

Tallinn. So I took a bus from Parnu to Tallinn, walked to the ferry

port, jumped on the giant cruise ship of a ferry and headed accross

the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. Arriving at 5:30pm, I had basically

6 hours to enjoy the city.

And I did... Helsinki is more western than the other places I went.

Almost everyone speaks English, most signs are in Finnish, English and

other languages. There are actually people who aren't white there,

which wasn't the case in Russia or really even Estonia. It was very

diverse and felt a lot like the US and A for that matter.

I wandered to the waterfront and hopped a ferry (heeey-ayyy!) to the

island fortress of Salmenella... or something like that. Ate some

tasty fish and DRANK WATER FROM THE TAP!!!! Then I ran all around

these old russian gun emplacements. There were these awesome cannons

and beneath them tunnels and bunkers to explore. The sun had set and

it was magic hour, so I had to use my camera to see inside, but

naturally went into everyone of them. Then ran along the rocks by the

water and circled the fortress wall on the outside, hanging onto the

sides of the wall by the water. All as it was getting darker and

darker. Very cool and very exciting...

... and I made it back to the ferry (heeey-ayy!) on time. And as we

headed to helsinki in the dark I thought "I'm so lucky. What a great

trip and fabulous places I've seen. Who knew all this great stuff

existed, and I was able to go there." I would recommend all of these

places to everyone. Bring your sense of humor and willingness to

explore and you'll have a blast.

And now for the very bizarre twist at the end...

As the ferry pulled into the dock, all these emergency vehicles raced

up next to us. Ambulence, cops, fire trucks, this big crane.

Naturally we all went over to look at it. Clearly they were looking

for someone in the water. People thought a car might have gone in.

Turns out there was no car, but after about 15 minutes they did find

the person... They struggled to put him on the stretcher than hung

from the crane and lifted him out of the water. He was face down and

not moving. They lowered him on the dock and there was very little

hustle and bustle as it was clear the guy had died. Very bizarre, as

I realized all these amazing things I've seen and now I've seen my

first dead body. I've seen people in coffins before, but not like

this. Yeah, weird. I wondered who he was and how he'd ended up

there. He was wearing a swimsuit. I haven't been able to find out

anything about it either...

Didn't see that one coming, did you? Neither did I...

From there I headed to the airport to sleep a few hours before hopping

on the plane for my 14 hours of flying and 2 hours of layover to

return to LA. I was exhausted, and very confused with jetlag, but

made it back in one piece (and my bag made it with me).

I lucked out with this trip... no neck blow out (see Southeast Asia

2005) or Montezuma's revenge (see Guatemala/Belize 2006). And even

got to go with some great friends this time too. (Tom, Olga, Essylt

and Ben... go team Nails!).

In one of the airports I flew through...I saw an add that said

"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we

stop playing."

I agree with that 100%, and feel that trips like this, and just

enjoying the good friends and places in life help with that. I know I

often times will get a little to wrapped up in the bullshit of life

and have to stop myself and remember that there's no need to get so

stressed out about things. Life is way to short to waste worrying

about it.

Get out there, see the world. It's waiting for you.

This is Craig Ouellette,

last surviving member of the Nostromo... signing off.

Back to the Cayes!

After the sailing trip I spent a mellow day in Placencia (not placenta), chilling on the beach, writing in my journal and making plans. The weather was overcast but perfectly comfortable and the water was still warm for swimming.

The next day we were going to scuba dive... except for that big ass rain storm that rolled in. So the few of us from the boat who were still in town got out fast, taking the "best journey in belize" according to the lonely planet guide. It was a water taxi ride through the mangrove forests on the coast for 15 minutes... well, maybe in the sun it might be nice. The rain drops were like bullets and we had to stay low to avoid being blinded. I think I saw a bird. :)

Took the bus through the beautiful interior mountains, and somehow ended up back on Caye Caulker. I just kept going and came back to beaches and chilled people and the moto here is "go slow". And after some MAD CAP KARAOKE last night I did just that.

Oh yes team, ICE ICE BABY and TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART were brought to the land of mellow love songs and Raggae. I ran out on the street and tried to get the party on into the bar... it didn't work, it's just so mellow. BUt it was fun and many peop[le today are like.... "Hey, ice ice baby dude!". It's kinda amusing. The bartender wants me to send him a cd of my mix for the bar. I'm not sure what he wants, but we'll see.

ANyway, tomorrow is the last day. I'm sorta sad to go. It's been a fabulous trip (montezuma's revenge aside) and I am realizing how many things I didn't do... like scuba dive in belize. The rain has put a damper on that, as has finances. Though I would have gone if not for the rain... oh well.

Next time...

See you all soon... especially the family at the reuinion on saturday in St. Louis. If anyone is around there feel free to come crash and partay with us!!!

Craigo

Come Sail Away, come sail away with me!!!

What a blast!

went on a 3 day, 2 nite sail trip with a bunch of cool folks. We had wonderful fresh seafood, caught during the day and cooked by the awesome crew of the sailboat. We snorkeled beautiful reefs, and saw thousands of fish, 2 foot long star fish and lobsters, and even swam with a manatee for 10 minutes or more! It was awesome, the manatee was 15 feet long or more and you could get right next to it. Its actually rather rare to see so we were very lucky. It was wild to swim down right next to it as its so huge, yet graceful. It probably thought we were a bunch of idiots, but it was fun.

the first night we camped on Rendezvous caye.... it was about 50 feet by 25 feet and had 8 palm trees. It took 16 seconds to run from one end to the other. We set up tents and enjoyed tasty fresh conch and sunset, a brilliant nearly full moon and some silly drinking games. at 5 am a thunderstrom rolled in and soaked us all... but we were wet for 3 days anyway, so it is okay.

The next morning I had a visit from Montezuma and had the experience of shitting in the sea... yep, squat in the water and letter rip! then walk forward so as not to swim in your shit.... kinda gross, but at least you dont have to wipe!

we sailed some, but there wsan't a lot of wind, so the motor ran more than ideal. Still the colors of the water wree fabulous and the rain was warm and wonderful.

The second nite we stayed at tobacco caye.... pop: 26. we got to stay in cabins this nite as the rain came in strong at 10pm.... it was exciting. I love rain.

so here in Plecencia, and 5 days left til I hop on a plane ot the USA. Will hopefully scuba dive and see some wildlife at the jaguar preserve. Oh, and tonighte.... KARAOKE !!!!!!!!

Total Eclipse is coming to belize with thunder!!!!!

c u soon

Craigo