MOALE BEACH

I love the fact that Indonesia gives national holidays for each of the country's religions: Hindu, Moslem, and Christian. It essesntially means that we get at least one day off a month, which allows us to do things we love...like fishin'! A few weeks ago there was a Hindu holiday so we all went down to Moale Beach on a Tuesday morning! I was able to get some spearfishing in because the water was clear, and managed to get three fish! Yeah, ok, I know they're kind of small, but I'll take what I can get...they really do look bigger underwater! Later

FISHIN' ASU ISLAND

I have a typical fish story. The big one got away as usual except this time it took most of my gear. I went out in a small boat off Asu when we were on holidays, and in the morning I caught 3 tuna & a travelly. We were only out for an hour or so and then got rained out, so in the afternoon we tried again. This is where I lost all my gear. I lost one set from a large fish off the surf break, it cut the line and took all three hooks (not a rock)! Then I hooked into a Big Barracuda, which also bit through my line, and finally I hooked into a large Travelly which also swam away with a Rapala in its lip. I now have purchased some stronger line, maybe I can get some proof next time of the big one! Here's a few photo's of the fish I caught on Asu.
This one I nailed with a hand-spear. I have no idea what species it is, but it tasted a lot like a trout, I tried to catch a few more but was unsuccessul.

CREEPY CRITTERS

Here are a bunch of critters that we've found in our house:



3 Scorpion's
A small snake (yes it's head is cut off).

Several HUGE spiders. We actually found a tarantula in our bathroom and "disposed" of it.

Also on the list are rats, mice, and other huge crazy insects! If anyone wants to ship us a bug zapper it would be appreciated.

NIGHT OF THE "TRENGGILING"

Usually, Sunday nights in the village are kind of boring, but last night we had an unexpected visitor. I could hear a bunch of people outside talking, and there seemed to be a crowd. Curiously, I went outside to see what was going on and discovered that one of the local staff had captured a "Trenggiling"!

The "Trenggiling" was inside of a rice sack and was moving about like crazy! Not knowing what a "Trenggiling" was, let alone looked like, made it really interesting to look inside the sack, and a little scarry, because in my mind I thought it was something like a badger. In fact a "Trenggiling" is nothing like a badger at all, it is more like a...

Popple?

Big Scarry Lizard?
Armadillo?
Nope...it's a kind of Anteater.

In English it's called a Pangolin, but I had to look it up online to find out. Apparently, they live in several South Asian Country's and parts of Africa, but I've never seen one before. They can emit a smell like a skunk when they're scared, this guy didn't stink at the time, but I'm sure he did when they caught him. I wish this story had a happy ending, but it doesn't. He ended up as dinner by the locals. Too bad, it's the first real wildlife I have seen on Nias, and I suspect there arn't too many around. The Chinese use them also for traditional medicine and their skin is often sought after as a remody of some sort. Weird little critter.

BACK IN CANADA

Well it was nice to have a Canadian Christmas, I don't think Indonesians know what a real Christmas tree looks like, and they definitely don't have turkey dinners! It was a great time to catch up with family and friends. The boyz getaway was a lot of fun, and it was great to hang out with my Buddy's that used to be islanders...I can still say I'm an islander, but now I'm just on a different island.

Our trip to the island was great. I was able to get away on a grouse hunt with my Dad and his new Dodge Ram. We did the usual trip up Mt. Arrowsmith, but got skunked. We did see a grouse but were too busy talking to shoot it! Oh well it was just a good excuse to try out the truck and go out into the sticks for a while.When we got back to Abbotsford my father-in-law had picked up my duck from the taxidermist! I shot my first mallard up at the ranch and thought it would be a good memory of that time.

We drove up to 100 mile later that week and saw a few nice Bighorn Sheep Rams near Spence's Bridge. It was nice to to see them and get a few photos. At the ranch I tried going after coyotes, but didn't have much luck, but I did get to rip around on the skidoo for a while! Hartwig smoked some venison with his friend Ed, and man was it good!
We then drove down to Kelowna to visit Carmen's brother and on the way stopped to see Ryan and Rose Peters. It was a good visit with Christoph, Karleigh, and the kids and we had a great Christmas with them in Abbotsford as well. It was great to see Julie, Clark, the kids, and my parents over Christmas, even though I was sick. I did have a chance to shoot ducks with Clark and we got a combined number of 3 ducks and shot over 50 shells...I think we need some practice. The ducks in that area are pretty safe with that kind of shooting!

The Guys trip was great, and the party at Piechnik's was a great time to visit with everyone. We spent New Years with the Matt, Mel, Dan, and Anna their new house is great! The red eye flight back to Indonesia was interesting, but I'm sure Carmen has updated everyone on that! It was nice to be home in Canada, and I can't wait for 2009!

WATCH THIS SPACE

Well as some of you may know already; Carmen and I are headed to Canada in a few days. I haven't been able to do much hunting here, except for hunting fish (spearfishing), and I'm looking forward to going on a Duck hunt with my brother-in-law Clark & my Dad. Who knows I might even get a duck this time instead of feathers! I don't have any new pictures to post...maybe from home. Canada here we come!

ASU ISLAND

Asu is one of the local islands off of Nias, and it is a small slice of paradise. There is one place you can get food cooked for you, but there is no menu, and the choices are: sandwich, spaghetti, french fries, fried rice, or fried noodles...oh yeah, you can get a banana pancake if you get up early enough. Carmen and I spend most of our time in the water, snorkeling, swimming, and fishing. I caught three fish with the spear: two striped ones, and one nice parrot fish. We also bought some lobster off a local and had a great dinner on our last night. It is difficult to get to Asu, but once you're there you won't want to leave!