Wednesday, May 01, 2024
Everest Base Camp Chocolate Sherpa expedition
Saturday, April 27, 2024
20 years ago the Working Holiday Visa Australia
EN: 20 years ago I bought my ticket to Sydney Australia. I had been waiting for the WHV (Working Holiday Visa) to come into force, it had been signed by Prince (now King) Philippe in 2002 but it was not there yet. Australia had no embassy in Belgium then, every thing was passing via France. I even wrote to the Foreign Affairs to ask for the status of the WHV. Australia answered after 1 month that it was slow/blocking in Belgium. Belgium replied after 6 months with "What is a working holiday visa"?
With no WHV I took a normal long duration VISA 1-year multiple entry with a max stay of 6 months in a row, which was perfect as I also wanted to travel to New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia and Tahiti. I traveled extensively with over 100 dives and close to 2000 km of hikes in 1 year (End June 2004 to End June 2005) and went back to Belgium. That year of travel changed me and inspired me to travel more.
The WHV came into force in November 2004 while I was already in Australia. So I apply early 2006 and went again to Australia for a full year. That year changed again my life again as I did my first 3 expeditions in Australia with the last epic one in Tasmania.
In 20 years the Working Holiday Visa program has an oportunity I would recommend if you want to travel, improve your English, make friends, perhaps find love or a new life Down Under.
My website or my blog is also nearly 20 years old. I've erased all the content prior to June 2005. I've saved it somewhere but I dunno where.
FR : Il y a 20 ans, j'ai acheté mon billet pour Sydney, en Australie. J'attendais que le WHV (Working Holiday Visa) entre en vigueur, il avait été signé par le Prince (aujourd'hui Roi) Philippe en 2002 mais il n'existait pas encore. L'Australie n'avait pas d'ambassade en Belgique à l'époque, tout passait par la France. J'ai même écrit au ministère des affaires étrangères pour demander où en était le WHV. L'Australie m'a répondu au bout d'un mois que le processus était lent/bloqué en Belgique. La Belgique m'a répondu au bout de 6 mois : "Qu'est-ce qu'un visa vacances-travail ?
Sans WHV, j'ai pris un VISA normal de longue durée d'un an à entrées multiples avec un séjour maximum de 6 mois d'affilée, ce qui était parfait car je voulais aussi voyager en Nouvelle-Zélande, aux Fidji, en Nouvelle-Calédonie et à Tahiti. J'ai beaucoup voyagé, avec plus de 100 plongées et près de 2000 km de randonnées en un an (de fin juin 2004 à fin juin 2005) et je suis retourné en Belgique. Cette année de voyage m'a changé et m'a donné envie de voyager davantage.
Le WHV est entré en vigueur en novembre 2004 alors que j'étais déjà en Australie. J'ai donc déposé ma demande début 2006 et je suis repartie en Australie pour une année entière. Cette année-là a de nouveau changé ma vie puisque j'ai effectué mes trois premières expéditions en Australie, dont la dernière, épique, en Tasmanie.
En 20 ans, le programme Working Holiday Visa est une opportunité que je vous recommande si vous voulez voyager, améliorer votre anglais, vous faire des amis, peut-être trouver l'amour ou une nouvelle vie en Australie.
Mon site web ou mon blog a lui aussi près de 20 ans. J'ai effacé tout le contenu antérieur à juin 2005. Je l'ai sauvegardé quelque part, mais je ne sais pas où.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Titanic exhibition
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Inside a Triton submersible
Monday, February 12, 2024
Francois D'Haene Le chemin du Retour
Saturday, February 03, 2024
Classification of adventure expeditions
(FRENCH under the tableau/table)
During my last expedition on the GTA. I started thinking of a classification system for adventures. I mean expeditions that are adventurous (so not related to exploration, scientific purposes omitted) and I'm building a 5 class system. I started working on this last August and today I'm still not finished but I classified my 19 expeditions and also the 20th expedition that I'm slowly preparing as well.
Class 5 is of course the hardest and class 1 is easy. I'm not detailing here the criteria as I'm not done yet but for example I'd consider a regular guided Everest summit expedition as Class 2 and sailing an Ocean solo in a race like Class 1. The classes are risk based and somehow subjective but based on a mix of criteria like danger (animal, human, weather, terrain), type of progression, difficulty to plan and to get to (permits, remoteness...), potential rescue in case of an injury. World Firsts adventures get extra points because the adventurer shows s/he has done all the work to make it possible. This means the next person doing the same expedition will get around 1 point less. If the person is very young/old, the person could get a Class+ for the expedition. Example: The next people kayaking around Lake Titicaca would get a 1 or 1+ class for the expedition. Yes the class is for the expedition, not the person. In the work I'm developing, you must have several class X expeditions to be a class X adventurer.
And once an expedition is done many times by others or becomes a guided expedition (because logistics made easy, risks decreased, higher availability of rescue services), it can lose 1 or 2 classes. Class 4 and 5 are only for long duration solo (or duo) unsupported adventures as it is obviously much harder.
Obviously, for Everest, if you do it alpine style, without fixed ropes, without guides, without oxygen and in winter, you increase the risk of success so much that you would have a class 4.
- WF = World First
- Dist Fly = flying distance between points of for off track parts or distance measure on official hiking routes.
- Real = real and reasonable distance covered if we add the distance between each step.
# |
Cl |
Name |
WF |
Days |
Dist.Fly/Real |
1 |
2 |
The Mountains
of the Outback – NT, Australian Outback |
Y |
11 |
267
/ 334 |
2 |
2 |
The Great Sand
Island – Fraser Island, QLD, Australia |
Y |
9 |
230
/ 250 |
3 |
4 |
Wild Mountains
of Tasmania |
Y |
49 |
450
/ 548 |
4 |
5 |
Simpson Desert Trek - NT/SA Australia |
Y |
36 |
560
/ 800 |
5 |
1 |
Chocolate
Sherpa Everest, Katmandu to E. Base
Camp |
|
24 |
400 |
6 |
2 |
Iceland Trek Summer |
Y |
19 |
369
/ 560 |
7 |
1 |
Belgikayak – Belgium |
Y |
23 |
602 |
8 |
2 |
Poland Trek |
Y |
28 |
+-1200 |
9 |
1 |
Clipperton
Island – Pacific Island, France |
|
29 |
/ |
10 |
2 |
TitiKayak – Peru |
Y |
38 |
1100 |
11 |
1 |
Rio Marañon – Peru |
|
6 |
? |
12 |
3 |
Salar Trek
(attempt) - Bolivia |
|
7 |
180 |
13 |
3 |
Death Valley
Trek – California, USA |
Y |
8 |
246
/ 250 |
14 |
3 |
Simpson Desert Trek 2- NT Australia |
|
12,5 |
/ +-300 |
15 |
3 |
Salar Trek 2 - Bolivia |
Y |
7 |
250 |
16 |
5 |
Tasmania
Winter Trek |
Y |
52 |
450 / +-500 |
17 |
4 |
HRP – Haute Route
Pyrénéenne – France/Spain/Andorra |
Y |
43 |
700 |
18 |
2 |
Kungsleden - Sweden |
Y |
19 |
515 |
19 |
3 |
GTA - France |
Y |
24 |
623 |
20 |
5 |
Not announced
yet : Project SDT34 |
+- |
+55 |
1050 / 1300 |
- WF = World First
- Dist Fly = distance en vol entre les points de pour les parties hors piste ou distance mesurée sur les itinéraires de randonnée officiels.
- Real = distance réelle et raisonnable parcourue si l'on additionne la distance entre chaque point.