On February 15th ArcticTropic rented a car – a Holden Barina and headed south to Jervis Bay, about 250 km from the city. Once beyond the metro areas, Australia is a beautiful and nearly empty land. Kangaroos are a common part of the landscape and while looking friendly they can give intruders quite a stomping.

Prince’s Highway stretches 1250 km from Sydney to Melbourne.

Beautiful beachfront property near Jervis Bay Territory. No hurricanes in this part of the world.

Isolated beaches everywhere.

In the Snowy Mountains ( where is snows from June to September ) near Mt. Kosciuszko, highest mountain in Australia. The Eucalyptus forest smells wonderful.

Crossing from New South Wales into Victoria State.

Kangaroo – It’s What’s For Dinner. Very healthy lean meat. Delicious too !

The legendary Bondi Icebergs Pool, over 80 years old, is carved into rocks by the roaring South Pacific. At 50 meters long, ArcticTropic recuperated from the 15.5 hour flight in United’s tiny seats with a 40 lap – 2 km swim. Upload speeds here in Australia have been rather slow, but more videos are coming soon.

2014 was an incredible travel year for ArcticTropic. We explored Myanmar ( Burma), European Russia,Siberia,Mongolia,China,Japan,British Colombia,Canada,Singapore,Philippines and Panama. Here’s 184 clips in 11 minutes. This version is natural sound,a musical version will be uploaded soon.

On October 9th ArcticTropic awoke on the shores of the Pacific, swam, then drove 3 hours to the Caribbean ( Atlantic ) and swam there. Actually the drive is 45 minutes along the highway near the Canal, and 28 minutes to see both. However the beaches near the canal are not swimmable.

Today ArcticTropic accompanied the delegation from Enterprise Florida on a tour of the Panama Canal. The Canal, which just celebrated its’ 100th Anniversary is undergoing a major expansion -PANAMAX – which will triple capacity and allow much larger container ships to traverse between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Ships enter from the Atlantic ( Caribbean ) side at Colon.

PANAMAX construction. Estimated to be finished by late 2015.

Gatun Lake. The total route is 50 miles ( 80 km ) and takes 8 to 10 hours. Only 32 ships a day can pass through – 16 from either side. Reservations are required 547 days in advance, but expedited service is available.

Entering Miraflores Locks.

Clearance of the ;Miraflores completed, the ship sails into the Pacific, about 5 miles away, then on to China.