From: Christopher Krajacic
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006
Time: 11:03 PM PDT
Subject: Thit Cho is the Only way to go!!!

So I will keep it short as not to bore anyone, but this place is cool and the food is great. I'll be off to Russia tonight and Oh yeah, Just in case anyone was wondering... Thit Cho is the way they prepare dog here. hahahahah

Laters,
Chris

From: Christopher Krajacic
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2006
Time: 6:34 AM PDT
Subject: Here we go again

Ok,

So I have not updated the krackerjack website for quite a while cause I slack at things like that. But I thought it would be a nice change of pace sinice that this place has decent speed for 5000 kip an hour.( yeah right that is what I said," 5000 kip?" bout 40 cents or so)

So, for those of those not informed but are curious, I have decided to continue the krackerjack Adventure by getting back home by the way of a motorcycle. For those speedheads, it is a 2001 Honda XR 650 R... uncorked, and ready to rock and roll. I left Traveling from Hervey Bay up the coast of OZ and through the outback. This part of the leg was fantastic altough it is like riding across the states in the middle of the summer. There were wild emus, kangaroos, saw a few crocs while attempting some river crossings. I must say that the only bad part was riding at night which I shouldn't have done. Sure enough, everyone told me not to ride at night cause the roos come out in full force, but this night I was tryin to make it to a pub in the middle of nowhere where the filmed Croc Dundee. As the sun fell, I was keep a close eye for the buggas and then they appeared in drones. I was dodgin roos left and right like Frogger in traffic, so I decided to slow down a bit. I was crusin along and see this roo on the other side of the highway eating the road grass, and as I approached him he seemed to veer off into the bush so I accelerated to pass and the shit-head decided to flip a u-ball so fast ( like the bull that drew tried to slap on the ass) and hopped right in my path! I couldn't swerve cause it was too late so I hit him at bout 30 and went flyin off the bike. After assessment all that happened was a scratched tank, sprained wrist and a little shoken up. I stupidly then convinced myself that this was a good lesson in dodgin roos so I got back on and made the next 80miles of desert to the pub. ( needless to say where I got complet;y smashed cause the barkeep was shoutin drinks to me an the only other guy in the place!) So off to Darwin where I loaded the bike on a plane headed to Singapore.

Singapore was like a clean clusterfu@!#$ version of LA. Naa it wasn't that bad. The people were extremely friendly but they have so many laws there that it makes anything impossible to do( like bringing a bike into the country) Max, ( the bike) was sttuck in prison for a whole week while I had to deal with customs and everyone else in the country to try and get him out. My friend Bonnie came t visit for a while so when I eventually got the bike out, I split straight to the boarder of Malaysia.

Malaysia was cool. It was a true proving ground where all the bugs were worked out. I snapped my chain three times, lost an axle bolt, pulverized a rear sprocket, snapped a couple of bolts and so forth. The loaded up bike, let alone with a extra person on it causes everyone to turn and stare as the biggest bike that is sold in these countries compare to that of a small scooter. Local mechanic Bike shops are more common on the side of the road than food, so when I occasionally stop for an oil change all the mechanics give this look like " Oh Shit, I think I'll be in over my head with this one!"

hahahah.. it is quite funny since I end up just doin the repair myself. The torrential rains that occur in Malaysia are enough to keep anyone on their toes, but when you combine it with driving in a crazy city like Kuala Lumpur it ads a whole other realm of excitement. Traffic is seriously some of the worst Ive ever seen. Equivalent to an oil tanker overturned blockin all lanes of the 405 frwy at 5:00, so since Max doesn't have a cooling fan for the radiator, it leads to creative ways of keeping moving and gettin through traffic weather driving on the wrong side of the road , on people filled sidewalks.. whatever.....hahahahahah! WHen in Rome......

Thailand has been Fantastic, the food has been great, weather been good and the people terrific. There has been so much to see here I just couldn't fit it all. Bangkok is a bit nuts as weaving through tuk tuks and all the little mopeds is a bit trying with such a huge bike, but it is fun none the less. I think so far the highlight of the trip was the journey to Cambodia. As we approach the customs office to leave Thailand he asks me for this paper which I never received upon entry and proceeds to tell me that I cannot leave the country!! I was now about to shit myself cause it would lead to a lot of hassle smugglein Max outta the country. So,.... after a bunch of talking and trying to negotiate seeing that all avenues were being exhausted I turned to the officer with some cash barely hanging out of my passport and asked him once more if there was anything he could do. He took a looka t the money thought an\bout it and stll said no. :-( I think his supervisor might have been onto him) After sitting at the bike now pondering on how to overcome this obstacle, Bonnie giving him the "look of despair" he looks at us indiscreetly nods his head to across the gate and mouths " just go" It took a total of .000125 milla seconds for us to not even organize but push Max through a gate where this guard not even caring looked at us as we didn't even look back. hahah boy was the heart racing. The next snag was at the immigration officer as he was asking for the paperwork that I didn't have. A little more schmoozing and ff to Cambodia!!! It was now a 160 kilometer jaunt to Ankor Wat, The mother of all Buddist temples set back into the forest! Getting there was cool, stopped to ask directions and ended up havin this mango feast with the girl that we were talking too..hahahah fantastic! The road was something like the remains of a bombed out road where there was a little pavement and the majority was a potole riddled clay road where the only good part of the road was off of it in the shoulder..haahaha. Good eats.. rice porridge, curries, French influenced sandwiches al for under a buck. Accommodation is about 5 bucks and the Ankor Wat was breathtaking. We then headed back to Bangkok in Thailand, where Bonnie took a flight back and I high tailed t to the boarder of Laos. I just got here today where there was another episode of "sorry, we cant let you pass" Sure enough, I check out of Thailand cross over the Mekong River and park my bike to get my visa. just then, a customs officer comes to me and says that the bike is not allowed. I look around, and in a country where bikes out number mosquitoes 5 to one, I don't see a single 2 wheeled vehical.....DAMN!!!! Now here I am again in the office of the customs honcho pleading my case how I am just passing through to china, have been through all of S.E. Asia and can I please cross. It turns out the reason for the restriction is political and this officer is against it cause it is hurting tourisms, so he explains to me, he will lwet me pass as just this time. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! I thought I was in for a doozie again. Everything was sorted and Laos is great. I'll be off to China later this week to attempt the mother of all boarder crossings as all the research of crossing into china is like gettin my brother Greg to part with his computer....hahahahha no freakin WAY!!! So wish me luck.
Chris

From: Christopher Krajacic
Date: Fri November 18, 2005
Time: 5:50 PM PDT
Subject:

Hello everyone,

Wooooo Hooooo!! Well, for everyone the has been paying attention to the journey thanks!! We finally made it to the land down under and it has never been so sweet. Jus t a little update, fiji was spectacularr for so many reasons, the surf was absolutely fantastic absolutely epic from infamous clouudbreak to mackin wilks and we also had so many friends come and meet us. I'll have to say though, our journey to Vanuatu was a highlight of the trip. This place is absolutely beautiful. There is this active volcano (which, is the closest you can get to any volcano in the world) that is absolutely fantastic. It does't have any guard rails or any safety things like that, and you sit on the edge of the creator while te things EXPLODES!!!,, shooting liquid hot magma into the air. Absolutely the most impressive thing I have ever witnessed in my life. Not to mention if a couple of tourists got blasted from the volcano and all they found was his hand not much earlier. If you were feeling really adventurous, u could go to the lower level of the crater and dodge liquid hot magma chucks flyin as the fuquin thing exploded! FUQ DAT!! There were a couple of locals down there , NUTS!! We got so good pics that we will update soon, but hold on for that one. New Calidonia rocked as we probably ate 10 pounds of Brie CHeese cause it was so cheap.

The trip over to Australia was like deja vu from the last time we made the 800 mile ocean passage. All was going well and it was looking like a smooth journey as we picked a good weather window to leave. We were a week into the passage with light to non existent winds, running the motor and watching movies in a super calm sea. We made our daily call back home on the satellite phone to check in, give coordinates and ask for weather. We get the message the there is a nice little storm off the coast of OZ and we are bout 150 miles away. We prepare the boat for heavy weather just in case, but I thought we would get in front of the system and cruise on in. NOT!!! The winds started to pick up at bout 3 in the after noon and by 5, it was blowin 30- 40 knot winds. the swell was building consistently while the auto pilot was busy churning away doing a grand job until this 15-18 ft cresting wave broke on the side of the boat, putting the stouty Crackerjack on it side tossing everything and everyone across the boat. Just the noise of the thing sounded like nuc explosion. We had reduced the sail as much as possible but the thing still managed to put us so far over that the actual sail was under water!!! Needless to say we decided to relieve the auto pilot of its duties and steer all through the night. At one point we only made 1 mile of progress in about 8 hours HAHA!! Well, We are in OZ now which is fantastic and proceeded to get completely bombed in celebration. Hopefully everyone is doin alright. Don't be retarded shout me a quick reply and let me know how yer doin. i would love to hear it. There are some other adventures lined up after we sell the boat, but I'll keep you updated once the trail bikes are bought and outfitted....heheheh. We'll get some photos off soon for viewing pleasure as well. PEACE Chris

From: Christopher Krajacic
Date: August 26, 2005
Time: 3:21 PM PDT
Subject:

Hello everyone,

Just a quick shout out to everyone back home. WE are currently in Tonga
after a grueling 13 day sail from Bora Bora. We stopped at a bunch of really
cool islands on the way to Tonga like Aitutaki in the Cook Islands and the
country of Nuie which had some sweet limestone caves and even better was the
fact that the whole island was infested with papaya trees; so needless to
say, we replenished our stores in the fruit department. We've caught a bunch
of fish and hooked up with a massive marlin, but as the story goes, that was
the one that got away. Now we are headed to hunt for some more surf in the
Vavau group of islands in Tonga. There is a swell arriving today, so we are
looking to make friends and our peace with the reef.

Next week we are headed for Fiji where we will be there for
about 2 months. I'll try to get some new and interesting pics for the
website cause lord knows we have some.

Since we've got here we forgot to check into the country cause we proceeded
to get completely bombed right when we got here and the alcoholic haze has
been somewhat of a continuous blur. Anyhow,

Peace and Overhead Barrels!!!

Chris

From: Andrew Krajacic
Date: July 20, 2005
Time:
Subject: Broken, broken, and broken

First off congratulations to Brian and Christina. I'm sorry I missed the wedding and I'm sure it was a blast.

Broken, broken, and broken seems to be the answer to many questions around here. Whether it be in relation to our bodies, surfboards or boat everything seems to be in disrepair. It hasn't helped that the surf has been macking lately adding to the lack of urgency to spend time repairing items around the boat. The other side of the double edge sword is that the more we surf and the bigger the surf is the more likely the chance that someone ends up on the reef or we break a board. Correction, the greater the chance that I break a board. In the last three days I have broken three boards in half and Chris smashed one of mine on the reef. The worst part is I only own three boards and I had to borrow a board from a local. The board was a scud missile of a board quite thick and large. "Its a go board" he told me as he offered me the board, "just go for anything." Still a little hesitant at borrowing the board he reassured me that it was indestructible, "you can't break it, its real thick." Two days later the board was in two pieces. Obviously he has not heard of the Krajacic reputation and how we are hard on equipment. On the health side of things Peter managed to cut one of his fingers nearly down to the bone while cutting a piece of bread and will not be surfing for at least another week. Greg has healed from his reef incident but has twisted his ankle on yet another reef collision. Chris got dragged across the reef after taking off a little deep on a wave but wouldn't miss a day of surf (see attached pic). Luckily my feet have taken the brunt of most of my reef impacts and are looking a little beat up. Besides that the boat is always in need of the typical maintenance that always nags at us. The most amusing story regarding a broken item is our dinghy. I was out surfing and was run over but a local older Tahitian. It was a really good day out and since my board now had a slice down the top of it I jumped in the dinghy and headed back to the boat to switch up boards. On the way back I was traveling full speed when the wind lifted up my surfboard. I had one hand on the board and brought the other hand over to block the board from smacking me in the face. The motor now being let free decided to turn hard right sending the dinghy into a sharp turn turning me into superman. I was flung threw the air arms and legs flailing like a rag doll. It was like deja vu, I was in the water and the boat was unoccupied with the motor still going. This time it was only the dinghy and it was circling out of control at full speed. Briefly I thought about trying to grab it but that idea left quickly after watching it rampage around for a few minutes. Around five more minutes went by and a boat anchored over by the surf noticed what had happened and came over to help out. There were two guys in the boat along with the boat operator and his young son who was now crying his eyes out at the scene before him. We decided to try and come along side the dinghy so I could jump in and regain control of the boat. It sounds like an easy enough task except that the dinghy was traveling at around 20 mph and making erratic turns decelerating before it shot off again like a bat out of hell. First attempt, we approach and the dinghy decides to make a sharp turn skirting away from us. Second attempt, we approach and the dinghy turns right at us smashing into the bow of our boat as it pushes us aside. We are in a large aluminum boat getting push around by an inflatable dinghy, something is just not right about that. With the passing attempts it begins to look like a rodeo with a couple cowboys trying to corral a rampaging bucking bull. On another attempt the dinghy turned toward us smashing us in the back and launching halfway into our boat before being held back by the two other guys. The propeller came out of the water showing us our fate if we made a mistake. The kid was now crying more than ever adding to the hysteria. We now became more aggressive with our approaches coming in with more speed trying to match that of the dinghy. Finally we approached and the dinghy turned in front of us and this time with more speed we smashed into the back of it breaking the motor. The handle of the dinghy was broken off taking the throttle linkage with it and stoping the dinghy. I have managed to jerry rig the motor to be able to operate the throttle with a stick with one hand while steering with the other. Well that's about it for now except after composing this email Chris and I went out for a second surf session and Chris ended up on the reef again(see attached pic). This one will probably put him out for a day or two along with taking out yet another board. Catch you guys later and see you in a couple weeks.

From: Christopher Krajacic
Date: June 15, 2005
Time: 1:59 PM PDT
Subject: WE are in French Polynesia!!

Hello all, I will keep this short as this is really expensive to write We finally made land after 28 days at sea which were fairly demanding at times with all the different situations thrown at us. Everything is cool . My bros are out here and we are all set to go now and hunt for some mackin SURF!!!!

I would love a text for anyone and if I talked with you earlier about joining us on a leg of the trip, or if anyone would like to join us anywhere, go the the website www.krackerjack.com and all the info for getting in touch with me will be there. The most reliable will be to text us on the satellite phone. Hope all is well, Peace, Chris

From: Andrew Krajacic
Date: June 15, 2005
Time: 2:03 PM PDT
Subject:

Well, this trip started like all the others; I didn't finish packing till 9 o'clock, three hours before my flight. I rush over to Sharkeez for a shark attack and a K. soda before heading down to Beaches. We get our warm welcome of Irish car bombs, shots and Kettle-sodas for the next two hours before I shoot off to the airport.

I make it over to the gate and pass out and am awoken by a flight attendant asking if I am on this flight. The last on the plane they close the door behind me. After a little hustle I am redirected to my new seat where I pass out immediately sitting upright. I awake when the plane start its landing still sitting upright, not moved an inch. We land and I start to gather my stuff and find that I left my cellphone at LAX. Great, there goes all my numbers and a few people's emails.

I am the last one off the plane and get slammed by immigration. I get thrown in the cage and am hassled for God knows how long. I finally get out and there is not a soul around, but I make it through customs fine. I walk over to the next ticket counter and within minutes I am boarding a twin-prop puddle jumper to some outer Island with four times the baggage limit at no extra cost. Sweet.

I land and have no money and no idea where to go. I talk to a cab driver and tell her I have no money and can I pay her in two days when the bank opens. It is an hour and a half cab at $40. I get word from my sister that Chris is out of gas and out of wind. I ask the cabbie if I can stash my gear at her place and I go down to the beach and hang out and sleep surrounded the whole night by a pack of mangy dogs.

The next day Chris arrives and we fill up with water and head over to a calm bay three miles down to do some repairs and relaxation. While filing up with water some local fisherman gives us a couple of tunas for dinner that night. Back in the calm bay, Chris and I are hanging out and soon find sharks circling our boat fins out and all. The tuna are hanging over the side of the boat thawing out and dripping blood to attract the sharks. Large sharks at that.

We clean the tuna and attach the carcass to a large long rope with many knots. It is dusk now and we have our lights out and the sharks approach timidly at first. Eventually a full frenzy breaks out and I am playing tug of war with these sharks over the next half hour. They are strong as hell and every now and then they hit the tuna hard sending the rope burning through my hands until I can stop them sending them flying fully out of the water through the air. Don't worry, John, we got a lot of it on tape.

Well, sorry for the long message but Internet is hard to find up here. We are off to the Tuamotus tonight for hopefully some good safe and awesome cruising. Please forward this message to anyone I might have missed and I'll try and catch up with you guys soon.

-Drew

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