Working 9 to 5

Well it happened. I actually have been working the past couple of weeks. Some desperate sea kayaking company decided I would be a great tour guide of the Hobart harbour and surrounding waters. The funny thing is that I've only done one sea kayaking trip before and I'm a damn yank who knows next to nothing about the history of Hobart. Luckily I'm a teacher and I know that there is this building in most cities called a library where they store information that could help me out with my little lack of history perdicament.

So for about $65 I take tourists kayaking for about a two hour tour. I was told by my boss that he may have one or two trips for me the following week. Well, he split town and gave my phone # to the other tour organizers in the area. I began receiving phone calls from companies wanting to set up trips with me...lots of them. And they always had questions for me that I tried to answer. I didn't know how many boats we have available or if we could get a sald roll instead of fish and chips for a veggie eating customer. Of course my boss wasn't answering his phone and all the other guides were out on trips. So for two weeks I pretty much worked everyday and dealt with all kinds of issues along the way.

It was fun and a great way to share my new love (and knowledge) of Hobart with tourists from around the world. I don't happen to have any pictures to show. Next time I go out I'll snap a few.

In other work, I've just returned home after working a week long grade 7 camp. This was very tiring. I'm also sick now with a small fevef and a head cold. Little Buggers! One of our friends here is the Outdoor Education Teacher for a local Christian Brother's School similar to the one I went to for high school. For the past week I've taught 150 boys how to keep their kayaks going straight in the ocean. The groups were only 12 boys each so that part was easy. The rest of the camp was crazy though. I took 35 kids bush walking...four times, played heaps of cricket, and even taught them how to play ultimate frisbee. The evenings were interesting. Trying to get 150 12 year old boys to go to bed is quite a feat. I certainly earned my pay. Which by the way I'm still not sure what I'm getting paid.


Here are a few pics from one of the bush walks. No Kevin this is not a walk taken down Bourbon St in the French Quarter. :P
As some of you know Lora is currently in the States visiting with friends and family as well as attending a conference. She's been gone for over a week and I'm tired of sharing her with you guys. I miss her. If you see her let her know for me.

Tim

Look where you could be!

Lora and I decided to visit one of the top attractions in Tassie. It's called Wineglass Bay and it's in the Freycinet National Park. The park is about a two hour drive from the house through the Tassie countryside. Lots of sheep!

We arrived at the parking area to find quite a few cars and buses. We were in for a touristy time. In fact it turned out not to be so bad. Most of the "hikers" just hike up to the overlook and then back down to their cars so they can drive to the next attraction. Lora and I decided to hike down to the white sand beach and then we continued on to Hazards Beach on the other side. You can just see Hazards beach in the upper right hand corner of the above picture.



The hike was about 7 miles long and we had a great time. We even brought a picnic lunch. We did feel a little "naked" without a 100lb kayak or other gear on our backs. It was kind of nice.

Some great kayaking shots by Dan Glauser

Here are just a few photos my good buddy Dan sent me when I needed some cool California kayaking shots for a slide show I presented to the local kayaking club in Hobart. Needless to say they were blown away. Thanks again Dan! If you want to see some more of his work go to expeditionfrontiers.blogspot.com. Be patient he's having a baby.


Okay, this next one is not by Dan... it is Dan on one of our favorite runs, Upper Cherry Creek. Here's Dan running the Shit!


And of course I had to put one up that Dan took of me while on the Rubicon River.



Tim

Was that a girl screaming?

Well it finally happened. While working in the field with Lora I heard the most unusual sound. Let me set the scene. Lora and I were obviously in the forest. I was sitting on a stool taking notes while Lora was checking out her caterpillars. I was expecting to hear her say something like "not eaten" so I was just looking down at my notepad. All of a sudden I heard the most blood curdling scream coming from the area Lora was at. I jumped! I thought that Lora had been bitten or worse. In the 6+ years I've known Lora I've never heard her scream like a girl. I quickly asked her what was wrong. Apparently, a friendly 7ft Carpet Python decided to try and wrap itself around Lora's ankle. She was so preoccupied with her work she apparently was too busy to look down until it dawned on her that something was moving on her foot.


The good news is that it was only a python, not a deadly poisonous snake. The bad news is that it could have been. In all seriousness Lora and I have talked again about looking where you step. Luckily the deadly snakes are not quite as camouflaged as this type of snake.
Stay tuned for more interesting stories from the field. By the way, this happened about two weeks ago.