A Platypus posted for Joe.....I wonder what my treat will be.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Beachside Beginnings
We have moved again but only about 10kms north to Bucasia Caravan Park which is situated on a beautiful beach and we decided to pay a few more dollars to have a sea view which is gorgeous and as I sit here writing under the awning I can see the gentle waves lapping up the sandy shore. There is always a downside and here it's the sand flies and mosquitos and on our first night here Bel got bitten about 40 times by sand flies (they are about the size of a pin head) and has come out in big itchy welts, I on the other hand get little red spots.
I had my first tour last week and took 3 people up to Finch Hatton Gorge which is about an hour and a half from Mackay and during the drive I talk about the history of the area and the sugar cane (the main industry).
We stop off at our base camp and I toast damper (a traditional explorers bread) and make billy tea (boil water in a billy over a fire add tea leaves and then spin the pot to one side (I knew the years of fire spinning would pay off sometime)) and then we go for a guided walk in the tropical rainforest where I talk about the flora, fauna and how the whole ecosystem works. The walk takes us to Aruluen falls where they can enjoy an brisk swim in a natural pool, I'm waiting till later in the year once it gets hotter before I go in as it's bloody freezing.
After the walk we go back to the base camp for steak & salad and then we jump back in the bus and climb up the side of the mountain to Eungella (pronounce young-galah) to see the elusive Platypus (which is very cute).
Afterwards we head back to Mackay to the sounds of some cheesy Australian music which includes Rolf Harris and ACDC.
So as for my first tour well it was a great success and we all had a great day. Now if every tour I do is that good I'll be very happy. Even better is that we ran into the couple from the tour at the pub yesterday and joined them for dinner and we hope to catch up with them later in the year in Newcastle.
We have both done the sugar mill tours several times successfully without losing anyone but I find it pretty boring and am finding it hard to be enthusiastic about it which does lead to a poor performance so I have to find ways of making it a bit more fun.
So we have crossed one hurdle in getting our respective tours under our belts (Bel still has to do her first city tour and myself a Cape Hillsborough tour) and so the next stage is to tackle the much harder problem of the company/boss which is just so disorganised. For example, despite the season already underway, they are still to get some of their flyers around the hotels etc. and the boss hasn't done his tax return in 5 years.
Bel has written a teaching plan for encourage more school groups to do the sugar mill tour but it seems to be falling on deaf ears with the boss at present so we'll see how long we can go on before we crack.
I had my first tour last week and took 3 people up to Finch Hatton Gorge which is about an hour and a half from Mackay and during the drive I talk about the history of the area and the sugar cane (the main industry).
We stop off at our base camp and I toast damper (a traditional explorers bread) and make billy tea (boil water in a billy over a fire add tea leaves and then spin the pot to one side (I knew the years of fire spinning would pay off sometime)) and then we go for a guided walk in the tropical rainforest where I talk about the flora, fauna and how the whole ecosystem works. The walk takes us to Aruluen falls where they can enjoy an brisk swim in a natural pool, I'm waiting till later in the year once it gets hotter before I go in as it's bloody freezing.
After the walk we go back to the base camp for steak & salad and then we jump back in the bus and climb up the side of the mountain to Eungella (pronounce young-galah) to see the elusive Platypus (which is very cute).
Afterwards we head back to Mackay to the sounds of some cheesy Australian music which includes Rolf Harris and ACDC.
So as for my first tour well it was a great success and we all had a great day. Now if every tour I do is that good I'll be very happy. Even better is that we ran into the couple from the tour at the pub yesterday and joined them for dinner and we hope to catch up with them later in the year in Newcastle.
We have both done the sugar mill tours several times successfully without losing anyone but I find it pretty boring and am finding it hard to be enthusiastic about it which does lead to a poor performance so I have to find ways of making it a bit more fun.
So we have crossed one hurdle in getting our respective tours under our belts (Bel still has to do her first city tour and myself a Cape Hillsborough tour) and so the next stage is to tackle the much harder problem of the company/boss which is just so disorganised. For example, despite the season already underway, they are still to get some of their flyers around the hotels etc. and the boss hasn't done his tax return in 5 years.
Bel has written a teaching plan for encourage more school groups to do the sugar mill tour but it seems to be falling on deaf ears with the boss at present so we'll see how long we can go on before we crack.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Insane in the Membrane
Over our first couple of weeks in Mackay, we've had several moments of wondering what the hell we've gotten ourselves in for, but are slowly getting the hang of the tours and finding little gems around the place that possibly would've taken us months to find otherwise. I was pretty underwhelmed by Mackay at first but can see that it does have some merits in the proliferation of art deco architecture, plenty of beaches and gorgeous surrounding areas. It's also pretty flat (good for cycling) and has more charity shops than Stanthorpe, though that it getting tricky. I'm just about needing to adopt a one-in, one-out policy with clothes now if they are all going to fit in the available space, but did cheat this week by buying two tops and only giving away one. I'm well aware however, that I am fast approaching critical mass.
We both passed our driving tests and have also been authorised to take passengers. Woohoo! We now both feel confident doing the sugar mill tours and will probably only do one more of our respective day tours before we do them on our own. I will be doing the city tours and Bryn has two tours, cos he's got a bigger brain, which are to Cape Hillsborough to see wallabies on the beach and Eungela Rainforest for platypus spotting. Sadly I won't be able to tag along and see him do his best David Attenborough, as I'll be working myself, so I'll have to imagine it along with you.
Unfortunately, to be a knowledgeable guide you need to memorise a huge amount of figures if you are to have any chance of sharing general history or trivia, something I am useless at unless I can find a clear pattern of association, so I'm spending an inordinate amount of time trying to remember dates, dimensions and other assorted numbers. In previous jobs, I've always been caught out unable to remember specific targets on the spot, so I'm trying to stay positive and hope that it might help me develop a better system for remembering numbers. :o~ I'm trying to resist the temptation to offer to do an analysis on the business, cos I'm not convinced it would be welcome if uninvited, but it's so easy to spot potential areas for improvement on first encounters.
But brain frying aside, it's so very lovely to be wearing summer clothes again, particularly knowing that it's winter. I can't imagine what it's like here in summer and am reticent to find out first hand, but all going well by then we'll be heading in the direction of Tassie. Hmm.. now if I got rid of some winter clothes, I could probably fit a lot more summer things in...
We both passed our driving tests and have also been authorised to take passengers. Woohoo! We now both feel confident doing the sugar mill tours and will probably only do one more of our respective day tours before we do them on our own. I will be doing the city tours and Bryn has two tours, cos he's got a bigger brain, which are to Cape Hillsborough to see wallabies on the beach and Eungela Rainforest for platypus spotting. Sadly I won't be able to tag along and see him do his best David Attenborough, as I'll be working myself, so I'll have to imagine it along with you.
Unfortunately, to be a knowledgeable guide you need to memorise a huge amount of figures if you are to have any chance of sharing general history or trivia, something I am useless at unless I can find a clear pattern of association, so I'm spending an inordinate amount of time trying to remember dates, dimensions and other assorted numbers. In previous jobs, I've always been caught out unable to remember specific targets on the spot, so I'm trying to stay positive and hope that it might help me develop a better system for remembering numbers. :o~ I'm trying to resist the temptation to offer to do an analysis on the business, cos I'm not convinced it would be welcome if uninvited, but it's so easy to spot potential areas for improvement on first encounters.
But brain frying aside, it's so very lovely to be wearing summer clothes again, particularly knowing that it's winter. I can't imagine what it's like here in summer and am reticent to find out first hand, but all going well by then we'll be heading in the direction of Tassie. Hmm.. now if I got rid of some winter clothes, I could probably fit a lot more summer things in...
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