The Adventure goes on!

Back to blighty!

2010-07-23T19:07:00.002+10:00

Back to the U.K. and very thankful for the lovely summer. With Sis's wedding approaching fast it's all great fun. Jolly joy joy with a plethora of icing roses for the wedding cake and over a hundred daisies for cup cakes! Can't wait roll on the big day.

Testing out the wedding suit, yes those are flared trousers!! Retro suits and floral tea cups the order of the day. The beautiful lady trapped between myself and the rather manly car is Lucy.

So a brief and official introduction of Lucy Hedges to the blog. We met in aus but she is from good devon farming stock. Despite both being in the U.K. now which is really wonderful the dream is to click our heals three times and return to Aus (before the winter rolls in!!). So keep an eye on the blog for his and hers skiing bruises!!!

Setting sail

2010-05-06T14:20:00.003+10:00

What better way to relax after a busy weekend skiing than sailing.

Dune jumping!

Washing the sand out!

Captain Tim abandons ship!

Wet and Wild!

2010-05-05T11:47:00.007+10:00

The following is a guide to the subtle and gentle art of bare foot water skiing!

Requirements - a big house, heaps of people, sun, beer, water, jet boat and a complete disregard for self preservation!

Step one - Drive the jet boat at 60km(40mph) with a pole sticking out one side of the boat

Step two - Jump out of boat and delicately place your feet onto the water

Step three - Hold onto the bar and enjoy the serenity

Step four - lower yourself along the rope until you are holding the handle

Step five - known in Aus as a 'Stack' which generates a similar sound to that created when a ute hits a cane toad. It also results in a sensation similar to that of a cane toad being run over.

The photo above was taken as i was performing a rather fine 'stack' note the brave face which blends all the emotions of agony, terror and impending doom (or a small girl crying!)

Step six - repeat until your injuries leave you incapacitated. Having to sleep on your front due to a slight bruising of the rump in a small price to pay for so much fun!!!

Hatchery building

2010-02-10T02:46:00.004+10:00

With the increases in production and all the development with our pond management our poor little hatchery has been left behind. It's time for a serious expansion. The first task is thirteen 95,000 litre tanks. They are nine meters in diameter and will be covered with two polly tunnels.
The end of the tunnels have been modified into domes earning it the nic-name of the eden project! The guy in the middle is leveling the base for the tank.
Two tanks in twelve to go - Oh boy!
Tank number four being constructed. To give you an idea of scale two guys can be seen working on the liner in the tank on the left.

Zimbabwe for festive fun

2010-01-03T03:51:00.006+10:00

Christmas day started chasing the monkeys away from the house. Primate paintball is seriously fun!

With the sun blazing a white Christmas was out so a boxing day in whites would have to do. The Zimbos are very big on health and safety. The on pitch first aid bag made very regular trips to the bar to check all supplies were complete!

What fish farmers holiday would be complete without a fishing trip. So at three in the morning we picked our heavy heads up and headed to Darwindale Dam (first aid treatment can result in heavy head syndrome). It was my first time to try my hand catching a Larger Mouth Bass. My first ever Bass was a trophy monster weighing in at 4kg (8.5lbs)

No prizes for guessing why they are called large mouth bass!

Hot Hot Hot

2009-12-22T01:59:00.000+10:00

Fly fishing in the evening a great way to end a day out in the sun. I have a good old farmers tan you can just see the tan line at the base of the neck - if you look really carfully!

What do fish farmers do on holiday?

2009-10-15T20:57:00.002+10:00

They go fishing. Lots of fun and lots of fish so it's Trout for every meal!

It's a lot of water!

2009-10-15T20:36:00.003+10:00

Three pumps running for two weeks and the gravel pit is finally full it took a while seeing that it is four and a half meters deep! I have connected my old pond to the gravel pit so I can swim right up to my front door. Swimming every lunch and evening is a must with the glorious Oct weather.

The original pond as viewed from the man made mountain is now linked to the new pond via a channel to the left of the above pic and middle of the bottom pic.

To give you an idea of size you can see Terry swimming - he's the little blob on the right!

Lady of the lake - Zambian style!!

Flooding the Gravel pit

2009-09-23T03:58:00.003+10:00

The empty gravel pit before filling started it should be about fifteen feet deep when filled.

Pool party! It's great to swim in just takes a while to do a lap!

Little fishy

2009-09-05T04:05:00.003+10:00

One of our four hundred pet carp who we love, water and feed excessively!

This fish was ten kilos I wonder how big we can get them! One things for sure we will need a bigger landing net!

Zimbabwe - Kariba it’s a really big puddle!

2009-09-05T03:27:00.004+10:00

Seven people on a big house boat with two small fishing boats, hippo, elephants, ridiculous numbers of crocs all made for a great fishing adventure.

The cabins were all abandoned and we slept on the top deck under the stars. Four days up with the sun and fishing until the sun set over the lake. The trees still standing fifty year after the dam wall was built.

Farther & fish

2009-08-04T03:34:00.003+10:00

The great Zambezi fishing trip starts

Dad starts small!

Then lands this really good five and a half pound Tiger! A great fight and excellent catch.

Doug then not to be out done in the last half hour of the fishing trip hooked into this monster. At fourteen and a half ponds it's the biggest fish for two years in the lower Zambezi area! It was towing the boat and took a very tense quarter of an hour to bring it onto the boat. We released it to fight another day - what a trip, what a fish.

Flat Dogs

2009-08-04T03:25:00.003+10:00

Just another day at the office with this 3.5m guest

Once I caught a fish alive...

2009-07-23T04:35:00.005+10:00

On one of our commercial ponds - what cheating you say - bar humbug!

Out on the river.

Dad = seven yellow belly

Son = one yellow belly hmmmm............

Carp on the fly rod it's not conventional but it's fun!

Some nice cats.

One last chance before the sun sets. Dad is off training for a week then returns, we might do some fishing!

A joyfull splash!

2009-06-25T02:22:00.004+10:00

Could not resist letting everyone know little sister missed the bridge. We were having a fire on the island and roasting some fish as is the custom in these parts. It was early evening and the moon had not risen so it was really really dark. Joy said i'm going to pop back to the house over the bridge" Terry said " good luck with that" Two seconds later we herd a splash and Joy was gone. We jumped up and were peering down at the water by the time sister rose to the surface in fits of giggles " It's so deep I didn't even touch the bottom - hee hee!" It transpired that little sister had not faller off the bridge but missed the bridge completely!

Gravel and the Green Giants

2009-06-21T02:56:00.003+10:00

The gravel pit (managers fishing spot) is full steam ahead. The development wing of the Zambian army have arrived with lots of serious toys to fix up our roads.

Day one at the gravel pit looking from my house. Day three and it's looking good my house can be seen behind the machines!

Magnificent men and their flying machines.

2009-06-18T03:14:00.002+10:00

When deciding where to build new ponds why not take to the air!
We have over a hundred ponds produced over five hundred tons and sell everything threw one shop who keep asking us to double production so we better build some more ponds. The Kafue river runs along the farm boundary the lagoons on the other side of the river you can see one of the many lagoons. It is the middle of the dry season the last rain was in march and it will not rain again until Nov hence it's dry!

My house is the one on the right you can see my pond the island and the bridge. The big hole which is rapidly expanding is the gravel pit you can see a tractor and trailer parked in the middle. At least it gives you and idea about the size the new pond will be!The farm as viewed from the east my house is just out of shot on the right you can see a little brown bit one pond in that's the gravel pit. You can't see from this height but on the left in the green reeds below the ponds is a huge croc!

Baby Elephant gets stuck again!

2009-05-20T03:38:00.004+10:00

Our little excavator know as the baby elephant once again gets stuck. Overhauling the farms drainage has been no easy task and has resulted in many a sinking feeling.

This was a particularly exciting game of stuck in the mud as the machine was sinking so fast we put in two pumps to try and remove the water but as it got deeper we had to remove the battery and the only possibility was our new big toy which we only took out the box last month. I had to walk the big excavator along some very thin pond banks which were collapsing under the weight and across a papyrus swamp at one point It got so deep I had to use my feet to stop mud coming in the door! The baby elephant was lifted out and lives after some tender loving care.

Another example of "I'm falling, I'm Falling - can't let go - really don't want to be here!"

Going Bannanas!

2009-05-20T03:31:00.002+10:00

The first fruits of my green fingered gardening around my pond.

Check out my Gravel Pit!

2009-05-13T02:35:00.003+10:00

Beat this Gardeners world!

I am conducting some landscaping of the back garden involving a D7 Dozer with ripper, two excavators and several tractors and tipper trailers.

The aim is to remove a few thousand tons of gravel to overhaul our roads and supply multiple building project. The resulting hole will be about twelve feet deep and big! It just so happens that the gravel extraction is just off to the side of my house and pond. Come November the wall between my pond and the gravel pit will be removed resulting in a rather serious pond extension.

Back in Zambia

2009-04-05T03:18:00.004+10:00

The arrival back from Aus was great all was dry and looking promising. A grave error of judgment on my part as we then had nine inches of rain in a few days. The rainy season lived up to it’s name.

Riding my bike with obligatory umbrella down the road or should I say river! This is where we had a croc swimming up the road last year.

At least we could fish from the veranda!
Terry (my partner in crime on the fish farm) and his cousin taking up position for some serious fishing.

Fishing again on a very nice boat a few hours upstream from our farm produced some fantastic fish. The photo shows how small he river is, we are in the middle!

Down on the Zambezi trying our luck with the tigers, Terry left, Doug on the right and Terry’s mum surveying the intrepid anglers.

Our finest catch!!! The trouble with photos is you can't lie about size!

Barra, Cars and wake boards.

2009-02-26T12:12:00.004+10:00

The great Aussie Barramundi are really easy to catch every cast lands a fish -forget oceans and rivers it's a lot more fun if you fish on a fish farm!

What happens if you a child's ride on Action Man electric car with a top speed of 4km an hour and squeeze in a nice big Honda engine in? You crash at speeds up to 60km an hour, cool !

This is perhaps the most insane mode of transport I have ever tried to ride. First off Dan did a demonstration hurtling along the pond banks bouncing in the air with a trail of dust and stones before a slight miss calculation caused him to end up on two wheels around a corner and come flying off. Well I had been threw all the safely brief - "she's pretty wild mate,don't come off!"

The clutch in on a switch so it is on or off, forget gently letting the clutch out! I turned up the revs switch the clutch on an before I new It I was flying along on the pond bank on two wheels with the front wheels in the air. Flicking the clutch off brought the front wheels down so I hit the switch again and was once again looking at the clouds. I made it about thirty meters on the back wheels leaning forward trying to get the front onto the ground before a corner. Then due to a slight bout of extreme terror my clenched hands were left holding a little plastic steering wheel which was no longer attached to the car. At that point I came flying off the back skidding along the gravel. Dan came running over to me as I lay wide eyed, white knuckled and still clenching the steering wheel - "That was awesome, Mate"
Post crash reconstruction - don't try this at home kids!

At the cable ski park waiting to be pulled violently from the edge. If you survive the start you then fly across the water around a lake being pulled by an overhead cable until you hit a ramp fly into the air smash into the water face first. By some complete fluke and of course a lot of skill I even landed a jump and kept on going, much to the disappointment of the onlookers who really enjoyed my "stack it" technique! I am limping about today like a cripple and everything aches but it was fantastic fun.

Sun, sea and sand

2009-02-23T09:27:00.002+10:00

Sailing in a lagoon with the cousins whilst staying on the sunshine coast.

Beach bum!

Down Under.

2009-02-16T13:35:00.003+10:00

Greetings from Aus, life here is awesome its great catching up with old friends. I arrived the day before I turned thirty - just in time for cake!

Uni friend Tim and his boat. As we left the marina the radio chirped up " this is the Queensland Coast Guard with a sever weather warning" it was a little windy but lots of fun can't wait to get back out.

Cricket may have been rained off just as it was getting good, at least the bar stayed open.

Big cats!

2009-02-03T04:24:00.002+10:00

Big barbel in the drains around the ponds make for a good fight. When you have spent a busy day fishing what better way to unwind but by going fishing!

In the pond lurk monsters!!!

2009-01-16T04:15:00.003+10:00

Drawn to the surface by the lure of pellets the carp cruise as pellet hoovers!!

Give us a kiss!!

The next generation of pellet thiefs.

2008-12-19T03:21:00.004+10:00

Picture left we have Yama an elderly lechwe rescued from a poachers camp many years ago. Right we have Yama's daughter and then the new arrival in the middle, Yama's gran daughter. The Lechwe live on the pond bank and are very tame. Yama is showing the others how to steal her favorite food - fish pellets!

Cousins

2008-12-17T05:16:00.004+10:00

The Ausies cousins do Zambia with a flurry of driving, motobike riding, boating, fishing and fishing! Jonathan was the first man in the pond commonly know as croc bait. When he was not eaten we joined him for a cooling dip.

Lessons in fish farming - big fish, big hat and big grin.

Anna keeps a keen lookout for whats infront as she learns to drive Jonathan flys by on the motobike.

Fine fishing on the pond at my house Anna shows the boys how it's done.

Hammer head birdies!

2008-11-29T03:38:00.004+10:00

This is one of five tame Hamerkop birds. They are second generation being hand raised on the farm. Their parents fell out of the nest above the swimming pool and have always lived on the farm. These five we rescued and now live in the back garden with their own paddling pool with a plentiful supply of fish.

As you can see in the pic it did not take the cunning and rather lazy birds long to figure out if you stand on the edge and let all the water out the fish are much easier to catch! The birds all set out at dawn to hunt fish on a fish farm. Hunting fish on a fish farm with over two million fish must be hard work as they return for elevenses to find a paddling pool full of bite size fish.

Green fingers

2008-10-29T03:59:00.002+10:00

It’s nice and hot here but the rains loom and we will soon turn from a dust bowl to swamp. I have been investing a lot of time in my garden planting bananas, guavas, paw-paw, pumpkins, flowers and tomatoes. My strategy has been to plant as many as possible and hope some make it past the chomping jaws of the game animals.

I have been adopted by an orphan Puku named Gorgeous who is a great fan of my plants.

Gorgeous likes to rest on the banks of my pond and is quite tame. Even sitting down a few meters from me to watch as I ate lunch today.

I have also been invaed by fifty weaver birds move in to a tree hanging over the water building their strange hanging homes.

Below is a pic of the new pond we have put is as our personal fishing spot. We also put in a few ponds to get some fish to sell but they are not nearly as important as our fishing pond!

Tiger

2008-09-24T04:08:00.002+10:00

The Might Zambezi the might Tiger fish and the Mighty fisherman!

BBQ time!

2008-08-27T03:53:00.001+10:00

I could have been a vegetarian!

Lake Somba

2008-08-11T04:12:00.003+10:00

Lake Somba (means fish!) is coming to life now with fifteen huge carp now calling it home. This is Douglas and his fine catch Tank (yes all the fish have names!)the Full scale carp.

The bridge to the island only just fitted it's a bit safer than walking the plank. I wait excitedly to see who will be the first to fall in from the bridge! I have been plying all guests with as much wobble juice as possible - it only a matter of time!

We have christened the island with it's first evening of BBQ fish, fire and booze. May it be the first of many.

I am now a multi millionaire (Kwatcha!) with my own private island!

I like cats.

2008-07-27T04:40:00.003+10:00

The african catfish or barbel grow to pretty impresinve sizes. This lady was from one of our ponds we keep them with Tilapia as make all the baby fish disapear!

This little fishy!

2008-07-22T03:46:00.003+10:00

My pond is full of water so it's time to add fish. The fish in the picture is Harry the carp named after the fine angler who landed him with his trusty accomplice Doug.

The guys decided to get into the pond and release the fish and got a bit a shock when they found they had no chance of touching the bottom!

The Mighty Zambezi

2008-07-13T04:28:00.002+10:00

Six guys, six rods and five days on the mighty Zambezi. A recipe for some serious fun. The Zambezi is home of the tiger fish, if you can’t figure out why it’s called a tiger the clue’s in the picture below!

Between fishing trips we also managed to check out some game animals with a great pride of lion resting in the heat of the day down by the water.

The elephants come down to the waters edge to drink in big numbers. Hippo are everywhere and crocs are cruising about. The Zambezi is massive I will never be able to take the Thames seriously again.

Home sweet Home

2008-06-27T04:39:00.004+10:00

I have been busy putting in a little pond in the back garden. The area on the left is an island bbq area you can just see the log being used as a temporary bridge. The area where the photo was taken has disappeared now. The holes with water in are eighteen feet deep! Yes I might be getting carried away with the big yellow digger but boys will be boys!

Thief in the night!

2008-04-25T03:02:00.004+10:00

May I introduce Pastor Paul! This guy was caught red handed last night trying to steal a bike. It would have been bicycle number eight along with many other missing items. Luckily some of the staff spotted him and gave chase subdued him and tied him up. When we got to the police station they recognised him as a known chicken rustler. Today the police went to his house and found pots and pans linking him to earlier crimes here at Kafue Fisheries. The police have been very good and are now conducting an intense interrogation to find the full story. It was funny he is a pastor of his local church - guess he needed to top up the collection plate!

It's been a while.

2008-04-23T03:20:00.003+10:00

To catch up on the gap -

I went to England to celebrate Big Brother wedding. An absolutely fantastically amazing day.

Back to Zambia to find the rains have stopped but to my horror the river level is horrendously high. Some of the ponds had wire mesh along the banks as the river level was higher than the pond walls so the fish could have swum away! Above is the truck turning circle at the pump houses. The road was four feet under water!

I managed to get ill but took lots of drugs and got better!

The demand for fish is mind blowing we are selling over fourteen tons a week at the moment through one shop the size of a single garage. We can deliver three tons in a day and that will be gone in a few hours! Even pushed up the price to slow things up but they keep coming.

Better make it snappy if you want to spend a penny!!

2008-02-04T03:21:00.000+10:00

This curvey lady has been loitering around the loos! The guys were finding it a bit off putting so we had to trap her and send her off to breed at the croc farm. One of the night watchmen went to the toilet and found her waiting for him on the path when he had finished. He returned to the toilet for several hours!

Rain Rain go away!!

2008-01-21T01:41:00.000+10:00

You may be aware that southern Africa has had a little rain. Here has been quite something. The water was right up to the veranda of the house. The upshot of this is that I was able to fish from the veranda and caught twenty six catfish between one and two foot in length from the lawn. It has put the farm into survival mode as everything is a little difficult when you wading of sliding in mud to get anywhere.

The slightly aquatic path to the office.

Fishing over the lawn - well croquet was out!
The horses paddock good thing they have long legs!
The front of the Flynns house.
The water at the veranda when it was receding as least we don't have to irrigate the lawn!

Life in the flood plane!

2008-01-03T05:03:00.000+10:00

Happy Christmas and new years greetings to all. To re-cap on life here it's pretty much been farming pigs and fish. This months challenge was a record rainfall in December of thirteen and a half inches. Believe me that is a lot when you live a flood plane that's as flat as a billiard table. The paths have degraded into a soggy quagmire. Bellow is a picture of one of the roads on the game farm.

Cyril

2007-12-05T02:51:00.000+10:00

Cyril the serval is doing well. He continues to grow a quite a slow rate when you see the number of birds and fish he is fed. He has a bit of an attitude on him and don't be fooled by the picture he is often far from cute. We have a large number of serval living on the farm and they are very skilled when it comes to stealing fish.

Big Buffalo, Big Crocs and a little Mummy!

2007-11-26T02:12:00.000+10:00

Mothers second visit to Zambia turned out to be quite an epic one. Mum came to stay for a few days after spending some time doing good stuff in Zambia. We spent the first day on the fish farm which worked out nicely as a giraffe was born that day. It's quite something to see a six foot animal and think it has only just arrived. It has a gorgeous cream and yellow coat with a comic mohecian.

Then much to mums delight I whisked her off to Lake Kariba and a 60000 crocodile farm. We are thinking about starting a crocodile farm here so I went to see how it was done. The crocodile farm is situated on the lake shore and has a guest lodge with a pools and bar. As I walked up to the bar I met one of the very few people out here. Ian Parsons the vet who does game capture and the helicopter pilot. My self and Douglas Flynn quickly volunteered our services. So the next morning the chopper gave everyone a nice five am alarm call. Myself and mum squeezed in with the pilot, mother opted for the middle seat not liking the window seat as there were no doors! As we flew over the lake and islands we saw elephants and other wildlife. The helicopter then hurded the buffalo into the boma on the island. The buffalo were left until the next day as it is dangerous to dart them with full rumens.

Fourteen of the buffalo were darted and then stretched down the the beach. I had to pull out the tongs and turn the buffalo every ten minutes. The drug M99(it is 99 times the strength of heroine!) causes salivation on a grand scare so you have to ensure they don't drown on their own saliva. The buffalo were then stretchered out to the boats and the one and a half hour boat trip began. The turning continued the whole way and some had to be injected to keep then sedated. The prospect of an angry Buffalo on a boat is not a good one.

The buffalo were transferred to a special truck and given the antidote before starting their long journey to a national park in the western province.

Mum then came for a brief croc farm tour and was not so impressed to see the owner was missing a finger or two! The croc farm was amazing to see especially the breeding stock, over a thousand very big crocs are quite a sight.

Yes Mum it's another dead thing!

2007-10-31T03:18:00.000+10:00

Despite motherly complaints about the number of entries on the blog featuring African wildlife that has shuffled (or been pushed!) of this mortal coil I thought you should see this. This male bush buck was about five years old.

P.S. Dad - Totally smoked this chap lung shot with the triple two he didn't make it twenty yards. He was in fantastic condition and a nice trophy. I shot him from the top of the Land cruiser a few hundred yards from the house. When you going to come play bang bang?

Fish, Hippo and the Boys!

2007-10-15T04:37:00.000+10:00

Kawala wild life camp is situated in the Kafue national park which on all accounts large. It is large than Wales! I went for two days with Fergus the farms general manager and his son Douglas. We had some great fishing and dined like kings from the river.

I had taken an aerated tank to bring fish back for the fish tank. The staff who were worked at the camp were in fits of laughter watching us catching all the small fish and getting frantically excited about new species of catfish for the tank. The staff were most bemused as "you can't eat the little ones they are useless"

The Hippo were fantastic and in great numbers. It added a bit of a buzz to the fishing trip having the three ton residents to contend with. We only saw one big croc and a load of little fellows but it did make you a little nervous when getting into the water!
The game viewing was really great on the way to the camp we saw both Lion and Leopard. We had Hippo walking around the camp at night. All in all a fantastic trip and all are welcome to join me next time.

Willy the Wildebeast!

2007-10-15T03:03:00.000+10:00

Ladies and gentle men may I introduce to you William (Willy) the wildebeest. This fine young man was abandoned by his useless mother. He followed one of the game guards all the way to the house. He is incredibly friendly following everyone around and will lie down if you do.
William joins the pack of motley hounds and Cyril the Serval!! The house staff have said they will resign if we bring any more animals home. Just wait for Humphrey the Hippo to hit the Blog!William showing of and running around the garden. He is sleeping in the stable with the horses and is no doubt going threw a slight identity crises- horse, dog, human, cat what am I????

Big Bird!

2007-10-01T04:52:00.000+10:00

A large flock of spurwing geese have been feeding on our flood plane so we decided to charge rent! I took out a fantastic huge guy and then another young one. There are plenty more birds and lots and lots of hungry staff!

Smile for the Camera!

2007-09-24T02:46:00.000+10:00

Another day on the river, it's a hard life in Africa! I caught this guy on the river outside our farm. He weighed in at a fantastic 1.9kg (over four pounds for the old folk!). The three of us on the boat caught six more although they were not so grand. Have no fear the catch was celebrated with great gusto under the African midday sun resulting in some wobbly boating and random casting!!

Dogs, Zoo's and crocs.

2007-09-09T03:40:00.000+10:00

Great news the wild dog has been eating at the zoo so things are looking very hopeful. It's been a busy few days as we have also caught the croc that got away last time. The same rope around the neck trick was used but this time it worked (bigger rope!).

Every dog has it's day!

2007-09-07T03:49:00.000+10:00

Finally I am very very relieved to say the wild dog is off the property. It leaves a trail of death and chaos. We had been trying to lure it into range of the vet's dart gun by playing the chattering call of wild dogs. To do this we drove around the farm at night parked and played the call at high volume on a loop then waited. This technique works well for Hyena but only resulted in sleep deprivation and a wish to never hear the call of a wild dog again.

The first night was totally fruitless and to add insult to injury we found a dead animal in the morning. We were going to try again but thought it wise to drive around the property trying to find footprints which might narrow our search. Rounding a corner early evening we did better than footprints we found the remains of a Puku. The wild dog was sleeping off it's huge meal in the grass.

So began an epic chase. Wild dogs must at some point in life have worked out the range of a dart gun. We played the game of you move forward it moves you stop it stops. The chase involved two 4x4's trying to herd the dog into range. After several hours of this game we had driven threw woods open plane's and were on the edge of an open area which had recently been burnt. We were ready to give up as soon as the dog entered the long grass. Then as all hope was fading the dog ran along the edge of the grass towards the vet's vehicle. The wild dog paused to take one last look at the strange things that has followed it all evening. Ian Parsons the vet shot from the drivers seat backwards and the dart struck home.

The picture shows the wild dog just after it had been darted. It is quite eary as she is still awake with eyes moving and sneezing but immobilised. We transfered her to a create with bedding and water and she is now being housed at a zoo and will be moved to a national park in the south of the country after a few months.

She may be one of only a few thousand remaining, beautiful, graceful, and a highly tuned hunted but good riddance to her.

Cyril.

2007-09-07T02:58:00.000+10:00

Cyril is getting growing quickly but he should be when you consider the volume of milk we are pumping into him. Cyril is fed by putting a finger into his mouth so he suckles and then squirting a mix of baby milk and egg into the corner of his mouth. He wont suck from a rubber dumby probably because of the texture. This technique is going to have to be abandoned soon as his claws and teeth are getting sharper every day.

Baldrick the Bull

2007-08-27T03:13:00.000+10:00

Ladies and gentlemen may i proudly introduce you to Baldrick the bull. He is two and a half years old three quarters aberdeen angus and one quarter sussex. He weighs in at fourhundred and forty kilos. He has joined the ten ladies we have now had for a few months. We will have a total of twenty five cattle this year but just wait to see next year!!! The below are a few of his girlfriends it's going to be an interesting genetic blend!

Cyril the Serval

2007-08-22T05:06:00.000+10:00

This fantastic young fella is Cyril the Serval cat. He was found by one of the guys on the farm whilst cutting grass. He has been drinking milk and is growing rapidly. He is not very steady on his pins but is learning fast. Cyril is destined to grow to average dog size - will be interesting.

Moby Dick!

2007-08-09T04:56:00.000+10:00

This Carp weighed in at twelve kilos. At one point the farm also produced Carp but found the Tilapia were more popular and easier. This monster was in one the commercial ponds and gave us quite a shock when we caught him this morning.

One mean piggy!

2007-08-08T05:01:00.000+10:00

This is a fantastic male African bush pig. He has tusks that could split you open were to get on the wrong side of him. Many dogs in Africa have met their maker on the end of a bush pigs tusks. He had entered the farm a few months ago but was not well we think it was old age. Ginger Mahican topped with a white crest now that's a hair style of the eighties!

Game on.

2007-07-29T05:51:00.000+10:00

Every second year we run a game capture to reduce the number of animals on the game farm. Put simply all you do is decide how many of each species you need remove also what gender and size you want to take off. Sounds simple.

A helicopter is used to herd the animals towards a boma. The boma is set up in a woodland thicket. Large karky tarpaulin walls are set up in a big v shape. At the point of the V is a truck. The animals are herded by the helicopter into the mouth of the boma the mouth is very wide and the curtains are concealed by the trees so the animals don’t even know they are entering our cunning trap! Once the animals have passed the mouth of the boma the helicopter sounds a siren then several people run flat out pulling a curtain wall across the mouth. The helicopter gives the animals a hard time so they move further towards the point of the V and the waiting truck.

The Zambian riot squad persuading the Wildebeast to go up the ramp and into the truck. Note my brave position - up a tree!

The wildebeast finally relented and entered the truck. The curtain wall of the Boma behind two young Eland. Eland are capable of jumping the curtain. it's not too advisable to stand close to the outside of the Boma in case it starts raining Eland. A total of four curtains are pulled across the boams to force the animals into a smaller and smaller area.

I was on the last curtain before the truck. It was only about fifteen meters across. When pulling the curtain you have to run flat out. If you saunter across the animals will see the closing gap and run for it. The four Eland in the pic below decided to charge towards me. I must confess to giving up on the man option and singed up as a mouse. Having these guys running towards me certainly was exciting!!!! They turned away about two meters from my ashen and shaking form.

The first animals in were the Zebras and they are a nightmare as they seriously kick. They also bark like dogs. We had to use the dark gun on a very young zebra when we brought it in. he then got his own executive crate. The Zebra looked spectacular when you opened the hatch on the top of the truck to a black and white striped extravaganza.
The most fun was the last group of animals we caught the Tsesebe. They were herded to the mouth of the Boama then the side of the boma was opened. Seeing the open bush they make a break for it. They then run into a large net getting tangled. As soon as they hit the net everyone jumps out from the hiding positions and grabs the horns of the tsesebe. Once they have been blindfolded they calm right down and stop struggling. So with adrenaline pumping and an instruction lesson of - animal hits net, grab by horns, blindfold, vet sedates animal and puts rubber on the horns so as to make them less pointy. So as soon as they hit I sprinted up to the nearest one. I had managed to find one of the larger animals grappling with it I cast a glance over my shoulder to find the other guys had opted for a speed slightly below that of mine! It was quite amazing to see how the animals gave up the struggle as soon as the blindfold went on. Sorry I was a bit to busy to get a photo!

This young water buck looks a bit confused about the concept of helicopters and truck. I have now developed an awesome respect for the man who pulled off the most epic of game captures, Noah. Two by two the greatest miracle of all!!

One little dog!

2007-07-29T04:51:00.000+10:00

Well sadly the pack of wild dogs moved on leaving their mate behind. We now have one little dog who is one great big headache. He is killing and upsetting the all the animals. We have tried to dart him from the ground and even the helicopter with no success. Wild dogs will only eat meat they kill so we can't leave a drug laced piece of meat out for him. Being out of ideas we are hoping he will evaporate if we ignore him!

Wild Dogs and English men go out in the mid day sun!

2007-07-08T03:30:00.000+10:00

Well it's one to the wild dogs and nil to the humans! They are still at large and have not been too bad over the past few days. I saw one early morning strutting around and ignoring the big holes in the fence for them to leave by. They have a most peculiar call which sounds like a bird.

Wild Dogs

2007-07-06T05:54:00.000+10:00

We have a fantastic nightmare on our hands. Last night a pack of six African Wild dogs entered our farm. They are the second most endangered carnivore with a population of only three thousand. We just saw them tonight with the spotlight. Their Latin name means Painted Dog, as you can see from the picture it is an apt name. They are beautiful and amazing to watch making a greyhound look as if it has two left feet they almost float across the ground when they run. This is the first time they have ever come to this farm. The mayor problem is that they are long distance hunters who will case prey over huge distances. They can reach speeds of forty five miles per hour. They have already chased our game into the fence and lots of the animals are very spooked. We have two vet in with a dart gun so we can catch them and relocate them. There are very few areas where they can live as they require huge territories to hunt.

As Fergus put it "they are beautiful and you just can't help admiring them but give me a lion any day they are a nightmare for the game" I will keep you posted on how we go and where they are going to be move to. I hope to get some pictures in the next few days but for now you will have to live with picks off the web.

The 'last' day of the Jackal.

2007-07-05T05:46:00.000+10:00

Life in Africa is just fine and dandy. The pigs and fish are rolling out the front gate by the truck load.

The Shooting has been going well now I've had a little more practice. I have just been out with Fergus shooting at the top end of the farm on the most wonderful African evening. The twisted trees marked against the red hues of the setting sun. I was lost in the great simplicity of my mind which faced with a sight of such beauty grinds to a pleasant halt. When we rounded a corner, looking straight at us was an animal with a foxes head a dog's body and an overgrown squirels tail. I had come to the incorrect guess of "what a nice doggy" when a command rose from the drivers seat in no uncertain terms "In The Head". I dropped onto the sight and pulled it abligingly dropped dead. I stood up and as we drove up to it i bore my ignorance on my sleeve "Ah, what is it?" It was a jackal. Jackals are very bad news for the game animals and they can carry rabies. It had been suspected that one had entered our farm as foot prints had been seen.

So what have I learnt about conservation today - well that some animals can be very destructive and transmit disease. I can also deduce that as I do not know all species I encounter it is better to shoot first ask questions later. This way we can eradicate feral and pest species but if it turns out to be rare shooting it will make positive identification easyier.

four and twenty black (with white spots!) birds baked in a pie!

2007-06-26T03:15:00.000+10:00

Well it finally happened I started hitting the birds and not just making noise. Shooting the Guinea foul and Franklin on the farm is an after work form of relaxation and protein provision for the staff. Since I've been involved it's been source of frustration, lean times for the staff and escalation bird populations. The farm has a huge number of Guinea foul with two to three thousand milling about. Fergus was driving and I stand on the back using the cab roof to steady the rifel. Todays harvest was four Guinea and two Franklin. I know six out of three thousand is not the best percentage but I was chuffed.

The birds will be presented to the guys digging our new ponds tomorrow. At least we have ensured the Bull dozers and excavators will keep hurtling around cloaked in huge atomic like plumes of dust.

African Beasties.

2007-06-20T05:40:00.000+10:00

Our family of long necked Hippo happily munching on a tree. The names of all the African wildlife can be confusing but I have picked it up in no time. In fact I am almost a fully fledged game warden. Below one of our fine African stripped Lion - a ferocious beast.

Big little fella!

2007-06-05T05:38:00.000+10:00

Just wanted to show you a pic one of the little fellows running around here. This four year old male was shot by a friend of the farm. The Eland needed to be culled as we have too many young males of this age. When the dominant male dies (normal cause of death American hunter!) one of the younger males will rapidly gain weight until he is about one third bigger than the fellow in the photo. I am the one bravely grappling with the horns and the other guys are game farm employees.

Mother and son!

2007-05-29T04:12:00.000+10:00

It's been just wonderful having Mum out visiting. We had a lovely time walking and driving around the game farm. My Mum is now fully versed in the husbandry of fish and pigs.
Mum relaxing as we cruise the river.

Two of the four strong pack of dogs helping with the driving!

Crocs up close!

2007-05-18T06:12:00.000+10:00

It was early afternoon when Erick and I were walking along the pond banks next to the flood plane. When there sunbathing on the pond bank was an old friend but not a welcome one. A seven foot crocodile has been living in the ponds for over a year now. Douglas and Erick had trapped him some time ago. As he was small at the time they did not wanting to kill him so they took him in the boat upstream. They span the boat around in circles whilst his head was covered to disorientate him. They released him and triumphantly returned thinking that they had restored peace of mind to the farms staff and allowed croc to enjoy a new life.

It was only a matter of days before the crocodile had indignantly returned to the same pond. Now he is too smart for the trap. We tried one night to catch him with the professionals but he outsmarted us when equipped with a boat and harpoons.

Living on a ready supply of fresh fish he has grown quickly to his current seven feet. I slowly approached the crocodile as he bathed in the afternoon sun. After about ten minutes I was standing quietly less than his body length from him. It was an amazing privilege to standing and watching a wild animal so closely. I stood watching for over half an hour as he became more used to me he lowered his head and dozed even closing his eyes at times. We then got a rope and a pole tying a loop on the end of the pole Erick lowered the rope towards his head. The aim was to get the rope around his neck as we had done in the cage captures let him into the water to tire and then pull him back onto the bank. I did not thinks he we would get the rope anywhere near his head expecting that the crocodile would head into the water as soon as we moved this strange thing towards him.

Slowly the loop of rope was drawn along the ground towards the crocodiles head. He did not move or react in any way. With his head on the ground it was impossible to get the rope onto his head. We used the stick to gently tap the hack of the crocs head. It was at this moment when it all seemed so logical and sensible that I had a moment of clarity. Here I was standing in Africa seven feet from an amazingly effective and potentially lethal predator banging it on the head with a stick. My mother will be pleased to read of my sudden bout of clear thinking and wisdom. Fear not the moment passed and I continued hitting the croc with a stick. In the blink of an eye he was raised up on his front legs head turned towards us and with his very impressive dentures on display.

This was all very exciting and played into our hands well. Erick moved along the bank right beside the croc on his hands and knees just by the water line as not to intimidate the croc. When Erick was behind the croc he was able to pull the rope securely over the head. Erick crawled back along the bank and we had the croc roped. The Croc remained dead still throughout with his head held high. Only occasionally would he let out a slight hiss to indicate his annoyance.

We had done it. I never thought it would have worked but we stood with a crocodile on a lead. Now we wanted him to cool off and burn off some energy before we were going to sit on him and tie him up. We threw several stones at his tail before he explosively flew from the bank into the water with terrifying speed. In the water he thrashed wildly about doing death rolls and spinning in circles. Then our hearts sank as the rope went slack. With his razor sharp teeth the rope has been cut. All the hard work had been done and then we were let down by a rope AHHHHH! The great worry was that the croc would drown or be strangled by the rope but one of the fish feeders saw him today as he slipped into a pond.

So we have tried traps, ropes, boats and harpoons with no success. All that remains is the pounce and wrestle technique – watching for the next installment!

Pretty in pink!

2007-05-13T05:36:00.000+10:00

Pigs- we have plenty of pigs! We produce about four thousand a year, that's a lot of bacon sandwiches in anyones book! The pigs don't smell as the pens are washed and swept twice a day very happy about that.

The pigs eat, sleep, eat, eat, sleep, doze, eat, sleep, and then eat. It's a life every couch potato can aspire to. I think the pigs are just comical when they are sleeping. This is for two reasons firstly they love to snuggle up together in a big heap and secondly they snore. Now when I say snore I am talking about a really good belly rumbling snoring. Walking past the pig pens at night is just comic.

Casting off into the blue!

2007-05-02T05:48:00.000+10:00

Just a few pics to show you the size of the Kafue river that passes the farm. The farm is build on the flood plane. Yes I know that sounds like a bad idea but fear not the river level is controlled by hydroelectric dams. I have been out testing the boats with Erick to see which ones would be best for the tourists visiting the lodge to use. The river is just breath taking with a huge grove of palm trees along the opposing bank of the river. If you take the boat threw a small gap in the reeds of only a few meters you end up in a mammoth lagoon behind the palm trees. The picture below is just to give you an idea of the size of the river.The Local fishermen live right on the banks of the river in lovely traditional round houses. The photo below shows one of the houses blending beautifully with the local environment. The fishermen move up and down the river in dug out canoes which are very unstable. Not something I would like to try considering the friendly Croc and Hippo residents.

Shooting babies!!!

2007-04-27T06:00:00.000+10:00

Dindy the Flynn's cook for many years holds the Bush Baby aloft with great jubilation!

The bush baby was in the tree behind my round house. They make and a lot of noise at night, kill large numbers of birds and this one even had the audacity to pull thatch off my house- bad idea.

Bush babies are nocturnal and have quite bat like features. It reminded me of a child's toy as I looked at it threw the sight on the rifle. Fergus held the spotlight and I sent the first shot off over the horizon - not my Fathers son when it comes to being a good shot! Furgus then offered me his shoulder to use as a rest and that did the job. The Bush Baby lifted his little arms to the heavens in slow motion for a maximum effect Hollywood style last breath before slumping off the branch and hitting every branch on the way down. Honestly some dying animals are such drama queens!

Fear not all yee eco tree huggers it was not pure blood sport as Dindy took it off to give to a friend presumably for a slap up meal!

Round house!

2007-04-25T21:01:00.000+10:00

This is the house where I am staying at the moment. As you can see it is a traditional style round house with a lovely thatch roof. It has a bathroom sticking out the back and lots of lovely character. The house i will be moving into is should be finished in June. It is a huge great big place with three bedrooms so I will need lots of guests to fill the rooms! Everyone is very welcome - September is supposed to be the best month as the grass is dried up for good game viewing and it is hot but not silly! This time of year is also very nice but after the rains the grass is on a mission!

A day in the life

2007-04-21T20:57:00.000+10:00

I start work at seven in the morning with a quick trip around the farm checking everything is well and set to harvest. Harvesting begins at eight thirty. About fifteen guys are involved with the harvest. The water level in the pond is lowered to thigh height. A net is then stretched out across the pond and then pulled the entire length of the pond. The lower part of the net is weighed down so it passes along the bottom while floats keep the top of the net on the surface. Between one and two tones are harvested in one pull of the net. We harvest seven to eight tones a week fifty two weeks of the year.

The fish are graded by size, loaded into the truck and arrive in the capital city one and a half hours later.

Lunch is served at twelve and we have until one thirty before work starts again. The afternoon consists of a large range of jobs from office work to checking everything is running well on the farm. At three o’clock Erick (a very nice guy i co-manage with) and I meet with the area managers to check on the following days plan. Work finishes at four thirty and it’s time for tea and cake!

Zambia it's a hard life!

2007-04-13T14:10:00.000+10:00

As you can see from the smile on my face we had an absolutely fantastic time fishing on the Kafue. The Kafue river runs past the farm supplying it’s water and crocs! Doug, Eric and myself set of from the farm just after mid-day. We launched from beside the Kafue bridge which is about half an hour from the farm. Our host and captain for the day was Abe a professional hunter with the most colorful vocabulary you can imagine and the finest advice about women for Doug!

I had a lure in the water for two hours watching Doug pulling fish after fish in. It was just great being on the river in a speed boat (proper toy!) listening to the hippos grunt at you if you get to close. There were some fantastic pike with very formidable teeth. I think Abe was able to well the fish up from the depths with a dedicated and heart felt volley of “You *!^* !*!*’;\** **!!fish!!”

Suddenly Doug struck big and reeled in a half meter yellow belly. We kept trolling along past the same area and it was my turn bringing in two yellow belly the size you can see in the photo. By the end of the day we had an Esky full of fish, all well celebrated with the Mosi Beer! With the sun seting over the river the day could not have been any better.

Croc hunting!

2007-04-05T21:06:00.000+10:00

We have been catching crocs to stop them coming into the ponds. The crocs live in the big river running alongside the farm. The first one we caught was a massive fourteen foot long male. The crocs can swim under the fence at one point where there is a bit of a lagoon. The lagoon area ha a secondary fence as staff were reluctant to use the short cut walkway to the other side of the farm across the lagoon. One part of the fence opens into a large metal cage with a pigs leg hanging at one end. When the croc pulls on the meat the cage door drops. The crocs are not very happy about this so we cover the cage with a tarpaulin to calm them down as they can badly damage themselves in the cage. A local croc farm then comes to help the capture of the croc so they can use them for breeding.

When the croc is in the cage you have to get a rope around it’s neck. That’s not very easy when the croc panics thrashing around wildly. Someone stands on the top of the cage and others use sticks to guide the rope. The fence around the water is pulled away at this point. Once the rope is around the crocs neck the door of the cage is opened and the croc heads into the water. The big male pulled the ten men who were holding the rope along few several meters before he performed a death roll. The death roll is used by the crocs when they are hunting it is basically a very fast repeated roll.

To summaries at this point you have a very large and very angry croc on the end of a piece of rope. The jaws of the croc have not been tide at this point and it is highly unpredictably and dangerous time. The croc is then pulled onto the land. It was very concerning as we were worried that the croc was being strangled by the rope. Once on land a tarpaulin is placed on top of the croc and people sit on top of it. Sounds easy…. With the tarpaulin covering the croc the it's carefully pulled back so the jaws can be tied. And a sack placed over the head. It all becomes a little less tense at this point. The front legs have to be tied up and the tail is also tide to the back legs. It took fifteen men to then lift the croc to the back of the truck. At one point he decided he did not like to be carried and shook off all the carries. The guys from the croc farm pounced straight back on our guys were a little more hesitant! He arrived at his new home in good condition and was even well enough to chase a guy up the wall. That our boy!!

Sexy Lady!!

2007-04-05T20:56:00.000+10:00

What a lovely lady feeding the day before we caught her in the lagoon and then in the cage.

Today we caught another female who was about nine foot in length. Two females had been caught just before I arrived. It was amazing to see the difference in character she was a lot more snappy and panicky. We had real trouble roping her neck as she kept smashing into the bars of the cage hurting herself. It is so horribly sad to see them hurt themselves. The worst moment was when we had the rope on her and were going to open the door and she panicked and got her head stuck in the bars of the cage. Then in a desperate attempt she tried to perform a death roll her body flipped over with her head still in the bars. Fearing she would break her neck Doug (Son of the farms founders) and Eric (Co-fish farm manager) grabbed her mouth and were finally able to free her after some very tense moments. Bolting out the cage and going into another death roll she was too tired to fight much and was quickly pulled onto land. We tied her up but were very worried about her condition. She arrived safely at the croc farm and is doing well.

I made it!!!

2007-04-02T00:27:00.000+10:00

Leaving Brisbane at three in the afternoon I embarked on the quite ludicrous journey to Zambia. I flew to Thailand, Ethiopia then Malawi and finally thirty one hours, six movies, a book and far too many trays of peculiar airplane food later I touched down in Zambia. The customs is Zambia were thankfully so uninterested in what I was doing in Zambia I had no trouble getting in. My work permit had been approved but I did not have any documentation. The farms driver who was picking me up was a little delayed so I had cleared customs before he arrived with the papers. When he did I simply walked back to the immigration desk, try that at Heathrow!

We then ran a few shopping errands in town before setting off to the farm. My first impressions of Zambia are that it is more developed than expected. It reminds me a lot of South Africa. Arriving at the farm just before nightfall I did not see a great deal. The grass is incredibly tall and everything is very lush and green as they are coming out of the rainy season.

I then had dinner with Fergus, Di (Husband and wife management team) and Doug (son at college in the U.K.). I slept from ten until five when thanks to the wonders of jet lag I woke like a jack in the box. Today I will take the grand tour, very exciting.

Driving lessons - Aus Style!

2007-03-26T09:49:00.000+10:00

Sunday morning I want for a very short mountain bike ride up a hill, down the hill over the jumps. The jumps were great fun but I must confess to having bottled out on the largest one. On the way up I had been told as we cycled up the hill “ this jump where Justin broke his collar bone”. It was far to hot to go back up the hill again.
I then had an off-road driving lesson to prepare me for Africa. We started off up some very steep inclines. The technique seems to be more power, more speed and more prayer! We then went for a drive threw some swampy ground. A lot of wheel spinning and throwing around of stinky mud I was out the other side. At this point I thought we were stuck being surrounded by trees. “Were stuck” I said naively “She’ll be right mate, aim for the smallest tree and give it some gas” Dan replied.

Back on the water.

2007-03-26T09:46:00.002+10:00

I contemplate the smoothness of the landing and the volume of water I have just comsumed.

Saturday morning I sat off with Dan to get new toys for the pond. He is now the proud owner of a new knee board. The board was damaged before the end of the day but I think he was pleased. Dan seems to believe that a day on the water is only complete if both equipment and people have suffered minor damage!!

With a new addition to the pond of a home made jump it was going to be a good day. The jump works like this. Sit on kneeboard, aim at ramp, lean back (it’s all in vain but make you feel as if you are doing something), hit ramp, proceed up the ramp and into the air (you have little/no choice at this stage!). Once in the air the rope you are grasping onto becomes your enemy. You start to pivot forward, then with a vain hope that it will all be alright you let go of the rope. The end of the knee board enters the water and stops. You body continues forward at great speed pivoting around the nose of the board until you face gently slams into the water. The people on the boat laugh, cheer, point and always say things like “Wow, he stacked it” as if it’s a surprise! The jump was only successfully cleared about three times during the whole day. It was a fantastic day.

John's party.

2007-03-26T09:46:00.001+10:00

John worked with me at Rocky point doing all the electrical work. He has now made it to the grand age of thirty. On Friday night he had a lovely party with about one hundred people. It was really great to catch up with lots of old friends at the party.

The Beach

2007-03-20T10:04:00.000+10:00

We started the day hiring a boat and heading up the Noosa river with my uncles, cousin and her friend. Then we hit the beach which was quite fantastic the waves were just enough to allow you to body surf. The water was a lovely temperature and the water crystal clear. Later we saw some dolphins chasing a shoal of fish.

Netball!

2007-03-20T10:02:00.000+10:00

It’s not all girls in pleated skirts running around trying to get a ball threw a little hoop. Over here it’s the boys as well. So I was once again a part of the Tribe of Dan net ball team. The rules of net ball are not as easy as it seems at first glance. The referee just would not spot her insistent blowing of the whistle and carrying on about another foul. How can you have a game when people have WA on their front meaning wing Attack and claim it’s a non-contact sport? Stepping of the court I could not help but think I must look like someone stepping out of the shower fully clothed. The idea or running around in this heat is quite ludicrous. It was a really good laugh and more importantly we won!

Off Road!!!

2007-03-13T09:42:00.000+10:00

Sunday was hot hot hot!!!!

It was too sunny to go back on the water so we went off road. We had three four wheel drives I was with my good friend Dan in his fantastic blue beast!

We set off into some really beautiful hills inland from where I used to live. The tranquil hills did not remain that way for long we were soon smashing, crashing and revving our way over rocks trenches and river beds. I was quite amazed at what the vehicles could make it up some of the ditches and hills I would have had trouble making it over on foot. It was so much fun and a real bone shaking time!

Jet boats on prawn farm ponds!!

2007-03-12T11:29:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday I went to a friends prawn farm which is very close to the place I used to work. He has the most fantastic new toy – a jet boat!! It was my first time to try wake- boarding (Its like a snow board for water.) I must confess to stacking it the first ten or so times I tried to get up and going. Each time almost pulling my arms out of their sockets! Once you can get going it’s quite easy to stay up and turn. I left the big jumps, flips and slides to the other guys not wanting to show them up on my first go!!!

The second part of the day was really fun when we had two ropes and were knee boarding. A body board is use and you start off on your belly then hop up onto your knees and sit on the thing in a very Japanese way. They are surprisingly a lot easier than the wake board and spins ect are great fun. The main aim of the boats driver is to “rag doll” the two people on the back. That basically consists of trying to go really fast into a corner and send the two people on boards around the corner like a slingshot watching as they skim along. Inevitably they go to fast and end up fling off the board and crashing along the water like a rag doll being thrown from a car. I was more than a little stiff trying to get out of bed this morning.

The guys also have a big pipe in the pond one end below the water. The aim is to slide along the pipe out of the water. By some amazing fluke I managed it on the knee board by pure fluke of lining up and holding on!!

Aus

2007-03-08T17:09:00.000+10:00

I went kayaking on the Brisbane river with the cousins. Such fun but I dig end up very wet and am well educated as to the quite foul taste of the river (still better than the Thames!).

Traveling south to the tacky wonder of the Gold Coast we hit the beach. The sea was quite rough but it was great fun getting pushed around. I looked like a well greased albino after bathing in sun tan lotion, the obvious tourist.

Traveling south to the old stomping ground was great. It is strange to see people and places you know so well but have not seen for ages. Everyone is very much the same but there are a lot of little kids running around!

Leaving the U.K.

2007-03-08T17:07:00.000+10:00

The last few weeks in the U.K. were great fun but a frantic blur of restoring water flow to the taps and not the front lawn! Parties galore were had with some epic indoor BBQ’s resulting in much enjoyment but for those who were present when the extractor went smog!!

Having spent what time I had doing the really important things like putting all the music I could onto I-tunes I may have left the front lawn looking like a front line trench after heavy shelling. Packing was my traditional random throwing of stuff into bags for a few minutes the getting bored and setting off to the pub!

The flight was as per usual long and as exciting as watching six films, not sleeping and relentlessly pressing the magic button on the arm rest which results in free beer (a much better invention than the wheel, sliced bread etc!) could be.

Aus

2007-03-08T10:56:00.000+10:00

The blog starts - long may it last!