Report: March 14
Hot Questions, Rescue Rangers, and Fly River Dreaming
The students in Mr Mechis' class throw a few curly ones at me.
Adelaide is hot. Blazing, scorching, blistering, sizzling, roasting hot. It was the middle of a record-setting heat wave, and I was visiting my shiny new nephew, Oscar. It's too early to tell, but it looks like he'll either be a sea kayaker or a sumo wrestler? While there, I had a chance to drop in on Mr Mechis' Grade 4/5 class at St. Mary's Memorial School. As the students busily slurped down much needed fluids after a lunch-time run around, I explained how they were coming to PNG with me- online. Many of the questions were so thoughtful and incisive that I had to make up the answers. The part where I strayed into the tectonic cause of earthquakes and resulting tsunamis felt like an ever deepening hole of half-truths and misinformation. To change the topic I made a deal that the class would be my first alert, rapid response team and send a helicopter over if something goes wrong. PRONTO. It was pointed out that if a crocodile was trying to chew me in half, I wouldn't be able to get to the computer to send the message out. Good point.
Down at Salamanca Market, Hobart. Remind me never to be a salesman.
Back in Tasmania I lobbed down to Salamanca Market with the kayak to sell a few t-shirts. Bill Harvey, a Hobart identity, generously lets me use a table at the end of his stall to promote the project. One of the main reasons I love going to the market (I don't sell any t-shirts) is that I always meet people who give me good advice or contacts for the journey. Last week was especially fortunate when Alex Dawai passed by and stopped for a chat. He's from nearby Bougainville but knows PNG and many people there. Having a handful of contacts in PNG can potentially take a lot of the uncertainty out of... um, uncertain things.
Jess, Steve and Josh had been in Tassie for eight days filming stories for Totally Wild when they found me at Nutgrove.
While in Hobart I had an interview for TTN, which is a news program aimed at schools. If you're in Australia you can catch it on Tuesday 18th March at 10.30am on Channel 10 or TDT. I'm about to head into the southwest Tasmanian wilderness for five days, so I'll (happily) miss my television debut. The rambling and often incoherent answers will be worth watching for those that can. When asked what I'll be seeing and doing in PNG I became flustered and fluffed three answers before giving up. Seeing and doing? How was I supposed to answer that? Seeing heaps of stuff and doing lots of things!
After a flash of inspiration I decided to ship my kayak a few weeks earlier than planned. It will be loaded at the end of March. If there's a delay due to weather (eg. The ship was recently held up off Townsville due to severe storms), or other mishandling, I'll at least have a chance to make other arrangements. The new plan means the kayak should be arriving in Kiunga well ahead of me. It'll be good to know when I leave Australia that it's waiting and ready to go. On the downside, that doesn't leave much time to go paddling here in Tasmania. Let's hope the Fly River is a gentle introduction to paddling in the tropics. My imagination runs wild with scenes of a smooth, fast river propelling me forward with barely a tug on the paddle. The rainforest slips past in easy 80 kilometre days as my shoulders and back adjust quietly to the paddling. Fat chance!
Hello to Mrs Bristow's Grade 3/4 class at New Town Primary. It's been encouraging to see more teachers and schools getting in touch and preparing to follow the journey.
Next report due 28th March.
Until then, Andrew