Apologies for my continually awful ability to keep in touch with anyone. I'm sorry, it's not you, it's me. At least I'm trying to rectify this situation, yes?
So for those of you who don't know, or care, I've been living in Australia, specifically in Hobart, Tasmania, for the past 3 months or so. It's been pretty sweet; mostly because it's warm here and cold in the states. What have I been doing with my time, you ask? I've got a pretty sweet job as a walking guide, which constitutes me being gone for 6 days at a time. I also work for some hippies and get paid in vegetables (and fruit). I was picking apricots till the season ended, which was extremely dull, but I got to eat unlimited apricots.
The company I work for is called Cradle Mountain huts, and we walk the famous Overland Track, which extends throughout the length of the Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park in Tassie's World Heritage Area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_Track
We're out for 6 days at a time - myself and another guide, with up to 10 guests. There are a few other guiding companies out there, but we are by far the fanciest. All other companies are tent-based operations, meaning that they stay in tents at the National Park huts along the way. We however, have private huts, hidden in the park, only for us to use. Now when I say 'huts', these include gas heaters & stoves, showers with hot water, beds, bedding, sleeping bags and gourmet food. Everything we need is helicoptered in twice a season- once in Sept before our season starts, and again in Feb to stock up on everything we might be out of, and to fly toilet waste, garbage and compost out.
Ergo, during the day I serve as a walking guide, making sure no one gets lost, taking photos of guests in front of mountains and mending blisters. We carry about 25 kilos of gear (just over 50 pounds) ranging from sleeping bags and all of our personal clothing and gear, sat phones, 1st aid kits, food (including 2 kilos of beef for night 2), veggies, maps, EPIRBS, tent, stove and a whole host of other crap. Guests carry their lunch, clothing for the trip and a sleeping sheet for the hut, usually totaling between 7 and 9 kilos (maybe 20 lbs).
Toward the end of the afternoon, one guide breaks off from the group to run ahead and get munchies ready for the guest (tea and coffee, muffins, scones and/or and antipasto platter). Once done, that guide starts dinner (a 3 course affair nightly) till the other guide safely leads the guests to said hut. Then both guides cook while guests shower and relax. In the morning, we do breakfast and a lunch spread, then clean the whole hut top to bottom (including toilets) for the group coming in after us, which is usually later that afternoon.
To say the least, it's a pretty full on job. I'm usually on my feet from 7 till about 10, which is usually when the guests pass out. It can be fun though, especially when you have good guests. If people help with they drying and washing of dishes, you can be done with everything by 9 and have time to relax, read, play scrabble or whatever.
Despite walking the track 6 times already this season, it's still neat to do it again. You get to work with some really cool guides, meet some really awesome guests, and just make fun of all the insanity that goes on. Since our tours are so luxurious, the guests are usually fairly wealthy (it costs $2500 for a 6 day trip) and tend to be interesting people. Most of the guides are really great to work with, and the more you're out there, the more you learn about the track. Important things, like getting to know all the rangers, the guides for the other companies, who owns what helicopters, who got evacuated, when and what happened, where the secret beer stashes are, the best places to see platypus and where to find glow-in-the-dark fungi. (yeah! glow in the dark fungi. It's awesome. Mike and I found some on a side track)
It sucks being gone for 6 days, away from friends, home, your own bed, being lazy, and the ability to say whatever you want to anyone. But you get to hike some amazing country and it gets you excited to check out the rest of Tassie. As a guide, the people who come out are completely relied on you to do everything. Most people come on our tour because they lack the fitness/ability/gear to do the walk on their own. Often this is the first big walk people have ever done, and it's amazing to see people struggle though and succeed. I've had people with knee replacements, one lung and a woman who wasn't even walking 4 months earlier complete the walk. It's wonderful to hear them express their gratitude and genuine appreciation for all that we do. There are the occasional wankers who come out, but I chose to ignore them.
When I'm not out on the track, I work Saturdays at Salamanca Market, selling veggies and fruit for an all organic distributor. It's pretty cool, I earn credit and then get all the veggies and fruit I need for the week. Mike is working for Mountain Designs now, which is motivating me to look for a second job. In the meantime, I climb, explore hobart and eat wallaby burgers. I miss everyone in the great state of Maryland the the U.S. as a whole, but it's good living out of the country for a while.
Hope someone made it to the end of this, sorry for being so long-winded! I'm about to get kicked off this computer by the librarian. Till next time!
