"Not all who wander are lost.."

Countryside of Gippsland

The purpose of my travels to Australia is part of a work exchange program between the rappel base in Salmon Arm and the rappel bases in the Victoria state. This year I was given the opportunity to be apart of the exchange. My second week in Australia began with my journey into the countryside of Gippsland where I will be working and living for he next few months. The rappel base is stationed out of Heyfield (a small logging community near the base of the Australian Alps or also know as the Great Dividing Range). Monday consisted mainly of quick introductions and a brief tour of the base. I was introduced to two of my roommates, Shannon and Tom, who brought me into Maffra where many of the firefighters live during the season. The boys were kind enough to set me up with a mattress and sleeping bag until I could find a proper bed.

Jeff the Magpie

The next morning I returned to work for my fitness assessment. The assessment consisted of a hiking a 20kg pack followed by a short circuit with a 30kg bag. Like any test being a pass or fail situation I was stressed at the start, but I quickly got into the rhythm of the hike and passed with plenty of time to spare. It was actually a personal best for me and I can thank rookie training and the fitness culture at Rapattack for that. Afterwards Jess, another firefighter at the base, drove me out to the worksite where the rest of the crew was working. Gippsland is an extremely beautiful area consisting of rolling green landscapes littered with many local farms. I still haven't seen any native marsupials (any live ones), however, I have seen an amazing array of native birds. At one point I had to do a double take as I never expected to see flocks of Cockatoos flying around the countryside. Along with the Cockatoos, I have seen pink Galas, colorful Crimson and Eastern Rosellas as well as Rainbow Lorikeets. I have spotted a few eagles and saw (and heard) a Kookaburra. Speaking of birds, during our drive to the worksite, we had the unfortunate event of clipping a juvenile Magpie. Jess, a huge animal lover, couldn't bear to leave it to fend for itself with a broken wing. So together we caught the bird so that we could later take it to someone that could care for the injured bird. The bird was actually quite calm during the entire drive to and from the worksite. Once in a while it would give a small squawk, but for the most part stayed nestled in my work shirt I had it wrapped up in. I ended up dubbing the bird as Jeff before handing it over to one of the ladies at work who offered to keep it in a pen while it healed.

Wednesday I joined the other rappelers on a drive back out to the countryside. There was a plan in place to clear one of the local trails. While half of the crew walked the trail the other half drove around the mountainside to pick them up at the bottom. I choose to join the driving crew and help clear the roadway to the pick up point. If anyone reading this is a 4x4ing fanatic, you need to come to the countryside of Victoria. The roads made for one of the most adventurous drive I have ever been on. Most of the road was overgrown and had overhead debris that our land cruisers barely made it under. Once we met up with the rest of the group we headed back to the base to clean up and return home for the evening.

"Slip-on" (IA truck equivalent)

Thursday was one of my highlight days at work this week. I was partnered up with George, a previous rappel crew leader, to drive out to one of the national parks to open up the locked gates from the winter. There were many people waiting to get into the park to spend the long weekend camping and hunting. It ended up being a long day, however there were many great conversations had. George was awesome to learn about the wildlife and the vegetation of the area. He was also great to learn about the previous fire history of the area and how it has directly and indirectly affected the landscape, vegetation and wildlife. During our travels we needed to clear part of the road that had become blocked by a fallen Eucalyptus tree. I quickly discovered how much heavier the Australian hardwood is compared to that of our Canadian softwood.

During the drive home I got to see a Sambar deer, which is a deer that was brought over from Sri Lanka and integrated into the country. For all my hunting friends, there is no bag limit on deer. Because they are one of the many animals that are not native to the country, there isn't a limit on hunting. Many of the integrated species have caused issues on the wildlife and vegetation of Australia. Many of the species, such as the deer, don't have natural predators to keep their numbers in check.

Slackline over Glen Maggie Lake

Friday the sun was shining again, and after a day of cleaning up rec campsites a few people went to Glen Maggie Lake after work for a swim and a slackline. We later went out to check out the Halloween celebrations in Maffra. If you didn't know, Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween nearly as elaborate as we do in Canada. There were a few decorations put up, but no one was dressed up in costume. Seeing everyone's awesome costumes back home on Facebook made me a little homesick as Halloween is one of my favourite holidays.

The sunshine was short lived and by Saturday morning the weather had turned. I awoke to high winds, cold temperatures and on/off rain. The household, including myself, spent the morning driving around to local garage sales before having breakfast at a local cafe. Emily and Tom continued on with their search for furniture and returned with a surprise. Family friends of Emily happened to be getting rid of a bunch of furniture, including a bed and a dresser for free! I have to say, my roommates rock! My room is much more homey since the addition of my new furniture. The rest of the weekend was dedicated to picking up a few more odds and ends for the house, as well as lazying around the house.


Tomorrow is the start of rookie training and I will begin to get myself acquainted with the Australian rappel equipment. I've really enjoyed my first real week in Australia and I'm slowly getting used to the minor changes from Canada (i.e. getting in the correct side of the car). Oh, also something I discovered about Koalas is that drop bears are a legitimate thing. I always thought it was just a joke told to tourists. Seriously, everything here is trying to kill you! Just another reason to keep looking up at the helicopter I guess. Hoping everyone is well back home and that you all had an amazing Halloween. Check back next weekend for the next update :)