IAughtNaut's Australian Adventure

Smithfamily wrote: I thought that nonsense was over? Maybe its the reverse hemisphere Looks like you got a haircut too.

since the last time you saw me I think I've had two. maybe even three

over? you can't stop me, you can only hope to contain me. I didn't have to paddle very far at all

Yep batteries are his m o

Morfoot wrote:     IAughtNaut wrote: IAughtNaut's reign of terror continues. I broke Lewy's boat. Almost blew Java on the screen after reading that one.....Ya spent a whole weekend in Miss Scarlett and you didn't break her so she she must be one tough Beotch !

water & background look very familiar in this picture...




john

Great video!

ok, you had to know a real update from this weekend was coming

Met this guy walking around the city on our way to dinner- he was not impressed.



Then I had my first taste of kangaroo meat. Real good. You don't see it everywhere but I'll be eating another one of those hoppy bastards.



Then it was off to Lewy's place. 6+ hour drive from Brisbane through nothing. Well nothing I could see. I left at 6pm Friday and arrived right at 2am so it was mostly darkness. Didn't see a whole lot of wildlife on the road, but almost hit two foxes.

Woke up Saturday morning and Mark took me on a quick tour of Tamworth



Mark told me we were about an hour from the damn so we loaded up the boat and hit the road. Arrived an hour later at our bivouac for the night, an old sheep farm. Our accommodations? The shearer's quarters. Which is exactly what it sounds like, an old farm house where the sheep shearers used to stay. Really a cool place, the closest thing I can compare it to is a hunting cabin out somewhere in the states...several bunk rooms, modest kitchen and rec area, probably sleeps about 35 or 40. Plus it was on the same property as the "boat ramp"







The boat ramp. I will never complain about my ramp again.





I didn't get the picture at the ramp that I should have, we showed up and there were a group of 6-8 bogans who had set up camp right on the ramp. And when I say camp I of course mean one shelter and a campfire made mostly of pallets one of them had dragged to the water from somewhere. Lewy got real close to starting an altercation but kept his cool, haha.

And then we hit the lake. Talk about a slice of heaven. The dam is super low from a dry year, about 6.5% capacity, which seemed to keep the wallys away. We went up the river from the "ramp" and found this little stretch of pristine flat water. Nobody out there to bother us but several hundred cows grazing on the bank. I didn't know cows could be so critical, but I swear they were talking shlt about my sloppy skiing.

Some pics

















4 of us the first day, Me, Mark, his mate Andrew and Andrew's water fearing Filipino girlfriend, or maybe wife. Andrew took a slalom run, then I got in and proved just how rusty a new footer can be after 6 months off. Short line run on the boom to get myself into form and build my confidence. This starts violently...



I went with the tumble because Mark had never pulled me before and I thought I would have a little bit more control. Clearly not the case. At least my body position was lazy and sloppy. For the second run I decided to deepwater on the short line because I was comfortable with Mark's driving and I've spent more time on that. No better at the start. Then I got cocky and remembered something the teen idol said about liking to take a big whip around turns and build up a lot of speed. Wasn't really ready for that, haha



The third run was a little cleaner, just look at that water.



We hit a little pub for dinner and watched some of the cricket world cup. Talk about a confusing game. There may have been beer. And I saw a kangaroo.



Up the next day for a morning set before I had to get on the road that afternoon. Down to the "ramp", boat in, no crank. Battery completely dead. I should have known this was a harbinger of things to come, I ignored it. The fellow who owned the shearer's shed ran us down a jump box and we were on our way.

Little different crew- me, Mark, Andrew, and another couple joined us. I was first, more sloppiness, less video, which is a real shame, because I got distracted thinking about something else before the plant on my second pass and took a real beating. We were hoping Mark's gopro caught it but no such luck. Guess anybody who wants to see me fall has to come skiing in person. I will say this, I was pretty sore Sunday morning, but I've been shaping up for some weeks so I wasn't overly fatigued. My feet, however, felt like they were on FIRE. Never in my life have I burned them up like I did this weekend. Not from taking super long runs, mind you, I think they're just just too tender. I gotta find a way to toughen them up before next month.

Everybody had a turn except for the lone female, who apparently is just learning. We had the boom set up already so she hopped out to give it a go. Ain't that always when the boat dies? No power. No battery. I grabbed a paddle. We were probably 5K away from the ramp. I broke it so I was going to paddle it.

Mark got it running, so we puttered over around the first corner from the ramp and endeavored to get our willing newbie on her feet. She did pretty well, had about 4 tries, then the boat shut off again. Right about now it was close to 1pm so we decided it was safest to try to squeeze a little more charge out of the jump box and limp back to the ramp. We got there ok, loaded up and took off.

Back to the Lewy homestead to unload the boat, grab a quick shower, and hit the road. Was back in Brisbane by 10pm where I crashed the fck out. Most of the drive home was in the rain, but from what I saw, the darkness on the way down obscured some really spectacular country. No pics of that either, cause I can barely manage to keep that backwards car on the correct side of the road without fumbling with a camera.

I can't thank Mark enough for his hospitality and for showing this yank a great time. Cheers mate! See you in a few weeks!

IAughtNaut wrote: As for the cables, I saw that bend in the videos after the fact, it felt like there was maybe a little give as I was coming up but we went with it.

The wide capture "fish eye" type lens on the Gopro makes the boom bend look far worse than it really is....

Hollywood wrote: Lewy, snug up that inside cable. On a dry fit it actually should be tighter than the outside cable. Once under load and flexing the outer cable will quickly catch up. What's up with the tower turnbuckle? Does the boom not rest on the gunnel? Nice water, wow!

Hollywood the tower boom setup on the Sport with FCT1 is a "Lewy Redneck special" (Note: Rednecks are Bogans downunder). It is probably the only reason that the tower is still on the boat. The setup is simple and very easy to adjust for height. I noticed recently a steel tube about 1 foot long I use to connect boom was starting to bend. I reinforced it and shortened it about 2" this small change has caused the cable tension to vary.

I have a plan to replace this section with BI boom extension that will also help get the skier away from the early slow speed side spray.
The extension will need to be bored out so it becomes basically a female at both ends.

had and will continue to have...I'm coming back for Easter, it's a 4 day holiday weekend here so we're going to go back to the same spot and camp...and if I can do some ebay finagling while I'm home maybe I'll get a set of trick skis over here for Lewy and can pay post some vids of first time aussies on skis with no fins

I thinking he doesn't want to share Brian either that or Mark doesn't want some certain Chicago boys showing up----

My initial thought was "no way would I do that". Then realized that my own son was stationed in southern Japan for three years with the Marines. We missed seeing him and our daughter in law as often as we used to. Those three years flew by pretty quickly!
That is a tough decision. Hopefully, your company will compensate you for being out of the country, away from family, and away from most of your ski buds.
Your young, single, got new ski buds Down Under.....pretty tempting!

it's very tempting, plus it doesn't snow here. you did hit a couple important considerations though, I'm young-ish, will be 33 in a month and don't know if I'll ever have a chance like this dropped on my lap again. being single certainly helps

The relocate might seem like 1-2 years. But what happens if a Mrs. Australian Iaughtnaught comes around? That 1-2 years will be a lifetime. Good luck convincing her and new inlaws you're coming back here. Not a bad thing to be there forever but I'd put my $ on the fact you won't come back if that happens.

Adam tough decision. I would not let them rush you it is a big decision.

Do you see management as where you want your career to go?

I remember at a similar age being promoted from a technical role I really enjoyed and was good at into management. It took me a couple of years to realize that I did not really want to be a manager and I missed using my technical skills. In comparison to this I had a good buddy with a technical background also who took to management and liked it and really climbed the corporate tree.

So it depends on where you want to take your career path.
I would see that as the most important decision.

Where does the relocation put you after the 1-2 years with the company?

Either way will we catch up more and if posted OS Australia would be top of most peoples lists.

Adam,
here is my experience: we relocated to the states in 05, Canada in 07, Germany in 08 and back to the states in 2011. the experience you gain on a personal and business level are unbeatable!
We always saw it as a paid adventure and no matter what, it will also help your career.
when you return in a couple of years, you got more to show on your CV than 90% of the folsk competing with you for a better job. I would not be where I'm at now at 37 (37????when did that happen...) without these adventures on my CV. it opens your mind somehow.
if you take the management job, you will look back at this in a couple of years and say dang, there was my chance for an adventure.
however, it is not all fun and games! you will have to find new friends which is easy, but finding good friends that have your back is harder and takes some time (the boat will help with that). and at times it can be lonely.
you have to look at taxes etc and rember, you still have to turn in a tax retunr in the US, so write the coas of a tax guy into your contract, as well as flights home.
pls feel free to reach out to me at any time with questions!

Well you are always traveling anyway – Cleveland only rocks a few months out of the year – and they will move your boat over there. The only problem I see is that Jackie just bought a new truck and it seems you would now be in a pretty good position to make him a deal on yours.   If the money is right it would be pretty tough to turn down, just make sure you figure out just it will really cost you to move and live over there. You definitely want to understand the tax liabilities on both sides. I have been piling up the frequent flyer miles lately and just picked up an additional week of vacation per year so make sure you get a big place.     

I don't think you could find a much better place to go,they at least put up with us Americans right? I have a relative who moved his whole family to the UK for a couple of years and really enjoyed it,but it is closer to home. I think it's not so much up to you but what would the average Aussie want,after all since you have been there they had two Cyclones at once,coincidence? If you do end up going and shipping the boat you had better pack another windshield for a 98 Sport