Pre-Leaving Preparations

Well my count down timer on my desktop says it's 4 days 5 hours 8 minutes 2 seconds until Giant Otters, Go! 5 sleeps left until I transform and roll out...of the country...on Australia Day...yes yes I have already coped it and been told that doing such a thing is highly UnAustralian...tough cookies, ya'll just jealous!

After coming back from NZ I got busy finishing packing up my loft into boxes and wrapping up all the framed pics ready for the removalists...

luckily the guys from MiniMovers were fantastic and we got it done from start to finish in 2 hours flat..I was pretty impressed and they were happy to have such an easy move!

The next step was for me to start going out and gathering different bits of gear from shorts to jackets to backpacks and acorns. Had to order a few things from here and there but they all arrived super fast.

The last few days my bed has been covered in the gear and backpack ready to see how it all fits and how much it weighs. For those of you who don't know I have a 10kg weight limit due to the light plane I'll be travelling in from Georgetown, Guyanas capital to Karanambu Lodge.

Empty...


Coming together and just about complete...

Notice the travel cube in the bottom righthand corner stuffed full of all sorts of drugs "including but not limited to" a years supply of anti-malarials, 5 months of bactrim ds, a broad spectrum antibiotic, treatment for travellers diarrhea (let's hope that stays unused!) and many more!

Handy Tip #1: Cardio....just joking...Weigh yourself and then weigh you with the pack - much easier to figure out the weight that way than trying to balance a large pack on a dodgy set of floor scales (Thanks Kait)....but really Cardio is good for you, get out and do some!

Handy Tip #1 brought to you by Geoffrey (the guardian of my desk)


Tonight will be another repack and weigh to see what stays and what goes...it's pretty close though. In other news all pictures except the first one were taken with my shiny (it really is shiny...pity it can't take a picture of itself) new Olympus Tough 800.

Segue smoothly into:
I just want to say thanks a bajillion to my parents for always assisting and supporting me towards my passion and sponsoring the gear and the trip! You guys kick ass and raised some pretty dandy kids if I don't say so myself

On that note I shall leave you with thoughts of travel, disease, drugs and weight limits

What's Happening

So long story short thanks to my big brother Gdogs asking me two simple questions I'm off to Guyana (South America) - use google maps haha) for at least 3 months but hopefully a year to learn how to raise, look after etc Giant Otters.

They get up to 6ft long and eat piranahs face first...pretty hardcore basically. The place I will be staying at is an eco lodge that accommodates tourists (come visit me eh).
http://www.karanambu.com/

The lady who owns the place is Diane McTurk and she has been working with Giant Otters for over 10years, and has raised at least 40 (rough guesstimate on my account)..pretty sweet I reckon. So I'm going over to learn from and work for her.


Absolutely epically stoked

So I'm currently packing up my entire loft section of the unit into storage...get the removalists in the next few days

I leave on the 26th of Jan (I didn't even realise that I was leaving on Australia Day until someone mentioned it!)

Of course they had to attach a picture on the email when they let me know they'd love to have me over to help. So I thought I might as well show everyone the latest arrivals at Karanambu Lodge. These kids arrived roughly 3 weeks ago and are thought to be 2-3 months old. Unfortunately I don't know much else apart from the fact that they are excessively cute. I can't wait to meet them..there is so much to learn!



The vet Dr. Lucy Spelman is visiting there at present, hopefully she's there long enough that I get to meet her. Check out her blogs for a crab-eating, hut raiding, tap turning raccoon, giant otters and other shenanigans!

http://www.adventures-in-climate-change.com/adventures-in-climate-change/Saving_Otters/Saving_Otters.html