Days Like This

After a couple of weeks of constant rafting training, yesterday was my first day of canyoning training, in fact the first time I'd ever done it. Everything about it was new to me - what to wear, what extra rope gear we need, which road we take to drive up to the start point, the course and the activities in the canyon. Fortunately, we had a tour group to go with, so we could mostly just watch what the senior guides were doing and join in the fun with the customers. It's amazing to be out there doing this as a job, but perhaps the most amazing part of the day was when the group first turned up at our base. We knew it was six people. We didn't know it was six beautiful girls who all work together at a cosmetics company. Guides must live for days like this. :)

It's been a while since I last wrote, which was just as I was preparing to wind up as an English teacher and leave Tokushima city. So much has happened in that time and every new day continues to bring new adventures, so I don't know where to start! Suffice it to say that I went without a fair bit of sleep while moving out of my apartment and tying up all the loose ends in Tokushima, but it was worth it to be ready to welcome my brother to Japan. My career as an English teacher finished on March 24 and Michael turned up on March 25 for his long-awaited tour of the place I've called home for the past five years.

We started in Osaka with the onsen extravaganza that is Spa World - right next door to our hotel! - and the pillow-throwing madness of the Grand Sumo Tournament. On the Monday, a brisk stroll past the deer and Japan's biggest Buddha in Nara was followed by a breakneck bicycle tour of Kyoto's eastern temples, a huge day that naturally demanded another onsen. Back to Kyoto for a full day on Tuesday, where the rain failed to stop us taking in the Golden Pavilion and some world heritage Zen rock landscaping. That evening our host Jessie made sure Michael got his fill of sake tasting and karaoke, and it was only reluctantly that we got up the next day to see the Fushimi Inari shrine before saying goodbye to Kansai and getting on a train to Hiroshima.

On the way to Hiroshima we stopped off at Himeji, known for having the best example of a fully authentic Japanese castle. With two nights in the City of Peace, we managed to fit in the Peace Museum and Memorial Park, an afternoon of hiking around beautiful Miyajima with the monkeys, and a quick stop at Okonomi-mura for Hiroshima's famous version of Japanese pizza. Then it was back on the shinkansen to finally get off the tourist trail and across the Inland Sea to Shikoku.

Thanks to the kindness of my old school's principal, we had a place to stay in Tokushima city while we took in the local sights. After seeing the whirlpools at Naruto and paying a visit to the first of Shikoku's famous 88 temples, I took Michael to see a top group dancing at the Awa Odori Museum, where he promptly picked up a prize for having good style in the dance lesson. We met a few friends for coffee and dinner, and managed to hit the town a little, too, before jumping in my car on the second Monday to head west to where my Japan journey began, the Iya Valley.

No sooner had Michael helped me move into my new place near the rafting base than we were on the river itself for a quick run down the Koboke gorge. It rained quite heavily that night, prompting my boss Mark to get us back on the river again to experience Koboke at high water - yee har! All rafted out, we headed into Iya to see the vine bridges, admire the view from Pee Boy's rocky outlook, and enjoy more time in an onsen. The rain kept us from climbing Tokushima�fs tallest peak, Mt Tsurugi, but gave us more time to wander back to Tokushima city and enjoy a couple more onsens before I finally saw Michael off on April 8.

It was a huge two weeks and I almost felt like I needed another two weeks just to recover! But sure enough, it was straight back out to Oboke to start my new job at Happy Raft the next day. I expected to be getting on the river immediately, but my first day was spent doing anything but rafting. We cleaned up a road by the river, helped to demolish a local house, and went wakeboarding on the Ikeda Dam before having a few drinks in the evening. I knew life as a rafting guide was going to be different, but I didn't expect a start quite like that!

A few weeks later, I'm getting used to the rhythm of things here at Happy Raft, but it's still a little surreal to sit back and think about how much life has changed in the space of a month. For example, I used to live by myself in an inner city apartment with a shower and a phone line. Now I live with three other trainees, on a mountainside some 10 minutes drive up a one-lane road, in an old wooden house that has no phone (let alone internet!), no town water and a bath that we heat by setting a fire beneath the tub. Huge change, but I'm loving it.

I'm training up with Yuuko, who has taken a year off from being a PE teacher to try rafting; Daniel, a young guy from Cairns who's here on a working holiday while he studies by correspondence; and Kanetoshi, who's about my age and has a background in building houses. We're a motley crew of rafting would-bes, but I guess Happy Raft is a bit like that, too. Our boss Mark hails from Cairns, where he started rafting on the Tully River. He runs the business with his wife Sachi, who bakes Happy Raft's famous bagels and runs the admin side of things, and they have a beautiful little girl named Ellie who seems to have been adopted by the whole town. The other senior member of the business is Teru, who's been rafting here and there for about 8 years. Mark and Teru took up together about 3 years ago now to start Happy Raft. It�fs a tough business, but they seem to be building solidly. Besides for being a very friendly work environment, Mark and Teru provide some of the best training on the river. They've also built some very strong ties with the local community and I have to say that I'm very glad to be with them.

Canyoning training has been this week's major focus so far, but this weekend sees us taking our Rafting Association of Japan licensing test, perhaps the most important goal of our rafting training thus far. If we pass the test, we'll be put to work immediately for Golden Week. If not, well, we have to make ourselves useful around the base until the next test, which will probably be held somewhere else in Japan and won't be until next month. The test involves some theory - first aid and the dynamics of water movement in a river, amongst other things - and a practical component, where we are tested on basic paddle work, boat flipping, basic rescue and basic rope work. Fingers crossed for the pass!

In the midst of all this rafting and canyoning, I took a weekend off on April 15-16 for our annual touch rugby tournament. This year was the third time we've run it and, despite the weather not being as good as in past years, I'd say it was the most successfully organised effort so far. We had over 200 people in 14 teams come to the tournament. The BBQ was exceptionally well done, thanks completely to people other than me - I certainly couldn't have done it all myself! Well fed and having gotten plenty of footy in over the weekend, I think just about everyone went home satisfied. The only problem now is finding someone to organise it next year... :)

I'll be back with more news after the mayhem of Golden Week is past. See you then!

Love,

Dave