Who turned off the river?

We got to the Barron River this afternoon, all ready to go rafting with a full group of 35 customers in tow, only to find that the river wasn't working. Yes, I kid you not, someone turned off the river.

I guess the idea of a river that you can turn on and off isn't so far-fetched. The hydroelectric scheme that operates over the three kilometre stretch of water below the Barron Falls is perfectly located for controlling the water flow down the raftable section of the river. It generates clean electricity and the power company is happy to work with the rafting industry to make sure the water is flowing at the right time each day. It's pretty good, actually, because it means we can rely on having water to raft on every day of our tropical year. Sometimes during the wet season we get too much water, but we've never run out. Until now.

"Ah, sorry folks, we can't go rafting today. Someone turned the river off. We'll give you all your money back and take you back to your hotels. I hope you enjoyed your 90 minutes on the bus."

Hmmm.

Apparently the hydroelectric turbines are being replaced or upgraded or some such. Fingers crossed that they're back online tomorrow.

After getting over the disappointment of not getting on the river, a little part of me was excited to have a bit of a story to tell. It's been a while since I wrote about my arrival in Cairns. I've been here for nearly three months now. So far it's been a light schedule of chess coaching and promoting the chess business during the week, and rafting on the weekends. And not much else, really, because I have no money. But that's not so bad, life here is good. I can pay the rent and feed myself. I just don't have much to write about.

I've got a bit more chess coaching work lined up for Term 2, though, and I'm also going to start a third job with a local ballooning company, driving buses and helping out. Lots of Japanese customers there so I'm hoping to put my language skills to good use. That'll also go some way to taking care of any money problems and filling in some time. I'm a bit anxious about the 3:30am starts, though - I've always been a bit of a night owl!

I still don't know many people in Cairns, but just yesterday while I was doing the rafting shuttle to Port Douglas, I got a very pleasant surprise. The two customers I picked up from the Treetops Resort were old friends from my International House days, now married and living in Brisbane, holidaying up north for the Easter weekend on their much-delayed honeymoon. It's been a good seven or eight years since we last met, and it took me a few moments to recognise them. I'm sure they were just as surprised to see their former college president driving a bus and guiding a raft! It was great to catch up and be reminded of just how small the world is.

I'll be ducking back to the Gold Coast later this month. Hope to catch up with more old friends then.

Love,

Dave