The Tropical Life

Since my last update, I've followed through fully with the chess coaching business and the move to Cairns. That's right, if you hadn't heard, I am now self-employed as a chess coach. Check it out, team - fnq.iqchess.com.au. The launch of the business has been pretty successful so far, considering I only arrived in Cairns a month ago, and life here in Far North Queensland is pretty good. It's easy to see why people come here for a holiday and stay for life.

My first coaching sessions have been at Cairns' top private school, Trinity Anglican School in White Rock. The teacher who's been driving the chess there for the past few years is a great guy and has been helpful in so many different ways, not to mention giving me my first real work. I've already had some good publicity in the local paper - check it out HERE - and have also got myself lined up to coach at the other campus of TAS and a state school on the city's south edge. That makes for four afternoons of chess every week thus far, with more schools in the works. I've also just got a Cairns Chess Club started on Thursday nights. Plenty of room for more work there, but slow and steady wins the race.

After lunch today I'll head off to continue training up as a rafting guide on the Barron River with local company Foaming Fury. I'd originally tried to hook up with one of the big companies that do the Tully River, but couldn't track down a firm contact there. Then I found the Green Ant Cantina, a little watering hole with great food that's run by the best mate of my old boss at Happy Raft, where I was introduced to the Foaming Fury team and given a free Corona for my trouble. It's a smaller company that mainly does the half-day trip on the Barron plus a couple of tours on the side. Thanks to its size I guess there's a more family feel to the guide team which reminds me of my time on the Yoshino. I also like the idea of traveling only 20 minutes to the river head, whereas the Tully start point is three hours drive away!

That's not to knock the rafting on the Tully, though. I had a friend visiting from Japan this past couple of weeks, so two weekends ago, just after all the rain that had cut the highway and flooded the river, we signed up for the full day tour. The sun came out, the water came down to normal maximum flow, and it was a top day on the river with a Japanese crew and our guide Taka. It was world class rafting, maybe even better than the Yoshino, but such good conditions don't hold year round and the Yoshino is good at just about any level. Anyway it was great to get out there and experience the river I've heard so much about.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Just getting to Cairns was an adventure. Training up with Graeme at the Gardiner Chess Centre was the first business of the new year, a crash course in how to run a chess coaching business. I had to find a car to get me to Cairns, too, a mission in which my brother's assistance was invaluable. We spent a lot of time checking out a little Honda, but when it didn't turn out to be a good buy, we got lucky at the last minute with an ideal car turning up at a car yard that we know well. So the chess mobile turned out to be a Nissan Pintara and it ended up being well suited to the 2000km journey to Cairns.

Packing all my worldly belongings and my newly acquired chess equipment in the back of the Nissan, I said farewell to my folks before the sun came up on January 15 and hit the road to beat the Brisbane rush hour. On the first day I made it to Emerald via Gympie and Biloela - slightly out of the way of the most direct route to Cairns on the coast, but a beautiful drive through the Burnett countryside and a great opportunity to catch up with an old mate from my university laboratory. Matt works in Emerald for Rio Tinto. He put me up for the night before seeing me off the next morning for the second leg through Charters Towers and Townsville. More amazing Australian outback, particularly from Emerald to Charter Towers. I thought about stopping in Townsville, but made good time and headed onto Cairns, arriving in the early evening. The weather the whole way up was just fantastic, but in light of the flooding that closed the highway north of Townsville this past fortnight, I've been counting my lucky stars that the wet season has come late this year!

My brother has worked in Cairns before and was able to put me in touch with one of his mates. Des and his family were kind to put me up for a couple of days while I settled in and got my bearings. The hunt for a place of my own started in earnest from my first morning in Cairns, visiting real estate agents and following up on newspaper ads all over town. The Cairns rental market is very competitive, so all the good places get snapped up pretty quickly. I got lucky on the weekend, though, after three fruitless days of running around, getting in first to inspect a townhouse advertised privately. Excellent location on the north edge of the city, nice quiet little block, bright and well kept inside, and a spare room and space for setting up my chess office. So for $200 a week, and after lots of money spent on furniture, I now call Manunda home. Plenty of room for visitors, at least for the moment!

So, in short, the tropical life is good. I hope things are treating you well, too, wherever you are.

Love,

Dave