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I'm 31 living in Australia and have been paddling kayaks on and off since I was a kid at school.
I used to work in office jobs for a bank, for an accounting firm, and a construction company, to give you an idea of my handyman skills. I'm no carpenter, engineer or boatbuilder but I know what a hammer is and which end of it does the hitting. I used to have a tool belt when I was at uni, but had no tools to put in it so threw it out. Now I have some tools but no belt, yet another situation in life where hindsight is a beautiful thing.
I've just thrown in the towel and gone back to uni to study high school teaching. It means I have a little more time on my hands during the week, and I'm trying to finish the boat before my wife delivers our first child, due in September. I can only assume things will change after that.
I lived in Canberra, the mysterious bush capital city of Australia and used to kayak on the Molonglo River. In 2012 we moved to Armidale, a country town in northeast New South Wales of approx 24,000 people. It's good to be back home, and we have moved to a small cottage on 20 acres about 15 mins out of town. It's great. There's a few waterways and dams nearby to kayak on but the majority of my kayaking will be during the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic in 2014 (if I can finish building in time), and on the coast, about two and a half hours drive from here.
