May 2012 News

Nov 2011 Trip around NZ (1)

Of course you'll have to guess which woodden fella is not a carving!

Back to Maritime work.

It has been a while since you have heard from me. As much as we left OM New Zealand, we were being drawn back into OM Ships. I (George) started helping to teach Basic Safety Training to new recruits on Doulos in September 2009 and have gone to Logos Hope every six months after that to do that and more. I have been teaching boat safety and navigation courses on a part time basis for the past 15 years and love it! I think it has been borne out in the ship work too because in February this year I was asked to consider being more involved. I was asked to become the Director of the GBA Ships Marine Training Centre. This is the body set up to provide training for OM Ships’ crew. It means re-joining OM for a big chunk of each year with all that it entails as far as accountability and need for support is concerned. Please watch this video as it explains things a little better: Here If this video has caught your attention at all and you would like to respond to it, or have questions, please give it some real thought and prayer. Contact me and I will then send you more information by snail mail. And as I said in the video, you are welcome to pass this on to others who could be interested.

Basic Ship Training - Abu Dhabi - Feb 2011

Training a group of 68 new recruits earlier this year.

 

Winter Escapade - The Escape of the Clowns

Epiphany of a sort. When I realised that keeping fit must be worked on.

In December 2003, I was tramping with an amazing guy on one of several that we had done together. Each tramp was becoming progressively harder and I knew that I was nearing the end of my limits. The sad thing was that Murray was (and is) a few years older than me and walking my feet off. The difference between us was that he worked on his fitness and I took mine for granted. At the top of Waiau Pass, between the Sabine River system and the Waiau River, I made two decisions. The first was to moderate my tramping ventures to ones that would better suit my state of fitness. The second almost immediately cancelled that decision by my resolve to start fitness training to the extent that would enable me to tramp when and where I wanted.
Here are some pictures of that tramp.

This is the lower valley of the Sabine. The weather was poor and getting worse.

Murray (L) and I outside Sabine Hut on the first morning.

Above Lake Constance. The moraine dam holds the lake above Sabine Valley. This was after a day of waiting in Blue Lake hut for the rain to clear.

Lake Constance. Waiau Pass is at the top right of the picture.

200 metres to go the the top of the pass and my epiphany moment was working up a storm.

Murray pointing out the way we had come on the other side of the pass.

Caroline Biv at the end of a twelve hour day. We still had another two days to walk out.