I have created this website as a place to both educate and inspire others. Whilst I hope that the information on Whitewater Safety for Packrafters and Improving your Technical Paddling Skills might be educational I also use this site to link to the stories of various other adventures and trips that I have been fortunate enough to go on. These are really for family and friends but are available for anyone who is interested in outdoor adventures in Tasmania, Australia and elsewhere.
This is not a commercial site and I do not run a commercial packrafting company. I am however extremely passionate about packrafting and promoting both it and the safety skills required for whitewater.
My job is that of an Outdoor Education Teacher in a secondary school where I teach mostly teenagers how to be safe in, how to enjoy, how to relate to and how to look after the amazing environments that we have here in Tasmania, Australia. Part of that role sees me taking students whitewater paddling, sea kayaking, bushwalking, rock climbing, abseiling, snowcamping, skiing, mountain biking, camping, etc.
In addition to various other outdoor qualifications I am a qualified Senior Whitewater Instructor (Kayak) with Paddle Australia and I have been whitewater kayaking for 30 years. As a result I have felt the need to better educate other packrafters on how to safely enjoy journeying on whitewater. From my perspective there are not many things better than ‘messing about in boats‘. Thus, when I have time (rarely), I team up with a number of other whitewater instructors to run packrafting courses for Paddle Tasmania (the state division of Paddle Australia). Any educational information on this site is however my own and is not official Paddle Australia policy.
My only affiliation is with Hyperlite Mountain Gear who I am fortunate enough to be an Athlete Ambassador for. I strongly believe in this company, its philosophy and the fantastic ultralight products it creates. I am friends with and paddle a range of packrafts from both Alpacka Raft and Kokopelli. One of my passions is modifying gear and experimenting with different designs and concepts so none of my packrafts are a standard off-the-shelf boat.
