Lots of last but not the end

Well, I lapsed into a state of Non-blogness, as my time in Namibia was drawing to a close, I somehow became focused on what was to come and left the blog to drift without ending.
As I write this I'm becoming conscious of how different the two existences are, the one in Namibia and the one in Australia, it is interesting how subtle things can have such profound influence.
I am still doing some work for Namibia, because there is so much to be done, and it really does need skilled input, Namibia has a small population and so people with the appropriate skills who are willing to sacrifice their time to the needs of the NTA (ultimately the Namibian people) are hard to find.
People are asking me 'so how was it?' and it is invariably a complex answer, so I revert to the general overview answer, which is an easy to say and easy to hear, 'it was great' this is not untrue, but it is like trying to describe your main relationship, or stock market fluctuations, or world war two,  in a few words, it deserves far more than the time given to do so.
I'm back in the land of Oz, I have grown in various ways and learned some things about myself, so I'll see now how I can incorporate these into this existence.

 I laughed when I saw this, I hear Dr Evil saying 'a frican romance', it could be one description of my experience.

If you click on this photo you should be able to see the two fishermen in their dugout canoes, (mokoros) this was the last sunset I was able to enjoy looking over the Kovango River, the evening before I left Rundu on my journey home, it somehow seems appropriate, the small people in the big river still working away right up to the last minute, doing the best they can with the tools that they have, and a kind of ancient dignity about what they are doing.

I look forward to seeing all of my friends and relatives over the coming months.

Tough times

Upon the final emptying of my last squeezy Vegemite several weeks ago I was forced into desperate action. It's OK folks, I have eaten some and there are no bad side effects so far, only 40 days to go on my assignment so limiting my exposure should save me.

Things are going well with the Trainers, I did a session on 'Leveling' using Automatic and LASER levels with one of the trainers last week, and we traveled out to Katima Mulilo and did some training with a Ridgid drain cleaning machine which finally arrived from USA, the trainers and students all came to see it, as none have seen one before, they all use 'Hand Rods' for drain clearing here, for those who don't know, 'Hand Rods' are cheap to buy, but quite difficult to use. The new machine was a real eye opener for them, a new way to think about their future businesses.
I continue to enjoy my time here in Namibia, I'm working with a fun bunch of people, and I'm getting a great sense of satisfaction from the work I'm doing, it is great to feel that in some small way I've contributed to the advancement of a nation.
Having said that, I'm really looking forward to seeing my family again, hugs over Skype just don't cut it.

Work Work Work

With less than 60 days to go on this amazing adventure, it is full speed ahead. Two factors are at play here, 1: I can see how much work needs to be done and the time is now short, 2: the employer has suddenly realised the diversity and depth of my skill base and is finding more and more things they want done. I have a priority list printed on my office pinboard and am chomping my way through it. They are all worthy tasks and I'm enjoying the challenge and the satisfaction of completing these nation building items.
I'm enjoying being part of the team here at Rundu Vocational, they are a fun bunch of people and I've been welcomed and included in a great work environment.
I have only been working since my last post, so here are some more Photos from our Etosha trip.

 Friendship is Black and White.

Midday stroll.

Lilac breasted Roller

Terrified zebras, see how paniced they are.

West side tour

The training centre closed for a week, so I Carpe Dium-ed and went camping with a couple of friends. This was the last opportunity I will have in my time here to see anything of Namibia, and with such a photogenic country, I had to make the most of it.
The trip was very fast, it was nearly 3000km in 7 days, so it was one day travel, one day look, next day travel etc.
The trip started with a visit to Etosha national park, then on to Swakopmund, a costal town, then down to Sossusvlei, home of the largest sand dunes in the world, if you want a beter idea of where these places are I have once again included GPS coordinates for Google Earth on most shots. if you copy and paste them into google earth in the 'Fly to' tab, it will take you to the exact location.

 Abuid on the Etosha Pan 18°55'48.50" S  16°29'19.21" E

 Ostrich and Orix 19°02'14.35" S  16°20'26.67" E

 

Quizical Hawk Etosha (same location as above)

 

Springbok on the Etosha plain 19°00'32.88" S  16°21'47.06" E

 

 Desert trees on the road from Swakopmund to Sossusvlei 23°18'38.04" S  15°30'39.56" E

 

One of the many amazing dunes at Sossusvlei, there is a car in the shot, most of these dunes are  humdreds of metres high.

24°44'06.79" S  15°17'23.45" E

If you use the exact coordinates shown above, I have put the marker about half way up the front sweeping dune where the people are in the shot.(yes they are there)

 

 We were here for sunrise, so long shaddows were inevitable, Caroline was on the other side of this bowl dune, I have included both of our GPS coordinates.

Caroline 24°45'36.15" S  15°18'03.28" E

Me 24°45'41.15" S  15°17'52.49" E

I was trying to get a bit of footage to show the dunes being created by the wind, if you look at the beginning of the vid you can see it a bit, you can also see how much hard work it is climbing these things, great view, it was worth it. 

24°45'49.51" S  15°18'07.99" E

What's happening

Hi faithful blog followers, it has been three weeks since I did a post, so I thought I would let you know what is happening here.
I'm working 5 days a week, and I have been given many tasks, I have a regular training session where I train the staff in methods to improve their own performance, using things like feedback tools, effective presentation skills, etc, mainly improving their uptake of computer solutions for their tasks to increase their control over what and how they deliver information to the students.  Some other side tasks are designing a shower block improvement, designing extensions to the workshop areas in Plumbing and Welding, instructing trainers in advanced practical skills, being on the safety committee in an advisory capacity, I was able to give the committee feedback tools and then conduct a review and disseminate the information to the whole of staff, which I used as an introduction to a range of methodologies and technologies to the staff, etc, etc, bla bla bla.
So to answer that often asked question of visitors to this blog, YES I AM WORKING.
As most of you know, I am now in Rundu, it is great to look it up on Google earth if you have it and Wikipedia is good to punch the name into if you are interested in knowing a bit more about it.
I'm putting some photos on here, and I've decided to put the Google earth locations, so that you can see where these shots were taken, I'm interested in a little feedback on if this makes the pictures more interesting, so let me know if you have time.
If you just copy the numbers below the photo which are in green, and paste them into the       'Fly to' window on the top left of the Google earth viewer, and then just click the little magnifying glass icon next to the window, it will take you to the exact location I took the photos from.

One of the flood planes of the Okovango, just a few weeks ago, this was dry with antelope roaming about, but there are crocs in there now, so you may notice the lack of antelope.
Facing North  17°54'42.71" S  19°45'33.80" E if you look at the Google earth shot, it was taken during the dry season, so these floodplains are dry in that view, but you can clearly see where the water does flow in the flood season, as in this photo, this was shot last week.

 This shot is from the same location as the one above, just half an hour later and swung 90 degrees to face west. So this is sunset over the Okovango River, Oh, by the way, there is a bar about 15 metres behind me from this location. If you have looked this location up on Google earth, there is a small pool just south of me and I am under the triangular section of roof, facing west.

This is a great example of the snazzyness of the D700 (my camera) this is the workshops at the campus where I am living and working, this shot was handheld at night on a bright moonlit night, the clouds have good moon glow, one of the 'live on campus' students is going for a stroll, you can see the screen of his phone glowing. (click on the picture to enlarge it)
The building directly in front is an ablution block, and the sawtooth roof behind is the electrical training area. Facing NNE 17°54'05.37" S  19°47'25.63" E

The Tabasco might be big, but the archery equipment?

Down at the local shops, the price was right and the need for entertainment strong. (no telly here)

I thought Africa was good before,... but now....

Yes folks, it turns out that Millipedes and Cats are not all that gets big in Africa, anyone who knows my love of this wonderful product will understand my smile. 350ml, the 'normal' bottle of tabasco is 60ml, so nearly 6x normal volume, its like a stubby of tabasco. Yay Africa.