OR How I Became a Step Daddy... I booked myself onto a 6 day tour of Tasmania - "Taste of Tasmania". I was nervous about joining the group, but they were really nice and very mixed. The oldest were in the 60's and the youngest was 18. There was only one other person from the UK in the initial 14 people. The rest were a mixture of Asia and Europe and one mad Canadian (why are they always mad?) I had a fantastic time. I was back to being active Ron. I did a dawn canoe trip on a beautiful misty lake, drove a quad bike over rolling sand dunes, hiked to waterfalls, led the group up Cradle Mountain and down again, rode a horse, toured Port Arthur the historic site of a huge prison complex (unfortunately the ghost tour you can usually do there was cancelled), saw Tasmanian Devils (very cute and funny) and fed kangeroos and wallabies. The tour leader referred to us as "the family" and we started calling him "Daddy". When he couldn't be around, such as for the hike up Cradle Mountain, I became "Step Daddy" and was entrusted with the map. People said I'd make a good tour leader, but I think I'm a bit old for a career change! There were many funny incidents and we all got on really well. One of my favourites was when I took Alex (the other Brit) out for the canoe trip at dawn. The tour leader didn't come with us but had explained the procedures and safety considerations the night before. As Alex was only 19 I felt it was up to me to be the responsible one. It wasn't until we were in the middle of the lake that I turned round to Alex and said "You know what we forgot?" "No. What?" "The lifejackets." We kept quiet about that one as I don't think I would have been entrusted with the maps again! Unfortunately my camera broke, but on the last day. We were staying by a haunted graveyard. The tour leader said people had got some unusual pics back from there. I decided to take a couple of shots and suddenly my camera stopped working and couldn't be fixed. Coincidence or spooky... I have a new camera now, which is just as well as I am now in Perth and planning a quick tour of South West Australia before heading back to Sydney to see Kristy and Adam.