After leaving Tasmania for a month long visit I extended my trip three days in Melbourne.  Melbourne is a huge cosmopolitan city just across Bass Strait on mainland Australia.  Melbourne was quite intimidating with so many people, high rises; so many things to do and know idea were to start.  Lodging was expensive everywhere so I booked a room at the Victoria for $85 a night.  The room was quite depressing with a width of a queen sized bed and a tiny 14 inch TV.  After getting a feel for public transportation I had a blast and was able to get free transport to 8 regions of the city for free!

I visited the Melbourne Museum which highlighted the evolution of man, psychology of man and all of the above.  I’m not much of a museum person and it was ok.  Went to Queen Victory Market, huge, had to be the size of 4 football fields, clothing, souvenirs, and plentiful seafood and produce of all kinds.  Went to the Australian sports museum located at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds) a sports stadium that sits 100k people for cricket and Australian rules football or “footie”.  Amazing facility and the museum gives a great history on cricket, a game that looks about as boring to watch as baseball.  Still really cool! I have to say though; footie really grew on me as I was able to watch a game at the MCG.  It’s a cross between soccer and rugby; don’t see much resemblance to American Football.  Also went to a rugby game at the water front Ethad Stadiam.  This has got to be the coolest sports venue I’ve ever seen.  You could literally park your Yacht at its door steps or just take public transport for the rest of us. 

During my visit I also went to the Napoleon Exhibit, this was just a great history lesson and grew my appreciation for that era.  It was especially cool to see the uniform and furniture on display.  Also visited the St Paul’s Cathedral which is about four times the size of St. Helena Cathedral.  This was such a spiritual visit for me, it’s always nice to see such a traditional, grand and beautiful church. I was also able to squeeze in visits to the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Doc Lands shopping center, China town (great nightlife and food) and more.  Melbourne is amazing but make sure to get a map of the public transportation or else… … Special thanks to Isaac Lowrie for showing me around!

 

Visited Elphinstone weighing systems and logging trailers. Nick and I had the privilege to get a personalized tour from the President, Graeme Elphinstone.  Graeme was on the GSE team to Montana about a year ago and I originally met in at our manufacturing plant.  After arriving in Tasmania I was not scheduled to have a vocational visit with Graeme.  After meeting him again at Rotary District Conference in Hobart we made it a point to find time to take an impromptu trip to Triabunna to see his manufacturing plant.  It was an absolute delight to see a light manufacturing firm that confronts similar everyday challenges.  The slow economy and political climate in Tasmania has reduced the lumber industry to a halt causing trailer sales to be negatively affected.  Graeme showed us some of the new innovative trailer products they are developing and strategy to bring them to the marketplace.  I was also able to chat on how he deals with competitors that often copy ideas.  Interestingly Graeme welcomes competitors and will often share designs with them as they try to copy ideas.  His philosophy is if they are copying me “they might as well do it bloody right”.  A past competitor was copying his design and producing at lower costs.  Graeme knowing there is no way the competitor could produce and still make a profit educated the competitor by inviting him to his plant to prove that point.  After Graeme educated the competitor the competitor raised his prices; Elphinstone was able to compete in price once again.  At the end of the day Graeme knows he can make trailers better than any other outfit and can support the parts business that goes with it.  Without getting too long winded I hope this gives you an idea on how great this visit was for me. 

Thank again Graeme!   

Made it home safely but not done writing posts as I want to share some of the remaining experiences I had but didn't have time to post them on the trip.  This is a pic of the Montana GSE team leaving Tassie in the early AM with our plane in the back ground.

Final Presentation

It's hard to believe that we presented on Montana for the last time tonight at the combined meeting of West Tamar and George Town Rotary Clubs.  We met in the Bass & Flinders Centre, in the shadow of the replica Norfolk that was used to commemorate the 200th anniversary of their circumnavigation of Tasmania.  We have enjoyed our stay so much and only have a few days left before leaving Tassie.

Tomorrow, we are off to Kings Meadows and are looking forward to what they have on the agenda for us, as we have loved what our pasts hosts have prepared for us.  For those Rotary Clubs and employers back home that made this trip possible, thank you for helping us along to have this amazing experience.  We vote that the GSE program be funded in perpetuity.

Had another amazing visit that the CAT manufacturing plant.  Visited with engineers from the hydraulic, structural, electrical, quality departments all with similar challenges in refining the end vehicle to meet customer needs.  The assembly and fabrication areas of the plant were also very similar but on a larger scale to our small manufacturing firm.  I was able to get some great ideas on how to manage many different assemblies and organize then into small mobile carts called hogs.  Finally, I was able to see how that manage production goals such as labor hours estimated vs actual.  Keeping note of these type of performance goals give a down and dirty view of how the company is performing in key areas to ensure profitability.  The CAT plant in Tasmania produces about 500 vehicles a year at an average sale of 1.5 million.  Competitive advantage for this plant is mainly due to its central location to mining locations in Tasmania but is facing viability challenges with countries such as Thailand showing potential to produce the vehicles more economically.  

"VKT from D17"

Constable Sarah Gray picked me up at 0830 hrs and within 5 minutes we had our first bit of business with a speeding motorcycle. Sarah threw a ticket book in my lap and informed me I was filling out the citation. I knew then it was going to be a great day. Afterwards I got showed around the station and was immediately issued my own ballistic vest and a police radio. The duty sergeant gave Gray instructions to make sure he heard my voice on the radio. Pretty sure they just wanted to hear my accent. "VKT from D17" was the radio traffic I had to get used to saying as Sarah made me talk to dispatch as we handled our calls. 9 years in the police service and I felt like it was my first day on the job again. We had a wide variety of duties as I observed the investigations from simple theft to disturbances between neighbors. I had the opportunity to observe a traffic checkpoint and finished they day with assisting the Criminal Investigations unit (CIB) as they conducted a raid on several subjects suspected of trafficking weapons. Thank you sooo much to Sarah and Bobby Gray who helped arrange my day!!

Location:Devonport Police, Tasmania

Cradle National Park was a great day for our group.  I personally have a love for National Parks and had some Cradle pics as my computer background image for months before coming out to Tassie.

I also love wildlife and was particularly keen on seeing a wombat and even keener to have seen a platypus!  For the sake of the group, I didn't spend hours watching them but I could have.

We Montanans love our outdoor activities- thanks to our hosts around Tasmania for showing us your wilder side.

Spent a solid day with the police department in Hobart. The first 3 hours were spent on a 75 foot police yacht called "Van Diemen". Hobart's port is not very busy with crime as it is primarily used for naval vessels as well as Antarctic exploration ships. The police run patrol boats out of this harbor to police the fishing industry. They travel up the west coast of the island and can spend as long as 17 days at sea.



I also got to spend some time with a traffic unit which was outfitted with license plate recognition software. As the patrol car travels, it reads license plates of vehicles in front, passing, and parked. The system is able to quickly tell the officer of any stolen vehicles, unregistered vehicles, unlicensed drivers, and wanted people.

Location:Hobart Police Station

Visited the Australian Antarctic Division (Marine Division) major supply line to the Arctic.  Completely refurbishing Hugglund Snow vehicles.  They currently have 14 of these vehicles in circulation.  They typicality get serviced every 7 years or 4200 km, whichever comes first.  These vehicles are a step up from the stock version, as they are customized for the harsh conditions.  They also use the amphibious Lark, quads, sail boats, and helicopters to conduct research operations.  Also had a chance to introduce some of the maintenance guys to our Land Tamer as a possible future solution for some of the challenges they encounter.  The Hugglunds in this pic are heavy do not come without safety risks such as breaking through the ice.  The Land Tamer as a tracked and amphibious vehicle could be a possible solution for the future.  We will see!  

views from from my Kingston Rotary district host family near Hobart.  So lucky to be able to wake up to this view. ;)

Had my most relevant vocational visit to date! I was fortunate enough to spend the day with Graham – President of Elphinstone.  Elphinstone is the manufacturer for logging trailers in the lumber industry.  Manufacturing operations, inventory management, and quality systems management systems are similar to our plant.  Graham showcased some new cutting edge designs for his trailer sales to adjust to ever-changing market conditions.  I also learned some valuable strategies on maintaining competitive advantage over competitors prone to copy new designs. 

Birds of a feather...

 As a photo enthusiast, one thing I like to look for is patterns. The birds we found while touring Zoodoo, near Richmond, were fantastic!

I have found that there are many patterns between Tasmanians and Montanans, as well.  We have states that are a bit different from the rest of the country, we have a few smaller cities and the rest of the state is largely rural and agriculture.  Forestry, logging, mining and usage of our natural resources can be a polarizing topic.

 Besides touring Tasmania, meeting wonderful people, presenting to Rotary clubs and attending District Conference, we also embark on professional visits.  I have visited Cygnet and Huonville to see their public libraries and also Launceston College to visit their library and IT department.  Interestingly enough, all the libraries are using the same ILS software to check out books and manage library needs.

We are facing similar challenges and it has been interesting to see the changes that libraries are making here to stay relevant are the same as the projects we are carrying out.  One librarian I spoke to was very happy with their new self check machine and was working out how to increase its usage.  I will have 6 new self check machines waiting for me upon return to Montana to install in 2 locations. 

There are obviously differences between Montana and Tasmania but I love seeing the patterns that unite us.  Thank you to Youngtown, Longford, Huon Valley and Howrah Rotary Clubs for making this such a special trip.  Watch out Kingston, Wynyard, Ulverstone West, George Town and Kings Meadows Clubs- here we come!

The Outback

While visiting the "Great Lakes" in Tasmania I met this guy. His name is Josh and he is the only law enforcement officer for 67 kilometers. His back up is the next station and it is also a single officer station. The department provides him with a home that is attached to the police station he works out of at no charge. A constable in the state of Tasmania makes an average of 70k a year. A constable who is willing to work in these remote posts get paid an extra 20k a year.

Location:The Great Lakes, Tasmania, AU

Coppers

We made it to Huon Valley and I had the opportunity to spend some time with the local police station. This area was a still a bit rural and was full of apple and cherry orchards along the Huon river. It is a lovely area and a destination point so the crime is very low. Most of the police duties involve crash investigations and the occasional domestic call.



Police here are not required to have a reason to stop a vehicle. Any car can be stopped at random and the driver must produce his or her license and registration. Officers can also ask for a random breath test. They do not perform road side sobriety tests.


Liability insurance on vehicles are paid through the registration process. A subject would only pay for insurance through a private company if they wanted more than liability.






While at the station I spotted a photo pinned to the wall in the break room. It re-enforced everything I've already known about police. We are all the same no matter where you find us. Check this bloke out.

Location:Huon Valley

Last week, I had the privilege of touring and observing St. Patrick's School in the northern part of the state. I was impressed with both the quality of the facility and the dedication of the staff. One class was a Year 12 drama class that was practicing to perform the American classic To Kill A Mockingbird... come to find out this novel is taught and read by many Australians. It was a pleasure to see an American classic embraced. The young woman playing Maella, does an impressive American southern accent. I was also impressed to see the notion of co-teaching so widely practiced and enjoyed at the school. In the photo, you'll notice the glass doors that slide open which allow teachers and students to join classrooms.

Hydroelectric power is the main source of energy in Tasmania, this canal flows from the great lakes through a tunnel from the mountain in the background.  The water is "stepped" down as you can see in this photo to minimize erosion and maximize energy generation.  

Thanks to the Longford Rotary Club for taking us to see our first AFL footy game.  We were versed in the rules and taught that brown and yellow are Tasmania's true colors

Schoenmakers was at least one person's favorite player... to heckle.

We have been busy learning about our professions and the history of Tasmania.  We have been enjoying the hospitality of wonderful Tasmanians and seeing things that we don't see in Montana.  Thank you to all of the wonderful Rotarians and especially our host families that are making this a trip of a lifetime!

We visited Brickendon and got a tour from Richard Archer