Cliffs, tropical water and tree work

[pantheraba]

It probably cannot get much better than this for getting paid to have a great time.

Bermy (Fiona) lives in Bermuda and does tree work there...normally the usual care...trim, prune, slay, crane work, teaches at times. But...recently she landed a gig to remove an invasive series of trees from a cliff face. She knew she would need a small, lightweight, dependable saw to make the work safe and efficient. She had me help her get a Stihl 150 TC-E.

Well she has really put it to use. When she told me about this project I thought it might be a sloping surface, maybe partly dirt but not a real cliff and probably inland somewhere. But I hopefully imagined it might be a real rock face, vertical and in sight of tropical water...or even better OVER water.

She is living my dream!!

Fi just emailed me these pictures so I can post them for her (having to use a borrowed computer there or some such...I'll let her fill in details/corrections later). Anyway, here is what she has sent so far...one of the more outstanding "tree jobs" I have seen here at the TreeHouse.

 

[Steve Mack]

Great pictures. Clearing for nesting of the Bermuda Longtail she said.

Had to look them up. http://www.bermuda2u.com/Bermuda-Longtail.html

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cliff tree work, interesting! A rock climbing adventure!

 

[stig]

WOW!
Am I ever envious.
Nice gig, Fi.

 

[vharrison]

Did you see the shark in that one picture?






Just kidding!

 

[Limbrat]

The water (minus the cliffs) looks like your stomping grounds V. Beautiful, great pics Fi!

 

[biggun]

Wow, I want to go there.

Bermy, do you do any Yoga in Bermuda? An old friend of mine lives and works out there.

 

[flushcut]

Very cool!

 

[woodworkingboy]

I know where I'd be after a day working there, in the suds!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I would love a job like that over water!
Nice going Fiona
Thanks for sending Gary the pictures. I hope more are coming

 

[pantheraba]

The only thing better than a job over the water is sometimes a job IN the water.

 

[Bermy]

Thanks Gary for posting the pictures! I'm on a borrowed computer...managed to email him some.

No sharkies this close...during the day. Bermuda and Bahamas share a similar beauty of the ocean and shallows! This area is called Castle Harbour, it used to be a safe harbour for sailing ships back in the day as there is a deep water passage through the reefs on the seaward side. Consequently if you set a shark line at night, you are pretty much guaranteed to catch one.

The peninsula with the 'folly' tower in the fist pic is the end of 'Tucker's Town' where all the foreign millionaires and billionaires live, and all the islands starting with the one I'm on are National Parks and nature reserves, and Unesco World Heritage listed for the forts. From one of the forts out here, the garrison fired the only shot in anger ever to come from Bermuda, at a Spanish vessel that got too close, it worked, good thing because they only had three cannonballs and had knocked over their only barrel of gunpowder in the excitement! That was probably in the 1600's and that's why we speak English...

So dual reason for the culling, longtail nest sites, and heritage infrastructure, the casuarinas are breaking up the soft limestone and chunks are falling off, I've kicked down a fair bit of loose stone along with the trees!

Hope to be back out there next week, we got blown out wed and thurs, just too windy for landing.

 

[Bermy]

Back on the cliffs today, along with about 8 volunteers from our local electric company BELCO.

Two guys cutting brush and trees up on the flat, the rest dragging and one conservation officer chipping. I was back on the cliffs.
It really is heartening how much work 8 pairs of willing hands can do, they made a big dent, then quit around 2pm went for a swim while we (me and the conservation dept guys) made just as big a pile for the next group!

Got to resize the photos again, stand by Gary....incoming

 

[MasterBlaster]

Duck and cover!!!

 

[Burnham]

 

[pantheraba]

On standby here, Fi. Just got home, no pictures yet. I'll resize whatever you send.

 

[Chris E]

That has to be "living the dream", to be able to work and live somewhere like that

 

[woodworkingboy]

Fiona seems to enjoy it, a very affluent place, but also an out of sight high cost of living, apparently. A family of four with two kids under 16, you are making 75 grand per year or considered in poverty. You ok, Fiona?

 

[pantheraba]

They are in some kind of Bacchanalian holiday over there or something...the whole island shuts down for four days, I think she said. I had an email from her yesterday...she sent me a few pictures that are remarkable...I bet she'll post them or ask me to.

 

[Chris E]

Fiona seems to enjoy it, a very affluent place, but also an out of sight high cost of living, apparently. A family of four with two kids under 16, you are making 75 grand per year or considered in poverty. You ok, Fiona?

I can relate to that, here in Sydney the equivalent family would need to be on around 150k, and its unlikely many of them could afford to live within 30 kms of either the beach or the city, they can completely forget Sydney harbourside...

 

[Bermy]

I'm alright!
Big holiday, truck broke down the night before the whole island shut down, truck fixed now...$675 for master cylinder and slave cylinder and labour...had to go to work yesterday on a rental scooter...Gary will post the pics, my drip feed dialup struggles.

We can't afford to retire here, hence the move to Tasmania, nice to be able to come back and work for a few months though.
Normal people are struggling to make ends meet in this financial climate, pretty doesn't buy the groceries.

 

[pantheraba]

And here you go....I noticed in that picture of your rope protector how you redirected over the tree limb for a better rope angle...slick trick, Fi.

Y'all enjoy!!

 

[flushcut]

Awesome!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Was that structure some sort of a fort?

 

[woodworkingboy]

Nice adventure. Man that water looks inviting. So clear!