I had an amazing time in the States and Canada (A.K.A. the promise land) last month, thanks in part to a very generous Livada Board member.

Here are some of the highlights...

Deep sea fishing with my mate Ian. This was an amazing first time experience. I caught a few good fish, including a couple sharks and got to spend the day with two brand new friends, Kenny and Mike.

This was me in the process of fighting a bull shark for 1 1/2 hours. I have never been so tired in my life. The fish was about 9 feet long and he snapped the line just as we got him to the side of the boat. We brought him in from 200 ft down and it seemed like a pointless battle for most of the hour and a half because I would would repeatedly reel in a few feet of line only for him to run out 20 or 30 feet. Very depressing and tiring but perseverance paid off in the end.

The other huge highlight (and I mean literally "HUGE") was getting to drive this amazing vehicle around 9000 acres of Florida swamp land for 2 days. I had never even dreamed that vehicles like this existed, let alone thought that I would drive one. My closest previous experience was watching Mad Max-Beyond Thunder Dome as a kid. But was it ever fun. No tree, ditch, swamp or river can stop these bad boys, but you need a full acre to turn it around. Amazing!