I started making kites again as a way of relaxing while I was teaching in Sale (located in Gippsland, Eastern Victoria). When I was younger I had stopped making kites to start sailing and scuba diving. I kept diving and sailing, and still enjoy doing both, but also started flying hang gliders and then powered aircraft - I obtained my pilot's licence back in 1982.
The kites kept getting bigger, and more complicated, and before I knew it I had stopped teaching in order to pursue kite making as a career. From the end of 1988 until mid 1995 I made kites full time. If you want to find out more about me, have a look at my curriculum vitae
My main interests at the moment are quadlines , buggying, parachuting teddy bears, and flying fighters, but over the years I have built a variety of flowforms , trains of delta conynes , rokakus and other applique designs which I haven't come up with names for.
I edited the newsletter for the Australian Kite Association from 1994 until 1998, and was also their Events Co-ordinator. I started and still maintain the AKA web site. I arranged for the AKA to be part of the Avalon International Airshow, where for the first time in the world buggies and kites of all shapes and sizes shared an active runway and airspace with aircraft of all types, from ultralights through to front line fighters. Over 180,000 people saw and heard all about the AKA and our activities.
I am still involved in teaching and study. In 1993 completed
my Masters of Educational Studies, with a thesis entitled "Kites
in the classroom. A suggested use for kites in upper primary and
lower secondary classes". From the middle of 1995 I worked at
Sunrise Research
Laboratory, a small internet and multimedia research group at
RMIT. In 1998 and 1999 I worked
with the Joint Council of
Subject Associations of Victoria on a project for EdNA
and the Victorian Department
of Education, and now I work as a Senior Web Developer for
MelbourneIT.
