By Sue White
Name: Jakob Trimble
The profession: Red Centre tour guide and trainer
The organisation: AAT Kings
The job title: Crew Trainer
The pay: Hourly (approximately $73,000 salary range)
3.30am: My morning start depends on the time of the sunrise. If I’m on a trip to Kings Canyon, which involves a 3½-hour drive, I’ll need to pick up guests at 4am. That means a 3.30am start at work and a 2.45am wake-up.
Whatever tour he leads, Jakob Trimble says it’s all about catching the sunrise.
I don’t think you ever get used to that early a morning: you learn to put up with it. I make sure I’ve done everything possible the night before, from shaving to putting my gear out. That way I can show up in the morning prepared rather than looking or feeling tired.
5.30am: Whatever tour I’m leading, it’s really all preparation for sunrise. That’s the bit you live for, and my day really starts there – it’s like a second waking up, as we then might take guests for a base walk around Uluru.
7am: For guides like me, the biggest part of our post-shift work is maintaining and cleaning the vehicles. It’s a big part of what we do as when we pick up our guests, the first impression really counts.
Cleaning a 65-seater coach inside and out can take an hour and a half – it’s a big task. I actually find it very therapeutic. It’s downtime in a way – I put on some music, grab a cold drink and then get started. Some drivers hate their cleaning time being messed with because it’s ‘their time’: don’t try to help them either, everyone has their own way of doing it!
10am: I’m a crew trainer as well as a crew guide, so next up for me today is accompanying a guide who is almost ready to drive and guide herself, just to show her a different way of doing things.
I’m really proud of the training we provide. We always have someone along on a guide’s tour, whether they are in uniform or in civilian clothes, almost like a secret shopper, to provide feedback.
Getting out there to deliver a tour in front of strangers is 10 times easier than doing it in front of someone you work with. You’re worried about getting things wrong in front of someone you know!
About 18 months ago, when I’d been here 3½ years, I did a season in Europe for one of our sister companies, Contiki. It’s really different, as they are longer trips, but Contiki’s European training trip really sets the standard in all tourism.
1pm: Before I finish for the day, I have a few things to do for the recruitment side of my role. All our guides need to be enrolled in a program with Charles Darwin University, to provide their accreditation to guide in the national park.
It’s an online course, but we also do an intensive component where a lecturer from Charles Darwin comes to us. It is a transient role, so we rely heavily on people flying in for the busy season to cover gaps and I need to make sure the recruits are ready to go.
I’m 24 now, and because The Travel Corporation (which owns both Kings and Contiki) has a number of brands, I’m going to be able to chase the sun in my job.
I’ll spend six months as a crew trainer here in the Red Centre from November until the end of April, then I’ll head to Europe as a tour manager. I work under some fantastic people who are fully supportive of that type of thing. Plus there’s this invisible bungee cord that no matter how far you go across the other side of the world, it just drags you back here.
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