March 3-9, 2003

Let's Eat!
Monday Ally, E and I had a great day hanging out in Taupo. We started the day off with breakfast then went to the Internet café, then wandered around, then had ice cream, then had went to the Panini Bar for lunch, the wandered around some more, then went to JJs for French toast, then went did some touristy sightseeing stuff at Huka Falls and the Craters of the Moon - had a popsicle, then went for beer and bruschetta, the back to the Internet café, then out for Thai food. Wow, there was a lot of eating going on. ;-)

For the Love of a Small Plane
Tuesday I left Taupo after one last visit to the Panini Bar with my partners in crime. Leaving Taupo I flew on the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was a Beech 1900D that sat 23 passengers maximum with one row on either side. I could stand in the middle of the isle and touch both sides of the plane with outstretched arms. My seat was right behind the cockpit with no window to look out. I thought I’d freak, but it turned out to be the best flight I’ve ever had. The cockpit was open! From where I was sitting I could see both the pilots do their thing and the view out the front window. I was fairly intrigued with the pilots - they were constantly turning knobs, flipping switches and pulling levers. I was fully entertained watching the altimeter dropping as we came into Wellington and the landing view. Tres cool! I really dug this flight. I’ve decided now that I enjoy flying on small planes much more than large ones. At least in small planes you can actually see the guys that are in control of your life. ;-) I don’t know why, but it just felt safer to me.

Where’s the Beef?!
Clas left for Sweden mid-week. Poor guy didn’t seem like he wanted to go. He had this, “Well, I guess that’s it...” look on his face. Went to get my blood work up done today. Turns out my cholesterol levels are outstanding, according to the doctor. I’m well above what they consider good health. :-) My ferritin levels are a little low, however. For women the average is 20-200. Mine as sitting at 27 - okay for the average woman, much too low for a female endurance athlete. He suggested I get red meat back into my diet at least three times per week. No wonder I was craving all that beef! Gordo suggested I start taking an Iron supplement as well. I’ll get retested in three months to see if my levels have increased.

Holiday’s Over...
Five days post-IM it was back to training - light and easy - with a swim. Six days post-IM it was back to two-a-day workouts. A week post-IM and I'm feeling fantastic! :-)

Back to Top
Back to the Journals Index

March 10-16, 2003

Love your ways...
"Oooo, I love your ways. Love your ways. Love your ways. She said..."
It’s a groovy kinda life, so I think I'll keep on groovin' with it. This afternoon I was sitting at the table looking out the open patio doors to a warm sunny day, birds whistling in full harmony, tide slowly ebbing out to sea, cicadas humming, a soft lavender scented breeze wafting through the house and Chicane on the stereo. I don't want to leave here! I really do love it here and I'm going to miss it — but I'm off to enjoy Australia this weekend and I will be back in New Zealand in October. So, it’s all good. :-)

Hill Zn1 / Roadie Zn3
I met him today! The love of my life! Of course, he may be the love of someone else’s life too — noticed a ring on his left hand. :-\ It was kind of a fancy ring though, not a plain wedding band... and Clas wears a ring on that finger and he’s not married... I’m just trying to convince myself that he’s single. ;-) Pretty much every guy I meet is involved in one way or another. [Sigh]

So, I went out for a nice late morning ride up to Summit Road and along the top to Dyers Pass. What an incredible ride! The climb up was pretty toasty, but the views were breathtaking. On one side you could see the Canterbury plains, the ocean, downtown Christchurch, and all the way out to the Southern Alps. On the other side was Lyttleton Habour and the mountains that hid Akaroa from view. I lost count of how many times I said to myself, “How cool is this?!!” Absolutely incredible. Wish I had a camera on me.

This was also my first “real” ride since IMNZ. I’ve been out spinning easy to the gym/pool and back, and out and around Sumner, but this ride was hills and rollers and fantastic! In a way, it was somewhat similar to my favourite ride back in LA — Mulholland Drive. That ride climbed up the Hollywood hills and winded its way along the spine of the Santa Monicas. You could see the valley on one side and the LA basin on the other — all the way to Catalina Island on a good day (read, not smoggy ;-)). This ride however, was a gazillion times better!

After I dropped back down to the flats and started heading home, this roadie pulled up beside me and said, “G’day, how ya goin’?” Such friendly folk here. :-) He was heading out to Sumner, which was en route and just past where I was headed, so he rode with me chatting until my turn-off. A couple times he pulled ahead of me to let a car pass and what did I immediately notice? LEGS! Holy beautiful legs, Batman!

Alex was his name and I was thoroughly enjoying his company. He invited me to join the group rides that head out from Sumner then hang at Coffee Culture on Sundays. Bummer that I’m leaving this Sunday! I told him that I would meet him there for a ride on Sunday in October. If I didn't have incentive to come back before, I sure do now!

It was an easy ride for the most part. I took the hills mellow and climbed in Zn1. However, I noticed that my HR was steady Zn2-3 on the way back on the flats. Not sure if it was pace or the roadie that caused the HR to jump. Chances are, it was the roadie. ;-)

Continent #3 - Australia
The day I was to leave for Australia the weather took a drastic turn in Christchurch — grey, dismal, cold and raining. I guess that was a sign it was time to be moving on. So, off to the aeroporto I went.

My Super Twin, Ally, picked me up at the airport and I spent my first night in Australia at her house in Sydney. WHAT A TRIP!!!! I’m in Australia!!! I’m upside down and not falling off! :-D Already picking up some of the Aussie slang as well:
Gobsmacked --> Speechless
Daggy --> Lame, not cool
Booked --> Getting a traffic ticket

Back to Top
Back to the Journals Index

March 17, 2003

Beach Hopping
I woke up to my first warm morning in over two months! Loved it! My first full day in Australia involved a tour of beach cafes. ;-)

Ally and I laced up and went for an early run down to Bronte Beach for breakfast. The route that she took me on went straight through a cemetery! Not just on a road or main path, but right between tombstones. It was kind of an eerie feeling to be running through people’s final resting places, but Ally was right in that they were happy because they had the best view in all of Sydney. The cemetery sat on a sandstone cliff overlooking the eastern ocean. Truly gorgeous.

After a nice breakfast in an open air café on Bronte Beach, we walked home and then went to Bondi Beach to wander around a little. We followed that up with lunch on the beach. Then we went for a drive to Watson’s Bay where, you guessed it, we had a late afternoon meal and a beer on the beach. The view from Watson’s Bay is impressive – it overlooks Sydney Harbour, downtown Sydney and the Harbour Bridge.

From there we went to pick up my brother and his girlfriend at the airport. They had been in Perth for the past week for a friend’s wedding and were beginning a road trip up to Byron Bay the following day. Of course, they were hungry so we went back to Bondi Beach for... yes indeed, dinner on the beach. ;-)

Back to Top
Back to the Journals Index

Road Tripping -- March 18-27, 2003

I kicked off my stay in Australia with a two-week road trip up the coast with my brother, Rob, and his girlfriend, Cherie. My brother is an avid surfer and his girlfriend has been taking it up so, we couldn’t start our road trip until my bro caught a few waves at Bondi.

From there we headed about an hour and a half north to Avoca Beach where we have relatives. My aunt and uncle are extremely active people -- always on the go. My uncle coaches and competes in pole vault, javelin, discus, shot put. He’s just returned to the sport after a 20+ year hiatus and has been cleaning up the medals at recent masters competitions -- he’s 60 years old and setting new PRs! It’s worth mentioning that he medaled at pole vault in the 1968 Commonwealth Games.

My aunt and uncle have a beautiful home -- with an insane driveway! -- sitting at the foot of Avoca Lake. My aunt likes to refer to their home as “on Golden Pond”. The first night there I sat out on the porch watching the moon rise over the lake as birds sang their night songs. Gorgeous.

Bell Birds
My first day in Avoca, after a morning run around the lake, my uncle, a girl he coaches and I took a few kayaks out on the lake. The lake was quite shallow and my paddles brushed the tops of the lake weeds. Every now and then you’d catch a glimpsse of a fish dashing in and out of the weeds just out of the corner of your eye.

We paddled up an arm of the lake that had a swamp feel to it. I was thinking that at any minute I’d see a croc slide off the banks into the lake. No crocs in their neighbourhood. ;-) I did see a swamp dragon though. It’s really just a big lizard, but dragon sounds cool being in Australia and all. In addition to the swamp dragon were swamp hens -- small black birds with purple-ish blue heads (apparently they make a tastey treat for the eels), a brilliant blue kingfisher, tall white cranes with sleek black necks and massive pelicans.

The gum trees were so full of exotic birds that it sounded like an estuary at the zoo. What stood out most were the Bell birds. I never actually saw one, but am told they are a fairly ordinary looking bird as far as Australia goes, kind of like a sparrow. They may look ordinary, but their voices are far from ordinary. They have this incredibly beautiful voice -- like little bells or wind chimes. I could just close my eyes and listen to them forever. I tried to find a recording later with the Bell birds on it to no avail. I found a recording of just about every bird in Australia but the Bell birds. Maybe my aunt will feel the urge to head out there with a tape recorder one of these days. ;-)

The Milky Way
After a couple days in Avoca, we packed up and made our way to Ballina, which is about a half hour south of Byron Bay. The drive was a little boring, but I was surprised by how green and lush everything was. I didn’t really know what to expect of Australia. What I knew of it growing up I expected it to more like the outback -- barren, brown, desert...

Their forests are much different than those I’d grown up with as well. I’ve grown up with thick forests of evergreens, pines, alders, spruce, and oak with underbrush so dense you couldn’t see further than a few hundred feet through. Here were thousands of species of gum tree spread out in a way that you could see at least a half mile or more through them. A few driving highlights included seeing some kangaroos hanging out in a field and road signs that read, “watch for wild horses”, “kangaroos next 4km”, and “koalas next 2km”.

The best part is when we arrived in Ballina to stay at a friend of my brother’s. I looked up in the sky and noticed the star patterns -- nothing like the northern hemisphere of course. There was this huge cluster stretched across the sky and I thought, ‘could it be...?’ Yes indeed, it could be. I was gazing up at the Milky Way and the Southern Cross -- the star pattern on the Australian flag. How cool is that?! The Milky Way.

Blue Bottles
The next day we headed up to hang out in Byron Bay. What a cool little town that one is. The crew and I went up to Trelles for some surfing -- well, they all surfed while I hung out on the beach. The sand on the beach was incredible. It was so fine that my feet squeaked as I walked across it. I watched the crew surfing and could see some people a little further out had some dolphins for company. Oh, I so want to swim with dolphins! So, I ventured out into the surf. There was a pretty solid rip going on to watch for and then this little deep blue jellyfish drifted past me. A blue bottle! Those things sting like nobody’s business. I’ve been told one sting from a blue bottle feels like ten bee stings. Not into that! I saw a few more blue bottles and then this big ugly brown jellyfish brushed up against my knee. That was enough surf for me. ;-)

Of course, a day in Byron Bay wouldn’t be complete without a couple brews at Paul Hogan’s open air bar -- Tops.

Cheeky Monkey’s and Tabletop Dancing
The next day was my brother’s birthday. That was also part of the reason for this road trip -- not just getting to hang with my bro, but to celebrate his birthday down under. He spent the day surfing of course, while I had stumbled upon an awesome 25m outdoor saltwater pool. After another visit to Paul Hogan’s bar and an excellent Greek dinner, we hit this club called Cheeky Monkey’s. The place was packed and totally hopping. Hard to breathe though -- smokers! The coolest part of this little club were the tables. They all had that metal stair grate type surface and patrons were encouraged to dance on the table tops. So, we did. :-) My little bro did so much dancing that when we left the club, his shirt was completely soaked.

I’ll give you $500 right now if you...”
That’s Cherie. She’s pretty funny always coming up with dares. On the drive up to Avoca she started a conversation on “would you sleep with someone for 10K?”

She was at it again our last night in Ballina. Tonight she offered Rob $500 if he could eat ten McDonald’s Big Macs in an hour. Joe piped up and said he’d give Rob US$100 right then if he could eat one dry Weetbix in less than a minute. He knew better and turned the offer down, but Cherie didn’t. I don’t think she really knew what a Weetbix was or she may have passed on the dare as well.

She tried. Oh yes, she tried her best to get that puppy down and it just wasn’t happening. She did a great job of it though. Especially since the rest of us were laughing so hard I doubt she could have gotten down even if it were wet. Most entertaining evening. ;-)

I Just Want to Train!
The next day we headed back to Avoca for a couple more days and then back to Sydney. I was starting to feel a little transient and looking forward to spending the next month down in Nowra with Ally. I needed to stay put and get some quality training going again. I’d been running every day on my road trip and swimming a little. It was just frequency more than anything else, but I suppose that’s all good less than a month out from my IM race. This trip really helped me to avoid that 4th week blowout and get me psyched to train again. It was a great trip and I loved hanging out with my brother, but I really was ready to get off the bus so to speak. Party’s over! ;-)

Back to Top
Back to the Journals Index