ROGAINE

So the latest from the QRA is

"The North's next Rogaine is Bush Rogaine commencing at 0900 on July 9th at Koah, just 45 minutes west of Cairns. 2 category choices are available: 6 hour hike rogaine [ map handout at 0800] and a 3 hour hike rogaine [map handout 1100]. A challenging yet beautiful area has been chosen by the course setting team of Brett Smith, Luke Rapley and Adam Fletcher. Teams of 2 to 5 may enter and the events will be followed by presentations, a BBQ and Random Draw prizes."

This sounds like a nice little jaunt through the bush as a warmup for the Quoll that is happening on the 5th and 6th of August. Get a bit of Navigation and bush time in. This also means that I really need to start getting fit. I have set up with Ellen to do a bit of jogging along the strand each Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully this will happen as I need to be running fit as well as paddling and riding.
The other problem is that the boys aren't turning up for paddling since two of our canoes were loaded up to be taken away to Hamilton Island (Good Luck with the 42km Marathon Boys). This effectively means though that i haven't been training in the last week. I really need to get back to it.

Next

Italy won. What more can I say except don't listen to any sporting predictions that I make. The socceroos played well they just lacked the proper ability to finish, to score the goal when they got into the box. We will now have to wait 4 years untill they get into the cup when it's down in South Africa.
So the next item of passing ammusement is the Tour de France. The crazy thing is that I think that someone that i know through uni will be in it. Brad, Karen's husband. Karen works or is a PhD student in the reptile lad. I think he is going in it and will be giving it his best shot. Also then there is my cousin, or second cousin or whatever he is, who hopefully will be riding for one of the European teams. So good luck guys and I'll be watching from saturday.

And God Said

Let there be Soccer. Then Behold there was soccer Maddness everywhere.

Most of the people didn't turn up for work today as they were up to late watching the world cup game agianst Croatia. I have one thing to say about the reffing at the game. "Three yellow cards for one of the Croats". Oh well at least we're through to the next round.

Oh yer and I'm betting there are going to be some battles maybe even flying crockery on Tuesday Morning in one Wollongong House hold. Especially if Australia Beat Italy. Which is a almost forgone conclusion. I'm predicting Aust 2 Italy 1.

Love to all the Soccer fans out there

The Quoll Cometh

So I recieved this from the guys that are running the Quoll Adventure Race, and to be Honest It sounds a bit scary. Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained though I spose.

Hi Lewis,

The 2006 Quoll Adventure Race will be held on the weekend August 5/6. Web site for the Quoll www.adventureracing.com.au/ahq will be up shortly. The event is a typical adventure race style event, with a twist.

Event is a 32 hour race however 7 & 14 hour categories are catered for within the race.Teams of 2 or 4; no individuals. Teams can be all Male, all Female or Mixed; only mixed can win the major sponsors award.Support Crews unnecessary [ unsupported event].All team members must members be or join the Queensland Rogaining Association.

Non Stop event [ sleep at your own peril!!] Multiple Hike, Mountain Bike, Kayak/paddle legs.Event commences at 0600 Saturday 5th August.Approx 80k/250k/50k for 32 hour course [ Course not finalised so distances are rubbery].Navigation and map reading skills are pretested [ you must be able to navigate] No electronic aids other than altimeter.

You supply MTB; we will supply/hire watercraft [ not sure whether it will be included as part of the entry cost or additional] Entry costs etc are not known at this stage, but will be very reasonable.Anything more specific that you'd like to know please reply email with questions.

Unless you object I'll ad you to our email list so that you receive updates about our racing calendar for 2006.

Regards

Min is a bit dubious about the 34hr event and the distances. I tried to tell her that the distances are a bit rubbery but she is still not convinced. Maybe we'll do the 14hr event.

Mine

Yah! The House is and the loan and everything is now mine. Finally! My bank statement got a little worse though. Home Loan is now
-$219 500.00 Oh well what are ya going to do nut pay it off slowly. good news is that there was some left over from the loan and I now have $2000 at a reasonable rate of interest and ready to buy either a car or OC1 or both. See what happens first. Anyway I'm going to celebrate tonight.

Preparing

So I have decided that I need to start perparing for the Quoll Adventure Race that I think is on the 5th AND 6th of August. So for Training that on Tuesdays I will do a run after Paddling and on Thursdays I'll ride to Uni and then to Paddling, Paddle then ride home. The Thursday event will total about 40km ridden and 10km paddled. Tuesdays will be 10km paddling and about 8km run. That should add up by August.
Also I have a Job Interview with AIMS on Tuesday, so everyone wish me luck. I am already nervous. I think that I have a good chance but I will have to see what happens.

New Idea

The Huki Canoes look awesome but it would cost me about $7000 but I found a company that makes nice OC1's in Sydney. A Bladerunner Canoe would only cost me about $4500 which is a large saving from the Huki one from Hawaii.


The other thing is that they are a little heavier coming in at 13kg instead of 9kg. Still not all that heavy and they have won a few races around Australia.

Mum's Weekend

I recently got this email from mum about her weekend
"Just an email to let you know what we did on our holidays. We arrived at Marysville about 8.30pm on a wet and stormy Sunday night. We were supposed to set up our tent but I chickened out, so we opted for a cabin. Just as well; the temperature went to around zero some nights! Monday, we re-acquainted ourselves with Marysville which is a quaint village about 100km north east of Melbourne City. Tuesday, we went to Healesville to visit the Wild-Life Sanctuary.

Bernie can attach some photos to this email so you can see what it was like. Wednesday, we did some walks in the local area. We climbed to the top of Lake Mountain which is near Marysville. They have Nordic skiing tracks there which they use for cross country skiing in the winter. The season opens this long weekend. Back to the cabin for lunch, then another walk to see the big tree, at Cambervale, in the afternoon.


I went to bed early that night, about 7.30pm! Thursday, we went to Melbourne; did some shopping at the sales ( I have never seen so many men in suits, all shopping by themselves for themselves. They have a David Jones shop just for men! ), then went to the movies to see "The Da Vinci Code". I enjoyed the movie, it was a bit of fun. Friday, we started our return trip. We decided to take two days to go home. We explored the Yarra Valley and King's Valley; visited the Brown Brothers winery for wine tasting ( we bought some wine there and will try it on Bernie's birthday ) and then stayed the night at Beechworth. We have never been there before. Many of the buildings in the town centre must have a heritage order on them because they were quite old, but in good condition. The historic nature of the town has been preserved even new shops are built in a similar style. I would say that Beechworth has become a trendy place to live. Saturday, we just drove straight home from Beechworth, through Wodonga/Albury then up the Hume highway; arriving home about 5pm. It was an enjoyable week and a great break from work."

Let this be an encouragement to others, if you want to let people know about your weekend or project then let me know in an email and I'll post it for you.

Pipe Dream

"I Have a dream" as Martin Luther once said. My dream however is not about peace or freedom. It's an Ocean Dream. A dream to own and race a HUKI V1-x, they look awesome. They are about 4-5m long made of Carbon fibre and only weigh about 8-9kg. You can also get stow hatches in the front and rear to put your supplys for a weekend away. Also I have an Idea that I could rig up a apperatus to hold a 30L drum out on the Arma to carry more supplys and fresh water. I could then go out ocean adventures. Paddling out to Orpheus Island or around the Whitsundays. I could then also race it in the OC1 events held at the Outrigger regattas.
This sadly is a dream that I may have to nourish and hold onto for a while as the V1-X is about $6000 and I don't think I will be able to save up for it while doing this job but maybe in my next position.

A Time to Relax

So I have finally had a weekend to sit back and take things a bit easy. I went out to dinner friday night, went paddling, to the port Environment Park and out to breakfast on Saturday. Then on Sunday I went to the Ecofiesta with Min and at night a party for Ben Moore who is Jane DeGabriels patner. I went to primary and High Schools with Jane.
Probably one of the best parts of the weekend is that I probably slept for about 30 hours it was great and I feel better this weekfor it. I'm not tired or sore this monday so it's a bonus. Also I got about five new plants for the yard from the ecofiesta. I got a Native Gardinier, Native Jasmine, one type of grass like lilly, a grass and a Flax. They are all understory plants to fill in the gaps between my trees. The two bushes are for th front yard on the other side to provide screening and a nice scent.
The visit to the Environment Park of the port was interesting I could see what they were trying to do but they had some poor plant choice. They didn't think about what types of animals they wanted to attract, and they haven't really designed a theme into it. They tried to make it a coastal themed park but the plant choice was very limmited from the coastal plants and some of them are not very spectacular. I spose at least they tried and it is good that they planted all native plants.
Also Bernie I think that Ixora's are native they are mentioned in EJ Banfields My Tropical Isle, which is available via Project Gutenburg. and he says that they are a much ignored NQ plant.