Reach for the Stars
I'm in Australia in central west NSW in a place called Peak Hill which is where my parents live. They own and run the Country Roads Motor Inn as well as the farm where I grew up, which is a 30 min drive away. I really did forget how awful the flight to Australia is. So long and Antoinette and I managed to get on the same flights but couldn't sit next to each other for the 2nd (and longest) leg which was a bit of a bummer. We kpt meeting in the back for a drink and to exchange movie tips.
My Mum, 2 brothers and my niece picked me up at the airport and then we headed back to Tim's house so I could have a shower and then into the car for the 5.5 hour drive to get to Peak Hill. Nothing happens in this town. I went swimming in the local pool and I was the only person in there for the majority of the 2 hour session. I have also started running at night because I am not going to get stabbed or mugged, in fact in a 90 min run I will only see anywhere between 1 - 4 cars. I love running at night, I used to do it when I lived in Sydney but I don't feel safe doing it in London. There is something special abut being able to run out here without liht pollution and the stars are so bright. There will be a full moon tomorrow so the moon casts a shadow and provides enough light that I won't step on a snake :)
I went to a sheep sale with my Dad on Wednesday in Narromine, it has been years since I had last been. So what happens is that all the different lots of sheep are penned up with a sign saying what breed they are, how many of them, if they are in lamb or not, approx age and where they are from. The auctioners and their 3-4 sidekicks get in there with them and get them all moving around. One of the sidekicks does an intro basically saying the info above and adding his own flavour. Then the auctioner takes over and the bidding begins. Some of the things they say are so funny. On of the intros the guy was calling attention to the large frame and solid back legs on one pen of ewe's and said 'put them on some good pasture and they will grow as big as elephants'. The funniest part is that no one takes any notice of them, they just want to get their sheep for the cheapest possible price. My Dad was bidding on a couple of different lots, so one of the helpers latch on to anyone bidding and start whispering things like 'show your strength' when you get a bid against you to try and up the prices. Obviously these guys are on commission and they want to showthey sell the best to get more clients. There are generally 3-4 different agents selling so they are in competition with each other. Its really interesting to watch, it is really difficult to work out who is bidding it is so subtle with a slight nod or a finger being lifted being the sign. This isall happening with the auctioner screaming out and the helpers throwing in bits and pieces.
We bought 296 ewes, majority of them already pregnant. Once the bidding is done the 'ambulance chasers' arrive. These are the guys who cart your stock from the sale yards to the farm for a price per KM. They start out by talking about how the cost of fuel is going up to soften the blow of the cost of transporting them. You really are kind of held to ransom because you have to get your sheep home and they know it. A fun day, I'll post the pictures at some point. I stuck out like a sore thunb with my white t-shirt, versace sunglasses, Tommy jeans and ballet pumps. They certainly didn't come home the same colour. Everything was covered in red dust.
I went of to Orange which is a 90 min drive away to see a friend Paul who is a pilot and doing some work in the area. I hadn't seen him in 6 years and it was amazing seeing him. He hasn't changed a bit :) I also met Nick who is the navigator and got to hear about Nick's son Dominic who is dominating the under 21's cross country scene having just won a race in London and heading to the world champs in a week in Scotland. The boy has done some impressive times such as a 8.09 3000m. Fast!! I can only dream!!
The weekend should be great, Tim is bringing his fiancee Sue for the weekend, Andrew is also coming home and we will have Bellah for a few days, so lots more peek a boo games :) Paul and Nick are als coming for lunch along with my aunt and uncle and cousin so a full house.
Bed time for me. Have fun and have a great Easter
Cx
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Italy, India, France, Spain, Austria, Australia
Italy, India, France, Spain, Austria, Australia
It's been a while. Since I last wrote, I have been in all of those countries for anywhere from 2 - 14 days. Well that isn't entirely true, I'm heading to Australia for 2 weeks on Friday. I had my first weekend in London last weekend in over 2 months! It was nice to spend time in my new house and not feel like I was just using it to sleep there!
Lots has been happening so I have broken it into small digestible chunks :)
India. Wow. What a place. I have never experienced traffic like it. Just a small example for you...driving along a motorway heading back into Bangalore after a relaxing Sunday afternoon lounging by a pool, having a massage, nice lunch and we are going back to our hotel in town ready to go back to work the next day. There are 2 lanes each side of the road and a pretty wide grass medium strip in the middle and we are cruising along at around 80km hour enjoying the drive. We go round a sweeping curve in the road and there is a 4x4 coming straight at us. This guy is driving on the wrong side of the motorway!! The worst part, he was madly grinning away to himself probably thinking how clever he was to find a road that everyone was only going 1 way on. Our driver calmly pulls into the left lane to let him past, all of us in the car are totally freaked out by this! Obviously other people have seen him so within minutes we see more people driving towards us so we decide to get off and back into the traffic chocked, much slower suburban roads. We are going down the off ramp almost get taken out by a lorry coming UP the OFF ramp. It is terrifying how those people drive. I left my fingernails embedded in the door of the car. Anyone who has been to India will totally appreciate the 'unique' way that Indians drive.
Other than the crazy driving, India was good. The people are really exceptionally lovely, especially the ones we were working with who made us feel so welcome. I eat maybe 2 curries a year so by day 2 (12 to go!) I was over eating curry. I swear I was starting to turn yellow around the edges by the time I left and it is certainly going to be a while till I have another one! The guys I was travelling with from work were brilliant fun and we ended up getting our own table in the one decent place to eat near the hotel. I can handle really hot food, but was ordering medium spicy each time we went in there and it still had a solid bite on it. I forgot to ask for medium onenight and it came out 'hot'. More like lava. I took a mouthful and my vision actually blurred it was so hot. It was the equivalent of putting a hot coal in your mouth. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat and have never experienced anything like it. I didn't forget again to only order medium :)
After India I went to France for a couple of days for work which was nice bonding time to spend with my new manager and settle into my new role here at AOL. Sad t leave my old team but I am only sitting a few metres away from them :) As with most work trips, you work so hard you only see the hotel, office and the closest restaurant to the hotel. We also got to see a bit more of the airport than I would have cared to when our flight was continuously delayed coming home!
Following France it was Spain to compete in the Valencia marathon. So all of my training had been on a treadmill, and please don't try this at home, I had only done 2 long runs this year. My quads reminded me of that fact when I got to the 28km mark and had to watch the 3.15 pace group disappear into the distance while I tried to ease the agony in my legs. I managed to pull myself together and got home in 3.21, a new personal best. I am pleased with the result given I was on the Jade Goody training plan of very little training and lots of curries.
I would really recommend Valencia to anyone who is thinking of doing a marathon, especially a flat fast one. It is cheap and easy to get there and the race is really well run. They have pace groups and the goody bags are excellent. You end up getting 2 bottles of wine between the pre race pack and the finishers pack. They also have free massage at the end which was exactly what I needed.
So Spain and then Austria for a full filled week of skiing. I was being called Bambi on Ice for the first day as the quads reminded me that they needed a little bit more recovery time before having to support me showing off on a ski slope. At the bottom of every run I was shaking and quivering like a new born foal. My non fitness friends were loving it, especially Antoinette who was pleased to finally be better than me at a sport. For the record (and this will test if she has been reading my blog) Antoinette, you are an excellent skier and one of the more graceful people on the slopes.
We were lucky that we didn't have any skiing related injuries, only drinking ones. 1 girl slipped in the shower and had a huge bruise on her shin, another got drunk and managed to head butt the end of the bed and ended up with quite an impressive black eye. Her work colleagues were either to scared to ask or think she has a penchant for purple eye shadow :)
Fantastic group out in Austria and we stayed in Hotel Hannes in Niederau where we were really well looked after. The food was excellent and plenty of it which was exactly what you wanted after a day on the slopes.
This Friday I am off to Australia for a couple of weeks to see my family and meet my niece Bellah. Can't wait! I am planning on being with Mum and Dad in Peak Hill most of the time and a friend who is a pilot is going to fly up and see me. No doubt that will be the talk of the very small town. I head back to Sydney and then up to the Central Coast, North of Sydney, to visit my Aunty Cheryl and a friend who has just had a baby. Back to Sydney to stay with Antoinette's parents and then head back. Should be a fun trip, Antoinette and I are on the same flights out and back. I am looking forward to doing some quality training and swimming in a 50m pool! My coach has set me a really swim heavy programme for this month to take advantage of that.
That's it! I'm trying to finalise my 2008 race schedule and so far it is looking like I have around 20 races so it is going to be a busy one. This is the year I really want to get some good results across all 3 triathlon disciplines but really want to make solid improvements to my swim and bike. The run comes naturally, so not too concerned about that.
Hope everyone is well and as always, thanks for checking out my blog!
Carolyn x
It's been a while. Since I last wrote, I have been in all of those countries for anywhere from 2 - 14 days. Well that isn't entirely true, I'm heading to Australia for 2 weeks on Friday. I had my first weekend in London last weekend in over 2 months! It was nice to spend time in my new house and not feel like I was just using it to sleep there!
Lots has been happening so I have broken it into small digestible chunks :)
India. Wow. What a place. I have never experienced traffic like it. Just a small example for you...driving along a motorway heading back into Bangalore after a relaxing Sunday afternoon lounging by a pool, having a massage, nice lunch and we are going back to our hotel in town ready to go back to work the next day. There are 2 lanes each side of the road and a pretty wide grass medium strip in the middle and we are cruising along at around 80km hour enjoying the drive. We go round a sweeping curve in the road and there is a 4x4 coming straight at us. This guy is driving on the wrong side of the motorway!! The worst part, he was madly grinning away to himself probably thinking how clever he was to find a road that everyone was only going 1 way on. Our driver calmly pulls into the left lane to let him past, all of us in the car are totally freaked out by this! Obviously other people have seen him so within minutes we see more people driving towards us so we decide to get off and back into the traffic chocked, much slower suburban roads. We are going down the off ramp almost get taken out by a lorry coming UP the OFF ramp. It is terrifying how those people drive. I left my fingernails embedded in the door of the car. Anyone who has been to India will totally appreciate the 'unique' way that Indians drive.
Other than the crazy driving, India was good. The people are really exceptionally lovely, especially the ones we were working with who made us feel so welcome. I eat maybe 2 curries a year so by day 2 (12 to go!) I was over eating curry. I swear I was starting to turn yellow around the edges by the time I left and it is certainly going to be a while till I have another one! The guys I was travelling with from work were brilliant fun and we ended up getting our own table in the one decent place to eat near the hotel. I can handle really hot food, but was ordering medium spicy each time we went in there and it still had a solid bite on it. I forgot to ask for medium onenight and it came out 'hot'. More like lava. I took a mouthful and my vision actually blurred it was so hot. It was the equivalent of putting a hot coal in your mouth. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat and have never experienced anything like it. I didn't forget again to only order medium :)
After India I went to France for a couple of days for work which was nice bonding time to spend with my new manager and settle into my new role here at AOL. Sad t leave my old team but I am only sitting a few metres away from them :) As with most work trips, you work so hard you only see the hotel, office and the closest restaurant to the hotel. We also got to see a bit more of the airport than I would have cared to when our flight was continuously delayed coming home!
Following France it was Spain to compete in the Valencia marathon. So all of my training had been on a treadmill, and please don't try this at home, I had only done 2 long runs this year. My quads reminded me of that fact when I got to the 28km mark and had to watch the 3.15 pace group disappear into the distance while I tried to ease the agony in my legs. I managed to pull myself together and got home in 3.21, a new personal best. I am pleased with the result given I was on the Jade Goody training plan of very little training and lots of curries.
I would really recommend Valencia to anyone who is thinking of doing a marathon, especially a flat fast one. It is cheap and easy to get there and the race is really well run. They have pace groups and the goody bags are excellent. You end up getting 2 bottles of wine between the pre race pack and the finishers pack. They also have free massage at the end which was exactly what I needed.
So Spain and then Austria for a full filled week of skiing. I was being called Bambi on Ice for the first day as the quads reminded me that they needed a little bit more recovery time before having to support me showing off on a ski slope. At the bottom of every run I was shaking and quivering like a new born foal. My non fitness friends were loving it, especially Antoinette who was pleased to finally be better than me at a sport. For the record (and this will test if she has been reading my blog) Antoinette, you are an excellent skier and one of the more graceful people on the slopes.
We were lucky that we didn't have any skiing related injuries, only drinking ones. 1 girl slipped in the shower and had a huge bruise on her shin, another got drunk and managed to head butt the end of the bed and ended up with quite an impressive black eye. Her work colleagues were either to scared to ask or think she has a penchant for purple eye shadow :)
Fantastic group out in Austria and we stayed in Hotel Hannes in Niederau where we were really well looked after. The food was excellent and plenty of it which was exactly what you wanted after a day on the slopes.
This Friday I am off to Australia for a couple of weeks to see my family and meet my niece Bellah. Can't wait! I am planning on being with Mum and Dad in Peak Hill most of the time and a friend who is a pilot is going to fly up and see me. No doubt that will be the talk of the very small town. I head back to Sydney and then up to the Central Coast, North of Sydney, to visit my Aunty Cheryl and a friend who has just had a baby. Back to Sydney to stay with Antoinette's parents and then head back. Should be a fun trip, Antoinette and I are on the same flights out and back. I am looking forward to doing some quality training and swimming in a 50m pool! My coach has set me a really swim heavy programme for this month to take advantage of that.
That's it! I'm trying to finalise my 2008 race schedule and so far it is looking like I have around 20 races so it is going to be a busy one. This is the year I really want to get some good results across all 3 triathlon disciplines but really want to make solid improvements to my swim and bike. The run comes naturally, so not too concerned about that.
Hope everyone is well and as always, thanks for checking out my blog!
Carolyn x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
