Friday, 21 March 2008
Exercise
Well chuffed this week, I was. My weights arrived :-) I've now commandered the consevatory, and Izzy is talking about me turning it into a small gym so we can all use it. Will have to see about that, but it sounds a good idea. Very happy to be getting back into it though!
More BIG life decisions
Yet more big, and once again we mean proper BIG, decisions are looming (or should that be have loomed, hit us on the head and we're now standing watching the bluebirds fly around our heads?).
This time it is regarding what we do next year. As most people know, Em applied for Jersey to do her second year of her training, what they call F2 (Foundation year 2). Well the good news is that she's gone and beaten the competition and has got the place in Jersey. The bad news, well potentially bad news, is that we have started looking into the whole living in Jersey thing and things couldn't really be much worse! If, and it is a BIG IF, the hospital can get us a place for both of us to live - not hugely common for them to put couples up apparently, then we'll be fine. If they can't do this, then we will have to go and rent a place ourselves. Now this wouldn't normally cause a problem, with our track record of 7 places in the last 8 and a bit years we are used to going through the rental loop. However, Jersey being Jersey, a place where you have to live there for 10 years before buying a place, the rental propery market is extremely complicated with the VAST majority of households being open to those people who have lived on the island for at least 5 years, or if not, then extortionately priced - I've never seen as many 1 and 2 bed apartments over £1500 per month (and that's the cheap end!!!)
Now if we can find somewhere, then if we scrimped and saved then in theory at least we could do £1500 - wouldn't leave much in the coffers at the end of the month.
Now here comes the good bit!! Em has a job. All good. I haven't.
I've looked on the 'jobs in Jersey' website where the government puts all the jobs up for grabs at any given time and have discovered something that could be a massive problem. As I haven't lived in Jersey for more than 5 years, I'm only going to be able to look at around 5-10% of the jobs on there. They give preference to locals. Local jobs for local people. This leaves all the dross in terms of jobs :-( I may well end up being a barman or a taxi driver for the year getting paid peanuts!! There are only 2 engineering companies on the island that I've found so far, so if I can't get anything with them, and if we don't get hospital accommodation, then we are technically buggered as we'll have to do it all on Em's salary. Possible but not preferable.
Haven't discussed this with work (GEL) yet - trying to get my head around everything first, but I severely doubt that I could continue with them but it is a path I can try and look at if I have to. It may also be a good time to reassess where I am and decide if there's another 40 plus years in engineering (seeing as most in the business agree that over the next 20 years the jobs are going to move steadily eastwards as China and Indian graduates come through the system). This would be a fairly easy thing to do in any other country, but again, all trainig posts are open to people who have lived on the island for 5 years or more. Do you get the feeling they don't want immigrants in their country?!?!
We do have a fall back plan. As Em's been given Jersey, under the NHS rules she has got to take it. However, as we are now in Oz and Em's in the Australian system, she has gone down the route of getting an F2 year sorted out here as a backup in case she decided that this is where she wanted to stay. We had decided not to bother with Australia as she'd got Jersey, but now this back up has come back to the table. If she stays here, she has a job in a hospital she knows, we have a place to live, I have a Visa that allows me do work in any industry I fancy and the Engineering jobs (although not on our doorstep) are out there and pay pretty well.
As you can see we have a HUGE amount to think over.
And now for the REALLY good bit.
We have to decide by Tuesday night.
Hope you all have a more exciting weekend!
Tootle pip,
Rich
This time it is regarding what we do next year. As most people know, Em applied for Jersey to do her second year of her training, what they call F2 (Foundation year 2). Well the good news is that she's gone and beaten the competition and has got the place in Jersey. The bad news, well potentially bad news, is that we have started looking into the whole living in Jersey thing and things couldn't really be much worse! If, and it is a BIG IF, the hospital can get us a place for both of us to live - not hugely common for them to put couples up apparently, then we'll be fine. If they can't do this, then we will have to go and rent a place ourselves. Now this wouldn't normally cause a problem, with our track record of 7 places in the last 8 and a bit years we are used to going through the rental loop. However, Jersey being Jersey, a place where you have to live there for 10 years before buying a place, the rental propery market is extremely complicated with the VAST majority of households being open to those people who have lived on the island for at least 5 years, or if not, then extortionately priced - I've never seen as many 1 and 2 bed apartments over £1500 per month (and that's the cheap end!!!)
Now if we can find somewhere, then if we scrimped and saved then in theory at least we could do £1500 - wouldn't leave much in the coffers at the end of the month.
Now here comes the good bit!! Em has a job. All good. I haven't.
I've looked on the 'jobs in Jersey' website where the government puts all the jobs up for grabs at any given time and have discovered something that could be a massive problem. As I haven't lived in Jersey for more than 5 years, I'm only going to be able to look at around 5-10% of the jobs on there. They give preference to locals. Local jobs for local people. This leaves all the dross in terms of jobs :-( I may well end up being a barman or a taxi driver for the year getting paid peanuts!! There are only 2 engineering companies on the island that I've found so far, so if I can't get anything with them, and if we don't get hospital accommodation, then we are technically buggered as we'll have to do it all on Em's salary. Possible but not preferable.
Haven't discussed this with work (GEL) yet - trying to get my head around everything first, but I severely doubt that I could continue with them but it is a path I can try and look at if I have to. It may also be a good time to reassess where I am and decide if there's another 40 plus years in engineering (seeing as most in the business agree that over the next 20 years the jobs are going to move steadily eastwards as China and Indian graduates come through the system). This would be a fairly easy thing to do in any other country, but again, all trainig posts are open to people who have lived on the island for 5 years or more. Do you get the feeling they don't want immigrants in their country?!?!
We do have a fall back plan. As Em's been given Jersey, under the NHS rules she has got to take it. However, as we are now in Oz and Em's in the Australian system, she has gone down the route of getting an F2 year sorted out here as a backup in case she decided that this is where she wanted to stay. We had decided not to bother with Australia as she'd got Jersey, but now this back up has come back to the table. If she stays here, she has a job in a hospital she knows, we have a place to live, I have a Visa that allows me do work in any industry I fancy and the Engineering jobs (although not on our doorstep) are out there and pay pretty well.
As you can see we have a HUGE amount to think over.
And now for the REALLY good bit.
We have to decide by Tuesday night.
Hope you all have a more exciting weekend!
Tootle pip,
Rich
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Piccies
After a few requests for some photos I've decided to stick a load of pics on in this post.
Sunrise over Terrigal
Sunrise over Terrigal
Em & Iz on a beach north of the Entrance ... seconds later a wave came and soaked them both!
View from the ferry on the way to Taronga Zoo
A view from the restaurant we stopped at on the Rocks
Same view - later that evening
Wallaby at Taronga Zoo
View from the Bird Show arena at Taronga
Sunrise over Terrigal
Sunrise over Terrigal
Em & Iz on a beach north of the Entrance ... seconds later a wave came and soaked them both!
View from the ferry on the way to Taronga Zoo
A view from the restaurant we stopped at on the Rocks
Same view - later that evening
Wallaby at Taronga Zoo
View from the Bird Show arena at TarongaFriday, 14 March 2008
Sydney
This week we had planned a trip to Sydney. The two main purposes to this excursion were to firstly get a bit of down time for Em and Izzy after 7 nights working at the hospital, and secondly for Izzy to meet up with her parents again as they come back around to New South Wales for a week or so before flying back to the UK. On Monday morning, Em and Iz got back from work and went straight off to bed. Em and I were planning on going to see Ciara (a medical registrar from Ireland who was moving up to Darwin) to go and finalise the purchase of her 7 year old Ford Mondeo.
I had gone to see the car on Sunday with cash in hand, but we realised that the 'pink slip' which is neither pink or a slip but simply a cut-down MOT type test printed on a piece of A4, had run out and we would need a new one to re-register the car in our name. The car had passed this fine, so I woke Em at around half past twelve and we headed down to meet Ciara. Cash was exchanged and much questioning of what we were all doing began. Ciara had never sold a car, we had never bought a car, so all got rather interesting trying to figure out which bits of paper we needed, which we didn't need, and what required either our signature or Ciara's signature. About ten minutes later, we'd got the keys and were driving it back to our place.
That afternoon, we headed off to Gosford and got the train to Sydney. Now for all my ranting about how much more expensive everything seems to be over here, they've certainly got it right when it comes to train fares. It cost £17.60 ($8.80 each) to get to Sydney each way. That's around £8 return for what would cost around £30 for an equivalent distance into London (i.e. Southampton to London). Why can't the UK get its act together and charge similar prices? Maybe then they would get a decent percentage of the population using public transport as seems to happen here.
Arrivedin Sydney on time and headed out to Wake Up, a hostel that Em and I had booked a double room at. Although this was a hostel and obviously all facilities were shared, it was still costing the equivalent of £50 per night which I think was pretty ridiculous. I'm sure in the UK we'd be able to find some cheap b&b for under £50 per night, even in London! Saying that, we were glad we'd stayed there as it was a really friendly place, loads to do, and if backpacking then there'd have been shed loads of excursions that we could have done for not a great deal of money.
Once bags were dropped off, headed to Izzy's parents hotel and Iz dropped her bag off as she was kipping on their floor. Went out to the Opera House and instantly remembered the layout of the city. Had food on the waterfront and soaked up the view - Opera House on the right and Harbour Bridge on the left. We'd wanted to do the bridge climb but we all realised that we'd not be able to afford that this time, so I'm sure we'll be back in the not too distant future.
Met up the following day to go with Iz and her folks around some of the bays in the harbour and wander around to Bondi. Was great weather. After the rains of a couple of weeks ago, most of South Australia is now in the middle of a heat wave, so some of the hot dry weather has been spilling across to New South Wales. Temperatures were around 26-29 all week, and the sun was out pretty much all the time. Great views around Watsons Bay, the north eastern peninsula on the south side of the harbour, and out to sea. Bondi was, well, Bondi really. Loads of people soaking up the sun. The odd surfer trying to catch non-existant waves but still somehow managing to surf a long way in to the shore, and loads of people in the sea having fun. Went and did the obligatory paddling and then walked around the coast to one of the other small beaches before catching the train back to central which is right next to Wake up. Found a nice place to eat up George Street selling pub-type fare at low prices then headed back to the hostel for the night.
Decided to go to Taronga the next day, but at a leisurely pace after all the walking of yesterday. Strolled up George street to Circular Quay - the main ferry terminus up by the Bridge and the Opera House. Popped into a fair few shops on the way up - saw the largest Camera Lens I've ever seen, but no price tag although I'm thinking several thousand dollars - and got to the Ferry around 11am. Booked onto a Cruise of the harbour which includes Zoo entry, so had a bit of a tour of the sights of the harbour and heard some of the history before arriving at the Zoo. Took the cable car up into the Zoo rather than walk up the hill and got great views of Sydney, not to mention the Orang-utan who was sitting at the top of a pole with a sack on his head to shade himself from the sun - most funny.
Spent the whole day wandering around the zoo. Some highlights were the bird show, which unlike most shows which just show the birds, get them to fly around a bit and then sit them on a perch, actually had them trained so that they would fly to certain points of the arena, swoop over the audience's heads, and make a noise at the right time to coincide with the handler's speil. The snake exhibit was quite a good one to look around as I at least know what they look like now and know that you're meant to keep still if one sees you and then it will just slither on past. Obviously one highlight was the Orang-Utans, although Mr I've Got a Sack on My Head was still happily sitting at the top of his pole even up to when we left at half 4! Saw a few spiders too - so also what some of the common poisonous ones look like. Unfortunately a number of exhibits were closed as they are re-developing the site and are building new enclosures so that was a shame, so we may have to return at some point to see it once they've moved them all.
Got back to Sydney at 6pm, and headed over to the Rocks, the area around the base of the bridge. Found a proper Irish pub in there and had a couple of pints of the black stuff whilst waiting for time to tick around so we could go for food. Got chatting to the Irish bar girl. Found out she's a nurse in training on a few months out before she heads back to finish off her degree. Went back to the harbour side for around half 7 and got a table in a nice place with a great view. Picked the cheaper meals from the menu as I reckon average prices there were $40 per meal. I had kangaroo - just had to be done - and Em had a pasta thing. Roo is a crossed between beef and venison, although a bit tougher than venison but not quite so gamey. Met with Iz again after our meal and had a drink by the Opera House then headed off to Jackson's on George a pub/bar/club which Iz's friend worked at for a while before starting medicine. We were told the barmaids dress as cowgirls so we wanted to go see that, but the club wasn't open and we think that must be where they do that as the pub downstairs and the bar upstairs didn't. Played a few games of pool before strolling back down George St to the hostel.
Checked out at 9am and had breaky in the hostel cafe before crossing the road and getting the train back home. Were back in Terrigal for about half 12, although that would have been around half 11 if the train had been a couple of minutes earlier as we only just missed the bus back home. The next one didn't turn up either, so Sydney to Gosford was marginally quicker than Gosford to Terrigal!! Got back and registered the car down at the RTA so we now officially own it. Em had a drive and is just about getting used to the size of a Mondeo after her Corsa and MX5.
Just relaxing for the rest of the week before Em starts work again on Monday night.
Tootle pip,
Rich
I had gone to see the car on Sunday with cash in hand, but we realised that the 'pink slip' which is neither pink or a slip but simply a cut-down MOT type test printed on a piece of A4, had run out and we would need a new one to re-register the car in our name. The car had passed this fine, so I woke Em at around half past twelve and we headed down to meet Ciara. Cash was exchanged and much questioning of what we were all doing began. Ciara had never sold a car, we had never bought a car, so all got rather interesting trying to figure out which bits of paper we needed, which we didn't need, and what required either our signature or Ciara's signature. About ten minutes later, we'd got the keys and were driving it back to our place.
That afternoon, we headed off to Gosford and got the train to Sydney. Now for all my ranting about how much more expensive everything seems to be over here, they've certainly got it right when it comes to train fares. It cost £17.60 ($8.80 each) to get to Sydney each way. That's around £8 return for what would cost around £30 for an equivalent distance into London (i.e. Southampton to London). Why can't the UK get its act together and charge similar prices? Maybe then they would get a decent percentage of the population using public transport as seems to happen here.
Arrivedin Sydney on time and headed out to Wake Up, a hostel that Em and I had booked a double room at. Although this was a hostel and obviously all facilities were shared, it was still costing the equivalent of £50 per night which I think was pretty ridiculous. I'm sure in the UK we'd be able to find some cheap b&b for under £50 per night, even in London! Saying that, we were glad we'd stayed there as it was a really friendly place, loads to do, and if backpacking then there'd have been shed loads of excursions that we could have done for not a great deal of money.
Once bags were dropped off, headed to Izzy's parents hotel and Iz dropped her bag off as she was kipping on their floor. Went out to the Opera House and instantly remembered the layout of the city. Had food on the waterfront and soaked up the view - Opera House on the right and Harbour Bridge on the left. We'd wanted to do the bridge climb but we all realised that we'd not be able to afford that this time, so I'm sure we'll be back in the not too distant future.
Met up the following day to go with Iz and her folks around some of the bays in the harbour and wander around to Bondi. Was great weather. After the rains of a couple of weeks ago, most of South Australia is now in the middle of a heat wave, so some of the hot dry weather has been spilling across to New South Wales. Temperatures were around 26-29 all week, and the sun was out pretty much all the time. Great views around Watsons Bay, the north eastern peninsula on the south side of the harbour, and out to sea. Bondi was, well, Bondi really. Loads of people soaking up the sun. The odd surfer trying to catch non-existant waves but still somehow managing to surf a long way in to the shore, and loads of people in the sea having fun. Went and did the obligatory paddling and then walked around the coast to one of the other small beaches before catching the train back to central which is right next to Wake up. Found a nice place to eat up George Street selling pub-type fare at low prices then headed back to the hostel for the night.
Decided to go to Taronga the next day, but at a leisurely pace after all the walking of yesterday. Strolled up George street to Circular Quay - the main ferry terminus up by the Bridge and the Opera House. Popped into a fair few shops on the way up - saw the largest Camera Lens I've ever seen, but no price tag although I'm thinking several thousand dollars - and got to the Ferry around 11am. Booked onto a Cruise of the harbour which includes Zoo entry, so had a bit of a tour of the sights of the harbour and heard some of the history before arriving at the Zoo. Took the cable car up into the Zoo rather than walk up the hill and got great views of Sydney, not to mention the Orang-utan who was sitting at the top of a pole with a sack on his head to shade himself from the sun - most funny.
Spent the whole day wandering around the zoo. Some highlights were the bird show, which unlike most shows which just show the birds, get them to fly around a bit and then sit them on a perch, actually had them trained so that they would fly to certain points of the arena, swoop over the audience's heads, and make a noise at the right time to coincide with the handler's speil. The snake exhibit was quite a good one to look around as I at least know what they look like now and know that you're meant to keep still if one sees you and then it will just slither on past. Obviously one highlight was the Orang-Utans, although Mr I've Got a Sack on My Head was still happily sitting at the top of his pole even up to when we left at half 4! Saw a few spiders too - so also what some of the common poisonous ones look like. Unfortunately a number of exhibits were closed as they are re-developing the site and are building new enclosures so that was a shame, so we may have to return at some point to see it once they've moved them all.
Got back to Sydney at 6pm, and headed over to the Rocks, the area around the base of the bridge. Found a proper Irish pub in there and had a couple of pints of the black stuff whilst waiting for time to tick around so we could go for food. Got chatting to the Irish bar girl. Found out she's a nurse in training on a few months out before she heads back to finish off her degree. Went back to the harbour side for around half 7 and got a table in a nice place with a great view. Picked the cheaper meals from the menu as I reckon average prices there were $40 per meal. I had kangaroo - just had to be done - and Em had a pasta thing. Roo is a crossed between beef and venison, although a bit tougher than venison but not quite so gamey. Met with Iz again after our meal and had a drink by the Opera House then headed off to Jackson's on George a pub/bar/club which Iz's friend worked at for a while before starting medicine. We were told the barmaids dress as cowgirls so we wanted to go see that, but the club wasn't open and we think that must be where they do that as the pub downstairs and the bar upstairs didn't. Played a few games of pool before strolling back down George St to the hostel.
Checked out at 9am and had breaky in the hostel cafe before crossing the road and getting the train back home. Were back in Terrigal for about half 12, although that would have been around half 11 if the train had been a couple of minutes earlier as we only just missed the bus back home. The next one didn't turn up either, so Sydney to Gosford was marginally quicker than Gosford to Terrigal!! Got back and registered the car down at the RTA so we now officially own it. Em had a drive and is just about getting used to the size of a Mondeo after her Corsa and MX5.
Just relaxing for the rest of the week before Em starts work again on Monday night.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Monday, 10 March 2008
Maybe I can be a runner
I've never considered myself much of a runner. Even at school, the thought of doing the cross country run each year filled me with complete terror and the admission to myself that although I could run pretty quick for short bursts, there was every chance that I'd end up trailing in with the stragglers in the class. Over the years I gradually improved my endurance running, but even then, I was nowhere near some of my friends who have since gone on to run in marathons and do other equally daft things, (Ash's Mountain Marathon springs to mind). So to my total surprise, I suggested to Izzy that we ought to go and run along the beach together to get a bit fitter.
Now I am pretty fit - 12 months with a personal trainer gets you that way - but it had not been my aim to be able to run long distances. In my mind that wasn't an important part of my training, so weights, small bursts of cardio, and nutrition had been my goals. Now, since living on the beach, I've seen that improving my cardio performance would help in quite a few ways. Firstly it should help me with my swimming which last year I spent some time working on with some private lessons. I can now swim lengths of a swimming pool - something that I've never achieved before - however the thought of swimming back to the beach through a load of waves, although not impossible does seem to me like it would be bloody hard work so an improvement in my endurance would make this a whole lot easier. Secondly just being able to run and enjoy it would be good for me. As I said, I know lots of friends that now run, so to be able to join them would be quite an achievement for me. Finally, I know that if I build on my cardio work, then I'll burn more fat, and that combined with my work-outs should help me to see some of the muscle that I've been building over the last few months. Might as well be able to see what I've achieved!!
So with the decision to begin running made, I set off on Wednesday morning for a run. I decided to go bare foot and jogged along the road, past all the cafes that were opening up (it was 6.45am) and down onto the beach. I headed north up the beach as this was going to take a fair while to complete and would be a bit of a challenge. I tried to find some firm sand down by the water's edge but although this would have been fairly easy to do in Bournemouth due to the flat sands, the beach at Terrigal has quite a slope on it just by the water. This was because I was running pretty close to high tide and the flat sand was already completely covered by the tide. So with a choice of running on a 20-30 degree slope which was periodically being covered by water which then turned it soft and dragged sand down into the sea or on the softer, flatter sands further up the beach, I finally chose to go for the soft and flat sand. This caused less aggravation on my ankles but made the effort needed to be put into the whole process of running about double, which I guess is a good thing as it is going to make the cardio effort required somewhat greater (I reckon at least 30-50% more than the equivalent effort I normally put into running on the treadmill at the gym).
By the time I reached around 2/3 distance along the beach I had already had to drop to a walk a couple of times to get my breath back and as the tide was on its way in, I decided that I ought to head back before the sea finally met up with the lagoon and I had to wade across part of the beach. I began walking back and after about 3 minutes of walking, began running again. By the time I reached the end of the beach I didn't feel quite as bad as I'd been expecting and felt I could have gone a bit further. I got back in at just before 7.30. It was my aim to get all the way the next day.
Thursday came and I headed out slightly later (6.50am) and began the run with the aim of getting as far as I could before I had to stop for a breather. I passed loads of surfers, definitely seems to be a common way to start the day - head out with your board and spend half an hour surfing on the swell that is brought in with the tide each morning. I also passed fishermen, mainly retired guys who seemed to be set for the day, standing on the beach in their waders waiting for the tide to come in around them, and the odd dog and their owner. One of the funny moments was a dog that had got out from the garden of one of the houses backing onto the beach and had his head in one of the fishermen's tubs of bait! He seemed to be enjoying the morning snack although the fisherman didn't seem to see the funny side!
I managed to get all the way to the end of the beach, or what I thought was the end of the beach. It wasn't until Saturday that I realised I hadn't got the full length when I was sitting at the Terrigal end of the beach looking at the route of my run. I got to a part of the beach that met up with the lagoon again and the beach narrowed right down to what seemed to be a fairly narrow path. I now realise that although it was a fairly narrow path, at low tide the beach continues quite a bit further, and I don't think the tide would have covered this path over so I probably could have continued. But I was happy. I'd just run around 1.4 miles to this point along soft sand (I was sinking around 3 inches on every step) and was absolutely knackered!! After sitting for about 5 mins, I started back - walking at first - and gradually got back into a run/jog as I realised that this actually required less effort than walking!
I got back at 7.40. 50 mins to run about 2.8 miles which I was really happy with. I was intending to go out on Friday, but my legs were so stiff I couldn't have faced another day's running. This morning I was planning on running up the skillion, but with a combination of waking up quite a bit during the night - rain and some bloody great big trucks moving around and dropping things at 4am(!) I woke up a bit late and waking up late here means the sun is up, and with the sun being up there's no way I would survive the run!!
Em finished her nights this morning and we are off to Sydney this evening, so I will attempt the run up the Skillion when we get back. Am expecting a delivery of a weight bench and some weights today, so I will also be able to get back into my exercise properly once I return from Sydney.
We are also picking up a car today - a 2000, Ford Mondeo 2 litre saloon. Seems in really good nick, and although pricey compared to the UK, it is really quite cheap for Oz due to the owner being an Irish girl who needs to get rid of it as soon as possible due to moving to Darwin tomorrow! Still got a month's warranty from when she bought it, so all seems good.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Now I am pretty fit - 12 months with a personal trainer gets you that way - but it had not been my aim to be able to run long distances. In my mind that wasn't an important part of my training, so weights, small bursts of cardio, and nutrition had been my goals. Now, since living on the beach, I've seen that improving my cardio performance would help in quite a few ways. Firstly it should help me with my swimming which last year I spent some time working on with some private lessons. I can now swim lengths of a swimming pool - something that I've never achieved before - however the thought of swimming back to the beach through a load of waves, although not impossible does seem to me like it would be bloody hard work so an improvement in my endurance would make this a whole lot easier. Secondly just being able to run and enjoy it would be good for me. As I said, I know lots of friends that now run, so to be able to join them would be quite an achievement for me. Finally, I know that if I build on my cardio work, then I'll burn more fat, and that combined with my work-outs should help me to see some of the muscle that I've been building over the last few months. Might as well be able to see what I've achieved!!
So with the decision to begin running made, I set off on Wednesday morning for a run. I decided to go bare foot and jogged along the road, past all the cafes that were opening up (it was 6.45am) and down onto the beach. I headed north up the beach as this was going to take a fair while to complete and would be a bit of a challenge. I tried to find some firm sand down by the water's edge but although this would have been fairly easy to do in Bournemouth due to the flat sands, the beach at Terrigal has quite a slope on it just by the water. This was because I was running pretty close to high tide and the flat sand was already completely covered by the tide. So with a choice of running on a 20-30 degree slope which was periodically being covered by water which then turned it soft and dragged sand down into the sea or on the softer, flatter sands further up the beach, I finally chose to go for the soft and flat sand. This caused less aggravation on my ankles but made the effort needed to be put into the whole process of running about double, which I guess is a good thing as it is going to make the cardio effort required somewhat greater (I reckon at least 30-50% more than the equivalent effort I normally put into running on the treadmill at the gym).
By the time I reached around 2/3 distance along the beach I had already had to drop to a walk a couple of times to get my breath back and as the tide was on its way in, I decided that I ought to head back before the sea finally met up with the lagoon and I had to wade across part of the beach. I began walking back and after about 3 minutes of walking, began running again. By the time I reached the end of the beach I didn't feel quite as bad as I'd been expecting and felt I could have gone a bit further. I got back in at just before 7.30. It was my aim to get all the way the next day.
Thursday came and I headed out slightly later (6.50am) and began the run with the aim of getting as far as I could before I had to stop for a breather. I passed loads of surfers, definitely seems to be a common way to start the day - head out with your board and spend half an hour surfing on the swell that is brought in with the tide each morning. I also passed fishermen, mainly retired guys who seemed to be set for the day, standing on the beach in their waders waiting for the tide to come in around them, and the odd dog and their owner. One of the funny moments was a dog that had got out from the garden of one of the houses backing onto the beach and had his head in one of the fishermen's tubs of bait! He seemed to be enjoying the morning snack although the fisherman didn't seem to see the funny side!
I managed to get all the way to the end of the beach, or what I thought was the end of the beach. It wasn't until Saturday that I realised I hadn't got the full length when I was sitting at the Terrigal end of the beach looking at the route of my run. I got to a part of the beach that met up with the lagoon again and the beach narrowed right down to what seemed to be a fairly narrow path. I now realise that although it was a fairly narrow path, at low tide the beach continues quite a bit further, and I don't think the tide would have covered this path over so I probably could have continued. But I was happy. I'd just run around 1.4 miles to this point along soft sand (I was sinking around 3 inches on every step) and was absolutely knackered!! After sitting for about 5 mins, I started back - walking at first - and gradually got back into a run/jog as I realised that this actually required less effort than walking!
I got back at 7.40. 50 mins to run about 2.8 miles which I was really happy with. I was intending to go out on Friday, but my legs were so stiff I couldn't have faced another day's running. This morning I was planning on running up the skillion, but with a combination of waking up quite a bit during the night - rain and some bloody great big trucks moving around and dropping things at 4am(!) I woke up a bit late and waking up late here means the sun is up, and with the sun being up there's no way I would survive the run!!
Em finished her nights this morning and we are off to Sydney this evening, so I will attempt the run up the Skillion when we get back. Am expecting a delivery of a weight bench and some weights today, so I will also be able to get back into my exercise properly once I return from Sydney.
We are also picking up a car today - a 2000, Ford Mondeo 2 litre saloon. Seems in really good nick, and although pricey compared to the UK, it is really quite cheap for Oz due to the owner being an Irish girl who needs to get rid of it as soon as possible due to moving to Darwin tomorrow! Still got a month's warranty from when she bought it, so all seems good.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Who knows what is hidden inside a bush
The Australian bush is reknowned for being an inhospitable place to roam, so we believed that a stroll in a national park only a few kilometres outside of The Entrance would be fairly simple exercise. You know the kind of thing, a wide gravelled pathway and a few signs here and there pointing the way and picnic tables/viewpoints all around the way. How wrong could we be!
I think we should have guessed when we arrived at the car park - a single sign right next to a small pull in off the main road and a single board telling of the tracks and trails you can explore from that point.
We had packed a picnic and although there was a table at the car park, decided we'd go off around the paths and stop halfway round (the total length of the tracks was around 8km). The sign pointed us up a woodland path and over a small crest. We instantly thought that sandals, flip flops and shorts was not the ideal get up to be walking around here, but figured it would be fairly easy going. The path suddenly closed in and the plants (mainly ferns) were overgrowing the path all the way along. Now in the UK I would not have been at all phased by this, but living in a country where I have no idea what any wildlife is, and certainly not knowing what is or is not dangerous suddenly made us all very jumpy. Em was panicking due to the large spiders hanging in trees, Izzy was convinced every bush had something in, and I was just hyper sensitive to any changes in the undergrowth in case there were any snakes etc, lying around the footpath. This was not easy as the plants overgrew the edges of the narrow track and there was no option but to walk through plantlife.
I did spot a few nice bits to note. There were lots of small lizards and a couple of dragonflies which I know dad would be interested in. 
One kept following me ... up to the point where I saw a bloody large orange wasp/hornet type flying thing and didn't want to go any further. Thankfully it flew off and Iz told me to carry on. The only other bit was walking through a small web with a tiny spider in it (about 1/4 inch) and panicked ... well it could have been a baby evil nasty Richard killing spider, at least that's what I say!!
One kept following me ... up to the point where I saw a bloody large orange wasp/hornet type flying thing and didn't want to go any further. Thankfully it flew off and Iz told me to carry on. The only other bit was walking through a small web with a tiny spider in it (about 1/4 inch) and panicked ... well it could have been a baby evil nasty Richard killing spider, at least that's what I say!!After about half an hour, we made it into a clearing and onto the main pathway and breathed a sigh of relief as the main path seemed to suggest that the remainder of the tracks would not be quite so scary.
Again...we were wrong. The path again became narrow, overgrown and rather scary looking and deciding that we would all prefer to get out of the forest without any bites, we left the trail at the road and headed back to the car!
We then left the car park and headed about half a mile down the road to the beach and ate our picnic in the dunes whilst watching the massive waves crash onto the shore. I went off for a run around the dunes and left Em and Iz sunbathing and whilst I was away, they saw a large lizard run across the dunes in front of them. I went off and spent a bit of time down by the sea and took some photos, sat watching the seagulls and just getting mesmerised by the swell. It brings back memories of sitting infront of a fire at camp - always changing and can just make you drift away.
All in all a rather interesting day!
Tootle pip,
Rich
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