-Dec 15th, 2005 – Walking in The Tree Tops

-Dec 14th, 2005 – Port Arthur

We couldn’t very well tour Australia without visiting one of their famous penal colonies! Port Arthur became a significantly large penitentiary in the mid 1800’s when other prisons around Australia closed. It was an experiment where they tried to rehabilitate the criminals, rather than simply punishing them. They did this by putting the prisoners to work to build their own colony. Some of them even became very skilled craftsmen. A kind of like slavery, I guess but it did apparently rehabilitate some and the work they did produced some of these impressive building ruins.

Even young boys were sent there and placed on an island just off the coast. The youngest prisoner was only nine because it was at the age of seven that Britain deemed a person an adult and therefore responsible for his actions! I guess fewer kids were likely to misbehave in those days!

In 1996 there was a massacre at Port Arthur. A man pulled a gun and shot many of the tourists who were there. He killed 34 people and injured many others. Today, it is a touchy subject that they ask visitors not to ask the staff about since many staff members lost friends and family that day.

-Dec 13th, 2005 – Coles Bay

We visited Nature world in Bicheno before continuing down the coast. We were allowed to feed the free roaming kangaroos and birds in the park which was fun.

After visiting the Aussie animals, we followed the coast down to Coles Bay and did a hike (a scramble really as it turned out) up Mt. Amos to enjoy the beautiful view of Wine Glass Bay. As we parked the bike, I noticed a little wallaby nearby. I cautiously approached him slowly, trying not to frighten him away. I stopped once I thought I was close enough to get a good photo and as I looked down to turn on the camera, the little critter hopped right up to me!

The recommended time for the hike we choose was three hours return. Of course, Kevin and I were keen to see how much time we could take off that! As we started up the trail, it started to sprinkle rain. We were caught off guard by the terrain in these conditions which was rated “expert.” We had trouble getting good traction on the smooth rocks we had to climb. We had to use our hands and even then it was sometimes difficult to even find a place to grip with our hands or feet.

By the time we got to the top, it had stopped raining and the sun had come out making the view even more breathtaking! Not including the break at the top, our hike took us 1:46 which we thought was pretty good. We both fell on our butts once each on the way down and we were both pretty sore the next day! A great hike though!

-Dec 12th, 2005 – The Tasmanian East Coast

We decided to go around the island in a clockwise direction simply because the weather in Tassie varies quickly and drastically and we heard that it was nice today on the east coast. We chose to ride some back roads up along the north east coast, and then down the east coast where we’d find a nice place to camp for the night. The roads we rode today are perfect for riding on a motorbike! They constantly winded in and out of forest, rolling green hills and farmland. There was very little traffic and the view was gorgeous and always changing! It so fun to ride!

Kevin did a motorbike trip around Tassie 15 years ago with some mates and so we wanted to see some of the nice places he went to. One of those places was the Pub In the Paddock so we went there and had a delicious sandwich and a middy of beer (that’s a small beer).

We stayed in a town on the coast called Bicheno which is famous for penguin spotting. As it gets dark, fairy penguins come up out of the water and into the bushes on the beach, where they spend the night. Kevin and I walked along the beach with a few beers and our map of good look out points.

We stopped while Kevin checked our position relative to our map and while I waited, I noticed some dark little figures just a metre in front of me. I said “Hey! What are these, Kev?” Kev replied, “That would be them!” We got a few photos but because it was dark I couldn’t see what I was shooting at. I simply took several photos and realized when I saw them afterwards that I must have terrified them nearly to death!

We sat on the rocks and watched them come in on some pretty decent sized waves! I found it ironic that these little birds are called “fairy” penguins. They’re actually pretty tough little creatures! They caught waves that pummeled them against the rocks and then washed them right back out. It took them several waves like this, until they caught a good one that would bring them high enough onto the beach for them to stand up and waddle away. You’d think that after that sort of torture, being photographed wouldn’t be so bad but they looked pretty scared of the lights from the camera. You’ll notice they don’t have red eyes in the photo, though!

-Dec 11th, 2005 –The Boat Ride

The boat from Melbourne to Tasmania departs Melbourne at 9pm and arrives in Tassie the next morning at 7 am. We booked a cabin so that we could get a good night sleep and be ready to go when we arrive. It doesn't come cheap, though; a return trip for the two of us costs over $900! The boat is a little bit like a BC Ferry but bigger and it had hundreds of cabins with two sets of bunk beds and a bathroom with a shower in each one. I was very excited to see the boat. There was a night club, a pub, a few restaurants, a tourist information booth, a gift shop among other things. We had a lot to explore! We did finally get to bed, though and got a good night's sleep and were excited to start our first day of six in Tasmania!

-Dec 11th, 2005 –The Great Ocean Road! Wooohooo!

Yesterday, we stayed in Mt. Gambier in a motel to do some work online. Today we traveled from there, down the Great Ocean Road and was that ever amazing! It is a windy road with a fantastic view that lasts for about five hours. We saw more motorbikes on this road than we saw across the rest of the country! Because of the name, I expected there to be a nice ocean view but wasn't aware that it was so windy and fun! We loved it! We were so excited whenever we came a cross a road sign that indicated twisty roads because it would say "for the next 49 km!" Wow! Was that awesome...my butt didn't even hurt after seven hours on the bike, I was riveted with the thrill of ripping around corners and in awe of the view all day! We stopped for lunch in a funky, little town on the ocean called Port Campbell. Here are some photos of the view today.

The 12 Apostles                                          An archway on the Great Ocean Road            Where we had lunch in Port Campbell

-Dec 9th, 2005 – Vinyards and farmland!!

We stopped briefly in Port Agusta to book ourselves on the boat to Tassie (that’s cool for Tamania) and made it to a small town called Morgan north east of Adelaide. We camped beside the Murray River which a ferry traverses 24 hours a day. It transports cars as they arrive across the narrow river. The sailing lasts for about 40 seconds but it’s fun!

-Dec 8th, 2005 – Enough of the Nullabor!!

We finally emerged safely from the Nullabor and made it to Streaky Bay where we camped on the beach in a very nice caravan park. We were very excited about the laundry facilities! It was a nice change to ride into a town with more than one building and a population larger than three!

This is where we camped at Streaky Bay. We've just packed up and are ready to go on!

-Dec 7th, 2005 – Still crossing the Nullabor!!

We got a fairly early start this morning despite the hour and a half we lost due to a time change. Starting early is great because the temperature is rising as we ride further inland…or is it outback…I don’t know. All I know that is by noon it’s smoking hot and pretty hard to put on the motorcycle jackets and helmets on after our stops. I won’t complain about the heat, though. We’ve found we get little sympathy from you guys back home in Canada!

We are getting about 800km a day in and we stop before dusk so we have time to set up camp and cook dinner before dark. It’s also more dangerous to travel on a bike in the dark. That’s when the kangaroos come out to the road for some reason and we don’t want to hit one of those! The bugs also get pretty bad at dusk. They don’t watch where they’re going and they splat themselves all over our helmet visors! It sure makes me appreciate whoever invented visors! At 130km/hour, bugs often sound like rocks when they hit us…or do we hit them?

Before taking off this morning, I was cleaning these dead bugs off Kev’s visor with the squeegee at the service station, when a HUGE cockroach crawled out of the breathing vent! Good thing I cleaned it before he put it on! Kev’s reaction to the episode focused mainly on the fact that I threw his new helmet on the ground. Deep down however, I think he’s forever grateful to me for saving him from having a MONSTER cockroach crawl all over his face and then into his mouth!

We saw a guy cycling across all alone and we felt so sorry for him. We had a pretty stiff tail wind the entire way across this massive desert which means he had it in his face and… he didn’t have a motor! I should have got his autograph!

The road we traveled today ran along the Nullabor Cliffs, which are gorgeous! They are very steep drop-offs to the ocean. There are look-out pull-outs along the way with no rails or fences to stop people from going over the edge! It’s amazing! Some tourists were standing on an overhanging cliff and we don’t even think they realized it! I’m sure it would have broken off if one more person joined them! It was a beautiful view of the cliffs and the raging sea, though!

-Dec 6th, 2005 – Crossing the Nullabor!

We left Esperance, a pretty little town on the south coast this morning after camping on extremely hard ground! We started our epic journey (now Kev tells me how epic this will be!) across the Nullabor Plain, a huge desert with not much in the way of civilization along the way. We loaded up on groceries and water last night so we’ll be somewhat self-sufficient for a while (apart from the cold beer we’ll need to pick up along the way.)

Stocking up was a good move! When we came across a town (or…what looks like a town on the map), we found that it was really only a road house where they figure they can charge an arm and a leg for everything since they’re the only ones willing to stay out there to sell stuff! Regular gas was anywhere from $1.33-$1.54 a litre!

We set up camp in a caravan park in Madura and made dinner over the fire! We even roasted some marshmallows to get enjoy the full camping experience. We didn’t eat many, though; it made our VB Beers taste funny! We were in the camping spirit though and had a much better sleep on the Nullabor’s softer ground!

-Dec 4th, 2005 – Towards the Nullabor

Today we started our venture across the country. We donned our wet weather gear and left Margaret River this afternoon. We headed south along roads that winded their way through dense rain forest…well, I don’t know if it’s really a “Rain Forest” but it was raining when we rode through it so to me, it was “Rain Forest.” It was fun riding on the windy roads. We leaned the bike way over to one side, then to the other and then back to the first side again. We did that for hours! I love it...it's sort of like snowboarding or a ride at an amusement park!

We stopped to climb a very high tree. It wasn't traditional tree climbing though. There were metal rods protruding from the trunk so you could climb up them like stairs. It was very high and the view of the forest from above as very nice.

We got as far as a place called Denmark before it got dark. Denmark, Australia...sounds strange, doesn't it?! We stayed in a Pub which is something different for me, the Canadian. Pub’s here are nice looking, older buildings with a bar on the bottom floor and rooms above it, on the second floor that you can stay in. The washroom and lounge are common areas which is why it's pretty cheap accommodation (not to mention, the noise you have to put up with from below). I love the look of a typical pub and I think the idea is pretty good too. I'll get a photo of one...there's one in every town, of course!

That's me climbing the Gloucestor tree.                  A pretty, green bird in the forest.

-Dec 2nd, 2005 – Margaret River!

Margaret River is a beautiful little surf town with miles and miles of beaches. Obviously, there’s also a nice river. Today I went for a trail run along the river itself. It was gorgeous with a little waterfall here and a cool little bridge there. I was enjoying the view when I ran past a large stick that sat in the middle of the trail. As I past I noticed the stick start crawling away! My, oh, my! With my fists clenched, I was careful to keep my distance from large sticks (which I now refer to as “small logs”) all the way back to John’s place.  

We spent a few days at John’s getting some work done online. To give you a bit more information on John and Nathan who we were visiting in Margaret River, they are young party animals and they are hilarious! Consequently we drank quite a lot of beer with them but we gave our abs a good workout by laughing so much with them too! It also gave me the opportunity to learn some up to date, Aussi expressions that I didn’t know before now. 

 “To flog something” – to ruin or destroy something

“The oldies are coming.” – My parents are coming

“She’s been clucky forever.” – She has always been maternal (this wasn’t in reference to me!)

“You’re not wrong!” – You’re right!

“That’s the go!” – Sounds good!

“We’re staying with the rellos” – We’re staying with some relatives

We really enjoyed visiting with Nathan’s wife, Katrina (they met in Canada) and Bree, John’s girlfriend. They are very hospitable and wonderful people.

-Dec 1st, 2005 – Motorbike continued!

 Holding on to Kev a bit tighter, I turned around completely to get a better look at what I thought I saw. No, it wasn’t a Kangaroo or lizard chasing us or even a gecko in my helmet (but thank you for your guesses). It was one of our camping mattresses that we had tied to the top of our rear gear bag (actually, it’s not ours, it’s our friend Nicko’s who lent it to us). Pretty quickly, I noticed that that gear bag wasn’t there…it was dragging on the road behind us at about 110 km/hour! It was hanging on by a okey strap (that’s Australian for Bungy cord)! 

I frantically hit Kev on the arm, yelling “Stop!” I got off and ran back to retrieve our belongings. Our mattresses were completely shredded! In fact, I didn’t even recognize them as camping mattresses; I thought they were ripped tires from a truck! When I came back to show Kev what was left of our new camping gear, he reminded me that our laptop was in that gear bag! We picked up what we could salvage and examined the bag and the rack trying to figure out how it came off. We still don’t know! We waited until we got to Margaret River to open the bag to check out the damage. 

We are staying with John Hines. Kev crossed the finish line in his first Ironman with John’s Dad, Paul. Since then, Kev has been good friends with Paul and his wife Sue who’s been over to Penticton a few years ago. Their other son, Nathan came to Canada a few years ago and stayed with us when we lived up at Apex. Now both boys, John and Nathan live in Margaret River and it is great to catch up with them.

When we arrived at John’s place and recounted what happened, he kindly offered us a beer! Our brand new Billy can (which is a tall pot used in the Australian outback for making tea) suffered a dent or two, the corner of the handle of our steel hatchet was ground right down, but to our amazement, our laptop works fine!!!! We don’t know how that happened either but we are stokedl!

Have a look at the bag! It was in perfect condition before it "moved!"

-Dec 1st, 2005 – Motorbike shopping!

We packed up our bikes the day after the award’s banquet and sent our entire triathlon world to the East Coast. We stood there for a while staring at the bikes in their boxes as the guy plastered the cases with “Fragile!” stickers! Sending around the country has become a bit stressful! We felt pretty silly when the guy looked at us as if to say, “Alright, we got them from here…Take off now!” 

After ripping around town, checking out the motorbike shops that Kev had researched before hand, we realized that there weren’t many sports touring bikes around for the money we wanted to spend. We spent A LOT of time talking to sales guys about bikes, looking at bikes. 

After a while I got into a bit of a routine of hoping out of the car with the laptop, walking up to someone who looked like they worked there and asking him where I could set up to type about my trip. It was perfect! That way, I didn’t die of boredom and Kev could take all the time he needed to find exactly the right bike for our trip. I also got to write to all of you. 

Anyway, after lots of that and a night in a pretty seedy hotel in a very strange town, we found a 1993 Yamaha FJ 1200. Kev says it’s perfect for what we want to do. It has lots of power but it doesn’t match my boots that well but it goes alright with my sunnies. 

It didn’t have a gear bag rack on the back (that’s like a rat-trap for motorbikes) so Kev negotiated the inclusion of one in the sale and mounted it himself. The guys at the shop were telling me how impressed they were with his work! I didn’t realize that there was that much to it! 

Here is our motorbike...we haven't come up with a name yet...Any suggestions?

-Nov. 27th, 2005 – Ironman Western Australia-Barb’s Race Report 

We found the days in Busselton leading up to the race cool, compared to Darwin but they were sunny and it did heat up a bit at times during the days. They were calling for 30 degree temperatures and thunder storms for race day. At the pre-race meeting, the swim director described the protocol for possible evacuation from the water in the case of a shark sighting or a lightning storm. We were told to swim under the infamously long jetty (2km in length), climb up a pillar and wait to be fetched from there unless we wanted to climb up onto the jetty ourselves (it’s a pretty high jetty…but not as high as it is long!). 

As it turned out, the thunderstorms started before we went to bed the night before the race. We pointed out the positive in that it was better to have the storm now than during the swim or bike legs of the race. However, this thunderstorm was unusually long….the thunder, lightning and rain lasted all night and continued on into the morning. 

We arrived at the race site excited and humoured by the epic conditions! As we prepared our bikes, the race announcer informed us that they had decided to delay the race start by half an hour to await the passing of the storm. I thought to myself, “It’s been going on for the last eight hours! What makes them think it’s going to pass in an hour? They should call off the swim part!!!!” Apparently they had been in contact with the weather station where they are wiser about the weather than I am. Unfortunately, nobody took my suggestion of canceling the swim too seriously! 

Before I describe my race, I will share some of what I wrote to myself before the race. It will give more insight into my thoughts during the race. 

Kev and I were speaking today about how fitness isn’t only accumulated over months, even taking time off here and there, every year we get fitter and fitter. I am happy with my preparation for this race and I have all the years of preparation for the races before this one behind me. I am fitter than I ever have been. I’m hoping for a problem free race. This way, I’ll be bound to have my best result, not only because I’m fitter but because I am ready to take some risks and suffer a bit more than I usually do.

Due to past problems of anxiety at the swim start, I normally try to stay calm and start off easy to avoid panicking. My strategy is to hammer for this race is to hammer the first 500 meters to get a good draft off a faster pack. My swim training has incorporated this type of training so I feel more confident than I ever have.

Also, even when I have felt fairly good for the last ten kilometers of the run, I have never pinned it for fear of blowing up before the finish line. For this race, feeling alright at that point, I am going to hit the lap button on my watch and run the last 10 km as if it’s a 10 k race! I believe with my base, I’ll be able to pull it off I don’t know what I can do until I try.

If I run into trouble, I will use the opportunity to challenge my inner strength. Kev and I also spoke about his great race in Coeur D’Alene and how it felt so easy to him. He puts the ease of that race down to how tough some of his other races were. I believe that suffering through rough patches and tough races build toughness both physically and mentally that will help me achieve my goals even if I have to look further ahead than this race.

After reading “Man’s Search for Meaning,” I realize that man has suffered far worse conditions than physical pain. I want to become physically and mentally tougher and stronger. I will use difficult situations to increase my inner strength. Although I believe in karma, I also believe that there are some things I can’t control. I can control my attitude in any given circumstances. If man can stand the horrifying conditions and injustice of a concentration camp and still maintain his ethics and good attitude, I can in an Ironman.

How I deal with adverse conditions depicts who I am. I want to be proud of myself in difficult situations, not just by finishing the race but by doing the best that I can under the given circumstances.

I am also reminded by the reading I’ve just done of the close connection between the state of mind, courage and hope. I am hopeful and believe that I am capable of my best result ever in this Ironman. “He who has a why can bear with almost any how.” If I don’t run into any problems, I will put myself in a position of suffering, in the last 10km of the run which will be tough but it will make me tough and it will be rewarding with my best result yet. When it gets hard out there I want to remember these thoughts. The toughness of the situation will make me a stronger and better person. Another quote from the book is “The thing I dread the most is not to be worthy of my suffering.” The why is because the way I deal with the difficulty is who I am. That’s worth suffering! 

Prior to starting the race, we enjoyed a pre-race surprise presentation which was a squad of aerobatic planes doing impressive flybys in formation! It was an awesome way to rev up the crowd and the athletes for the race! The noise and power they displayed provided a unique buzz that I’ve never felt before a race! 

I started right behind the male professionals (including Kev) where I noticed only one other pro woman who I didn’t recognize. The cannon was fired and I took off as hard as I could! It was extremely rough water…I’m pretty sure it was the roughest I’ve ever swam in, let alone raced in. Because of the waves, I was never able to fall into a good rhythm with good technique but I sprinted the first few hundred metres anyway so I wasn’t thinking about good form. I didn’t get bumped by many other athletes at all and I didn’t panic in the least. I am over the panicking problems! Yay! 

As swimmers went by I tried to jump on their feet but was discouraged when I was immediately dropped! We were picked up by waves and dropped on top of each other and although I my goggles were knocked off once and I did get hit, I knew that everyone was being tossed around by the waves and nobody meant to knock anyone else around. I hugged the jetty all the way out and back and tried to find bubbles to follow. Every now and then I found myself alone but I could see the jetty so figured I was still on course. 

I don’t think I sighted more than twenty times throughout the entire swim. I was so close to the jetty that I thought that the waves were going to push me into the pillars. On the way back in, I sighted, hoping to see the beach. It felt like I had already been in there well over an hour! I spotted the huts at the end of the jetty and they were still very far off! Honestly, I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t wait to get out of there! A big wave raised me way up and I noticed a huge cross-over in my stroke. I was pretty discouraged with myself. Then the thoughts I had written before hand came to mind. “Be positive!” I told myself. “It will probably be slow for everyone….maybe some of my competion will get rattled and that will work to my advantage!”

Finally, I reached shallow water and could see the swim finish! I stood up mentally prepared to see a 1:15 on the clock. I was pleasantly surprised to see 1:01. Awesome!” I thought, “That’s over and I’m not already 30 minutes behind the leader!” It isn’t a fantastic time for me but it was so much better than I thought it was going to be. The swim felt so incredibly long that I am still convinced that one of the directors felt bad about the conditions and stopped the clock during the swim to make us feel better. 

Anyway, onto the bike. It had stopped raining and wasn’t too cold but I would classify the conditions as “Extremely windy.” I didn’t have a computer on my bike to note the speed I was going but after the race, a male pro told me that with the wind behind him he hit 54 km/hour on a completely flat road. I’m sure we had equally strong winds directly in our faces at times too. I moved through the field and found the course wasn’t that crowded after a while. I could always see riders in front of me but staying out of the draft wasn’t too difficult. There were two turn around points on the course and we did the 60km course three times. At the first turn around I could see I was in the top 15 women. Marilyn past me shortly after the first turn around but I was making up time on some other women up ahead and had past a few in the first 30km. I also saw Kev in the top 15 at the first turn around too so that was great news.

The special needs wasn’t as prominent as most Ironmans I’ve done. Not many people used it so they weren’t ready to hand it off as I came though. I had to stop and call my number back to them and a volunteer found it and ran it up to me. I carried on and past one of my competitors, Amanda Lovato. She past me back and as we rode into town, her husband told her she was in 7^th place. I was right behind her so I figured I was in 8^th. I hoped that her husband didn’t mind me eavesdropping. Shortly after we both got past by another pro woman, Imke from Germany. 

On the third lap I went through an aid station and picked up a banana. They gave me a whole banana and it took me a while to get it down. I finished it and tossed the peel without even thinking about it. I got pulled over by an official for a stop/start penalty for littering. It took me a while to even remember what she was talking about because I didn’t consider a banana peel litter. I had my pockets full of all my gel empty wrappers. I asked her if we could leave it at an aid station and she said that I was too far from the aid station when I dropped it (it was on the part of the course where the wind was at our backs). 

Even though I found the call unfair, I remembered my pre-race thoughts (that how I deal with difficulty depicts who I am) so I thanked her and thought that next time I’ll peel the banana immediately then nibble away at it. 

I finished the bike behind Amanda and got out of transition just before her. Her husband cheered me on this time and gave me the split to the leader and to 5^th place. I thought that was very nice of him. I kept an eye on my heart rate and made sure that I stayed just under the upper limit that I had set. My legs felt sore right off the bike but I knew that that would only last a mile or two. It was warming up at this point, it was sunny and the spectators were all along the course and very supportive. The first split I got to know my pace was 16;48 for the first 4km. That was faster than I’d planned; I wanted to average about 4;30-4;40 per km and I had avereaged 4;12 per km so I backed off a bit. I started to feel twinges of cramping in my calves and I thought to myself, “My calves shouldn’t be doing the work….think about the Pose technique, Barb.” About 10km in my hamstring cramped which brought me to a sudden stop. Spectators were baffled. I was running well and then just stopped. One woman asked me what was wrong and many of them cheered me on, ensuring me that I could do it. I stretched it out and finally it let go. In the meantime, Amanda ran past me patting me on the back and giving me some encouragement. Unfortunately, my information source went with her! 

I started running well again for another few kms. catching back up to Amanda when I got a painful cramp in my gut. I felt my stomach and noticed that it was very distended. I figured that I wasn’t absorbing what I was taking in. I decided to stop taking fluid until my body had a chance to absorb what was in my stomach. The pain came in sharp twangs that caused me to double over at times. I walked hoping that it would subside soon. Several times I stopped walking until the sharp pain would let up. After walking for while it seemed to ease so I started running only to feel it come on almost immediately. A volunteer on a bike started following me trying to help. I told her I’d be OK and not to worry. She continued to follow me anyway and even stopped and waited for me whenever I stopped to hurl and at every aid station port-a-potty (we stopped at five!). Ten kms like that took a very long time. I had been past by so many people. Even a top ten placing in the women was out of the question. I knew I’d finish but I was incredibly disappointed that a personal best time or placing wasn’t going to happen for me that day. I kept thinking to myself, “How you deal with this is what you are! Be strong!” 

I thought about what I could do to solve the problem. In my special needs bag, I had some pepto bismol tablets and Tylenol and fortunately, the special needs bags were available earlier than half way! Just as I was taking those, Kevin came by me on his second lap. He hit me on the butt and said “Be tough, Barb!”  That was perfect because it lightened up my mood and reminded me again of my goals for the race. Shortly after taking those tablets, I started to feel better and I was able to run without pain. When I tried to run normally, I felt it come on again and I wanted to continue running so I kept telling myself, “Easy does it, take it slow and steady…I’m alright!” In order to keep running, I had to run awkwardly slow. 

After another 10 km and a few more port-a-potty stops, I increased the pace a bit to see if my stomach problem had resolved. It felt alright! Yay! I was between kilometer markers so I didn’t take a split to the finish line but I thought to myself “Do your best!” I kept asking myself “Is this as fast as you can run; is it your best?” I tried to run so I could answer keep answering “Yes!” At this point, I was pretty far back in the field so it had been a long time since the spectators had seen someone running fast. They were all very encouraging and complementary as I ran by. I even past back a professional woman! Some of my fellow competitors, who had past me earlier commented on my recovery. It was a pretty good feeling to finish off strong. I figured out afterwards that over the last seven kilometers I averaged my goal pace of 4;30 per kilometer. 

Although, I didn’t achieve my time or placing goals, I did my best in the situation I was in. I am happy that I didn’t stop trying to do my best, even though I knew I was going to end up with a slow time for me. I believe that this race and the preparation I did for it will help me achieve my time and placing goals in the future.

Christopher Brown had a great race. He won his age group by 20 minutes and was the second amateur athlete to finish! He obviously qualified for Kona 2006 and signed up! Congratulations Christopher! Kev will have his race report up shortly. Thank you for all your great messages and support!

Now, we get to do a motorbike trip across this massive country! I am so excited about it and so is my butt! The sheep skin I get to sit on is so much more comfortable than the racing saddle on my bike! We’re off to find a good sports touring bike! I hope the colour will match my new boots!

  Barb at the beginning of run                                Coach Kev on stage                          Christopher Brown won his age group in 9:22!

-Nov. 25th, 2005 –Busselton, Western Australia 

We arrived in Busselton a few days ago and have been checking out the area and the course over the last few days. It is a very nice town and the people are extremely friendly and helpful. They all seem very positive and enthusiastic about hosting the Ironman here. 

We have run into a few Canadians, a couple from Calgary, named Greg and Amber who are on a six month trip. Greg is doing Busselton Ironman and they are both going to do Ironman New Zealand. We had dinner at the carbo-load with Christopher Brown and Sarah Gross. Christopher has been training over here. He bought a Commodore for $500 and he and Sarah will be heading across the country in that after the race. Who knows? Maybe we’ll meet them in some obscure place in the outback of Australia! 

The course looks great! They have changed the swim course from last year. It is now one loop around the famous two kilometer long jetty. The jetty seems extremely long to look at! In fact, it goes so far out to sea that I can’t see the entire length of the jetty. I can see where it finished thanks to a little hut on the very end. It’s very hard to believe that we are going to swim to the end of it and back! 

The bike section is extremely flat. The pavement looks smooth for a lot of it and although the rest of it is courser than we’re used to in Canada, there aren’t many potholes and it looks much smoother than the Ironman bike course in Foster. 

The run is also very flat! The majority of it runs along a cycling path along the coast. It runs from transition approximately seven kilometers east, back past transition then approximately 4 kilometres west, returning to transition to do that one more time.

      1st part of swim IM swim course                             Last part of IM swim course                            That about covers the bike course!

Nov. 23rd, 2005 – To The Races!

Today we fly to Busselton, home of Ironman Western Australia. Thank you to all those who sent us good wishes for our race. We'll think of you and those thoughts will be inspiration for us. We are sad to leave the beautiful town of Darwin but Kev's Mom, Mary will be coming to Busselton to cheer us on so we'll see her in a few days. We had a great time here!

-Nov. 20th, 2005 – Today We Were Tourists! 

It was the first day we had rain throughout the entire day! I have been hoping for a day like this since I arrived and it was very refreshing! After, Kev and I got our short taper workout done, we packed a picnic lunch and Mary took us to a National Park called “Litchfield.”   

It was about an hour and a half drive but, well worth it. The first stop in the park we made was to admire some termite mounds. I found it amazing that such little creatures are able to make such big structures but we’d seen them along the road for the last hour so I wondered what made this a special stopping place. Mary explained that these termites are special because they have an internal magnetic bearing so they align their flat structures with the magnetic axis of the earth! Amazing what can be created with effective team work!

We carried on to a beautiful cascade of water that settled in well rounded swimming holes as it meandered through the forest. There were quite a number of inviting spas of water that people were enjoying. There were enough that we could just continue upstream until we found one to have all to ourselves. At least, we thought we had it to ourselves when we jumped in! At points the water was shallow enough to sit on rocks below and just relax. At other areas of our swimming hole, it was very deep so Kev and I put on our goggles to check it out. Kev dove over to the side and back to me unexpectedly quickly. He asked me if I wanted to see something, “It’ll make you jump,” he added. “Is it dangerous??!!!” I squealed. He pointed at a head poking out of the water and told me to look at it underneath the water. It was a very big, fat lizard soaking himself in our swimming hole…OK we might have been in his... so we left it to him! 

We enjoyed some delicious sandwiches and headed back home for some Sunday afternoon quite time where Mary, Kev, Bonnie and I all snoozed a bit. 

          Magnetic Termite Mounds                      Our friend the lizard wasn't discovered yet!                              Cheers!

-Nov. 17th, 2005 – Off to School

Yesterday, I went to see what a day in a Catholic school in Darwin Australia is like. As Mary showed me around the school, little kids dressed in matching uniforms and hats played in the 35 degree temperatures. The bell went indicating the end of lunch hour so they all began to sit in lines under the covered area. They waited for their teacher to arrive to take them to class. Mary explained that obesity among children in Darwin is not a problem due to the lifestyle that the warm climate here provides. I looked at the kids and sure enough, I couldn’t see a chubby kid in the entire school! 

We went to see the Kindergarten class which Mary called “Transition.” In unity, all 28 of them greeted me with “Good afternoon, Miss Barb and may God bless you.” They were so small and cute with their Australian accents as they sat on the floor looking up at us.

I visited the seniors of the school who are organized in two multi-aged groups. Each of the two classes are comprised of grade 5’s, 6’s and 7’s. Multi-aging is the new rage here and fits in really well with all the cooperative learning, multiple intelligences and Bloom’s Taxonomy which are all the trend at home too. The seniors’ desks were arranged in groups of five. The senior teachers are have all been trained in TRIBES, strategies from North America and they plan everything together, taking team planning to another level.

Mary asked the kids to explain to us the advantages of their Multi-aged classroom arrangement. They responded with answers like “We get to work at our own pace,” and, “Just because someone is younger than you, doesn’t mean they don’t know something, you know.” They explained that they were sitting in groups because it’s  easier to do little games they do, like “energizers.” To give us an example of an energizer, one boy, told us the name of the game was “I love you Honey, but I can’t make you smile.” He strutted up to another volunteer in the class, whipped his head around and batted his eyelashes and said to the boy, “I love you Honey, but I can’t make you smile.” Honey, the volunteer kept his lips sealed, but broke in to a smile eventually! “That’s what we do when we need a bit of energy,” the boy explained. 

Darwin has been hit by some very devastating cyclones, the most recent, Cyclone Tracy took down half this school. It has since been repaired and has nice, big, air-conditioned classrooms which all open up to the outside. Kids hang their backpacks on hooks outside so not many of bring ice cream treat for lunch which probably helps avoid those obesity problems! 

Mary was brought on as principal to St. Paul’s Catholic school and it was hoped that she’d increase the number of students because it had dropped. She has done that, and continues to improve the school in many different ways. It was very interesting to compare an Australian school to what I’m used to at home. In ways, it’s surprising how many similarities there are but there is always things we can learn from others, too.

5km Race

Later that evening, Kev and I did a 5 km road running race. The running club here puts on a race every week! This week you could do a mile, a 2 km or a 5 km. Being the endurance athletes we are, we choose the 5 km. We wanted to practice the Pose method throughout. The course was very cool because it left from a rubberized track and to finish, you entered the stadium and did a lap of the track for the last 300m, just like the Olympic marathon. We took off and as you can imagine, it wasn't long before Kev took the lead. There was one girl about 30m in front of me. Just before the turn around, I started to gain on her and I saw Kev coming back with a pretty cushy lead. The girl caught a glimpse of me at the turn around an extended her lead a bit. Now, I don't know if I mentioned this yet but there are no hills in Darwin! This is great for our IM preparation because it is supposed to be a flat course too. However, Kevin and I have become quite observant of the smallest inclines now. I mention this because there were two very slight inclines on this 5km course and I noticed that I caught up to the woman ahead of me on the first incline. The second incline was up into the stadium and this is where I passed the woman ahead and ran a pretty quick 300m to finish in a personal best time of 18;44. I edged the woman out by only 8 seconds. Kev won in a time of 16;33 and felt very good. Thanks to Mary for driving the kids to sport practice!

Yay, Coach Kev                                                                          Barb and her competition post race.

-Nov. 16th, 2005 – Cycling in Darwin 

I want to mention how courteous the motorists in Darwin have been. Generally, since we’ve been here, they have given us enough room when they pass and we haven’t had anyone hassle us (don’t worry, I’m knocking on wood). There are also cycling paths about 50m off many of the main roads. Some of the cycling paths have speed limits of 20km/hour so we only use them when we’re going really slowly (which, of course hhmmm, isn’t very often). Mostly we ride on the road, and feel pretty safe. 

Every now and then, I hear an unusually loud noise coming up behind me and I think, “Oh, a big truck, I’ll get right over on the shoulder despite the gravel until it passes.” As it goes by, I anticipate the end of it and I move closer to the road only to find out that, “Ooopps, that’s not quite the end of it!” I wait for its trailer to pass and then realize that there’s another trailer after that one….and then another! They are semis with three or four trailers! It’s no wonder they are so loud! It’s no wonder they call them “road trains” either! I think they should keep building on the train idea and put a caboose on the end so we know when they are finally past! They create quite a gust of wind, too so if they are coming the other way, I hang on for dear life. They usually give us enough room too but due to their weight, they can’t slow down very quickly so if cars are coming the other way, I give them as much room as I can. 

Today, while I was riding, I turned my head to spit. Just before doing so I realized that I could be spitting on a car coming up behind me. To avoid being rude to the nice, Aussie motorists, I turned my head to the left to spit. All of a sudden I felt incapable of spitting properly. Now I’m not a great spitter at the best of times but this felt abnormally awkward. As I wiped my chin and shoulder, I concluded that I must have trained myself to spit away from the traffic in Canada…sort of like breathing to one side while swimming! I am now trying to master bilateral spitting so I'll be internationally polite while cycling. The bonus is I might not get my head sheared clear off by one of those road trains!

-Nov. 15th, 2005 – Tropical Storms 

I understand you Pentictonites have had your first snowfall already! That’s really hard for us to imagine right now! Don’t be sad… there’s always skiing! Although it's been a while since we've seen snow, we have had a few extreme experiences with the weather here, too. 

Last week Kev and I were running along the beach in the evening (it was very romantic!) When we looked to the right, we could watch the massive, golden sun, turning the sky vibrant purple as it set. To the left, were dark grey, somber clouds threatening rain. It was quite a dichotomy! 

There is often a lot of lightning at night without any rain! I guess I’ve been conditioned to associate lightning and thunder with rain making a…storm but here, on the occasional night, we enjoy lots of lightning and some thunder without a drop of rain! 

Full on storms are very common here. Almost every morning, Mary asks us if we heard the storm that night. Kev and I always reply “No. There was a storm?” Well the other night, we heard one! We were awoken by the loudest crack of thunder that I have ever heard! I was sure the house was coming down. I tried to go back to sleep but every few seconds, the sky lit up so brightly, that I couldn’t. I thought I might as well get up and take it all in. I sat on the bed watching, too scared to go any closer to the window. I ooooed and awed to Kev for a while who wasn’t interested in talking about it at that point. 

The storms have been impressive! The lightning is so frequent and bright and the thunder is so incredibly loud that you feel like you should assume the earthquake position!

-Nov. 14th, 2005 – Sunday Afternoon on the Beach

After finishing off our training for the day, Mary, Kev and I walked down the beach to play with Bonnie while the surf was out. Mary left Kev and I down there to have a beer and celebrate the beginning of our taper (I forgot to mention before that there is a pub 1 km down the beach from Mary's place, too!) Mary walked Bonnie home and picked us up a bit later to shout us (take us out for) dinner. We went to the Wharf which is actually a wharf where you can choose your meal from a food fair type of arrangement. Everyone enjoys their meal on the wharf taking in the boats going by and feeding the fish if you are generous with your food. The food is always awesome and there is quite a selection! I was tempted by the Barramundi, prawns and chips but my will power came through! I chose the Red Barra Thai Curry which was delicious! It did have a bit of kick....just when I thought I was already as wet as I could be! I will be enjoying some fish and chips though, right before my Tim Tam cookies, in less than two weeks now! Kev and I are both pretty happy to be tapering our training off now!

           Mary, Barb and Bonnie.                                                              Kevin loves Bonnie (no joke)!

-Nov. 13th, 2005 – Humpty Doo…and beyond!

We got an early start on our long ride to Humpty Doo Saturday morning. The sun was just rising as we made our way out of town. Kev had plotted our route out and wrote the directions on a small slip of paper which he had taped to his bike. He had noted exactly what roads to take and the estimated distances between each turn. We followed the directions until 40 km into our ride when we never came across the next road he had planned for us to take. We continued on, thinking we’d come across it sooner or later until we began passing the same roads that we had already past. We realized that we had just done a big loop and ended up at the same place 15 km later.

We saw a woman walking her dog so we decided to ask for directions to the road we were looking for. She didn’t know road names but she told us how to get to Humpty Doo. She said that she takes her son to school there and simply takes the highway. Deviating from the task of finding our way, I asked her, “How did Humpty Doo get its name?”  She replied, “We just do that here. It’s like Fannie Bay….everyone thinks it’s hilarious when you say, you live in Fannie Bay.” I didn’t think that that was that hilarious but I we don’t think of the same things as Aussies do when we think of “fannies.”

Anyway, we retraced our path back and followed the woman’s directions to Humpty Doo. We only had 62km in by the time we got there but since we were finishing off a very big week of training we both already felt the need for some coke and chocolate to get us going. Unfortunately, due to my state of fatigue, all I really know about Humpty Doo, as a town is that it has a grocery store that sells Coke and Snicker bars. That left a good impression on me. 

From there we continued on taking a highway that traveled east.  I thought to myself, “What a nice quiet road, I wouldn’t have even known that it was a highway. There’s no traffic!” Later on after riding another 30 kms without seeing more than two cars, I started getting worried about the fact that there was no traffic! We carried on…and on …right into the outback of Australia, where they have no speed limits …or cars … or people… or buildings. Actually, we did come across two buildings but they were few and far between. We saw some more Australian wildlife including a big goanna scurrying across the road in front of us, a wallaby bounding along beside us and a yellow belly, MONSTER snake who was just lying on the road because he was very dead, thank goodness! 

I had a slow leak in my back tire just as we were approaching the Adelaide River which boasted one of the two buildings we saw. We pulled in to fix my tire and noticed all the signs advertising “Jumping Crocodile Cruises.”  We had been out on the open road for a while and the day was heating up so I went into the building (while Kev fixed my flat) to see if they had any suitable cold drinks. I saw Gatorade and thought “Ah yeah!” “I’ll take two Gatorades please,” I said without hesitation. They were 600 ml bottles. After looking at the change the woman gave me, I realized the price they charged was $3.80 per bottle! Before that, I thought that the $10.85 they charge for a small container of Gatorade powder in the grocery store was outrageous! After fixing my tire we got out of there in a hurry in order to avoid being eaten alive…not by jumping crocs though (we didn’t see any of those thank goodness) but by the mosquitoes around the river! 

We went as far as a park called Corooberie Park which was really a pub in the middle of nowhere. We refilled our bottles with some more suitable drinks and answered the barmaid’s questions while she tried to figure out what we were doing out there on bikes. 

As we made our way back to town, I was encouraged time and time again by signs of civilization...oh there's a 100km/hour sign, there must be something up ahead to slow down for...a few cars going by, oh and then the Humpty Doo Hotel! Whew! Just in time. We needed some more Coke by that time. We finally made it home with 208km under our belts and two very sore butts under our shorts! 

We arrived home just before 2pm which gave us just enough time to eat everything in Mary’s fridge and have a nap before the Splash N’Dash that the Darwin Triathlon Club was organizing (1km run/200m swim/1 km run/200m swim/1km run). I thought the idea was preposterous! An absolute, all out sprint effort after the week (not to mention… day) that we just had! “Do it for fun”, Kev said. “Splash N’Dash”…sounds like fun, doesn't it? After our ride it sounded like painful cramping to me!

Anyway, we did it! We showed up late, of course, got changed as they explained the run route. At the very last minute, Kev found out that no bare torsos were permitted on the run. The only shirt he had with him was cotton, Impact MS one which he put on after each swim portion (the other guys swam in tight race singlets). Between 60 and 70 athletes did the event and some were quite competitive! I’m pretty sure he didn’t have the fastest transition times with the time it took to put on a wet cotton t-shirt. So he must have swum and ran faster than everyone despite the week of training he had just done because he won it! I think I was the second woman but it is hard to tell because there were two waves. Kev and I won’t be in the results since we’re not members of the club.

It was a lung buster to say the least. I can’t believe I got away with it without cramping! It was a great little, informal event with a great turn out! After it was all over we were very happy to have participated in the event and grateful to the triathlon club for organizing it and inviting us to do it. 

Nightcliff pool with Barb in front of the tree and the ocean behind it.

-Nov. 10th, 2005 – Humpty Doo! 

Kev is very good at scoping out a town for good training venues. He already knows Darwin better than most locals! I try to figure it out but usually, I simply follow him. As he planned our last big week of training before the taper, he told me that for our last long ride we will go to a town called Humpty Doo! I naturally thought that he was making some sort of joke that I didn’t get. However, while looking at a map of the area, later on, I spotted the town, Humpty Doo! All of a sudden, I am so excited about our last long ride! I can't wait to ride to a town that is actually named “Humpty Doo!” Surely, it has to be a cool place! 

Anyway, I thought I'd add some more photos.

                                                                             Kev and his Mom, Mary with some lovely frangipanis!

The cycling path to Nightcliff pool (under the green sails in the background) only a 3 minute walk from Mary's place!

I guess all you Pentictonites are preparing for the Beer Mile. For those who don't live there...it's definitely worth the trip for the event. If you don't run...it's a great spectator sport, too....much more entertaining than football (if you don't have a weak stomach)! It's a blast! We are sorry to have to miss it.

All you Pose runners are probably just figuring out that we strategically planned the Pose running clinic before the Beer mile because it's a great opportunity to grasp that falling feeling while you run (the beer helps)! Just don't forget to pick up your feet! Someone please take photos for us!

-Nov. 8th, 2005 – Swim/Run Squad

The other night, we got a phone call from a local triathlete who wanted to line up some training with us. We don't know how he got onto us but we thought it was very kind of him to give us a call. We are planning on doing an open water swim with him on Friday in a nearby lake called Lake Alexander. Apparently, there aren't any crocodiles living there. We'll see...maybe I'll have a real adventure to write about this weekend!

This morning, we went to our first triathlon club swim squad. There was quite a large group of good athletes to train with and the workout was fun and very different to anything we've ever done before. Everyone in the club was very welcoming and they all seemed to know that we were in town beforehand. Many of the club's athletes are training for an event this weekend called the "Splash N' Dash" (1 km run/200m swim/1 km run/200m swim/1 km run). So the workout today was along those lines.

We did a 400m warm up (as if we weren't already warm) swimming then we ran about 500m, swam 300m, ran 500m, swam 200m, ran 500m, swam 100m and ran another 500m. We followed that up with water running for the first 10 metres of the length, swimming for 30m and finishing off the length with another 10m of water running. We were all in a line, pretty close together and after leading for 100m, each person would drop to the back of the line until everyone in the lane had rotated through. I thought it was great because I could talk while we jogged in the water! That's something I find more difficult while swimming, and as you all know...I love talking. It was fun!

-Nov. 7th, 2005 – Another Adventure Run

Yesterday, I was supposed to do my long run. I got up a bit late and it was already really hot so I decided to wait until it cooled off. I went to the market with Mary and admired some of the locally made products. I enjoyed the tropical smells of fresh pineapple and mangos. I watched the local people wander around the market and listened to the great band in the middle of it all. Right before leaving Mary bought us smoothies made with tons of fruit (and one to take home to Kev who was hard at work). As we savoured our smoothies, it started to pour rain! I thought “Perfect! This will cool things off. I’ll go for my run now.” Unfortunately, the downpour lasted less than a minute and by the time we got to the car, it was smoking hot again and now more humid than it was in the morning.

I decided to wait until the evening. Surely, it would be cooler. So I waited, and waited and waited….it never got cooler...even after dark! It ended up being my day off instead of today!

So today, I dragged myself out of bed at 5 am! Started running in the dark at about 5:45. I stuck to the roads that I knew pretty well until the sun came up and other people were out and about. It was still warm but bearable. I ran along a road we have ridden a number of times which lead to a beach called Lee Point. Beforehand, Kev and I figured out that from that point we should be able to run along the beach, in and out of bays right back to Mary’s place. I checked out the beach and the tide wasn’t too far in so I began running down the beach. It was beautiful with the sound of the waves and the sun still coming up. There wasn’t a soul around. The sand was soft to run on but wet enough so that it was firm and flat.

I noticed up ahead that the water came inland like a creek at one point between me and my destined peninsula. There was a lot of beach left though so I was sure I’d be able to get around it. When I approached it, I was surprised at its depth. I tucked into the bushes making my way around it. As I ran through the trees, I noticed a bit of movement on the sand around me. I took a closer to look to see these snail-like shells rolling on the ground around my feet. I thought, “Hey! How did those move?!” Then I noticed crab like pinchers poking out of one now and again. I tried to avoid stepping on them but the deeper I went into the trees; the more the entire ground around me started moving with them. I looked ahead to see how much further inland I’d have to go to get around the water. The bush ahead looked thicker and the water still deep. To add to the rolling appearance of the ground, it was also getting softer and wetter! My feet were sinking deeper and deeper into the sand!

The idea of wading through the creek like an ultra dude crossed my mind but I quickly ruled that out thinking, “That would be silly due to the history of croc…… oh my! There could be crocodiles in these swampy trees!” I immediately turned down my MP3 player (I‘m not really sure why) and as quickly as I could, I scampered out of there. I thought to myself, this must be how those roly-poly crab-filled shells felt like when I scared the “crab” out of them!  Anyway, I made it out of the trees and I returned home via the nice, safe roads that had nothing but large, fast moving vehicles on them! Whew!  

-Nov. 5th, 2005 

Up here  in Darwin, they have two seasons; the dry season and the wet season. Right now, it’s the wet season. I think they call it that because everyone here is dripping wet! Due to the extreme heat, strange things are happening that Kev and I haven’t experienced before.

•  We went shopping the other day and bought things like sunscreen off the shelf and by the time we got home the bottles were dripping with condensation...just from being removed from the air conditioned grocery store!

• Our Power gels that expired a year ago, are no longer a consistency that requires chewing; they are nice and runny, just like brand new ones. 

• Kevin Cutjar complained about the heat! 

• My body temperature is so high that I’ve become good at yoga; I can do the pigeon pose properly here! 

• We met up with some cyclists from the triathlon club this morning at 5:30 am and when we told the president of the club that we had to ride 6 hours, he told us we should have started at 3 am because otherwise it gets too hot!

                                                                       Kevin, trying to cool off under the garden hose.                            

This is Bonnie. She looks and snorts like a pig but she’s actually a dog so I call her a “Pog.”

-Nov. 1^st, 2005 The Race that Stopped the Nation

Kev and I did our long run today and we both took the opportunity to explore different parts of Nelson’s Bay. I followed trails that meandered through forest and along beautiful beaches from Salamander Bay to Nelson’s Bay and then to Shoal Bay. At the furthest point, the trail climbed up a small mountain (or a big hill) to a summit with a gorgeous view of the entire area and out to sea! It was so beautiful that I had to stop and take in the view for several minutes.

I headed back along the trails the same way I came. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I even managed to capture the Pose running form (good, efficient form) briefly now and then. My rhythm was disrupted a few times to do some dancing with oncoming pedestrians while we worked out who was going to stay to which side of the trail.

After a few kms. of pondering this reoccurring problem, I realized that mankind has conformed to the rules of the road to the point of following them while on foot. Apparently, it’s much safer to drive, ride and walk on the left hand side over here.

That gave me an idea. I thought about learning how to make a siren-like noise with my voice and how handy that would be whenever I’m stuck in a line up!

Anyway, back to the title of this day! Today was the first Tuesday in November which is when the Melbourne Cup is held. The Melbourne Cup is a horse race and they call it "The race that stops the Nation" because everyone here watches it and most people bet on it even if they’re not into that sort of thing.

The favourite for the race was a mare named Makaybe Diva. She won the last two Melbourne cup races and she’s now seven years old. No horse had ever won three titles in a row before.

Kev and I decided to take part in the excitement and stop at a pub to place a bet and watch the race on our way to the airport. I backed the old girl because I thought that it would be cool to see history be made and, maybe like our sport, experience counts for a lot. The race started at 3:00. As you all can imagine, we arrived at the pub with very few minutes to spare. We just had enough time to place our bet, grab a midi of beer from the bar and find a seat.

We bet on the Diva and a long shot named Mr. Celebrity. As the race unfolded, Mr. Celebrity was in the lead most of the way only to finish last! Makaybe Diva spent the majority of the race in the middle of the pack; she seemed to be blocked in. In the final stretch, however all the horses went wide to overtake one another. The pack opened right up and out of the middle soared Makaybe Diva to take the win! We bet $10 on each of our two choices and won $29! So we made just enough to cover the bill for lunch and we headed off to the airport! Onto the next portion of our trip! Time is flying!

We flew to Darwin where Kev’s Mom met us at the airport. Our flight arrived at 10:30 pm. As we walked out to the parking lot, the extreme heat and humidity fell upon Kev and I like a heavy, wet blanket! Now this is the tropics! At 10:30 pm, it was 29 degrees and extremely humid! The good news is that we've already lost some weight since we arrived! The bad news is that it was all water!

Kev’s Mom’s place is beautiful; it’s nestled in lush, green, tropical plants and big palm trees and it’s only metres away from an ocean cliff. There are huge palm and frangipani trees everywhere! It really is a tropical paradise! There is a 50m, outdoor pool overlooking the ocean just a short walk from here. It would be absolutely perfect if we could just get someone to turn down the heat a bit! I hope we adapt to it because it really is gorgeous here and it's great spending time with Kev's Mom. She's a wonderful woman!

We'll post some photos of Darwin over the next few days.

Kev's Mom, Mary on the path across the street from her place.

-Oct. 31st, 2005 Halloween

Today was Halloween. I forgot all about it until I saw an article in the newspaper on an event kids could do as opposed to trick or treating. I was surprised to read that since I thought Halloween wasn’t something Aussies took part in. I asked Kev’s Aunt about it. She said “We don’t do that here.” I said “So what do you do if kids come trick or treating?” She replied “They don’t. We don’t do that here.”

Later this afternoon there was a knock at the door and some kids yelled out “Trick or treat!” Jack, Margaret’s husband said to them “That’s American!” One of the kids told him “It’s tradition!” Jack replied, “Not in Australia.” This was a new experience for Jack. He stayed pretty true to his culture for a few more trick or treaters but when he saw a tiny one coming he came by our room asking, “So what are you supposed to do? Give them a lolly or something?” I told him that’s what we do. He said “I don’t have a lolly in the house!” He went off to the kitchen cupboard to see what he could find. He showed me some chocolate covered granola bars and asked, “Should I give em these?” I said “Sure.” He went back to his living room repeating back to himself, “Trick or treat…in Australia!”

-Oct. 30th, 2005 Thinking of those at home

Today our thoughts are with the Mazurin Family and our friends back home who are morning the death of young Alexis Mazurin. We are sending our strength and best wishes.

-Oct. 29th, 2005 Visiting Adam, Kev's cousin

Last night after some training, Kev and I drove out the country to visit Kev's cousin Adam. Adam has spent a winter with us up at Apex so many of you have met him. He's doing well. He has a new job rehabilitating mine sites. His boss appreciates his hard work and treats him well with an all expense paid truck and some other nice benefits. He is also studying and practicing yoga and he's very passionate about that.

Today Kev and I slept in a bit and then headed to the beautiful, 50 meter, outdoor pool just around the corner form where we are staying. What a great way to get a great tan!!!  I'm waiting for a quieter day at the pool so that I can get rid of some of these tan lines though!

After lunch we mapped out a 14 km loop for our time trial ride. As we warmed up, we negotiated my handicap. Kev said four minutes and I said five. We settled on four and a half but I think he actually gave me no more than three (really only he knows!) We raced around the loop three times as fast as we could! At the end of my second lap, I looked back and couldn't see him! I was pretty excited! I turned the corner to have the wind at my back and felt like I was flying. It was a pretty hot day and sweat was flying off my arms and legs. I was feeling pretty hard core...until Kev came flying passed me like I wasn't even moving! "Where did he come from, that sneaky Aussie!" Next time I'll get a witness to start him off! It was a solid effort by both of us! We were absolutely spent after that ride!

Kevin & Adam  Nelson's Bay Pool

- Oct. 27^th, 2005 Long Ride from Nelson’s Bay 

Today we did a long ride from Nelson’s Bay to a place called Dungog. Kevin planned out the ride from a map last night and figured it would be anywhere from 185-200 kms. We headed out early as his Aunty awaited her carpool ride to work. It was a beautiful sunny day and they were forecasting temperatures around 30 degrees. We got approximately 20 kms down the road when Kev heard his back wheel thumping as if he got a flat tire. After a quick look he figured out that there was a problem with the hub. The freewheel wasn’t working which means his wheels rolling on the ground make his pedals go around.  I was keen for him to fix it because I didn’t find it fair that he didn’t even have to try to pedal! I had to actually apply energy to make my pedals go around!  

We rolled up to the nearest service station which was an outback sort of a gas station that you wouldn’t really want to stop at unless you were in real trouble! Kev went in and asked a guy if they had any tools and some WD40. The guy was not overly friendly initially. He told to go to Salamander Bay which is where we had just come from. Kev told him the three tools that he needed and they had WD40 on the shelf for sale. Kev explained that we had just come from Salamander Bay and that we were headed for Dungog. He replied, “Dungog!” Are you going to come back, too?!!!” Kev said, “Yeah.” and the man asked “Today?!” Kev replied “Yeah.” The man shook his head and said “That’s a long way!!!” After repairing his wheel Kevin asked the man if we could swing by on the way home to pick up his can of WD40 instead of having to carry it that “long way.” 

We were off. We made our way through beautiful country roads that descend into sharp bends and climb out of them like a whoopdy-doo with a twist. Kev spotted some Aussie road kill including a frilled neck lizard, a goanna and a snake. As the ride got longer, I got closer, and closer to Kev’s wheel so my view didn’t change much! I did notice a squawking bird following us pretty close and Kev told me that it was a Magpie. He said “Those @#*!s dive bomb you sometimes! I did a duathlon one time where one was attacking everyone!” I grabbed my water bottle to squirt the @#*! When I remembered the time I used all my Gatorade squirting at a big horse fly following me up to Apex! I thought I better take my chances and keep my fluid for drinking. Fortunately, we managed to drop him. 

It was a beautiful ride. We stopped by the service station to pick up the WD40 on the way home and the service station guy just about fell over when he saw us! As he hustled by us he asked, “You went up there and you’re back?!” Kev replied “Yeah!” and the man kept walking, shaking his head and mumbling “You’re a champion…a bloody champion!” As usual, Kev nailed the distance and it turned out to be a nice round 190 km!

Later in the day, Kev’s Aunty told us about a crocodile sighting in the bay! The guy who reported it just come out of the pub so nobody knows how seriously to take it. Kev didn’t buy it because shortly after he told me it was time to go for a swim in the bay. Off we went. It felt pretty good to swim in a wetsuit in salt water for a while until the thought of me as the idiotic tourist who gets nabbed by the croc! I couldn’t stand the thought! I swam straight to shore and watched to make sure Kev kept making little splashes until he got out.

An exciting day in the bay!

- Oct. 26th, 2005 - Visiting friends in Newcastle

The weather here was rainy and cool for our first 4 days but now is beautifully sunny at around 27-30 degrees. We have been staying in a place called Nelson's Bay which is really a series of small bays with some decent sized waves and sand as soft as flour! It's amazingly beautiful and there are cycling and running trails that run along the beach and in and out of forest! I'm just in awe of the beautiful scenery and smells (salt water and frangipanis).  

Yesterday we came down to Newcastle to visit Nicko and Anna (friends who have been over to Canada a few times.) They have a beautiful condo above miles of beach about 800 meters away from it. We ran along the beaches this morning and they seem to go on forever! Nicko and Anna are selling their place but I think they'll miss it here! It's unbelievably beautiful and would suit our lifestyles perfectly!

For those of you who know Nicko and Anna, they are both doing very well. They both lead very busy lives. Anna just did the Melbourne Marathon in 4:04 (very close to her 4 hour goal despite strong winds and rain!) Nicko has been working tons but fits in the odd workout here and there. He has sold his motorbike (the one Kev and I rode around the country last time we were here) and bought a new one which is much sportier so more fun (apparently).

I love training here but I have to start acting like a professional! Catching up with all our Aussie friends usually entails a few brewskies and I'm supposed to be a serious athlete! I've got to kick the will power into gear and find enjoyment in the results!

- Oct 23rd, 2005 - Port Macquarie Half Ironman Triathlon N.S.W.  Kev's Race Report (written by Barb)

Kev had a pretty good swim. He got behind a group of swimmers who slowed after the first little while. He was able to bridge up to a few packs up ahead but found it tough to navigate his way through some of the thicker packs. He was 38^th over the mats but about 20^th out of the water. He took his wetsuit off before the timing mats for a quick transition. 

There was a group of 5 guys with a huge lead on the rest of the field and it only grew throughout the ride. Kevin found himself riding with a few guys and tried to reel guys up ahead in only to find that he towed the guys with him up and collected more as he caught them. He decided to sit off the back of the pack he’d assembled until 75km into the ride. There is put the hammer down and tried to blow the pack apart. One strong cyclist went with him. They put about 20-30 seconds into the rest of them before transition 2.

Kev started the run in 10^th so he did make up a few places on the bike. He overtook three guys on the run despite his struggle through the hills. He ended up 7^th among an extremely strong field of guys. He has only put in three weeks of consistent training towards Ironman WA so he didn’t expect a fantastic result. He was happy with his swim, pretty satisfied with his ride and happy that he can do so much better than that on the run next time. He enjoyed the experience. I am very proud of him. He’s a great athlete!

- Oct 23rd, 2005 - Port Macquarie Half Ironman Triathlon N.S.W.  Barb's Race Report

After stopping in to see Kev’s cousin, Graham. We arrived in Port Macquarie the day before the race just in time to check our bikes in 5 minutes before they closed! We had to leave them there over night and I wasn’t too happy about that because it was overcast and threatening to rain! We ran into Chris and Marilyn Macdonald but just had time for quick “hello” as we went though the pre-race protocol.

We went back to Graham’s, where we were staying that night, made some pasta, visited and I hit the hay, while Kevin and Graham discussed the availability of certain Australian “bickies” (cookies). During the night we were awoken twice; once by a very loud but brief (10 second) downpour (ooooohhhhh…. my bike was out there!) and then; by a splashing/slobbering sound of Graham’s massive Rottweiler, "Bear", who's water dish was placed just outside our open window - obviously severely dehydrated, he gulped away for what seemed like 10 minutes!

The next morning we got up at 4:30am and headed down to the race site wondering where we’d be able to get a decent, kickass coffee to fire us up for this race. As we drove into town, the sun started to rise and it started to look like it was going to be a beautiful, sunny day! When we got to the race start we asked the first person we saw where we could get a good, strong coffee. “Macca’s is just over there…about 150 meters”. By this time Kev and I had already worked out that the McCafés (attached to every MacDonald’s) did make the best coffee we have experienced in Australia. These McCafés look like a full on Starbucks inside and they make really decent “Long blacks” (Espressos).

I headed over while Kev went over to pump up our tires. I arrived at 5:30 and was told that they weren’t open until 6 am. I had to go through this huge decision making process. If I don’t get over there and set up my transition with enough time I may not start this race with a very good mind set!” I thought. “Well how good will my mind set if my body’s going through withdrawal symptoms?!” I silently argued back. “And then there’s Kevin…. “ I thought, “He’s not even going to be able to get his wetsuit on without some caffeine!” The decision was made. I’d wait!

The Race - Hills, Hills, & more Hills!!

So I waited there wondering how long will it take to walk to the transition area, how long it would take to get from there to the swim start area, how it was a good thing to avoid being around all the nervous triathletes before the race anyway and how it’s a good thing Australians don’t care if they have good coffee or there would be long line up here to wait for as well as the opening of the McCafé! Finally, I got my coffees and headed over with just enough time to get all set and warmed up.

The swim start was very rough as they often are but this one stayed that way throughout the entire swim! At times I thought these feet are too slow so I’ll go but with people on both sides and the pack in front so packed that they all looked like they were one on top of the other, I couldn’t go anywhere! I got out in what I thought was a good time for me (30:05). I didn’t feel like I swam as fast as I can but at least I know I didn’t go off course! There was no deviating or I was abruptly put right back on course! I had a good 1^st transition and started out on the bike. The bike ride was good, hilly at the beginning of the loop (the bike course was 2 loops), flat in the middle and hilly coming back into town. It was tough to find my own space but for the most part I was making my way through the field of fast swimming Aussies so I was spent most of the time passing. I passed quite a few age group women and one elite woman and was passed by one too. By the end of the bike I was 5^th and 4^th  was just running out of transition as I came. I could see I was making time up on her rapidly in the first km. Just as I was about to pass her; she pulled off the road and appeared to drop out. Three km into the run there was a turn around where you could see your competition. The next women (one was fellow Canadian, Marilyn Macdonald) were ahead by almost 5 min! There was a fast runner coming behind me too that looked impressive but I thought I might be able to hold her off (she was 4 minutes back). After 8 kms the run course became extremely hilly. The run course is at least as hilly as the Coalmont to Princeton run course but maybe tougher! I groveled up some of those hills but kind spectators made me feel better by telling me that I looked strong. Running down hill was tough because I had sensitive toes in wet runners with elastic laces. As I was running down one of the longer hills the fast looking woman caught me and flew by! As we turned at the bottom and headed up I seemed to catch back up a bit again. Around the next corner, she was out of sight! I thought myself, “I can’t wait to see her run split. She’s flying!”

I wibbled up that hill and to the turn around point. After making the turn and starting down hill, I saw a fast runner coming up the hill behind me and I thought, “Not another one!” With my double take I realized it was the same girl who had already passed me! After the hills, the run goes along beaches and parks to the finish line. Just before finishing in the hills, Charlotte (the fast runner, as I found out later) came flying by again. I thought, “Getting blown away like I was going backwards once, was demoralizing enough, there is no need to do it repeatedly!” Anyway, it turned out that she had to take a toilet break. She was very quick but unbelievably fast on the downhills! She ran a 1:28;54 -the fastest female by about 5 minutes. So that left me back in 5^th, which was the way, I finished.

It was different doing a race where you don’t know many of your fellow competitors. Few people talked to me before the race. I missed the reunion that triathlons usually are for us but a good point was that it didn’t take me long to set myself up and get ready. The pre race tunes were authentic Aussie ones by Cold Chisel.

It was fun being cheered on by Aussie spectators! It adds a bit of variety to our usual words of encouragement (“Good job!”) They applauded and said things like “On ya!” and “Go, the girls,” which I think is a tribute to all female triathletes in general because the first 5 times I heard it I looked back to see how many “girls” were running me down to find I was all by myself. There were dozens of little kids extending their hands to high five us as we ran out (only 7 km into the run). I took the opportunity to high five them while I still felt reasonably good. They might not be so keen to high five me at the finish if it so happens that I finish a bender!

That said, we're both looking forward to the flat course in Busselton Ironman, for which we have been preparing for!

Impact athlete, Christopher Brown, from Canada had a fantastic race despite his jetlag and withdrawal symptoms (he’s given up coffee after being in Kona where he said it just got out of hand!) He got out of the water just behind Kev, looked super strong on the bike and run! He placed 4^th in his age group, missing out on the podium by only seconds! Way to go Canuck!

Full results available: Pt. Macquarie Half Ironman Results 2005

- Oct 15th, 2005 - Ironman Hawaii. (Barb)

What a great race to watch. Kev and I got up at 4 am to get our long run in before the Ironman race start. We ran two hours out Ali’i Drive to the pit in the dark. The race was fantastic. We (Lisa Mark, Kevin and I) watched the start from the Kona Inn hotel garden which was a great view point. Then we went up Palani Hill right by the Starbucks where we watched them go down and later up on the bike.  

Then Mark drove us out to Kawaihea near the other end of the bike course. We were quite surprised to see the lead Micheillie had on the bike on the way back! We heard Norman Stadler, had a flat but were still expecting him to make a big move on the bike. We heard on the radio on the way back to town that he got a second flat and was dropping out of the race.

We came back and had lunch at the Lava Java as we watched them start the run and caught up on the information Ironman live was giving. From there, Kev and I headed out on the run course on our bikes. We went out to find Tom and see if he wanted splits. We watched Natasha reel Michiellie in and saw many fantastic athletes succumb to the elements that make the Hawaii Ironman so tough!

Kevin came across Jason Shortis and tried give him some encouragement. Riding out the Queen K Highway, I kept thinking “Where is the Energy Lab?! I’ve been riding forever and I still can’t see it…. and I’m on a bike! How must these competitors feel?!!!”

I found Dave (training partner and friend) and he looked awesome! He did groan a bit when I cheered him on but he was passing two guys at that point even though he was finding it tough! What a legend!

After being out on that run course that offered no shade to speak of, I felt like I was burning and dehydrated. I headed in to refill my bottles. We watched at the finish line and for about a 25 minute block of time I cried. Every finisher made my emotions bubble. We saw a few benders (I couldn’t even watch), some athletes running in with their families, some with huge smiles, some with tears of joy and pride!

I could have stayed until the end enthralled with every finisher! We had had a long day though and had one more big day of training to do the next day so we headed back to our condo for dinner and a bit of rest. Watching some of the athletes do what they did was inspirational to say the least. Once we recover from our day of spectating, the experience will motivate us on our way to Ironman WA.

Penticton Team Impact athlete, Barb Hillier wrapped up a fantastic season with a Personal Best finish in her second Hawaii Ironman.

Dave Matheson at Mile 1, Alii Drive - Finished 10hours, 8mins.

-Oct 3rd, 2005 - Aloha! (Barb)