Sunday, January 29, 2006

Eventful training walk,birth at collingwood childrens' farm and yabbie attack

Today we did a training walk from Ferntree Gully to Mt Evelyn. The start is the 1000 steps memorial kokoda trail. Took all of us 31 minutes to get up, and with the humid weather-we were all dripping. Poor Justine was not well thanks to some roadhouse food, but made it to the top of the steps. She decided to walk back down and catch the train home - just as well that she did as the day turned out to be a challenging one. The trail beyond the steps is undulating. You are either walking up hill or down. LLyods track may seem harmless enough - but beware of the attack yabbie.

A rather small yabbie decided to take on Team Nurofen on the trail. Brave Brian fended it off into the undergrowth with a large leaf, but not before it snapped its nippers so vigourously at us as to topple over backwards. We dropped in on Poets Lane Motel - which will be base camp for the walk- to check it out. I think we scared the staff as we were rather red faced and sweaty, but they remained polietly composed. Comments from the team - we thought you booked us into a dump but this is very nice - thanks team for your vote of confidence.

Reaching Sassafras, we decided it was time for lunch - or should I correct myself, coffee - the first of two coffee stops. Off again after 25 minutes or so, and heading for Olinda. The trail was very undulating - either steeply up or steeply down, but we were still in good form. Found our way to yet another coffee shop in Olinda for a well earned break - the sun was beating down by now and it was quite hot. We set off for the final leg of the trip, boyed by the gentle downhill profile in the Oxfam trailmap - be warned - there are some steep and long uphill sections which do not actually appear on the map, as well as some significant downhill sections. Just before we got to the Hamer Forest Arboretum - Kate gets a phone call from her sister in law who just gave birth to a baby girl - at Collingwood Childrens' Farm. It all just happened a bit too quickly on the way back to the carpark, so there was nothing to it but to have the baby beside the path to the car park. They did not even make it to the stables! Luckily everyone was fine, if not a bit shaken. Apparently the goat feeding went on undisturbed some 50 or so feet away. We spent some time thinking of appropriate names for the new girl - collingwood? Yarra? Maybe not.

We underestimated our water consumption - we should have filled up at Olinda - and so ran out about half way through the next leg about the time we became geographically embarrished. We must have walked blissfully past track 10 gate and kept going to Silvan Reservoir. A zepher seduced us from the still and muggy atmosphere and we missed the turnoff.

I managed to strain a knee through a misstep on the path, and had to take it slowly - lucky I had the walking poles to help. Finally we made it down the steep hill to the Mt Evelyn Reserve. Brian's new socks passed the test - I think he may save up for another pair - he said this one cost him $112 but I think that was a slight exaggeration. Everyone else - John Kate and Brian seemed to be fine save a few sore muscles - but I was a bit wrecked - two badly bruised toe nails and a sore knee. The next day I am not so bad - just a bit sore.

Lessons learned: check your water, pay attention to the map/trailnotes, beware of attack yabbies.

Monday, January 16, 2006

A new personality continuum - The Persicle (personality circle)



A slight departure from the training blogg.

Today my work colleagues (aka Paul Davy) and I came up with a new personality continuum in a discussion on the differences between geeks and nerds. We decided to try and describe the entire human spectrum of personalities as they related to these two nouns. It only took us 10 or so minutes, and we did get plenty of other work done as well!

We started with a linear model, but I decided that it should be circular. This was based on the long standing advice of Huey Lewis that it is hip to be square - hence there could not be a purely linear relationship between these traits. I believe I sit around the squerd sector of the model, Paul has claimed the Neek niche of the model - how about you? Paul believes that you can only appear on the outside of the circle, as all of these traits are distinctly different. I am less convinced based on the Huey Lewis statement. Thank you to David Lucy, Ray Beveridge and Germain Liew for your input improvement and critique of the model.

We may need to adapt the persicle - trailwalkers and anarchists find it hard to place them selves in the model - whatdoesthattellya?

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Second Training Walk - 15 kms


Today we undertook our second official training walk. Geoff, Justine, Kate, Linda and Julie set off from Lysterfield Lake at 9.00am heading for the Ferntree Gully picnic area. It was Justine and Kate's first walk with the team. Some 5 kms in, Julie turned back as she had to be back nin Melbourne in early afternoon, so she left us at the Monbulk retarding basin. We witnesses an exciting pole fishing competition at Monbulk Lake, with competitiors dotted around the lake sporting very long poles and catching carp. We made good time through a scenic landscape, getting to the 10 km mark within 2 hours. A couple of challenging hills towards the end kept us on our toes. The last 3 kms or so was walking alongside the railway line and through suburbia.
We made the 15kms in 3 hours and 15 minutes, against an anticipated time of 4 hours 30 mins. An enjoyable walk and a chance to get to know our newest team member Justine who will be a great asset to the team.

This week I tried liberal coatings of petroleum jelly under the two pairs of socks, as well as a gel toe seperator - both worked very well with no additional blisters. Some ankle and toe pain in the right foot, but I will keep working on this with my stretching exercises - my toes hit the ground on my right foot before the heel because of my tight calf muscles.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Cricket Challenge 2006

Cricket Challenge Sunday 8th Jan 2006

This was the first year I have been involved in Paul Davy's new year Cricket Challenge. It was a great day, although I only made one run and bowled a very expensive over (10 runs) for out team. All I can say is that I was very challenged indeed. Still, I'll be back again next year - but may have to practice a little bit more over christmas with my nephew down a Port Fairy. The match report, scores and stats can be found at Paul's website.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/paul.davy/cc6.htm

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Cricket Academy

Cricket Academy

At lunch time today(Thurs 5th Jan), Paul Davy and I had cricket practice under the Collins St overpass in preparation for the big annual Davy cricket match which will be held this Sunday in Carnegie. We had an audience - one friendly homeless person who was keen to give me tips on my batting. I hope I do not make too mcuh of an idiot of myself, having never played cricket except on the beach with a tennis ball twenty years ago or so.