Wild Striptease Wednesday

When was the last time you did a striptease for someone you love? Today's the day, and for a little inspiration I have the Aussiebum demonstration version above. He's pretty good - but I reckon you can do better. If there's no one to perform for today - then just turn the music up loud and do it on your own! Practice perhaps for that Valentines Day special event!

Have a fun Wild Wednesday... and Thursday and Friday...

Team Cradle Mountain

It was the Australia Day long weekend and Tasmania was the place to be. We flew in to form a multinational foursome and explored the north including a very big walk to a rather spectacular Cradle Mountain, which while usually covered with cloud and or rain/sleet/snow, was perfection for us today (Monday) under a warm blue sky. We managed to scale the peak off the track - not intentional at first - but worth every step in the wrong direction. Climbing from peak to peak at the top was an exercise in vertigo control, and truly spectacular. We also managed a rare sighting of a wild Tasmanian Devil. Too much fun. I'm going back for more. Thanks guys!

Friday January 25th

I wake up and it's 6.45am - the phone is ringing for me but it means I've slept 6 hours uninterrupted for my night shift. Friday has started well. I sort out work things I have to sort out, sleep an extra 30 minutes and head to the beach. It's just after 8am. I get the perfect park. The day is warm, sunny and the waves are breaking just like in postcards and surf magazines. The triathletes have a competition tomorrow so it's a short but high intensity swim session. Just getting into the water is heavenly and cruising over these smooth and reflective waves is so good I laugh out loud. Of course we then get more serious - but it's still fun, and I don't get left behind. I breakfast at the regular diggies (they have a new website) with coach Jamie while the rest go off cycling. Breakfast is great and cute men shower in the background as they come off the beach (Jamie doesn't see, but that's not his thing).

Work is busy and I get to see a guy who lives at a well known seedy hotel, and has done for years... much of it has been recently remodeled - but not where he lives. He's not as sick as I was lead to believe so I'm happy not to have to tell him he has to move out, yet. But it was a kind of adventure getting in to where he lives, but not nearly as adventurous as it sounded when I was told about the place. No one tried to sell me heroin nor seduce me to their boudoir.

After work I head to the gym and I surprise myself by running at breakneck speed on the treadmill, without actually breaking my neck! I run for 35 minutes and sweat for the next 40 minutes at the gym, and I still can't believe I'm actually running regularly - I'm a swimmer not a runner - but things do change... I've finally worked out how to use The Frenchman's old ipod properly, so I don't get all these crappy ABBA songs in the middle of my run (how did they get there - did he put them there??). It's much better.

I get home and I'm still full of energy, and the Australia Day long weekend has begun. It's time to fly away...

Wild OPINION Wednesday

Following on from my previous post, which created a bit of a stir, I'm dedicating this Wild Wednesday to your feedback about things in your own gay communities that you'd like to change. Something that irks you, something you think could be better, different, or something in your community if you live outside a larger gay community that would make life better for you within that community. It can be as simple or complex as you like. And you can be named or anonymous, I don't mind, just tell us your thoughts here. Wild or Mild.

the gay ghetto

I think I'm getting bored with the homogeneity of the gay community. I was catching up with friends Sunday afternoon at a popular watering hole in Sydney and the place was packed with people who looked, well, all alike. From hairstyles to clothes, to attitudes, to, well, general behaviour. I know everyone is different, but it certainly didn't seem like it today. I guess it is the 'in' place to go on a Sunday afternoon, so maybe that draws the 'in' crowd who follow the trends. Perhaps I need to get out more... but living away from the ghetto that is Gay Sydney I guess I've come to enjoy some diversity in the people around me - and when ever I'm in Sydney - I feel increasingly out of place in places gay.

I think there's a time when guys are coming out and getting to know one's place in the world as a gay man, and finding like people to connect with can be incredibly beneficial. Living in a ghettoised existence for a more prolonged period though seems to homonogenise rather than add diversity. I don't want to be a stereotype and I do want to be seen as more than just a gay man. Is it better to live safely in isolation from the outside world, or to go out and be who you are within that outside world?

The end of my Weekender

It's not often that I get the consumerist urge, but today was an exception. In fact it's not just been today - but since pre-Christmas. And it's all about a bag. A "Deep Lake Nylon Weekender" as it's announced in the brochure. I saw it in a Country Road store as we were buying Christmas gifts in early December, and new it had to be mine. You see I have this HUGE BAG that carries my gym / swim / everything gear out and about. It's so huge it could fit a human body in it. I knock people over when I turn with it. And now people are coming-to and starting to complain, it's also getting holes and zips that have frozen shut or fallen off. So it is due for replacement. But rather than buy the Deep Lake Nylon Weekender on the spot, back in December I thought I'd put it on my family Christmas list, and if that didn't work then buy it afterwards.

STUPID MOVE. Needless to say Christmas went by and no bag was gifted. I got to the store today finally (well there aren't any Country Road stores in South Africa) and they've sold out. They sold out a few weeks before Christmas. Can I order one in? No they were a Christmas only item and no other store has any left in stock. It's just a stupid bag, but I have a history with Country Road bags - and this was to be my new best friend. I've had to grieve the loss already. I don't think I was kind to the very helpful guy who told me the bad news. Sorry Mr cute salesman at the Pitt Street store.

Another reason to bypass Christmas next year...

Sunday Sunday

I just slept something like 9 hours (HUGE for me). I still feel slightly asleep despite being up for an hour or so now and having showered and vacumed and more, but it feels nice to be out of my sleep deficit. Our 10.30am visitors have cancelled which means we're full steam ahead for an 11am breakfast with an old colleague of mine. Sundays are great for late breakfasts / brunches, lunches that become dinner and the like. And after an incredibly busy week I'm looking forward to, hmm actually - a very busy Sunday - but at least I have slept!

Life & Love... a fun safe sex ad...

length: a few minutes max

I like this one - the French know how to animate - sexy, poignant and even sensible!

Clifton Beach - Cape Town

Clifton 3
Clifton 3
Clifton 2
Clifton 4

While there is a suburb called Clifton just next door to me, these photos are from a world away in the seaside suburb of Cape Town, SA with the same name. There are a lot more people on its beaches which are numbered (hence the 'Clifton 2,3 and 4' labels) Guess which crowd has Clifton 3 as its favourite?

In my observation of the crowd - some of whom were decidedly Brazilian - there was a very high population wearing Aussiebum swimwear! I was impressed but at the same time a tad disappointed... go all that way... and what do we find?! But what a fantastic place to chill out for an afternoon. Hit the water and you'll do that literally - stay more than 5 minutes and you're getting closely acquainted with hypothermia. The landscape is truly spectacular, and the men aren't bad either.

The photos can be enlarged with a simple click... you know you want to...

Wild HELP ME Wednesday

HELP!!!!!

There are days when you just can't do it all yourself. You need to ask someone to give you a hand... today it's the wild HELP ME wednesday.

It maybe a pure logistical thing - you need to delegate some work, or it might be you don't know quite what to do, and you need advice. Alternatively it might be more something you've been trying to deal with a long time personally but haven't been able to make sense of it.

It's time to ask your workmates, your family & friends, or a counsellor for help. If you run your own business - you might need a new employee!

I'd like another pair of hands at work this week - as one of our doctors is away - but we have no reserve (bugger!). I'd also like a few extra hours in the day, because there are about a thousand things I need to get done that are piling up on my desk here at home and also at work... So I'm in for today's Wild Wednesday - but as the world is still spinning at the same rate, I'm going to be delegating somewhat. Who will you ask for help?...

Into the Wild

A leopard is tracked down on safari - elegant in it's motion and certainly not looking the least stressed. I wouldn't mind some of that poise!
Vultures - there were probably four times as many as you see here when we arrived. They flew off in a hurry. The buffalo wasn't so lucky.
A mid-morning Scrabble break.
The Rhinos get this size just from eating grass... Who said vegetarianism was slimming?

I will be posting more photos of wildlife and detailed travel stuff here on my travel blog for those who are interested.

Next stop here on Superchilled's express South African tour: Clifton Beach.

Where is this post?

Can you figure out where this sign post is exactly?
GPS coordinates even?!

If you've been reading any recent posts, it's not going to be very difficult to figure it out...
(click to enlarge)

Camps Bay Cape Town

More travel photos... While I have more from Kruger - I'll come back to those. It's summer in the southern hemisphere and after training this morning with a host of very talented triathletes, I'm thinking beach; incentive to train hard... not just for speed. Anyway - the photos above are from Camps Bay, Cape Town, our first foray onto South African Beaches. It was a hive of activity both on the beach and in the cafes and bars behind it as the sun set. It was a sensational vibe and I had one of the best smoothies I've ever had - a combination of banana, nut, chocolate and I don't know what - but it was heavenly. The water was freezing though so we didn't swim. You'll see more in photos to follow which have more in the way of speedo clad men. Very few in the water.

Be careful with men wearing sunglasses...

32seconds

superchilled on tour in Africa

I have to say Zebras are probably my favourite - it might the whole graphic thing - the black and white patterns... But the whole safari thing is fantastic. We had a superb guide who was good fun and a tracker who found all manner of animals for us - in places we least expected them (more on those later).

Myself, Dennis, The Frenchman & David, the A-Team in Africa. Here we are during 'Sundowners' literally watching the sunset with drinks served in the middle of a meadow somewhere within the Kruger Game reserve.

This was our accommodation for our time in the park. Tough, but someone has to do it...

Baby elephants playing. It was very entertaining to watch - and they certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

More photos later.

Wild Wednesday 1 : 2008

This is the first Wild Wednesday @ superchilled this year, and being the start of the year it's time for things new or renewed. The challenge today is to see what you can do in a new way from now and for the rest of the year. A new job? Perhaps a new computer system - mac to pc, pc to mac... Change to a new gym, or pool. A new training partner or coach. Maybe a new more fuel efficient car or hybrid (or ditch the car altogether if you have adequate public transport or want some gorgeous cyclist's legs ;-) ) . Perhaps it's a whole new look, a change of style in your clothes, or your hair?! Or a whole new outlook on life.

Here's to a new year and a new you.

Return to Oz

We're on the way to the airport in Port Elizabeth for a connecting flight when we both get the following text message from an Australian number :

Qantas flight QF64 05 JAN from JNB now est to dep at 1430 06 JAN.

The flight we're connecting to is running a day late... Suddenly the whole trip home that we're all packed for, dressed for and are on our way to is thrown to the wind for another day. But we're still headed to Johannesburg... we don't quite know what will greet us when we get there.

We contact our friends David & Dennis who have travelled the opposite direction (and found spectacular weather, in contrast to us). They are landing in Johannesburg a few hours later and promise to save us from a day in an airport / airport hotel. So past the high walled security fenced estates, the shanty towns crammed filled with people and surrounded by more meandering on the streets, past new shopping centres with designer labels, cars patched together with tape and BMW X5's fresh off theproduction line, we make it to the oasis of a suburban home replete with swimming pool, tennis court and our haven from an uncertain city.

Everyone has different views of Johannesburg, but no-one describes it as safe. It's a great add-on day to our holiday. Had we planned it - we'd probably be somewhere else.

But the next day's flight (delayed yet again) finally leaves in the evening and we make it home for a hot sunset and a swim in Coalcliff pool. We're back home, back to work and I've taken so many photos my hard drive can't breathe.

Captain my Captain

Tired of wearing mud and changing tyres in godforsaken backwaters, we take to the luxurious side of life. Knysna (pronounced nize-na) is the town at the centre of our oppulence and after a day of extremely shitty weather (sea-side towns are not the best in fog and rain) we land upon the oasis that is The Alexander. As we approach, the coastline plunges beneath us to a rocky headland complete with crashing waves and storming rain. We're upgraded to the Captain's suite, which seems a prerequisite given the weather, and we navigate through it's decadence with ease, and more than a few laughs. The hosts here are a very cool gay couple - not that we knew this when we booked, but we're instantly at home and we forget our plans of exploring in the afternoon, opting to shelter in this haven until dinner which Martin has booked for us at Lush, appropriately named and certainly keeping the decadent theme we've established for the evening. A cute waitperson serves us a stunning dinner and it is quickly established that the food in South Africa is sensatiolicious, unbelievably inexpensive and the chocolate desserts are uniformly the best I've had ever - and there is some stiff competition there. The SA wines have been popular with the Frenchman and I drive home with our brand new Pirelli tyre and watch a surprisingly good movie, appropriately titled Head in the Clouds, in the lap of luxury.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Are we stuck in the middle of nowhere?

So we're driving from Capetown to 'The Garden Route' where there have been floods in the region a week or so ago. The road is closed but the helpful roads authority guy there tells us there's a really long detour on tarred roads, or a shorter one on dirt road that's quite good - and a lot shorter. So we do the short detour and for the first 30km it's great and we manage 80km/hr or so but then the good road disappears and a crapulent one appears out of nowhere. It seems doable, but after the second river crossing we wonder what the story is - of course that's also when we realise we have a flat tyre. Middle of nowhere in Africa, small, front wheel drive car, flat tyre. Thank god the rental company have a REAL tyre as a spare and we're up and running again in no time - but a 4WD owner coming the other way warns we're about half way, and the road doesn't get any better... Damned either direction... So we travel onward with extreme caution, especially when we discover the two German girls who passed us earlier with their stalled golf on the next river crossing; some other drivers are already helping restart them. Finally we all get going again , traverse the crossing and manage to make it to the good road. The Frenchman is stressed but I'm enjoying the problem solving and the knowledge that this is something we'll remember long after the beautiful landscapes have faded from memory.

Happy New Year - Jan 1st: Capetown

There's no time to sit back and relax. This is 2008. It has begun and we're taking no prisoners. There's much to be done or before you know it Christmas will be here again an you'll wonder what happened to the year. Take hold and start to make a difference. Now.

I'm in Capetown, South Africa, having had a sensational week leading to this. I've seen all manner of wild animals from Leopards to Lizards and Hippos to Giraffes in Kruger National Park, explored various capes, numerous beaches, and sighted numerous gorgeous specimens of the male form. I've eaten much more food than I'd normally have partaken, but it's all been sensational and more is yet to come. Swimming has been limited - today it was with penguins, tomorrow? Who knows, but it's looking good as we head Eastwards and farewell our good friends David & Dennis who have been sensational companions traveling with us up until our planned brunch in the wine region tomorrow.

I have loads of photos, but no software to load them here just now... see if I get a chance to do something in the next few days, but at the frenetic pace we've been going - I expect not. No rest for this very wicked one.

Again, thanks everyone for coming back, and rest assured Superchilled will continue into 2008. Welcome aboard, strap in and prepare for a bumpy ride.