Awesome Weekend

So I've woken up at 7am, at the latest, every day (including Friday) this weekend, and it has been such an intensely FULL weekend. I love it. I absolutely loved it, not all aspects mind you, but the overall rating is certainly way up there. The not so fab bits, well, they weren't all that bad in the grand scheme of things. The fab, oh so good.

I feel like I need a shower, though I've only recently had one. It's that feeling you get when you've been at the beach much of the day, a little bit of sun and wind making the skin feel that little bit, hmm, summerised. It was my first ocean swim for the year, and I powered through it and surprised myself with a placing. Big smile from me the rest of the afternoon. And what an afternoon. Weather they pick out for postcards and travel ads. Cocktails on the deck watching the waves, the setting sun, and a summer barbecue to finish it all off. The Frenchman managed to find the solitary blue bottle in the whole of the ocean on this perfect day today, and it attacked him like a frenzied shark (well, ok , it hurt). But he made it through like a trooper, finished the race and achieved a lot more.

Saturday night I escaped to see Jay Brannan in concert. He was fantastic. The warm up act was so so, and everyone was chatting like it was just background music at a bar (and in that time I caught up with friends and met someone from way back who quite surprised me). Then Jay came on and he had everyone's complete attention. There were no conversations happening, full on focus on the man of the moment on the last performance in his world "I suck at life" tour. I love his humour, though some may not. His music is a lot of fun, sometimes moving, some times hilarious, and the live performance was sensational, a natural and easygoing performer with stunning vocal ability. I'm so glad I managed to get there and had some friends who took me in.

Amélie had her first sleep over without her mum on the weekend. Stressful for her mum, but exciting for her dads! It was a lot of fun. She's always a lot of fun and so easy. It's so easy in fact it feels like I'm not really being a dad at all, it's supposed to be hard work isn't it? I mean there's a lot to do, but once I'm awake, it's not so hard.

I'm voting for more of these weekends, and more of the people who take them that step above the ordinary.

photos from the bondi to bronte ocean swim site

Summer Beach

Summer is rapidly approaching, the pools are filling up with lap swimmers, the gyms with those chasing the ultimate 6 pack and the beaches increasingly decorated with fine examples of this pursuit of physical perfection, or at least the perfect wave, with similar results.

My posts have been a little more serious of late so to break the ice, and to banish it to drinks only for the summer, I'm asking what the example of said pursuit above might have encountered to result in his facial expression?

Write what you think in the comments. Then relax and enjoy the sunshine as nicely demonstrated below. (or if you're in the northern hemisphere, revisit your recent summer memories...)

Weekend Home Holidays

Conversations of liquid gold, connections with great people refreshed, out of place summer weather, babbling youngsters who steal your heart, meals and experiences shared, escapes into the great outdoors and oceanic meanderings. It was a weekend of great things, the simple thing of life that are so enriching, rewarding, and so much fun. I'm looking forward to the real summer and more time with friends and family just being, and spending time. Doing things spontaneously and not having any particular goal or focus. I have enough tasks to manoeuvre through in my working week. The weekends are going to be mini holidays like this one was - even if I did work for a part of it.

Stacked up in Byron Bay

When in Byron Bay we choose not to stay in Bunk Beds, however where forced to (as above for example) bunks may be entirely appropriate, even preferred.

Where we did stay this weekend had loads of space for a group of us, but not a whole lot of us, spending considerable time in the great outdoors rather than in the beach house. The weather guys got it quite wrong this weekend, and while there was rain, and good amounts of it, there was ample sunshine and beach time to be had. Though at times the two did collide, once with an additional tornado of sorts off the beach. It hung around for about 15  minutes.

low res. phone image... apologies

Initial exploration of the main beach found us with countless men not unlike those above and below (thanks to Andrew Christian's Spring Range - awesome photo-shoot guys!). Experiencing the jaw droppingly attractive is a nice way to spend the day. But the focus of the weekend was the Byron Bay Ocean Swim Classic, and the conditions were perfect. There were lifesavers, and quite a lot of them, though I'm not sure they were actually needed. We don't mind them littered about though. I even managed to meet an imported one or two from the south. I think I'm going to have to get caught in more rips in future. 

Ah and I did do well in the swim, so well in fact I went back the next day to do it all again - though in a more informal way. I got to chat with friends along the way, chase the fish, catch a wave or two and spot a stingray or three.

Oh and did I mention the food? We tested out some old and some new - the new including a place called Satiate in Bangalow, a degustation worth a taste; Pacific Dining Room which was really a step above & a whole lot of fun; and then there's the old faithful Utopia Cafe which is pretty much as the name says, though I'd like a truly utopian milkshake please next time to match the food. 

There was more, a whole lot more, but the week has begun and I've lots to do. Thanks to everyone who made the weekend as awesome as it was, even those who will never know, like the backpacker filling a water container at Wategos beach loosely wearing a sexy pair of underwear and nothing else, I swear it needs to be the new beach trend.

North Bondi Ocean Classic

It was a picture postcard Sunday at Bondi Beach. We woke to a day they predicted to be extremely hot, with fires roaring in the far south and more sizzling heat to come, but it was a stunning day here on the coast. We headed to Bondi where we expected hoards of people and parking nightmares, but the traffic was absent and the crowds cute. The sun warm, a cool breeze and an ocean the azure of a deserted sand island.

The race began and we dived into a waveless surf. My goggles instantly fogged up, the water hellishly cold!! Just the day before it was beautiful, not warm but refreshing, today an icy 16C. I thrashed to keep warm but it was not my best race start. By half way I wasn't so cold any more and the fog had cleared revealing the ripples in the sand below, but my toes started to feel numb. I kept to my race plan and powered to the finish, but I think I lost it at the start, still a reasonable time and good fun, we'll be back next year. A well run race, always, and the eye candy certainly makes it easy to hang around for the race results.

Lunch after a race is of course a great feast and a new (to us) cafe created the perfect meal to share with friends. I could have stayed there there all day. 

Now I need to up my training a little to get a bit more competitive in the water for the upcoming races. But at the same time I have a million other things going on. Where is that 36 hr day?

Beach Graffiti Noosa Style

It was a Noosa weekend. A get away from it all weekend, head to the beach before breakfast, after breakfast, shop a little, go for a hike, body surf a little more, walk some more, dine out by the ocean and eat icecream. Sounds stressful doesn't it? We coped. As did our friends who made the journey with us. One of whom managed a number of firsts: first trip to Noosa, first wild dolphin sighting (a pod of them in fact), first nude body surfing, first goanna sighting, there were more, but I can't remember them all. It was fun to be there for all the firsts, and especially all the elation at the new experiences. I love when you can show people things they've never seen or experienced before, and to see the wonder in their eyes, the irrepressible smiling and laughter. 

A first for me was the beach above. I've seen this beach before of course, but the beach graffiti was very new. I'd seen rocks formed into words like this in a volcanic crater in Iceland, but not on the beach, which quite frankly is easier to read than rocks on rocks.... (click the image for a larger clearer version). It was kinda fun, even if it did leave the beach looking a little less idyllic than the postcards usually show. The fun part is a heavy surf will clean the slate for a new set. Or perhaps this was a one off?

It's been a while since we had a weekend away. Noosa is the place to head to chill out, a short flight and short drive and you're in a holiday house on the beach in balmy subtropical surrounds. Sounds like an ad, yes, but then there's always Byron Bay... or our next stop where the hotel is named after one of my favourite places - the Pool!

Chillaxed in Byron

The Frenchman catches a wave.

Bathing in the Kitchen Sink

Guess who built pyramids... (click to enlarge)

I never tire of Byron Bay. We spent this weekend there. A weekend of a bit of this and a bit of that. Some home cooked food, some dining out, some beaching, some running, some playing in the surf, some afternoon siestas and playing with our nephew. Sure there was some pouring rain and there was me too slowly getting through my first ever sinusitis, but they were mere hiccups. (in fact I love nothing more than rain belting onto the roof when you're in bed!!) The weekend was divine. I'll do it again - or maybe The Frenchman and I really will do it one day - and just move there... now wouldn't THAT be nice!

Sunday March 30

The Red Eye from Perth last Tuesday was just fine thank you very much - Business class on a 747 is pretty nice (even though it's not international business class - more premium economy I guess) it was the crash landing into the new week that was hellish. Arrived to more work than I could possibly deal with, and then a rapidly developing laryngitis which took me right out of the work equation for a day or more, and then so far behind it was like picking up after a war. I still have a husky voice that makes men and women beg for more (and the more I give the less voice I have to give) deep deep down... Darth Vader eat your heart out.

Of course I then went racing today in the ocean blue - the race of all races - the one I've been training for all year right here at my home beach!!... and I'm sick, I'M BLOODY SICK, like I've not had much of an appetite for a few days, nose is digusting - we won't go there, but the muscle aches and pains are gone (or is that the aspirin I took for the headache this morning?) I still have my fitness, but there ain't no extra left for the surge to the beach. Mentally I'm not helped by the coughing along the course - not frequent - but a reminder that I'm not at my peak - even though I do try and ignore the reminder and push on - which I do - to finish a respectable 16th out of 'almost 300'. Can you complain? But I wanted top 10! I wanted to beat everyone in my age group! That run up the beach today felt like I hadn't been running at all, all year! Bloody hell, I deserved a medal just to get to the finishing line!

A cute guy from Tamarama surf club greeted me over a banana at the end - seriously - so I was pleasantly distracted from my aches and pains for a while. Then The Frenchman arrived, much later in the pack than he'd normally like - but he was sick too - so I was relieved that he actually finished (I think he wanted a cute lifesaver to bring him home). His family there to greet him - all the way from France - I don't think anything would stop him competing either.

It was the perfect day today too, warm and sunny with just a light breeze - we had a gathering for lunch at ours' and had the most chilled out day - with spectacular light a great group of people and a great birthday celebration for The Frenchman's dad. A sojourn to the beach here in the afternoon for some playing in the sand with the kids and swimming in the surf, the perfect end to the weekend.

Here we have The Frenchman's mum serving home made birthday cake with Champagne.

See, the light really was awesome!

Race Day

So on Saturday night I get some good sleep - though my dreams are vivid, in one a bunch of guys from a big ute are attacking The Frenchman, in another I'm supposed to jump from this insanely high waterfall off a mountain basically and glide to the river at the base in some raft. Both are disturbing and both wake me up. But I get back to sleep and wake in time to prepare for THE SWIM. Today's focus. Well, one of them.

I have a bit of a routine for pre-race mornings, and I follow the plan. Butterflies have started and I'm visiting the mens' room more than I'd like - but this is normal, so I go with it, no choice really. We arrive in Cronulla ahead of schedule and find our way to the beach past scores of cute fit men, (I'm sure there were others too, but I don't recall them so well.) They give us these new Powerade pre-race drinks - complete with added caffeine as we register. The sun is out in force and the day sparkling. We're surrounded by cuteness, and the world is a beautiful place.

I test the water - there is a lot of shallow water here today so I figure I'm going to have to use that running practice I've been doing at the beginning and the end of the race. I'm braced and ready - and bang we're off and running... and running... and finally swimming, and I manage to keep in the front pack - but some of them do slip by - I'm doing my best, any faster and I'm going to be too lactic for the guts of the race - so I settle into race mode and gradually pick up pace through the 2.3km. In the final - and longest leg - there are 2 competitors right behind me and I have to pick up my pace progressively right through to the finish - I'm actually sprinting by the time I get to the beach and then I have to run to the finish line, and run and run... beating them both and managing to take out 3rd place in my age category.

I can't breathe and take a minute or two before I can move again- I'm stoked - although not as stoked as when I was told I was 2nd, but they later found out there was a technical glitch... So I manage my aim - a podium finish - and get a prize to boot. The Frenchman has a great swim - his first for the season - and I manage to photograph him (kind of) as he finishes... as you can see below...

I've obviously used all my reflexes for the race... but he still looks cute.

In the afternoon we head to the everpopular diggies to catch up with good friends. It feels like home there and cocktails / food / more is accompanied by a most excellend DJ on the deck watching the waves (and men) roll in on North Beach. I envisage the DJ at the launch of their new CD series Cafe Del Diggies, but figure they'll have to find a better name.

I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon quite frankly - heaven- so we stay a while longer. We all decide to buy the house across the road and then we leave to go and sell our houses and prepare for the move.

Saturday 15-3-08

So The Frenchman and I head up to Sydney on Saturday afternoon. It's a fantastic day, a delayed summer, and I have no complaints. Heading away for Easter next weekend we make our way to Kent Street in the city which has all the outdoors stores you can think of (for the camping gear we need), and manage a park on the street right in the middle of them all (not an easy feat). Looking at the signs everywhere it seems it's sale time at ALL of these store, and the sales started yesterday! We've not done any research and had no idea, so there's more than a little bit of lucky floating around today. By the time we've looked in 3 stores we know what we want and know that at Kathmandu, everything we want is 50% off - think thermarest / sleeping bags and the like, and so we load everything into the car parked out front, while eating the party food they had at the counters for this event. The staff were working well in adversity (it was a jungle of people in there.)

Next stop the tennis where a friend is competing in a doubles final. They're down when we arrive, but as soon as we get there they win the 5 next games straight and then the match, and we're regarded as lucky charms. I think we might be asked to come again.

The day is too good to be hanging around the tennis court so we take off to the victor's favourite beach - which is Freshwater (and no the water's not fresh). Despite the waves being quite small, they're emminently catchable and we body surf until the sun goes home, spotting a stingray in the so so clear water along the way. Of course in doing all this we've canned dining out before the theatre we have tickets for and instead eat fish and chips sitting by the Opera House watching the world go by. The night is so balmy that I think we've chosen the better option, the fish was superb.

Vertical Hour is the play and I quite enjoy it - political , emotional, insightful, and despite one fake american accent is worth catching.

Home now - and a few butterflies for Sunday's race...

Need rest.

My Olympic Trial

Sunday is the next stage of my plan for world domination in ocean swimming... The Shark Island Swim in Cronulla, in the south of Sydney. Its name is enough to scare most people off, but what a better way to get you to swim faster!? It's a 2.3km race, and The Frenchman will be joining in the action too.

I was going to have a quiet swim this morning as the triathletes had gone off running while I was still at work at 7am, in lieu of swimming... but alas when I arrived at the water's edge this am, there were some of the guys hitting the water for a swim session as well. Coach Jamie convinced me to join in and it was good! I'm feeling (over?) confident for the swim on Sunday. I've tackled 4m swells, raced after herculean lap times, cross trained, tailored a gym program and even paid attention to my diet... Maybe (if I can keep my composure) I'll make it to the end of the race with a time to make it all worthwhile... but it isn't the ultimate goal... that comes in 2 weeks time with my local ocean race the Stanwell Park Ocean Challenge... this Sunday is my Olympic trial...

Weather prediction for Sunday:

Mostly Sunny Min: 19°C Max: 25°C

A SUPERCHILLED Weekend

Can you be exhausted and still full of energy? That's how I was Friday night. Eventually got to bed and slept like a baby, waking to the perfect summer weekend. Despite it being autumn.

The beach was a definite theme and we never got more than about 1km away from it. March is a great time at the beach - warm water, still warm air, and loads of guys at their physical peaks after months of outdoor activities, sigh... and with a Cuban themed cocktail party for the birthday of my favourite cafe, the theme was set in stone. Great and gregarious people, food and drinks aplenty, we were sad to leave. They sure know how to throw a party.

Sunday saw me out of my depth. It was fantastic. I was swimming in a sparkling ocean with schools of fish, armed with my camera to steal some images. I was in the water so long I was hypothermic when I got out, laying in the hot sun for 20 min before I stopped shivering. Sensational! Here are a few pics.It looks like I'm in a fish tank - apart from the waves...

Norten got into the action with a swim with us here in Coalcliff. While there we ran into some local friends who were having a BBQ on the rock platform by the beach (exposed in the low tide). It's kinda like seeing a dinner party in the dessert - I love the eccentricities of this place.

Anyone else have a beach themed weekend?

Thursday Morning

It's my morning off, and I awake to a day they say is going to be 27 degrees and sunny. I look outside, I feel outside, and I think they're right. After downing breakfast - a mix of cereals and some peach slices on top, I head to the national park beach where I strip naked and jump into the surf that looks like this:

to float around a while. I eventually get out and rinse off in the freshwater creek that trickles down from the mountain and then in the shade I read "The Swimming Machine" which, contrary to popular opinion is not autobiographical. There's not a lot of people around, which is surprising for such a fantastic day, but I'm enjoying my solitude and I when I get hot again I dive back into the water and wonder what would happen if I swim too far from shore.

I treck back up the mountain and pass 8 people heading down, one guy swears at how steep it is... but he's going down, and I don't mention that he has to go back up some time, and it's getting hotter.

I get home and Norten, who looks like this:

has dug a few holes in the lawn, so he gets solitary confinement for a while. Once I think he understands what it's all about I take him for a walk to my nearby beach which is also looking pretty brilliant, and as I stand there watching the waves roll in (with Norten dragging me too and fro like a buoy in the swell), a surfer, who looks like this:

(only cuter and blonder) walks up from the beach and stands right next to me where he proceeds to takes off his full body wetsuit. I can't say he's the cutest thing since Brad Pitt was a young adult, but in fact, he is. It confirms another reason I like living near the beach, and while I could easily hang around a bit longer I take Norten back home because I have to go to work. And then I post this, making myself even later to work than I really should be. But the story had to be told.

Sunday Swimday

This was the view that greeted us as we arrived in Manly, Sunday for my 2nd ocean swim this season. Absolutely stunning. The camera was tucked away as I was in competition mode, so these are comprehensively stolen from the brilliant oceanswims.com website . As you can appreciate, there was some awesome talent in and out of the water... It wasn't just the views that were breathtaking.
This is my wave (above) starting off in the race... I'm pretty sure I was farther ahead on the right of the woman in this photo. A competitive lot!
The water was crystal clear - I got distracted by loads of fish - maybe that's why I only managed to come 4th in my category (28th out of 452 overall). But I felt good - strong and was very happy with my 28minutes 33seconds for the 2km. But damn it, I didn't make it into the top 3!! We swam again a few times after the race and after lunching with friends - it was too nice a day to stay out of the water. It has been the best weekend of the summer here this year so far. I'm looking forward to more of the same! I have some training to do to get up with the leaders though.

That was Friday

I arrive at the beach this morning, it's sunny and warm, a perfect summer day like we've rarely had this summer. I look at the ocean and OH MY GOD!! The waves are HUGE. My first thought is, Surely we're not training here today?, followed rapidly by, I'm going to die! But I realise that for a change I'm not the only one who can perform CPR here so I might make it out alive after all. (And I could think of worse people to bring me back). So I dive on in and come face to face with waves that seem 3 or 4 times my height, and a lot more violent. At times I'm dragged, pummelled and sand blasted by waves in rapid succession, but I maintain my calm, if not my breath, and make it out to the buoy beyond the breakers (and feel like staying there a while as the others slowly make it out). Some of us haven't made it - and I see them retreating from the beach as we bob up and down contemplating the return journey, but the surf life savers have easily made it out - and I'm happy about that. We head back to shore and then do it all over again and I realise I've managed a surf I'd never previously have contemplated. The ocean race this weekend will be a breeze after this morning's swim I'm thinking as I shower off the sand that's by now quite literally everywhere.

The day gets more chaotic as I head to work and everyone it seems wants me to see more and more patients in all parts of the region, and I'm on the phone half the day triaging and sorting and managing on the hop. At last it's all done and I'm headed to Sydney where we're seeing "Pam Ann" at the Lyric theatre with friends. It's brilliant, she's brilliant and I'm laughing so much it hurts. The audience is almost all gay - a few strays have made it in too, but this girl is a definite gay hit, and she certainly knows her audience! Her last show is on Sat 23rd Feb. If you can get tickets - I'd highly recommend you go see her.

Ocean Race 1

So I get to the North Bondi Classic, and the surf is a bit rough, just how I like it, with a moderate onshore breeze. The Frenchman is pointing out the cute men on the beach but I'm surprisingly focussed, on the race. The elite group head off first then a few other waves of swimmers (there's over 1150 in all, so they can't all leave at once) . And I watch them to see the best way out through the surf to the buoy that is way out there.

These and more photos from oceanswims.com

Before I know it they're counting down 6...5...4...3... GO and I'm running down the beach, diving in at the perfect spot to start and take the rip out into the bay that is Bondi. I'm ducking through some waves, ploughing through others and the men swimming beside me rapidly fall away to the point that I can't see them without looking back. I think they must be farther across, but as I reach the first buoy having made it through the biggest of the breakers, I realise I'm the first one there. Maybe I've gone out too hard, and will regret it - but I feel quite relaxed so far with energy to burn, so I maintain the pace waiting for someone to catch and try to pass me. In them meantime I swim around the mix of pink, blue and yellow caps that are the waves of swimmers who left before of me, crashing into a few. There is one white cap, like me, who I see slightly to the left of me and behind but he seems to stall and fall away, or did he speed ahead - I'm not sure, but as I get to the far buoy he's nowhere in sight, and certainly not ahead? It feels too easy, but I push on trying to increase my speed with each leg. The final stretch back to the beach and the waves I want to hitch a ride on are absent, so I have to work all the way to the shore, and as I run up the beach they announce I'm the first white cap to finish. I look behind, no-one is even close. I'm beaming, and The Frenchman tells me it's true, he's been there waiting.

I down two cups of blue powerade or gatorade or something that they obviously branded too unclearly for my race-frazzled brain and a chunk of watermelon. It goes down effortlessly. I'm given bags of things that I just hold onto as I'm guzzling. Then I realise my arms and shoulders feel like they're on steroids - big and stiffening quickly. So I go for a cool down swim, having now realised how many cute guys there are in fact on the beach this morning! very pleasantly distracting! The day is beautiful, sunny warm, and I just did really well in my first race. It's all perfect!

I find out at the presentation that there were men in my age division swimming in the elite group and they take the top spots leaving me just out of place for a prize - DAMNIT. And they had good prizes too! But I do have a hot pink rash vest which I give to the Frenchman (who discovered what they're for when we went surfing last week...), and the day just gets better and better.

When the going gets tough...

There's no way up, I can't breathe, there's a hell of a lot of loud static noise about and all I can see is white, and then some dark, and then white and a little yellowish-orange in there somewhere too I think. I'm spinning around, and not in a Kylie Minogue disco way, more a gymnast mid-air in a floor routine way, I'm not touching the ground here and there's no music, yet I am concerned that I might hit that ground at some point and know that could hurt. But air is my focus, and trying to breathe is beyond the concern about pain. I start to imagine what lifeless looks like, and note that my heart is doing that really fast thing, that really fast pounding thing, like it's telling me something I don't already know. And finally, after what feels like an eternity, I gasp to the surface. The wave has passed, I'm certainly a lot closer to the beach than I was a moment ago, and in the race training we're swimming I'm not doing too badly... but all my energy is gone, and I get to the beach panting, and coughing, and feeling like I've just fought for my life. And then we go out and do it all again...

It's a hell of a way to kick off the day, but I love it.

A Weekend of People

The world has a selection of great people strewn about it, and this weekend I was lucky enough to get to interact with quite a few of them: Someone new who The Frenchman and I have come to know who has been quite a remarkable find, and funnily enough pretty much as busy as we are in all manner of things, but we managed a quick rendesvous in a funky outdoor cafe in Kirribilli. My brother and his family who are a ball of chaos and laughter, with 2 girls growing up much faster that you expect. A friend who returned from a long flight from the States on Saturday yet despite any jetlag made time to catch up with us that same afternoon- always a delight, and even more so to see the changes that love brings. A friend who is conversely about to leave on a long flight - in the direction of London, who I would be happy to converse with for hours, but had to be content with 90 minutes over dinner. It was the most awesome summer evening as the sun set over Sydney Harbour, and The Wharf Restaurant served us an exceptional pre-theatre meal (the Cate Blanchett directed 'Blackbird' - unexpectedly good).

There was breakfast with some old friends who are just so giving and humble, it's kind of humbling itself, and dinner with others who are kinda like family and great to have around and just be with. In the middle of it all The Frenchman and I managed to swim a few times - once in the Boy Charlton Pool, once at night naked in the surf here in Coalcliff (too much fun, but only Norten joined me for that - someone else was worried about things that can't be seen in the ocean at night...), and again in the day time surfing, though we both need a lot more practice in that department; the cute surfers around certainly make that a more attractive proposition though. Just chatting with some of the very warm and engaging locals in the surf and on the beach really makes us feel a part of the community here. And it feels good.

Let the working week begin!

All about Friday

To a rainy Friday morning I awake - again a call from a nurse brings the new day to my attention, someone needs me more than my bed does, and so my day begins. Problem sorted, or at least navigated, and I'm on my way to the beach, a group of swimmers on the beach in the rain staring at the surf. I love swimming in the rain - there's something about the silence of it all, the closeness with the elements (and the lack of crowds) that makes it special. Coachless today we make our way through some serious swimming - and some serious fun. I'm not the dedicated triathlete like these guys are, and sometimes it feels odd to be out there training with them. But it makes me faster, and it gives them target practice of sorts. Today I feel fast as we race from the surf, bodysurfing the waves to the shore and running to an impromptu finish line on the beach. I pant and laugh at once and contemplate doing it all day. Instead I prepare to go back to work, as the others prepare to go for an 80minute run. Maybe one day I'll join them - but not today.

I meet with patients in all manner of life circumstances, all of them dying, but in completely different ways, and it feels good to be able to give them some hope and control in what is happening in their day to day deteriorations. Each one of them moves me in different ways, and it feels good to be alive. It's nice to be able to laugh and joke with them all, and I see in them a sense of security when I leave, which make me feel I've done my job.

I head to gym after work and do an interrupted run - all up 40 minutes or so - and I'm wet, it's like I'm raining now. The gym is increasingly busy, and I can't get to all the things I want to use, but manage most of what I want to do today. Starving we head out for Thai with friends we've not seen all year. It's nice to catch up, and the food is great (or was I just really hungry?) .

Home and I catch up with Lynnette from Tasmania online (who has posted some awesome photos of her recent trip) and a friend we're dining with Saturday, then check on some blogs I've not seen in a while, watch an episode of the last season of The West Wing and contemplate what to write about in this post, but don't really come up with anything. I do decide to add the following photo (as requested unofficially by Vancouver Geoff) both to appease him and further perpetuate unobtainable aesthetic ideals to which we all aspire - if momentarily. Because that's what I do. This time with facial hair.

And then I go to bed.

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...