Yes, I Will

For most of this year I've had an idea in my head. I had decided that I wanted to run the City2Surf fun run. It took place yesterday; Sunday 12th August.

The City2Surf is an annual and very famous fun run in Sydney. It is 14 km's in total and starts in Sydney city at Hyde Park and ends at Bondi Beach. It includes a scary, steep and long hill which has been nicknamed Heartbreak Hill.

So my plan was to train myself and to run the whole way. I had never run further than 10 km's in one go. But I decided I wanted to give it a go.

For the past two months I have been running a few times a week and I would do a long run every weekend. I just kept building up the distance and my last long run was about 11-12 km's, including many hills!

This year in the race there was about 80,000 people who registered for the City2Surf including my brother and I. We decided to run together. There are multiple groups that all leave at different starting times.

The weather that we experienced in Sydney for the couple of days prior to the run was really wintery. It was extremely windy, raining sometimes and very cold; in terms of a Sydney winter! So we were hoping that it wouldn't rain or that it would be really windy.

It wasn't really raining, although while we waited to start it was trying! The wind was around though. In certain parts of the course that were not very protected we felt strong gusts of wind.

The atmosphere was fantastic! Every year some participants dress up, wearing all sorts of costumes including as guerilla's, pirates or even spiderman! Also a lot of people take part and support a charity. We were running for the Australian Red Cross.

We started off slowly with so many people all leaving at the same time. This wasn't so bad though as it was a good warm up and then we were off. I have to say I really enjoyed running with my brother and having someone to share the experience with. He supported with some good motivating whilst we ran up Heartbreak Hill, although I actually wasn't wanting nor felt like stopping. It is a long hill though! When we reached the top of the hill we had reached half way. There was a drink station at the top also with either water or Lucozade. I decided to have the Lucozade and it was exactly what I needed! The second half of the race went much faster than the first and the course wound down a hill into Bondi. From a far it looked like it was raining at Bondi but it was only when we got closer that we realised it was the spray from massive waves crashing into the beach.

As I approached the finish I was choking up a little. It hit me that I had accomplished my dream and this big goal. I was really happy to have kept going, to have run the whole way and not given up. Happy and proud.

Below is a photo that I took at the starting line and the second is one I took last night of the beautiful Harbour Bridge and city scape.

Easter on Beautiful Heron Island

In April I went with a couple of friends to Heron Island for a one week holiday. We went during Easter so it meant just a couple of days off work! Heron Island is situated at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, in Queensland. The closest mainland town is Gladstone. The island itself is tiny, and you can walk around it in about 30 minutes. It’s well known because of the nature and wildlife found on the island and the reefs surrounding it. Perhaps mostly for the turtles which arrive during I think January – May to lay their eggs, and then after this for the just born hatchlings to make their way into the sea and to start their lives. The journey for these hatchlings is harrowing to say the least. Seagulls watch their every move as they head down the beach to the ocean and once in the sea reef sharks are waiting. The figure of 1 in every 1,000 baby turtles surviving sounds incredible, but honestly when you see what they have to do just to get into the sea, it’s quite understandable.

The holiday was wonderful. It was so relaxing, and just really nice to be able to do nothing, go snorkelling or read on the beach. There is one resort on the island, and the staff and amenities are all great. Definitely the most memorable thing though is the nature and wildlife. I in particular loved the snorkelling where we saw turtles, of course the most magnificently coloured fish, reef sharks, rays and the beautiful coral of the reef. I’d go back anytime!

The website for the island is found here: http://www.heronisland.com/

Here are some pictures…

Lazy Sunday...

I had a really lovely day yesterday including a training run, Super Hero themed Birthday party for my niece who is turning four and then a great night out with a group of friends in Surry Hills.

So this morning I started the day off quite slowly! Plus it was raining on and off, so the perfect morning to sleep in!

I went into the city in the afternoon. I first headed to Surry Hills and a cafe called Reuben Hills which was really buzzing. They have a great menu including a few items with salted caramel including a milkshake. I didn't try the milkshake but was quite tempted!

I then went to the State Library of NSW to see the World Press Photo exhibition which I try to see every year. In Milan I used to go see the exhibition at 10 Corso Como which is a beautiful space that I always loved visiting. I enjoyed the exhibition again this year and was reminded of some of the extraordinary events that took place in 2011 including the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and events in Egypt and Libya as the governments were overthrown. It was the final day for the exhibition so there was a lot of people there.

After that I walked down to The Rocks and walked quickly through the Museum of Contempary Art before meeting a couple of friends for a drink.

Below are a couple of photos I took today...

Patonga for a Weekend

At the end of June I went with a group of girlfriends up to Patonga for a weekend of relaxing and catching up. Patonga is on Pittwater on the Central Coast of NSW and is about a 1.5 hour drive north of Sydney. It's a really beautiful spot and also just around the corner from another gorgeous town called Pearl Beach.

The weekend was really great, and here are some pictures that I took of the area. Patonga is quite small, and it had a feeling of being a sleepy town however in summer I'm sure that like all coastal towns it gets really busy and all the houses are full of people enjoying a beautiful summer break. We had lovely weather over the weekend, as you can see with the bright blue sky's in each photo!

Back for 2012!

It has been quite some time since I posted here, months in fact. In the interim, I have been here, but not in the writing mode I guess. So today I am back. But I guess it's still a slow return.

I'm going to post a photo that I took this week in Sydney city, which is a really cool installation which I really like.

Hope that you like it!

I'll be back soon!