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Apr. 28th, 2010 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccI really really need to start my part of the talk for the tutorial tomorrow. Well, that's not entirely true - I have started, now I just need to make sure I've (a) covered everything and (b) won't either go too long or too short. Still a bit over this topic though.
I bought a laptop last Thursday - technically Dean bought it because I was at work/study all day - and took it with us to Queensland. This was both bad and good - we spent money on wifi and time on the internet, but I did manage to get some work done, including building the database I needed to do. And without worrying that I should be cleaning, cooking or doing the washing or nagging Dean to do them while I worked! Yay for hiring apartments! Especially apartments with Austar which meant that usually one of us was watching something trashy (or in my case reading Millennium novels) while the other one worked/surfed.
We did however leave the apartment and go swimming. A lot. I do like living less than 2 minutes walk from the beach, something that is unlikely to happen in Melbourne. For starters I can't afford it. For seconds the bay is cold. The last time we swum on the beach we were at Northcliffe SC as the tide was going out - holy crap that is one of the strongest tide pulls/rips I've ever been in. Normally I'd be out near the breakers, but this was so strong I was reluctant to get more than about chest deep in case I was swept up the coast towards Bundaberg. Even as it was I was pulled off my feet a couple of times in knee deep water, which doesn't usually happen. There were 5 lifesavers from the club at the water's edge watching and another two or three in or near the tower. When the tide's out it's a very pleasant spot for families - there's a ~0.5m deep channel, then a flat bit, then the start of the actual waves, making it fantastic for small kids in particular. When the tide's coming in though I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than a strong swimmer.
I was wondering if the entire coast was like that, but then we walked back up to the next monitored spot, about halfway to Surfers Central - and lo and behold it was normal. Waves, yes, but no rips threatening to drag you out to sea. Safe for small children even - and only two lifesavers watching. I promptly headed out to the breakers, and played there for a bit. If we'd been there longer I'd have gotten a boogie board.
I really love how Queensland water is warm, too. Yes, there are probably bull sharks lurking all over the place, but as long as I don't mention them to Dean he'll go in the water. All up it was a really nice break, and a bit of a shock to return to Victoria and discover that winter is upon us (and that our central heating won't ignite, bugger. Repairman's coming next week.) 6am this morning (when I started training again) was dark and chilly.
As you might have guessed from the started training bit, my feet are nearly back to normal. Still a couple of numb patches, which Mum suggested might be nerve damage and which I should probably see a podiatrist about. One semi-healed blister (it deflated, then I pulled the loose skin off because it was irritating me) and one still inflated but not hurting blister. Now we just need to sort out the last of our fundraising and the walk is pretty much complete.
Out of curiosity I sat down and worked out our speeds:
Leg 1: 5kph (raring to go, obviously!)
Leg 2: 4.5kph (that bloody hill!)
Leg 3: 4.43kph (no idea what happened there!)
Leg 4: 3.46kph (Hacketts Rd, darkness)
Leg 5: 3.2kph (Darkness... Melba Track... Eternity...)
Leg 6: 3.7kph (amazing what some sleep will do!)
Leg 7: 3.7kph (slogging on, resting every 5km or so)
Leg 8: 2.5ish? (2km of straight up, 3km of down. Down. Down. 300m of gentle rise, 600m of challenging rise. 100m of flat. 700m of down. 300m of where the hell is this bloody finish line?)
We're seriously going to have to look at speeding up a bit next year if we do it!
I bought a laptop last Thursday - technically Dean bought it because I was at work/study all day - and took it with us to Queensland. This was both bad and good - we spent money on wifi and time on the internet, but I did manage to get some work done, including building the database I needed to do. And without worrying that I should be cleaning, cooking or doing the washing or nagging Dean to do them while I worked! Yay for hiring apartments! Especially apartments with Austar which meant that usually one of us was watching something trashy (or in my case reading Millennium novels) while the other one worked/surfed.
We did however leave the apartment and go swimming. A lot. I do like living less than 2 minutes walk from the beach, something that is unlikely to happen in Melbourne. For starters I can't afford it. For seconds the bay is cold. The last time we swum on the beach we were at Northcliffe SC as the tide was going out - holy crap that is one of the strongest tide pulls/rips I've ever been in. Normally I'd be out near the breakers, but this was so strong I was reluctant to get more than about chest deep in case I was swept up the coast towards Bundaberg. Even as it was I was pulled off my feet a couple of times in knee deep water, which doesn't usually happen. There were 5 lifesavers from the club at the water's edge watching and another two or three in or near the tower. When the tide's out it's a very pleasant spot for families - there's a ~0.5m deep channel, then a flat bit, then the start of the actual waves, making it fantastic for small kids in particular. When the tide's coming in though I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than a strong swimmer.
I was wondering if the entire coast was like that, but then we walked back up to the next monitored spot, about halfway to Surfers Central - and lo and behold it was normal. Waves, yes, but no rips threatening to drag you out to sea. Safe for small children even - and only two lifesavers watching. I promptly headed out to the breakers, and played there for a bit. If we'd been there longer I'd have gotten a boogie board.
I really love how Queensland water is warm, too. Yes, there are probably bull sharks lurking all over the place, but as long as I don't mention them to Dean he'll go in the water. All up it was a really nice break, and a bit of a shock to return to Victoria and discover that winter is upon us (and that our central heating won't ignite, bugger. Repairman's coming next week.) 6am this morning (when I started training again) was dark and chilly.
As you might have guessed from the started training bit, my feet are nearly back to normal. Still a couple of numb patches, which Mum suggested might be nerve damage and which I should probably see a podiatrist about. One semi-healed blister (it deflated, then I pulled the loose skin off because it was irritating me) and one still inflated but not hurting blister. Now we just need to sort out the last of our fundraising and the walk is pretty much complete.
Out of curiosity I sat down and worked out our speeds:
Leg 1: 5kph (raring to go, obviously!)
Leg 2: 4.5kph (that bloody hill!)
Leg 3: 4.43kph (no idea what happened there!)
Leg 4: 3.46kph (Hacketts Rd, darkness)
Leg 5: 3.2kph (Darkness... Melba Track... Eternity...)
Leg 6: 3.7kph (amazing what some sleep will do!)
Leg 7: 3.7kph (slogging on, resting every 5km or so)
Leg 8: 2.5ish? (2km of straight up, 3km of down. Down. Down. 300m of gentle rise, 600m of challenging rise. 100m of flat. 700m of down. 300m of where the hell is this bloody finish line?)
We're seriously going to have to look at speeding up a bit next year if we do it!
