Dan's Visit

Well I was going to write a long narrative about the recent visit I had from Dan, but opted instead to put a few pics in to illustrate the story. Was great to see a familiar face and take some time off work to take a break but my liver isn't sorry to see him leave....

Super 14 rugby (Western Force v Auckland Blues) - rubbish game and appaling linesman, but at least it had stopped raining....
After several failed attempts at getting tickets, two members passes were aquired at a price and Paddy and Samantha went to the Footy (Eagles v Western Balldogs, Samantha is the one on the right)

A few beverages with the illusive Donald, when not on the phone to the girlfriend....

A game of golf.....
A good meal a Leeuwin winery in Margaret river

A visit to the caves....

Ali spots Roo in the road....

Karri Forest...

The locals....

If there was ever a bloke not meant to go moutain biking it's the one on the right....
JD helps Dan out with a few running repairs following the painful yet rather hilarious attempt at a jump....admittedly I had barely made it myself.
A trip to Rottnest island for some snorkling....

Perth at night, some photos curtesy of Dan...

Great to see you Dan, awsome time....till next time

Rottnest Triathlon

On Sat 28th April I embarked on the Rottnest Sprint Triathlon. This was a bit further than the corporate tri I did back in March and was definately going to be more of a challenge, but needed to give myself a bit of a test and see how I would get on. Rottnest is a small island about 20km from the coast, it used to be a bit of a prison island and old army garrison and apart from the small village with accommodation and shops, it's a barren and windswept island of small bays and beaches. Fortunately the break in the weather gave us perfect conditions to race in, so thankfully the 750m sea swim, although fresh enough to take your breath away was calm and I managed to escape the stingers, which caught a few people.....

The 20km bike ride took in the undulating and hilly roads around the island into the strong SW wind, which burned the leg muscles. This wasn't helped by riding a moutain bike with road wheels, as there was no time to stop peddling....oh and the fact that the lady who was supposed to marshal the turn-around didn't make it, and the return leg wasn't marked, so everyone did an extra 7km in the bike ride!! just what I needed!

After all that the 5km run was on the painful side, which was eased by the hill leg around the cemetry.....Thankfully the supporters below gave us a real kick.....

The finish line couldn't have been in a better place...at the pub and straight up to the bar for the first beer. All in, and with the extra 7km, it was done in 1:34.35 and perhaps a sub 1:20 without the extra, but who knows - the important thing was that I had done it, all the training had been worthwhile and could hit the beer in style.