Camping!

Last weekend we headed back to the same piece of private property in Noosa that we camped on before. Unfortunately, Kate and Morgan weren't able to be there this time but they made it possible for all of us to still go (the property belongs to friends of their family)...thanks for that guys!

The camping gang this time around included, Me, Steve, Rej, Clo, Amy, Dan, Darryl, Stacey and the kids.

I won't say too much about the weekend. It was much like last time, except that the creepy crawlers and little critters seemed to be out more, perhaps because it's summer now and warmer since the last time we were there. We took a lot of pictures (about 130!) as we always do! Here are a few of the ones I liked the best...

Above is Jesse just about to shake...I wish my neck was that relaxed!

Steve making breakfast...

Rej and Clo strolling on the beach...

The photos posted a bit random. Here's more brekky and Dan...

Clo and Amy soaking up the Australian rays...

Horses on the beach! We saw camels again too...

This guy was around a lot...he's a 'Gould's Monitor' and was quite long! Check out Rej's blog for more details...http://gecko-hunter.blogspot.com/ I think this is a different one...he climbs trees like it's nobody's business!
More glow bracelets for the campfire...thanks Rej and Clo!
A green tree frog who Steve found at night by using Rej's bright light to spot his eyes...it was pretty cool! We found lots of spiders too, some big and some small...
Sand monster!
Steve was getting a little sunned out by this point. You really need to cover up here...that Aussie sun is strong!
Breagha enjoying the sand...

Question...

If your work was having a Christmas party and the theme was...

"What you want to be when you grow up"

and you had to dress up in costume for it...what would you go as?

I need some seriously good ideas...I'm stumped!

Canadian Thanksgiving!

So, as I've said before, I often forget what holiday, or birthday (even my own!) is coming up because well, the seasons just mess me up here! So, not surprising, I had completely forgot that it was Thanksgiving in Canada until Sara posted about it on my blog (Thanks Sara!). After receiving some very nice Thanksgiving wishes from family on facebook, I decided at the VERY last minute that Thanksgiving shouldn't pass us by just because we live in Australia. So, at 11 am on Sunday morning, we decided to invite some fellow Canadians to come and share in a bit of a Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, we didn't have turkey (way too last minute for that!), but made do with a couple cooked bbq chickens, canned gravy and all the trimmings. Clo made cranberry sauce, Stacey made dessert and Kate (yeah, she's an Aussie but she's spent time in Canada!) brought seafood chowder as an appetizer. Steve now thinks that every holiday should involve seafood chowder! Everyone got together around 4:30 Sunday afternoon for food, chit chat and of course, a little what we're thankful for sharing! Thanks for helping to pull it all together at the last minute guys!
I didn't take very many photos (I was too busy chatting...I mean cooking...) but here's a few...
Everyone did a great job sharing what they were thankful for. It's too bad we only do that once a year...I think it's important to reflect on what you're thankful for daily!

Here's what I said that I was thankful for:

~ My friends in Brisbane, who make it possible to still have a Thanksgiving dinner with friends, even though we live on the other side of the world!

~ Of course, Steve and Jesse.

~ My family and the fact that they all seem to be happy and healthy.
~ Also, my old friends who even though I don't get to talk to very often, I still know they are my bestest friends and that we'll be there for each other when/if we need to be! I love that. True friends.

~ My health, which has improved heaps since moving to Australia and is only going to get better!

~The opportunity to live in the land down under and experience all the wonderful things that it brings!

Steve was thankful for his bike. Such a dork!:)

Clo also brought me this adorable plant which I was very thankful for! Hopefully, it survives a life in the Dickinson household! I'll do my best!

And, I just want to say once again how thankful I am for the friends that I have made here. It's tough being so far away from home sometimes and having friends to talk with, laugh with and just have fun with makes all the difference in the world!

Clo's 30th Birthday!

Last night we headed over to Rej and Clo's house for a birthday bbq. Clo turned 30 on Friday and while the original plan was to spend her birthday weekend camping on an Australian beach, we made the most out of the rainy weekend and had a great time celebrating indoors! Above, the birthday girl drinking some bubbly from her "Happy 30th Birthday" glass...

...mmm....cupcakes.

Everyone wanted to come out for the party, including the cockatoos! Rej and Clo get several at their place and they've been working with them for a few months to get them comfortable with people. They will eat from your hand and one will even sit on your arm. It's pretty cool but still a little freaky! They are quite big!

Steve feeding one...

Me getting a little closer...

I tried feeding them to say I did it but to be honest I didn't stick around long! Birds just freak. me. out.

Very pretty though from a safe distance!

Anyway, moving inside...great company, food and vino...

...followed by a bit of Guitar Hero on the projector...

I mean, really, what party is complete without that?!

Hope you had a fantastic 30th birthday Clo! Thanks for inviting us to share in the fun!:)

My Boys

Saturday afternoon snooze...

Day at the spa...

Unfortunately, it wasn't me who spent the day at the spa, it was Jes! Snugs spent most of the day yesterday at "The Pet Pad" getting professionally groomed for the first time. He's been really minding the heat, especially when he jogs with me and he's been shedding like crazy. Steve and I usually groom him ourselves but it takes hours and we just haven't had the time. He looks pretty handsome and although I would have preferred them to trim him a bit shorter, he still feels super soft and smells so good! The lady told Steve they took 2 garbage bags of hair out of him! I believe that...he loses a lot of hair! Hopefully this will help him cope with the Aussie heat because summer seems to have arrived early. We've been hitting temps of 30 degrees already and it's only spring! People are saying it'll be a hot summer, which we haven't really experienced here because last summer was unusually cool and the summer before we got here mid-way through the season. I don't think Jes liked the grooming so much...the lady said he did well but would need a break every now and then and he didn't like when they blow dried him! I'm sure he hated it, as he doesn't even stay in the room with me when I blow dry my own hair!

Jacarandas

The jacaranda trees are blooming all over the city and they are just as pretty this year as I remember them to be last year. I just love them. They are massive trees of bright purple that brighten up the city everywhere you look. They looked especially beautiful today against a cloudy grey sky. It's raining here and calling for rain all weekend, so no camping for us. It's okay though, I'm happy to spend a quiet weekend working on some of the stuff I'm making for Christmas and hopefully we can reschedule camping soon!
I had to share a couple of pictures of the trees...Steve refers to the pedals that fall as "Australian snow" because they remind him a bit of snow. Maybe it's the way they leave such a pretty dusting on everything. I do miss seeing the first little dusting of snow all over everything at the beginning of the winter season. A snow holiday would be fun but for now I'll settle for the jacarandas...

Happy birthday Ma!

Isn't it nifty , Ma is way into her fifties!
Don't look so surprised.

I was sceptical but...

...Tomato Soup Cake isn't bad! Not sure if you've checked out Kristi's awesome blog lately(http://thedrennans.blogspot.com/) but she recently posted about this cake. I was definitely iffy about what it would be like but Kristi had only the yummiest reviews for it and I can never pass up the chance to try a new baking recipe. I was nervous, especially because I didn't really like the batter but...it was good! Very moist and kind of reminded me a bit of carrot cake without the carrots. Cream cheese goes well on it, as Kristi suggested, unfortunately, I had to use a crappy store bought cream cheese icing because my electric mixer died right as I was about to finish mixing the cake batter. Anyhoo, if you want to give it a go, you can find the full recipe at http://yumfunandthensome.blogspot.com/. Thanks for the recipe Kristi and thanks for always keeping things interesting! :)

A quick update...

I have recovered from the 4 day worst headache of my life. Turns out it was the result of congested sinuses. I thought of everything but that, until a friend mentioned that might be what it is. I went for some acupuncture on Saturday and started taking some sinus medication and felt better that same day. Who knew that you could have such blocked sinuses but not have a stuffed up nose? Weird.
I've been trying to focus on my health again, as I think it's slipped dramatically since I started my new job. I'm tired all the time these days and have tension headaches daily. Sigh. I'm determined to find some balance in my life again and have been trying to make more time for me. Time to just relax, reflect and refresh. I think it's working already, but being the perfectionist that I am, I have a long way to go! Sometimes letting things go isn't so easy, especially when it comes to ignoring a messy house!
What else can I tell you...
Jesse ate a whole protein bar that Steve had left over from his endurance race. Luckily, it was only chocolate flavored and he seems fine. Really, what won't that dog eat...?
We're off for another camping adventure this coming weekend. We're heading back to Noosa (where we camped last time) on Saturday morning and coming back Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it. It was so peaceful last time. It'll be nice to unwind and get away. Steve's been super busy this week at work and has been staying late. I think we'll both be ready for some marshmallow roasting, wine drinking, campfire fun by Saturday!
Hope everyone is doing well. I think of you all so often, and even though I am absolutely dreadful at keeping touch, please know that you're all in my heart and I'm sending you positive vibes and love from here!:)
And just to leave you with a quote that I adore and found while browsing blogs (there are so many inspiring ones out there!)...

"Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit quietly on your shoulder..." Thoreau

I just love that.

8 hours, 10 laps, 110km and I live to tell the story!

I'm going to keep this post short because I'm half asleep and I need to get to bed. I had an awesome day, it was a lot of fun. I managed to ride right until the end of the race (only stopped to get food and water from Cari) I was able to get 10 laps in 8 hours, which would be about 110km of trail riding. I entered the Open Male Solo Category, there were 42 guys in this category and I came in 17th. The course was awesome, the weather was really hot (about 30 degrees) and I had a great time. The bike worked awesome, not a single mechanical problem, and I held up really good, I never felt over tried or too hot, I drank a crap load of water, sports drink and protein shakes and I had something to eat after almost every lap so I never felt hungry.
The above pic is a view of the lake that part of the course went around.

Some how we got all of my stuff in.

The property was awesome, very beautiful piece of land.

Putting on my race number, if you make the pic big it looks like I have a smoke in my mouth.

Starting area.

Going past Cari after the first lap, I didn't stop at this lap, I think I had a time of about 40 minutes. As the day went on the lap times started to go up.

Cari passing the time between laps by taking pics of herself.

Coming in after my second lap to get some sports drink and a little bite to eat.

Coming in again after another lap, not sure which lap this was.

Mmmmmm protein shake.

Bike is starting to get dirty, lots of dust on the trail, the whole course was very dry, made for a very pasty mouth.

Not sure what to say about this.Coming over the finish line at 7 hours 58 minutes.

Dirty bike and rider.

Not sure why the pic is upside down, but you can see the difference between my white foot and my caked on dirt leg.. Actually helped keep the sun off.

Watching the awards at the end of the race. The winner of the Open Male Solo Category did 16 laps.... that really is mind blowing. There were also teams of 2, 3 and 4, male, female and mixed. There must have been almost 200 racers there today, not a bad turn out.

My wife, head of the Dickinson pit crew. She was awesome. Always had food and drink waiting for me, make sure I was always covered in sun screen and was my biggest fan. Thanks bub for giving up your Sunday and cheering me on!

My next race is a Mountain Bike Trialthon that is in 3 weeks. Its a short one, 350 meter swim, 10km mtb ride and 4km trail run. There's 4 races in the series and each one gets longer. The last one is a 1000 meter swim 25km mtb ride and 10km trail run. I've already started swiming at lunch to get ready for it, most of my runs now are in the evening, its starting to get really hot here during the day.

Steve (arse feels like someone spanked it with a paddle, over and over and over again) Dickinson

What do you eat in 8 hours?

Well, I wont eat all of this in eight hours, but I'll come pretty close. Tomorrow I'm racing in an 8hr mountain bike endurance event called "8hr Enduro" ( http://www.geocentricoutdoors.com.au/enduro/index.htm ) Basically the idea is to do as many laps as you can in 8 hours. The track is 11km long, which includes single track and fire road. I'm going to drive up today and ride the course so I know what to expect come tomorrow.
My only goal is to ride the whole 8 hours (minus stopping to refill water and to grab a quick bite of food) I don't give a rats ass what place I come in. The weather is calling for a high of 32 which is going to suck, but there should be a decent breeze.
I did a pretty decent 2 hr ride last weekend and brought along my GPS and my heart rate monitor. The GPS told me how far I rode and the time it took me to ride it, and the heart rate monitor gave me an idea of how many calories I burned. All that info has given me a good idea of how much food I need to take in each hour and how many km an hr I can expect to ride. I have a quiet goal of doing 100km in 8 hours, which would be 9 ish laps of the course.

Steve (calling in sick on Monday) Dickinson

Update...... Just got back from the course for a test run. Its an awesome trail, did the 11 km track in 40 minutes so I've set a new goal of 12 laps which would be about 132km, it will be an ambitious goal! The land is owned by a family about 50 minutes north of Brisbane, they have 100 horses on 900 acres. The horses have all the land for themselves, they are being penned up while the race is on but there might be a few still out and about.
Lots of narrow and fast single track, a few climbs, but nothing to major. Lots of spots to pass people and at one point you ride around a small lake which will be nice to jump into around the 5hr mark. All and all I was very impressed and had a blast riding the one lap.
Wish me luck.

The worst headache ever...

Okay. I'm not doing so great right now. You may recall how I mentioned that I have had a headache all week? Well, it seems to have only got worse. I don't think I have ever had a headache like this. It's deep in the base of my head and is giving me extreme pressure behind my eyes and pain in my temples. It hasn't felt muscular, yet this morning when I woke up, the entire left side of body is in severe pain and I'm not really able to move that well. So, it feels like it has spread down my neck and into my upper back and chest. I've been taking Panadol (like Tylenol) like candy, tried heat pads, ice, neck rubs, allergy meds and wine (hey, I was a bit desperate!) and NOTHING is helping to ease the pain and it's only getting worse. This seriously sucks. I'm used to headaches and muscle pain, but this is way different. I actually feel dizzy, blurry and nausea with this. AND it's lasted for a full 4 days!!! I'm hoping it's not a reaction to an allergy, like a few people mentioned, because that would just suck. I've never had allergies to things, other than food and I would like to keep it that way! I did start getting the headache around the same time that I got a sore throat, but the sore throat is long gone and the headache isn't. Any thoughts on what this could be? Help!

Afternoon nap...?

I had the worst headache today when I got home from work (fourth day in a row with this headache! Grrr!) and so I decided to lay down for a little snooze, hoping it would go away...Jesse thought that was a terrible idea and instead decided to play with his ball...right on top of me! Notice the paw holding me down so that I can't in any way get comfortable...

I'm not impressed but Jesse is having a great time! This went on for ages. I got up, got the camera and came back to get comfy and it started all over again! So much for a nap! Could he get any closer?!

I don't think he sees that there is a problem here. He loves this ball. Our neighbor found it in his yard while he was raking and Jesse barked in a high pitched bark at him through the fence until he gave it to him. Such manners! Now it's one of his favorites!

I still have a headache but I have to say, my mood is much better:)

Update: Now that I have decided to blog and not nap, Jesse is content to snooze away! Shall I give a nap another go...?

The Plan...

I haven't been feeling much like blogging lately, as you may have noticed! For the first time in ages, I started to understand the whole "I don't really have anything to blog about" excuse but then I realized that I'm just being lazy. It's true, we haven't been doing any crazy adventures lately but we have been keeping busy with everyday things. I love the comment that my friend, Brianna left on my last post where she wrote...

"I think it's great that you're too busy to blog because it shows that you have really settled in and made a beautiful life for yourself in gorgeous, colorful, sunny Brisbane. Instead of viewing it as an outsider who needs to document it, you are now just living it. "

Brianna has such a wonderful way of choosing her words and I miss her positive energy a lot since she moved back to Canada. Thanks for still reading Brianna!

Anyway, I guess it's easy to think that everyday things aren't worth chatting about but sometimes it's nice to just be grateful for the boring ole day in, day out stuff. Especially when our daily stuff involves snakes and huntsman spiders (spiders that grow as large as dinner plates!). I always feel very inspired by my friend Kristi's blog, who often does gratitude posts and 'things she loves' posts. So, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. To make sure that I always have something to post about and to keep from taking our adventure in Oz for granted, I'm going to start posting about the stuff I'm grateful for each day (ok, probably not everyday, let's be realistic!), or just any ole thing that may catch my eye or heart on a given day. I'll try my best to take photos too because I've been slacking on that as well!

Oh and just as proof that even the boring stuff often turns into something exciting here is Brizzy...Steve went for a run the other evening and came home to tell me that he saw a 6-7 foot python snake on the path where he was running in the Botanical Gardens. While, I'd like to say I'm thankful for snakes, I'm not, but it is pretty cool that we get to see these kinds of critters (at a safe distance!) just walking around the city where we live!