Adelaide 2016

August 13, 2016
August 14, 2016
August 15, 2016

Adelaide 2016, August 15 (Road Rules)

It was an even earlier start on Monday morning out of Adelaide, hoping to avoid the peak hour in Melbourne in the evening, and working against the time zone difference this time. After maxing out the fuel tank we were off at about 6:45am, to Tailem Bend at 7:45am and Keith at 9:00am for the first driver change - without much sign of back pain so far.

Shortly before the border the speed limit goes down to 100km/h which seems unnecessary. At 11:00am (VIC time) in Nhill we swapped drivers over again, and then made it to Horsham at 12:00pm in time for lunch again. This time we went to one of the local bakeries, where they had the world record for biggest vanilla slice, I just settled for a single serve.

Guessing the previous record was 677.075 kilograms.

We left Horsham at 12:30pm (VIC time) again and stopped for a driver change and the first refuel at Ararat an hour later. Sadly my small fuel tank couldn't get all the way back to Melbourne, and going further to Ballarat would have been a bit risky. I made it 517 kilometres with 35 litres of fuel used, with maybe 5% left on the fuel tank indicator.

Around about Ararat we finally got to return to 110/km again, through to Melton for the final driver change at 3:15pm (VIC time). I missed the turn off at Ballarat Road since I wasn't paying attention, but getting off at the next exit didn't add much time. We got stuck in traffic trying to get through Parkville and onto the Eastern freeway forever, then we were cruising for about three minutes before hitting a big traffic jam due to a two car accident near the Doncaster Road exit - there's no way I could drive to work every day like that without going insane. At last we made it home by 5:00pm (VIC time), just in time to get ready for work again...

If I'd had more time in Adelaide I would have gone to:

• Kangaroo Island 
• Victor Harbor
• Hahndorf
• Mt Lofty
• Glenelg and Magic Mountain
• Port Adelaide (maybe)
• Wine tasting in Barossa Valley (maybe not)

Adelaide 2016, August 14 (Hurt)

I only entered in the shorter 10km event at the Adelaide Marathon festival due to never ending injuries, even that was doubtful but I thought I'd give it a go, although I was only 50-50 about participating up until the day of the event. Jason was running in the half marathon which started at 8:00am but the 10km wasn't until 10:10am, which is very late for a race start.

I walked from the hotel to Adelaide Oval again for the start of the race, and found Jason just as he was finishing his race already. At the beginning of my event I tried to jog the first 500 metres at 6:00/km pace but didn't feel great so I slowed down to 7:00/km, then sadly that become a fast walk soon after, the hamstring injury was still too painful to take any more impact. It was very depressing not being able to run, now I was just hoping to not finish last.

After about four kilometres I had warmed up a bit and managed to get back into a jogging motion at around 7:00/km pace again, and actually overtook a small number of people - some of them might have broken down during the marathon or half marathon though. My right quad was now killing in addition to the right hamstring soreness I'd had for the past month, but more worrying was the left shin stress which took five months to heal last time.

I finished in just under 72:30 or 7:15/km, position 382 of 429 which was of course my worst result ever - I might have come in right around 10th place if healthy. I found Jason again at the finish and went back to the hotel, then to a local pizza place that was open for lunch, it was surprisingly good despite being cheap.

The finish at last.

After lunch we got the free city connector bus to South Terrace in the city - I though for sure being on a bus *and* in Adelaide I would run into Matt but he never showed up. I walked over to the Himeji Gardens for a look, it was extremely small such that you could walk around it in a minute or two, the big sand pit thing was alright I suppose.

Himeji.

A free tram back to Victoria Square next, but the Adelaide Central market was closed on a Sunday - which market wouldn't be open on a Sunday. There was a Bread Top nearby but it had all the same stuff as the Victorian stores, disappointing. A couple of stops further along the tram route and we were at the famous Rundle Mall. It's probably longer than Bourke Street and it has a few more arcades and shopping centres alongside it, but it was generally the same kind of stores. The only purchases I made were an Adelaide magnet at the souvenir store and a new resistance band from the sports store.

Back out of the city again where Uni SA had their annual day. Since it was late in the afternoon already I didn't even managed to score any free stuff! They did have a free simulation tour of a dental surgery, but who would want to do that. After a quick tour along the River Torrens my legs were dead, so we got a free bus back to O'Connell Street in North Adelaide for some food for dinner then another bus back to the hotel.

Karrawirra Parri.

Since we had an early start in the morning the evening was just watching Olympics highlights on TV, the 1.5gb free wifi had almost run out too and I hadn't even installed all of the latest Windows updates on my laptop yet!

Use the forks.

Adelaide 2016, August 13 (CHVRCHES)

It's a bit sad this is my first and only planned 'holiday' for the year so far, but that's how it goes. I left home at 8:00am Saturday morning for the big trip to Adelaide. The most I'd driven the Lancer in one trip before was either to Echuca, Halls Gap or Wangaratta - all pretty similar and about half the distance. Traffic through the city wasn't too bad for Saturday morning, getting through to Ballarat by about 9:45am and then changing drivers somewhere around Beaufort, I forget exactly.

An hour later at Ararat and my back was already wrecked for the day. Coming into Horsham right about 12:00pm was a good time to stop for lunch and to get out of the car and move around for a while. We stopped for about half an hour to get some food at Subway before moving on. I got back into the driver seat and my back was feeling good again, but it only lasted about an hour. I stopped in for fuel at some service station that had huge potholes at the entrance and exit, I think I almost broke the car going through one of them as there was no way to avoid it.

We got to Bordertown at 2:00pm, it seems like false advertising as it doesn't actually appear to be right on the border. Since the day of driving was starting to take it's toll we had to stop a bit more often to stretch out, probably about once an hour through to Murray Bridge at about 4:30pm (SA time), at least there was a bridge over the Murray River this time. I only remembered about the half hour time difference just near the border, a good surprise as it meant a bit more time in the evening than I originally planned for.

Finally we made it into Adelaide about 5:30pm (SA time), the big downhill into the city was probably the highlight of the drive - as well as being able to get out of the car for good. After navigating a few one way streets in North Adelaide we got to the hotel just in time to grab the second last space in the hotel parking lot.

After dropping off the luggage we walked down to the city centre, about two kilometres, past the zoo and university on the way. I picked Fancy Burger's for dinner, lucky one of the three vegetarian burgers wasn't mushroom based, it was alright but not the best I've had.

Rundle Mall.

We made it back out to Adelaide Oval just north of the city in time for the first quarter of Melbourne vs. Port Adelaide. The seats were alright in the top deck, but I soon found out I had some crazy kids sitting right behind me, screaming like mad whenever a Port Adelaide player touched the ball and continually kicking the seat. Thankfully they ran out of energy after about ten minutes, then they left or moved somewhere because I never heard from them again. I was also sitting next to some negative Port Adelaide supporter, at first it was funny but then it just became depressing. I don't even know why he would attend since he was just miserable the whole time, complaining about everything from the worst forward line, being the most frustrating team in the league, they can't win if they start from behind etc.

Adelaide Oval.

Melbourne were always leading the match, but Port Adelaide looked like they might catch up for a while after half time before Melbourne got going again and won quite easily.

Game time.

Only saw one church.

Baking Brad Episode 75

This is episode seventy five - muesli slice

Recipe

• Link

Good

• Not much

Bad

• Really disliked the strong pumpkin taste from so much pepita
• Squeezing honey took forever

Ratings

• The Cook - 5/10
• The Taste - 1/10

The first ingredients.

The second ingredients - fuzzy photo.

Muesli slice.

2016 Goals

This is a rough list of goals since January is almost over, I also attempted this in 2015 but either made too many goals or made too many that weren't achievable all at once. This time I'll try to be a bit more realistic.

• Car
• No plan for this year, so that's a good start
• Fitness
• Bike
• Seems more possible since I'm recovering from an injury right now
• It will probably be a while until I'm back running 5 or 6 days a week again
• Half Marathon
• My running plan for the year is very uncertain right now
• Hopefully at least one half marathon, but probably won't set a best time
• Perhaps Gold Coast and Melbourne marathon events
• Swimming
• I've done a fair bit of swimming already this month
• Try to continue every two weeks to keep my skills up
• Triathlon
• This might be possible with a bit of swimming skill acquired
• For 2016 I will research the requirements, and maybe participate in 2017
• Weight
• Try to get down to 70 kilograms at last...
• Food
• Baking
• Two recipes a month would be good
• Health
• A more balanced diet
• Eliminate a bit of junk food
• Holiday
• Thinking about a week in April - New Zealand, Queensland or Tasmania
• Then a couple of weeks in Asia during winter, around about August
• Investment
• House
• Make a decision this year about what to do next
• Shares
• Adding a few more while the market is hopefully at a low point
• Minimal
• Need to get rid of old clothes and shoes
• Old computer parts and various other equipment
• Passport
• Third time planning to get a UK passport, would have been more useful last year
• Running
• Beating last years total distance seems unlikely
• Get back to full speed at best a personal best at one distance
• Attend some different events around Australia
• Try to get near 50 park run events
• Video Games
• Unpack the Xbox One...
• Finish a few games this year
• Work
• Finish one new certification
• Changing jobs might be possible later this year
• See if UK or USA is a possibility...

2015 Review

This is my summarised review of 2015, starting with a random selection of goals.

• Blogging
• 62 posts, down from 99 posts the year before
• Most due to less baking and holidays
• Car
• Nothing again
• I still don't need an expensive upgrade at the moment
• When my car starts to become unreliable or expensive to repair I'll revisit this
• Fitness
• Bike
• Instead I increased my running up to 5-6 days a week
• That means I've had no time to think about cycling for the moment
• Swimming
• Similar to cycling, I only managed to swim occasionally (and poorly)
• Triathlon
• See both of the above, I think 2017 would actually be a better target right now
• Weight
• Really frustrating, just stuck in the low 70's with no change
• Food
• Baking
• 13 new recipes, down from 37 the year before
• This is a combination of running a bit low on new ideas and trying to eat healthier
• Health
• I've tried to be a little better with my food choices, but without a proper plan
• A bit more fruit
• Low sugar alternatives for things like soft drink and yoghurt
• I think most of all I still need to avoid too much:
• Chocolate croissant
• White bread
• And have more vegetables!
• Holiday
• One major holiday and about four smaller trips, so not bad
• See below for more details
• Only about four days of annual leave left at the end of the year
• House
• Didn't come up with any plan for this yet
• I do want to live:
• Close to good running tracks
• Close to public transport
• Close to work
• Not sure if that means renting, buying an apartment, a unit or what
• Can't be talking about it forever and doing nothing though
• Minimal
• This is the best name for the topic I could think of
• I cleaned out a lot of old clothes and other junk donated to charity
• Still got too many pairs of shoes and old computer parts hanging around
• Money
• Shares
• I invested about two thirds of my savings in shares
• I just made a profit on the value, but also got reasonable dividends
• 2016 is not looking like a good year to build my wealth so far...
• Superannuation
• Went from 181,000 to 203,000 at the middle of January
• That's pretty sad because I increased 28,000 the previous year
• Music
• Just went to a few concerts during the year
• I haven't had much time for listening since I've been reading more instead
• Passport
• I still would like to get a UK passport but didn't get around to doing it
• Reading
• I think I got through about twenty books for the year
• Running
• Happy with my running for the year
• But really frustrated by my current injuries
• Pain every day
• Could be out for months
• Study
• No certification for the year
• I was meant to go on a three day AWS course but keep getting postponed
• Work
• Still happy for the moment, but don't want to continue doing the same thing for too long
• The unemployment level is quite low right now, so might be a good time to change
• I would still love to try working in the USA, not as sure about the UK

This is the condensed version of my monthly summaries:

• Holidays
• April - Sydney
• May - Apollo Bay 1 and 2
• July - Gold Coast
• August - Europe
• November - Bendigo
• December - Grampians
• TV
• Some of my favourite shows for the year:
• Better Call Saul
• Hard Knocks
• Homeland
• Ordinary Lies
• Kart Life
• The Amazing Race
• The Short Game
• The Walking Dead
• Video Games
• I hardly had any time for video games
• PlayStation 3
• Gran Turismo 6
• Xbox 360
• None
• I purchased an Xbox One near the end of the year but haven't opened the box yet...

2015 Running Review

This is my 2015 running review.

I was pretty happy to still make a bit of progress this year, but was set back by one big foot injury at the middle of the year, just before the Gold Coast Marathon, and another even more serious tibia (shin) injury that I am still getting diagnosed - three weeks and no sign of improvement yet...

The grand totals were:

• 3132.14 kilometres (2286.88 previously)
• 236 hours (170 hours previously)

That is an average of about 8.5 kilometres or 40 minutes per day, so I guess that is just above that recommended thirty minutes of exercise a day!

Here are some of the major races for the year:

• February 15
• Yarra Bend VRR
• 12km in 46:52 (15.36 km/h)
• February 22
• Warburton Half Marathon (jog)
• 21.1km in 1:29:21 (14.17 km/h)
• March 22
• Run For The Kids
• 15.5km in 59:18 (15.68 km/h)
• April 6
• Sri Chinmoy Centennial Park (Sydney)
• 7km in 26:55 (15.60 km/h)
• April 26
• Sri Chinmoy Princes Park
• 10km in 39:00 (15.38 km/h)
• May 17
• Great Ocean Road Marathon (jog)
• 23km in 1:35:09 (14.50 km/h)
• July 5
• Gold Coast Airport Marathon (injured)
• 21.1km in 1:29:12 (14.19 km/h)
• September 20
• Sri Chinmoy Yarra Boulevard
• 10km in 38:46 (15.47 km/h)
• October 18
• Melbourne Marathon
• 21.1km in 1:23:23 (15.18 km/h)
• November 1
• Bendigo Bank Fun Run
• 10km in 38:48 (15.46 km/h)
• November 15
• City2Sea
• 15km in 56:55 (15.81 km/h)

I also did a number of park runs, only Jells and Westerfolds at full speed though. These were my best times for the year:

• Jells Park
• November 28
• 5km in 18:14 (16.45 km/h)
• Westerfolds Park
• June 13
• 5km in 18:40 (16.07 km/h)

The events in bold are new personal bests, I was about thirty seconds off matching by personal best for 10 kilometres, although I did about twenty seconds better than it while training (even while off sick with a cold).

Overall I was pretty happy with the number of events, but annoyed that I got injuries both times when I was starting to make some improvements. I think I might be lucky to get back to the same speed by the end of 2016.

Grampians Holiday 2015

Tuesday December 29

I didn't head off until 9:00am to avoid the peak hour traffic, and I was smart enough to remember sunglasses and sunscreen before leaving this time. I made it across the city to the Western Freeway without much trouble, but then started having leg pain. I almost made it to Beaufort, past Ballarat, before needing an exercise and toilet break.

The speed was 110 km/h almost all of the way, but then dropped down to 80 km/h near Ararat. I just managed to see the the turn off for Mount Buangor state park, and started down a really bumpy and dusty road. I was stuck behind a big truck for most of the six kilometres to the state park, and the car was bouncing everywhere, once inside the park entrance it got even worse. I went to the Middle Creek car park first since it was the closest area, but it was pretty flat with only a couple of long walking tracks so I drove over to the Ferntree car park instead.

After a quick lunch break I started with the Waterfalls nature track, it was quite short and I didn't see much evidence of a waterfall before I had done a full circuit and was back where I started. There was a longer and steeper Two Mile circuit to try next, I turned around at what I though was the half way point because I wasn't sure where the other end came out. I tried driving back to the main road at 40-50 km/h instead, and that worked so much better.

The first walking track.

The second walking track.

There was another turn off a bit further ahead for Langhi Ghiran state park but since I spent longer than I expected at the previous stop I decided to skip it for the day, and perhaps see it on the way back. I made it to Ararat around 2:30pm, a reasonable size as far as small towns go. I got some food for the trip from the local supermarkets, than walked up the main street which was pretty empty, or perhaps it was just normal. I also walked around Alexandra Gardens and the town hall before returning to the car. I planning to drive up the One Tree Hill road to a lookout that sits above the town, but the whole area was closed off.

Ararat.

Alexandra Gardens.

It was about 4:00pm before I reached the next town of Stawell, it was getting much hotter both inside and out of the car by then. Stawell was a smaller town, I was able to visit the athletics oval where they run the Stawell Gift every year, Cato Park and the main street again. This time I was able to drive up to the Big Hill Lookout, but you couldn't see the town very well from the top.

Stawell.

Stawell Athletics.

Big Hill lookout.

Stawell Athletics entrance.

I finally made it to Halls Gap at 5:30pm, all the bugs turned up for the last stretch of road so my windscreen was a mess. The town was even smaller again, just a few shops, but there were tourists everywhere. I checked in to the motel just a little further down the road:

• Nice view of the mountain ranges
• Foxtel but no ESPN channels
• Crappy internet, almost unusable

View from the motel car park.

My Samsung Galaxy health tracker on my phone reported 21000 steps or 17.75 kilometres for the day.


Wednesday December 30

I got up early to beat the crowds into the Grampians, but I still got one of the last car park spots at the Wonderland car park around 8:30am. There was a walking track from the car park all the way up to The Pinnacle, as they call it. The track was well laid out, although there wasn't many signs it was usually obvious which way to go and the path was not too difficult to walk along, although some of the steps were quite steep, which takes a lot out energy out of your legs. After finally reaching the top there was a rewarding view down to the town below. I slipped once on a large rock coming back down and lost control, but luckily didn't suffer any injuries or fall too far. According to my health track I had already done 8500 steps or 7.5 kilometres, but it should have been closer to 5 kilometres.

Walking to The Pinnacle.

The Pinnacle.

The Pinnacle opposite direction.

I got back in the car and continued further into the Grampians before reaching the Reid's Lookout car park by about 10:30am. Just in front of the car park was the lookout over the whole mountain range, quite similar to my visit to the Blue Mountains in Sydney earlier in the year. There was a one kilometre walking track which ended at The Balconies, where two more balcony view points have been constructed. There was also some rock ledges that extended our further than the balconies but were off limits, but parents still let their kids walk out to the end anyway.

The Balconies.

Back in the car again to the next stop at Mackenzie Falls car park at 11:30am. My legs were almost done for the morning so I took a long time to get all the way down to the bottom, but it was worth it with a big waterfall at the end, along with a refreshing spray to cool down a bit. I sat down at the bottom for a break, before heading all the way back up to the top again.

Mackenzie Falls.

Mackenzie Falls again.

At Mackenzie Falls.

That was it for the morning in the Grampians, and I set off for Horsham next. The drive was pretty boring without much scenery most of the way, I also had no idea what the speed limit was meant to be as I never saw any speed signs except one that said 70 km/h maximum at night.

It was almost 1:00pm by the time I reached the town, and the temperature had accelerated up to almost forty degrees. Horsham was the largest of the towns, depressingly they even have the NBN already! I had a quick walk around the shops before getting some lunch at the local Subway. I almost managed to work through a Powerade Zero, Mother energy drink and Pump water along the way, fair to say I'd gotten a bit dehydrated earlier.

I took the scenic route along the Wimmera River on the way back out of the town and on to Dadswell Bridge, just a quick stop to see the world famous Giant Koala, before heading back to Halls Gap via the main roads this time.

Wimmera River.

Giant Koala.

There was still some time left in the afternoon so I drove back in to the Grampians a second time and reached the Sundial car park at 4:30pm. I walked all the way to the Sundial Peak and back, about four kilometres, without seeing anyone on the track. The view at the peak was alright but not as good as The Pinnacle, there was a large lake down below instead.

On the way back to the car my leg started hurting a lot, so I decided to make just one more stop for the day. The drive down hill to the Silverband Falls car park was fun as it was a one way road with plenty of sharp bends. These waterfalls were very poor compared to the previous one, there was just a trickle of water and the river was dry.

Sundial Peak.

Silverband Falls.

At Silverband Falls.

I was definitely done for the day, heading back to the motel with an accumulated total of 31000 steps or 26.75 kilometres.


Thursday December 31

I got back on the road early at 8:00am for an uneventful drive home, a little over three hours in total. The highlight was stopping in Great Western, which reminded me of The Great Northern.

The Great Western.

The Great Northern, not part of this trip...

Christmas Review

This is a quick Christmas report. I think I did the same in 2013 and last year I just had a Perth holiday report, so this will be a combination of the two.

• December 25
• We had a restaurant dinner yesterday instead, so not big celebration meal today
• In the afternoon I finally got a chance to watch Star Wars
• The movie was good but I had to sit through uncomfortable leg pains
• December 26
• Started with shopping, standard stuff, didn't attend any Boxing Day special events
• I watched some of the NBA Christmas Day games that were playing all day
• Since I've been struggling with a leg injury for a few days my only option for exercise was a gym session
• I watched Paranormal Activity 5 which didn't quite rival Star Wars, pretty much a waste of time
• December 27
• Back to the gym again
• Watched the BBC Match Of The Day boxing day episode
• Better than usual because it had all ten matches
• Lots of house cleaning
• Finished planning for a short holiday trip from December 29-31
• I was considering not going due to my leg pain
• December 28
• I watched the NFL red zone early in the morning, they switch between all games when something is about to happen
• Back to the gym again
• Continued on with the live NFL games later in the day
• More house cleaning
• Packing for the holiday
• December 29
• Drive to Halls Gap, see the holiday report for more details
• December 30
• Driving around the Grampians, see the holiday report for more details
• December 31
• Drive home from Halls Gap
• Catch up on another BBC Match Of The Day and NFL
• Back to the gym after two days off - besides lots of walking
• January 1
• Started playing some old NES games, beginning with Mega Man 4
• The car needed a good clean inside and out after the trip to the country side
• A couple of days after all the walking and my leg pain is getting much worse again
• January 2
• The leg pain didn't improve much overnight
• Finished Mega Man 4 on NES
• Also finished watching Mr Robot season one, a little disappointing
• Tried swimming instead of going to the gym
• My leg felt pretty good afterwards, but the pain returned later
• I went to the Big Bash at the MCC
• Melbourne Renegades vs. Melbourne Stars
• Had to wait twenty minutes in the new security lines
• Leg pain was really bad while sitting down, it seems to be the worse position for it
• Over 80,000 crowd, the game was good
• January 3
• An extra long session at the gym without bringing on any extra pain I think
• Another BBC Match Of The Day
• Tried to have a relaxing last day before heading back to work