Posted on 2010-08-09 08:00:00
Tags: Walking
Since I moved to Sydney, I have nearly every year joined the yearly City-To-Surf walk. Okay, it is supposed to be a run but since my running skills have never been able to keep up with the requirement (think about the 12 minute Cooper tests at highschool where I managed to do the minimum of two kilometers in just under twelve minutes. Give me long distance cycling every day above running), I join the greater group of walkers.
The times I put down when I'm on my own aren't bad, it takes ten minutes per kilometers making it a 140 minute or two hours and twenty minutes event for me. When walking with others the time vary, depending on more than three hours when we had Dirkie in a sling and a couple of breaks for feeding, changing nappies etc. The year after, with Dirkie in the stroller, was close enough to 140 minutes again, with Dirkie walking with me (read: 50% walking and 50% on my shoulders) it was a close to three hours. And this year with Hanorah in the stroller back to close to 140 minutes.
So, why the last one? Because of inability of the City2Surf organisation to get enough medals at the finishing line to handout one to everybody finishing. For the so-manyth time in a row... For upsetting my little ones for the second year in a row.
The math shouldn't be so difficult: Last year there were 75 thousand entries, so you get 75 thousand medals. This year you have 80 thousand entries, so you get 80 thousand medals. For each person from who you get the entry form and the entry fee, you order one medal.
So that at the end of walk, when the 14 kilometers are done, when the little ones are really ready for a special reward for their efforts, they will be the happiest ones on the world!
But I don't want to put them through the effort anymore and not be rewarded like all the people they seen around them, so this time will the last time!
Posted on 2009-07-06 11:00:00, modified on 2009-07-11 13:00:00
Tags: Walking, Adventures
Last weekend the Sutherland Greens organised a weekend bushwalk through the Royal National Park from Otford to Bundeena. Since Naomi was too busy with real life, I volunteered to go in her place together with little Dirk.
At this point in time Dirkie is four years and three months old and there were a lot of reservations from the other walkers of him (and his mother) being able to do the trip, but since I volunteered to carry him where needed they agreed on it.
The Google maps link above doesn't show it, but the trip was going through the bush past the coast: Sometimes walking tracks and sometimes the path the water takes when it flows down the hills. As the crow flies only 23 kilometers, but it includes a lot of up and down between the top of the cliffs and the sand of the beaches.
The first day was about 10 kilometers, starting at 10:30 and finishing at Gary beach at 15:30. We had some great views over the water, lots of different terrain from a nice walking track to "let's walk upstream through this water to see if we can find the track again", saw the sheds build during the depression at Burning Palm beach where one of the current owners told us the story of the families living in one of them. Dirkie walked for about three-quarters of the time and spend the other time on my shoulders. At night we slept at the Gary Beach Surf Club and saw the ISS passing over in the twilight period.
The second day was up and down again with much less signs of civilisation (houses, sheds) but we had a nice over the National Park from one point, saw a lot of whales on their migration to the warmer waters in the north and had a great time. This time Dirkie walked about two-thirds of time and just like the day before when I was really sure I wouldn't make it over a next hill again we were at the end!
Neither day we saw a lot of animals, not kangeroos, no big birds. Just whales and two sea eagles... I had hoped for more cockatoos though.
Beautiful walk, recommendable for anybody who is up for it (I didn't do any special training for it, just my four kilometers walk per day (yes it's sad))