Doing the RAW Challenge Gold Coast with Kids. First version published in Kids on the Coast, Aug 2018 My nine year old stands with his seven year old brother at the lip of a trench, both of them eyeing the muddy water doubtfully. I wade straight in, my battered old sneakers squishing in the marshy…
Category: A Bit of Adventure
Doing cool stuff, trying something new. Memorable stuff that even I will remember when I’m old and grey.
Alice in Wonder-Where-I-Am-Land.
Remember blimmin’ months ago when I promised to tell you about the time I went for a stroll around the block, decided to go off-trail into the bush and nearly put myself into a survival situation? Well I’m finally making good. It happened on Easter Sunday. I remember it well, because I’d eaten a shitload of chocolate and was…
The Journey From Sandgroper to Snowfaceplanter. (Cardrona, New Zealand)
nb for the non-Strayans out there a ‘sandgroper’ is another name for a West Australian. It’s quite an agreeable nickname really, considering we call Queenslanders “banana benders”, South Australians “crow eaters” and New South Welshpersons “cockroaches”. I’ll never forget seeing snow for the first time. It was 1994, I was 19, and on my first trip overseas, visiting Mosey who…
Mosey’s Berfdy Bonus Brag Book!
This post is for you Mosey! AKA that annoying awesome sister of mine – Justine, who had a big birthday recently! I’ve been AWOL from here for over a month because I’m making her a rather large photo brag book. It should come in handy as her memory is no doubt starting to go. (Mosey this is…
The Wilds of Suburbia: Burleigh Head National Park, QLD.
Disclaimer: Not sponsored. But you know that by now. Burleigh Heads is a little town on the Gold Coast that’s like a ‘best of’. It has everything on the Goldie in one place (well, except for the theme parks) but on a smaller scale; gorgeous beaches and surf breaks, a wildlife park just up the road, cafes and restaurants, parks…
I’m Doing CrossFit and Haven’t Died Yet.
So one stinking hot summer morning back in January, obviously suffering from heatstroke, I signed up for an 8 week CrossFit challenge. As I said in my last post, I’d been trying for years to get my fitness back but for various reasons it wasn’t really working. Week One: Saturday morning rocked up at Urban Energy Fitness for registration and weigh-in….
On ANZAC Day.
Reblogged from ANZAC Day 2014. On the 31st of May back in 1999 I joined the Army. I joined part-time, but back then both part- and full-timers (Regular Army) did the same 45 day basic training together, over in New South Wales. During the final stage of assessment in Perth one of the recruiters and…
Tykes on Bikes 2: Tasman Great Taste Trail, New Zealand.
After the near disaster resounding success! of our last time cycling in Enzed we couldn’t wait to do it again. The boys were pumped, though Finn was quick to check we aren’t riding 25km again are we Mummy? Of course not darling!!!! …Well, maybe not. I don’t think so. I don’t know. We were going to Rabbit…
ACDC on the ATCT: Abel Tasman Coastal Track, New Zealand.
Disclaimer: This post wasn’t in the slightest bit sponsored, unfortunately. (I did get a hot lunch on our flight to Enzed but I think everyone got one.) We enjoyed our New Year’s 2016 in one of my favourite places on the planet; Abel Tasman National Park, on NZ’s South Island. Unlike our previous South Island beach holiday destinations it’s right at…
On The Other Day…
Poor Rory. I reckon having your birthday at the start of January is almost as bad as having your birthday on Christmas Day, at least when your mum’s as useless as me. His birthday sneaks up on me every new year! It doesn’t help that we’re usually travelling, or recuperating from travelling, and my brain is still AWOL. As I did…
Abel Tasman National Park, N.Z. Takes 1 & 2.
The journal continues… with a flashback to Saturday 21 December 2002, during my first ever trip to New Zealand. What the hell for, you ask? Read on. Out with Kaiteriteri Kayaks, and my second trip into the Abel Tasman NP. I luv it – the only place I’ve visited twice in Enzed! Well, besides Wellington, but that…
On This Day…
I’ve been working my way through this enormous book for the past ten months called The Assassin’s Cloak. It sounds like a badass historical thriller, but is actually an anthology of badass diary entries. From the 1660s to the 1990s, grouped together for every day of the year. There’s all kinds of shit going down – 25 January 1851 Leo Tolstoy wakes up…
Still Not A Journal. 