Sean's Blog Downunder…

No time like the present to start the Blog again. Its been a while so let me get to it.

Nicolette and I once again took part in the annual Puffing Billy race against the train in Emerald Victoria (our fourth). Its a 13.2km run up through the hills. Pretty much uphill all the way.

Only 3000 runners and they had a full house this year. Weather was a nice overcast 15 degrees. Perfect for running.

There are two trains. One for the men and one for the women. Very difficult to beat the first train as it comes in around 55 min. Work it out…. Hard!!!!

Nicolette took a little strain this year on the hills so we took it easy and walked a little . But we still beat the second train as we finished in 69 min 32 seconds. Not bad as I said we walked a few times.

Another one down. Check out Puffing Billy for information as its a great day out for the kids.

For some pics of us on the day check out Sean & Buksie
Cheers

Sean

Once again we find ourselves hoping that flying with Qantas will be an uneventful experience where one simply purchases a ticket and expects to get on a plane, on time and reach ones destination without incident. Why we do this I have no idea because it’s NOT possible.

Our holiday started with a nice limo ride to the Airport with ample time and all in good spirits. Then standing in the check-in queue there was a strange silence and it became a lot darker. No power? What now one asks? Well the PA system still works as you hear the pre-recorded message that carry on luggage is still not allowed to have “knives, matches …blah blah blah”. Then the message “To all those passengers in the Qantas domestic terminal we regret to inform you that there has been a power failure…..” Really? Like we never noticed.

15 minutes later and one can just imagine the chaos. No check in, no security, no boarding and “NO BACKUP GENERATOR” how spastic and archaic that they do not have a backup power option.

The PA kicks in again, sorry but a power line had been “cut” and no estimated time for repair, but please be patient. BTW this was ONLY the Qantas domestic terminal. Good old little “Virgin Blue” still plodding along nicely….on time as always.

Eventually 30 minutes later they start doing some check in. Still no power but we at least we get a boarding pass to Sydney however we have to take our bags personally to an area where in their wisdom the have placed A4 pieces of paper stuck to the wall with the flight numbers on and place your bag in the correct line. Ha ha very interesting.

The PA springs to life again, must be a big battery operated megaphone as it’s the only thing working “Dear Passengers we regret to inform all passengers that all baggage will not be making the flights due to conveyor belt problems, however Qantas will be handing out forms at your destination and the will personally deliver your baggage to the address specified on the form. Ha ha ha.

We are bound for a connecting flight to Saigon in Vietnam. Does one honestly believe Qantas are going to personally deliver my bags to me. I don’t think so.

Actual flight time delay – 45 minutes. Will we make our connection? But the bags will not….. Go Qantas.

I came across this application for my BlackBerry a few weeks ago and must say that I am very impressed with it and how it works. It tracks different sport activities. Running, Cycling, Walking amongst others. Once you start an activity it uses the GPS built into the BlackBerry and yes one can use other mobile devices by why would you? Nothing beats a BlackBerry I am using it now when I cycle and it tracks actual ride time, rest time route off course via the GPS which can be mapped against Google Maps (Below) plus ave speed and a few other things. Very Neat. Got to http://www.allsportgps.com/Default.aspx to check it out.

A couple of months back, when I fetched Stuart from school he had a violin with him. All the boys get a instrument and they attend “Strings” once a week to see if they have any talent. So its been three months now and I attended a parents strings recital at the school last week to see all the boys perform what they have learned in the last few months. I was suitability surprised to see how good Stuart is and he is pretty interested as well. His grand father “Buddy” is visiting us so he played a little for him which I recorded to remember and compare later.

Click on young Stuart below and Enjoy…stuart-ryan

Stuart Ryan

Well I had the privilege of getting an invite to the pre-opening function of the Apple store in Sydney last evening. To be honest it was pretty boring as I had been in a number of Apple stores around the world already, but the beer was free and the snacks were tasty. It is a very impressive store and for people that have never been on one this one is very big covering three floors and a lot of glass and space. It will be humming with Apple enthusiasts all the time I think.

Yes there were already a line of about 10 geeks waiting for the official opening which takes place Thursday 19 at 5pm AEST (24 hours later). Why someone would want to wait for more that 24 hours outside a store I have no idea. Life is far to short. I walked passed the store at 10am this morning and now the line is much longer and all the way up around the corner in King street. mmmmm maybe I do not know something?

A great store, however the only disappointment was that we did not receive a “Goody” bag. Very sad when you consider how much the store cost. I think a free 3G iphone would have hit the mark and made a couple of people happy, even though I don’t think I would have traded my BlackBerry

Well this past week end we took part in the Eastlink Cycle Challenge to commemorate the opening of the Eastlink freeway between Frankston and Ringwood. Well I must say I was very disappointed in the overall organization of this event.

There were 6000 riders in the challenge and as you can imagine and appreciate no easy task to organize. However apart from the chaos at the start the organizers never even contemplated the potential of the danger that was clearly very visible. They sent us on our way from the start but it was very confusing as we stayed on the one part of the freeway and were told that we need to be careful as the race riders (Pros) would be coming back in the same direction on the same road.

Well they were not wrong…… 6000 riders on a three lane freeway and then 20km into the ride we all had to cram into one and a half lanes as the front riders are returning on the same road. Pretty much a very frightening experience well the opposite part of the freeway remained closed. To add to this toilettes and water stands were erected on the same road when we turned causing more chaos when riders wanted to stop.

Then to top it all off coming back through the halfway mark on on out to Ringwood we hit all the fun riders …. like 20 thousand of them all out for a Sunday stroll. Kids on small tricycles and so forth ? it was an absolute shambles. One cannot understand how more people were not injured.

Anyway we still had a nice ride on a new road which was enjoyable.

Well time to start blogging again I think. I have been really busy and its no excuse but I though I would say it anyway.

A couple of months ago I started Cycling again. This was due to a couple of beers at my son Stuart’s school Christmas party where a couple of my mates committed me back onto the bike. I have not really cycled seriously since departing the shores of South Africa, Cape Town where I used to cycle regularly and have completed a number of Argus Cycle Tours.

Well I still had my old Cannondale (Courtesy of my father in-law AJR) so it all started again. After a couple of rides I was getting a lot of banter because of my “old” Cannondale and the pressure was just to much So I took the plunge and purchased a new bike. Mmmmm Trek Madone SSL6.9, wow that was like going from a Volkswagen to a Porsche. Really the move from a steel frame bike to a carbon fibre one was amazing. Group set change was also very nice now getting the extra gears and I no longer had to reach down to change them, yes the Cannondale was pretty old and had served both Alfred and me very well.

Now I have been back on the road with the boys for the past six months and even braving out the winter and it’s fantastic albeit fresh in the mornings.

Thanks Campbell and Capt Reid for the inspiration. Now if I could only keep up with you guys, the Rocket Man and young Stuie Mellington I will be fine.

South Africa emerged as the 2007 Rugby World Champions over the English 15 point to 6 and deservedly so. They had a rock solid tournament in comparison to all the other sides apart from the All Blacks whose one dismal performance cost them dearly. South Africa were exceptionally disciplined in their defense while in their own half and gave away very few penalties. This made it virtually impossible for the English hero Jonny Wilkinson to perform his magic. It was an all boot affair anyway as both sides defense was awesome and no one could break through and score any tries. Nothing else can be said but to congratulate the Springboks on an amazing victory and their second Web Ellis trophy, its a Beauty !!!!!

Rock on 2011 and the next RWC in New Zealand. Imagine the pressure on the home side then

South Africa v England. Well it’s here, the final of the 2007 Rugby world cup. Who would have picked these two teams in for the grand finale? I think some punters in the Queens country could have made a little if they placed the odd wager at the start. Well back to the game, this should be a no brainer for the Springboks. They have won four of the last five against the English and have also not lost any in the competition thus far. However they should not be to complaisant and make sure the keep it together. England on the other hand will be under immense pressure because of their 36-0 loss to South Africa in the pool stage. Once again without fail they will be relying on the boot of Jonny. How much more pressure can one individual handle? Time will tell and he already has an OBE so if they should win what can he expect from the Queen It is also a Southern Hemisphere v Northern Hemisphere match which is always a good thing due to the question of which hemisphere produces the best rugby players. I wont go there I believe the Springboks should run up another decent score against the English to claim their second world cup title. The English can then drown their sorrows after the match while South Africans all over the world will be calibrating jubilantly. Go the MIGHTY Springboks!!!!!!!

South Africa v Argentina in the second semi final of the world cup should prove to be an interesting match. The Puma’s come in as absolute underdogs having never beat the Springboks to date in history. They have always been a formidable side although just below the top four sides and never quite having the edge. They have had a very solid world cup and will still be a threat and as this is a world cup semi final they will be pumped up and perform well. The Springboks come in as clear favorites to win this competition since France took care of the number one seed . The Springboks have had a mixed World Cup as the second favorite side behind the All Blacks but they have held it together when it counted and should feel confident that they will reach the final. I foresee them running up a high score against the Puma’s and pushing on through to win their second World Cup title.

Go the Boks……….!!!!!