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.

Click on young Stuart below and Enjoy…stuart-ryan

Stuart Ryan

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

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.

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.

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

Go the Boks……….!!!!!