Famous Last Words...

Now that I'm home and refreshed, it remains only for me to make a few more thanks and express my gratitude to almost everyone that surrounds me:

(If you've just looked up the blog and only want to read about the race, look on the right hand side of the blog, for the post: My World Champs - Race Report. You may want to read a few posts before, and one or two after, for context.)

• To all my sponsors and the companies who donated product and expertise for the auction - I could not have done it without you - THANK YOU. (Wild Thing Adventures, Andrew Johnstone & Associates, My Training Day, Bobbie Maree Therapeutic Massage, Jeanette Gibbs Body Stress Release, The Cutting Room, Monkey Valley Resort, Rockets CompresSox, Ezulwini Chocolates, Dr Rabia Goolam, Nicola Designs, Di Heesom-Green, Femina, Blue Bottle Liquors, Classic Cape Charters, as well as the companies Andre dealt with)


• Auctioneers extrodinaire: Paul Kaye and Mike Finch. You guys were (and are) the berries!


• To Granny Jill and the Weyers: Thank you for your ongoing support of my life - your unwavering belief in me has made the hugest difference!


• To all my fabulous friends who put up with triathlon, triathlon, triathlon! And supported me all the way!


• Training partners who shared long hours and cold mornings: Bobbie in the pool; Martin who let me hang on to his wheel around KZN; my KAK running friends, for early morning sessions; John, Rusty, Steve, who made me laugh so much I could barely cycle; Paula, for long cycles and quick runs
• Andy, for letting me use his awesome Zipp wheels
• Circle Cycles - my bike was spot on, and I had NO FEAR about technical problems.


• My fantastic coach, Claire. Your programs really hit the spot, and I was ready at the right time, just like you promised.


• Swim coach Maik - I feel a huge improvement, watch this space.


• Fellow SA teammates, for being part of the same excitement and for sharing one another's journey.


• My special roommate and friend, Britt. We laughed so much and so often, shared groceries, shopping and internet times and had the most amazing pre race week EVER!


• My "Adventure Partner" Andre - what can I say? There really is no one in the world I would rather have experienced Australia with.


• My family back home - my mom and twin teenage boys - who allowed me so much time and space to reach for my own dreams. I love you guys!

Now, its time to rest. Relive each experience. Count all my blessings and write copious reams in my gratitude diary. I've been to Worlds and I'm back.

Pictoral Evidence

Andre and I sat on the pavement outside our lodge in Sydney, contemplating our fantastic run, and our wonderful lives in general.

We were actually there! The Sydney Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background. I even went inside and used the ladies! It is every bit as beautiful as it looks.

Stretching out tight calves at the foot of the stairs to the Opera House.

Moving on to Sinagpore:

Jasmine garlands made in Little India.

A view from Level 7 of the Digital Mall, round the corner from my hotel.

The Merlion - Singapore's symbol of tourism. They really do look after their toursists very well.

Patting the elephants at the zoo.

Well, I'm home now, and have had several very good sleeps. My wonderful adventure is still fresh in my mind and I'm grateful I've had the opportunity to share it on the blog. In years to come I will look back and chuckle over some of the quirky things we did, and laugh our loud at others.

All good things must come to an end

I'm at the airport, with several hours before my flight home. Feeling pretty good actually, because I managed to get through the weigh-in, without having to unpack/repack or turf out things! I arrived early, so I could fetch my bike and togbag, that I had left in storage. Cost a bit, but no way did I want to schlepp them through Singapore for 2 days.

I have been neglectful in posting these last few days - its all gone so fast, and I have been so busy living the experience that I haven't really stopped to write about it all. I will try and cover Sydney and Singapore in this post.

Sydney is a really beautiful harbour city - Andre and I really had a fabulous time there. We were lucky enough to meet a friend of a friend, who showed us how the locals live. Very trendily, it seems; stopping for coffees, breakfasts, lunches and dinners at all the right places. The food is truly wonderful, and I completly overdid it!

We arranged to run to the Opera House at dusk, which was really the very best possible way to see it! The following afternoon we ran over the Harbour Bridge and took a multitude of photos - will post when I get home. In a suden fit of over enthusiasm, we both did several "stair repeats", up about a hundred stairs that we saw the locals running up and down - finished the run feeling fantastic, but my quads haven't been thanking me these past few days!

Andre and I flew to Singapore together on Saturday 19 Sep - having delivered Bruce and Sheila safely back to Avis. We played Slim Dusty on the way to the airport for old times sake, but it didn't really fit in with the city vibe of Sydney!

Arriving in Singapore after dark, we strained to see what it really looked like. Andre came with me to my hotel, for a shower and to grab something to eat, before his flight back to JHB. We dashed out to find Chinatown - and bought supper for less than the cost of a coffee at the airport!
Singapore is a total melting pot! It really is clean and tidy, and very hot! (Everyone did tell me!) Yes, I did end up dashing from one air conditioned building to another. With the exeption of the markets. I found those totally compelling - and wandered around for hours and hours, mostly just looking, and tasting all sorts of weird things. Luckily I am quite adventurous with food, as I had no idea what I was ordering, or eating, most of the time. I tried to sample just about everything! I tried Laksa, which is a curried noodle dish, with fresh cockles, bean sprouts and some other odd things in it. I think I am hooked on the North Indian food - the butter chicken and Naan was to die for!

I also found a yummy crispy pancake with peanut stuff on it (not quite peanut butter, but close!)
Singapore is also famous for Kaya Toast, which I had for breakfast one day - its a toast sandwhich with the crusts cut off, smeared with coconut jam and with a chunky slice of butter! NOT on the weigh less program!!

When you think about it, its quite incredible how Singapore works: I mean, the Indians generally wont eat beef; the Muslims dont do pork; the Chinease eat anything and everything; most times they are side by side, preparing food in the markets all day and night. I found my "favourite" place, and the Indian gave me a discount on my dall the second day because he recognised me from the day before. (probably because I was wearing the same clothes, as I have nothing clean left!) I felt so local!

I seem to have developed a bit of a reputation for shopping, and was really worried about having to abandon items at the airport, so I confined myself to things that would fit in my handbag! The Chinese people are currently celebrating the Moon festival, so they had fireworks and shows all over Singapore for the time I was there. The muslims were celebrating Eid, so it was a public holiday and the whole Arab quarter was closed. Little India is getting ready for the Festival of Lights, Deepavali.

All in all, a very festive time and the experience of a lifetime for me. I did a tour of the Botanic Gardens and the Orchid House, and spent a whole morning at the Singapore Zoo, which was absolutely amazing!

Now I'm on my way home - feeling excited to see my family again, but a bit sad that my huge adventure is coming to an end.

Approaching Sydney - take two

Driving from Port McQuarrie to Sydney was pretty straightforward, with the exeption of the detour around the lakes, which were quite pretty in a Port Alfred-ish way.

With the Country Way part of our trip over, we decided that we needed to refresh our Aussie country music CD. So we stopped at the first available spot and bought a double Trance special - so we could pump our way into the city!

We stopped in the Newcastle district for a walk around the gardens and a snack - both Andre and I were taking a bit of bodily strain from sitting in the car for two days. Bruce may have been a pretty comfy model, but two days is two days!

We ordered a chicken sandwhich on wholemeal bread, which sounded lovely. It arrived as a piece of chicken between 2 pieces of plain brown bread. That's it. Not a smear of butter, not a leaf of lettuce or a sniff of spice. Andre said a few sentences in juicy Afrikaans that had me almost rolling off the chair with mirth - nothing like a good skinner in a language no one else understands!

Our first night in Sydney was spent with Marion and her family, who opened their home to us, and cooked the most gorgeous thai curry. I slept like a log, probably the best sleep I've had in Australia.

I do have pictures, but can't post them from here - I'm sitting in a huge internet and gaming place in Singapore, opposite my hotel. It has about 50 computers, is open 24hrs and is quite noisy, as half the people here are playing some form of game that makes shooting and exploding noises.

The Australian Country Way

When we arrived in Sydney last night, I was too tired to really tell the full story of two days on the Aussie road, but some of it needs more detail, so here goes:

Both Andre and I were really ennamoured with Toowoomba - it is a really pretty little town with extremely well kept gardens. Our spirits were high and we were enthusiastic and eager. The little towns in Queensland on the themed hiway, "The Australian Country Way" were well kept and attractive, and the locals were really friendly. Our Slim Dusty CD crooned out Australian Country music, and the mood was very jubilient.

We had no idea where we were going to spend the night, and that was part of the romance of the trip. Both of us yearned to find a wonderful farm at nightfall, and wake up at the crack of dawn to feed the calves and muster cattle in the "Outback".

Ha! It didn't quite happen that way. We had been told that we should make our way to the lovely university town of Armidale, in New South Wales, which we would find gorgeous and attractive. We arrived in Armidale at dusk, and it was bizarrely quiet. Andre and I started humming the Twin Peaks theme song as we made our way to the pub to enquire about accomodation. The waitress was on auto pilot (Andre said Sheila the GPS sounded warmer) and couldn't help us in any way whatsoever. No to accomodation. No to horse riding. No clue to nearby farms.

We grabbed a take away from the Noodle Box (terriyake with Yudon noodles) and set off into the night, optimistic that we would find the perfect place shortly. By 23:00 we were running a little low on blind optimism, and Andre was getting dizzy from driving down the mountain towards Port Mc Quarrie. As we rounded another hairpin bend, we both said, "theres a light..." and started singing the Rocky Horror theme song. Just then the mist rolled in around us and we laughed until the tears ran - mostly from nerves, I think!

We stayed at Jasper's Creek that night - it was totally empty except for us, and marketed as a yoga retreat. Frankenstein did not put in an appearance!

In the morning, I got up early and went outside with my camera. I saw and heard lots of Kookaburras laughing, and even spotted a wild kangaroo. I was quite keen to show Andre how great it looked in the wild, as he had been a bit traumitised by the very tame roo's in the sanctuary that we visited on the Gold Coast, but it hopped away smartly. (Britt, this one had way more oooom-chi than the others!)

I drove us into Port McQuarrie for breakfast and much needed coffee.

Day 2 coming up in the next installment.

On the Road

We left Brisbane on Tuesday morning and, after a couple of fights with Sheila (our GPS), we eventually found ourselves heading up to the escarpment town of Toowoomba. Beautiful gardens, chocolate box pretty houses, very cute. We were loving the Australian countryside - I have loads of pictures of the scenery. We invented a game: Which South African town does this remind you of? We had Swellendam, Greyton, Riversdale, Potch, Boksburg, Orkney snork nie and a few others. Truly, its hard to believe just how similar so many of the places are to familiar SA towns.

To further get into Aussie mode, we "treated" ourselves to a Slim Dusty CD - and had Asutralian country music pumping though Bruce's speakers. Keep on truckin'!!!

Sheila has been a little touchy today - we have had a few tiffs with her. Andre tried to tell her to go to a town, and she insisted on a street address - here is a picture outside the house she directed us to - I insisted that we drive directly to it! Andre is re-programming her for Sydney here. We had a little moment at one point: driving off the highway to find a petrol station, Sheila got very upset with us and kept saying "RECALCULATING", through gritted teeth. Then she said, "Please stay on highlighted route," in a very strained and annoyed tone.

We started to ignore her, and she lapsed into a sulky silence.

Driving into Sydney was really magnificent. We managed to drive over the Harbour Bridge at only our second attempt. I snapped this pic of the Opera House through the back window of the car - we will do a more thorough look tomorrow.

Thanks for all your comments and messages on the blog, Facebook and email. I know some of you are battling to post on the blog. I have tried to open it up - and seem to have managed for some of you.

Good night from Sydney.

Bruce and Sheila

Its true what they say about Brisbane. It is a beautiful city, with a fantastic vibe. Andre and I have started the next leg of our journey. We said goodbye to Britt at her backpackers in the city. Shes off home later today. In a rush of excitement and nerves, we rashly hired a humungous car. Andre convinced me that it was the sensible thing to do, and would save time, money and our sense of humour in schlepping the bike boxes around. We christened him Bruce (c'mon, theres no way that car is a girl!) Our trusty Aussie GPS is Sheila, and together they make a formidable team.

This is a picture of Bruce outside Nic and Maureen's beautiful house just outside Brisbane. After a night at the local pub, we feel like we've known them for years.

Walking into this little "local" in the village of Samford Hill, we seriously looked around for the cameras. It looked as though we had arrived on a movie set and Crocodile Dundee was about to burst through the swing doors. The locals were unbelievably friendly, and the owner of the bar bought us all a drink and gave us a free bowl of fried rice and chicken wings (Monday's chow)

We were taught a couple of really cool pub games, one of which involved trying to get a ring on a string to catch on a hook at the doorway. Andre was pretty good at it.
We're off bright and early this morning to make our way vaguely towards Coffs Harbour. Hold thumbs that we find the horse riding/ farm stay / cattle muster experience that I'm after!

I have to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm really awake!