Cycling

I won't say much about this sport, since I dislike it so much. The problem is I love triathlon, so the cycling is a necessary component. Thankfully, as much angst as every single bike ride causes me, more than usual since Australian drivers are the most anti-social lot I've ever encountered, there are some beautiful areas in my general vicinity so I often have nice things to look at during my painful rides. The vistas at West Head are particularly spectacular. I haven't been able to capture the most stunning of all pictures, as I often don't have my camera, or I'm not able to stop, or I don't want to stop, or I wouldn't have caught the picture on camera. But here is a little sample anyway.

Paul has also arranged several team events which are always fun. Philip, Paul and I partook in a 160k ride a couple months ago, of which my ride was only 103k, and Paul, Matt, George and myself took part in a 12-hour enduro event, taking turns riding around a 4k loop. Unfortunately, George had a little fall on the slick track and wasn't able to make our team photo. Otherwise, the day went by much more quickly than I expected.

Mark and Sharon Visit Manly

Mark and Sharon made the long journey from Morwell, Victoria to visit me in Manly over the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June. They have both been to Manly before but it seems their memories of it are quite foggy. As usual, we had an outstanding time together and my memories of the long weekend will definitely not be foggy, despite the weather which involved various levels of wetness. Thankfully, none of us were to be so easily turned off by unpleasant weather. I took my treasured guests on at least one walk each day - Friday to North Head where the most beautiful vistas of Manly are found (pictures of this will be found in another blog...the rain dampened our photo ops that weekend), Saturday along the boardwalk (recently, I saw a large family of dolphins swimming along the coast running along the boardwalk...very, very beautiful) and Sunday along the paths heading out from the wharf.

We had a special treat in Sydney on Saturday evening, as the Sydney Swans took on Mark's and Sharon's favourite team, the St. Kilda Saints, in Aussie Rules football. It was an extremely entertaining game, particularly since the Saints won in what turned out to be a last minute nail-biter. And, while I still couldn't compare Aussie Rules to Rugby League or to Footy (and I'm not even sure I've got all the categories straight), I now understand what all those blokes are doing during an Aussie Rules game. Mark did a great job of securing covered seats for us so we could avoid the heavy downpour.

We also enjoyed more civilized times in cafes, pubs and restaurants, including in Cafe Sydney overlooking the Harbour. Despite the false advertising for "live jazz" at Cafe Sydney, the classical string quartet was nonetheless very soothing on our gray and mellow Sunday afternoon. Somehow the three of us are never short of great conversation. Thank you both for a fabulous weekend and for being, as always, such wonderful company!