I've been crazy busy with things since my return from Sydney and I will be away in Adelaide this coming weekend so I thought I'd give everyone a quick update with the highlights :)
I returned from Sydney and had a quiet night Wednesday, only to be dragged out Thursday and Friday night to local bars. Saturday involved a 80km bike ride to a suburb called Lilydale, where they had a tulip festival on. The weather was crap; grey, overcast and cold but it was a challenging cycle with huge hills and I was completely wiped out at the end of it. I had a quiet night in and then, on Sunday, I organised a picnic. I'd planned one a few weekends before but the weather was crap and I cancelled it. Anyhow, this time around, the weather was perfect (about 26 degrees), sunny with a light breeze, perfect for hanging out at a park, relaxing, drinking champagne and eating. I had a good turn out and was pretty happy with the entire event ;)
This past week has been absolutely nuts ;) Tuesday I was out at a cultural event - Melbourne has an art festival on at present and I went with a friend and watch a tabla, a cello and a violinist play. It was really well done and the singer had a fantastic voice. Wednesday involved meeting up with a couple of photographers, Thursday I had dinner out with Ashley and Friday night, I had to get my bike fixed and a hat purchased ;) I was off to the races, quite literally, on Saturday morning. It's Spring Carnival here at the moment and so there's a month long horse racing festival. Most everyone gets really dressed up; the men in suits and the ladies in fancy dresses with hats or fascinators to go and drink overpriced champagne and watch the horses race. It's quite the event!! Anyhow, I went with a group of friends and we had a smashing good time. I bet on my first race and won 5 times my bet which was quite exciting. Unfortunately, I didn't win any of my other bets but it was still fun to watch and cheer on your favourites. I came home, changed and had a carb-filled dinner with a friend.
Why would I be carb-loading?! Well, silly me registered for a charity cycled called "Around the Bay" which offers four different route options; a 250km, a 210km, a 100km and a 50km. I decided to opt in for the 100km cycle from Sorrento up to Melbourne. (For those trying to imagine how far 100km is, it's like driving from Yonge & Bloor to Port Hope). This involved rising at 4:30am and cycling down to the CBD where revellers from the night before were still going strong. I caught a bus to Sorrento at 5:15am and we started out route around 8:30am. It was a pretty good ride for the first 50km but then it started to get quite warm (35 degrees) and we had a nasty head wind for the rest of the trip into the CBD. I'm tired as I didn't sleep the night before (worried I'd sleep through the alarm) and my head just wouldn't stop chattering to me. If I have a piece of advice for anyone looking to do a comparable event, I'd suggest training more than once and I'd also suggest not drinking champagne at the races for most of the afternoon the day before. I handled it all well but the situation was far from ideal ;)
I'm heading off to bed shortly - must catch up on my sleep!!
Miss everyone back home!!
Hugs,
S
