Galah?

Feeling a bit pissed off today after making the decision to stay off the bike for a few days. Firstly I have a bit of a sore lower back, not sure why, but reckon that the bent over stance on the road bike and the bouncing up and down on the mountain bike would both be bad for it. Secondly, I have some chafing in the nether regions. I’m not sure if it is due to too much time in the saddle, or if it is a symptom of my eczema, which is still bothering me in a few other places. Anyway, seems that both of these might merit some time out of the saddle. So now I’m not running or riding, have to make do with a daily walk I guess.

The lack of exercise is not causing too many problems with the weight at least, still in target range at 74.5 kg at weekly weigh-in this morning.

Adrienne and I got up early and went for a nice walk this morning before it got hot. We saw lots of nice little finches and other birds, but they were all too skittish for the camera.

Todays photo though comes with a bonus lesson in Australian slang for you overseas readers. The birds in the picture below are Galahs. If an Australian calls you a “galah”, it is not a compliment meaning we think you’re pretty and pink, it means we think you are a bit of a “drongo” (there’s another Australian bird name that means the same thing), or a bit of a “foolish person”.

My bargain bonus today was that I picked up four decent hard-cover photography books at the local “All Books For Less” store, for $5 each. Pretty happy with that!

On last nights topic of camera carrying ideas. First, thanks for your suggestion Em, I like the Crumpler stuff, but that bag is pretty similar to the one I already have, and on my mountain bike it still flops around a bit too much. I did come across this on the web (see photo below). It looks very functional, and is supposed to be very good for neck/back pain associated with carrying a camera around (light bulb just went off, I wonder if that’s what’s wrong with my back). The question is (and appreciate your answers in the comments), “Would I look like a bit of a galah, wearing this out and about? Would you wander around with me if I was wearing it?”. I asked Adrienne the same question, and I think the jury is still out!

MTB – Geelong – MTB

The title is MTB – Geelong – MTB because that pretty much describes the day. A trip down to Geelong to have lunch with my mum and dad, with a ride on the mountain bike early in the morning, and another at dusk.

It’s always lovely to see my parents, and they love our visits so much, but it is getting harder to deny that they are really starting to get frail from old age. Dad is 80 this year and mum is only a couple of years younger. Dad was really quiet today, didn’t join the conversation much. Seems like you spend the first 20 or so years of your marriage worrying about your kids, then have to start worrying about your parents.

Both bike rides were around Woodlands, and on both I took my DSLR. Consequently there were frequent long walking stops withrather camera. I’m not sure about taking the expensive DSLR on the bike though, it would be so easy to damage it. Might have to research a better camera carrying solution. Any ideas?

Here’s the pick of today’s photos.

Long-billed Corella

Mum and young kangaroo

Superb Fairy-wren

Happy Australia Day!

I hope all of my fellow Australians had as wonderful an Australia Day holiday as I did today, it’s been one of the best days I’ve had in a long time.

I started it off with a nice bike ride with Herb, riding from his place in Essendon, down Merri Creek Trail, around the Capital City Trail, along the Yarra Path and back up the Maribyrnong River path. It was a stunningly beautiful morning, lots of people out walking, running and riding. Herb and I stopped off at The Boathouse on the Maribyrnong where we met our lovely wives for an extended long coffee break, then continued the ride back to Herb’s place. It ended up being a ride of just over 42km.

Then Adrienne and I went out for lunch at Degani Cafe where I had their bacon and egg pizza. It is one of the nicest pizzas I’ve had, thin crispy crust, wood-fired – yum. Then we went to the movies and saw “A Few Best Men”. It wasn’t our first choice of movie, but was the only one that was staring at about the right time that we wanted to see. It was fun, wouldn’t rave about it, but it had Olivia Newton-John in it, who I’ve had a bit of a crush on since I was about 15, so that has to be good, right?

Then home to some delicious lamb fillets on the barbeque, followed by a beautiful walk around the national park with Adrienne (but not the dog tonight because we wanted to go into the nature reserve part of the park, where she isn’t allowed). Of course I took the camera, and snagged a couple of nice bird shots, and there’s also the obilgatory roo shot (just for Kath).

A beautiful little family of Red-browed firetails

A Red Wattlebird

Two roos amongst the trees

Tough guy …

In his comment on yesterdays post, my friend John said “You’re going to have to replace those pictures in the banner of running/cycling with new ones of telephoto lenses”. He is right, there hasn’t been much cycling, and no running mentioned here for a while, has there? This month has been a tough one for me, felt crook for much of it, the 40+ degree heat of Amy’s Ride really knocked me and work has been hectic. Frankly I haven’t felt like exercising as much as normal, and the walks through the national park have been a great substitute, and an opportunity to practice my photography too. But that said, I’m not going to change my banner, because it is my intent to pick up the cycling in the very near future (like this weekend, because I have a 5 hour ride in late March to train for), and I’d love to get back into some running too. So the banner stays.

The photography is here to stay too though I think, I’m really enjoying learning about something new, and loving the local wildlife as well.

Adrienne and I took the dog for a walk tonight and spotted this tough guy. He was huge, he looked taller than me, and was built like he’d spent his life in the gym. And check out the claws!

Oh, and speaking of John, he’s started a new blog. John has a wonderfully dry sense of humour and never fails to make me smile. Check it out here.

What you looking at?

That’s precisely what this magpie seemed to be saying to me tonight as he was waiting for me at the entrance to Woodlands Park. Again I enjoyed another very peaceful walk venturing a little bit more off the beaten track, a few spots where I was walking through long grass and worrying about snakes.

Anyone know what this is? Some sort of lorikeet, but I can’t find it in my bird book.

Black wallaby …

A very peaceful 4km walk around Woodlands Park tonight. It was looking like it was going to be a blow-out photograph wise until I came across this little black wallaby who actually let me approach him a bit through the grass and take his photo. I wonder who took the chunk out of his ear?

A great morning walk and ride …

I got up at 5:30am this morning and headed over to Gellibrand Hill to try and get some nice “sunrise” photos. It wasn’t a very good morning for them unfortunately with a lot of haze around. However, I did have a great walk chasing some kangaroos around the back paddock trying to get them to stand still long enough for me to take a photo in the low light. This is the best one of the morning.

I also spotted this little chap high up in a tree, I think he is a juvenile “Little Eagle” (Hieraaetus morphnoides) – if anyone out their is an amateur ornithologist and can confirm that I would appreciate it.

After I got home I had some breakfast and headed out on the bike. I did the same 32km loop from Greenvale to Pascoe Vale and back that I did yesterday morning.

With the weather heating up, I think it might be a lazy day inside for the rest of today, I’m glad my exercise is done for the day.

At weigh-in yesterday I was up 700g on last week, but still in the target range at 74.6kg.

The real story …

Very interesting to hear the cyclists story coming out today in the “cyclist vs Shane Warne” story that has been in the media here the last couple of days. The cyclists version of events is published on the very respectable Cycling Tips blog, and I’ve no reason to doubt the truth in it. If it is to be believed (and I do) it seems that the version being touted by Warne, and sensationalised by the tabloid media is a load of absolute twaddle. Here’s hoping that the witnesses come forward, the tabloid’s retract the crap they wrote and Shane Warne gets prosecuted for “hit and run”. The unfortunate thing about this is the fact that it really brings out the “cyclist hating motorists” (you just have to read some of the comments on various websites today and on Twitter), and highlights that it really probably is more dangerous out there than you think. I am a responsible cyclist (and driver), but I know there are a few cyclists out there who set a bad example, but that is really no reason for the hateful comments I’ve seen today. Really, all we want is some mutual respect and care for each other, and to be safe whilst riding on the roads. Not too much to ask, surely ?

Anyway, not much more to report from me. The last couple of nights I have ventured out on my mountain bike again. I really am enjoying it, riding through the national park, communing with nature! It truly is very relaxing. I haven’t taken the road bike out since Amy’s Ride I realised tonight as I updated my training journal!

A moment of rest and contemplation (Woodlands Hill, tonight from iPhone)

Getting lazy …

That nice red tomato I took a picture of yesterday was almost completely eaten by a bird today, so after work tonight we did a bit of netting. That is, placing bird nets over our peach tree and tomato plants.

After dinner I was going to go for a bike ride, but I got lazy and took the camera and went for a walk instead. Here are tonights best two shots.

Birds flying in the sunset (near Melbourne Airport)

Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Oaklands Rd)

Enrolled ..

The first task today was a shopping trip into the city. I bought myself two lens filters for my camera (a wideband circular polarizer filter and a variable – ND2 to ND400 – neutral density filter). Compared to a lot of the equipment I looked at, these were reasonably cheap accessories and should widen the capabilities of my two lenses.

Adrienne and had lunch at Poynton’s. For those of you not familiar with this side of Melbourne, Poynton’s is a plant nursery, with a cafe, on the banks of the Maribyrnong River. It is a lovely little part of Melbourne and very popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.

The Maribyrnong River is a beautiful spot. Pity about the power lines!

I enrolled in Febfast today. Febfast is an initiative where people sign up (making a small donation) and pledge to abstain from alcohol for the month of February. The proceeds benefit a number of different charities that provide programs focused on youth affected by drugs and alcohol.

I also enrolled in a Basic Digital SLR Photography course at CAE. It will run over two Saturdays, starting at the end of this month.

We are enjoying a nice crop of tomatoes at the moment, four different varieties – there really is nothing like home grown tomatoes, they smell and taste so different (so much better) than shop bought ones.