Run, Fatboy, Run!

A time for giving, a time for sharing… oh hang on… wrong religious festival. Where are we? Oh yeah, Easter, so early in the year it crept up without us knowing! Somewhat surprisingly I didn’t head off to some exotic location here or world heritage wotsit there but mostly stuck around the capital of Australia. That might sound boring but there must be something in it as I really really really don’t want to go back to work tomorrow! Earlier in the week was strenuous, made even more challenging by the task to cook something Irish related for St Patrick’s Day. Like most things this week it turned out good in the end… steak, Guinness and cheese pie, mmm mmm mmm.

After weeks of heat, the weekend cooled sufficiently on Friday to bring out the long sleeves. I mostly stuck around the house feeling cosy and not doing much at all. It was a good Friday.

With energy restored on Saturday I headed to the north of Canberra to yet another unexplored section of Canberra Nature Park, Goorooyaroo Reserve (love the name!). This typifies the landscape so common along the drive to Sydney… the browning grassland dotted with bush and rounded golden hills. Of course, I climbed up one of these hills – Burnt Stump Hill – which had a burnt stump atop it no less. The view takes in the whole of North Canberra and down to the sights and sounds of the centre and parliamentary triangle, cloaked by the surrounding hills.

Interesting Australian fact for you – almost everything closes on Good Friday as opposed to Easter Sunday (apart from Harvey Norman of course, because you only have four days to pick up the bargains in the crazy mega price slashing sale… until next weekend). The result is that Easter Saturday seems to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year since people have missed out on consumerism for a day. The Canberra Centre was a veritable buzz of happy shoppers buying cut price chocolate and warmer clothes for the months ahead… it felt like a busy city, aghhhh!

In that topsy-turvy way down here I had my traditional Easter roast dinner on Saturday evening as I planned a getaway on Sunday down to the coast. Given how cooler and cloudier it had been I was fortuitous to be blessed with plenty of warm sunshine down near Pretty Beach in Murramarang National Park. Pretty by name, pretty by nature.










Monday was my equivalent of the family get together as a few of us beautiful Canberra people gathered beside the southern shores of Lake Burley Griffin for a BBQ in the park. In true English style it decided to look a bit dreary, spit a few drops of rain, transform to glorious sunshine and rain cats and dogs. The cats and dogs came midway through eating (though I hasten to add we were not eating them!) but I managed to sizzle the snags on the electric barbie just about in time. The stress of the electric barbie seems to be greying my hair and expanding my belly.

I tried to work on my belly a little at dusk, climbing Mount Ainslie in 20:35, cutting a minute and a half off my previous time but gutted not to break 20. As for the hair I might resort to Just For Men and look like one of those guys in the adverts with the badly synchronised dubbing. Or just get it cut.

And on that bombshell, I wish you all a happy Easter and a prosperous New Year!

phew autumn

Officially I guess now is autumn and the leaves are beginning to fall, but no-one has told the big fella upstairs who is blessing us with endless scorchio days which you never want to end. It's been perfect for Canberra's 95th birthday celebrations which seem to stretch as long as this hot dry spell.

So, what to tell you about my life over the last couple of weeks? Work jumps straight out, but there's been a few wanderings around the capital, games of tennis and baking pies. Last weekend I drove up, walked down and strode up Mount Ainslie (in 22 minutes which I was quite proud of), all around sunset time of course. Ah, happy birthday old girl.

And last night, anything Sydney can do, Canberra can do, well maybe not quite better but not bad. as Skyfire 20 hit the shores of the lake, a spectacular fireworks display. Not only were there fireworks to see but the ingenuity of the Canberra hoons came to the fore as couches were piled onto utes, BBQs were set up, vans became temporary discos for underage drinkers and glowstick sales hit the roof.

With all this jollyness going on I've almost forgotten Easter is right around the corner. With this weather the chocolate eggs may well be a gooey mess, but I'm not complaining. Complaining? That's for whingin' Poms!

Brrrr, summer

Late on Friday I found myself in the position of being in the Southern Highlands with a full tank of gas and just my few remaining brain cells for company. The gas easily and my brain cells barely got me to Kangaroo Valley for the night, cabin-less and consequently just having my tent keeping me safe from the very cool night and one of the noisiest campgrounds in the southern hemisphere. I couldn’t quite see my breath but it wasn’t far off as I awoke to a dewy, misty morning and explored around the area, which is beautiful – the most beautiful valley in Australia according to the leaflets.

A 20km jaunt through the country and narrowly avoiding adding to the kangaroo roadkill took me to Tallowa Dam, simply serene in the early light. More winding country roads propelled me up hill and down dale to Berry and then south from the green fields to the white sands of Jervis Bay.


OK, early March, sunshine out, should be perfect to chill out on the beach but thanks to the strong southerly wind the only bloody chill I got was a small dose (currently – could get worse) of manflu! The sands were as white (the whitest in the world, perhaps?!) as ever down at Callala Beach.

Further up the coast was more dramatic coastline, capped by the mighty Kiama Blowhole, a somewhat small distraction in reality, but quite fun to mingle with the crowds who had come to see the sea spray up through the rocks (Overheard quote of the day: “Is that it?” from one blonde Sheila from Wollongong)

Tracking back inland through Jamberoo, I visited Minnamurra Rainforest, cashing in on my national parks pass and taking a refreshing, head clearing (oops, more brain cells lost) stroll along the raised boardwalk.



Of all the windy roads I have been on from coast to the country or vice versa, I then took what was definitely the hardest drive, steep bends sending the CDs flying and the coke spilling as the car crept up Jamberoo Mountain Pass. God I love my car, I put it through such crap and it never moans. My friend, workhorse and occasional bedroom.

So, all rather nice, but the day was missing something. Hmm, I haven’t seen any waterfalls for a while, let’s take a short detour to Carrington Falls, part of Budderoo National Park.


The Falls are pretty much back in the Southern Highlands where I started about 24 hours before, in what would be a neat and tidy ending to a short story. Ha, but there’s one last twist, and probably the most dramatic, visually stunning sight of the whole weekend. Oh boy I’m building this one up huh…

YAY THE BIG POTATO IN ROBERTSON!

Probably the worst big thing I have seen – it looks like a turd, stinks of pee and doesn’t even have a gift shop selling potato related fridge magnets and stubby holders. Hmm, I think I may be on the rice and pasta for a while.