Camping in the Grampians

ANZAC day (25 April) created a nice three day weekend for us so we took the chance to go up to the Grampians National Park about 3+ hours west of Melbourne. We went with our friends Lindsay and Brian and had a lovely time enjoying the outdoors, and trying to enjoy the rain and cold weather.


The park is home to some beautiful rock outcroppings, rolling hills and some very interesting geology. Check out our pictures (only 22!)


http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/Grampians

The Grand Canyon - of the Grampians

Our first kookaburra in the wild.

And Julia... happy belated birthday! Sorry I couldn't call you!

An autumn evening from our balcony

Imagine these pictures next to each other...

Billy plays guitar

Here's Billy, strumming away on his orange guitar...

Can I buy your shirt?

Billy and I had gone on a date... we had enjoyed a lovely dinner at "la-di-da" and had seen"The Bucket List" in luxury in "gold class" at the Crown Casino Theater. Gold Class is very nice... you sit in huge microfibre-suede recliners and they bring you wine to your seat... and they serve the candy only in martini glasses (see skittles above). We had earned vouchers by participating in a grueling exercise study a few months back...

Anyway, we had walked back across the Yarra and were waiting for our tram at Flinders & Elizabeth Streets. Not the nicest of intersections, so we were trying to keep to ourselves. We saw a guy approaching us (6 ft, blond, caucasian, ~28-32 years) so I started to get scared... were we about to get beaten up again??!! Then he smiles and says, "This is going to sound really weird, but can I buy your (billy's) shirt? I know it sounds shady, but I really need it and I'll give you $100." Billy resisted... he liked his new shirt and a $66 proifit didn't seem worth it to him. I on the otherhand, was sold... the poor guy needed the shirt, and we had one to sell him. It's a win-win. Though, I should have held out for more :) Anyway, we sold it to that nice young man... and billy disrobed in the middle of the street. Lluckily he had a jacket, or walking back into Ormond would have been a wee bit awkward.

The Ormond Ball

Every year the college has an "ball", which really means that everyone gets dressed up and goes to a night club. But despite this lack of traditional "ball-ness", it was still fun. It was nice to mingle with the students outside of the college...

And here's Billy's with our friend Jane (from Canberra)...

I cursed myself for forgetting my ear plugs. I asked the workers if they had some, and after talking to their manager, said no. Don't you think bars & clubs should provide ear plugs upon request since their music is always ear-shatteringly loud?! I should say so... as our lawyer friend Jaani says, "they have a duty of care to protect their customers"! :)

And here I am with Jane & Kristen (from Texas)...

Aths

The term "Athletics" refers to "track & field"... and since the Australians abbreviate everything possible, they call it "Aths". Track is also one syllable, so I personally believe they should switch to that as it's a more universal term. Anyways, the annual intercollegiate athletics carnival was last week... First, "intercollegiate" does not mean anything like the NCAAs! It means that all the University of Melbourne colleges (~10) were competing. I found out about the meet 3 weeks prior, and as I was NOT IN SHAPE, I was a bit worried about committing... They seemed desperate so I agreed to help them out since they needed to fill in some spots. They put me in for the 800m.

Training Program Begins: I went running regularly (5 times a week? maaaaybe) for only 20-25 minutes a crack. Yes, I know... And I did several (3) workouts on the track in that time. Billy took us out onto the track 2 weeks before the meet to do a workout. We wanted to find out how fast we could go, and to remind us what it felt like! (billy didn't compete - he did this out of pure love for me). So we did a bunch of striders and 200 m sprints to get us prepared for 2 400s. I tell you, it was not fun, and we were not impressed by our times!

In any event, I went back onto the track 2 more times and improved my speed and confidence. When the day of the race came, I was so nervous! My pride was on the line.. if I got last - or second to last, I would be utterly humiliated.

The starter gathered all the 800 m runners to announc heats. I was in the 3rd of 4 heats, and in my heat was the girl I had already identified as "the biggest threat". She was wearing mini spandex shorts and a sports bra... and it was her abs that gave her away. She just looked like a great 800 runner... so I was scared. Anyway, to make a not very exciting story much shorter... she beat me by the length of her chin and we both progressed into the finals.

The finals were 2 days later and she ended up beating me again! Terrible.. but oh well. Our team was not doing very well so all the fans were very pleased with a 2nd place. I don't know my official time, but we think it was a 2:22. So, only 4 seconds slower than what I could run when I was 16. :) haha. The saving grace was that I beat her later on in the 4x400 relay. We both were the first legs of the relay and I passed off the baton ahead of her by a few meters :)

Grandma - I was wearing the shoes you gave me :) The Nike Free's...