It was a weekend of birthday celebrations for Janet, my partner, with family and friends. Janet is a party type of girl and loved the attention and the Chanel perfume!
And with near perfect weather in Sydney we also took the opportunity to be out on the kayaks at Narrabeen Lake on Saturday, and The Haven at Terrigal on Sunday.
My usual training partner, brother-in-law Ray Tong, and I have been practicing our Eskimo roll in his kayak, the same type of boat we used in this year’s Speight’s Coast-to-Coast adventure race across New Zealand. The race involves a 67-kilometre kayak leg, and includes around 35-kilometres of white water to be negotiated.
We both had an unintentional swim in the cold Waimakariri River during the race…
And whilst we are not intending to line up for next February’s event we are keeping our options open and want to perfect our technique before heading back down the Waimak River.
Did I say perfect?
We’d settle for being able to roll up a little more consistently without half-drowning each time!
Anyway, we have been having a lot of laughs as we go about this training, and hats off to Ray, he spun the boat around so fast at one stage that he went around twice, the look on his face was priceless and the source of much laughter.
We’re almost ready to hit Penrith white-water stadium once again. This is a purpose built white-water course covering around four-hundred metres of grade three rapids. It is fair to say both Ray and I have spent plenty of time upside down through the rapids on this course…
And while we were at The Haven, TomO, my son, was expertly catching waves on his rescue paddle board, in between riding his skateboard down “The Skillion” a large grassy slope that features prominently in the local landscape. Laying down on his skateboard he rode it down the hill like a Luge.
He had the Go-Pro camera on the helmet to capture his daredevil exploits and is already working on a short video, coupled together with background music he has composed. We can’t wait to see the result as he was travelling quite fast and it looked fun!
Speaking of training, I’m back into the mountains this weekend to further my rock climbing and abseiling skills, along with general rope handling. My intention over the next few weeks is to do multi-pitch abseils off Boar’s Head in the Blue Mountains.
Boar’s Head is one of the most recognisable rock formations in the Blue Mountains, situated not too far from downtown Katoomba. It is a popular place to do multi-pitch abseils and involves around five pitches, the second and third into a large chasm, with a relatively easy rock climb back out at the end.
Janet said she is looking forward to another weekend in the mountains and as much as she loves the outdoors and seeing me advance in my training, she can’t wait to get back into the small boutiques after all it has been a couple of months.
So I look forward to updating the ongoing saga of a “Dope on a Rope” over the coming weeks!
Xplore 
It’s fun to see your summery photos and hear about your summery adventures as we crash into fall/winter. Colorado has a multiple personality disorder when it comes to weather, it can never decide what season it should stick with for any period of time–as we say here, don’t like the weather? Wait 20 minutes. That said, it’s definitely cooling (the 28°F weather for the outdoor wedding). Your summery photos and adventures liven up my fall/winter doldrums.
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You just gotta love Australian summers, be sure to experience it, at least once!
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Thanks for stopping by and liking my blog. Glad I found yours. Nothing like an irreverent Aussie to counter Seattle gray sky blues.
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Well we are getting great blue skies here at present, temperatures are warming right up…and we can’t take life too seriously! Take care…
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Awesome pics. We are at the grand canyon in Arizona right now. !
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I’d love to visit there!! Enjoy…
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Landy, you have the idyllic life! Your photos are always so vibrant. Love reading your blog 🙂
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Thank you, and I am lucky to live in a country full of vibrant colours…Cheers, Baz – The Landy…
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thanks again for taking me on your adventures….looking forward to tomo’s video :}
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Yes…I’m helping him edit at present…
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Awesome kayak pics!! I bought my fiancé a go pro for his birthday last year, we haven’t had any good chances to use it yet but I’m excited for snowboarding this winter with it!!
All these pics are makin me miss hiking!!! I used to live close to so many mountains and would go every weekend!! I moved to NYC and no I run as my hobby which I love as well, but nothing beats the incredible views at the top of a mountain!!
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My 12 year old son had the Go-Pro on going down a hill on his skateboard yesterday. They are great, but only encourage extreme adventures to film (and loving it). I use it on the front of my kayak to watch for technique or lack thereof! They’d be awesome on a ski trip…
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Great photos, as usual! My uncle is really into kayaking, which had drawn my dad into it, too. He has two kayaks so every once in a while we kayak on the Ohio River, which is nothing like the waters you ride on!
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Fantastic, but only two kayaks (hehe – it is an in-joke at our place, we’ve got more than we can store). We had a great ocean paddle yesterday, and there were some large stingrays out and about in the shallows. Fantastic spot at The Haven! Is it cold on the Ohio River??
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Hey there, love the post and photos!! Thanks for sharing this with the world wide web 😉 😉 I will follow you on Facebook as I look forward reading/seeing more from you. I also have a FB page if you’d like to follow me the link is: https://www.facebook.com/CarolineBakkerBlog All the best. Warm regards Caroline ❤
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Thankyou I’m very flattered and will take a look at your blog…
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