Carl and Anne are away in Sydney but the rest of us went up to Red Rock to swim, ride or run our triathlon legs. Here are John and Will about to sample the delights of the creek. For the record, the water was quite cool but the air temperature was 27C. There were no homicidal magpies on the run or bike routes and there was nothing untoward in the creek either. So far, so good.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Traing, training, training...
Carl and Anne are away in Sydney but the rest of us went up to Red Rock to swim, ride or run our triathlon legs. Here are John and Will about to sample the delights of the creek. For the record, the water was quite cool but the air temperature was 27C. There were no homicidal magpies on the run or bike routes and there was nothing untoward in the creek either. So far, so good.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Red Rock On....
It was right at the beginning of the evening that John suggested we all enter the Red Rock Triathlon, giving us exactly two weeks to prepare. I'd barely taken a sip from a bottle of beer and the others were stone cold sober so there was no excuse for saying yes.
So John's delicatessen wholesale business, Coast and Plateau, is sponsoring two teams - Me, John and Carl, and Sara, Anne and Liz - for the 800m/22k/5k event. We each do one leg, so it's not too demanding. Well, it would be if I had to do the swim, but I haven't. And Will is doing the whole thing as an individual. But he's onyl 21.
The commitment is frightening. The next morning, everyone was out in Sandy Beach doing their thing, Anne even getting bitten by bluebottles (jellyfish). It hasn't stopped and we've even done a recce of the course, Will heroically swimming in the creek at low tide, so it was rather brown. There's a fine air of "she'll be right, mate" about the whole enterprise but I suspect everyone is harbouring their own little fears, not the least of which will be letting the others down. I'll keep you posted.
So John's delicatessen wholesale business, Coast and Plateau, is sponsoring two teams - Me, John and Carl, and Sara, Anne and Liz - for the 800m/22k/5k event. We each do one leg, so it's not too demanding. Well, it would be if I had to do the swim, but I haven't. And Will is doing the whole thing as an individual. But he's onyl 21.
The commitment is frightening. The next morning, everyone was out in Sandy Beach doing their thing, Anne even getting bitten by bluebottles (jellyfish). It hasn't stopped and we've even done a recce of the course, Will heroically swimming in the creek at low tide, so it was rather brown. There's a fine air of "she'll be right, mate" about the whole enterprise but I suspect everyone is harbouring their own little fears, not the least of which will be letting the others down. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Australian Values
The Opposition Leader here, Kim Beazley, is taking a bit of pasting over his suggestion that all visitors to Australia should have to express their commitment to Australian values. It's all to do with concerns that many Muslims who settle here allegedly see their allegiance as first and foremost to Islam (and we all know what that means).
Quite what these values are isn't clear. Are they reflected, perhaps, in the fact that a number of dead sting rays have been found on the Queensland coast with their stings cut off, prompting speculation that this is a bizarre form of revenge for the death of Steve Irwin? Even if this is just speculation, it says much that it's regarded as perfectly feasible.
For a historic perspective, and in reference to the continuing controversy about the treament of the Aboriginal population, you might turn to The Australian's front page cartoon on the topic showing a bearded gentleman in a robe facing an immigration offical and swearing: "I plan to steal your land, trash your culture, and never apologise."
Meanwhile, I'm left wondering how many Australian visitors to, say, France or Thailand, would be happy to sign up to French or Thai values? Not many, I'd guess.
Quite what these values are isn't clear. Are they reflected, perhaps, in the fact that a number of dead sting rays have been found on the Queensland coast with their stings cut off, prompting speculation that this is a bizarre form of revenge for the death of Steve Irwin? Even if this is just speculation, it says much that it's regarded as perfectly feasible.
For a historic perspective, and in reference to the continuing controversy about the treament of the Aboriginal population, you might turn to The Australian's front page cartoon on the topic showing a bearded gentleman in a robe facing an immigration offical and swearing: "I plan to steal your land, trash your culture, and never apologise."
Meanwhile, I'm left wondering how many Australian visitors to, say, France or Thailand, would be happy to sign up to French or Thai values? Not many, I'd guess.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Jaws of Death….2
Admit it, you love all this shark stuff. So….last week a Coffs Harbour surfer was out for his usual early morning session, caught a wave, surfed into a two-metre (allegedly) bronze whaler and got soundly nipped for his temerity. He struggled and the shark let go. And it was only in waist-deep water, too. This is a bronze whaler.
Jaws of Death…..1
A death in the family always brings out the divisions that normally lie just below the surface and, on a national level, that’s just what the death of Steve Irwin did.
His demise led news bulletins here for several days, coverage starting with a clearly upset Prime Minister, crowds gathering outside Irwin’s Australia Zoo, first hand accounts of his death and then his family’s gracious rejection of the offer of a state funeral.
One of the words often used to describe him was “larrikin”. I think what Australians usually mean by this is that he was a cheeky chap, a bit of a rascal, and a generally loveable bloke who did no real harm to anyone. And those tight shorts are very popular.
Just to make sure, I turned to the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary (yes, there is one) and found a number of definitions, including “a person who acts with apparent disregard for social and political conventions.” This leads rather nicely into the second phase of press coverage.
Enter Germaine Greer in the pages of The Guardian, suggesting that her fellow countryman was a bit of an embarrassment for most Australians, and questioned his attitude to animals in general, and recalled his exploit with his baby son in his crocodile enclosure. Irwin, she said, insisted he was in control, “displaying the sort of self-delusion it takes to be a real Australian larrikin.”
I can’t help feel she was right on that score and that it was another example of the potentially disastrous “she’ll be right, mate” attitude I’ve mentioned before. But I digress.
If there’s one thing Australian popular opinion hates, it’s an intellectual, worse one who has made a name abroad and not returned, and worse still, one who’s a woman. Irwin was the antithesis of an intellectual and he got the public vote. Ms Greer was vilified as a “feral hag” and “childless” (now doesn’t that say a lot?) and readers of the Daily Telegraph were encouraged to email “the vicious old cow” to tell them what they thought of her. I bet they did, too.
If there’s a lesson from all this, it’s that Australia is a young nation, still to settle on a national identity.
His demise led news bulletins here for several days, coverage starting with a clearly upset Prime Minister, crowds gathering outside Irwin’s Australia Zoo, first hand accounts of his death and then his family’s gracious rejection of the offer of a state funeral.
One of the words often used to describe him was “larrikin”. I think what Australians usually mean by this is that he was a cheeky chap, a bit of a rascal, and a generally loveable bloke who did no real harm to anyone. And those tight shorts are very popular.
Just to make sure, I turned to the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary (yes, there is one) and found a number of definitions, including “a person who acts with apparent disregard for social and political conventions.” This leads rather nicely into the second phase of press coverage.
Enter Germaine Greer in the pages of The Guardian, suggesting that her fellow countryman was a bit of an embarrassment for most Australians, and questioned his attitude to animals in general, and recalled his exploit with his baby son in his crocodile enclosure. Irwin, she said, insisted he was in control, “displaying the sort of self-delusion it takes to be a real Australian larrikin.”
I can’t help feel she was right on that score and that it was another example of the potentially disastrous “she’ll be right, mate” attitude I’ve mentioned before. But I digress.
If there’s one thing Australian popular opinion hates, it’s an intellectual, worse one who has made a name abroad and not returned, and worse still, one who’s a woman. Irwin was the antithesis of an intellectual and he got the public vote. Ms Greer was vilified as a “feral hag” and “childless” (now doesn’t that say a lot?) and readers of the Daily Telegraph were encouraged to email “the vicious old cow” to tell them what they thought of her. I bet they did, too.
If there’s a lesson from all this, it’s that Australia is a young nation, still to settle on a national identity.
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