Just back to work (BOO!) from a few days mountain biking (YAY!!) in the northeast of the state. First day, went to the much vaunted "Bay of Fires," Binalong Bay, etc...very nice, in a car-camping, holiday-with-the-kids-and-dog kind of way, but then, we moved on to the Blue Tier. Partly by recommendation, and partly by serendipity, we found the abandoned mining settlement of Poimena, high and deep in the Blue Tier. We had heard of the Weldborough descent, a 15km rollercoaster down to the Weldborough Hotel, and had planned to do it. However, the first day there, we decided to follow a few walking trail loops on the bikes, and discovered some amazing, technical cross country rides. We camped the night there after the obligatory Scrabble by the woodfire session and a few glasses of port. Next morning was frosty and clear, and the downhill to Weldborough beckoned. An amazing 45km ride, with a 10km epic getting lost detour, followed by the punishment of climbing back to the car, and narrowly escaping a sidewall blowout, with the bizarre interlude of Weldborough Hotel's "hospitality" filled the day to the brim. That night, we drove to Picaninny Point, and experienced the woodfired outdoor bath there by full moonlight...the luxury of simple life done well... Here are a couple of recent shots - one from a day at the MTB park with Sandi and Rhys, and one with me grinning in Poimena having just come down a great single track descent...

So my first Multi-Sport race has been and gone. Gill, as always, did the race solo (10km run, 18kMTB, 38k roadbike, 12k kayak) and came in a brilliant 2nd despite sounding like a refugee from a TB sanatorium. I did the anchoring Kayak leg for "Corkage", Carsten Aase's team and was pretty happy with my leg. I did it in Jo's old sea-kayak, and was chuffed to not get passed by any boats except the super-fast "Time Machine" flat water racing boats with elite paddlers, and even overhauled a couple of similar boats. As my addition to team "Corkage" was a late one, I appear as my alter ego "Eliza davidson" in the results. Click here for the full listing. Good fun - hopefully, Gill and I will do the Freycinet Challenge later this year as a duo. I have had a taste...

So the whirlwind of enthusiasm that was Michael Reardon has been destroyed by a bigger force of nature than himself - a rogue wave sweeping him off Valentia Island on Friday. Noone sat on the fence when asked their opinion of him. He was without doubt a law unto himself. I will not forget watching him toss his blonde locks in Atlantic winds as he coolly soloed E5s at Ailladie, nor his infectious if sometimes overbearing enthusiasm. Climbing with him or near him was always an experience! The world is poorer and the climbing landscape of Ireland less colourful this week. Maybe he has found the ancestors he always sought to get close to on his visits to the "emerald isle" at last...Dave Flanagan's always-great website TheShortSpan has a nice tribute to Michael.

So...was due to be doing the 10k run in the Winter Challenge for the CYCLINGO shop team, but John didn't get our entry in on time, so instead, I am kayaking for the Radiology Team from work...my training has been one kayak in about three months!!! It should be fun though! Gill, as always, is going for the individual category...all in a day's work...

click here to see my travel map!

Walked in to Pine Valley and the Acropolis in crunchy winter conditions on the weekend - great three-day walk starting from the Lake St Clair end of the Overland Track. Always nice to get high, especially on perfect crispy winter days.

 

Last night, picked up our new desk from Officeworks and spent the rest of the night building the damn thing - overcomplicated flat-packed thing!  This morning, Gill, Jo and I kayaked down the Derwent to work in the predawn, which was EARLY for me...but thermos coffee on the wharf after helped with that!!! In work, doing some tedious admin stuff that Tony has just plopped on my desk. I expect catatonic levels of boredom to ensue....oh well!

Mel looked after the house really well while we were away - sparkly clean, and lots of wood left over! Already been DIY-ing since we got home! painted the little back porch thingy, which was sort of wasted space as it was, and put up some corkboards, and it is now [fanfare] an office/study - we swooped in in true Domhnall and Gill style and bought a desk straight away too, plus some intrays! Wow, organised eh? Remains to be seen! Also put up some old IKEA shelves of Gill's in the living/dining room, where this computer lived before it got its NEW OFFICE, and finally got the stereo up and active, and it looks great. Got in a quick mountain bike ride yesterday [COLD!!!], then had a roast leg of lamb done on the barbecue (note to the Irish: it was about 4 degrees in the middle of winter, but the barbie is still a great way to do a roast!) last night - Rhys and Sandi came over with Josie [she is calling me Domhnall now rather than Donut - this is a positive development - same cannot be said for Rhys however] and Jen and Keith before they head off to Bonnie Scotland for a month.

New photos added from the last month - see right.