Nanga Challenge 2017

Inspired by Rich Bannister’s efforts in the UTMB, Dave decided he ought to get off his bottom and do the Nanga Challenge. Rhys was already entered so the Marshalls, Jameses and Smiths headed to Nanga Mill Friday afternoon in time to set up camp before the race on Saturday morning. For some reason Andy was not racing and was team mascot instead.

We camped at Nanga Mill in Dwellingup which is fast becoming a regular spot. There is a creek at the bottom (where the kids love to build dams and get as many clothes wet as possible), Turner Hill is not far for a 10km MTB loop and there is plenty of dirt for the babies to eat.

The race on Saturday morning consisted of a 15km river paddle (7.5 downstream then back up again), 30km MTB and a 12km run. From what the boys said it will probably not be redone as the courses were less than exciting, but at least the Murray has now been paddled.

We had a jaffle contest for dinner Saturday night. Rhys, as usual, went all out and produced a beef Wellington jaffle! It was excellent though I was very happy with my rather less labour intensive Camembert and bacon. Ellis of course went cheeseless and had beans and mushrooms.

There were dessert jaffles too with apples, cinnamon, raisin toast and rhubarb etc. the kids were happy toasting marshmallows over the 2 fires we had going.

Sunday morning Sara and I went for a bike at Turner Hill. Andy and Dave had bets going that we would not find it. What a fuss over nothing; we found it with no difficulty at all and there was only one comedy stack by Sara thanks to some pea gravel and a black boy!

JP and Helen arrived Saturday morning with Roman and Byron to add to the feral kid count. Only one (Paw Patrol) toy lost to the river and only one Freddy brick eaten by Alfie the dog!

Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

Easter 2017

9 families headed south to Dunsborough for Easter weekend. We were an impressive presence at the Dunsborough Lakes Caravan Park until the Tuesday after Easter. The kids (all 20 of them) had a great time biking, playing mini golf and riding the float with the Easter bunny!

When not wrangling an army of children the adults and older kids did some MTBing at the Pines in Margaret River. At the top of the new tracks we spotted some unsavoury wildlife…

Luckily there were no kids playing in the mound when we found it.

After Dunsborough most families left to return home. Three of us stayed on and went the 8km down the road to Yallingup Beach. It was a very relaxing part 2 to the holiday. We went on walks, did more biking and of course visited a couple of wineries!

The boys did some supping and Kristie, Kate and I went on a rather exhaustingly sandy trail run!

Van celebrates his 7th birthday in Yallingup so of course there was cake to round the day of biking off.

Until next year!

Half paddling, Half swimming the Avon

The water has finally arrived in the Avon river. With a few last minute phone calls I met Mark and Andy at 6am in Bells rapids car park to start the car shuffles to go up to Posselts Ford where we started our valley run.

It was pretty cold at around 3 degrees in the fog that hung onto the river. We got paddling and soon warmed up. To the first rapid, super shoot – I fell in. Amazingly the water was warmer than out! I was a bit miffed at falling in as I had expected to have better balance this year compared to last with all the sea paddling I have been doing, but obviously not.

We made it down to Emu falls, this is probably one of the harder rapids on the river. Not crazy but a few nasty rocks that catch you out easily, we go out and had a look at it to try to remember the lines through it

By the time we had been looking at it for a few minutes we were all shivering uncontrollably. I hadn’t been this cold for some time.

Andy took the honours and went through. He cleared all the hard bits but managed to bang into a rock at the end which tipped him in. I made a mental note to avoid that rock.

Next up was Mark – flash twat got through it no worries and made it look easy.

Then it was my turn, a few star jump and sprinting on the spot to try to get some warmth back into the body

Got my line perfect, thought I had nailed it, remembered the bottom rock that had caught Andy out….. where is it?…. There it is, stop staring at it… steer, steer….. THUMP

Next time I will have it.

the ‘Valley run’ as it is known, is 42km + change long, and what is cool about it is that once in the valley there is no points of access for 30km along it, so it is pretty committing. I think that is half the appeal, the only way to get into it is by paddling, and if something goes wrong it is a long nasty walk through bush out. The sun was beginning to burn off the fog now – still wasn’t that warm though, if we stopped the shivers came back pretty quick but it was nice to have the sun on you.

A lovely day out, hopefully manage to do another valley run before the water disappears for the summer. Both Andy and I got pretty beaten up while swimming down the river bouncing off rocks after we had been tipped in at numerous rapids along the way. Good bruising and good memories.

Weekend in Guilderton

Spent a lovely weekend up in Guilderton camping next to the Moore River. Was lucky enough to witness the sandbank break and the river empty out into the sea ( apparently it happens 10 ish so times a year). Started as a little trickle and ended up huge all within 2 hours. A great weekend camping with the Staffords, biking, paddling and playing on the beach with the kids.

: Family bike ride

: Ellis and Kai riding together on their new bikes

: a HUGE change with the 16″ wheels for ellis

: Ellis and Kai tying to see how deep a hole they can dig

: Before the sand bank was broken

: Ellis and Lara riding around the River

: Of course stopping for flower picking

: Mark and I went for a paddle

: In some cool T trees, trying to get the Avon feeling

: great day for paddling

: saw a sand dune on the river so had to drag boat up it

: and slide down it into the river

: Huge pelican eyeing me up

: the dam thing followed me

: Breaking of the sand bank ( about 10 minutes)

: Ellis and Kai enjoying playing in it whilst it was small and manageable

: mark trying to stay on a stopper

: getting bigger ( about 30 minutes)

: Mark running down it

: My turn

: Was getting bigger all the time

: great fun white water

: the point i fell out and got washed out

: the state of it after about 1hr 15mins

: 1hour 30 minutes

: 1hour 40 minutes – was just huge and amazing to watch the river empty into the sea

: the mess of water as the river met the sea surf, why i stopped paddling it as it got too big and scary!

: Ellis and Lara playing on the beach

: what it looked like after 2 hours and when we left

: a good fun day on the boats

: Ellis and Kai playing in the tent

: Ellis after shower

: Night time tree climbing by head torch

: After it had emptied the next day.

: Lara and Sam’s turn

: Ellis running after mum telling her she forgot her paddle

: another great winter day

: sunday afternoon explore up the coast from Guilderton to seabird

: stopping at the little beaches not he way

: a lovely coast, shame camping is not allowed here….

: green tongued tired girl!

Morning paddle Sessions

Most wedensdays during the winter I go paddling before work. I have been meaning to take my camera for ages to try and capture how beautiful it can be in the mornings paddling in the middle of the swan in the dark, paddling away as the sun slowly comes up to another day. We usually go out for around and hour doing Will’s lovely pyramid sprints and finish with achy tired shoulders. The fear is always there of falling in when it is dark as who knows what lurks in the water. Usually it is dolphins but they still put the shits up you!

Winter here is still pretty good fun!

Easter weekend 2015

We headed to Dunsborough for the long weekend with a small entourage including Rach, who had come over from Sydney. Ellis and Alfie had a lovely time together and we adults also had a lovely time catching up over biking, wining and camping!

Funny faces 🙂

A hard knock life…

Ellis shows Daddy how it is done.

Excessively tall Dunsborough kids

Camper Trailer living

Not muddling the chain lube and the booze…

Off to the Easter fayre

1st pony ride!

Ellis shows Aunty Rach how to rock hop

Ellis paddles with Daddy

The aftermath of the Easter bunny’s visit

Working off Easter treats in the forest

Pretty run

Cracking camping playground!

The Avon Descent 2014

So the time had come, the time to put my training to the test and actually do the race. My team-mate Rhys, Will and I set off after work on Friday to head up to Northam where the race starts to have our gear scrutineered. Once we had collected the registration packs we dropped off our skis in the start zone for them to be ready in the morning.

There was a few there!!!!!! It was still pretty early so we thought we might as well go and see what goes off in Northam on a Friday night…. The answer – not much!!!!

We ended up in pub which I thought had karaoke on the go, turns out it was a band……. after a few pint it was time to head back, as we walked out the pub next door had three blokes escorted out with handcuffs on by the local plod. Northam is a great place to have go on a Friday night.

Waking up on saturday was fun. I am still pretty resilient from the cold from living in Scotland, but the others I was with could not stop going on and on and on about how cold it was.

Yes it was icy but you would have thought it was the start of the next ice age the way they were all wearing everything they owned. Once the sun had burnt through the fog it warmed up quick. Off to the start line we went

people were set off in groups of 10 in 30 second intervals. I was doing the next leg so got to watch them all go. The first obstacle was Northam weir. A 10m concrete chute that turned a lot of people sideways and caused a lot of pile ups

Will above in the green ski. He managed to keep it straight and got away clean. Rhys ended in a bit more of a pile up! (red helmet and blue tshirt)

Once they had all gone through it was time for me to jump in the car and get down the road to get ready for the change over with Rhys. He had 25km odd of paddling so I had a few hours so wasn’t in a rush. I go there on time and soaked up the atmosphere. I never realised how big an event it was as there where literally hundreds of folk out cheering and watching all the racers.

Once I had changed over with Rhys I had about another 25km for my leg. This past fairly eventless as the first day is fairly flat water, I just had the tea trees to contend with. As people were so spread out by this point it was no hassle. I was definitely glad that I had practised them as otherwise navigation would have been interesting! Day 1 done. 50km down, 75 to go.

It was time to build a fire, try to dry the clothes out as much as possible and sink a few cold ones……

A great evening was passed just sharing stories of the day and meeting other racers around a fire. To bed early, the fun day was on sunday so didn’t want to get too carried away with over indulging. Another clear night.

I woke up to sounds of more thin blooded locals ” Jeez how bloody cold is it?!!?!?” and ” streuth I am freezing my balls off” etc…. where commonly heard phrases. I must admit it wasn’t pleasant getting out of my snuggly warm sleeping bag into my wet paddling clothes from the day before when it was 1C outside.

Once up and ready to rock – Will and I went down to the start.

6:30 am and ready to go!!!!! Today was the fun day, the rapids! excitement and nerves in equal measurements. We all lined up in our heats from the previous day seedings and quickly we were off. The only real cold part now was numb hands but that was soon forgotten going into the last section of tea trees elbows out ready for battle!

And battle it was, there were people rammed into the sides and then swinging out and blocking the river, people trying to paddle of the top of them, people up trees, massive pile ups and other trying to avoid it all dragging their boats along the shore.

I got through with a moderate amount of success, I didn’t ram any one too hard, wasn’t rammed my self too hard and didn’t have to do any swimming so a success.

It took a while for the sun to burn off the fog, the picture above is just after existing the tea trees, and it is actually a colour picture! Was pretty surreal. Soon the sun was burning off the fog and warmth started to return through the body, with this, energy and a determined spirit to get a move on!

The rapids were great fun, people all over the place, a good high level of water than my previous attempts made them a little less of a rock banging episode. I got to the Big rapids called ‘Emu’s’ and had to wait there for 5 minutes for a red flag (safety teams red flag when there is a rescue in process), others got out their boats and ran around which was probably faster, but I wanted to paddle these rapids.

I got through the first section fine,no problems, then it all went a bit pear-shaped and I went for a swim!

Once spat out the other end and resurfacing, paddle check, yes! I held onto it, Surf ski check – oh bugger where was it!?!?!?!?! looked back up the rapids and there is was stuck on a rock getting smashed around by the current. The safety crew were on it quickly and pushed it off the rock and it leisurely floated back down the river and I was reunited with it. Remount and head off!!!

It was great fun, I was nailing most of the rapids, then all of a sudden a women in front of me some how start to turn sideways, a bit of vigorous paddle stroking and I was on a path to avoid her, but something felt weird. My brain registered a loud noise and then I noticed it.

Bugger! I didn’t have the spare as was recommended as I couldn’t find one cheap enough and I thought it would never happen to me. Lesson learnt!

I had 6 kms to my change over with Rhys. In a strange way it was fun going into the rapids with a one-sided paddle, if they were straight or left-handed I was ok as I still had my left paddle to brace with. Right handers I was back in swimming!

I got to Rhys no worries, albeit a little slower, swapped out and he was off. I then ate some food, chucked my ski onto the roof and set off to meet him at the next change over. Rhys had the second half of the rapids to do and appeared with a huge grin on his face having the same level of enjoyment as I got. we swapped over and I set off on the mind numbing flat water paddle for 20km to finish my part of the race.

It was boring! I managed to get tucked in behind a bit double kayak that was setting a good pace and wash rode them for a good while. The 20km I did finally came to an end and that was my race completed. Rhys just had to suffer his portion of the flat water paddle to Bayswater and the race end.

I drove down there to meet his and Lara and Ellis and 5 or 6 other friends all down there waiting for us on the river banks. Pleased it was over, a great race, and I have a horrible feeling I will give it a go solo next year….

More Avon Descent Training

So two weeks to go. starting to get the feeling I should have trained more, but the nerves are helped out because I have kind of wimped out and entered the race as a team of 2. Having down the majority of the rapids that are a bit more ‘clenching’, the bit I was keen to do was the section called ‘the Tee Trees’.

The normal characters amassed on a cold saturday morning and slipped into some thing tight and neoprene. It was a cold morning as I saw frost on some of the grass as we unloaded the boats from the roof of the car, a rare thing here I am told.

iI was pretty cold on the hands in the water, we put in just upstream from the start of the 8km tee tree section. There was a very picturesque mist coming off the water as we set off. just as we went the sun poked it head up and it was a very welcome warmth.

So, the Tee trees – what is it like. Take a load of dense bushes that sit very close together, then run some fast flowing water through them and put in some tight turns. Whats the fuss about I hear you think, try to manoeuvre a 5.9m surf ski through it. = Nightmare.

This is all I could really take picture wise in them as you are having to try and position the boat so much for each corner, usually failing then getting rammed into the side and falling in, then having to untangle the boat and some how mount it again in fast flowing river.

This is probably where I think most of the time will be lost in the race, as it is pretty difficult to navigate your way through and hard to recover mistakes. I am sure there is going to be huge bottle necks for any of those not at the front and clear from the likes of me at the back causing obstructions ramming into every corner!

There were no real rapids of the day apart from the very last bit before we finished called ‘Posselt’s Ford’ (where we started form 2 weeks prior). Easy little drop that requires not too much concentration or clenching. So we thought, as Will went through it his nose smacked into something and made a huge “THUNK”.

You can’t see it that well in the above photo, but what ever he hit bent his nose right back. Will have to see how he goes fixing this – the next picture shows it a bit better. The skis are plastic and pretty resistant, so hopefully he can pop it back out somehow.

After watching Will knacker his boat, Jo and I still decided we wanted to do it and went down it praying not to hear that expensive sound…..

First one is Jo – no noise, then me………. No Noise. Phew.

A great way to spend a day, really glad I did it so know what to expect. 2 weeks and it will be with 300 others, it is going to be fun!!!!!!

Birthday Paddle

Will, Jo and I went to paddle a section of the Avon river to practise for a race that is fast coming up ‘the avon descent’.

It was a horribly early start to get the cars in place (one at bottom one at the top) and we suited and booted up in clothing and off we went.

It was a long day out for a novice like me, I swam some of the rapids(not on purpose), sometimes arriving at the bottom of them in three separate parts (me, boat and paddle). I have a long way to go yet, but my god was it fun and i will really enjoy continuing trying!

6 hours of paddling and 43km of the river travelled. Look forward to the next time!