Sunday 26th Oct

No run Friday due to late finish docking ships at Garden Island. Saturday morning CR 5k at Iron Cove. Ran off 20min but came in at 18m48s. Robert G and Suzanne L also came along.

Then took a group for Gong ride training at Heffron for two hours. Afterwards we had an all day party for Serena's 12th birthday including taking the 10 kids for a hike to the Coast graveyard to take rubbings of the tombstones.

Sunday morning went for 1 hour ride around Centennial with Monica. First half hour was easy then I went all out until I managed to lap Monica.

Thu 23/10/08

Rested my knee till Tue. Ran 10 * 500m intervals. Stated at 1m 51s and built up to 1m 40s. No pain in the knee but I could still "feel" it. No run Wed. Then Thursday ran 2 * 5.3km quick circuits of Malabar. No knee pain at all.

Maroubra Fun Run Sun 19-10-08

I was looking forward to this event. But on Thu I was running 1k intervals with Heidi J. when I got a sharp pain behind my right kneecap. I could still run on it but not flat out. So I have rested it since then and so no Fun Run.

Instead I watched from the side line. A lovely day but hot with very little wind.

Heidi ran in 33.09, Greg L. in 42, Neil agsin won the wheelchair, and Serena, Michele, Monica, Ricky Lilly and Elke, Kate and Geoffery all walked the 4k.

Brighton Beach Dash 12-10-08

Inaugural running of this 10km race along Brighton beach promenade. Bit of a dodgy surface but it was well organised and I had a comfortable run in 39.13. Please with that, only have to improve just over a second/km to go under 39.

Heidi J. ran a modern PB of 41.09. Her folks kindly gave me a lift out there. We were going to run back to Malabar but Heidi had a spectacular fall into the gravel after the race and took some bark off. So after doing an extra 10k we caught a cab.

Also this week I did 10*400m intervals Tuesday and 10k tempo on Thursday. I also dived twice a day which was fun but very tiring. Great weather though, we saw all sorts of marine life, the highlight being the first of the Humpbacks going south.

Jervis Bay 5-10-08

A day trip with my daughter Honor to Jervis Bay. We met up with Michael and Jessie at Callala and then Mark W. met us in his boat with Ian and Ray.

The weather was overcast but the sea was dead calm, so we were able to anchor right under Point Perpendicular. I have many happy memories of this site. It is big. The bottom is made of huge boulders stacked on top of each. Honor and I dived to 32 metres cruising in and out of the passages between the huge stone monoliths. We spent the dive photographing sea tulips (Below) and anemones (above). The water was cold and there was a green tinge due to algal bloom, but it was worth it. There is something special about the the heads at Jervis Bay. Diving anywhere round here is memorable.

Honor also found a super cute baby Port Jackson shark which sucked on to any thing that came near its mouth.

Afterwards we dived the Fairey Firefly wreck off Callala. This plane crash landed after a mid air collision in 1956. The details are here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX381_Fairey_Firefly_wreck . The photo below shows a restored Firefly in RAN Air Wing colours.


The plane is virtually fully intact and there are few signs of "ratting". The parachute and compass binnacle are still in place.


By coincidence I am named after a sailor who was stationed at HMAS Albatross at the time of the wreck, and who was later killed in a car crash on the HMAS Albatross Road in 1958. He was my Uncle Alan and he is buried in the Service Graveyard at Nowra. I wonder if he worked on this plane?

When I was talking to my Uncle Noel a couple of months ago, he remembered Alan lovingly. They had served in Korea together. Alan was on board the carrier HMAS Sydney as an Aircraft Artificer, and Noel was a foot soldier at the front line. Noel was seriously injured by a Chinese grenade and spent two years convalescing.

In the meantime Alan had gone to Scotland to train as a diver with the Royal Navy, and while there he was selected for "special operations". He later enrolled in the military foreign language school at Point Cook, Victoria. Alan learned Russian and it was at his suggestion that Noel followed in his footsteps and applied to study Indonesian. They were also trained in interrogation techniques, and survival skills.

After Alan died, Noel completed Officer training and had a long career as an Indonesian intelligence expert.

Two months after I visited with Noel in his nursing home, and he told me all about Alan, he passed away aged 83. I hope the brothers have reunited in death. As Noel said to me tearfully "Alan was my best mate" That was 50 years after his brother's death.

The words of the poem "For the Fallen" rang very true as Noel remembered his brother so vividly and his comrades who fell in Korea.

There are many roads that we travel in life, and they have a way of converging as we get older. I wonder if this plane is a crossroads between my Uncle and I? Were his hands the last to touch the wings before it took off? Did he give the pilot a thumbs up as he taxied away?

PS... Speaking of roads converging, who should be sitting at the table at the Berry doughnut van when we pulled up but my sister-in-law Karen and my niece Emma. Karen kindly sprang for the donut and coffee and saved me a sprint to the ATM. Thanks Karen! The planets aligned for me that day.

Striders 10k - October 4th 2008

Striders 10k Homebush - 39.50 felt good. Bit of a strain in the last half but never felt like I wanted to quit. Light rain and muddy track.

Light week of running this week. Started running intervals with Heidi J.at Pioneer. Ran 10 * 400m on Tuesday and 5 * 300m Thursday.

Heavy diving week. Two dives a day every day. Great weather. Cuttlefish have gone beserk laying eggs on everything in sight.

Also saw some spectacular Blue Devil Fish

And Sea Dragons with berries.