Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

10x1 minute reps on an unexciting strip of dirt road. Headed out a little later than planned (with consequences for the conditions) because the former meteorological observer here dropped round for a chat - which extended to swapping stories of Canberra Grammar v St. Edmunds rugby matches. This isn't a bad session for a hot day though.

The food supplies I brought from Broome have just about run out so I'll be falling back on what's available from the local store. As you might imagine, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are in short supply, expensive and often of poor quality, whereas less healthy packaged food (and soft drinks) are readily available and not much more expensive than in the city. Unsurprisingly this means that there isn't a lot of healthy eating happening here (and it's probably better here than in the desert communities because it's supplied by sea, and fishing locally is an option). It occurs to me that this would be a more useful area for governments to throw money at than some of the places where they've been throwing money in this part of the world, although our resident economist and our resident Aboriginal expert might want to come up with a plan as to how such a scheme would work without the money mostly ending up in the hands of the (usually white) store owners.

Also in the news is that the local federal member, one Barry Haase (whom I had thought was more reasonable than Wilson Tuckey, but perhaps I was mistaken), has backed the cause of the (white) publicans in Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing (in their guise as the Central Kimberley Chamber of Commerce) in challenging the bans on takeaway liquor sales in those towns, and had a swing at police harassing (white) people carrying lots of grog in from outside into the bargain. I won't pretend that everything is brilliant here - a chat with the local cop yesterday revealed some of the problems (sexual abuse is one, and gambling is another), but I've seen no evidence of street violence or substance abuse, and the fact that there is no grog within 600km has to be a factor in that.

C • Revealed Preference Theory 7

Warm up/down for the intervals session.

No music last night and slept a lot better. Conditions were also a little kinder this morning, but lacked a bit of energy - suspect I ran myself into the ground a bit yesterday but also think I may not be 100% well.

The rest of the morning was devoted to devising an exit strategy, which I now have - the car on the barge to Darwin on Thursday morning, myself on the mail plane to Kununurra on Friday morning then a flight to Darwin on Friday evening. Total cost of this is about $2000 (but with a bit of luck the RACV will pick up some of that), and I should get to two of the NT Champs races.

It's even hotter now than it was this time yesterday. No immediate change is forecast so it's possible I might be on the scene for the breaking of the Australian record for June (37.8) or July (37.3) - and I really am on the scene because I'm camped within sight of the weather station.

C • No East Kimberley! 7

C • Limerick :) 4

The loud evening music was present again last night, although it finished at 11 rather than midnight and I slept OK after that. It seems to be an organised gathering so with a bit of luck it won't be happening on school nights - getting kids to go to school in these parts is difficult enough as it is.

Hit the 'road' early again this morning, but you really need to be out before sunrise to miss the heat. The plan was once again to take the road north from town (which I will undoubtedly be thoroughly sick of by the end of this week, even if it does go through some interesting rock) as far as the turnoff to the barge landing, aiming for a bit under 2 hours. By 50 minutes, though, I was struggling, and an out-and-back in a remote area on a hot day is no place to exceed your abilities. It was then a real struggle most of the way home, stopping to drink almost every kilometre by the end. Obviously not yet sufficiently used to the tropics.

Nothing much happens here on a Sunday so I'm no closer to knowing for sure what's going to happen from here, except to ascertain via the RACV website that they should pick up at least some of the bill. Will know more tomorrow.

I got virtually no sleep last night, initially because of loud music in the vicinity, but more because of worry about the potential hazards of the trip out in a less-than-perfect vehicle.

Ran from town towards the King Edward River gorge, and found it after one false start (signposting in these parts is somewhat erratic). Not a bad run on the whole although once again faded away a bit in the last 15 minutes, on a warm and humid morning.

I had good reason to worry about my exit; I didn't make it, failing to get through the first waterhole. A couple of locals towed me out but the car would not start, even after drying out for the best part of an hour. There is no professional mechanic in town but those with more amateur knowledge than I have thought that water has probably got into the engine and will need to be drained, but there is no-one who can do that here.

The upshot - I'm stuck here for a while. Although I will not be able to confirm details until Monday, it seems that my best option to get the car out of here is to have it shipped out on the fortnightly supply barge which is due on Thursday. Not sure if I would be able to go on the barge myself or would have to find another way to get out (most likely on the mail plane). Hopefully the damage is not too serious (although the damage to my credit card balance will certainly be serious) and I will be able to move on from Darwin more or less as planned in the middle of the week after next, but the NT Champs look a doubtful proposition at best.

I could have chosen worse places to be stranded. Kalumburu is not one of the remote-community horror stories you hear about in the media - the fact that the nearest grog is 600km away helps - the campground has good facilities, and the town has wireless internet (at a price, but it will keep me sane for the next week).

C • Hidden Valley Caravan Park 4

C • wet cars 4

This was a travel day to Kalumburu, one of the most isolated of my weather stations (it's on the northern tip of WA), as well as providing an opportunity to visit a remote Aboriginal community. I wasn't sure about the road but got advice, both from our observations people on Perth, and then from the people at the Drysdale River roadhouse about 200km from the end, that I shouldn't have any trouble.

It turned out not to be as easy as advertised. I expected it to be rough and it was (especially the last 70km). As I had been told, there were no major river crossings, but what they didn't say was that there were two deepish (30-40cm) waterholes in places you wouldn't expect them. I got through them both, but not with a lot to spare in the case of the second one, only about 1km short of town. More worryingly, some material on the bottom of the car has come loose which won't help the cause of trying to get through on the way out.

Broome, hitting tropical conditions with a vengeance - warm and very humid. Went OK for a lot of the time, starting out along Cable Beach to the south end and then around the south end of the peninsula. Faded fast after 90 minutes and eventually cut it a bit shorter than planned, although that was partly in the interests of saving a bit of time.

There is still a bit of time pressure on this part of the trip, driven by the fact that (a) you can't get an entry permit for Kalumburu on a weekend and (b) there is nowhere to (legally) camp on the first 300km of the Gibb River Road (although in practice I think you could get away with it if discreet). There is certainly some very impressive country, particularly in the King Leopold Ranges from about the 150km mark onwards. Not a place to go for solitude at this time of year though - the camping ground was very well-populated. No major dramas with the road so far.

Port Hedland to Broome is a 600km trip on what has been described (not without justification) as Australia's most boring road, so I decided to break the trip up with an intervals session on Eighty Mile Beach about 250km in. I'm not sure what I was expecting to find - probably a semi-deserted beach with perhaps the odd person wandered in off the highway. I certainly didn't expect the shore to be lined for kilometres with hundreds of people, nearly all of them perched next to a fishing line.

This was an intervals session on the beach - 10x1 min, 1 min recovery. Quite soft sand so a bit slower than usual. 4WDs parked on the sand were the markers. Felt reasonable.

Continued into Broome and my last taste of civilisation for a while. I hit the Gibb River Road tomorrow and will probably be out of contact until Tuesday. This will be the most remote part of the trip yet and I admit to feeling a little nervous after my experience on Tuesday, but hopefully everything will go OK, and the country is reputed to be well worth it.

Warm up/down from the intervals.

A morning session from the campground towards, but not all the way to, Oxers Lookout. Some cloud came in and stopped the morning from getting as cold as seemed likely the previous evening. Didn't feel brilliant before the start, but fine once moving.

Sleep was a bit interrupted because of intermittent noise from both humans and non-humans. I like Dire Straits but there is a time and a place for it, and midnight in a national park isn't it.

Saw some more of the gorges before leaving; could easily have devoted another day to this area but there are some constraints on my schedule which prevent lingering this week, plus rain is forecast for tomorrow and one could get stuck for a while if that happened.

I have been falling on my feet a lot in the last day or so, with a succession of misadventures that could have ended up much worse but didn't. The first couple happened yesterday evening. I left my credit card behind in the camp office but went back later to get a drink (it could easily have happened somewhere where I didn't notice until the next fuel stop 500km away), and a critical piece on my camping stove broke, but it was in a place where gas barbeques were available as a back-up.

The next mishap was on a side trip to Wittenoom. I hadn't planned to stay for long here - just long enough to look at the weather station there (number 75 on my list) and assess its topography so I could identify possible replacement sites outside the immediate area. As some of you will know, Wittenoom was the site of an asbestos mine with an associated severe toll of disease, and the WA government has been trying to obliterate any trace of its existence for decades, but has been stymied by the last few holdout residents. (Even the road signs pointing there have been blanked out). We're not officially supposed to go there which is why I did it unofficially, having read enough to decide that the risk from a brief visit was negligible (I know legal arse-covering when I see it).

A hissing sound on getting out of the car indicated that I was going to be spending a bit longer in Wittenoom than I'd planned on. The jack was deployed and I then ran into the next problem - a combination of an inadequate wheelbrace and my inadequate upper-body strength was not enough to budge the mechanically-tightened wheel nuts. Fortunately there was someone else on hand with a better wheelbrace and more brute force, who did the necessary. It could just have easily happened in the middle of nowhere. (I've picked up a better wheelbrace in Broome; the upper body strength is not so easy to do something about).

The tyre, as I expected from the size of the rock lodged in it, was stuffed. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get a replacement organised before close of business after arriving in Port Hedland at 4.15 (it was at Port Hedland prices but you can't have everything).

My next problem, I thought, was going to be finding somewhere to stay. I'd drawn a blank on initial inquiries earlier in the week (the campsites are filled by grey nomads, the hotels by mining people, and the backpackers have gone out of business) and my original plan was to continue on to Pardoo Roadhouse 150km up the road, but that would have meant 150km of night driving in a part of the world where that is unwise. Fortunately Amy, the Bureau's person in Port Hedland, offered me a place to stay which I gratefully accepted. (It turned out she's as much of a weather nut as I am - we spent most of the evening watching cyclone DVDs).

After a rather stressful day it was time to have a relaxing jaunt through town. I didn't enter Port Hedland with high expectations from previous reports from those who have been there (to say nothing of the guidebook which says of one local establishment that it 'no longer has the highest pub death rate in Australia'), but the waterfront was pleasant enough, admiring the queue of ships offshore (not quite at Newcastle levels). The last 10 minutes were very pleasant indeed, perhaps the best I've felt for a couple of weeks.

C • Leverage 1

C • Gorge 1

A morning loop around Exmouth. Felt good after the initial warm-up but fairly slow. This distance was sufficient to exhaust the exploration opportunities within the town (and I doubt if the military authorities would appreciate too much exploration to the north). Quite cool again.

Much of the rest of the day was spent going across to Karijini National Park, getting there in time to get to the Oxers Lookout area before sunset. I knew this was spectacular gorge country, and it was, but not in the way that I expected. The gorges are cut into a relatively flat plateau (rather than being in already rugged country as they are around Alice Springs), so at first glance you think nothing unusual is going on, and then you see that it suddenly drops down 100 metres (with one of the gorges almost narrow enough to jump across if you're very brave).

This day included a long run, a snorkelling session on Ningaloo Reef, a couple of swims, a walk in the Cape Range National Park, and quite a bit of driving. I'm not one for leading an idle existence.

The run was an out-and-back from Coral Bay. Much of it was on the rather uninspiring surrounds of the access road (the beach has too many headlands and cliffs to be runnable), but the middle section was on a side track leading north, and the grind was worth it for a spectacular view of the coast north of Coral Bay as I crested a ridge about 55 minutes in. The last part of the return was pretty tedious but I can live with that, and in the open spaces you get a different perspective on distance - a sweeping curve can extend over a couple of kilometres. Cooler than I was expecting; heat acclimatisation might have to wait until Thursday on Cable Beach.

Cape Range is also an interesting place and apparently also has good reef-viewing opportunities close offshore, although I didn't put them to the test. Ended up in Exmouth for the night. One surprise of the day was at the local petrol station, where two of us came in from opposite directions at the same time; the attendant refused to serve the other person because they thought I was there first, whereupon the other person disappeared in a huff. It's ingrained into my pysche to expect the outside world to take the other person's side in a dispute, so this surprised me, and doubly so in a small town where the other party was a local and I clearly wasn't (number plates in country WA carry the letters of the town of registration).

An early start to the day to maximise my chance of seeing the dolphins at Monkey Mia. The early start was well justified - the dolphins turned up at the same time I did.

After this I went for a run along the access road into Francois Peron National Park near Denham. I didn't get far enough in to see anything particularly exciting, but it was a nice track to run on - sandy but firm, with rolling hills - and the run felt better than the last couple.

Continued moving north today, ending up at Coral Bay, at the south end of Ningaloo Reef. This deserves to be a lot better-known than it is (the reef is only just offshore - you can walk out to it), although the tourist infrastructure struggles to cope with WA domestic demand without seeing any more from elsewhere (a proposal to change this sparked a massive environmental debate a few years ago). Stayed in the local backpackers' and had the distinct impression I was 15 years too old for the scene there.

C • Coral Bay is beautiful... 1

A run south from Kalbarri along the coast, taking in various coastal cliff formations, as far south as Eagle Gorge. An attractive coastline if not so different from others I've seen before (on the other hand, the Murchison River gorges which I went to later in the day were fabulous). It is a very windswept coastline and today was no exception, making it hard work at times, although after the first 10 minutes most of the into-the-wind sections were downhill.

The first hour was as sluggish as both of Wednesday's runs were, then it became somewhat better, although the last 20 minutes was hard going as it had been on Sunday. It was warm enough to be noticeable when the sun was out later on, which is no bad thing when I'm trying to acclimatise to NT conditions (in fact dry bulb 21, dew point 17 is pretty much what I'd expect at 8-ish on a Top End morning, although the wind made it feel cooler).

After checking out the Kalbarri gorges it was on to Denham (short in a straight line, longer by road). The car is not behaving quite as well as it should with three separate problems emerging; a windscreen crack from yesterday's roadworks (and enlarged by being hit by a fierce squall when parked), a below-brightness left headlight and vibration at speeds above 100 km/h. Problem 1 hasn't got any worse today which makes me think it will hold out until Broome and problem 2 isn't really a problem because I have no plans to do any night driving between here and Darwin. Problem 3 worried me but some internet research suggests that a common cause is mud (or ice or snow - not relevant here) accumulated on the inside of wheel rims, which is quite plausible as the road into the gorges was pretty muddy. It may be a while before I can do anything about it as I suspect there aren't too many car washes (or even places which will let you use a hose) this side of Broome.

C • Carnarvon 1

C • Problem 3 3

A swim at Tooms' pool on the way out of Perth, although I didn't see Tooms. A fairly standard session. Outdoor pools in Perth in June certainly aren't as character-building as Fitzroy at the same time, although it started raining quite heavily on my last couple of laps; glad I'd left my towel under the shadecloths. This will probably be the last rain I see for several weeks so I'm appreciating it while it lasts.

This proved to be the prelude to a slightly frustrating drive up to Kalbarri, with roadworks and slow caravans both in some abundance (I expect the slow caravans to be around until at least Broome). Also ended up with a chip in the windscreen. Looks nice at Kalbarri though - looking forward to some more exploration in the morning.

Geraldton gets some minus points for town planning - facing onto its town centre waterfront is not the string of eating and drinking places you might expect, but the loading docks of various shops. Apparently this is a legacy of the days when the beach was cut off by a now-removed railway. It's also remarkably difficult to get a coffee after 3.30.

C • nup, they go beyond Broome.... 8

A morning session through some expensive real estate in Dalkeith and some even more expensive real estate in Peppermint Grove. (Reasons to send your child to an expensive private school: so when they stay with old school friends they get to stay in posh suburbs).

Felt a bit flat through most of this session, perhaps because Tuesday's session was a bit longer than usual for a session of this type. Very nice morning. The proportion of 4WDs on the roads was about the same as I'm expecting to see on the Gibb River Road (although I doubt that many of Peppermint Grove's 4WDs have ever been anywhere near the Gibb River Road).

C • you would have run straight... 1

I'm staying with Craig Berg, an old school friend who some of the WA people will have come across (he was 3rd in the Six Inch Track race last year). The plan for this afternoon was for us to go out together, but this was foiled when he was feeling somewhat unwell. (Being a doctor, he felt it necessary to get tested for swine flu but is almost certain he doesn't have it; it occurred to me that it would be a splendid irony to successfully escape the Leper State only to catch swine flu locally in WA).

Headed east this time as far as UWA before cutting across more directly on the way back. Thought I'd gone longer than planned but ended up pretty close to time. A fairly mediocre session again. Felt a bit tentative on the one steep downhill so the quads obviously aren't totally right.

Craig was also part of a coincidence at Easter 1993. I'd organised to stay with him in Perth; it turned out that Jenny Schulz was an old uni friend of his mother and they had also organised to stay there. I didn't really know Ben and Ruth at that stage (they were just coming onto the national scene) but both were to go on to bigger and better things.

C • Six Inch Track race? 4

Hill reps with Tooms and his group at Reabold Park in Perth - a 390-metre hill (according to my GPS). Threshold pace for the first 5 reps, harder for the last 5. Downhill jog recovery.

A solid session working harder than I would have done on my own - having Tooms chasing me was a good incentive. Didn't get times of my own because my watch doesn't have a light but from his times looked like high 1.40s for the first set, low 1.40s (and a couple under 1.40) for the second set. Threatened to go lactic at times on reps 7 and 9 but finished off pretty well.

The locals thought it was cold but I thought it was warm (about 16-17 degrees).

Warm-up and down from the hills session.

I had always planned to do this run in Esperance, but originally thought it would be a mid-morning affair after a couple of hours on the road rather than at the start of the day. It's a beautiful part of the world where I spent a couple of days in 2005.

The run was along the ocean beach at Esperance. This is a spectacular, wild coast, with strips of white sand in between smooth granite headlands and plenty of rocky islands scattered offshore. The beach itself isn't quite as beautiful as some of the ones at Cape Le Grand National Park a bit further east (Hellfire Bay being my favourite) but still pretty impressive. The run wasn't quite as impressive - I stiffened up overnight after yesterday's hard day and took a long time to get going, although there is nothing terribly unusual about struggling on a post-long-run Monday.

Didn't see Esperance's most famous runner (and she isn't on the front of the phone book any more either).

Spent the rest of the day continuing along the south coast - the last of a few days consuming kilometres with only limited specific sights, at least until the Albany area. It did, however, occur to me at a bridge leaving Esperance that the bridge was crossing the first running water I'd seen for at least 2000km (I've forgotten the previous lot but think it was in the vicinity of Crystal Brook).

Question of the day: for what was NASA fined $400 by Esperance Shire Council in 1979?

C • Littering 7

C • ooh ooh, I know (I think) 1

C • Famous runner? 6

Eyre Bird Observatory and return from the top of the scarp.

I'd been anticipating this one for weeks (regular readers may recall an earlier comment about a meteorological site I wanted to go to where the last 12km of the track in was reputed to be extremely dodgy). Quite apart from the principal purpose of this bit of the trip, it was a pretty nice place to run, although reasonably hard work because of all the ups and downs over the sand dunes. The rain was a blessing and a curse; a curse because it made driving in as far as the scarp a bit dicey, a blessing because it meant the sand on the track I was running on was mostly pretty firm. Doing a session like this is also a reminder that 24km is a meaningful distance on foot, in a weekend where for most of the time it was 13 minutes of cruise control and if you're unlucky you might have to turn the steering wheel once or twice.

The run itself was at its best in the third quarter, the first 6km coming back out of the observatory (I thought I might stiffen up in the 15 minutes or so looking around there, but didn't). It was hard work at times otherwise, but still got through OK. Somewhat surprisingly, I wasn't that tired through the rest of the day, which is why I'm now in Esperance and not Norseman as originally planned.

A lot of the restoration work at Eyre was done courtesy of funds from an eccentric American millionaire who spent a lot of time there because he thought it would be the best place to see out the coming nuclear holocaust. Somewhat ironically, his unfortunate demise came as a result of injuries suffered in a mugging on a visit home.

And the Gibson Soak (a dodgy pub 25km north of Esperance) looks exactly how I remember it from when we stayed there in 1977 (although minus the drunk cricket team).

Could have done without the 2am fire alarm.

Headed out at first light (which is pretty late, being a long way west) at Streaky Bay. This proved to be a run of two halves, mostly because of the weather. The first half was into a strong wind and through heavy showers most of the way, and was very hard work at times (especially cresting a hill into the fiercest squall). The second half was dry and much more relaxed. They ended up getting 61mm in two days.

That was the start of a long day heading into the Nullarbor, a trip I've only done once previously, as a six-year-old in 1977. There are quite a few things I remember from this trip, and one which definitely came to mind as I approached Madura shortly before sunset was not being able to find anywhere to stay at Madura and picking our way through the kangaroos to the next stop at Cocklebiddy. This time there was plenty of room at Madura (in fact I seemed to be just about the only person in the place, not for the first time this week).

Like my last foray into a WA desert, it was raining (it started more or less when I crossed the border). It wasn't as dramatic as in 2005 where I managed to intercept a third of the area's annual average in the space of a couple of hours between Leinster and Mount Magnet.

C • Desert Rain 1

Had what I suspect might be my last swim for a bit at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. This was the scene of an event in 1989 that potentially launched a good trivia question - why was the SA state record for the 1500 faster than the world record? (Glen Housman, who was briefly the world's best at that distance before being overhauled by Kieren Perkins, broke the world record there but it wasn't ratified because it was hand-timed - but hand timing was acceptable for SA state records). Not a bad session, and a nice start to a long day on the road. (The exit from Adelaide isn't so nice - is there an uglier piece of highway in Australia than Main North Road?).

Most of today was about getting kilometres under the belt before hitting the Nullarbor tomorrow; now in Streaky Bay. I was listening to the football previews on local radio on the way into town. The tipsters have some complications that their AFL equivalents don't have to deal with; for the Coober Pedy-Roxby Downs match, the strength of the Roxby Downs team will depend on which miners are on their 'on' and 'off' fortnights, while Coober Pedy might or might not have some extra indigenous talent depending on who wanders in from the APY lands (the Aboriginal land covering much of NW SA) looking for a game.

C • adelaide aquatic centre 5

C • swim record 1

A morning session from Penneshaw before the ferry. There's no way to get out of Penneshaw without a substantial early climb (south in my case, up the Cape Willoughby road). This wasn't as good a run as the last two, feeling a bit flat, and with a bit of groin tightness (particularly downhill) for the first time in a few weeks - blisters have settled though.

Got a final taste of the erratic local signage - saw two signs within 10 metres of each other, one saying 'Cape Willoughby 20' and another 'Cape Willoughby 27'. According to my road map the correct answer is 24.

After a somewhat indulgent day in Adelaide (knowing that tomorrow I'll pass the metaphorical sign 'no decent food next 2000km' - and even BYO offers limited options because you can't take fruit and vegetables across the WA border), went out for an evening run in Belair with some of the SA orienteers. This had its moments, being a run on bush tracks in the dark where my knowledge of my location was limited to 'Adelaide's that way', but quite enjoyable. Slow as would be expected in the circumstances. Groin OK so hopefully this morning will only be an isolated occurence.

A long run in Flinders Chase National Park which didn't quite turn out as planned. Jenny had given me advice on a Kangaroo Island long run but I'd forgotten where it was, so planned instead to head out to West Bay at the far end of the island, and parked at the sign 'West Bay 12km'. I learned a bit in the process about haphazard signposting on Kangaroo Island, because when I turned around at 13km I could only barely see the water, and decided I didn't want to get to West Bay badly enough to turn this into a 2.30-plus run.

The run itself was pleasant, on a deserted dirt road, mostly on a plateau of heathland (burnt out in fires in late 2007), occasionally dropping into sharp gullies. Handled the climbs OK although blisters occasionally troublesome. A very smooth run for much of the way but definitely tired in the last 20 minutes and was happy to finish.

There was more coastal scenery in the rest of the day and plenty of wildlife too (alive this time), in the form of two seal colonies and the Penneshaw penguins tour which I was the only person to show up for. There are also supposed to be lots of gourmet delights on the island but I'll have to take other people's word for it, because nearly all the places selling them were closed for winter (at least the honey ice-cream place was open).

First outing on Kangaroo Island, consisting of finding a back road, going up it for 20 minutes and coming back (the road in question being part way between Penneshaw and Kingscote). A pretty smooth run and faster than I would have expected. It was fairly inevitable on an unstable showery day that I'd get wet at some stage, and I did (but only for 5 minutes). Saw quite a bit of Kangaroo Island's wildlife en route; unfortunately all of it was in the form of roadkill.

Most of the rest of the day was spent making my way around the north coast (some nice coastal scenery and beaches, although I couldn't get to what's supposed to be the best of them at Stokes Bay because the walk around the point was cut off by a very high tide). Extremely quiet even by the standards of what I expected of off-season.

Weather station count up to 71 (Cape Borda).

After yesterday's frustrations it was nice to get a decent and enjoyable run under my belt. This was a multi-loop race from the top of Melville's Caves. My worst time loss was early; I got a poor line through the rocks on the way down to 2 and lost 45 seconds or so. Simon caught me there and we were together for the next two loops, until he went in too early on 10. Ran the rest of the course pretty well except for a bit of a wobble at the second-last. Won a sprint finish (with a decent start to be fair) against Jim; we were 2nd and 3rd behind Bryan.

After that it was time to hit the road, destination Victor Harbor (in preparation for getting the ferry to Kangaroo Island tomorrow morning). Not the most relaxing of trips with long weekend traffic, lots of roadworks, and the heaviest downpour I've seen in a while just out of Tailem Bend (I'd guess 5mm in 5 minutes, but it probably missed all the gauges). Victor Harbor, unsurprisingly, was pretty dead on a weeknight in winter, but will work fine as a base for the night.

Quirk of the day: a sign in Donald advertised land for sale in the Donald Industrial Estate. The local council must have been trying to sell the land for a long time because the sign sported an 054 phone number, which hasn't been current for about 15 years.

You needed to be motivated for this one; a long-distance on Kooyoora which involved two crossings of the mountain, and a section in the vague green area north of the mountain, the most difficult square kilometre in Australian orienteering. I haven't competed in this area for the best part of 20 years; the only times it's been used since the new map was made was the 2002 World Masters and 2004 Victorian Championships, neither of which I ran (due to injury in the latter case). It certainly wasn't a course to take on as an afterthought after a couple of hours working on the start.

The start was pretty promising. I went right on the long first leg which I think was the better option, nailed the control, caught Reuben two minutes and then dropped him immediately when he missed 2 to the left. I hit the first five pretty well and was running steadily. 6 was the last one in the vague area. I lost contact early in the leg, thought I had it back a couple of times but couldn't make things fit, ran (as it turned out) within 20 metres of the control and then spent an age trying to make sense of the terrain and relocate a couple of hundred metres further on. In the end I dropped 12 minutes there; I think this is my worst mistake in Australia since the late 1980s.

I then dropped another 4 minutes on 8; it was in the wrong place (on the next big boulder 50 metres round) but if I'd had more confidence I wouldn't have climbed the slope thinking I was too low after hitting the place where it was supposed to be. At this point my motivation was definitely down, I was starting to have blister trouble, and I probably wasn't going to make course closure time. Passing past the finish a little after halfway proved to be too tempting. A pretty disappointing day.

Toph won from Reuben in something like 1.53.

C • That control 1

Victorian Middle Distance Championships at Korong. This was my best run on this map which isn't saying much (my other two have been shockers). A reasonable run, if a bit tentative on the rock - ran in steady rain throughout. Lacking strength up some of the hills. My worst time loss was at 17, which I don't think was in the right place (too far up the watercourse, although probably a map issue as much as anything) - dropped about a minute there. Ended up third, 3 minutes behind Toph and 10 seconds behind Bruce; might have hoped for better, but still better than I've managed in most local races this year (in fact I think it's just about the first time I've placed in anything more consequential than a Summer Series this year).

Felt smooth and relaxed, which was a bit of a surprise because it certainly wasn't a relaxing day (such will always be the case the last day before leaving work for a long time, but it was even more acute this time because I had a publication to launch and another talk to do). Didn't go any faster than usual though.

I noted with interest during the week that the editor-in-chief of the 'Australian' had received an award for his newspaper's outstanding coverage of the climate change issue. The award was presented by - and I'm sure this will come as a shock - the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. You couldn't make this stuff up.

(Apparently 'Media Watch' is sniffing around - not before time).

I hit the road tomorrow morning. Will try to update as regularly as I can, although there will be times when I'm away from civilisation for a few days at a time. First stop is the event at Kooyoora this weekend, then on to Kangaroo Island for a couple of days.

A tired, lacklustre run based on the Yarra from Clifton Hill. Did come good to some extent right at the very end, which allowed some positivity to be salvaged from the session. Hopefully this isn't an indicator that I'm getting sick (and in that sense it might be as well that I'm about to leave Melbourne while we still can).

A number of plans for the trip are still falling into place. One that I might have to give a miss is visiting the weather station at Palmerville (southern end of Cape York). I already knew that the 80km track in was a marginal proposition, but have now found out that the landowner reportedly has, figuratively speaking, a few roos loose in the top paddock, and that there has been a simmering feud between the families on two adjoining properties that has been going on for the best part of a century (amazing what you can find out with Google...). It must be possible to get in because the Crocodile Trophy went past there last year (I've been asking AJ for local intelligence), but it sounds like I might be better off waiting for the property to change hands.

Standard fartlek loop from home, somewhat earlier than usual which meant starting in near-darkness. Slow early on but a bit better later (9.41) as the light improved. Felt reasonable but not spectacular.

Morning run from near work down into St. Kilda and Albert Park (my schedule is rearranged because I'm up in Canberra for the day for work tomorrow and getting one run in will be a challenge, never mind two). Again very tight and sore in the first five minutes but not too bad after that, becoming quite nice in the last 15 minutes without ever being too special.

A rare Tuesday night appearance at Williamstown. Cruised around; felt pretty good tonight (with no sign of the early soreness of the last couple of runs), although that may be because I was feeling fired up after the assembled multitude was abused by a local just before the start. (His grievance was that people had had the temerity to park - legally - in his street). Didn't get the best route but no-one else seemed to either. Quite a short course for a score event - getting all 20 was never in doubt.

C • Misunderstanding 2

Quads still rather sore this morning, but some time in the pool did them good. Not a particularly fast session but did its job.

Was supposed to be the regular MFR Monday night from the Allston abode in Surrey Hills but wasn't as most of the regulars (and one of the hosts) were sick (hopefully this isn't anything to do with MFR's demographic centre being in Swine Flu Central, the inner northeast suburbs of Melbourne). This would have been my last such session before going away, which makes it a bit more of a pity.

Went for a run on my own anyway, south through Surrey Hills and back through Wattle Park.

Again sore and tight at the start (although at a one-week-after-marathon level rather than a two-days-after-marathon level), but loosened up after the first few minutes. Never an especially comfortable run but felt like I had some strength on the hills. A nice night for it.

C • thought swineflu central wa... 1